THOMAS GREEN: POWER, OFFICE

POLITICS, AND A CAREER IN CRISIS

Learning Objectives
The case has four primary learning objectives:
1. Explore the role that personal work styles and politics
can play in a corporate environment.
2. Explore the concepts of power and influence.
3. Evaluate strategies for constructive conflict resolution.
4. Consider a framework for developing a productive
relationship with one’s boss.
DISCUSSION

 Thomas Green’s situation.

1. The differences in work styles, personalities,
and expectations of Green and Davis.
2. Analysis of Green’s job performance to date.
3. Possible underlying agendas of Davis and
McDonald.
4. Potential plan of action to correct the problem.
5. Concluding thoughts – Tips for effective boss-
subordinate relationships.
 Young, ambitious, aggressive, arrogant individual
 Successful track record as an account executive
 Dealing with a variety of personal (e.g., moving,
physically distant girlfriend) and professional
changes in a short period of time
 Received double promotion and felt he was on the
fast track to a promising career
 During first five months on the job, given two poor
performance reviews
 Disagrees with sales projections made by his boss
and now believes his boss is trying to fire him
DIFFERENT WORK STYLES, PERSONALITIES,
AND EXPECTATIONS OF DAVIS AND GREEN?

 Green is ambitious, (aggressive pursuit of a double

promotion to senior market specialist).
 Seems overconfident and brash. Most of the people working
around him have significantly more experience, and many
have MBAs.
 Isn’t insecure about being the youngest in this position and
without graduate training.
 Work style- independent in nature, not overly concerned
with detailed planning, was successful in his previous sales
positions which allowed him a great deal of autonomy.
 Expects rapid advancement and not to have to adapt his
work style to his new role.
 Davis is very detail-oriented, a team player, who went
along with McDonald’s hiring of Green even though he
was not involved in the selection.
 Likes to be informed about the activities of subordinates
and prefers to have things in writing.
 Expects documented progress, commitments to be kept,
and follow-through on his suggestions.
 Green’s management style (freewheeling, busy,
seemingly unorganized), personality (brash and a bit
arrogant), and lack of commitment to deadlines are the
opposite of his boss’s.
 Green’s and Davis’s personalities and styles are at odds.
There is also a disconnect between their respective
expectations.
GOALS IN CONFLICT

 Wilmot and Hocker have stated in the Seventh

Edition of Interpersonal Conflict that “conflict is
more than a disagreement; it is when people
believe that another interferes with their interests
and goals”.
 When considering conflict, focus is on interests
and goals. There are four general types of
interests and goals which are topic or content,
relational, identity (or facework), and process;
these together are easily remembered by using the
acronym TRIP(Wilmot, 2007).
 TYPES OF GOALS
 Content or Topic – What does each person
want? Davis is concerned with follow through
and short-term results. Green wants the freedom
to explore relationships with his clients and long-
term growth opportunities such as software
development.
 Relational – How does each person want to be
treated? Davis wants loyalty, support in public,
and to be kept in the loop on Green’s progress.
This is incompatible with Green’s desire for
independence and not to be micromanaged.
 TYPES OF GOALS CONTD.

