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Lehman Case Study Writeup Essay

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Organizational Power and Influence

Lehman Case Analysis

Lewis Glucksman who scrapped his way up through Lehman's unprestigious but increasingly profitable stock-and bond trading department, was able to take control of the firm after a bitter power struggle against its former CEO, Peter Peterson. Glucksman was victorious in the end as he proved himself to be an indispensible part of Lehman’s operations.

During the times leading up to the power struggle, the power dynamic within Lehman was steadily shifting as trading profits became increasingly more important to Lehman versus traditional investment banking profits. Thus, Glucksman was able to step into the spot light and Peterson became more expendable. Peter Peterson’s core …show more content…

Historically this has always been a formula for disaster. Justifications for the duality were unconvincing. Peterson was suppose to be the external client facing image of the company whereas Glucksman was suppose to be the internal executioner of operations. The division of duties may seem clear but it does not lead to a clear division of power. At the very top of a major Wall Street company, power must be clearly defined and completely authoritative. If it is not, then human nature and the nature of an organization will eventually find a way to define power. In this case, power was defined through duties and internal duties won over external duties.

Also contributing to the outcome of the power struggle were structural features that existed across the financial industry. The whole industry is governed and motivated by profits generated through individual contribution irrespective of the firm’s net performance. This particular industry structure results in the classic inter departmental tensions to maximize the individual department’s profits. To a certain extent, Lehman had to comply with rest of the companies by creating the isolated departmental structure to maintain its top performers. As a result, when a department creates 60-80% of the firm’s profit, the power shifts to the department making the most money. Lehman could have created an alternate compensation strategy to reduce the potential for power struggle between the departments. For example, rather

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