Thomas Green case study PDF

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It's about the managerial case of
thomas Green...

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Abstract The case describes the dilemma of a marketing manager, Thomas Green, who, after being rapidly promoted, is harshly criticized by his boss, Frank Davis. Green and Davis disagree on work styles and market projections. Green believes the sales goals set by Davis are based on "creative accounting" and grossly overstate the current market environment. A mood of silent conflict develops quickly between the two men, and Green is concerned that Davis is building a case to fire him. Green's situation is one in which his failure to adapt his work style and fully understand the demands and boundaries of his new position may lead to his discharge. A factor in the background is Green's relationship with his boss's boss. Analysis Green has much to blame himself for than his boss for the current situation. Thomas Green has firstly failed to realize that he is not an Account Executive anymore, but has been promoted to a much higher level. This promotion has also increased his authority and responsibility. He has not tried to change his behavior, work approach and style in order to meet the required standard for the position and the expectation of his boss. Plus his lack of managerial experience has also contributed to his weaknesses Questions : 1. Work styles and personalities of Thomas Green and Frank Davis Frank Green : is a practical person who follows the traditional well defined rules and regulations, the personality of Frank Davis is extraverted, sensing, thinking, judging. He is also organized and is only concerned with practicality of a decision. He has a clear vision, target for the sales teams to complete and also likes to be in charge. He is an ambitious, innovative and confident person. He is a good thinker and always has a new idea for the Company to follow. He prefers verbal communication over written form of communication. Frank Davis is achievement oriented, has few relevant goals. He is himself responsible and also expects Thomas Green to be responsible in return by keeping him informed, updated and also by responding back to his calls. He is a serious person who is less social. He is also a good reader, because he prefers written content over others. Frank Davis likes to base his decisions on facts. He would prefer taking support of reports, memos and presentations while making decisions or convincing other person rather than relying on verbal conversation. 2. Actions of Thomas Green and the expectations of Frank Davis Frank Davis expected Thomas Green to be a well-organized professional person who will work with enthusiasm and consistent with the standards of the Company. He was unhappy that Thomas Green wasted time by complaining on the issues he faced in selling to both the current and the prospective customers. Rather, he expected Thomas Green to come up with strategies to enhance sales and achieve the target results. Thomas Green also failed to give feedback on the required deadlines which annoyed Frank Davis. Frank Davis was upset by this as he expected his subordinate to be responsible and available to the official work whenever he is required. Thomas Green did not build an effective communication channel with Frank Davis.

3. Analysis of Thomas Green’s actions and job performance in his first five months. What mistakes did he ? Achievements of Thomas When he was acknowledged by Frank Davis when they returned back from the meetings with the major airline clients, Frank said, “We had some good meetings this week and the clients responded well to your ideas”. Another achievement was the acknowledgement his dedication and commitment to his individual assignment. He was appreciated by other market specialists who accompanied him in few meetings by mentioning that he was “charismatic and can think quickly on his feet”. Mistakes of Thomas Green: The disagreement with Frank Davis on the sales target. He should not have commented on the target in front of everyone else. Rather he should have spoken about his concerns separately. This was the root cause of problems between the two people. He failed to manage his boss properly. He was unable to work out a compatible working style. Thomas was also not able to keep his boss informed about his location and progress. He was unable to make Frank trust and depend on him. He did not understand that the bosses need cooperation, reliability and honesty from their employees. He did not understand the strengths and weaknesses of his boss. Thomas Green failed to understand the politics in the Organization. He was also unable to develop a good network. Thomas Green did not learn from the first performance assessment meeting and therefore did not change himself as per the desires of Frank Davis. If he had tried to change, he would have been appreciated by his boss in the next meeting. Thomas Green built a wrong perception about Frank Davis in his mind. He thought that Frank Davis was criticizing him just because he was promoted to this position by Shannon McDonald and Frank. Thomas Green failed to maintain an effective communication with his boss. He rather tried his best to avoid interacting with Frank Davis whenever possible. He left a bad impression in the mind of his boss when Frank was unable to locate him and later found out from another employee that Thomas Green had left for second meeting one day earlier. 4. Possible underlying agendas of Davis and McDonald Agenda of Davis : Davis joined Dynamic Displays in 1990. He was the oldest employee of the Company among McDonald and Thomas Green. After serving for seventeen years he got promoted to the position of Marketing Director. Thomas has been given the position of Senior Market Specialist, which was vacated by Davis. Thomas reached the position in just six months whereas it took years in the case of Davis to become Senior Market Specialist. Similarly, McDonald joined the company in 2000 and is currently the Vice President of the entire travel Division. It is tough for Davis to see her at a senior position than him because he believes himself as the most suitable candidate for the Vice President position, being served the longest in the Company and having more work experience. Now, when Thomas is hired by McDonald, she took the opportunity from Davis to hire a person of his own likeness. He is bound to follow her orders because she is senior in the position than him too. The underlying agenda of Davis is to prove that the hiring of Thomas is not done on merit basis. This way

he can prove to the Chief Executive Officer and other Board of Directors that McDonald is not sincere with the success of the Company, rather she is serving her personal interest. By highlighting her mistakes, the chances of Davis for becoming the Vice President will increase. This is even realized by McDonald too when she talked to Thomas on the first day of his promotion that, “Tom, you are walking into a tricky situation with Frank Davis. Frank had expected to choose the new senior market specialist and it would not have been you. You’ll have to deal with any fallout that might result from that. You are getting an unusual opportunity with this promotion. Don’t let me down”. Agenda of McDonald Just like Davis, McDonald is also aware about the politics of the Company and so she also had her underlying agenda. McDonald was aware that Davis had intention to find her mistakes and then use them to weaken her position in the Company. Her motive of hiring Thomas was far beyond just appreciating his hard work. She offered him a senior position and out of the way promotion because she knew that Thomas was from her own State and studied from the same University. She could control him very easily as compared to any other employee in the Company. She also thought that as Thomas is new and unaware of the politics of the Company, she can easily influence him and receive the information of Davis’ department from him. Her reason for the appointment was to increase her network and place her person of confidence right where it matters. 5. Actions I would take if I was Thomas Green If I was Thomas Green, I would firstly accept all my mistakes. I would then find ways to improve the relations with my boss: discuss with my boss all the weaknesses he witnessed in me and then work hard.. Secondly, I would also prepare a detailed work schedule with my boss and then follow it accordingly. It will enable my boss to know about my assignments. Also having an experience of only a few months, I cannot prove my boss wrong. But, I would prefer to discuss about any issues in the target separately with Frank Davis in a very professional and respectful manner. I would try to manage my boss so that my boss does not have any negative feelings about me. I would also strive to know about his work styles and then follow the preferred work style. I would also give importance on creating networks in my workplace consisting of other Senior Market Specialists in the department. Having good and cordial relationship would benefit me in my progress One cannot just ignore the political environment in the Company. Similarly, I would also try to understand the power dynamics in my Company. Relating to the email to be sent to Shannon McDonald, my email reply would not blame Frank Davis. Rather it would contain my acceptance of mistakes and willingness to improve my work style and relationship with my boss. I would accept to work under the norms and regulations of the Organization....