Assignment: Case Study
In this assignment, you will discuss how power and influence can be used to manage change, both in healthy and unhealthy manners. The ethics of leading with power as well as the different types of power will also be discussed in this assignment. You will also learn to describe the relationship between politics and negotiation during the process of change management being implemented by a leader in an organization. Lastly, you will discover your prevalence to certain types of power by completing an assessment on power style profile.
Read the case study titled "Opening Case: Application" in the chapter titled "Influencing: Power, Politics, Networking, and Negotiation" of your Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development textbook.
On the basis of your case study, answer the following:
What sources and types of power does this leader have, and why has he had problems with power?
Why are organizational politics important to this leader's enterprises?
Is this leader ethical in influencing others? Why or why not?
If you were hired by this leader to help manage change, what recommendations would you give him about his leadership style?
OPENING CASE Application
Serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban has ventured into many diverse businesses. Cuban's first step into the business world occurred at age 12, when he sold garbage bags door to door. Soon after, he was selling stamps, coins, and baseball cards, which paid for his business degree at Indiana University (IU). While attending IU, Cuban bought a Bloomington bar and named it Motley's, raising the money by selling shares to his friends. Cuban and Martin Woodall founded MicroSolutions, and they sold the company for $6 million. With Woodall, he also invested in the Landmark Theatres, Magnolia Pictures, AXS TV (formerly HDNet), and audio and video portal Broadcast.com; he was also a day trader. Cuban also took acting lessons and was on the TV show Shark Tank. But Cuban is most famous, however, for his 90 percent ownership and controversial, zealous management of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks. Cuban is listed on the Forbes 400 Richest People in America, with a net worth of $2.5 billion.1
OPENING CASE QUESTIONS:
1. What sources and types of power does Mark Cuban have, and why has he had problems with power?
2. Why are organizational politics important to Mark Cuban's enterprises?
3. How has Mark Cuban used networking?
4. What types of negotiations does Mark Cuban engage in?
5. Is Mark Cuban ethical in influencing others?