Power and Resistance in Working Girl: An Organizational Analysis
This paper examines power dynamics and resistance strategies depicted in the 1988 film Working Girl, directed by Mike Nichols, through the lens of three scholarly works on organizational behavior. Drawing on Fleming and Spicer's (2007) typology of struggle, Buchanan and Badham's (2008) framework of organizational politics and change, and Thomas et al.'s (2011) research on communication and power-resistance relations, the paper identifies several distinct faces of resistance exercised by the film's protagonist, Tess, against her antagonist, Katherine. The analysis demonstrates how the film illustrates real organizational phenomena, including the theft of subordinates' ideas, the use of executive power to suppress dissent, and the role of social relationships in legitimizing resistance within corporate hierarchies.
- Introduction to Power and Resistance Frameworks: Overview of three scholarly sources on organizational power
- Fleming and Spicer: Struggle and Corporate Power: Four types of organizational struggle and resistance
- Buchanan and Badham: Politics and Organizational Change: Political factions and change agents within organizations
- Working Girl as Organizational Case Study: Film introduced as a lens for organizational theory
- Tess's Active Resistance: Impersonation and Agency: Tess impersonates executive to reclaim stolen idea
- Katherine's Counterresistance and Conventional Power: Katherine uses rank and credibility to suppress Tess
- Social Power and the Struggle Over Interests: Romantic rivalry as a dimension of resistance
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds its film analysis in three distinct scholarly sources, each contributing a different conceptual layer — typology of struggle, political change agency, and communicative power relations — creating a multi-framework analytical approach.
- It moves systematically through specific scenes and character actions, tying each back to named theoretical concepts (e.g., "change agent," "struggle over interests"), which demonstrates applied critical thinking rather than plot summary.
- The paper acknowledges the fictional nature of its source material while making a defensible claim that the film reflects real organizational dynamics, strengthening its analytical validity.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper exemplifies applied theoretical analysis: rather than describing the film in general terms, it maps specific character actions onto named constructs from each academic source — for example, identifying Tess's impersonation as the face of resistance that accesses "change agent" power as theorized by Buchanan and Badham. This technique shows how theoretical frameworks can be used as interpretive lenses on non-academic texts.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a literature review section summarizing each of the three scholarly sources in turn. It then introduces Working Girl as a case study and proceeds scene by scene, identifying distinct faces of resistance and connecting each to the relevant theoretical framework. The conclusion is embedded in the final analytical paragraph rather than in a separate section. Citations follow APA style throughout.
Introduction to Power and Resistance Frameworks
Fleming and Spicer's 2007 work, Contesting the Corporation: Struggle, Power and Resistance in Organizations, details the phenomena of power and resistance to power within organizations. Approximately the final third of the book analyzes power and resistance from threats external to an organization. The authors largely deconstruct the relationships between power and resistance within a political context, making clear that they side with the individual rather than with the corporation and its representatives — upper-level management and similar figures. The authors encapsulate the political aspect of power and resistance within the even broader context of struggle. To that end, they identify four variations of struggle: those over action, which become manifest as refusal and coercion; those over activities, which are manifested as voice and manipulation; those over interests, which are manifested as domination and escape; and those over identity, which are manifested as creation and subjectification.
Buchanan and Badham's 1999 work, Power, Politics and Organizational Change, considers the aspect of change within organizations largely as a result of various manifestations of politics. The differing political factions that exist within an organization arise largely from various mechanisms and constructs of power. The manuscript acknowledges that there are a number of competing political interests driving organizational change, and that the manipulation of power and politics in this regard is not always negative — a position that contrasts with the largely implied view in Fleming and Spicer's work. By concentrating on internal agents of change, Buchanan and Badham put forward four key concepts: first, that politics and differing power groups are a reality in virtually any organization; second, that politics shapes change even when it is suppressed; third, that the power behind politics can do both good and harm; and fourth, that development for managers can benefit both managers and agents of change.
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