Submitted By: Curylo, Dagmara

Ghandi, Vim

Rossi, Robert

Sanfacon, Julie

Tapper, Marie

Wing, Kenneth

Submitted To: Dr Louis Pike

Ryerson University Organizational Behaviour CMHR 405

Question 1: Use a need-based theory of motivation to compare and contrast what is

motivating Gekko, Bud and Carl.

As we examine the movie “Wall Street”, we are faced with three distinct and diverse

individuals portrayed by Bud Fox, an ambitious young stock broker, Gordon Gekko an extremely

successful yet unscrupulous corporate raider and lastly Carl Fox a maintenance chief and union

representative at BlueStar Airlines. The three characters in the movie not only show their distinct

persona and character but also portray contrasting views on what motivates them individually.

Motivation is “the set of forces… that initiate work related behaviour and determine its

form, direction, intensity and duration.” (Sniderman, p. 108) So what really motivated our leading

man and hero Bud Fox? Bud was motivated by various factors throughout the movie, depending

on the situation, the context he finds himself in and the external factors and circumstances. As we

look at McClelland’s Theory of Learned Needs, it is evident that Bud was motivated by all three

preceding theories; Need for Achievement, Need for Power and Need for Affiliation at one point

or another.

Bud Fox is a rookie in his line of work; he stands amongst the endless crowd of other

brokers which he works with. He knows that he has not yet made a mark on Wall Street due to

the fact that he is selling bottom line stock. His job is to sell stock prior to his leads loosing

interest in his pitch. Bud’s biggest dream and motivating factor is to “be the one on the other

side”. He wants to be in the position of money, establishment and to one day be able to invest in

the stock market, hence his Need for Achievement. Our hero possesses three unique

characteristics as defined by McClelland,

“[he s]ets goals that are moderately difficult yet achievable… [he] likes to receive
feedback on [his] progress towards [the] goal…[and lastly he does] not like having external
events or other people interfere with [his] progress towards the goals.” (Sniderman, p. 113)

Bud is persistent in meeting with Gekko and calls him 59 days in a row. When he finally is

presented with the opportunity to talk business with Gekko, he does everything to make an

impression, even if it is not legal. He breaks the insider agreement and tells Gekko about his

father’s airline company. He receives feedback not only in large amounts of monetary gains but

also in Gordon accepting him and becoming a father figure who teaches young Bud the ropes of

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the industry. Lastly Bud doesn’t let his own father discourage him by regurgitating the idea that

the only way to live a good and prosperous life is to “create, instead of buying and selling of

others”.

When Bud feels a fragment of authority and accomplishment his motivation shifts for the

need of power. He proves himself to Gekko and gets the trophy girlfriend, a new position at work

and buys his new beautiful condo on the East side of Manhattan. In other words he starts living

the life of accomplishment and greed just like Gekko. Bud wants to change and be in control of

the people and events which will take place at BlueStar Airlines, thus proving his need for power.

He wants to expand the company and has his father’s and fellow workers’ best interest in mind.

When Bud realizes that his leader, Mr. Gekko is making $60 million dollars on the

BlueStar deal and also wants to close the company down, Bud longs for maintaining warm and

close relationships with his father and the other employees at the airline. At this stage Bud has

the Need for Affiliation, when morality hits him in the face, he needs to avert the conflict and

complication caused by the situation.

Gordon Gekko shows only one factor that motivates him which is to be the winner and

remain in the position of power. The need for ‘personal’ power not necessarily social which is

used for social benefit of many, is evident in Gekko’s actions throughout the movie. The need for

social power is falsely illustrated in the way he takes Bud under his wings, shows him how things

are done and tells him he is going to make him a millionaire. We soon realize that it is an illusion

because he uses Bud for his own personal gain. Status was a must for Gordon, “the more [he

rose] to the top of [the] organization, the greater [was his] ability to exercise power, influence, and

control as to make an impact.” (Sniderman, p. 113) In the case of Mr. Gekko, his greatest impact

was to benefit his own bank account, company and close people in his life. Greed consumed

him, blurred his morality and understanding for the collective well-being of the group such as the

employees of BlueStar Airlines. He is not concerned about the welfare and well-being of the men

who work for the airline or their soon to be starving families. He states to Bud that “nothing ruins

my day like losses”, indicating it is not about the money but the thrill of success and supremacy.

