Political de Passe, Term Paper Example

General Comments and Objectives

It could be argued that Suzanne de Passé understood power and powerlessness, and how to set the stage for a political frame to evolve, when she met Berry Gordy at a party, and button holed him during an argument concerning the difficulties she was having with the booking of his artists for musical events.

According to Rabinowitz (2009), the objective of setting the political frame has to start with the core assumptions of organizations perspective being identified and then evaluating their implications in order to decide on the course of actions that will ensure their desired goals are met. De Passé’ in her initial strategic move assumed her interest and that of Berry Gordy were identical, and played before him by expounding the difficulties she was having regarding the difficulties she was having regarding the unavailability of his artists.

The most critical objective for Berry Gordy, no doubt, would be for his artists to generate as much revenues as possible, so that the company can achieve high levels of profits that will easily facilitate regular royalty payments to these artists over the life of their contracts.

Conflicts according to Rabinowitz (2009), has to be managed rather than awarded, and Gordy no doubt realized this, and reached out to de Passé, in terms of offering her a job at Motown Production, so that he could reduce the level of conflicts between the company and that of other organization seeking to book his artists.

Scarce resources, Rabinowitz (2009) inferred in the assumptions associated with setting the political frame and enduring the differences, put conflicts at the center of daily dynamics and make power the most important asset. Gordy was brought in to a conflict situation by the approach of de Passé` and he used his power to acquire the scarce resource his organization need in terms of quality human resource personnel to market and maximize his musical artists in diverse markets nationally and globally.

Power, Rabinowitz (2009) rightly argued, exist because of people’s dependency on one another. This was evident from the move by Gordy in making De Passé his Creative Director, in that this provided that means for him to channel his power down the organizational hierarchy as well as into the music industry in terms of concepts, projects and strategies that will positively affect sales and marketing shares several years to come.

Suzanne de Passé Agenda

In terms of de Passé, it could be argued that as a booking agent for Lee Guber, the opportunity Motown Production offer with respect to the quality of talents it had for stage shows and other events, made her realized that an opening was available for her to secure a powerful position with the company and even to go on to develop her own company, if she could set the appropriate political frame in place with the very head of the organization.

However, in order for the strategic alliance between Gordy and de Passé to work, Gordy had to make de Passé position a legitimate one within his organization, because according to Rabinowitz (2009), structural theorist enunciated that that real power lies in legitimacy, and human resource experts argue that it was through empowerment rather than power that vital decision making platforms are established.

Mutual Objectives

Gordy it seems may have realized that his organization could benefit from embracing both strategies at the same time; in terms of employing de Passé and empowering her while on the job through careful exposures to meetings and other activities that will ensure her learning curve as well as importance to the organization are facilitated.

Berry Gordy brought de Passé into his power base which include his alliance and networks, and carefully exposed her to every aspect of the male dominated business, so that she could have firsthand experience of what Motown’ Production participative style management was like operationally.

Participatory Management

Participatory management practices according to Rabinowitz (2009) enable a balance to develop between the involvement of managers and subordinates in information processing, decision- making or problem solving endeavors. Gordy in his management deliberations established an unbounded system, which according to Rabinowitz (2009), encourage conflict and power games, enable diffusion of power and loosed control, and it was in this atmosphere de Passé came into and prospered tremendously after setting the political frame for her entry, to become the executive vice president by 1979.

Suzanne de Passé Political Skills

According to Rabinowitz (2009), insiders at Motown Production gave her high marks for her political skills. She was described by a fellow executive as one of the most brilliant person at dealing with corporate structure, while another recall that as fast as other executives objected to her policy point during meetings, she was able to tear into their arguments and take them apart.

The political de Passé political capital increase in the company ,and her accomplishments was among the few bright spots for the independent label during a lean period in the 1970’s, according to Rabinowitz (2009), and this bore fruit for her, when Berry Gordy turned to her to head the ailing company production interests in 1980.

Earned Promotion

In handing over the leadership of the company to de Passé, Gordy pointed out that it was because of her performance for the record label as well as for her loyalty to the company. It could be surmised from this development, that de Passé played the political game exceptionally well after setting the political frame, in that she was now the recipient of the reward power that was embedded in the Motown Production organization.

The promotion gave de Passé access to more agendas of the company, to which she could now use her personal power to control meanings and symbols internally and externally, to position the desired image she believe will create the dominance needed in the market.

According to Rabinowitz (2009), organizations are living screaming political arenas, that host a number of complex webs of individuals and group interests, and it is challenged to mold them into functional, decision-making units. Gordy no doubt had met these challenges from the perspective of de Passé being prepared for the top position, and he remaining the owner of the company at the same time.

