Learning Perspectives

Where Movies meet Concepts

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Case breakdown: Movie Facing the Giants

The scene that you just witnessed is from the movie facing the giants. It shows you how coach Grant Taylor is encouraging the player who has another 140 pound player on his back and is trying to crawl towards the end zone of the field. Coach also blindfolds the player so that he doesn’t stop in the middle.

In this blog, Learning Perspectives will explore the meaning of Motivation.

What is Motivation?

The movie’s name is Facing the giants. Giants are a metaphor for fear and failure. These are generally faced by all individuals at some phase of life. We certainly don’t find a coach standing close to us and telling us not to quit. Sometimes that coach can be in the form of a mentor, guide, manager, or friend.

Motivation is the drive, intensity, direction, and persistence towards a goal. In an organization, the focus is on the organizational goal.

Intensity– Generally related to how hard a person tries.

Direction– Efforts that move you closer to the goals that eventually benefit the organization.

Persistence– This relates to how long can the person go the distance i.e. how long the efforts can be maintained.

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Motivation involves these three key elements. A person is said to be motivated if all these elements are combined. A motivated person would stay with a task until goals are achieved.

There are many theories on motivation. One of the best-known theories is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. He said that every human being that exists has a hierarchy of 5 needs. These needs are:

Physiological: This includes hunger, shelter, money, and physical needs.

Safety: Includes security and protection from physical and emotional harm.

Social: Includes belongingness, acceptance, and friendship.

Esteem: Includes internal esteem factors such as status, fame, recognition, etc.

Self-actualization: The drive to become what one is capable of becoming which includes growth, achieving one’s potential, and self-fulfillment.

He says that one need cannot be achieved without meeting the previous one. These are like steps that an individual takes. If you want to motivate an individual, one needs to understand at which level is he/she operating. Only then an individual can be motivated. Physiological and safety needs are lower-order needs. While social, esteem, and self-actualization are considered as higher-order needs.

Douglas McGregor and Frederick Herzberg also formulated motivational theories. X and Y theory and hygiene theory were devised. McGregor proposed two distinct views of human beings, labeled as X and Y. X being negative while Y being positive.

Later, Clayton Alderfer revised Maslow’s need hierarchy and it was called the ERG theory. He argues that there are 3 core needs

Existence– Providing basic material needs

Relatedness– Desire for maintaining important interpersonal relationships.

Growth– An intrinsic desire for personal development.

Alderfer said that this theory doesn’t follow an order. One does not need to fulfill one need to move to next as proposed by Maslow.

People have a compelling drive to succeed. As Alderfer said, there might be no order for these needs. Growth which is an intrinsic desire for development can sometimes be so strong that existence needs become secondary in nature. This is due to the fact that we all are unique.

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The scene that you just saw, shows Gracie Hart (played by Sandra Bullock) who is trying to have a conversation with her boss (played by Ernie Hudson). The scene is set in a gym of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Gracie mentions that she is now ready to become the ambassador or the face of the Bureau. She says that she wants to be a positive role model for women. Meanwhile, Gracie gets into a fight with Sam Fuller, who is transferred to the bureau because of her anger management issues. In this blog, Learning Perspectives will explore the meaning of different roles adopted in organizations.

What are different roles in an Organization?

Shakespeare had said, ” World is a stage and we all are merely players.” He was right in saying so.

Individuals play different roles in this lifetime. A man can play diverse roles in his life both on the job and off-job. Understanding the behavior of a person is linked to understanding the role that they are playing in their lives. A woman can be a mother, daughter, sister, lover, daughter-in-law, wife, friend, etc. Her behavior changes with the group she is in, if she’s a religious person then her behavior is different in a prayer group and her behavior differs when she’s out with her friends the same day.

Similarly, roles in an organization change constantly. An employee assumes a subordinate role at the beginning of their career and gradually moves to a leadership role. An employees’ stance changes continuously. This can be seen while communicating with people from different levels in an organization.

Role Identity:

There are certain attitudes and actual behaviors consistent with a role and they create role identity. People can shift roles rapidly when the situation demands major changes.

Gracie is adopting a leadership stance when she tells her boss that she wants to be the face of the FBI.

Role Perception:

Our view of how we are supposed to act in a given situation.  It is based on an interpretation of how we believe we are supposed to behave.  These perceptions come from TV, social media, radio, friends, etc. We find random videos going viral every other day, many people tend to perceive things by the influence of such videos.