Hard and honest work does not work for Gekko, it is about doing things whichever way possible

to make millions. It’s not the money that motivates him. It’s the illusion of what money brings to an

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individual. Money can purchase status in upper society, luxury, materialistic possessions and the

position of superiority and control.

Lastly Carl Fox, Bud’s father, is motivated by the Need for Affiliation. Carl’s values could

not conflict more with those of Mr. Gekko. He has a different perspective on life, hard work and

accomplishment, thus his motivating factor is opposite of Gordon’s. He refers to the Union and

his hard working men often, expressing his interest in the workers and the company’s moderate

success. Carl expresses his satisfaction in life by letting his son know that he only makes $47K a

year, lives in Queens and likes working for an honest company such as BlueStar. Carl is

motivated by the close affiliations he possesses with the other airline’s staff. He not only respects

and values all of them, viewing them as family members but needs to maintain “warm, close,

intimate relationships with [these] people… [His] relationships with… [his men]… are close and

personal, and emphasize friendship and companionship”. (Sniderman, p. 113-114) Carl as a

Union representative and as the maintenance chief feels obligated not only to the company but to

his fellow workers. He wants to expand the business for BlueStar, but only if it’s done ethically

and to the benefit of all members involved in the organization. Thus Carl, unlike Gordon, is a hard

working individual with clearly defined goals and motivating factors. His friends who he has

worked with for numerous years are number one in his books.

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Question 2: Identify Gordon and Bud’s source of Power and the Influence strategy each

used

Gordon Gekko and Bud Fox both have their own individual sources of power. The

sources of power can be categorized into six types, which we will be analyzing through our two

main characters. How Gekko and Fox demonstrate their various sources of power in some cases

is quite obvious, while other sources of power were achieved through influence strategies.

Gordon Gekko is the CEO of his firm and as such his subordinates “comply because they

accept the legitimacy of the position of the power holder” (Sniderman, p.274). Gekko has a team

full of investment brokers at his command. As seen in the first moment of his introduction in the

movie, Gekko has three young men with a Harvard scholarly polished look, calculating stock

numbers over the phone and reviewing charts. He has a well-dressed English secretary, who

screens all of his calls and any individuals that come to see him. However this legitimate power is

only one small source of his true power. Similarly, legitimate power is only one of Bud Fox’s

sources of power. The only time we see Bud Fox with legitimate power is when he gets promoted

in his brokerage firm, Jackson-Steinem. He gets a new office and his own secretary who keeps

his files and day schedule in order. This is the extent of his legitimate power.

Gekko has a vast amount of reward power as he is wealthy and people are willing to

break their own morals to get paid and be rich like him. Anytime he has a “player” that performs

to his likings by providing him with information to make money, he provides them with perks,

saying: “You do good kid, you get perks... all kinds of perks”. Gekko attracts them by giving them

a choice, “my way or the highway”. Fox was an ethical stock broker prior to working for Gekko.

Fox wanted to get more than just be rich but rather becoming wealthy. Gekko got exactly what he

wanted from Fox, someone who was young, eager and willing to do anything to make money. He

lured Fox by exploiting his desire for wealth. You can see this desire when Fox makes the

statement, “You know what my dream is? To one day be on the other side of the phone”. Gekko

got Fox to dance to his beat as long as he showed the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Unlike Gekko, Fox has no reward power; he only seeks to receive the rewards he can get from

Gekko.