The Issue of Confidence

The confidence both stakeholders had was perhaps at the same level, in terms of strength, in that Gordy was able to relinquish the top position in the company, and de Passé believed that she could do more than positively affect damage control to the organization, according to Rabinowitz (2009). In the mind of de Passé Rabinowitz (2009), during an interview found a belief that what the record company had achieved in 20 years in the music business could be replicated in the movie industry.

Organizational Politics

One of the views regarding the political frame which embodies the essence of organizational politics was that goals and decisions emerge from bargaining, negotiation, and jockeying for position among competing stakeholders. Suzanne de Passé skillfully played the political game using a carefully constructed political frame to gain a place of power, under a leadership that had similar goals and objectives as her own, and several years later, much bargaining with other executives, she was able to make the head of the company make way for her to head the organization going forward.

In the new role she could know invoke another type of political frame both within the company and in the external market to bring the best human resource talent into the organization to perform in jobs that they will have the best fit, and be able to dominate the music and movie industry.

The seeds of participatory management sowed by Berry Gordy, seems to have positively impacted de Passé in that she promoted four female co-workers to form a base, in which she could build the foundation for brand she wanted in the industry, and then move in the outside job market to find skills that were lacking in filming and other market segments that were targeted.

The political frame worked work for de Passé, in that the movies like Lady Sings the Blue, and Lonesome Dove, documentaries and shows like The Jacksons: An American Dream, Motown 25 Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, and Nightlife were indelible mark of her success.

A New Direction

Suzanne de Passé rode the wave of success until 1992 where she was face with the enviable choice of staying with Motown or launching a new business. She obviously chose the latter after accepting a payout, so that from a position of even more power she strategized even more political frames, using Creative Partners as her organizational base to attract even more talent to maximize her success.

In the final analysis, de Passé blazed a political trail that is worthy of replication, that it even attracted Harvard Business Review’ interest in having her story as a case study, to teach its business classes.

Recommendations for the Future

Suzanne de Passé should embrace the morality and politics as a major part of her future framework, as she strive to build Motown Production from her new position, due to the usefulness of experience and relationships she developed with other team members and the artists ,from the time she entered the company at the middle management level.

By applying mutuality, generality, openness, and caring for her team members at all levels while pushing positive politics regarding the competence of the workforce to meet all challenges, given its past achievements, de Passé will certainly be seen as a powerful source of motivation and inspiration within Motown Production, as it move to dominate the market.

The strongest challenge to Motown Production will be to diversify its product offerings to the entertainment market, but it must yield to this strategy, despite strong criticisms that it should not have left the black market domain, as it will be able to generate several streams of revenue.

Additionally Motown production has a strong financial base, excellent staffing, and has built up a reputation in the industry where it can recruit other knowledgeable and competent personnel to increase its competitive edge,

However, it is recommended that despite these advantages and strategies, De Passé must constantly evaluate the market to see where the company can maximize the use of its resources to achieve the highest levels of revenues and market shares.

Within Motown Production, de Passé needs to maintain strong liaison with founder Berry on a regular basis, to ensure agreement on the appropriate networking and external coalitions are in place. This will to prevent the development of crisis of confidence, which often lead to sabotaging of projects as well as internal coup. ‘

Finally, it is recommended that de Passé be present at all meetings to comfortable defend all her strategic decisions which should be taken after consultations form the bottom, and give allowance to dissenters to make their cases for alternate approaches.

Critique of the Recommendations

Members of de Passé organization will continue to feel like a family, when they see they experience her sense of fairness, openness, a caring spirit, and mutuality. This will enable the company to have very low attrition rates and maximum cooperation to meet even the strongest of challenges.

However, de Passé should not expect 100% support from her team, due to presence of different personalities, the possibility of hidden agenda, internal politics, and gender issues, threats from external recruiters as well as actions from competitors

Motown Productions runs the risk of losing money on some of its projects in the future, and de Passé as she oversee diversification, must accept responsibility for these risky investments rather than passing them on to her subordinates, this will keep the camaraderie within the company and enable it to remain progressive. Failure to do this as well as maintain liaison with the founder of the company, could lead to Motown Production becoming obsolete due to its inability to maintain the appropriate framework mechanism in place to meet the needs of its external and internal customers.

Reference

Rabinowitz, R. (1994). Suzanne de Passé at Motown Productions B Harvard Business Review (Case #494-0014) Boston MA