 Identity or Face-Saving - This goal has to do

with parties striving to protect their identity or
character. With Green’s open and vocal challenge
to Davis’s projections, Davis may see this as a
potential threat to his reputation. This can be a
major source of conflict.
 Process – How can work get done? Davis prefers
frequent updates in a written format and tangible
work products such as Power Point presentations.
Green does not see the merit in this kind of
process.
 ANALYSIS OF GREEN’S ACTIONS AND JOB
PERFORMANCE TILL DATE
 Green spends his time in a predictably high-energy fashion,
meeting account execs and market specialists, visiting clients,
participating in development of a marketing plan, and moving
to Boston- INAPPROPRIATE FOR HIS CURRENT
POSITION.
 Green seems to ignore McDonald’s reservations about his lack
of experience and suggestion to seek out guidance from more
seasoned managers in the group.
 Green has taken no responsibility to establish any
relationships in his immediate work group during his first
months.
 Most important, he has failed to cultivate his relationships
with Davis and McDonald. These relationships would be
crucial in providing Green with best practices for his new role,
and in helping him navigate through the political environment.
 Green’s actual job performance is questionable. He seems to
have positive responses from client meetings, there is little
evidence of any tangible work product, which is highly prized
by his boss. We are not aware of any reports/findings from his
software development project. In addition, no new marketing
strategies have been documented (e.g., power point
presentations or memos).
 Green’s openly negative attitude in the Budget Plan meeting
perhaps signals to others that he is not a team player and is not
as positive as the rest of the group.
 After the initial Budget Plan meeting, Green makes no further
attempt to prove to Davis or McDonald his belief that the sales
forecasts are overstated. Green does not provide his boss with
specific information about the forecast inaccuracies. So far, we
have no evidence that Green’s suspicions are valid.
 Green’s strategy for dealing with the problem is
avoidance and dissociation. The alliances he builds with
“managers outside the group” are acceptable, given this
job, yet he has not established any in his own department
where he really needs them.
 Green missed a big opportunity by not reaching out to
McDonald to develop a deeper connection. McDonald
promoted him believing him to be capable. Green could
have translated this initial relationship into something
stronger.
 Davis’s second email again points out Green’s
independence, lack of enthusiasm, and absence of
tangible work product. Green had done nothing yet to
improve these areas, although they are obviously
important to Davis.
 Despite knowing that Davis prefers to have information
in writing, Green’s neglecting to do so results in Davis’s
assessment that he has not produced. Davis’s
assessment, in fact, seemed to be accurate. Green shows
lack of definitive output, and had documented no new
marketing strategies in four months.
 Ever independent, Green feels that Davis is out to get
him and does not try to reach any common ground. He
doesn’t try to understand his boss’s needs& pressures,
and to help him with these issues. Green neither
perceives nor understands Davis’s needs, nor does he
develop the relationships required to survive at
Dynamic Displays.
 Expert power and referent power could have been used
to Green’s advantage.
 Expert Power– Green could have utilized this power base to some degree by
becoming an expert in market forecasts. By providing tangible data, detailed
market studies, and complex models, Green could have gained some power
as an authority in this area.
 Referent Power – Green’s main failing was to not exploit this power base.
As we can infer from his impressive sales record and positive impression
made on McDonald, Green has the ability to persuade others and is
charismatic. Green could have made vital linkages between himself and
McDonald, key clients, and others in the organization.
 Legitimate Power – As Green’s superior, Davis has utilized this base of
power to evaluate Green’s performance.
 Coercive Power – If Davis’s negative performance evaluation is a direct
result of Green’s disagreement with the Budget Plan forecasts, then Davis is
utilizing this power base to try to keep Green in line.
 Reward Power – This did not come into play in Green’s situation. However,
Davis could have formally offered Green an independent special project
assignment to explore the software development opportunity as a reward for
developing innovative marketing strategies for his region and working
through the forecast issues.
 THE POSSIBLE UNDERLYING AGENDAS FOR
DAVIS AND MCDONALD?
 As with any real-life situation, one can never be sure of what another
person’s agenda truly is. We can analyze the benefit in analyzing various
scenarios in a political situation. The ability to keep your options open and
“cover yourself” is sometimes vital to survive.
 Davis – Davis’s motivation for writing the emails could be constructive or
destructive. Davis could possibly be trying to develop Green, knowing he is
McDonald’s protégé.
 Alternatively, Green could be right in thinking that Davis is trying to make a
case to fire him because he spoke out against the projections. The case does
not tell us whether Davis does really perform “creative accounting.” We
have only Green’s observation on this. This could mean that if Davis did
juggle the figures, he could be afraid of exposure and would do anything he
could to discredit Green (e.g., writing the emails to McDonald). If, on the
other hand, Davis has not overestimated the figures consciously, Green
should tread very carefully and try to help Davis through his error.
 McDonald – We can speculate that she aspires to a job with more
responsibility at Dynamic Displays, so her subordinates’
performances are very important to her. Exactly why did she
promote Green. Is she impressed with Green’s style and sales
track record? Did she suspect Davis was up to something, and did
she put Green into the position to help expose “creative
accounting”?
 McDonald has left Green on his own to perform. McDonald
spoke candidly about reservations she had promoting Green.
McDonald may have in fact contributed to the problem by failing
to provide adequate support/mentoring for Green.
 McDonald was responsible for creating a highly charged political
climate. She certainly did not help the relationship between Green
and Davis get off on the right foot. By bypassing Davis and giving
Green a senior job that should have been Davis's to bestow, she
created a difficult situation for Green to enter. It is possible
McDonald has realized she was out of line in usurping Davis’s
authority and will try to rectify the situation by supporting his
judgment of Green’s performance.
 Has Green been totally abandoned?
 WHAT SHOULD THOMAS GREEN DO?
 Both elements of compromise and collaboration can be highlighted for
Green’s situation.
 Competition – Characterized by aggressive and uncooperative behavior.
This could entail Green secretly gathering documentation to prove Davis
is either incompetent at his job or deliberately tried to inflate numbers.
Green’s goal would be to destroy Davis’s career. This is dangerous for
Green because it is extremely risky and he has few allies in the group at
this point.
 Compromise – This results in some wins and some losses. Here Green
could adapt his work style more to fit Davis’s ideals. He could retain
some of his independent style in areas Davis is less concerned about.
This may be a wise move, because as long as Davis is his superior, Green
will need to find a way to work with him.
 Avoidance – Green could continue his strategy of dissociation. This
strategy will only serve to further alienate him from Davis. Green must
engage to resolve this conflict.
 Accommodation – This is a harmonizing approach in
which Green might “avoid rocking the boat and do what
Davis tells him.” If Green does not think he can find data
to support his perspective on the forecasts, this might be a
style to consider.
 Collaboration – This takes into account both parties’
goals/perspectives and works toward an integrative
solution. Green could work with Davis to sort through the
forecasts. Providing Davis with information is the key for
getting along with him. After all, he could be unaware of
the problem. Working together, they would arrive at a
solution and this would allow Davis to save face.
 Specific influence tactics can also be employed to
help the situation. Coalitions, rational persuasion,
and personal appeal would be particularly helpful
in Green’s situation.
 Green should recognize the value placed on
written information. He should use his response
email as an opportunity to express his enthusiasm
for the job and explain his work on the software
development project and how he believes it will
help long-term projections (perhaps with a power
point presentation and excel model).
 Taking the time to form relationships with people
inside his group must become Green’s priority.