CASE LENS ON SELF-MOTIVATION IN THE BACKDROP OF HOLLYWOOD MOVIE, SOUL SURFER
Synopsis
This Case Lens helps understand ‘self-motivation’ in the backdrop of the real-life and inspiring story of Bethany Hamilton (Bethany) as captured in the Hollywood movie, Soul Surfer. Bethany was always self-motivated to be a professional surfer as she was extremely passionate about surfing. The interesting part of Bethany’s story is that she continued to be self-motivated even after tragedy struck and she lost an arm in a shark attack. Bethany’s first facet of self-motivation differs from the second facet of self-motivation as the latter is inspired by her new perspective of life. This Case Lens enables a discussion on the importance of self-motivation in one’s personal and professional life and the importance of an eco-system (friends, family, mentor, etc.) in being self-motivated.
Prerequisite Viewing/Mandatory Viewing
The students/participants need to mandatorily watch the movie Soul Surfer. Honoring all the expected IPR issues, every participant must be encouraged to acquire a copy of the movie through legally approved means and format. The temptation of either exhibiting the movie in the classroom or the students/participants downloading the movie from any hosting sites should be desisted lest we set unwarranted precedents in violating mandatory IPRs.
Classroom Orchestration
This Case Lens (the video introducing this Case Lens and the accompanying 5 questions) can be orchestrated in the classroom in the following suggested flow:
1. Asking the students/participants to view the movie 2-3 days before the classroom discussion
2. Playing/exhibiting the Case Lens video in the classroom
3. Ideally, the class should be divided into 4 Learning Teams and they should be asked to prepare for all the questions. After giving them about 15 minutes, the classroom discussion/analysis should be attempted. This can happen either by asking one of the teams randomly to present their analysis or each team should be allowed to lead a discussion for each of the questions
4. Each question would take varying times (the suggested timings are given in Exhibit (TN)-I) and it is highly recommended that the last 5 minutes should be spent on
debriefing and synthesizing. The debriefing segment should be used to synthesize the expected learning outcomes of this Case Lens
Case Lens Positioning and Setting
This Case Lens as a pedagogical tool can be used for either of the following;
- • MBA Programs: Organizational Behavior course – Self-motivation module
- • Executive Development Programs/MDPs: To sensitize the participants to the importance of self-motivation in one’s personal and professional lives
Expected Learning Outcomes
At the end of this Case Lens discussion/analysis, each of the participants/students should be able to understand/appreciate
- • The importance of self-motivation for one’s personal and professional growth
- • The nuances of self-motivation
- • The importance of an eco-system (friends, family, mentor, etc.) in nurturing one’s self-motivation
Assignment Questions
The assignment questions, as outlined in the Case Lens video, are:
- I. What are the five important lessons that you think can be learnt from Bethany’s wonderful disposition of her self-motivation and the ability to bounce back when besieged with a personal tragedy and the eventual trauma?
- II. What do you understand by self-motivation? What drives self-motivation?
- III. ...........
Preamble to the Case Lens Discussion
The purpose of this Case Lens is to help understand the importance of self-motivation in one’s personal and professional lives. Assuming that the students/participants would have watched the movie before the classroom discussion, this Case Lens poses a series of questions which enable an understanding on the factors that make a person self-motivated.
There can be several questions coming out of the discussion (Annexure I for the Classroom Discussion Board) on this Case Lens. The faculty/facilitator should encourage as many questions as possible. Accordingly, Exhibit (TN)-II captures the questions (definitely not exhaustive) that were raised during the classroom discussion as well as the authors’ teaching plan discussions. The questions relate to either of the four categories – Warm-up-Connect, Individual-Connect, Research-Connect and Execution-Connect (WIRE) – which ensure holistic analysis of the movie vis-à-vis the concept of self-motivation and learnings from the same.............
Case Lens: Classroom Discussion and Analysis
I. Presentation by Learning Team 1
What are the five important lessons that you think can be learnt from Bethany’s wonderful disposition of her self-motivation and the ability to bounce back when besieged with a personal tragedy and the eventual trauma?
Before making a presentation on the answer to this question, members from Learning Team 1 asked the fellow students/participants to list out all that they would like to remember the movie for:
• Self-motivation • Self-confidence
• Family Support • Ambition
• Sportsmanship • Friendship
• Resilience
Next, members from Learning Team 1 listed out and discussed in detail the five important lessons that could be learnt from Bethany’s story [Exhibit (TN)-III]:.........................
Exhibits
Exhibit (TN)-I: The Case Lens’ Classroom Orchestration
Exhibit (TN)-II: Discussion Questions
Exhibit (TN)-III: 5 Important Lessons from the Movie
Exhibit (TN)-IV: Self-Motivated Behavior
Exhibit (TN)-V: Drivers of Bethany’s Self-Motivation
Exhibit (TN)-VI: Two Facets of Bethany’s Self-Motivation
Exhibit (TN)-VII: Passion and Self-motivation
Exhibit (TN)-VIII: Manifestation of Self-motivation
Exhibit (TN)-IX: Gandhiji’s Talisman