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 Although Gekko is not seen crushing anyone with his overpowering wealth, it’s not hard to

imagine the coercive power he holds. “Others comply because they fear punishment or some

negative consequence” (Sniderman, p.275). One of Fox’s colleagues says “Cheer up. You shook

Gekko the Great hand and you still got all your fingers”. This demonstrates the coercive power of

Gekko. He has a very dark side to his personality which is hidden behind his charm and well-

tailored suits. Gekko is a wolf in a suit and he hates to be crossed. He says “revenge is a dish

best served cold, now its payback time”. Gekko a multi-millionaire, who has enough fortune to

buy and dismantle a lot of small investment and brokerage firms, which he did several times and

turn their liquid assets into a garage sale, simply because the company was “wreckable”. He also

has the capability to ruin people’s reputation and cripple their investment equity. His view of

business is a war. Every action is a battle, and “every battle is won before it’s even fought”. Fox

does not share this coercive power. He was a sheep trained by Gekko to be a wolf but at the end

his morals prevented him from becoming one.

Gekko has referent power from his charm and appeal to lure people in. Gekko is a well-

polished, well-groomed and handsome investors. He is a very charismatic person and likes to

show off when he’s presenting himself to “the outside”. When Fox first introduced himself to

Gekko, Gekko was conducting business on the phone. He is immediately drawn to Gekko by his

posture, his well-tailored suit, perfectly groomed hair and overall appearance. It was Gekko’s

suave demeanour that lured Fox in, using the look and words of a winner. We can see Fox

developing referent power when he gets the whole Union to look up to him and follow him into the

project for Mr. Gekko to buy BlueStar Airlines.

Gekko has countless amount of expert power. He is an expert in the investment and

stock brokerage fields, a self-made millionaire, a city college graduate coming from a poor

household. Gekko says “I’ve been in the business since ’69. Most of these high paid MBA’s from

Harvard never make it.” He only invests in sure things and he does not take chances. He

mentions “The public is out there throwing darts at a board... I only bet sure things.” That’s the

key to his success to be in the know, the inside. This is what he was encouraging Fox to

understand when he told him “Wake up pal; if you’re not inside you’re outside.” He also

demonstrated this power when he spoke to shareholders as an expert, giving his famous “Greed”

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speech. Fox on the other hand, is a young and talented broker, who exercised his expert power

by filling in Gekko with confidential stocks information.

Gekko is always trying to seek more information power. He is always hungry for new

profitable information. He has a team of legitimate market analysts and yet he has people doing

illegal work, thus he is always ahead of the market. We can see his lust for information when he

says to Fox “come on, tell me something I don’t know. It’s my birthday, pal, surprise me.” To

Gekko information is the most absolute power. He says “The most valuable commodity I know is

information.” At the beginning of the movie, we know that Fox has information power. What true

information he had was given away in his first meeting with Gekko. He wanted to prove that he

had credibility and gave up the information about BlueStar Airlines. Fox started developing more

information power when he was making a killing from stocks. Even his co-workers that normally

produced good numbers were amazed saying, “things are so bad, even the liars are complaining

and you’re making money. So what gives?”

Although one may have various sources of power, power itself is not enough to get

people to do what you want. Influence strategies are sometimes required like Gekko using

rational persuasion, pressure, exchange and inspirational appeals to get Fox to do what he

wanted. Rational persuasion was seen right from the get go when Gekko and Fox first met.

Gekko basically told Fox to give him something he can use or get out. Once Fox let the rabbit out

of the hat about BlueStar Airlines, Gekko pressured him to get more information through inside

trading by spying on Sir Wildman. Gekko used pressure when he said, “I want to be surprised…

astonish me, sport, new info, don’t care where or how you get it, just get it.” Any time Fox

provided information to Gekko he was compensated with money. From this exchange Fox bought

himself a Penthouse in New York City. Gekko used inspirational appeals, once again through

money to get Fox to commit more and provide insider trading, by giving him the belief that he

could have a girl like Darien. However, at the end, the apprentice outsmarted the teacher when

Fox sabotaged Gekko on the BlueStar take over. Fox used rational persuasion to speak with the

Union leaders and work out a deal with Sir Wildman.