Similar to the scene that we just saw, Gracie Hart does not show any emotion, when her boss confronts her by asking ‘whether she had been crying’. To this Gracie replies that she doesn’t even have tear ducts. Gracie wants to be perceived as a tuff officer.

Role Expectations:

This is how others believe you should act. How one behaves is determined to a large extent by the role defined in the context in which you are acting.

Gracie Hart shows no sign of feminity as her job requires her to do so. She is a bright and capable agent yet she ignores her feminine energy as her role demands her to be masculine, stiff, and harsh.

Role Conflict:

When an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations, the result is role conflict.  It usually comes up when an individual finds that compliance with one role requirement would make it more difficult to comply with other role requirements.

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Case breakdown: Movie Office Space

The scene that you just saw shows how Milton (played by Stephen Root) is being continuously being shifted from one cubicle to another. It is being shows that after moving four times, boss again comes to move him to another cubicle. He is now being asked to sit downstairs. Milton feels humiliated when he is asked to take care of the cockroaches.

In this blog, Learning Perspectives explores the meaning of deviant workplace behavior.

What is Deviant Workplace behavior?

The scene that you saw above falls into the category of deviant workplace category. It represents employees being exposed to behavior that isn’t in the employees’ best interest. They intentionally violate established norms and that result in negative consequences for the organization.

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Fewer organizations admit to creating such condoning conditions that encourage and maintain deviant norms. Yet they exist. Employees do report an increase in rudeness and disregard of others by bosses. Generally half of these employees who have suffered this incivility report that it has led them to think about changing jobs and many of them quit their current job.

As with norms in general, individual employees’ antisocial actions are shaped by the group context within which they work. Evidence demonstrates that the antisocial behavior exhibited by a work group is a significant predictor of an individual’s antisocial behavior at work. In other words, deviant workplace of behavior is likely to flourish where it is supported by group norms.

These norms can lead to reduced employee productivity and motivation is likely to suffer.

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The scene that you just saw shows how Moti (played by Amitabh Bachchan) is extracting sap from palm trees. This sweet drink is later used for brown sugar/jaggery production. Mahjubhi (played by Nutan) pours the hot liquid into molds to cool it down and  make blocks of jaggery/brown sugar or gud (in hindi).

In this blog, Learning Perspectives explore the meaning of operating cycle.

What is Operating Cycle?

Operating cycle is a term used in organizations. It is also called the cash conversation cycle. Operating cycle is the time between the acquisition of an asset for processing and its conversion into cash. Similar to the scene we saw, purchasing the raw material, processing it to make a finished product, selling it and converting into cash and cash equivalents.

Operating cycle is determined for each class of business separately. For example, if someone has 2-3 businesses dealing with manufacturing, construction and or trading. Then operating cycle will be determined for each business separately.

The scene that you saw shows palm trees, which is the raw material from which sweet sap is being extracted out of it. Then it goes through the step of processing. This sap is being boiled to make sugar syrup to form jaggery. Entire process of acquiring the palm trees to the formation of jaggery till earning cash from it. This cycle is referred to as the operating cycle.

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Operating cycle helps in understanding how much time does a company take:

To sell its inventory.

Collect bills

Pay suppliers

Calculating Operating Cycle:

Formula for calculating operating cycle is inventory time in storage plus time to collect cash from sales.

Similar to the scene we saw, once jaggery/ brown sugar is prepared, it remains with Moti (Amitabh Bachchan) till it is sold and he receives cash by selling it.

Operating Cycle= Period of inventory storage + Account receivable period

Another way of writing this can be:

Operating Cycle = 365/Average Inventory + 365/ Average receivables

where, Average inventory= Beginning+Closing Inventory/2

Average Receivables= Beginning+Closing Receivables/2

If the operating cycle of a company is more than 12 months, i.e.

Time taken to purchase the raw material- 3 Months

Processing of raw material- 6 months

Held in Inventory as finished good- 3 months

Finished good converted into accounts receivables- 3 months

Accounts receivables Realized

If a product of a company goes through the above steps and it takes them more than 12 months, then all liabilities are shown as current liabilities as if they are due for settlement in 15 months.

Written by: Ms.Gitika Chandra

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This scene shows you how Q , Quartermaster of Q division reaches out to James Bond with a car insurance damage form. He asks Bond whether he will need collision coverage, to which Bond replies in affirmative. Q goes on to ask about fire, property damage  and personal injury. Q is

In this blog, Learning Perspectives will explore Car Insurance.

