Thomas Green:

Power, Office Politics, and a Career in Crisis

B321
Case Analysis
Position

In his six years working in sales Thomas Green saw much success. Because of that he was recruited by
Dynamic Displays as an account executive. Within his first four months he “completed a contract for one
of the largest airlines carriers. This got him noticed by Shannon McDonald, the division vice president.
He was soon promoted to senior market specialist, bypassing the position of market specialist, and the
experience and insight that position might have given him. Green is a great salesman but lacks the skills
to identify patterns, anticipate problems and provide relevant solutions. He lacks the ability to work with
others to achieve a goal. He is not organized nor does he provide “hard data to back up his claims” (Sasser,
p.5). Green believes the sales goals set by Davis are overstated and confronts him about it during a
meeting with his peers. The situation is that Green has failed to adapt his work style to his new position
and does not fully understand the demands of his new position, which could lead to his discharge.

Frank Davis having previously held the position of senior market specialist, was just promoted to
Marketing Director and Green’s boss. Davis is highly organized with perfect managerial skills. He has an
authoritarian leadership style “states the overall goal but gives people the freedom to choose their own
means of achieving it” (Goleman, p.1). He is detail orientated 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 is a 17 year veteran with the company, who has gained much knowledge over the years working
his way up. Davis expects Green to comply with provided recommendation for changes in attitude,
behavior, and communication.

Problem Analysis

1. Thomas Green is a great salesman but lacks the skills for his current position.
“In March 2007 he joined Dynamic Displays as an account executive in their Travel and Hospitality
Division” (Sasser, p.8). Just six months later he is promoted to the position of senior market specialist.
This position would require him to “think strategically as well as tactically, and to coordinate
between several different functions and layers of corporate management” (Sasser, p.3). These are skills
that he would have gained over the course of time working his way up in the company.

2. Thomas Green’s focus on developing a new up-selling and cross-selling software program.
Green spent most of November, December, and January working independently on his special
software project and traveling to meet with his market specialists and various clients. Green was so
focused on this one project that he failed to see other opportunities out in the market. For example,
fast food orders, hotel lobby check-ins. “senior market specialists were responsible for identifying
industry trends, evaluating new business opportunities, and establishing sales goals” (Sasser, p.3).
Green as the leader should have been doing all these things, working with his team to develop
strategies that would grow sales in all these areas.

3. Ignoring corrective measures from the performance review.

During the performance review in October Green agreed to the following corrective measures:
 Plan to make focused calls when dealing with market specialists, account executives, and
clients. Have a specific communication strategy going into a call, and have all sales collateral
and other necessary materials available. Stop making calls purely for the purpose of meeting
people.
  Update Outlook calendar regularly and always return calls from our office promptly.
 Provide feedback to my requests in a timely manner. Thomas says he now recognizes that
my requests are not merely “reminders”; they are a call for information that I genuinely
need.
 Demonstrate a more positive attitude both inside and outside the company. (Sasser, p.9)

During the next three months “Green avoided interactions with Davis whenever he could. Green
continued to tell people outside the group he did not agree with his boss’s projections for 2008.
Green stated, “I don’t foresee a lot of growth in spending next year. Davis is holding firm with his
upbeat projections. I deliberately steer clear of him. I know my mood is terrible. The excitement’s
gone from work” (Sasser, p.5). Green has made no attempt to work on the problems and continues to
do as he pleases.

4. Failure to seek out guidance from more seasoned managers.

McDonalds advised Green to see out the guidance of some of the more seasoned managers. She
knew he was not experience and hoped he would learn from those around him. In the article
“Building Effective On-On-One Work Relationships” it states, “Managers rely on their networks not
only to get things done on the job in the short-and long-term, but also to develop both personally
and professionally and to get ahead” (Hill, p.1). Green failed to take her advice and work as a team.
He could have talked with them about some of the plans they have for their divisions and
brainstormed ideas.

Objectives or Goals

These are some recommendation that Dynamic Displays should put in play to help prevent this situation
in the future. The objective of this company should be to train and sustain devoted and hardworking
employees.

1. 360 Degree Performance Appraisal.

