Assignment: Organizational Behavior

Topic : Power, Office Politics and a Career in Crisis

Introduction.
The case describes the dilemma of a marketing manager, Thomas Green,
who, after being rapidly promoted, is harshly criticized by his boss, Frank
Davis. Green and Davis disagree on work styles and market projections.
Green believes the sales goals set by Davis are based on "creative
accounting" and grossly overstate the current market environment. A mood
of silent conflict develops quickly between the two men, and Green is
concerned that Davis is building a case to fire him. Green's situation is one in
which his failure to adapt his work style and fully understand the demands
and boundaries of his new position may lead to his discharge. A factor in the
background is Green's relationship with his boss's boss.
Q1. Explore the role that Personal Work style & Politics can play in
a corporate Environment?
1.
Frank Davis, marketing director, is an excellent strategic player. He
sorts through all of the possibilities, though short term, and find the best
effective way to move forward. As he had just been promoted from the
position of a senior market specialist he for sure was competent and
experienced in the way things should be done. He got used to a precise
planning of an every detail, schedule and documentation. That depicts him
as a highly organized person with perfect managerial skills. Davids strong
analytical strength mixed with his 15 years of experience in Dynamic
Displays enabled him to visualize 10% growth rate. Davis has authoritarian
leadership style who keeps strict, close control over followers by keeping
close regulation of policies and procedures given to followers. Davis seems to
be direct and to the point, as well as being very well adjusted to the
bureaucracy at this level of management. When it comes to work style he is
meticulous in details and requires that recommendations and strategies be
justified using hard data. He prefers to stay in a positive mindset in order to
keep moral up. Davis pays much attention to the office politics, strong efforts
and enthusiasm of the employee. Davis is more of the initiating structure,
which is proven to increase job performance. Davis expected to be treated
like a veteran employee who has gained much knowledge over the years he
has worked in the department. He wanted the ability to show his skills in
knowing what would be best for the department. As a supervisor, it is Davis

expectation that Green comply with provided recommendations for changes

in attitude, behavior, and communication.
2.
Thomas Green is portrayed as visionary. He could see where market
is going in the long term and he could think of related ideas that should be
implemented. This is illustrated by Green's focus of developing new upselling software. He commented "the only way for us to capture growth is if
we can convince the airlines that our products have revenue generating
opportunity and other advantages over web check-in". Green's strong woo
talent made him love the challenge of meeting new people and winning
them over. McDonald, division VP, also complimented Green that he has a
great rapport with his clients. After all he was able to convince McDonald that
he is a better fit for the new senior marketing specialist position. Green leads
with significance by sharing an ambitious attitude. He wanted to come in
and dazzle people at Dynamic Displays. He likes to work independently.
Green's self-assurance talent is expressed by his overly self-confidence and
bold behavior. Green is more of a face to face guy. He delivers is ideas to the
clients and expect them to jump on board just by trusting his ideas. Greens
leadership style is being inventive. Greens leadership style is more
productive when it comes to execute a task. While he is a hard worker and
self-motivated he has trouble taking direction from others. He would prefer
face to face communication, building rapport with other employees, and
cultivating strong relationships. He listens to the comments others are
making and responds to them on the spot with little or no preparation or
forethought. In essence, he would like to under-promise and over-deliver.
Green was interested in the end result of the performance, not in the
detailed plan or a structure of the job. Green seemed to expect that he would
just be accepted because the McDonald vouched for him personally. He felt
he deserved because of his status with the higher ups of the company. Green
wants to have authority and then work independently without following
certain standards that other require. He would like to be more focused
towards producing the results. Green's previous position of account executive
was conservative in the required outlook. Account executives were only
concerned with productive and successful client communication and meeting
the sales target. On the other side, the position of senior market specialists
requires identifying industry trends, evaluating new business opportunities,
and establishing sales goals. Specialists are team players who develop
general market and specific client strategies to help the account executives
obtain a sale. Market specialists needs to be strategic in identifying patterns,
anticipate problems and provide relevant solutions. They are relator and

