Liz Lemon's Management Style

I was watching the most recent episode of 30 Rock on Hulu (http://www.hulu.com/watch/181110/30-rock-lets-stay-together#s-p1-so-i0) and once again, it features Liz Lemon being undermined by her staff of mischievous writers. After complaining to Jack, her boss, about the writers' persistent practical jokes, she complains that, "I'm all for a joke but I'm their boss and this crosses the line." Jack responds, "Lemon, if you're about to say you don't get any respect, you're right." It's a hilarious portrayal of what happens when a manager has lost control over their employees.


I've always enjoyed watching 30 Rock (Tina Fey is genius!) but since taking this course, I've observed how our class topics actually relate to the show. After last week's discussion on management styles, I thought about why Liz Lemon might not get respect from her staff. I came up with a couple conclusions. For one, the show seems to always emphasize how overworked the writers are. Their workload pressure results in the animosity they feel towards their boss, Liz Lemon. In return, they taunt her with practical jokes and consistently undermine her authority. In this particular episode, her co-worker is promoted to co-head writer, in response to an affirmative action demand from congress. Although Liz believes this will help her better manage the staff, she ends up feeling even more
unappreciated and disrespected as she sees the new co-head writer receiving more respect and credit. This could be because the staff thinks of the new co-head writer as "one of them." Liz, on the other hand, always seems to play a more authoritarian type role, as opposed to acting like "one of them."

Liz Lemon's character is also generally negative and although the humor may hide it, she can be quite mean too. I doubt this attitude brings about the "positive emotions" needed to foster more creativity. There was an episode last season where she tried to shift the staff's animosity towards her onto another source. In an attempt to get on the staff's good side, she made up a character and blamed him for all the problems they were experiencing. A lack of accountability is definitely bad management practice. Gaining the staff's trust is essential in having a healthy management-employee dynamic. When the manager is not accountable for her mistakes, the staff loses that trust.

There are a bunch of useful observations about management one can make from 30 Rock. I may explore these even further for the Popular Media Review.

Conchita Campos