Thomas Green Case Study

Thomas Green Case Study

        Thomas Green is in a tough situation. He is an employee of Dynamic Displays, a company that provides self-service kiosks such as ATMs and check in terminals for airlines. He had just received a promotion from account executive to senior market specialist. There were many factors that contributed to this promotion, but the most prominent was his work ethic. Thomas was eager to prove that his promotion was justified, but several issues have put Mr. Green in jeopardy of losing his job. While this situation is complicated and many factors have contributed to Thomas’s predicament, there are two main problems that he needs to address. Thomas’s workplace issues are a result of his lack of understanding of office politics and his failure to convince his superiors that their growth expectations were not attainable. If Thomas could repair the relationships between himself and his superiors and do a better job of keeping them informed, these problems could be fixed.

        The largest and most obvious mistake that Thomas made was his refusal to acknowledge how office politics would affect him in his new position. Rivera (1987) maintains, “Office politics is an unavoidable reality of every work environment. Learning to master the game is as important to your career as learning to master your job” (p. 52). This is something Mr. Green will have to realize quickly if he expects to retain his job. The division vice president Shannon McDonald promoted Green from account executive to senior market specialist because, among other things, he had impressed her with his performance despite his lack of managerial experience. Before his promotion, Shannon tried to make it clear that she was taking a chance on Green, and that he would have to adapt to this new and different position in the company. One of the main roadblocks Thomas was facing was regarding his new supervisor, Frank Davis. Frank had previously held Thomas’s position, and as a result would become Greens biggest obstacle. What Green failed to realize was that although McDonald felt that he was the right choice to take over as senior market specialist, Davis did not. Rather than attempting to start off by making sure he and his supervisor had a strong relationship, one of Green’s first actions as senior marketing executive was to openly challenge Davis. Davis believed that Thomas’s division should be aiming for yearly growth of at least 10%, and Thomas made it very clear that he didn’t think this was achievable. This firm position that Thomas held led directly into his second problem.

        The next large mistake that led up to Thomas’s current situation was his failure to understand that holding firm to the idea that Davis’s growth projections were unattainable without any hard evidence is not sufficient to keep him from losing his job. It is very clear that Thomas is not fond of using hard data to back up his positions, and it has put him in a tough spot. The main person that Thomas needs to convince to keep his job is Frank Davis, and Thomas avoids Davis at every possible opportunity. He regularly misses meetings and fails to update his Outlook schedule. Any time that Frank attempts to plan a meeting or make a phone call to Thomas, he can never seem to find him. Thomas has also failed to update Shannon on any of his progress, which was a condition of his promotion. When one considers the fact that Davis never wanted Green for the senior market specialist position, and the problem becomes clear. Davis has made it known through a series of emails that he is seriously considering letting Thomas go, and since Thomas has failed to update both Davis and McDonald, neither of them have any reason to give him their support. If Thomas does not find a way to resolve the situation, it is likely that he will be terminated. Fortunately for Mr. Green, there are several steps he can take to remedy the situation.