Thomas Green: Power, Office Politics, and a Career in Crisis
HBS Case Analysis Paper
Thomas Green: Power, Office Politics, and a Career in Crisis
A person’s success in an organization not only depends on his or her personality and ability, but also how he or she manages office politics and resolves conflicts. In order to successfully manage interpersonal relations within a corporate environment, one also needs to understand the power and influence structures in one’s organization. Failure to develop effective work relationships can cause job dissatisfaction, low work performance, unnecessary conflicts, and potentially getting fired from one’s job. Thomas Green Case is a great example of how different work styles and office politics can result in a career crisis.
Thomas Green, at age twenty-eight, had just recently been promoted to become the senior market specialist in Dynamic Displays six years after joining the company. Green was first recruited by Dynamic Displays as an account executive in March 2007 and quickly got the attention of the senior executives due to his impressive work performance. In July 2007, Shannon McDonald, the Travel Division Vice President, who met Green in a training seminar, directly promoted him to the position of senior market specialist despite of Green’s short arrival in the company. This was a huge leap for Green because an account executive usually moved first to a market specialist position and then become a senior market specialist after a few years of experience. As a senior market specialist, Green was responsible for “evaluating new business opportunities developing general market and specialists in his region” (HBS Case, 3). His new boss was Frank Davis, the marketing director, who then reported to Shannon McDonald. However, one potential complication with McDonald’s promotion was that Frank Davis was supposed to choose the new senior market specialist and it would not have been Green. On October 8, Green openly challenged his new boss, Frank Davis’ sale growth estimation and
Thomas Green: Power, Office Politics, and a Career in Crisis
A person’s success in an organization not only depends on his or her personality and ability, but also how he or she manages office politics and resolves conflicts. In order to successfully manage interpersonal relations within a corporate environment, one also needs to understand the power and influence structures in one’s organization. Failure to develop effective work relationships can cause job dissatisfaction, low work performance, unnecessary conflicts, and potentially getting fired from one’s job. Thomas Green Case is a great example of how different work styles and office politics can result in a career crisis.
Thomas Green, at age twenty-eight, had just recently been promoted to become the senior market specialist in Dynamic Displays six years after joining the company. Green was first recruited by Dynamic Displays as an account executive in March 2007 and quickly got the attention of the senior executives due to his impressive work performance. In July 2007, Shannon McDonald, the Travel Division Vice President, who met Green in a training seminar, directly promoted him to the position of senior market specialist despite of Green’s short arrival in the company. This was a huge leap for Green because an account executive usually moved first to a market specialist position and then become a senior market specialist after a few years of experience. As a senior market specialist, Green was responsible for “evaluating new business opportunities developing general market and specialists in his region” (HBS Case, 3). His new boss was Frank Davis, the marketing director, who then reported to Shannon McDonald. However, one potential complication with McDonald’s promotion was that Frank Davis was supposed to choose the new senior market specialist and it would not have been Green. On October 8, Green openly challenged his new boss, Frank Davis’ sale growth estimation and
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