What Are the Work Styles and Personalities of Thomas Green and Frank Davis?

Thomas Green Case

Managing Power

What are the work styles and personalities of Thomas Green and Frank Davis?

Thomas Green and Frank Davis both have very different work styles and personalities so they initially did not get off to a good start. As mentioned in the case, Frank Davis had previously held Thomas Green’s position and has had 17 of years of experience with the company. Thomas Green is still new to the company and while he had great success as an account executive, the same work style that he was used to does not translate in the role of a manager. Thomas was transitioning into a new position as a manager from a sales executive. He was very much an independent worker used to making the deals himself and did not rely on others to get things done. He was able to relate well to clients and people liked him. After he started the position and he and Frank met with clients, it showed how different their work styles were. Frank’s work style is more detailed and data driven in which he prepares ahead of time, he is more of a strategic thinker and planner, which Thomas should have taken notice of. As illustrated in the book, the Art of War, a manager must have a strategy and know your plan is and what the potential consequences could be before you make a decision. Frank Davis also needs to feel trust from his subordinates in which he does not yet have trust in Thomas Green. Frank’s work style and personality also shows that he likes to have a sense of control and has more of a coercive management style than collaborative. His focus is on the numbers and making the goals of the company and not as much as on coaching and mentoring. Frank uses a personal power manager approach to management. It seems like Frank managerial type is a personal power manager. He needs to feel like his direct reports are loyal to him and responsive to his tasks to get the job done. An example of this is when Thomas was openly questioning Frank regarding the sales projections in the Budget Plan meeting. Frank was visibly upset and felt his was being challenged instead of remaining calm and asking questions to hear out his views. However, regardless of the situation Davis should look at his management style to learn to be more of a mentor or coach to help Green in his new role rather than send out memos on what he expects to be completed especially since their work styles and personality is so different.

Thomas Green’s working style and personality is also goal oriented but he feels he can get to

his goals through his contacts and relationships with people rather than on hard data and facts.

Being in a sales role, his work style and personality proved very successful for him and was seen as a forward thinker with big ideas for the company. However, without the researching