Jack Tomas Case Study Write Up

Donahoe – as a 20 year Ad Agency Account Executive, Donahoe is not the sharpest or most knowledgeable, but he is salty and street smart enough to frequently end up at the top over the many years he has worked. Even though Donahoe was a part of Thomas’ hiring team, he had little influence on the hiring decision, which was made primarily by Ford. Shortly after Thomas took on the position, he was tasked by Ford to review the finances of the last six months. The results showed many errors in Danahoe’s department and led to a behind the scene relationship between Jack and Ford in order to report the performance of Donahoe’s department.

Ford – Ford palys a detrimental role as a superior in Thomas’ relationship with his direct boss, Donahoe. Even though Ford is Thomas’ superior, he looks at him as more than a subordinate and assigned special project to support his “spy” effort on Donahoe. Since the errors dicovererd in Donahoe’s department, Ford has placed many more over-budget blames on Donahoe even when the blame is not valid. As Donahoe’s direct supervisor, Ford is not supportive of his professional performance and have created a toxic work environment for his subordinates, Donahoe and Thomas. Regardless of Ford’s negative influence on Donahoe’s professional performance, Donahoe miraculously managed to retain his position.

What are the power and political dynamics at Acron? Does Thomas perceive these dynamics accurately?

in a sense, Thomas is quite naïve in his thought process of fully dedicating his efforts towards clilmbing the company’s ladder without giving too much regards to his political work environment. Besides the gradual recognition of the political actions that Ford takes to set Donahoe up for failure, Thomas is simply a minion in the political mix up between Ford and Donahoe. There are signs of bad blood between Ford and Donahoe in this power and political dynamics fiasco, especially with Ford’s effort in guiding and support Thomas to reveal Donahoe’s poor performance. Additionally, Ford has ambitions to strategically elevate Thomas in the company as if he is trying to have him replace Donahoe in the near future. After all, Thomas’ success and gaining authority will only comie back to Ford and his additional control of a young new leader to benefit him in the long run.

Assess Thomas’ interpersonal influence capability and behavior?

Now that Donahue has expressed no interest in a good working relationship Thomas has abandoned all attempts to make it work with him and has now obtained a mentor in his relationship with Ford. Ford has taken to Thomas and the two have formed a great working relationship. Thomas has to find a mentor that will support his career and his growth within the company. Donahue is clearly not that person. Ford is willing to give Thomas the opportunities for