Case Study Thomas Green: Power, Office Politics, and a Career in Crisis

THE UNMOVABLE TEAM Paul Riley, a top executive with AVIONICS, closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Sighing, he wondered how he was going to handle the new organization he had been handed. No, he thought, not handed. I asked for this! Riley had just returned from a personal meeting with the CEO of AVIONICS and he had told Riley, under no uncertain terms that his group was under the microscope. “We need new business, and we need it now!” the CEO had nearly shouted. Riley could still feel the heat that crept up his face as he tried to contain his feelings of anger and embarrassment. Riley had been the new group only one year, after successfully steering another AVIONICS group into profitable waters. Riley had asked for a challenge and the general manager had given him the task of working with a slow-moving electronic sensing group. Now, Riley wasn’t sure if he would be able to deliver as he had so confidently promised last year, hence the embarrassment. How could you achieve a turnaround in a group that had operated the same way for years? AVIONICS AVIONICS was a subsidiary of a large US based corporation named National Corporation Alliance (NCA). NCA was a market leader in a number of businesses including real estate and the defense industry. The defense industry units of NCA were not market leaders but were successful as a subcontractor for the leading defense industry corporations. The defense industry units of NCA had several divisions. One of the most successful had been the electronics division. Its primary focus was in the area of electronic sensing devices, such as specialised antennas and other receivers. AVIONICS was one of the three subsidiaries in the electronics division. It was located in San Diego County in Southern California. It was founded as a spin-off from the Los Angeles based division when executives decided that electronic sensing was an important area that needed specialized focus. Elite engineers and top scientists were chosen to start the...