Monica Ashley
Monica Ashley’s Case Analysis
Monica Ashley’s case is a very conclusive example of how the correct use of power and influence in management is as important as, and sometimes even more important than, having all the right answers and being able to back them up with data. Monica Ashley is a brilliant employee, and a very good Project Manager. She deserves a lot of credit for being able to complete the project, even though she has been removed towards the end. Her ability to concentrate on her work in a hostile environment is admirable. She is very well organized, passionate about her work and able to put the company’s well being above her own personal interests. She seems to understand better than everybody else in the company the need to complete the project in time in order to meet the customers’ changing expectations. She has irrefutable arguments to prove everything that she says. However, the fact that she completely ignores or misuses the sources of power available to her annihilates, in a way, the advantages obtained from her dedication and hard work. The project could have been completed in a much shorter time and with better consequences for her career if she had understood organizational politics and had taken advantage of all the sources of power available to her. Monica thinks that because Gary Dorr has personally endorsed her to lead Project Hippocrates, she has legitimate power to do everything necessary to complete the project. The fact that she is unwilling to push back a deadline that she has set, although at that moment there was uncertainty about the project’s future, shows how focused Monica is on doing what she knows is right, regardless of how people around her feel. However, she lacks the expert power – because she is not a technical expert, her opinions do not have the same weight as Parker’s. The fact that she has another important source of power – information power, the result of her understanding of complex data and anticipation of
Monica Ashley’s case is a very conclusive example of how the correct use of power and influence in management is as important as, and sometimes even more important than, having all the right answers and being able to back them up with data. Monica Ashley is a brilliant employee, and a very good Project Manager. She deserves a lot of credit for being able to complete the project, even though she has been removed towards the end. Her ability to concentrate on her work in a hostile environment is admirable. She is very well organized, passionate about her work and able to put the company’s well being above her own personal interests. She seems to understand better than everybody else in the company the need to complete the project in time in order to meet the customers’ changing expectations. She has irrefutable arguments to prove everything that she says. However, the fact that she completely ignores or misuses the sources of power available to her annihilates, in a way, the advantages obtained from her dedication and hard work. The project could have been completed in a much shorter time and with better consequences for her career if she had understood organizational politics and had taken advantage of all the sources of power available to her. Monica thinks that because Gary Dorr has personally endorsed her to lead Project Hippocrates, she has legitimate power to do everything necessary to complete the project. The fact that she is unwilling to push back a deadline that she has set, although at that moment there was uncertainty about the project’s future, shows how focused Monica is on doing what she knows is right, regardless of how people around her feel. However, she lacks the expert power – because she is not a technical expert, her opinions do not have the same weight as Parker’s. The fact that she has another important source of power – information power, the result of her understanding of complex data and anticipation of
References: 1. Cohen, A.R., & Bradford, D.L. (1990), The Monica Ashley Case, Influence without authority (pp. 113-119), New York: John Wiley & Sons. 2. Nelson, D.L., & Quick, J.C. (2006), Power and political behavior, Organizational behavior: Foundations, realities and challenges (5th edition, pp. 355-379)