Running head: THOMAS GREEN POLITICS AND CRISIS 1

Thomas Green Politics and Crisis

Lance Calkins

Grand Canyon University

Power, Politics, and Influence

LDR 610

Brian Lahargoue

April 05, 2011

 Thomas Green Politics and Crisis

Green and Davis’ Differing Expectations

Davis and Green’s expectations were quite different. Davis expected Green to think more

globally, but Green continued to work as if he was an Account Executive versus a Senior Market

Specialist. Green moved into his new position with the same thought process that was successful

for him in the past, not evaluating the new expectations or goals of his newly assigned position.

Green also had the expectation that his personal friendship with the Division Vice President

Shannon Mc Donald would override Davis’ direction. As stated by McDonald, "This new job

will require you to think strategically as well as tactically, and you will have to coordinate

between several different functions and layers of corporate management." (Sasser, 2008).

Unfortunately, Green continued to work one on one with clients rather than concentrate on how

his Account Executives could meet budget sales expectations through various marketing

strategies. As Green did not agree with the sales projections of Davis, Green focused much of his

time on new software technology, which might impact the following year's sales, but not this

year’s expectation (Sasser, 2008).

Davis's expectations included creating market strategy for the region versus meeting

and/or exceeding 2008 sales expectations with existing products, and he also expected consistent

communication from Green regarding information on current clients and reports. In their first

initial meeting to discuss Green’s progress in his new role, Davis was clear as to his

expectations. In their second meeting, Davis again outlined where Green had fallen short in his

performance, and he also explained to Green what his role should be as a Senior Market

Specialist. He even gave him an example from another region (Sasser, 2008). Green’s
expectation was that he did not have to answer Davis’ request as long as he could justify later his

actions.

Individual Agendas

Davis wanted to meet and/or exceed corporate expectations for his regions by continuing

with the 10 % growth of CAGR as had occurred in the previous 5 years (Sasser, 2008). He

wanted to continue to be successful to the organization. His agenda may have also included

proving to McDonald that a poor decision was made in the hiring of Green without his input.

Davis wanted respect for his seniority within the organization and conveyed to Green he is the

boss and expected his suggestions are followed through. McDonald may have been swayed by

the college alumni connection and Green's apparent salesman charm. McDonald simply wanted

to see her division succeed and her subordinates work together for a common goal and for the

good of the company.

Green is a very interesting study. He wanted to succeed but on his own terms. He was

young and lacked managerial experience. He wanted to handle his accounts as he did before his

promotion, which may be considered “laissez-faire.” He thought McDonald was his mentor and

protector, giving him a free reign to conduct business as usual. From the beginning of Green’s

relationship with Davis, there was no respect on Green’s part. Green had very little appreciation

for the tenure of Davis in the organization as is evidenced by his lack of response to several of

Green’s requests for information (Sasser, 2008). Green lacked maturity at the organizational

level as well as the leadership level. An example of this can be seen when Green spoke

negatively about Davis to other members of the corporation that caused division amongst other

employees (Sasser, 2008). As a fellow employee observed who had worked with Green on new

product creation, “…clients are starting to ask me for hard data… Thomas [Green] doesn’t really
work that way.” (Sasser, 2008).

Power Bases

McDonald uses legitimate power coupled with reward power (McShane, 2008).

According to McShane, Davis uses coercive power as he is somewhat resentful of Green, by the

way he was hired, but also because he believes he is a fair-haired boy who did not earn his

position. Thus he is going to show Green who is boss and must comply with his standard or be

terminated. He also uses legitimate power as his position puts him in direct authority of Green.

As to Green, he operates in both the referent and expert power at different times. When he is

dealing with McDonald he uses referent power, and when he is responding to Davis he uses

expert power.

Improvement and abuse of Power Bases According to French and Raven

Davis could have turned Green around and made him a more productive employee by

using reward power when dealing with his subordinate. Davis needed to spend more time

mentoring and coaching Green to understand the importance of teamwork and good

communication. Davis also could have influenced Green with his vast knowledge of the

corporation and communicated his past success. Green used McDonald’s legitimate power to

disrespect Davis and flaunt his relationship with McDonald. McDonald could have also used her

expert power by being a better mentor to Davis. As she knew she was taking a chance on Green,

as he lacked managerial experience and was skipping an entire “normal protocol” level in the

organization, she should have been more hands on, checking in regularly with both Green and

Davis.

In the end, Davis used his coercive power to try and bring Green into compliance. Davis

felt he had no other options and due to his frustration with Green, became very authoritative. The
way Davis conducted business with Green and the manner in which Green dismissed his own

boss caused resentment and eventually termination or the resignation of the employee. Had

Green utilized referent power with Davis, there may not have been quite the rift between the two

quite so soon. Had Davis used reward and expert power, Green may have been more willing to

learn.
 References

McShane, S. L., & Von Glinow, M. A. (2008). Organizational behavior (5th ed.). New York:

McGraw-Hill

Northhouse, P. G. (2010). Leadership theory and practice (fifth ed.). California: SAGE

Publications, Inc.

Sasser, W., Beckham, H. (2008). Thomas green: power, office politics, and a career in crisis.

Harvard Business Publishing