The Wolf of Wall Street

1. Identify and briefly describe 5 concepts or ideas related to talent management (min 500 words).

With any Wall Street firm, employees must possess certain characteristics, behaviors and values that will allow them to be successful in highly competitive environment. As it relates to talent management, the firm must be able to evaluate these characteristics within individuals and determine if these skills can aid the overall business operations of the franchise. The first concept displayed in the firm is talent acquisition and retention. This talent management concept is directly related to the ability of Jordan Belfort to find and acquire like-minded individuals. In his case, these individuals must be very competitive and have an insatiable spirit for financial gain. These two concepts where reinforced by retention activities designed to keep employees engaged. This concept included very large sales bonuses to brokers who could get their clients to purchase certain stocks or lavish parties. In certain scenes of the movie, the management team even went so far as to entice men with sex as a means of encouraging, motivating and retaining them within the firm (Allen, 2010).

The second concept of the film relates to performance management. Here, management-based performance solely on sales, investment gains and transaction volume. Management would even use illegal means ensure that their performance was high. For example, the firm used illegal pump and dump schemes which where designed to artificially inflate the stock price in an effort to later sell the overvalued stock in the market. They even issued illegal guidance and performance expectations for stocks. This selling of securities to wealthy clients through a manipulative manner were the only criteria used to evaluate broker performance.

The third concept is that of strategic employee planning. Here, Jordan used this concept to mask the overall illegal activities of his firm. He named his company Stratton Oakmont to sound much more sophisticated while also masking his illegal activities. He also used a complicated network of banks to help obfuscate and hide the wealth of his firm in a strategic manner.

The fourth concept related to talent management is that of learning and motivating. Here again Belfort use a variety of tactics to motivate his employees such as prostitutes, drugs, lavish parties and bonuses throughout the film. This concept helped to incentivize adverse and often illegal behavior on the part of his associated and employees. This talent management concept also allowed many of his employees to become wealthy as they leveraged their competitive spirit to better engage in activities designed to increase their bonuses or lifestyle

The final talent management concept employed in the film was that of compensation. Throughout the film, Belfort rewarded his associates and employees handsomely. He did so as a means of retaining their services within the firm and preventing them from going to competitors. This ultimately help to further incentivize behaviors that enriched not only Belfort, but the firm overall (Schuler, 1987).

2. From a talent management perspective, what is the message of this movie? Do you agree or disagree with it? (min 500 words)

From a talent management perspective the message of the movie is that leadership will obtain behaviors that they reinforce and incentivize within their own organizations. The firm also bolsters the argument around servant leadership and its implications to talent management. Here, the behaviors that management does are often mimicked by lower level employees. From a talent management perspective, leadership is a critical element in the manner in which the organization operates (Huselid, 1997)

When reviewing the film, management heavily used incentives that catered the needs and well-being of its employees. This included large salaries, bonuses, lavish parties and overall aggressive sales environment. However, due in part to management greed, they ignored the overall damage being done to both clients and their overall brand image. From a talent management perspective, leaders in the organization blatantly disregarding the rules governing the securities markets and instead look to engage in behavior that improved their well-being at the expense of clients. This likewise, showed employees that illegal behavior within the organization would be tolerated so long as produced profits for the firm.

From the film, the firm did not engage in an inclusive environment, which is a critical component with the talent management doctrine. Here, having a diverse array of employees and individuals may have mitigated the excesses of the organization. Here, the organization was primarily dominated by young white males looking to scam their wealthy clients through pump and dump schemes. From a talent management perspective, this only harmed the firm as...

…that dont align with those of the client. In the case of the film, the business providers had an incentive to sell high commission stocks irrespective of their suitability for the client. This issue was exacerbated by the pump and dump schemes and other illegal transactions of the firm. These transactions not only earned the firm a large amount of money, they also incentivized low lvel employees to continue to conduct themselves in an irresponsible manner (Sharma, 2017).

To combat this, organizations need to align incentives with behaviors. In the case of the film, incentives and behaviors where misaligned. The incentives which include drugs, sex, and parties where tied to illegal acts and salesmanship. No regard with given to the end result of the customer. This led to millions of wealth customers getting defrauded and ultimately losing significant sums of money to individuals who where not interested in their financial futures or outcomes. This is not unique to the Wolf of Wall Street, but also the 2008 financial crisis. Repeatedly, bank executives and wall street royalty are able to defraud millions of people and still walk away with millions of dollars themselves. Here, the legal system also has some accountability here as well as the system allows criminal to get away with stealing the money of millions of hard-working Americans (Blake, 1990).

Finally, the third managerial implication is that of checks and balances within the system to ensure that employees are behaving in a desired manner. Here, employees need to act with integrity and a customer forces that supports the integrity of the capital markets. However, due to the lack of checks and balances with the wall street organization, employee behavior was allowed to grow unchecked. For an organization to be successful in must have automatic checks and balances to ensure that employees are conducting themselves in a manner that is aligned with that of management. This ensure that customers services standards are maintained in an appropriate manner. It also ensures that employees fully understand the expectations of their work product and behavior within the organization. Finally, it allows society to feel comfortable knowing that the business has adequate standards of excellence designed to solve their financial problems. This not only enhances the brand of the firm but improves the integrity of…