Maslow, McGregor, and Moneyball

Moneyball has a wide variety of themes, but one of the most important is the message the film sends about teamwork and effective leadership within a group with low morale. Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt, portrays the development of a man from an angry, disheartened manager to a trustworthy and caring leader.

About an hour and twenty-two minutes into the film, there is a transformative moment, one where we see Brad Pitt’s character (Billy Beane) dish out some advice to a seasoned player, new to the team (David Justice). Justice seems slightly irritated by Billy’s disposition regarding the team. Billy is a bit blunt with him here, saying that he is not the player he used to be, and instead of trying to be what he once was he needs to be a role model for the younger members of the team. David seems satisfied with this advice, and the scene cuts to one of Justice and Hatteberg interacting in the break room, where David makes a point to encourage the new player. This moment is important as it displays a shift in Billy’s attitude and management style in regards to the team and the statistical theory that he is trying to prove. This demonstrates the power a good leader has over his team, based on the attitude and confidence of the leader himself.  

There were moments of shocking splendor, hearing Hatteberg’s bat strike the ball as he hit a home run sent chills up my spine. There were moments that I felt awkward, like when Peter had to tell Pena that he had been traded to the Tigers. There were a lot of emotions to be had, and that is part of what the film did wonderfully, keeping the watcher interested by taking them on an emotional rollercoaster where they are tearing up one minute and laughing the next.

My reaction to the film’s ending however was one of confusion and melancholy. Billy Beane is seen driving, and he slips in a CD, which we can see was made for him by his daughter. The song starts off normal, but as the frame fades, and text appears telling us that Beane turned down the 12.5-million-dollar job in Boston and that he still has not won a world series to this day, the track contorts into his daughter singing “you’re a loser, dad” (Moneyball, 2:06:54) over and over on a loop. To me this addition was slightly disturbing and off-base with the tone of every other scene. Maybe it was just that I did not find it humorous, but either way it left me with a sense of dismay and awkwardness. It was probably the single part of the film I did not enjoy.

               Other than providing the viewer with a unique and confounding emotional experience, there is a profound message about the way a team of people should be managed and treated by their leader. In the article The Human Side of Enterprise by Douglas McGregor, two theories of management leadership are evaluated, Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X states that “The average man is by nature indolent” and “is inherently self-centered, indifferent to organizational needs” (McGregor 2). Towards the beginning of the film, Billy states that he does not interact with the players, because then it is easier for him to treat them without empathy. He assumes that the team are not working hard enough to win, and reprimands Jeremy Giambi harshly due to this assumption. He may have been trying to make light of a loss, but Billy assumes he is having fun because he is indolent, showing Theory X being applied in his management style. He is like this towards his scouts and analytic staff as well, causing one of them to get violent with him, and the others have distaste for him.

               Billy starts to apply Theory Y around an hour twenty into the film. Theory Y states that “the motivation, the potential for development, the capacity for assuming responsibility, the readiness to direct behavior toward organizational goals are all present in people. Management does not put them there. It is a responsibility of management to make it possible for people to recognize and develop these human characteristics for themselves” (McGregor 6-7). Billy realizes that to make his team the best it can be, he needs to instill confidence and community into the group. He starts this by giving a motivational speech to his team, who have likely never seen him except in passing before. Promptly after this, he gives his spiel on leadership to David Justice, who takes it to heart and uses that newfound responsibility to try and encourage Hatteberg. The style of Theory Y management causes a trickle-down effect in the team and gives both the leader and group members a feeling of safety and fulfillment in each other. 

               So how did Billy enact this change? The actions taken by Billy can be boiled down to a hierarchy of needs, detailed by Abraham Maslow in 1943. Maslow organized certain needs, that when fulfilled, leads to the most satisfied worker in a management setting. These needs need to be met, in this order; Physiological needs, Safety needs, love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs (Maslow). Billy corrects each of these needs as he reforms the team through better management.

        The physiological tier is the most self-explanatory, and that is meeting the needs of the player’s physical form. He reforms this by removing price on beverages in the club. Not only does this provide the players with a met physical need, it gains their appreciation, which could also fit into love needs.

For the safety tier, Billy cuts certain players to have a structure where every player has a specific purpose. This secures their job safety and allows them to focus on their performance instead of the anxiety of being traded themselves.

For the love tier, Billy starts to interact with his players on a personal level. He talks to them privately and shows his support through motivational language and affection, like pats on the back. Man is a social animal that craves relationships, and by allowing his players to foster a relationship with him, they feel valued by him and the rest of their team.

The esteem tier was represented the most throughout the film, especially in the plot revolving around Hatteberg. Billy asks David Justice to be a leader, and then he decides to encourage Hatteberg in the break room. Hatteberg also gets encouragement from a private conversation with Billy as well. These elements are what helps build up Hatteberg into being able to hit the home run later in the film. This is his moment of self-actualization, the last tier in the hierarchy and a marker showing Hatteberg’s development as a character.

McGregor’s theories and Maslow’s hierarchy allows for a dissection of Billy’s development throughout the film, showing a transformation from mediocrity to impressive leadership of the Oakland A’s. 

References: 

Maslow, A. H. “A Theory of Human Motivation.” Psychological Review, vol. 50, no. 4, 1943, pp. 370–396., doi:10.1037/h0054346. http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm

McGregor, Douglas M. “The Human Side of Enterprise.” Readings and Exercises in Organizational Behavior, 1985, pp. 28–35., doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-054752-4.50008-7.

Miller, Bennett. Moneyball. Columbia Pictures, 2011.