work as a team to achieve a goal. Their talent of individualization and

positive attitude motivates the team to achieve maximized productivity. They
are arranger who has to be organized in preparing and executing little
possible details by following a standard approach. Illustrating signs of a
visionary, Greens talent of inventive way of working makes him capable to
be a successful senior market specialist.
3.
However, Green is struggling with his position due to following reasons
that he can work on by changing his perspective and managing up:
(a)
Green is overly confident and too much focused on his
independent working . He does not conform to the company standard.
(b)
His lack of experience for the role, aggressive behavior and not
being relative to his supervisors makes him stressed to deliver for this
new position.
Q2.

Explore the concepts of Power and Influence?

1.
Power is the ability of persons as groups to impose the will on others
despite resistance through deterrence either in the form of withholding
regularly supplied or in the form of punishment in as much the former.
Source of Power can be divided into two groupings, Formal and personal.
(a) Formal Power Formal power is based on an individuals position in
an organization. It can come from the ability to coerce or reward or
from formal authority.
(i)
Coercive power - Depends on fear of the negative results from
failing to comply. It rests on the application or the threat of application
of physical sanctions such as the infliction of pain, frustration through
restriction of movement, or the controlling by force of basic
physiological or safety needs.
(ii)
Reward Power - Opposite of Coercive Power with which people
comply because it produces positive benefits, someone who can
distribute rewards others view as valuable will have power over them.
Those rewards can be either financial such as controlling pay rates,
raises and bonuses or non-financial including recognition, promotion,
interesting work assignments, friendly colleagues and preferred work
shifts or sales territories.
(iii) Legitimate power - In formal groups and organizations
probably the most common access to one or more of the power bases
is through Legitimate power. It represents the formal authority to

control and use organizational resources based on structural position in

the organization.
(b)Personal Power Comes from an individuals unique characteristics.
There are two bases of personal Power, Expertise and the respect and
administration of others.
(i)
Expert Power Is influence wielded as a result of expertise,
special skill or knowledge. As jobs become more specialized, we
become more specialized; we become increasingly dependent on
experts to achieve goals. It is generally acknowledged that
Physicians have expertise and hence expert Power.
(ii)
Referent power is based on identification with a person who
has desirable resources or personal traits. It develops out of
administration of another and a desire to be like that person.
Some people who are not in formal leadership positions
nonetheless have referent power and exert influence over others
because of their charismatic dynamism, likability and emotional
effect on us.

2.

Sources of Power The four main sources of Power are:(a) Office or Structural Position provides across to various bases of
power. Some positions provide little information but substantial
coercive resources, capacity to manipulate commitments to certain
areas.
(b)Personal Characteristics The most marked personal characteristics
is the source of power & charisma. Charismatic leader has power by
mixture of extraordinary and often mystical characteristics to include
verbal skills ability to argue effectively on ever physical attributes.
(c)
Expertise refers to the specialized information, actors bring to
the organization. It is based on activities outside the organization for
eg education & seems to be a means by which a party comes to
control specialized information rather than control itself.
(d)
Opportunity This particular source of power is embedded in the
informal structure of the organization. The informal aspects of formal
positions or informal positions that are most identified can provide an
important source of power.

3.
The Concept of power is thus the political ability to influence behavior
to change the course the course of events to overcome resistance and to get

people to do things that they would not otherwise do. The concept of power
needs to be distinguished from influence. Influence is conceived as more
broader and it is the ability to alter actions of other people in general ways
by changing their satisfaction criteria to thus improve their performance.
4.

Nine distinct influence tactics in organization leadership are:(a)

Legitimacy Relying on your authority position or saying a
request accords with organizational policies or rules.
(b)
Rational Persuasion -presenting logical arguments and factual
evidence to demonstrate a request is responsible.
(c)
Inspirational appeals Developing emotional commitment by
appealing to a targets values, needs, hopes and aspirations.
(d)
Consultation Increasing the targets support by involving him
or her in deciding how you will accomplish your plan.
(e)
Exchange Rewarding the target with benefits or favors in
exchange for following a request.