What is Car Insurance?

Car insurance, motor Insurance or auto Insurance helps in protecting the vehicle from damage or risks associated with the vehicle. This insurance protects your financial loss against accident or theft. Car insurance provides coverage for:

Property- Theft or damage to the vehicle.

Liability- Legal responsibility for physically injuring others or causing damages.

Medical- Cost of treating medical injuries.

Motor insurance usually covers the following:

The damages to the vehicle due to the following perils  are usually covered under OD section of the Motor Insurance policy:

Fire, Explosion, Self- Ignition, Lightning

Burglary/Housebreaking / Theft

Riot & Strike

Earthquake

Flood, Storm, Cyclone, Hurricane, tempest, inundation, hailstorm, frost

Accidental external means

Malicious Act

Terrorism acts

While in Transit by Rail/ Road, Inland waterways, Lift, Elevator or Air

Land slide / Rock slide

Minimum coverage depends upon the coverage chosen by an individual.

Insurance Costs:

Premiums payable for the car insurance depends on many variables. Different insurance providers charge different premiums. Before buying a car insurance, it would be wise to compare prices across various platforms.

For Own Damage:

The Sum Insured under a Motor Insurance policy reflects the value of the motor vehicle determined based on the concept known as Insured's Declared Value.

It is the value arrived at based on the Manufacturer's present value and depreciation based on the Age of the Vehicle.

For Third Part Damage:

Compulsory Personal accident cover for owner-driver is also included. Policy can also be extended to cover various other risks like Personal Accident to occupants of vehicle, Workmen's Compensation to Driver, etc over and above the cover available to him under statute.

References:

https://www.policyholder.gov.in/Why_Buy_Motor_Insurance.aspx

Written by: Ms. Gitika Chandra

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Truman (played by Jim Carrey) is an insurance agent in the movie, who discovers that his whole life is actually a reality TV show.

The scene that you just saw shows Truman (played by Jim Carrey) is trying to have a conversation with his wife. When his wife has nothing to say to Truman, she starts promoting Mococoa drink. She says 'that they are all natural cocoa beans, no artificial sweetener' in the middle of a conversation. When Truman questions her, she lifts the slicing knives (Chef's pal) to threaten him.

What is Product placement?

It is a form of advertisement that is embedded in a production to cater to a large audience. This could be a film, TV show or a web series or a promotional event. A product is placed in between scene to promote the use and benefit of the product. There are two brands being promoted in the above scene. One is the 'Mococoa drink' and other is 'Chef's Pal'.

Companies pay production houses in terms of goods, services or cash for this product placement. Product placement generally creates a positive impact on the minds of the consumer. When James Bond uses a Sony Ericsson phone and drives Ford car, audiences are influenced by these tactics.

Subtle tactics are used by the advertisers to do so. Although this advertisement is not so subtle in 'The Truman Show'.

Many people believe that this is a dishonest and deceptive way to market their product. Product placements create different attitudes towards a brand which might urge people to purchase the product.

Sony Ericsson mobile is being shown for its features of navigation which is subtly placed in the movie. Product placement is a big business for movies and TV series alike. Total global product placement industry, across films, TV shows and music videos, is said to be worth $20.6bn (£15bn) in 2019, according to a report by data analysis firm PQ Media.

Now, many ads are also being digitally added to old and new movies. According to Mr. Taylor who is a chief executive of company Ryff,( digital insertion) says that the technology forms an attractive bridge between the demand for high-quality content free from intrusive advertising, and alternative sources of content provider revenue.

For more information: https://learningperspectives.in/blog/what-is-product-placement/

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The scene that you saw shows Tia confessing to Jazz Singh (played by Saif Ali khan) that he could be her father. Jazz Singh’s intentions seem very different towards Tia while she is narrating a story that her mother told her. Her mother mentioned that there were 3 men in her life (options) and either of them could be her father. Tia finally tells Jazz that there is a 33.33% chance that Jazz is her father. This revelation leaves him aghast.

In this blog, Learning Perspectives will explore the meaning of Probability.

What is the meaning of Probability?

Probability is a numerical value that represents the chance, likelihood, possibility that an event will occur (always between 0 and 1).  The concept of probability was developed by Jacob Bernoulli, Thomas Baye. It was later refined by many others including Laplace. Earlier, probability was applied mostly on gambling tables. Later, it was discovered that it can be applied to social, economic, political and business problems as well.

