Challenge the Boss or Stand Down

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Possible Solutions

There are several possible solutions that Tom could consider to salvage the present situation he is currently in. However, we first need to answer the question; How should Tom respond to Frank’s demands?

In the article mentioned that Tom could envision only two scenarios for staying with the company:

(1) Do as he was told, change his style to suit Frank’s agenda, and execute on a strategy he believed was flawed; or

(2) Expose the full extent of Frank’s dubious projections and strategy to Shannon, his original sponsor, and hope she’d rescue and redeploy him.

“Given the market opportunities in the Eastern region, Tom and his team will have the most aggressive growth targets—15% for the airline, hotel, and car rental markets combined. Next, the South Central region—”

“Frank?” Tom interrupted. “There’s no way we can achieve double-digit growth this year.”

“Excuse me?” Frank responded, astonished. The room was silent.

The above situation may be a typical scenario in many organizations where it is normal to disagree and argue among team members during a discussion or in a meeting. However, we must not neglect the fact that people behave differently and possess different attitude towards different things formed by his or her past or present (Wyer, 1965), especially when facing with rejection in public.

In reference to the question; whether Tom should do as he was told or expose Frank to Shannon, we believe Tom should follow as what he was told to do, change his style to suit Frank’s agenda, and execute a strategy to accomplish the sales target that was assigned to the team.

As per Shannon’s request, Tom should prepare a statement in writing within 48 hours stating his ideas on how he can improve his performance. Since he has 30 days before Shannon and Frank re-evaluate his continued suitability for the position, it is best that he stand down for the moment rather than taking the risk of losing his job. He has his own financial commitments and clearly it is impossible to get another job within a short notice. Hence, we suggest that Tom take action as follows:

- Apologize and Self-Reflect

Since Tom has publicly embarrassed Frank during the market-strategy meeting, we think that it is only fair for Tom to apologize to Frank also in public preferably during the next meeting together with the same audience. If not, the apology can also be done either just between them two or through email. The important part is for Tom to admit that he was being impolite and unprofessional to interrupt during Frank’s presentation and object Frank’s growth projection. Note that Tom should do it sincerely showing that he truly regretted what he had done and promise that it won’t happen again.

In the article, when Frank questioned Tom’s behaviour, Tom was in denial and refused to admit that he has a bad attitude where in fact, Tom should have just apologized. He should do some self-reflect because there may be at times that we don’t realize that we did something wrong until someone pointed it out for us. Nobody is perfect and Tom should accept Frank’s comment towards his behaviour.

- Do as what he was told to do

Based on the article, Frank requested a few things from Tom and in fact, Frank was being reasonable when he instructed Tom to inform him on his detailed plans and update his schedule on a daily basis. Australian Public Service Commission (2008) mentioned in their website, “establish work protocols with the team for smooth ‘housekeeping’, for example, the purpose and frequency of meetings, workplace coverage (duties, phones and emails) during absences and dealing with conflict” are important in managing the work environment in order for an organization to keep productive. Moreover, Frank has the right to monitor the movement of his subordinates. What Tom should start doing is to update his Outlook daily, promptly return messages from the office and produce reports by deadline. He will also need to provide specific-client communication strategies to Frank before his sales calls and allow Frank to review all sales collateral in advance. Basically, Tom should just obey and comply with Frank’s instructions.

- Request for Training

In replying to Shannon about his idea to improve his performance, we suggest that Tom request to go for training. Although we see that Tom is quite committed in bringing the company forward by generating new ideas for the product development, it seems that Tom is committed on the wrong thing. He should be committed in marketing the products to potential clients in the market and he does not seem to do that well. He should be more focus in planning marketing strategies to grab the kiosk-service market for the company.

As mentioned by Shannon, Tom actually has no managerial experience. Even though he did perform during his role as an Account Executive, however in his new position, a Senior Marketing Specialist requires him to work smart. In order for Tom to work independently in his new working environment, he can request for training so that both Frank and Shannon could see his commitment to the team and simultaneously sharpen his skills to think strategically and tactically for his new position. Training of employee could be beneficial in terms of:

- Tools to their roles

A proper training for Tom could give a brief idea about his new role in the department, how to accomplished some objectives and goals set by his superior Frank and also why it needs to be completed in certain ways (Shaw, 2016). This in turn could enhance Tom’s performance and as a result could save a lot of time managing a certain task and reduce the cost to search for a new candidate for the position. Moreover, the continuous education for employees is the investment of the company to get their staff to perform better and to grow their valuable staff professionally in driving the company more effectively and efficiently towards company’s vision and mission (Mcdade, 2013).

- Increase Employee Satisfaction.

Since Tom is not satisfied with Frank’s idea and plus his idea was rejected flatly by Frank in front of other subordinates, we believe that by having a proper training about the position held by him, he could understand better on how to work under