Case Analysis #3 (MGT5430 Organizational Behavior)
Case Analysis #3 (MGT5430 Organizational Behavior)
Case Analysis #3 (MGT5430 Organizational Behavior)
Read Oracle case found in the Module Learning Resources and address questions 1 to 5 at end of the case. Use the references in the case to gain more knowledge of the case. Some of the URLs in the references are outdated, therefore, you need to research for updated information from original sources.
You are required to apply in-depth knowledge of Organizational Behavior Management acquired from the textbook, research, and instructor feedback to analyze the case. The Case Analysis must follow the following guidelines:
- You must give quality answers that show mastery of the case, using clear logic, and supporting facts. Also, the answers must directly address the case using chapter readings and research.
- Case Analyses test the understanding of key elements of Organizational Behavior Management and the industry, therefore, they must be thoroughly addressed. Case Analysis #3 (MGT5430 Organizational Behavior)
- You must use citations with references to document information obtained from sources. The key elements of Organizational Behavior Management are found in the sources listed in the syllabus (it is your duty to search for them, read, analyze, evaluate, summarize, paraphrase in your answers, and cite the authors who wrote the articles, books, term papers, memoirs, studies, etc. What it means is that you will have not less than 5 references from the listed sources.
- Grammatically correct paper, no typos, and must have obviously been proofread for logic.
- Questions must be typed out as headings, with follow up answers in paragraph format, and a summary or conclusion at the end of the paper.
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The Case Analysis must be in APA format
Oracle
Oracle’s Larry Ellison—A Profile of Power, Influence, and Dominance
“Risk is something that comes naturally to Larry Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Oracle Corp.
Since 1977, when he and cofounders Bob Miner and Ed Oates started the company, which
harnessed the power of relational database technology and, ultimately, paved the way for
enterprise computing, Ellison has been making wavesin the industry and with rivals. For him,
nothing is off limits, and corporate America, particularly the financial services sector, has
benefited as a result. Oracle is the first software company to develop and deploy 100 percent
internet-enabled enterprise software across its database, business applications, and application
development and decision-support tools.”i
Over the years, Larry Ellison has used his power and influence to grow Oracle and have a
profound impact on the computer software industry and beyond. Ellison wants to extend
Oracle’s reach wherever possible. In a conference call with stock analysts in mid-2007, Ellison
said that “Oracle wants to be the leader in such areas as communications billing, utility billing,
and core banking. ‘We’re going to expand the number of vertical industries where we have
industry-specific applications and we’re going to do that via acquisition’.”ii
Ellison’s penchant for growth through acquisition is powerfully captured in the nickname The
Pirate, which was bestowed upon him by independent consultant and Network World newsletter
author Dave Kearns. This moniker is rooted in the 2006 rumor that Oracle was trying to acquire
Novelle and that Ellison was “muscling into Red Hats action by undercutting the company’s
support prices, in an offering called Unbreakable Linux.”iii
“Ellison … has been changing the tech industry for years. Though skeptics doubted he could
build a good tech giant through roll-ups, Ellison has kept rolling and rolling, making Oracle the
world’s largest provider of corporate software.”iv All of these acquisitions contributed to Oracle’s
considerable successes in databases, applications, and middleware. However, “the software
stage simply wasn’t expansive enough for Ellison. Not that he grew bored with software and
went off looking for some new diversion to soak up his vast levels of energy and curiosity.