A classic example to understand probability is when a deck of cards is shuffled, probability of getting each card is 1/52. There are 52 cards in a playing deck, hence when we draw any random card, likelihood of drawing that card would be one divided by fifty two. [Denominator indicates total number of cards]

Similar to the scene that we saw, if there are 3 options (Men, in this case) and only one can be Tia’s  father, hence probability is 1/3 or 33.333%. [denominator indicates the total no. of men]

Deep understanding of probability helps business owners to deal with uncertainty in finding business solutions. They can assess risks involved in each alternatives and eventually minimize risk.

Classical approach:

This approach was the earliest in probability. This school of thought says that outcomes of an experiment have equal odds of happening. For example: from a well shuffled deck of cards, probability of  drawing a heart is 13/52=1/4. There are 13 cards each of heart, spades, clubs and diamonds. Probability of drawing a black card would be 13*2= 26; 26/52=1/2 [ Spades and Clubs are black while hearts and diamonds are red].

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Empirical approach:

This approach is based on observed data. For example: we want to know how many times a head will turn up if we toss a coin 1000 times. We toss a coin 1000 times and then we can draw our answer based on the observations of our experiment.

If an experiment is performed n times under the same conditions and there are ‘a’ outcomes. a<=n, favoring an event, then an estimate of the probability of that event is the ration a/n

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One should understand that we might never obtain the probability of an event as given by the above limit. We can try to have a close estimate of P (E) based on large n. However this approach does emphasis that probability involves a long run concept.

Subjective approach:

This approach is solely based on the intuition of a person. It is vague and rarely accurate. For example: On a particular day, a person might feel that there is a 40% probability that it will rain on that day.

Though these are different schools of thoughts, there is no conflict on foundation of probability at mathematical level as each school defines probability as ration or a proportion. Any approach can be used depending on the problem.

Tia used the classical approach, when she considered equal likelihood of either of them being her father. A probability of 1/3 or 33.333%.

Written by: Ms. Gitika Chandra

https://learningperspectives.in/blog/what-is-probability/

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“Wasn’t that the definition of home? Not where you are from, but where you are wanted.”

— Abraham Verghese

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True That!

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Case breakdown: Movie Matrix

The scene that you saw shows you how Thomas Anderson, a computer programmer is being told by his boss to start respecting his job and report on time to the office. His boss thinks that Anderson has a problem with authority and considers himself as special. Boss wants him to either be on time or look for opportunities outside the company. Anderson is regularly late to his job due to dissatisfaction with the current role.

In this blog, Learning Perspectives will decode the meaning of job satisfaction.

What is Job Satisfaction?

The term job satisfaction refers to a collection of feelings that an individual holds towards his or her job. A person with high levels of job satisfaction holds positive feelings towards the current job while someone who is dissatisfied hold negative feelings towards the job.

When people speak of employee attitudes, more often than not they mean job satisfaction. Similar to the scene that we saw, Mr. Anderson’s boss talks about his attitude at job while Mr. Anderson isn’t satisfied with his job.

How to measure Job Satisfaction?

Job satisfaction can be measured through two approaches:

Single global rating

Summation Score that is made up of number of job facets.

Single global rating is a single question that employees need to answer, i.e. ‘how satisfied are you with the job?’. After this employees can rate it through a number of 1 through 5 that would correspond to highly dissatisfied to highly satisfied.

Summation approach identifies key elements of a job such as nature of work, payment structure, supervisor, co-workers, relations, promotion opportunities etc. These factors are rated and summed up to understand overall job satisfaction of an employee.

According to various researches, it has been found that there is a direct correlation between job satisfaction and employees’ productivity, absenteeism and turnover. It can be said that happy employees are more productive.

Employee Dissatisfaction:

When an employee is dissatisfied with his job, this reflect in his behavior. For example, employee can become insubordinate, can complain, shrug responsibility etc. There can be four other responses too such as constructive or destructive, active or passive.

1. Exit:

When an employee is dissatisfied, he would look for new opportunities outside of the organization. This would support his idea of leaving the company through resignation.

2. Voice:

He could actively attempt to improve the conditions by suggesting improvements, discussing problems with the manager or some form of union activity.

3. Loyalty:

Passively wait for conditions to improve and trusting the management would make the situation okay.

4. Neglect:

Passively allowing conditions to worsen, including lateness and absenteeism, reduced effort and increase in errors.

It is always useful to understand your current situation and take steps accordingly. This would reduce feelings of frustration and neglect for the company and employee would have clarity around the job.