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 Question 3: As their relationship deteriorates what are the sources of conflict

between Gordon and Bud and which conflict management styles does each employ?

Gordon’s special talent is to acquire companies as low a price as he can, then manipulate

and sell them off in pieces, to make a profit. Bud’s job is to provide Gordon with information

about companies experiencing or rumoured of financial difficulty. Gordon wants to make money

and Bud’s goal is to be like Gordon. The goal difference arises when the company Bud’s father

works for begins experiencing financial difficulty. Bud provides Gordon with the information

believing Gekko will buy the company and rebuild it, instead Bud discovers in a meeting that

Gordon’s plan is still of selling, as per his usual course of action. Bud feels betrayed by Gordon

and is humiliated in front of his father.

Gordon depended on Bud to supply him with information to accomplish his goals and Bud

depended on the rewards he received to justify his unethical behaviour in obtaining this

information. The shared resources are money, information and motivation. Gordon is a very rich,

powerful, business man who gained his wealth through the unfortunate circumstances of others’

failing businesses. He is able to have total control of the information Bud provides him. Bud is

working at an entry level position and influenced by Gordon’s status of wealth and position in the

community.

Bud aligns himself with Gordon to learn “the ropes”, and Gordon is willing to help him do

so and mould Bud into himself. Gordon said “you remind me of myself’, as a result he sets Bud

up to present him with sensitive confidential information without providing any rules or guidelines.

He directed Bud by saying “I wanna be surprised. Astonish me pal. I don’t care where or how you

get it, just get it’. Gordon also demonstrated jurisdictional ambiguity when he led Bud to believe

he would help his father’s airline company by investing in it and save jobs, instead he chose to

sell the company off piece by piece.

There are many personal sources of conflict between Gordon and Bud. Gordon is an

aggressive business man, who displays a high sense of Machiavellianism. Gordon does anything

and manipulates anyone to meet his needs and make money. He values power, status and

control. He proved his business dealing were highly unethical and expected his people to also be

unethical. He rewarded Bud with gifts that were morally unethical. Gordon deliberately led Bud

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to believe he would save his father’s company and kept the truth from him. Gordon filtered this

information from Bud, to have the transaction in progress before Bud could have any influence

over Gordon’s desired outcome.

Bud appears to enjoy people, in the beginning of the movie as we witnessed him

speaking to fellow employees, he appeared to genuinely listen with interest. As he gets deeper

into Gordon’s world he becomes more aggressive, controlling and superior, he then starts to

treats his co-workers with distain and lost his touch with his morale framework and bullies them.

He engages in unethical and illegal behaviours. He is motivated by power and status until he

discovers Gordon’s betrayal of trust.

Gordon definitely employs a competing management style and he has “a high concern for

himself and a low concern for others”. (Sniderman, p. 343). Gordon instructs Bud to get the

information he desires any way he can. He is aggressive and bullies the people he employs.

When Bud met Gordon for the first time, Gordon was on the phone and speaking to the person

on the other end using his position of power, aggression, verbal dominance, personal criticism

threats to get his point across.

Bud displays a combination of management styles and he uses both, a collaborating style

and compromising style. Bud tried to collaborate with the employees of the airline to consider

Gordon’s offer to buy the company. This would have resulted in the employment of all the

companies’ employees and would have held Bud in high standing with the airline company,

Gordon and Bud’s father. When this did not come to fusion and Bud discovered Gordon’s

betrayal plan, he chose to compromise his own goals and dreams to arrange with another

powerful businessman to buy the company. Through this he risked the retaliation of Gordon and

conflict with the law. Bud discovers he doesn’t want to be Gordon and values what and who is in

his life, after his father ends up in hospital from suffering a heart attack.

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Question 4: Use the Competency Perspective of leadership to analyse the leadership skills

of Gekko and Carl Fox.