Something that Davis might have tried with Green was a 360 Degree Feedback. It was obvious that
Green felt picked on that Davis was trying to get rid of him. Maybe if Green was to get a
confidential, anonymous, objective feedback from his peers, and direct reports, along with Davis,
Green might take these recommendations more seriously. In a 360 Degree Performance Appraisal
some of the benefits are:
 Increases Self-awareness - Participants are given a complete report that includes their
strengths and areas for improvement.
 Balanced View – Feedback comes from a variety of people in the organization. This provides
a fair and more accurate picture of the employee’s demonstrated behavior.
 Leverages Strengths - Identifying strength in a particular competency allows for the creation
of a tailored development and training plan.
 Uncovers Blindspots - This enables the employee to understand the behaviors that they are
exhibiting, but never notice themselves.
 Development of skills - The 360 process gives individuals ownership over their own
improvement through the creation of customized development plans. This encourages
individual accountability and gives employees control over their career paths. Taking the
 central role in their own development also increases the engagement of employees in the
feedback process. (Explorance).

2. Mandatory Training
Dynamic Displays as a company should have set up mandatory training for Green. They knew that he
was not familiar to this position and what all was required from him. In the book “The Speed of
Trust” by Steven Covey he states, “I see a lot of companies saying that they’re going to tighten their
rules. I don’t see a lot of them saying that they’re going to work to be extremely clear about what
their values are, and give people training on how these values translate into actual behavior” (Covey,
61).

Action Plan

1. Complete Self-Evaluation and discuss it with Davis.

Green needs to set up a meeting with Davis. He needs to own-up to the things Davis expects of him.
He needs to focus on Davis’ expectations, priorities, and work style. He needs to change his attitude
about authority. While in this meeting he needs about his goals and expectations he has for growth
in the company. He needs to show Davis just how he plans on changing and becoming a team
player. According to an article on Project Manager, “Skills can also be enhanced through
collaboration. When you’re working with teammates whose talents complement yours, it’s like
you’ve transformed into a bigger, better worker, like some sort of office Voltron. By sharing your
abilities with your coworkers, you can focus on what you excel at and they can do the same.
Everyone wins.” (Projectmanager).

2. McDonald needs to discuss with Green the problems that he is having.

McDonald, Davis and Green need to have a meeting in which they discuss this problem. Everything
should be laid out, job expectations, duties, strengths, weaknesses, and a course of action. Davis has
been very upfront and helpful in trying to get Green to perform. In this meeting it should be made
very clear that this is Greens last change to toe the line and perform. In our reading, “Building one-
on-one work relationships” it talks about balancing inquiry and advocacy. I suggest that they apply
this simple principle in this meeting. “Lay out your reasoning and then encourage others to
challenge it”. This process is described in the following manner. “Here is my view and here is how I
have arrived at it. How does it sound to you? What makes sense to you and what doesn’t? Do you
see any ways I can improve it?” (Hill, p.4). Communication within this meeting is very important.

Conclusion

Dynamic Displays needs to set in place mandatory training for their managers, along with 360 degree
performance appraisals. This will help to train their employees and make them more productive, but
“The 360 process gives individuals ownership over their own improvement through the creation of
customized development plans. This encourages individual accountability and gives employees control
over their career paths” (Explorance). According to David Tracy, Northrop Grumman , Vice President,
Production Operations, he said, “If after 6 months one of your managers is not performing, the fault falls
on the company. They should have set up training to help him with this transition. You should never fire
someone who has worked for you less than 1 year for performance issues. That tells more about the
faults within a company and not the employee”. Now Green has the option to listen and take to heart
what is being discussed, he may decide not to listen and continue as he is. Or He may decide to follow
their direction and make the most of this opportunity that he has been given.
References

Covey, S. M. (2014). The speed of trust: The one thing that changes everything. Simon & Schuster.

David Tracy, Northrop Grumman, Vice President, Production Operations (personal interview) 2019.

Goleman, Daniel, “Leadership that gets results” Harvard Business Review, March-April 2000.

Hill, Linda A. "Building Effective One-on-One Work Relationships." Harvard Business School Background
Note 497-028, October 1996.

https://explorance.com/blog/5-employee-benefits-of-360-degree-feedback-2/

https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/how-to-be-a-team-player

Sasser, W. Earl, Jr., and Heather Beckham. "Thomas Green: Power, Office Politics and a Career in Crisis."
Harvard Business School Brief Case 082-095, May 2008.