SIMSREE 2011-13

Shawshank Redemption Movie Analysis Assignment

(Teamwork & Reviewing)

PERSPECTIVE MANAGEMENT

Group (P 1151-60)

SYDENHAM INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RESEARCHAND ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION

(2011-13)

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SIMSREE 2011-13

SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (REVIEW & TEAMWORK)

Movie Overview The movie depicts Tim Robbins starred as Andy Dufresne, a young successful banker who has been put behind the bars on the charges of killing his own wife and her lover for which he is sentenced for life. He is sent to Shawshank prison, a depressing place where convicts get ruffed by guards and prisoners.

At first, he was considered to be snobby, but then noticed to be a bit different from other guys who would live life as a carefree person. The day he had set his foot in the prison premises he knew he had to escape from there. While adjusting to prison life, Andy encounters a few bullies which encourage him to befriend a few inmates including ‘Red’ a specialist in smuggling items into the prison for other prisoners and a few other prisoners.

One day some of the convicts get a job to repair the rooftop. There he provides to help the captain to cut down on the taxes & for the favour; he demands 3 beers a piece for each of his co-workers. This is how he wins over some goodwill of the inmates. It also served as an ice breaker among them. This was an important initial step towards building a good team.Thus he also gets the guards on his side by offering the captain to solve his insurance/tax problems, setting up a trust fund for their child’s education. He calls himself as a convicted murderer providing sound financial knowledge. From then on, Andy always seems to be working on one thing or another.

He succeeds in procuring funds for expanding the library. He improves the prison library to get access to texts and contact with the outside world. He helps the Warden with his account balance sheets and book keeping.  Over the years, he gains the respect of most of the other prisoners and guards. More importantly, he never loses hope for the future – a hope he tries to pass on to the other prisoners. He never stops believing in life’s possibilities, but to make the most of them he needs to be free. He also finds a great friend in Red and both of them form a formidable team.

Over the years, he manages to get access to few tools for his escape like a rock hammer, several posters to hide his digging, rocks and eventually a rope. Then carefully planning his escape decides to let Red on to his plan and tells him about the fake identity that he had created for the warden to manage his black money. Although he never discloses about his plans to dig the tunnel for the escape from his cell with the help of several tools that he could attain only after being in good terms with Red and his friends. Due to good knowledge in geology Andy never raised a suspicion among his inmate friends regarding the tools that he had asked Red to smuggle into the prison.

At last when the time was right Andy disappears from is cell owing to which the warden remains shell shocked, as he realizes about the plan which Andy had executed under his nose. Due to the news being leaked to media about the murder of an inmate in prison, the warden realizes the humiliation that he will have to undergo instead of being honoured at the time of his retirement which he was banking on owing to the accounts that Andy had maintained. He commits suicide thereby completing the plan laid by Andy to avenge his student’s death. Thus, we can comprehend the qualities like patience and loyalty, from the passage, that Andy had to endure in order to achieve freedom. We can relate it to our life as rightfully quoted by Robert Kiyosaki.

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SIMSREE 2011-13 “Remember to dream big, think long-term, underachieve on a daily basis, and take baby steps. That is the key to long-term success. The only difference between a rich person and poor person is how they use their time”

Teamwork“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself” – Henry Ford on teamwork.

For any team to be successful, you have to get good people on board. Andy did the smart thing by gaining the support of “Red”- the prison scrounger, who could get things inside the prison. This way he got his rock hammer – which eventually played a big role in helping him escape. Because of his friendship with Red, he got an opportunity to tar the prison roof, where he overheard the Guard Captain Hadley complain about having to pay taxes on an inheritance. Andy gives him advice on how to avoid taxes. Hadley accepts Andy’s advice and rewards him and his co-workers (soon to be friends) with a beer break. Later on it found that the Tim himself doesn’t drink. He made the arrangement for his newly found friends. He had the opportunity to ask anything favourable for himself from the warden, but instead he thought about his team first and decided for the cold beers. The act was selfless and shows that the character prioritized the team before self. This is one of the main qualities required in a team work driven goals.

Andy is a true team player as though, he has his secretive plan for his freedom, while in prison he makes the life of the inmates better. Using his education and intelligence he writes to the authorities for donation, to expand the prison library. On getting the approval, he along with his friends manages the entire library and on arrival of Maine state senate officials to review the library, they portray the good example of teamwork by standing behind the leader united. After Andy is able to secure a steady stream of funding from various sources, the library is further renovated and named for Brooks

Reviewing“Review your goals twice every day in order to be focused on achieving them.” – Les Brown (American Entrepreneur) on Reviewing

One can learn from the movie that reviewing the work done is very important in order to achieve the satisfactory outcome especially after the huge amount of efforts put behind the aimed objective. Reviewing always helps in correcting the mistakes committed in the past which again help in avoiding the repetition of mistakes.

Andy follows up tirelessly with the authorities for donation to expand the prison library. His only means of persuasion is letters. He keeps at it till all his requirements are met. When Andy uses a rock hammer to dig a tunnel, he knows it will take him two decades but that is the only way he can accomplish the job, without letting anybody suspect him. 

Key LearningThe movie has a lot of management lessons. The very important learning is about team work which is today necessary in any organization. The work load can be distributed reinforcing individual capabilities. It can create atmosphere of easier work for everybody rather than a stress on an individual thereby increasing productivity of the whole team. Reviewing of the work is as

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SIMSREE 2011-13important as the hard work we put in planning and executing a task. Continuous follow up of how much work is done and how much more needs to be done helps in proper management of time and other resources. This helps in increasing the efficiency.

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