Intersect Investment

Problem Solution: Intersect Investments

Intersect investment company is a financial services company that has experience problems surviving in this industry. Maintaining market share has been a struggle for many financial services companies. Intersect was also concerned about their standing on Wall Street. Although changing the way Intersect conducted business would make a positive difference, change continued to be resisted. Frank Jeffers, Intersect chief executive officer, identified a new vision: "Provide a broad set of products and services to consumer and small business customers using a model of customer intimacy that will build long-term relationships based on trust and value to the customer." (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2004).

As the chief executive officer, Frank's responsibilities involve coordinating and leading all the human, physical, and financial resources for Intersect Investment Company toward its goals. These responsibilities are fulfilled by managers when they perform the management functions: planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.

Frank knew that a drastic organizational change was needed to implement his vision. With change comes resistance. No matter how technically or administratively perfect a proposed change may be, people make or break it (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2004). The strategy for change must include employee acceptance of the change for a successful outcome.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Intersect Investment wants to gain a stable market share and become a leader in the financial industry. This new vision will give Intersect the motivation to change the way business is conducted. The way things were done in the past did not produce the desired outcome. The products and services did not keep up with the needs and desires of the market. Old products and services needed to be revised to meet the needs of the customers. New products and services need to be created to attract new market shares.

Intersect must concentrate on both long-range and short-range plans. The time span for long-range plans is ordinarily five years or more, and short-range planning usually covers a year or less. Long-range plans focus attention on matters pertaining to the overall direction of the company, whereas short-range plans signal the specific measures needed to reach the long-range goals.

Changing the way business is conducted would require retraining of all departments. Part of the vision was implement a customer intimacy model and to increase customer relations. This would offer more personal support services to the customer. The climate of the industry suggest that companies, such as, Intersect offer different products and expert support services. Achieving the desired outcome from this change will increase Intersect's credibility on Wall Street.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

Frank Jeffers: Intersect's chief executive officer. Frank has been with Intersect for 25 years, successfully leading the company through several restructuring efforts involving strategy and focus change. A highly regarded boss and excellent leader, Frank sets clear goals, and trusts his senior staff to develop plans to realize them. Despite his high expectations, Frank is fair and his senior leaders are loyal; most have been with him for at least 15 years. But recently, Frank was forced to let go the Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, who continually failed to meet Frank's objectives. Now, Frank is still anxious about the changes that still need to be made in the sales department.

Janet Angelo: Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales. Janet was hired for her expertise in implementing a "customer intimacy" model at two other companies and most recently at a bank. In all three places, Janet was able to improve customer loyalty and increase sales. Janet recognizes that moving from a traditional-selling to a "customer intimacy" model requires major organizational restructuring, and that in her previous positions, she had the luxury of making those changes gradually over three years' time. At Intersect, she has only 12 months.

Thomas Hardy: Senior Vice President of Human Resources. Thomas has been with Intersect for more than 20 years, the past five in his current position. Always with a sense of humor, Thomas handles executive staffing, talent management and compensation. It is up to him to develop and deliver sales and service training that will support Intersect's new philosophy.

Lyn Chen: Vice President of Sales. Lyn's been with Intersect for almost 20 years, since Thomas Hardy recruited her straight from her MBA program. Until recently, Lyn's ability to maintain a top industry rating in customer satisfaction was matched only by her ability to inspire and motivate sales teams to meet or exceed goals. As a result, she has risen rapidly through the Intersect ranks. But in the past year, Lyn has fallen short of revenue targets, sales employee turnover is up 25% and customer satisfaction has declined by more than 10%. Nonetheless, Lyn has been vocal about her opposition to a change to a "customer intimacy" model.

Joel Contino: Vice President of Marketing. Only two years into his position, Joel was handpicked for the job by none other than Frank Jeffers, who has known Joel for more than 15 years. Joel has extensive knowledge in branding, marketing and services development, having worked for a large IT company that moved from a product-based to a solution-based selling approach. In fact, many Intersect employees believe Joel was behind Frank's decision to convert Intersect to a "customer intimacy/trusted advisor" approach.

Annie Sorrento: Director of Sales Operations. Five years ago, Annie joined Intersect as a staff sales person; before that, she'd worked on sales metrics for a consulting firm. A year ago, after developing a new "customer intimacy" sales model, Annie was promoted to her current position following the previous director's retirement. Frank no doubt promoted Annie because she strongly believed that changing to a "customer intimacy" model required extensive leadership engagement and new value development. Indeed, the previous head of sales and marketing had dumped development of the new model in Annie's lap, implying few changes were needed to bring the department in line with the new philosophy. When Annie challenged him, he took umbrage -- and Frank Jeffers took notice.

Problem Statement

Intersect Investment will strengthen its position in the market by offering an ever-expanding