Thomas Green and His Dynamic Display - Essay Example

 In the business world the internal politics of corporations concerning human resource decisions are a critical success factor. The case study analyzed in this paper focuses on an employee called Thomas Green who recently became appointed to the position of marketing specialist at Dynamic Display. After his promotion Thomas received a harsh employee evaluation form his boss Frank Davis. Thomas had expressed concerns with Frank sales projections which he believed were erroneous and based on unsound accounting principles. There were conflicts between Thomas and Frank concerning the job performance of Thomas. Thomas had reached his position based on a recommendation from Frank’s boss. The case describes the work performance of Thomas based on different incidents based on the perspective of Frank who is building up a case to fire newly appointed marketing executive. Dynamic Display Corporation: Company Profile Dynamic Display Corporation is dedicated to providing self service options to banks via Automated Teller Machines. The company has been in business since 1990. In 1994 the managerial staff of the firm noticed an opportunity for growth in the travel and hospitality industry. A new division was founded to serve this market by offering self-service check-in kiosks. By 2007 the travel and hospitality division had become the market leader with 60% market share and over 1500 kiosks across a network of 75 airports. The attractiveness of the company products was that it reduced the costs of checking in a passenger to about $0.30 per passenger which represents a 90% cost reduction in comparison with agent check-in. A new trend in the industry was the utilization of web-check in. Web checks were taking business away from the company. Dynamic Display was looking for new managerial talent with fresh ideas to keep its travel and hospitality industry competitive. The Situation Thomas Green was young professional with an outgoing personality that started working at Dynamic Display in March 2007 as an account executive. Ever since he was recruited by this company Thomas had high hopes for his chances to succeed at his new job. A common key success factor of successful business people is the ability to set and achieve goals1. Thomas showed initiative and voluntarily attended training at corporate headquarters. His communication skills, energy, and insight into the ATM market caught the attention of a key executive, Shannon McDonald. McDonald took Green under his wings and mentored the kid and in a short period of time McDonalds promoted Thomas to senior market specialist, a position that typically took more than five years of experience as a market specialist to reach. Thomas Green was employee whose professional experience had been limited to a couple of years in sales positions. His educational background included a bachelor’s degree in Economics. He had never worked in any type of managerial job position. The new job entails doing pure marketing work. The senior codification of the market specialist position implied a person had at least five years experience doing this type of work. Under normal circumstances if a proper job selection procedure had been performed Thomas would most likely not be hired because he did not possess the proper employee profile which would include credentials such as marketing work experience, degree in business administration with concentration in marketing, and possibly a master’s degree in business administration. The fact that Thomas did not process the proper employee profile for the job position hurt his chances tremendously of succeeding at his new job. For example there instances in which his boss asked him for quantitative analysis to present certain information. Thomas did not comply with these request and did not seem to realize the importance these requests, his response was that this was not his work style. During the first week of Thomas at his new job he experienced a critical incident which affected his behavior and vision during his tenured with the company. In one of the first executive meetings his boss discussed the sales projection for the division Thomas was responsible for which set a plan for a 10% annual growth projection. During his first big meeting Thomas forgot the importance of making a first impression and openly challenged his boss, Frank Davis, claiming that the projections were unrealistic and lacked a sound economical base. Whether Thomas was correct or not in his assessment of the projections is irrelevant. He should have stayed quiet and expressed this opinion under close doors without emotions getting in the way of things. The views and mentality Thomas displayed showed he had not adjusted to his new role. It was no longer his job to question his superior’s quota as he did in the past as a salesman. Thomas was now the man responsible of creating strategies to make these types of projections a reality. It was his duty now to display a positive attitude and find ways to accomplish the company goals. Analysis During his short career as a senior market analyst Thomas made the mistake of not seeking the help of his work peers. In the business world individualism is no longer a desirable trait; work units depend on teamwork to achieve the greatest results. The most important factor that contributes towards high levels of excellence and quality in a team stems from an individual team