Gap Analisis:Intersect

Gap Analysis: Intersect Investments

After September 11, 2001, the environment in which the financial services industry was operating began to change. "The volatile climate has left many financial firms struggling to keep both client's trust and Wall Street's credibility." (Intersect Investment, 2007, p.1). Financial service companies operate in a global industry with increasing competition. In order to succeed Intersect must adjust quickly to customer demands and at the same time achieve differentiation to stay ahead of their competitors.

This paper reviews the "Global Communication Scenario." The topics on this paper are: Issue and Opportunity Identification, Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas, End-State vision, Gap Analysis and Conclusion.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

According to the Intersect Investment Scenario (2007), "The volatile climate has left many financial firms struggling to keep both client's trust and Wall Street's credibility. To succeed, investment companies need to offer an ever-expanding array up to minute products coupled with expert advice." (p.1). In addition to the socio-political and market pressures, Intersect was not able to provide services advertised to their customers. Therefore, the customer satisfaction rating was declining and its image was deteriorating.

Intersect's CEO recognized these external forces of change were the perfect opportunity to identify a new vision for the company and implement a drastic organizational change. Frank's new vision was: "Provide a broad set of products and services to customer and small business customers using a model of customer intimacy that will build long-term relationships based on trust and value to the customer." (Intersect Investment, 2007, p.1). The first step Frank took was to replace the previous Executive Vice President of Marketing with Janet Angelo.

Frank's expectations after the implementation of the new vision are: (1) Increase profitability, (2) Become at least the third in the industry, (3) Gain Wall Street's trust, (4) Growth of business in terms of adding new customers, retaining current clientele, and increasing the amount current customers spend and invest, (5) Bring the sales department in line with the new "customer intimacy" model. (Intersect Investment, 2007, p. 2-3)

Some of the internal problems at Intersect were: (1) Employee turnover above the industry rates, (2) Workforce dissatisfaction and resistance to change, (3) Climate of mistrust, (4) Low commitment of employees, and (5) Lack of leadership among others. The origin of these issues were due to leaders "mixed messages" and miscommunication "employees do not understand the new direction; they do not believe upper management has the ability to pull off the new strategy, and they are not getting the information/tools they need to do their jobs." (Intersect Investment, 2007, p.9-10)

As Kreitner and Kinicki (2003) noted a "Climate of mistrust can doom to failure an otherwise well-conceived change." (p. 686). Janet should take advantage of the current status of dissatisfaction, low moral and frustration to present the positive outcomes for both parties (employees and the firm) with the new strategy. "Employees are less likely to resist when they perceive that the benefits of a change overshadow the personal cost." (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2003, p. 690). "Employees are more likely to accept and support organizational change when they believe it is implemented fairly and when it produces equitable outcomes." (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2003, p.690).

One of the critical success factors is alignment of every employee with the new vision. According to Lewin's model of change it is necessary to unfreeze, change and refreeze. (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2003, p.679). In this case, employees are currently dissatisfied with the current system, so the focus should be on change through motivation and refreezing.

Another critical success factor is getting more efficient in selling. (Intersect Investment, 2007, p.10). In order to eliminate the paradigm that more calls produce more sales, Janet needs to use rational persuasion to demonstrate that the proposal of spending less time in call is possible and will contribute to a win-win situation. "A party who applies negotiation skills effectively will ensure favorable terms of exchange for both parties by finding common goals. It requires the negotiator to act in good faith to forge a relationship based on trust and cooperation." (Gomez & Balkin, 2002, p.137)

It is important to keep employees informed of the outcomes on each stage of implementation and other issues related to the service. For instance, the complaint from the customer who had the impression that the sales agent only concern was to renew a contract. "Communication helps people satisfy their drive to bond and, as part of the dynamics of social support, eases work-related stress." "Communication is a key ingredient in employee satisfaction and loyalty" (McShane & Glinow, 2004, p. 324)

As stated by McShane and Glinow (2004) "Job dissatisfaction might take one of the following forms: (1) Lower job effort, (2) Employees will continue to work but complain, (3) employees will look for another job or (4) patiently wait for the problem to be fixed." (p.124). Job satisfaction is a key to corporate success. Therefore, a good way to motivate employees is to link performance to a valued reward.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

"Ethical dilemmas arise when a manager must choose between his or her own interest and the interest of someone else or some other group. Those with an interest are referred as stakeholders." (DeJanasz, Dowd & Schneider, 2001 p. 383). Stakeholders at Intersect are: Frank Jefferson (CEO), Janet Angelo (EVP of marketing and sales), Thomas Hardy (VP of human resources), Lyn Chen (VP of sales), Joel Cutino (VP of marketing) and Annie Sorento (Director of sales operations).

Frank is the originator of Intersect's new vision. His primary ethical consideration is to keep the company competitive and avoid drastic decisions, like the one he made with the previous Vice President of Sales.

Janet possesses experience in implementing the "customer intimacy model" at two other companies and a bank (Intersect Investment, 2007, p.1). Janet fits the profile of an effective leader; she has emotional intelligence, integrity, drive, leadership motivation, self-confidence, intelligence, and