direction he wanted Sunbeam to go in, it was his way of leading them towards his vision that was wrong. One of Al Dunlap’s major faults was his use of power, which lead to doubts in his non-programmable decisions and a group of unhappy campers in his office.Power is the potential to influence people and their behaviors to accomplish something. Al Dunlap had many forms of power that enabled him to lead Sunbeam. First of all, he had legitimate power, power based on the formal position in the organization's hierarchy, because he was picked by the board of directors to be the next CEO. Al Dunlap had the expert power, the know-how of turning a company around since he had saved companies in the past from nearly going into flames such as American Can, Lily Tulip, Crown Zellerbach, and Scott. The last form of power that he withholds is coercive power, which is the ability of a leader to obtain compliance through fear of punishment. Throughout the drama at Sunbeam, this kind of power was the most evident and influential in relation to all the disorder that happened. In Dunlap’s presence, knees were known to tremble and stomachs to churn. Executives say that he would throw papers or furniture, bang his hands on his desk, and shout so ferociously that a manager’s hair would be blown back by the stream of air that rushed from Dunlap’s mouth (Byrne 138). Everyone was so afraid of him, that no one dared to challenge his decisions, even when they became unethical and illegal by standards of any company’s corporate culture. In any company, it is important that information flows from bottom to top and top to bottom to bring out the best transparency in the conditions of the company. People were so intimidated that when confronting him, suggestions for improvement were left at the front door of his office. “In a meeting with Al, you are not there to tell him anything. You are there to listen. If you didn...
