Thomas Green: Power, Office Politics, and a Career in Crisis

Situation Analysis:
The case is about an employee Thomas Green who works in a company called Dynamic Display. Dynamic Display provides self service options to banks via its ATMs and it has also started a new division to cater to the needs of Travel and Hospitality industry. The company expects to cater to this division through its network of 1500 self serving kiosks in more than 75 airports. Now, Thomas Green joined the company as an account executive but was promoted to the post of Senior Market Specialist in a time span of five months. The decision to promote Green was taken by the company president Shannon McDonald, who gave no consideration to the fact that Green did not possess the required experience to handle the post. Thomas Greens new boss Frank Davis was not taken into loop while taking the decision of promoting Green and the news came as a great shock to Davis. The working styles of Green and Davis were completely opposite of each other and this led to a strained professional relationship between them. Frank was dissatisfied with Greens work and had emailed the company president about the current situation.

Problem Analysis:
Different working style Wrong attitude No importance was given to office politics Difference in thinking Due to age gap Different backgrounds

Decision Analysis:
Ask McDonald to interfere Collaborate with Davis

Reassign his job Switch/Quit Job

Plan of Action:
Green should collaborate with Davis as other decisions may hamper his image (bad interpersonal skills)o o o o o o Understand the importance of work culture at Dynamic Displays Understand that all of them are working towards a common goal. Align his creative ideas with existing culture under the guidance of Davis. Should start Documenting his creative work as suggested by Davis Should stop bad mouthing about Davis Ask for Daviss guidance in special software project to make him feel more involved Communicate his concerns to McDonald politely Maintain positive attitude towards targets even if he feels that they are impossible to achieve

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