member’s ability to work with others2. Thomas simply did not communicate or cooperate with his fellow senior market analyst. He did not play his cards right and fail to establish early relationships with his coworkers to build synergy and encourage a cooperative environment. Synergy in a workplace leads to positive outcomes such as higher levels of job satisfaction, greater productivity, and higher job retention. Prior to the end of his market analyst career Thomas realized that he had failed at building an inner network to support him within the organization. The smart office politics which landed him an early promotion disappeared once he moved to a managerial role. Thomas did not take advantage of his innate ability to build strong human relationships. He should have been more humbled and ask for help from co-workers with more experience than him. Dynamic Display forgot about the importance socialization plays in the adoption process of a new employee. The company did not provide Thomas with relocation assistance when he moved to Southeast division. A relocation period would have help him get to know the staff, the community, and his boss in an informal basis prior to starting on the job. This could have been an opportunity for the company to accelerate the pre-arrival stage of the socialization process in a stress free environment. If this had taken place it is possible that Thomas would have acted differently towards his boss and the lines of communication would have open from the start. During the initial entrance to the new position Thomas needed a training period of a couple of weeks to learn about the day to day activities associated with the job position. Training and development helps in optimizing the utilization of human resource that can help the employee achieve the organizational goals as well as their individual goals3. The HR department could have submitted Thomas to a managerial skill assessment in order to prepare a personalized educational and training plan. Offering an economic assistance package for educational purposes towards earning a graduate degree is a great way to persuade an employee to further their professional development. Recommendations The case study depicted a situation in which an employee was facing possible termination after conflicts with his immediate supervisor. As this point the firm has to make a decision concerning whether to terminate the employee or not. The company has already investing money and time in selecting Thomas to the senior position. It could be in their best interest to keep the young marketing analyst. The report Frank submitted identified several weakness in Thomas’ job performance which can be baseline for the creation of training program. The program should include training techniques such as job rotation, committee assignments, seminars, and outdoor training4. If the company purses the course of action of keeping Thomas on board it can not disregard the fact that an interpersonal problem exists between Frank and Thomas. There is a need for a conflict resolution alternative to improve the relationships between these two employees. A group therapy between the two employees and psychologist or therapist is a good alternative to open the lines of communication in an environment in which the authority figure, Frank, loses legitimate power. In order to make a fair decision concerning the situation the company should interview Thomas personally to learn about his perspective on Frank claims about his job performance. Thomas Green’s best course of action right now is seek allies in protect himself as much as possible. He should immediately inform Shannon McDonald about the problems he has had with Frank since he started in his new position. There is case to be made that Frank has been biased with Thomas due to his public opposition of his sales projections at an executive meeting. Thomas should also inform the HR department and should seek guidance about career development. These actions could help Thomas persuade the administration to keep him with the firm for a prolonged period of time. In the future Dynamic Display should follow better employee selection protocols to improve the success rate of its new recruits. An employee orientation period can help the organization’s new employees learn about the organization culture of the company. The company should evaluate the decision thoroughly before terminating Thomas Green’s employment. They must document everything and investigate the conflict with his supervisor to ensure that Thomas is not improperly fired. A wrongful termination could lead to litigations in court. The interpersonal problem these employees faced should be a learning experience for the company. Dynamic Display should improve its human resource practices to enhance its organization culture. Bibliography Kotelnikov, V. 2008. “Team Building and Teamwork.” Avaliable from http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/team_main.html; accessed 9 January 2009. Decenso & Robbins. Fundamentals of Human Resources (9th ed.). 2008 Martin, C. 2008. “What are your career goals?” Available from http://career-advice.monster.com/job-interview-practice/What-Are-Your-Long-Term-Goals/home.aspx; Available from 7 January 2009. Training and Development. 2009. “Importance of Training and Development.” Available from http://traininganddevelopment.naukrihub.com/importance-of-training.html; Accessed 8 January 2009. Read More