Lynzi Bartholomew

U0695365
Growtix

John Sloan is the senior vice president and general manager of a company that provides

management technology to conventions. Choosing to interview John was an easy decision

because he impressed me when I met him at Salt Lake Comic Con as a volunteer last year and

we became friends. My intrigue in interviewing John was to learn more about his company, his

management style and vision for the company, and understanding where he came from.

Understanding the structural, human resources, political, and symbolic frames from class, I was

able to learn how Growtix is doing as a company. It wasnt an easy road that led John to his

company and position today. He put in hard work, effort, and had the passion to see

opportunities and take them.

John Sloan always had an interest in technology software since he was a young kid. He

taught himself in his teenage years how to create software, which led to being a producer of a

gaming show. In his early twenties, he started working at a technology company under Brent

Low who saw his hard work ethic and passion. Brent Low had faith in him and inspired him,

which led to creating Growtix as well as inspiring his management styles to run the company.

Growtix provides technology management services to conventions like comic cons all over the

United States with headquarters located in West Valley City, Utah. The software used allows the

conventions to manage different applications under one platform. These applications include

ticketing and registration, schedule manager, exhibit manager, volunteer manager, guest

manager, and build a mobile app for the event. The company has a staff of under fifty employees

who work in the office location or help run the comic con events in different states, unless it is a

larger comic con event that will require more of the employees.
 According to Boleman, Lee and Deal, Terrence (2010, p. 59) there are two ways of

coordination that determine a companys management. Vertical coordination is an efficient top

down and control management style that depends on the employees inclinations to follow

commands. It isnt always effective and may create a lack of creativity and lack of employees

initiative. Lateral coordination is an effective management style that involves meetings, task

forces, and networks, which is great in fast changing environments. However, it risks spending

energy and time away from the actual work by having multiple face-to-face meetings. John

described the management coordination to be mostly lateral with some vertical.

The lateral coordination is weekly meetings where they discuss what event employees are

working on, how the event is going, what more needs to be done, and how they plan to proceed

in getting the event done. Task forces are divided by who is working on what event. Those

working on a specific smaller gaming con event will be assigned to work together to help make it

happen. A larger group of employees may become a task force for the bigger gaming con events.

Coordinating roles involves understanding each employees skills and how they work most

efficiently. Putting them into specific roles such as programing or marketing sets up what they do

on each event. Networking is the technology management services that Growtix provides to

conventions. The networking allows the company to gain a reputation as well as possibly going

into providing their services to races, parade of homes, or creating other systems.

The vertical coordination solving decisions, resolving conflicts, distributing rewards, and

evaluating the performances of the company and the employees. Rules and policies exist to

create consistency and govern the employees so they understand what is expected of the

employees work, how to set up and run the gaming con events, and making sure events always

run smooth and efficiently.

 Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation play an important part of how well a company and the

employees are doing. Extrinsic motivation is related to external rewards that are tangible such as

praise, money, and fame. John provides bonuses, time off from work, compensation increases,

and profit sharing for those employees to be extrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivation is

related to internal rewards that are intangible, such as an employee receiving personal

satisfaction from doing their job well. John has intrinsic motivation from his employees because

he hires individuals who show a passion for technology software. This passion translates into

their work and motivation to get their projects done.

The idea of Theory X and Theory Y management styles comes from Boleman, Lee and

Deal, Terrence (2010, p. 126). Theory X is when a manager assumes their employees are un-

motivated, dislike working, have to be controlled or threatened to keep working, and need

constant supervision. It is top heavy, which may cause a lack of productivity and creativity by

the employees. Theory Y is when a manager assumes that employees are motivated, happy to

work, and enjoy responsibility with little supervision. It is not top heavy management that leads

to self-motivated employees who are creative and responsible for their work. John believes in

Theory Y management style for Growtix. He hires employees who are passionate and want to

work for this technology software company. He isnt a micromanager to his employees by giving

them a project or event and allowing them to self-manage themselves. The employees are

responsible for their own projects but may reach out to him for assistance or guidance if needed.

Political propositions in a company involve coalitions. A coalition is a forming of an

alliance because of interconnections among members to pursue a common goal. The common

goal for Growtix is to make a profit from providing a technology software management service

to gaming cons and events. For the time being, John is keeping their goal the same but would
like to have other goals such as providing the service for other conventions/con events or

pioneering new things for the company. In every company there are authorities and partisans

relationships (Boleman and Deal, 2010, p. 202). An authority is the power or right to give orders

to those below them in the hierarchy while the partisan is a supporter of the cause, party or

person. John is both from what I understand his position and title to be in Growtix. He is the

senior vice president and general manager, which means he is over many employees but he is

still under the CEO, Brent Low. An example of John exerting his power over his employees is

his solution to when employees have situations or problems arise between other employees. He

collects all the facts of the situation or problem then talks to those involved with his solution.

The organizational symbol of Growtix is their logo which is fairly basic but very

memorable because it is black lettering with red, yellow, green, and blue tickets. It symbolizes an

idea into consumers imaginations that they are a fun company that deals with ticketing. The

mission, vision, and values of a company are valuable to understand the goals of it and what they

are working towards (Boleman and Deal, 2010, p. 255-256). The mission of Growtix is to

provide a technology software for events such as conventions or gaming con events that will

allow those events to run smoothly under one application instead of multiple applications. The

vision is to be able to provide this service to events other than conventions and gaming con

events. The value is their work ethic to create this technology software, their hard work put into

every event, and their passion to do so. Rituals for Growtix would be communication daily or

weekly, by email, group text, or face-to-face (if necessary).

In conclusion, my interview with John Sloan who is the senior vice president and general

manager of Growtix, which provides management technology services to conventions, was very

educational on management styles. He talked about the structural, human resource, political and
symbolic frames of management styles. Some of these were his lateral coordination, extrinsic

and intrinsic motivation for employees, his authority, and the mission, vision, and values of

Growtix. John has put in the hard work, effort, and passion to do what he does today and says he

still doesnt feel like manager material. Learning more about who he is and how he manages his

company was an insight into how managers try to balance different management styles to create

the best work environment for their employees while still accomplishing the companys goals.
Works Cited
Boleman, Lee and Deal, Terrence (2010, p. 59). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and
Leadership (4). Hoboken, US: Jossey-Bass 2010
Boleman, Lee and Deal, Terrence (2010, p. 126). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and
Leadership (4). Hoboken, US: Jossey-Bass 2010
Boleman, Lee and Deal, Terrence (2010, p. 202). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and
Leadership (4). Hoboken, US: Jossey-Bass 2010
Boleman, Lee and Deal, Terrence (2010, p. 255-256). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice
and Leadership (4). Hoboken, US: Jossey-Bass 2010