In the movie, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Tom Rath (Gregory Peck) did not exhibit the attributes of William Whyte’s organization man. Whyte argued that American business life had abandoned the old virtues of self-reliance in favor of loyalty to the postwar corporation. Corporate life was unfulfilling because its routine and organizational structure robbed men of their identities and the self-fulfillment they previously gained from manual work or jobs in smaller businesses. As the title suggests, men donned suits, becoming indistinguishable from one another, and conformed to this lifestyle. As the protagonist, Tom, said in the movie, “All I could see was a lot of bright young men in grey flannel suits rushing around New York in a frantic parade to nowhere.” This paper will prove that Tom’s reliance on his own thinking style created tension for his organizational life at UBC.The movie opened with Tom complaining that he was having trouble making ends meet. His suburbanite friend suggested he apply for a position at UBC. On two occasions at UBC, Tom revealed his lack of conformity. At his interview, the human resources director asked him to write an autobiography and an explanation of his value to UBC. Tom declined to write any revealing information in the in his application. After UBC hired Tom, middle management asked Tom to write a speech for Ralph Hopkins (Frederic March). Middle management wouldn’t give Tom’s real speech to the president. In turn, Tom bypassed the middle managers and gave his speech to Hopkins. If Tom was the staunch organization man, he wouldn’t question the authority of his superiors at UBC. that was critical of corporate life and the public organizational world men experienced during the post World War II era. The message of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit was that there was dissatisfaction inherent in corporate America, but that increasing participation in the fam...
