Rosewell Corporation, Inc.
Role Information: David Carlson, VP, Management Information System.
The main reason led to disagreement between those executives was the differences in their interests, both personal and collective, and the position as well as the power they are holding. Interests state what people actually desire. There are two types of interest: individual interest and collective interests. Individual interests generally refer to a focus on the needs or desires of the self, while collective interests are those being shared among a group of entities, bringing people to work together and motivating them to accomplish a common objective. Furthermore, power exists when interests appear. The definition of power in Pfeffer’s is “a kind of potential ability to influence behavior, to overcome resistance or to force people to do what they may be resistant to do” (Ancona et al., 2005:M-2,36). There are five sources of power: personal characteristics, expertise, track record, formal hierarchical position and informal network position. Applying those concepts into current issues, we can have a brief about three division heads’ values and morale, which would have some influence on the way they react to the problems.
Helen Freeman, VP of the Small Appliances Division: most open-minded to the new technologies. Furthermore, Freeman joined me at the early stage of the plan, also used to work closely with the consulting firm. She committed herself, contributing her “buy-in”, to the process; therefore she would be more inclined to persevere in the project. Having known about the “escalation of commitment”, I decided to put her in charge of the overall design (hardware, software, and accounting) and functional analysis part of the task force. By increasing her allocated resources (time, energy,…) to the task, she would sustain her commitment. Due to all of those, she would not be a blocker of the project.
Paul Stokes: VP of the Health and Beauty Aids Division. He is...