(f)
or loyalty.

Personal Appeals Asking for compliance based on friendship

(g)
Ingratiation Using flattery, praise or friendly behavior prior to
making a request.
(h)

Pressure Using warnings, repeated demands and threats.

(i)
Coalitions Enlisting the aid or support of others to persuade
the target to agree.
5.
Influence implies voluntary submission and does not necessarily entail
a superior subordinate relationship. Influence is multi-dimensional and flows
upwards, downwards or horizontally. Influence is uncircumscribed and its
domain, scope and legitimacy are typically ambiguous.
Q3. Evaluate Strategies for Constructive Conflict resolution?
1.
Green has begun in his new position much the same way he would
have begun in his previous position as an account executive, by going out
and speaking with the customers and employees to begin developing
relationships. Davis would much rather him develop an approach that is very
sound, solid, and justifiable that he could follow through from beginning to

end with little or no variation from the original path intended. When this new
position of senior marketing specialist opened up, Davis expected to choose
the new person. However, McDonald made decision to hire Green. Davis
started to act from power as Green was directly reporting to Davis. In first
meeting Davis although appreciated Greens new and creative ideas, he also
said that these would have been more effective if he had been able to
provide supporting data which Green did not pay much attention to. Green
worked independently as soon as he started with the new position whereas
Davis expected him to inform about his schedule and work plans. Problems
started when during Budgeting and forecasting meeting Green openly
challenged Davis forecasted growth of 10 %. He was not able to relate that
Davis was doing this forecasting for past several years and Green is the
young new guy, challenging Davis Openly would make Davis very upset.
David commented that Green's lack of enthusiasm and negative attitude will
affect productive team work. Green was more focused and concerned in the
problems of selling to current and prospective clients, whereas Davis
expected him to invest his time in developing strategic marketing
approaches and effective sales tactics. As a supervisor, it is Davis
expectation that Green comply with provided recommendations for changes
in attitude, behavior, and communication. McDonalds use of legitimate
power may have been abused in the promotion of Green without consulting
Davis. McDonald assumed that Green will compensate for lack of experience
through seeking guidance from veteran managers. He also assumed that
Green work style will conform to organization's culture. Green seems to
ignore McDonalds reservation about his lack of experience and suggestion
to seek out guidance from other managers. Also, Green assumed that since
he had McDonalds endorsement, she would be looking out for him, and
would not let him fail. Mr. Greens first plan of action should be to complete
the self-evaluation of his performance that Davis and McDonald asked him to
complete. Green should manage up by understanding Davis expectations,
strengths and weaknesses, priorities, and work style. Green should evaluate
and alter his attitude about authority. Green needs to talk with Davis and be
clear about the goals he needs to achieve and expectations he needs to fulfill
for the growth of the company. Green needs to understand that he should
conform to company standards in order be relative and involve in his team.
He knows he is excellent in executing the tasks but struggle in initial
structured preparation. He needs to change his perspective toward this
weakness and manage it up to conform to Davis suggestions. He should
consider Davis point of view that he should change his approach to his
current position, be strategic, and look at a bigger picture. Following what