Competencies are learned behaviours that can be acquired by a variety of methods

including learned skills, acquired abilities, and personal values. There are primarily six key

components associated with successful leaders. According to Sniderman, “Leadership

Motivation” is “[the] he desire to lead, but not to seek the power as an end in itself”. (Sniderman,

pg.310)

To compare to our society these days, we have leaders who lead for righteous and moral

reasons such as Ghandi, Nelson Mandela and Lech Walesa. All of these leaders had no burning

desire to lead to seek power. They led to make a difference to the people who were following

them. On the other hand, other leaders such as Hitler, Stalin and Chavez led to make a

difference for themselves and their inner circle of friends. These leaders led their people

because they thrived while being in power, and controlled the people they led.

In the movie, Gordon Gekko is a leader who thrived on his success at the expense of

others. His ruthlessness and power control of the people he came into contact with, or did

business with. Gekko is always in control of his environment and the people surrounding him.

Gekko states “All of these Ivy League schmucks are now sucking my kneecaps”. This is his ego,

suggesting that he is better than many of the well-educated professionals who claim to know

what they are doing. Gekko plans every move in his life and career for victory. “Every battle is

won before it is fought.” At times, gaining power has a financial price tag attached to it. He

realizes that he must buy his way into situations in order to acquire the power he so desperately

seeks, “just got on the board of the Bronx zoo, cost me a mil”. Even by the way he introduces his

associates; he eludes power and control “This is one of my gang, Bud Fox”.

Gordon Gekko knows his position in the world, he may aspire to be very powerful at times

but he also realizes that there are some who are just more powerful and that he must respect and

acknowledge that, notwithstanding his stature he has attained “You can’t piss in the tall wheat

with the big dogs”. One of the most powerful speeches in the film and now recognized as a staple

quotation in the teachings of business and economics is the famous “Greed” speech cited to

Teldar shareholders at their annual meeting. “Greed, for a lack of a better word is good. Greed is

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right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary

spirit. Greed in all of its forms, greed for life, for money...” This monologue epitomizes his true

character and shows that greed is the driving force behind all of his actions, drive and direction.

Greed is what makes Gekko do what he does. Greed is what has given Gekko the power to

control so much with reckless disregard for others who may stand in his way. Greed is what has

made Gekko who he is. This greed was not something that he was born with. He stated that

only 8 years ago, he bought his first apartment building and made $800,000.00. “It was better

than any sex” he said. He realized at that point that money (greed) could translate into power.

He honed his skills, learned his strategies, continuously made more deals and became more

powerful as a result. To Gekko, power is leadership. He learned his strategies by doing them, he

was not born with these innate qualities of leadership.

Gekko probably had no desire to lead but he did have every intention to control each and

every situation he became involved in. “It’s not always the most popular guy who gets the job

done.” In another conversation with Bud, Gekko states, “[that] the falcon has heard the falconer”,

clearly indicating his position. He considers himself to be a “great one”, and he tells Bud that he

“could have been one of the great ones buddy, I look at you, and I see myself”. Others who

come into contact with Gekko also realize his power, control and leadership. Carl Fox stated

“there came into Egypt a pharaoh they did not know”.

Bud Fox is a stock broker who is enticed by the financial rewards offered to him. He does

not seek power to lead or control. His main motivation in life is lifestyle. He wants to have the

good things in life and he will do whatever it takes to get them, even if it is illegal. Bud has

aspirations and goals like many people. After finally getting a long sought after meeting with

Gekko, he states “I have always dreamed of one thing, and that is to do business with a man like

you”. He has wanting what Gekko has in material things but he does not aspire to lead or have

the same power and control that Gekko has. In a conversation with a veteran stock broker in the

firm, he makes it abundantly clear that it is about material goods that drive him “You gotta get to

the big time first, then you can be a pillar and do good things”. What he means is you need the

wealth first before you can undertake philanthropic causes. Bud has a different perspective than

of Gekko’s “I am going to be a giant, and entrepreneur .... A mover, a shaker, I am shooting for

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the stars”. Now where does he cite that he wants to control, lead, or dominate? In a conversation

with his father Carl, he says “you never had the guts to go out in the world and stake your own

claim”. This claim which he is referring to is a financial claim. Bud realizes that he is not as great

as Gekko. He realizes that Gekko has much more power and control. “I guessed I just realized I

am just Bud Fox as much as I wanted to be Gordon Gekko, I will always be Bud Fox”. This quote

summarizes well what Bud Fox is truly about. He was not made out to be a leader like Gekko.

