Intersect Investment

Problem Solution: Intersect Investments

University of Phoenix

Problem Solution: Intersect Investments

Intersect has recently fallen on hard times due to the lack of trust customers have with investment firms and Wall Street's credibility. There has been a shift in the industry where customers are more focused on receiving an array of products and services that are tailored to meet their needs. While these new services will help advance the company forward, Intersect also faces many obstacles during this transitional period such as employee turn over, ineffective leadership, and customer retention. This shift in the industry has forced Intersect to develop a new vision for the company driven by being more "customer intimate," and establishing long-term relationships with the customers.

This new vision for Intersect will require a complete cultural change throughout the company, especially the sales department. The Chief Executive Officer, Frank Jeffers, will be the catalyst of his new change. Having a motivated senior leadership team behind him will soften the blow when the implementation is delivered to all of the other departments. A great partner of Mr. Jeffers is the Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Janet Angelo. She has the background to make the changes happen. She understands the vision and is in line for the changes. Although Ms. Angelo has a twelve month deadline, she is confident if she receives buy in from her team the commitment will follow.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Organizational justice reflects the extent to which people perceive that they are treated fairly at work. This seems to be one of the underlining issues at Intersect Investment. Lyn Chen who is the Vice President of Sales is very vocal about her opposition to change to a customer intimacy model. She and Mr. Jeffers do not seem to see eye to eye on the aggressive sales plan.

At recent conferences human resources positioned a change in leadership. Transformational change is the ability of the process that leaders use to transform the very nature of an organization in order to help ensure is success in the marketplace. With this change promotes change in leaders to engage in aligning company perspective with personal perspective. Intersect Investment must continue to hire and actively recruit transformational leaders to lead employees and align them with the vision.

Kreitner and Kinicki (2003) explain that, "a system approach takes a big picture perspective of organizational change and it is based on the notion that any change no matter how large or small, has a cascading effect throughout an organization. Ms. Angelo and Mr. Jeffers will create a plan that will effectively create a customer intimacy model to enhance total customer service. The key for implementation will be effective communication. A great leader will be an effectively listener and communicator. Feedback will be highly important for all avenues of Intersect. "Giving effective feedback will serve two functions which are motivation and instructional. It instructs to clarify roles or teaches new behaviors. It serves as motivation for a reward or promises of a reward," (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2003, p. 326).

Frank Jeffers, the CEO of Intersect, is determined to transform Intersect Investment's image using the "customer intimacy" model which will produce long term relationships with the customers. Frank is committed to growing and retaining the customer base by any means necessary. If the senior leadership understand and gain mutual interest of the underling goal, Intersect will achieve the results that are set. "Goal commitment is the extent to which an individual is personally committed to achieving a goal. Researchers believe that goal commitment moderates the relationship between the difficulty of a goal and performance. Difficult goals lead to higher performance only when employees are committed to their goals," (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2003, p. 310). The Intersect investment team needs to commit to the change and find individual rewards that will influence new customer intimacy model.

Intersect Investments senior leadership team is not communicating effectively. The organization is changing due to the new demands of the client. It is the responsibility of the CEO to enhance change in the organization and to implement key strategies to assist in the development. The industry has been chaotic and struggling with competition and ever- changing demands. Intersect Investment can develop a customer intimacy model that will enhance customer experience. "Organizational development will be the significant change in Intersect Investment. Organizational development is a set of techniques or tools used to implement organizational change. Organizational development is concerned with helping mangers plan change in organizing and managing people that will develop requisite commitment, coordination, and competence. Its purpose is to enhance both the effectiveness of organizations and the well-being of their members through planned interventions in the organization's human processes, structures, and systems, using knowledge of behavioral science and its intervention methods," (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2003, p. 682).

Mr. Jeffers and Ms. Angelo already have commitment to the plan. The issue is getting the others to buy in. Since there is no buy in for the goal, performance has decreased. The sales division has produced research to show the decrease in sales and employee turnover. Both issues are correlated and result in negative customer experience. If the senior leadership understand and gain mutual interest of the underling goal, Intersect will achieve the results that are set. "Goal commitment is the extent to which an individual is personally committed to achieving a goal. Researchers believe that goal commitment moderates the relationship between the difficulty of a goal and performance. Difficult goals lead to higher performance only when employees are committed to their goals," (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2003, p. 310). The Intersect investment team needs to commit to the change and find individual rewards that will influence new customer intimacy model.

Mr. Jeffers has made it clear that the new vision will be rolled out. He will like to see the support of the team but will not be troubled if they are not on board. "Shaping is defined as the process of reinforcing closer and closer approximations to a target behavior. "Behavior shaping works very well with people.