The 2011 film Margin Call is a taut drama that follows several key employees in a financial services firm over the course of a 24-hour period at the brink of the 2008 economic crisis. When a lower-level risk analyst stays after hours to finish a project left behind by his boss, who was fired along with a large contingent of other employees, he learns that a likely downturn in the market will expose the firm to crippling losses. He summons a colleague and a mid-level manager back to the office to confirm his findings. Increasingly senior managers are informed of the impending crisis until the firm’s CEO, legal counsel, and the board of directors are called to an emergency meeting overnight to determine a course of action. What becomes clear, as morning approaches, is that the firm’s only chance of survival will come at the cost of most employees’ jobs and the sale of an enormous amount of securities of decreasing value to unsuspecting buyers. The implications of the sale may be felt throughout the banking industry and beyond for years, and the sales manager will have to convince his trading staff to ignore the ethical implications — if he can do so himself.
In a key scene, Sam Rogers, the sales manager, a 34-year veteran of the firm, must ignore his ethical qualms and break the bad news to his team of traders. His task is difficult because while a successful day of sales may save the firm from bankruptcy, the team’s success will also put most of the team members out of their jobs and perhaps permanently damage their careers in the financial services industry.
Notice that there is very little action in the movie other than that expressed through communication. Your task in the paper is to reflect on Sam’s task in persuading his team and how he handles it. Do you think he was effective? Was his strategy ethical? Support your answer with dialogue from the film and information from your course readings. What would you have done in Sam’s position? What would you have done as a member of his trading team?
Your answer, which should be a cohesive narrative essay of 500 to 750 words typed and double-spaced in a 12-point serif typeface like New Times Roman, Goudy, or Palatino, also can incorporate issues of appropriate or inappropriate language use, a description of the Aristotelian proofs used by Sam, the information from the group communication that occurred during the meeting of the board of directors, led by the CEO John Tuld, and the previous meeting of senior managers with Sam and risk analysts Peter Sullivan and Seth Bregman. Please include a title page (but not an abstract) in APA Style (7th edition).
