Career Development in Film: Working Girl and Love & Basketball

Introduction

Career development and progression has changed drastically in the modern era after thousands of years of basic stagnation. It was not that long ago when one's profession — if one were male — was all but completely determined by one's father's profession, and by his father's before that. While there may have been some limited ability to make a lateral move, or even the very rare upward step on the socioeconomic ladder, most people were relegated to the same job and place in society that their family had occupied for generations. With the rise of the merchant class and the advent of capitalism — not to mention the democratic forces that began to foment in the eighteenth century — this picture changed, and individuals became capable of substantially altering their lot in life. The right ideas and, more importantly, the passion and willingness to work hard can lead to the acquisition of great satisfaction and wealth, making career development something truly possible.

In the twenty-first century, the ability to create upward mobility and expand career options is largely tied to specialized knowledge bases. The rise of the knowledge worker has been examined in career development literature and by educators and employers alike, and is changing the face of modern industry and career development studies (Zunker, 2006). This shift can be seen in the decades immediately preceding the turn of the twenty-first century as well as at the very dawn of that century itself.

Working Girl is a 1988 film with what is ultimately a fairly predictable plot, but its engaging script and characters helped make it a success. More importantly for our purposes, this film contains a wealth of specific examples regarding the influences that shape career development and career choices in the modern era. The primacy of knowledge as a driver of professional advancement is made clear throughout, even though the story takes place before the pace of information became truly supercharged. A later film that presents a very different view of career development — but that also demonstrates the importance of knowledge in a unique way — is Love & Basketball (2000), which details two characters' journeys toward professional basketball careers. Both films also reveal the impact that gender and romantic relationships have on career development, a complication markedly different from anything seen in previous centuries.

Working Girl: Plot and Career Context

In this film, Melanie Griffith stars as Tess McGill, a secretary at a large financial company who has just completed her bachelor's degree by attending night school. Her plan is to escape the secretary pool and eventually become an executive. A series of hopeful incidents followed by setbacks finds her working under a female boss, and she thinks things might actually be improving — until she discovers that her boss intends to steal Tess's idea and present it as her own. This is when the plot truly begins to thicken.

With her boss sidelined by a broken leg, Tess arranges a meeting with key players involved in her merger idea and begins to bring it to fruition, posing as an executive at her company. During this process, she discovers that Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford) — another executive she enlisted under false pretenses — is the same man who had taken her home after she passed out at a party. Despite her embarrassment, she forges ahead, and the deal moves toward completion. When her boss returns and attempts to take credit for the idea — humiliating Tess by pointing out that she is "just a secretary" — Jack Trainer comes to her defense, insisting that she is the true leader behind the deal. The two cement their romantic relationship, and Tess is offered an executive position at one of the companies involved in the merger. Her overall arc moves from underpaid and undervalued secretary to well-compensated professional in a fulfilling relationship, while Jack becomes less cynical and finds both personal and professional happiness.

Both Tess McGill and Jack Trainer are clear examples of knowledge workers: it is their ideas and their ability to analyze opportunities and environments that makes them valuable to their companies and enables them to create new possibilities for themselves. This type of worker was a relatively rare asset in previous eras of business; there was always some need for such people, but it generally existed only at the very top of organizations (Zunker, 2006). As Tess especially demonstrates, these workers are now essential at all levels of modern organizations.

Tess and Jack as Knowledge Workers

The productivity of manual workers can only be increased by designing more efficient ways of carrying out their tasks — at some point, it is physically impossible for them to work any faster (Drucker, 2000). With knowledge workers, however, productivity is essentially limitless: new ideas cannot be measured in the same way as rote output, making the potential created by knowledge workers far greater than that of manual workers (Drucker, 2000). It is precisely this reality that drives Tess in her desire to climb the corporate ladder, and it is also recognized by Jack Trainer in his growing appreciation for her both as a professional and as a person. Career development and progress is largely a matter of being able to generate and apply specific ideas built on solid knowledge bases (Zunker, 2006).

The relationship that develops between Tess and Jack is only one instance of external relationships affecting work performance. Tess's male boss at the film's outset essentially fires her — having her relocated — after a sexual comment she made about him becomes public, demonstrating the risks of such dynamics in an office setting. Beyond that, Tess discovers that her boyfriend is cheating on her at the very same time her career seems to have stalled entirely. Being unfulfilled in both her professional and personal life lowers her self-esteem and reduces her effectiveness in trying to change her circumstances (Zunker, 2006). It is only when she makes a major change that her trajectory shifts and she becomes capable of progress in both areas.

Tess McGill is clearly placed in the establishment stage of her professional life in this film — indeed, the film is precisely a study of the early efforts to establish herself in a specific career (Zunker, 2006). This stage of professional development is characterized by various trials — in potentially both senses of the word: different paths that are tested, as well as situations involving stress and conflict — and eventual stabilization (Zunker, 2006). Tess attempts several different approaches to moving ahead and faces a great deal of conflict, but ultimately achieves stability in her new career. Jack Trainer, by contrast, appears to be in the next stage of professional development — the maintenance stage — which is characterized by continual adjustments to improve one's position, rather than the disruptive trials of the establishment phase (Zunker, 2006). Even though Tess disrupts Jack's life to some degree, he uses his association with her to improve rather than to radically alter his career.

Conclusion

Nickols, F. (2000). What is in the world of work and working. In J. W. Cortada & J. A. Woods (Eds.), The knowledge management yearbook. Butterworth-Heinemann.

Zunker, V. (2006). Career counseling. Cengage.