Rather, the software-only toolbox possessed by Oracle before it acquired Sun … was simply
becoming insufficient to drive the profound computing industry changes and disruptions
envisioned by Ellison and demanded by some cutting-edge customers.”v
Ellison’s efforts to exercise power and influence extend far beyond acquiringoften through
hostile takeoverother business. For instance, Ellison’s combative actions subsequent to the
forced resignation of Mark Hurd as Hewlett-Packard’s CEO in August 2010 after an
investigation into allegations of sexual harassment by Hurdvi shows how Ellison uses his power
and influence in other ways. Ellison publicly blasted HP’s board for forcing Hurd’s
resignationand then he hired Hurd to work at Oracle.vii Leo Apotheker, Hurd’s successor as
Hewlett-Packard’s CEO, quickly became the target of Ellison’s wrath. Apotheker was
immediately accused by Larry Ellison “of overseeing intellectual-property theft in his previous
job at software maker SAP AG,” but Apotheker maintained that Ellison’s allegations were
propaganda and patently untrue.viii
Subsequent to his initial accusation about Apotheker, Ellison “blasted the HP board and
Apotheker several times, questioning their competence, intelligence, and integrity.”ix Although
Ellison carefully confined his earlier tongue lashings to HP’s board and to Apotheker, he just as
2. Case Analysis #3 (MGT5430 Organizational Behavior)
carefully avoided criticizing longtime strategic partner HP itself. Then in December 2010, when
Ellison announced that “Oracle had achieved a new world record in database speed, Ellison
hammered HP’s hardware products in general and its servers in particular, ridiculing them as
being pitifully slow.”x
According to Ellison, the best that HP’s equipment was capable of was 4 million transactions
per minute, whereas Oracle-Sun’s new system would be capable of 30 million transactions per
minute.xi Continuing, Ellison asserts: “We’re gonna (sic) go after them [HP] in the marketplace
with better software, better hardware, and better people, and we’re gonna (sic) win market
share against those guys in the database business, in the middleware business, in the server
business, and in the storage business because we have better products.”xii
Bob Evans, writing in InformationWeek in August 2010, observed: “Whether you admire Oracle
and its celebrity CEO or wish he’d go for a 10-year sail in the South Pacific, his ability
to influence competitors and customers is profoundand, in my opinion, is on the verge of
expanding dramatically.”xiii Larry Ellison’s lust for dominance goes further still. Writing in Forbes
Magazine in March 2011, Victoria Barrett observed that “Ellison has long desired to undo
Microsoft and become, as he has put it, the ‘number one’ software company in the world. He’s
not there yet, despite having spent some $40 billion to buy up 75 hardware and software
companies over the years.”xiv
Will Larry Ellison continue to be successful in his quest for Oracle’s dominance? Andrew Bary,
reporting in Barron’s in March 2011 may provide an important clue regarding what the future
holdsBary says that Ellison “remains as combative as ever.”xv
Discussion Questions
1. What forms of interpersonal power does Larry Ellison use, and how does he use them?
2. How do the two faces of power relate to Larry Ellison’s actions?
3. Does Larry Ellison use power ethically? Explain your answer.
4. What influence tactics does Larry Ellison use? How does he use these influence tactics?
5. Does Larry Ellison use power effectively? Explain your answer.
6. In your own future career, would you be willing to emulate Larry Ellison’s behavior? Why or
why not?
SOURCE: This case was written by Michael K. McCuddy, The Louis S. and Mary L. Morgal
Chair of Christian Business Ethics and Professor of Management, College of Business
Administration, Valparaiso University.
i Anonymous, “The Risk Takers,” USBanker 116(5) (May 2006): 41 (2 pages). ii M.H. Weier, “Oracle’s Change Agent,” InformationWeek (1148) (July 30, 2007): 36 (6 pages). iii J. Bort and B. Schultz, “The 50 Most Powerful People in Networking,” Network World 23(50) (January 2, 2001):
12 (6 pages). iv A. Bary, “30 Best CEOs,” Barron’s 91(13) (March 28, 2011): 31 (7 pages). v B. Evans, “Larry Ellison Rocks the Tech World,” InformationWeek (1275) (August 9, 2010): 6 (5 pages).
vi B. Worthen, “Boss Talk: Chief Reboots H-P after Scandal,” The Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition) (February
18, 2011): B1.
vii Bary, “30 Best CEOs.” viii Worthen, “Boss Talk: Chief Reboots H-P after Scandal.” ix B. Evans, “Is the Oracle-HP Alliance Dead?” InformationWeek (1287) (December 20, 2010): 6 (2 pages). Case Analysis #3 (MGT5430 Organizational Behavior)
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x Ibid.
xi Ibid.
xii Ibid.
xiii B. Evans, “Larry Ellison Rocks the Tech World” InformationWeek (1275) (August 9, 2010): 6 (5 pages).
xiv V. Barrett, “Larry’s Long Reach,” Forbes Magazine (March 14, 2011),
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0314/focus-oracle-microsoft-sap-larry-ellison-long-reach.html (accessed on
February 4, 2014). xv Bary, “30 Best CEOs.”Case Analysis #3 (MGT5430 Organizational Behavior)