He wanted so much to be like Gordon that he did everything he could. In the end, he ended up

realizing that he did not have what it takes. He did not have the burning desire to succeed like

Gekko did. Bud was trying to learn these leadership behaviours but in the end, it was not who he

was.

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Question 5: Analyze the ethical principles and other factors mentioned in Sniderman that

influence Bud’s And Gordon ethical conduct.

In this movie, we have identified many ethical and unethical behaviours used by Bud Fox

and Gordon Gekko. What transpires the most is the fact that Mr. Gekko has a real greed for

money and power, whereas Bud Fox wants to make his own mark in the stocks business as well

as getting to the same level of wealth and obtaining as much possessions as Gordon has. He

also has in the back of his mind, the welfare of his father’s company, BlueStar Airlines at all time.

When regarding the ethical behaviour of Bud Fox, his primary goals are to establish

himself as a successful stocks broker consultant and try to get his father’s airline company back

into better standings. His first idea goes along with the actual definition of an ethical behaviour,

which is acting in ways consistent with one’s personal values and the commonly held values of

the organization and society. (Sniderman, p. 58) Thus Bud Fox started by trying to get in touch

with Mr Gekko, in order to make him believe that he is the best at his job and that he can make

him more money, to obtain a higher position. Once he started working for Gekko, he started lying

to his current boss as to where he was getting his information from to become one of the most

successful stocks broker in the agency, and he got promoted to manager position. As per

Sniderman, this is one of the most common unethical behaviour in most organizations.

“The most common unethical deeds witnessed were lying to supervisors (56 percent), lying on
reports or falsifying records (41 percent), stealing or theft (35 percent), sexual harassment (35
percent), drug and alcohol abuse (31 percent) and conflicts of interest (31 percent).” (Sniderman,
p.59)

Another unethical principle related to the above statement used by Fox, happened in the

process of getting Gekko who was looking at investing money. Fox proposes the plan of buying

shares from his father’s company, BlueStar Airlines where we found that there were a major

conflict of interest with both his boss and his father. Conflict of interest such that, he had to get

Gekko to invest a big amount and had got the employees from BlueStar Airlines to believe in him.

Bud ends up having to regain trust from the people from the Union when he realized that Gekko

decided he would buy the company for eventually liquidate it. The end product of this situation

created great stress on the team leaders of the airline as well as the head of the Union which we

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can prove by this statement from Sniderman: “Unethical behaviour by employees can affect

individuals, work teams, and even the organization,” (Sniderman, p. 59) and it was also going

against Fox’s ethical principles.

When evaluating the case of Gordon Gekko on his ethical principles, we see that he used

many techniques to attract people to his business, through lavishing evenings, expensive clothing

and consumption of alcohol and drugs. This goes along with his own personal values but not

representing according to the organizations he is acquiring or the society’s values . This relates to

the statement earlier, although there is another statement as per Sniderman which states a

specific description of this behaviour:

“... [S]etting specific, challenging goals has been found to motivate constructive effort, recent
research has demonstrated that it also motivates intentional unethical behaviour when people fall
short of their goals, with or without economic incentives.” (Sniderman, p.124)

We could see a serious situation of ‘groupthink’ from the different parties involved. Gekko

was buying BlueStar Airlines and everyone involved, Bud and the Union, was doing this for the

sake of saving the airline but none of them evaluated all the consequences. Gekko while

investing his money and making Fox CEO of the corporation he did not realized at the time that

