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Week 6: Case Study of Waite Pharmaceuticals

Sandesh Kharel

Westcliff University

LDR 300: Introduction to Leadership

Professor Shakya

June 12, 2023

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Week 6: Case Study of Waite Pharmaceuticals

Introduction

The given case study is about nepotism and potential misuse of power while

implementing a new global knowledge-sharing application that promises to cut development

time and costs in half in Waite Pharmaceuticals. It talks about a situation where assistant of

President James Hsu, who lacks experience and talent is being significant influencer of President

Hsu while taking the decision. Lassiter, who is Chief Information Officer at Waite

Pharmaceuticals evaluated pros and cons of the services of knowledge sharing platform of every

firm, and ranked them first, and second choice recommendations, where she kept Standard

system in dead last due to his limited capabilities. But the owner of Standard system had

personal connection with Ms. Lee. Despite having enough research, board decided to go with

Standard System that raises the questions about favoritism, nepotism and misuse of power. Since,

it is because of the influence of Lucy Lee on President Hsu’s decision making. Here, it teaches us

about the value of relation building, professionalism, transparency and accountability in

workplace.

Selection of Standard System

The selection of Standard System is greatly influenced by Lucy lee, lack of awareness

and expertise of President and no involvement of board in presentation of consulting firms

(Hahn, 2018). Lucy was serving as an assistant of President Hsu, and also had close relation with

him. Due to which Mr. President could not deny the words of Lucy. Also, Lucy got personal

connection with the owner of Standard System, that made lucy to recommend one and only

Standard system, and Mr. President just accepted the recommendation of Lucy which is the result
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of favoritism and nepotism. Moreover, Mr. President did not have any kind of experience and

expertise in knowledge sharing platform due to which he could not see the limitation of Standard

System that can affect the Waite Pharmaceuticals in long run. This made Mr. President to get

easily influenced by the words of Lucy. Here, board did not involve in the presentation of

consulting forms and got limited information from Mr. President, since, he just focused on

Standard System. Also, boards did not get enough time to research on the particular consulting

form, that made them to agree on Hsu’s recommendation. Thus, Mr. President has used his

positional power and made board to go with Standard System as the consulting firm for the

knowledge sharing application.

Powers in the characters

 James Hsu:

James Hsu is the president of Waite Pharmaceuticals, which means he has got more

power in decision making. Thus, he has got positional power because of formal authority

and hierarchical structure of company. Here, James can make and implement any

decision, allocate every resource and drive the direction of company. He has also got the

power to control other through punishment, threats or any negative intentions. In term of

his knowledge, he also has got expert power because a person is competent for the post of

president only if he has enough knowledge and experience in the particular field.

 Lucy Lee:

Lucy Lee is the personal assistant of Mr. President, and she is the only way to reach to

him. So, she has got referent power. Moreover, she is young, petite and attractive, that

provides her personal power through which she can easily influence the decision of Mr.

Hsu. Since, she acts as a gate keeper to Hsu, she can also control the flow of information
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to and from Hsu. Although, as an assistant she should not have lot of power, but because

of charisma of her beauty, she got control over Mr. president and is experiencing great

power in decision making.

 Amelia Lassiter:

Amelia Lassiter is the Chief Information Officer at Waite Pharmaceuticals, that provides

her positional power and she has got extensive knowledge and research on knowledge

sharing system which provides her expert power. Her formal position and authority give

her the power to influence decision making process and initiatives related to technology.

Here, having all these powers she is unable to use because of Lucy being gateway to Mr.

President. Overall, James got the most power in the company, followed by Lucy because

of her influence over James and then Amelia who is unable to use her positional power in

decision making of her department as well.

Lassiter and her Power

Lassiter is in the position of Chief Information Officer which provides her enough positional

power to influence the decision related to her department but is unable to use and influence over

the decision. In order to influence increase her power she has to firstly focus on establishing

alliances and building a network with the everyone in the board. For that she has to improve her

communication, because its her communication skills that in stopping her from putting her words

in front of board when board chose an unworthy system for the company which is Standard

System. If the company has got Zero Tolerance Policy regarding the relations among the

colleagues or sub ordinates then she can utilize that to increase her power. Since, Mr. President

and Lee were having close relation which might not be allowed in the company. After Board will

know about it then its for sure that one of them will get fired and her words will be heard while
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taking the decision. Afterwards, she can build a strong case about the potential of other firms and

address the weakness of Standard System, to convince board about potential threat from

Standard system in future. Thus, Lassiter will increase her power and influence her decision.

If I were in the position of Lassiter, I would first build up my network in the company. I

would make good relation with individuals of company specially Board, so that I would get a

supportive environment in this kind of crisis environment. Then, I would use ethos, pathos and

logos strategy to convince, if it is possible to change the decision of implementing Standard

System. Firstly, I would establish my credibility by emphasizing my experience and expertise in

Knowledge Sharing system, which will build trust and I can gain confidence of Board. Also, to

increase their trusts, I would mention some recommendations by of industry professionals,

explaining that work of particular system aligning to our company’s potentials also addressing

the limitations of Standard System in bolstering our company’s credibility. Secondly, I would

understand the board’s priorities and concern and highlight the potential negative impacts like

risk of project delays, increased costs, and potential damage in company reputation in future.

Along with that I would share the impact of Lucy in the decision making of the company,

addressing the Zero Tolerance policy of the company. I would try to explain the concern of Mr.

President being focused on choosing the Standard System and relation of Mr. President, Lucy

Lee and the owner of Standard system. Lastly, I would provide evidences on the company

progressing because of using another knowledge sharing application. I would provide some

viable alternatives to standard system and explain why other firms’ better suits for us with proven

track records, relevant experiences and successful implementation of similar project. I would try

to bring the bigger picture in front of Boards. Here, ethos, pathos and logos will create a

persuasive and well round argument that will be appealing the emotions, rationality and trust of
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board. Same approach was utilized by CEO of Alphabet, Mr. Sundar Pichai while he was not in

the position of CEO. Mr. Pichai used the approach of ethos, pathos and logos to convince board

to about implementation of Chrome, and Maps (Hahn, 2018). Since then, Chrome is the most

widely used web browser globally.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the case study highlights the power dynamics in Waite Pharmaceuticals.

Although James Hsu is the president of the company, Lucy lee being assistant holds power as a

gatekeeper of information to Hsu. Thus, the close relation of Hsu and Lee makes Lee as great

influencer to the decision of company. In contrast, Lassiter possess the power on her expertise,

still cannot utilize it in decision making. Here, Lassiter need to strengthen her power to take

company in right direction, since it is going in wrong direction because of Lee. Lassiter can

improve her power by being an effective communicator, engaging with stakeholder while taking

the decision, providing factual evidences about the pros and cons of system, addressing every

negative activity Infront of Board, leveraging external expertise and building proper relation with

everyone in the company. Doing this Lassiter will not only increase her power but also will

contribute to the growth of the company by implementing new global knowledge sharing

application at Waite Pharmaceuticals.

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References

Hahn, C. (2018). Google: Sundar Pichai. Media Company Leader Presentation. 8(1). 1-25.

https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/mclp/8

Daft, R.L. (2018). The Leadership Experience. Cengage Publications.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r9f_bYx6ZyTWaGSIwp80Xh9WY4hpCOneSvPzg

7b7Lms/edit