What do you think is happening" he asked. Lars stood up to defend himself. "I could have done that order. Remember those 100 kiloliters we missed because Greene was not able to deliver it? We were not able to deliver it because your guys didn't send it on time." Greene pressed on, insisting Lars was to blame: "Yes, my guys didn't send it on time because by the time they were online in St. Vincent, you said to just cancel it because it was too late.” "Why didn't you ever tell me this?" Lars interjected before Greene could answer. "We could have fixed this!" Brown, Lars, and Greene did not all agree on what their focus should be as a leadership team. Wilde, Brown, Lars, and Greene embarked on a whirlwind tour of the group's other offices to better assess the situation on the ground. Wilde and the leadership team asked everyone for their opinions on the group's performance. Their meeting with Farah, a Jamaican customer service associate, was emblematic of the visits they had elsewhere. "Why do you think market share has declined by 5% over the past two years?” Wilde asked. "What motivates you, then, Farah? Why do you come to work each day? What inspires you?" Farah responded, “I want my work to be valued and important. I suppose money motivates me. I need to be able to provide for my family. I like advancing within the company since it also shows I am doing a good job and management trusts me." Wilde asked. "? What would make you try above and beyond what is simply required?" "Maybe I feel like I need to believe in something. I think I perform best when I am passionate about even just one aspect of the job." Wilde was starting to get a better sense of where the team members stood and he began to think that he could actually turn this team around, something he desperately wanted to do. Conflicting Accounts Over the past two years, operating margin and net profit margin for the global sales and marketing team had declined precipitously along with market share. During the same period, group morale also dropped, with employee satisfaction declining by nearly half. In order to better understand the group's weaknesses and the challenges they faced, Wilde's next step was to meet with the three senior executives. He tried to determine whether the group's problems were internal or external. He asked the three leaders, "Can the team do better? What's stopping them from doing better?" Brown, a Jamaican national working in Kingston, began by blaming the group's recent failures on the market. "The recent increase in the price of base oil has been pressuring our margins. When we raised our prices to compensate, our volumes decreased," he argued. Lars, an expat from Barbados, vehemently disagreed, “It has nothing to do with our prices or the price of oil. It's our brand! The recent changes to our brand have done nothing but confuse customers hence a decline in revenue. And once this past year, planned volumes from St. Vincent and Grenada failed to come in, causing performance to suffer again, not to mention the relationships with our other partners." "We also have the issue of compensation—the structure recently changed. 80% of our salaries are fixed and the remaining 20% is variable." Brown explained that the variable portion was based on volume and revenue and was not linked to earnings or margins. Thus, when prices went up, salespeople were able to make their revenue targets selling less volume. Yet the cost of goods sold was increasing, which further squeezed the margins. Everyone shifted in their seats. Clearly, changing compensation yet again was not a conversation they wanted to broach. Greene recalled a target setting meeting in which the business manager for the USA refused the responsibility that came with managing the largest country in the region. He told the group the general market was doing poorly and that his country team had recently lost two major accounts, so he could not take the largest portion of the regional sales target, as was expected. Other country managers also frequently made conservative estimates when setting their own goals, downplaying their true ability. As a result, unclaimed parts of the regional goal got passed on to new markets that were not yet online or to countries that were not represented at the meeting. "It seems like no one is willing to take responsibility for their targets. Everyone is playing it safe, because they don't want to miss their targets. Digging for Answers Wilde kept pondering the explanations for the group's poor performance. He continued to push his advisers to go beyond the external factors influencing the group and give him an honest assessment of the team's inner dynamics. What's holding you back here? How come the entire team can't be successful? What is your instinct?

