In reading about the developments of different perspectives on organizational communication throughout history, I relate the developments emerging from Era of Preparation to the Hays Code era in classical Hollywood cinema history.

For some context, Hollywood adapts a self-censorship code across the industry in order to maintain close control over its reputation within the U.S. media industry and maintain profit. I relate this period in classical Hollywood cinema history to the Era of Preparation’s focus on public address and persuasion because this period in Hollywood history proves that the developing understanding about organizational effectiveness and worker productivity was reflected in an industrial context at the time as well.

If the Era of Preparation’s focus is in interest of higher profit margins and managerial effectiveness, then the implementation of the Hays code accomplishes those two things at once by implementing a rigorous set of rules for workers in order to protect longer term profit margins.

Although I write from 2026, I connect my career in film studies to the contemporary organizational communication discipline’s contention with ethics. Similar to organizational communication, documentary film studies has developed a line of critical inquiry invested in understanding the ethics of documentary filmmaking practices, specifically for anthropological or ethnographic films.