An Organizational Behavior Analysis of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Introduction

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy presents a useful and highly amusing case study of organizational behavior issues. It is wildly satirical with humor that applies as much to organizational issues as it does to the political and social send-ups that are more obvious.  In particular three characters are  the focus of the issues under discussion here.  The first of these  is the somewhat hapless hero, Arthur Dent, an ordinary, somewhat ineffectual Englishman whose house is about to be torn down to make way for a highway bypass.  The second character is Zaphd Beeblebrox, President of the Galaxy.  A third character is Slartibartfast, a Magrathian, who is a member of a race which constructs luxury planets for the super-rich in the galaxy, one of which was Earth. All characters in the movie are presented in contrast to Arthur Dent’s very unheroic figure.

Several organizational behavior issues are exemplified by these characters in this movie, but the two that this paper focuses on are first, work values, attitudes and moods, and second, perception and attribution.  In consideration of the issue of work values, attitudes and moods, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Slartibartfast provide  opposing exemplars.   In consideration of the issues of perception and attribution, Arthur Dent and Zaphod Beeblebrox again provide opposing exemplars.  Finally, looking at the combination of these three characters, and  in particular how Zaphod Beeblebrox interacts with the other two, provides an interesting interaction among these two main organizational issues.

Issues of Work Values, Attitudes, and Motivation

Zaphod Beeblebrox is President of the Galaxy and therefore sets the tone of the organizational structure of the Galaxy.  He sets the work values, attitudes and moods for the entire governmental organization.  Unfortunately, his example is poor at best. He either does not know or does not care about considering the facets of job satisfaction for anyone except himself.  In considering theories of motivation, Maslow’s five-level hierarchy of needs (i.e., physiological, security, social, ego, and self-actualization), Herzberg’s two-facets theory (motivator and hygiene), and McClelland’s trichotomy of needs (i.e., power, affiliation, and achievement) are all violated in various ways by Zaphod (George & Jones, 2004; Fisher, 2009).  Considering the Maslow theory of hierarchies, for example, Zaphod willingly violates the basic level of physiological needs of his subjects by casually signing (in the belief he was merely giving a fan an autograph) the order to destroy the Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass. He violates the security needs of the Galaxy by kidnapping himself and stealing the Galaxy’s only probability-drive spaceship. He violates the social needs of his subjects by isolating Trillian (Trisha McMillan) from the only other surviving Earthman, Arthur Dent—he doesn’t want Trillian to discover that he approved of Earth’s destruction. He violates the ego needs of virtually everyone around him with his constant demands to be the center of attention.  He violates the self-actualization needs of Arthur (not to mention a host of other needs) by willingly handing Arthur over to the transdimensional beings who contracted for the Earth as the supreme ultimate computer (these are of course the white mice); the mice planned to take Arthur’s brain in which is imprinted the ultimate answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything.

Just as Zaphod fails at meeting Maslow’s needs for his staff and subjects, he fails at both Herzberg’s two-factor theory in that the working conditions he provides for Trillian (who navigates the probability drive ship) and Marvin (the perpetually depressed robot).While physically clean, the emotional aura in the probability drive spaceship certainly does not meet their emotional needs. Nor does he provide any motivators for either Trillian or Marvin, reserving all credit and glory for himself. It is noticeable that Zaphod is very nearly the complete antithesis of a competent manager.

In contrast to Zaphod is Slartibartfast, who is the project manager of rebuilding Earth after the Vogons constructor fleet destroyed the planet by mistake.  Slartibarfast is not as present during the movie as Zaphod, but he clearly is on excellent terms with his workers, does not take inordinate credit for his achievements (though he does mention winning an award for designing the “fiddly bits” in Norway’s fjords), and he clearly has a customer-focused attention to detail, placing great emphasis on the importance of providing excellent customer service. He exemplifies a participatory management style, and  focuses his efforts on ensuring that the work is done with precision and that the workers—all of whom seem to regard him with respect—have no serious roadblocks. While instructions flow down from him to the workforce, there are also clear indications that information is also freely shared from the workforce to him, and among the skilled workforce itself; this is particularly evident at the end of the movie when suggestions for the ultimate fate of Earth, Mark II, arise once the transdimensional mice customers have been dispatched to their transdimensional fates (Williams & Lankford, 2003).

It is also interesting to compare the motivators (from McClelland’s trichotomy of needs theory) of various characters in this movie.  Zaphod and the captain of the Vogon constructor fleet are motivated more by power than either affiliation or achievement. Slartibartfast and Trillian are motivated more  by achievement than power or affiliation; Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect are motivated more by affiliation than by either power or achievement.

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