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Case breakdown: Movie Spider Man: Too far away from home

The scene that you just saw shows Peter Parker trying on a pair of glasses gifted to him by Tony Stark (Iron man). As he wears these glasses, he meets Edith. Edith is Tony's Augmented Reality system.

In this blog, Learning Perspectives will explore the meaning of Augmented Reality.

What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality is the new reality created by the digital world through sensory stimuli using sounds, visuals etc. through technology. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality today have become the most desired tools for an organization.

Augmented Reality is defined as direct or indirect view of physical reality whose elements are augmented through computer generated information. Similar to the scene that we saw, Sunglasses that were gifted to Peter has EDITH which is the augmented reality defense system.

Augmented Reality has been used by shoppers to a different level of experience. In fact, there has been evidence that customers are deriving benefits from the augmented reality functionality and more could be seen in the future.  Another scene that shows usage of augmented reality is from the Minority report.

The scene from the Minority Report shows the use of augmented reality in marketing and advertising. This form is more communicative in nature and also personalized.  It shows how John Anderton's (played by Tom Cruise) eye is being scanned on every corner and personalized ads are being displayed. One of them says 'John Anderton you could use a Guinness right about now.'

Later as John replaces his eyeball (movie plot), he apparently has eyes of Mr. Yakomoto. As he goes into GAP store, a lady greets him and recommends tank tops to him.

Augmented reality and Virtual reality are different too. Augmented Reality uses the current reality and puts virtual information on top of it to increase the experience for the user. While in case of Virtual reality, it immerses the user in a different environment. This is carried out through computers. Think virtual reality games. For example: Beat Saber, it is a music-rhythm movement/dance game that's done so well, it's already in arcades. Slash blocks in particular directions, avoid bombs, duck obstacles, and suddenly it's a workout.

Virtual reality gaming industry in China is quite big. China had 3000 virtual reality arcades in 2016. In 2021, it is estimated this will grow 13 folds to US billion $782. This growth would dominate the AR/VR world for long-term. At Shanghai’s VR+ Amusement Park, a new game lands only once every three months. Chinese giants Alibaba and Baidu, is investing in virtual online shopping and VR entertainment

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Case breakdown: Movie Joy

The scene that you just saw shows Neil Walker (played by Bradley Cooper) is showing Joy (played by Jennifer Lawrence) how a sales process works. He is showing her how the necklace sale is being presented on TV which is triggering phone calls for the salesperson.

Necklace is priced at a value of $100, and it is being sold $39,99. Sales pitch is being presented in a way that makes people call and buy the product.

What is a Sales Process?

Sales process helps the organization makes more money. Sales process consists of the following steps:

Prospecting

Preparing

Approaching

Presentation

Objection handling

Closing

Follow-up

Generally sales development handles two types of leads. The first is often referred to as inbound leads which is given by the marketing department. These are in the form of marketing campaigns and content creation that bring visitors to the website. Marketers leverage social media to form a connect with the client and build trust.

📷 Another type of leads are the outbound leads that pushes message out to the audience. It can also be called ‘in-your face’ advertising such as TV advertisements, bill-board ads, print ads etc. The scene shown  is a form of outbound advertising, people are not specifically looking for necklaces but they are being advertised on TV and demand is being created for them. Women are calling in to talk to celebrities who are selling the product. Both inbound and outbound method require deep understanding of the segmentation of the target audience.

Prospecting:

In this stage, organization finds potential customers who are interested in the product or the service and whether they can afford the same or not. Understanding whether the customer requires your product/service or not means qualifying.

Preparation:

This means preparation for the initial contact with the customer. Researching the market and tailoring the product to the need of the customer.

Approaching:

This is the first contact with the customer, it means talking to the potential client either face-to-face or on phone.

Presentation:

Demonstrating to the client how your product matches their need and giving them a sales pitch. Actively listening to the customer and then responding to their demands works wonders for your product.

Objection Handling:

This means understanding and handling any objections raised by the customer. These could be in the form of cost, time, fear, product features etc. Carefully listening to the customer and solving their worries is advisable.

Closing:

This is a stage where the client confirms about buying the product or the service. Some decisions that need to be made in this stage includes paying upfront the entire amount or paying through equated monthly installments. Providing discount for a specific period of time and creating a sense of urgency for the customer also forms part of this stage.

Follow-up:

Once the customer has brought the product or service from you, understanding his/her customer service needs is important. Retention of customers gets the organization repeat orders and also referrals for future.