Fox could control the stocks of the airline with his position as a stock broker. From Fox’s position,

he had overlooked the fact that Gekko can withdraw his money at anytime he wishes. From the

Union’s point of view, they believed in Bud Fox as they knew him for a long time but had no

knowledge on the deal between him and Gekko. This is a major ‘groupthink’ arrangement if we

base ourselves on the definition from Sniderman which is that:

“[c]onsequences of groupthink include an incomplete survey of alternatives, failure to evaluate

the risks of the preferred course of action, biased information processing, and a failure to work
out contingency plans.” (Sinderman, p.254-255)

As we saw through Gekko’s work and Fox’s path to higher acheivement, this is a tough

industry. Both characters presented their own personal values that they both managed to apply in

ways that were both ethical and unethical. The final outcome of their actions affected many

people in different ways but concluded with all they desired.

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 Question 6 : "You are an organizational psychologist that Gordon Gekko has

retained to determine whether Bud Fox would be a good fit for his organization. Use

appropriate concepts from pp. 89-99 to justify your recommendation."

As organizational psychologists, we have identified that working for Gordon Gekko has

two major problems, which are the necessity to perform illegal and unethical behaviour and the

risky, high-stakes nature of the job. To determine whether Bud Fox would be a good fit for his

organization, we are looking at Bud Fox’s behaviours, to see whether he possesses personality

traits that would help him overcome these challenges as per Gekko’s demand. “I wanna be

surprised. Astonish me, pal. New info. I don’t care where or how you get it. Just get it.”

The bulk of Bud’s illegal and unethical behaviour comes from the act of obtaining and

using inside information. He exhibited some of the “Big Five” Personality Traits specifically;

extraversion, agreeableness and openness to experience as he was performing this tasks. His

most apparent trait is extraversion which is characterized by being assertive and sociable. This,

coupled with agreeableness, was what allowed Bud to influence his friend, Roger to share some

inside information as well as convince him to invest in Teldar paper stocks using offshore

accounts. Agreeableness, which is characterized by being cooperative, warm and generous, also

helped Bud to control his co-workers at Jackson Steinam, in terms of which stocks to buy and

sell. Openness to experience, characterized by being creative, curious and perceptive was

exhibited when Bud wanted to obtain information inside Roger’s uncle’s office. He posed as an

employee of a cleaning company in order to gain access to the office after hours.

Another problematic aspect of working for this organization is the nature of the job itself.

Due to the usage of illegal practices, Bud runs the risk of losing his license and being sent to jail.

Also, Gekko does not like losses but because of the unpredictable nature of the stock market,

Bud will inevitably suffer losses somewhere down the line. However, Bud manages to cope under

such high stakes by exhibiting High Self-Efficacy and High Self Esteem. Bud exhibits high self-

efficacy throughout the entire film, he never doubts his ability as a broker. Though he was initially

reluctant on accepting Gekko’s offer due to its unethical nature, he never said that he was not

capable of doing it. Furthermore, the fact that he got promoted at his workplace and that he

became Gekko’s business partner shows that he possesses the required skills. Bud exhibited

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high self-esteem through his persistence with the dream of making it big. The movie shows that

Bud does not always succeed. It starts out with Bud losing out on a deal and having to borrow

money from his father. Later on, he also losses several hundred thousand dollars of Gekko’s

money, by investing on stocks that Gekko considered ‘dogs’. However there were no indications

of Bud losing esteem despite these failures.

Having looked at the way Bud handled these tough situations, we would say that he is a

good fit for Gordon Gekko’s organization. He possesses all the right positive professional traits

such as extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience that would help Bud

maneuver around social situations. And because he will most likely be behaving illegally and

unethically, these traits would help him avoid conflicts or even influence others to misbehave as

well. Lastly, Bud possesses high self-efficacy and high self-esteem which helps promote top

performance even in such a risky and high-stakes job.

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