Management
CEO Tom Morris and his team at brand maker have a number of challenges in their hands but perhaps the most outstanding challenge faced by the organization is that of the balance of power. The power struggle is concentrated between the director of CIM Carlos Cramer and several members of the board of brand maker. Carlos Cramer is making use of his expert power. He is clearly an expert in matters advertising and image building. His suggestion that CIM and EAD should be merged is based primarily on his expert opinion in the field as well as his vast experience in the sector. This is a man who clearly knows what he is doing and his suggestions are aimed at making brand maker even more successful than it already is and making the operations between the united states of America and Europe that much more easier for the organization. The structure of CIM and that of EAD reveal that these branches have quite a lot in common. As such Carlos Cramer knows exactly what he is talking about when he advocates for the merger of these two branches of brand maker. Carlos however lacks connection power. Due to the fact that he is merely a recent member of CIM he is not well versed with the influential members of the organization. As such it is very difficult for him to get any of his proposals approved by the board due to the fact that he is not familiar with the powerful members of the board. Tom Morris is therefore faced with a situation which by all means gives rise to a power struggle. His expert analysis leads him to an agreement with the proposals of Carlos but of course he cannot blatantly ignore the views of the other members of the board who possess a tremendous amount of connection power as well as a significant amount of coercive power.
The power struggle going on at the top of the company could have grave implications for CIM. Traditionally the company paid minimal attention to CIM as its activities were relegated to the sideline. No one truly gave special emphasis to the activities of CIM and this branch of the organization operated independently and in complete autonomy. The power struggle going on at the top of the company however pots the limelight exclusively on CIM. As such the activities of CIM will by all means be closely monitored by the top brass of the company in an attempt to fully comprehend the implications of the proposals of Carlos. Since Carlos is new at CIM and he is not that well versed with the top brass of the organization, the power struggle that he is currently involved in could have grave consequences for his tenure as the head of CIM and his career as a whole. The senior members of the organization could use their connection power to eliminate him from CIM and from the company as a whole.
CEO Tom Morris can however turn conflict into opportunity and make profits for his company. Being the CEO he has a significant amount of legitimate power. He also has connection power due to his relationship with the other member of the board at brand maker. As such tom Morris can use his position to calm the storm brewing in the management of his organization. He can appeal to all members of the board and deliberate on a process aimed at arriving at an amicable agreement to the power struggle at hand.
References
BrandMakerNews.com Ignites a Branding Movement for Entrepreneurs.. (2009, October 24). Marketing Weekly News, 2, 3.
Jermier, J. M. (2004). Resistance and power in organizations. London: Routledge.
Pfeffer, J. (2001). Power in organizations. Marshfield, Mass.: Pitman Pub..
Scribd. (n.d.). Scribd. Retrieved January 6, 2014, from http://www.scribd.com/
