Eoc Week 3: "9 to 5"

The movie “9 to 5” is a classic comedy about three secretaries kill their boss. The producers of the movie got the idea for the film from an article they ready about how someone tried to kill their boss. The movie became very popular during its time because everyone seemed to be able to relate to the movie in someway. Although the movie is shown as a comedy it really is the way that most women felt when working in the business world surrounded by so many egotistical men. It was right around this time that women were making their way into the work force, positioning themselves in jobs more than just desk receptionists. This movie pushed the envelope and helped get the whole concept out there and moving. The movie created quite the movement.

What many people don’t know is the makers of the movie did actual market research to see if secretaries really felt this way about their bosses. The results they acquired were quite shocking. By conducting some simple applied research they gathered realistic information from real-life secretaries. Applied research is the type of research that you must conduct. The type of applied research they conducted I would say would have had to have been exploratory research. This would include qualitative research, in-depth interviews, and observations. This type of research helps clarify research in certain types of environments. The producers never came out and told us what they did to gather the exploratory research, but they did mention that they spoke to actual female secretaries about their views on their bosses. They could have simply done this by conducting a focus group. A focus group is where a group of people discuss their attitudes toward a product, idea, etc. This can be in an interactive setting or there can be a moderator helping the group to move along.

There were many ethical dilemmas referenced in the movie. These included killing your boss, office affairs, and sexism. Although these are very serious ethical dilemmas they film got around them by playing them off as jokes.