INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME IN MANAGEMENT FOR

EXECUTIVES 2016-17
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, LUCKNOW
Organizational Behavior
(Course Number: HR05101)

Case Study of

Thomas Green
Power, Office Politics and a Career in crisis
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
Prof. Archana Shukla

SUBMITTED BY: Group 9

Name
Harish Reddy
Nigam Mehta
Sanjoy Maji
Shelly Arora
Udayan Srivastava

SUBMITTED ON 30TH APRIL, 2016

Roll No.
IPMX09042
IPMX09035
IPMX09045
IPMX09049
IPMX09062

1. What are the work styles and personalities of Thomas Green and
Frank Davis?
Thomas Green is a very ambitious, enterprising, accomplished, opportunistic and
persistent man. He would rather pursue big achievements than focus on small
opportunities. He is a self-starter who is averse to paperwork and relies heavily
on his intellect, quick thinking and persuasive ability. He challenges Frank in a
meeting, however refuses to reason with him when Frank tries to substantiate his
forecasts. Thomas does not convince Frank about his plans and even avoids him
after receiving a negative feedback. Also, he was focusing only on airlines and
not on other avenues. He had to stop thinking as a person from Sales and start
working like a market strategy head.
Frank Davis is an experienced professional who is organized, process driven,
detail oriented and believes in data analysis to go about his work. He is prompt
in responding and also sets his expectations for his team quite clear from the
onset. Frank could foresee the situations which could arise from Thomas working
style. Frank is sensitive to criticism as he perceived Green to be negative when
he questioned the projected sales numbers. Frank prefers on having defined
milestones, documented strategies and data forecasts against which he could
track his teams progress. Frank is a man of few words. Perhaps, after the first
performance discussion Frank could have taken the initiative and tried to mentor
Thomas which he did not.
2.

How do the expectations of Green differ from the

expectations of Frank Davis?

Frank Daviss expectation was YOY growth of 10% for the eastern region. Davis
projected the growth based on expected sales in the car and hotel rental market
which were new avenues of growth. Davis expected Green to be more detail
oriented, process driven and wanted Green to back his growth strategy with
numbers and presentations. Davis expected Green to keep him informed of his
actions beforehand. He also expected Green to be responsive to his emails and
phone calls. Green was individualistic, hard-working, ambitious and status driven.
He expected to close deals through conversations not backed by supportive
information. Thomas Green was skeptical about the growth numbers because the
kiosk industry had already matured, web check-in market was in growth phase
and foresaw growth by new product development for the airline industry.
3.

What is your analysis of Thomas Greens actions and

job performance in his first five months?

After promotion, Thomas Green has been assigned the role of Marketing
Specialist which was not relevant to his experience as an account executive. He
was reluctant to align his interest and goals to the requirement of the role and
organization and continued working on Sales part rather than developing
marketing skills for which he has been asked by his manager. He became non
receptive of the feedback and kept on doing things his way. He was good in
strategies, winning clients and getting orders but was not flexible to the
requirements by his client asking for documentary evidences for his plans. In
spite of Davis effort to resolve the conflict between them, he maintained his
perception of Davis by avoiding him and also started spreading bad words about

Davis among their client defeating business standards. He also was blunt while
sharing his disconnect on the forecasting numbers in business meeting instead
of taking this to Davis personally, reflecting his inability to work in team
environment.

4.

What is your analysis of Thomas Greens actions and

job performance in his first five months?

Frank Davis:

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Daviss key motivation was organizational success through his own ideas. He also
wanted to show McDonald that his selection for the marketing specialist position
without any discussion with him was not correct. He probably wanted a
marketing executive who is process driven, detail oriented, team person and who
will be willing to work with Davis to meet the targets set by him.
Shannon McDonald:
Her idea was to fill the position with a dynamic person from his own state and
college fraternity with fresh and novel ideas who could learn from the seasoned
managers and veterans and implement his ideas and strategies successfully for
more revenue for the company. If this strategy worked, then she would also be
creating a second line for Davis to take the organization forward.

5. What actions, if any, would you take if you were

Thomas Green?

I would take Frank into confidence by discussing with him possible ways of
getting out from the current situation.
I would analyze the current target set by Frank and see what can be done
to achieve them. I would work with someone from marketing so that I can
back my position with data.
I would also explain my position to McDonald as asked by her and let her
know what guided my actions. I would also resume my regular interactions
with her.
I would avoid politics and not complain about Frank to my colleagues and
bury the hatchet with Frank.
I would undergo a training related to Sales and marketing so that I can
equip myself with better knowledge to do my job.

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