Mohammad Tegar Nurfitrianto

PIO Essay Exam

Case Study : Thomas Green : Power, Office Politics and Career in Crisis

Thomas Green Work Style

– Prefers to work independently values autonomy
– Poor Communicator with boss

Thomas Green Leadership Style

– Lack of managerial skills
– Prefer to work independently
– Relies on his charismatic personality

Frank Davis Work Style

– Values team work
– Good Communication
– Quick Responsive
– Detail Oriented through projections and Strategies

Frank Davis Leadership Style

– Transactional leader
– Set goals and sales target for his employees
– Expect people will work according to the given target
– Thinker leader

Thomas Performance
– Thomas was very bright and ambitious, he had a great rapport with his clients
– He wanted to get noticed immediately by showing his ability at work
– He completed a contract for one of the largest airline carriers to accelerate rollout of
kiosk in 20 airports (first 4 months)
– He was promoted to the position of Senior Market Specialist

Mistake made by Thomas Green

– He failed to give regular updates of his schedule to Davis which led to a
miscommunication of the plans
– Challenged Davis in first meeting due to which he couldn’t gain Davis’s trust which
ideally should’ve been his priority
– Never considered backing his claims with materialistic data even after being advised
by Davis several times
– Had a bad attitude (avoiding)

• Problem Identification
Problem that happened between Thomas Green and Frank Davis is a relationship conflict,
Relationship conflict focuses on people, rather than the issues, as the source of conflict. The
parties refer to interpersonal incompatibilities such as “personality clashes” rather than
legitimate differences of opinion regarding tasks or decisions. So that the conflict that occurs
is not a constructive conflict to improve performance, it creates relationship problems and
personality clashses between the two of them.
He failed to accept his boss opinion. Thomas Green needs to understand his boss Frank Davis.
His Emotional Intelligence ability must be more sensitive, Emotional Intelligence is an ability
to understand one’s feelings, have empathy for other and regulate emotion to enhance quality
of life. He cant change the boss, complaining about the boss wont make the boss a better boss,
its only make Thomas a bitter employee.

Thomas Green forgot about Frank Davis’s position as his boss, where he naturaly has
legitimate power. Legitimate Power is an agreement among organizational members that
people in certain roles can request a set of behaviors from others. This perceived right or
obligation originates from formal job descriptions as well as informal rules of conduct. It is
usually the most important source of power in organizational settings, particularly between
employees and managers.

Condition that cause the Conflict

• Incompatible Goals : Thomas felt the targets set by Davis were unrealistic and
impossible to achieve
• Communication Problems: Thomas tends to avoid problems and is reluctant to discuss
problems that occur
• Diffrentiation : differences of opinion that occur between them without understanding
each other's intentions and goals

Interpersonal Conflict Handling Styles

• Avoiding (Thomas Green)
This conflict handling styles can be seen from the continued avoidance of Thomas from his
problems with Frank
• Forcing (Frank Davis)
This conflict Handling Style can be seen form Frank decides something without any discussion
with Thomas

Structural Approach to Conflict Management (Formal Way)

• Emphasizing Superordinate Goals
• Reducing Differentiation
• Improving Communication and Understanding

Thomas Action (Unformal Way)

Make a good Relationship
• Ask advice
• Attempt to flatter Davis
• Managing Impression
Avoid Blunders
• Communicate effectively
• Praise in public and criticize in private
• Link action to organizational goals
Gain Power
• Be adaptive to change
• Do what environment demands