Davis want will only provide him more insight towards his role and will help
his overall development. If he follows this attitude, Davis may not have any
legitimate concerns towards his performance and may end up liking his
performance. If Davis has negative intentions, he may use his power to
downgrade Green but then Green can include McDonald into the
conversation and McDonald will inclined towards him as he is the one who
promoted Green to his current role. He needs to understand McDonald
placed him in a delicate spot hence he cannot ignore Davis concerns
towards him. Since Green has no experience with forecasting, Davis should
allow him to get more exposure and training. Once Green has more
experience with forecasting, his ideas would actually have more basis, and
he could even end up agreeing with Davis' original forecasts. Taking
responsibility for his actions and being mature about the situation will help
best solve this so he can have good rapport with the colleagues and continue
to develop in the company. Lastly, Davis, McDonald, and Green should all
meet to finally put the situation to rest in order to resolve the conflict
between Green and Davis for effective work in future.
Q4. Consider a Framework for developing a productive relationship
with ones Boss?
1.
Bosses need cooperation, reliability, and honesty from their direct
reports. Managers, for their part, rely on bosses for making connections with
the rest of the company, for setting priorities, and for obtaining critical
resources. When you take the time to cultivate a productive working
relationship by understanding your bosss strengths and weaknesses,
priorities, and work style everyone wins. Ask your boss for feedback. Let the
boss play the role of coach and mentor. You need to enhance developing and
managing healthy working relationship. You should put yourself in boss
shoes and continuously recognize and understand your boss priorities and
concerns. Besides understanding your boss, you should know yourself. You
should know your own needs, strengths and weaknesses, and personal style
as well. By understanding more about yourself, you will know your
predisposition toward dependence on authority figures. To get ahead within
an organization, you need help from a boss who likes, trusts, values and
respects you. In your relationship with your boss you will sometimes disagree
and occasionally experience an emotional reaction. Don't hold grudges. Don't
make threats about leaving. Disagreement is fine; discord is not. Get over it.
Effectively managing up: Do the right thing with the right intent: You do
sometimes need to help the boss develop a sense of urgency but not
manipulate for your own selfish needs. The goal of managing up is not

currying favor ,its becoming more effective. Altering your attitude towards
authority: The way in which a manager handles frustrations largely depends
on his or her predisposition toward dependence on authority figures.
Whether its counter dependence or complete dependence, an awareness of
these extremes and the range between them can be very useful in
understanding where your own predispositions fall and what the implications
are for how you tend to behave in relation to your boss. Begin with a
discussion of goals & expectations: The more thoroughly you understand the
goals, constraints, and pressures, under which your boss operates, the better
youll be able to help her succeed. In return, shell be more likely to link you
to the wider organization, ensure that your priorities are aligned with
strategic company goals, and secure the resources you need to excel.
2.
Accommodating your bosss work style: Use the following questions as
a starting point for determining how best to adjust to your bosss
preferences.
(a)

Does he prefer a more formal and organized approach?

(b)
Does she become impatient or inattentive when you veer off the
topic at hand?
(c)

How does he process information best?

(d)

What is her decision making style?

(e)

How does he handle conflict?

Conclusion.
Thomas Green faced a set of predictable problems that he failed to forestall.
Instead of further poisoning his relationship with his boss by seeking to
expose him, Tom should now start to repair the damage hes done to both
his professional relationships and his career prospects. Toms first mistake
was in neglecting to consider that he was not his bosss choice for the
position of senior marketing specialist. Tom may believe that hierarchy
doesnt matter so much in todays corporate world, but bosses still love the
sort of deference that validates their status. Toms second mistake was in
assuming that merely articulating his impression of the competitive threat
from web-based offerings would immediately change the minds of his boss
and others in the organization. Tom spent virtually no time building the close
social ties with people that would give him the credibility to convince them of
his perspective. Fortunately, its not too late for Tom to repair this damage,
although he must act quickly. He should start by apologizing to Frank for

challenging him in public, then follow up by doing exactly what Frank asks
and keeping him in the loop on all developments. Finally, Tom must
reconnect with Shannon in a carefully considered way. He should set up an
in-person meeting with her rather than respond in an e-mail (which could be
forwarded). In that meeting Tom needs to apologize for the problems with
Frank and for not keeping Shannon adequately informed about his efforts,
including learning about the competitive challenges facing the company and
building new customer accounts. He should ask her to be his mentor,
especially in working effectively with Frank. This outreach is likely to rekindle
Shannons support for Tom. Tom ought to carefully examine his suitability for
a career path that often will require putting the needs and preferences of
bosses and the organization above his own. If he thinks he will be unable to
cultivate the humility, selflessness, and patience that are required for
corporate teamwork, he may want to leave his job at D7 Displays before he
is terminated. Perhaps he will choose to pursue a more entrepreneurial
course that will allow him the space to call his own shots.