What do you think is happening" he asked. Lars stood up to defend himself. "I could have done that order. Remember those 100 kiloliters we missed because Greene was not able to deliver it? We were not able to deliver it because your guys didn't send it on time." Greene pressed on, insisting Lars was to blame: "Yes, my guys didn't send it on time because by the time they were online in St. Vincent, you said to just cancel it because it was too late.” "Why didn't you ever tell me this?" Lars interjected before Greene could answer. "We could have fixed this!" Brown, Lars, and Greene did not all agree on what their focus should be as a leadership team. Wilde, Brown, Lars, and Greene embarked on a whirlwind tour of the group's other offices to better assess the situation on the ground. Wilde and the leadership team asked everyone for their opinions on the group's performance. Their meeting with Farah, a Jamaican customer service associate, was emblematic of the visits they had elsewhere. "Why do you think market share has declined by 5% over the past two years?” Wilde asked. "What motivates you, then, Farah? Why do you come to work each day? What inspires you?" Farah responded, “I want my work to be valued and important. I suppose money motivates me. I need to be able to provide for my family. I like advancing within the company since it also shows I am doing a good job and management trusts me." Wilde asked. "? What would make you try above and beyond what is simply required?" "Maybe I feel like I need to believe in something. I think I perform best when I am passionate about even just one aspect of the job." Wilde was starting to get a better sense of where the team members stood and he began to think that he could actually turn this team around, something he desperately wanted to do. Conflicting Accounts Over the past two years, operating margin and net profit margin for the global sales and marketing team had declined precipitously along with market share. During the same period, group morale also dropped, with employee satisfaction declining by nearly half. In order to better understand the group's weaknesses and the challenges they faced, Wilde's next step was to meet with the three senior executives. He tried to determine whether the group's problems were internal or external. He asked the three leaders, "Can the team do better? What's stopping them from doing better?" Brown, a Jamaican national working in Kingston, began by blaming the group's recent failures on the market. "The recent increase in the price of base oil has been pressuring our margins. When we raised our prices to compensate, our volumes decreased," he argued. Lars, an expat from Barbados, vehemently disagreed, “It has nothing to do with our prices or the price of oil. It's our brand! The recent changes to our brand have done nothing but confuse customers hence a decline in revenue. And once this past year, planned volumes from St. Vincent and Grenada failed to come in, causing performance to suffer again, not to mention the relationships with our other partners." "We also have the issue of compensation—the structure recently changed. 80% of our salaries are fixed and the remaining 20% is variable." Brown explained that the variable portion was based on volume and revenue and was not linked to earnings or margins. Thus, when prices went up, salespeople were able to make their revenue targets selling less volume. Yet the cost of goods sold was increasing, which further squeezed the margins. Everyone shifted in their seats. Clearly, changing compensation yet again was not a conversation they wanted to broach. Greene recalled a target setting meeting in which the business manager for the USA refused the responsibility that came with managing the largest country in the region. He told the group the general market was doing poorly and that his country team had recently lost two major accounts, so he could not take the largest portion of the regional sales target, as was expected. Other country managers also frequently made conservative estimates when setting their own goals, downplaying their true ability. As a result, unclaimed parts of the regional goal got passed on to new markets that were not yet online or to countries that were not represented at the meeting. "It seems like no one is willing to take responsibility for their targets. Everyone is playing it safe, because they don't want to miss their targets. Digging for Answers Wilde kept pondering the explanations for the group's poor performance. He continued to push his advisers to go beyond the external factors influencing the group and give him an honest assessment of the team's inner dynamics. What's holding you back here? How come the entire team can't be successful? What is your instinct?

Understanding Business

12th Edition

ISBN:9781259929434

Author:William Nickels

Publisher:William Nickels

Chapter1: Taking Risks And Making Profits Within The Dynamic Business Environment

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1CE

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Related questions

Question

1.How do you make sense of the team’s decline? Discuss
2. Can Wilde turn the team’s performance around in two years? Discuss
3. Should Wild take this job? Why or why not? Discuss

What do you think is happening" he asked.
Lars stood up to defend himself. "I could have done that order. Remember those 100 kiloliters we missed
because Greene was not able to deliver it? We were not able to deliver it because your guys didn't send it
on time."
Greene pressed on, insisting Lars was to blame: "Yes, my guys didn't send it on time because by
the time they were online in St. Vincent, you said to just cancel it because it was too late.”
"Why didn't you ever tell me this?" Lars interjected before Greene could answer. "We could have
fixed this!"
Brown, Lars, and Greene did not all agree on what their focus
should be as a leadership team.
Wilde, Brown, Lars, and Greene embarked on a whirlwind tour of the
group's other offices to better assess the situation on the ground.
Wilde and the leadership team asked everyone
for their opinions on the group's performance. Their meeting with Farah, a Jamaican customer
service associate, was emblematic of the visits they had elsewhere.
"Why do you think market share has declined by 5% over the past two years?” Wilde asked.
"What motivates you, then, Farah? Why do you come to work each day? What inspires you?"
Farah responded, “I want my work to be valued and important. I suppose money motivates me. I need to
be able to
provide for my family. I like advancing within the company since it also shows I am doing a good
job and management trusts me."
Wilde asked. "? What would make you try above and beyond what is simply
required?"
"Maybe I feel like I need to believe in something. I think I perform best when I am passionate
about even just one aspect of the job."
Wilde was starting to get a better sense of where the team members stood and he began to think
that he could actually turn this team around, something he desperately wanted to do.

Transcribed Image Text:Conflicting Accounts Over the past two years, operating margin and net profit margin for the global sales and marketing team had declined precipitously along with market share. During the same period, group morale also dropped, with employee satisfaction declining by nearly half. In order to better understand the group's weaknesses and the challenges they faced, Wilde's next step was to meet with the three senior executives. He tried to determine whether the group's problems were internal or external. He asked the three leaders, "Can the team do better? What's stopping them from doing better?" Brown, a Jamaican national working in Kingston, began by blaming the group's recent failures on the market. "The recent increase in the price of base oil has been pressuring our margins. When we raised our prices to compensate, our volumes decreased," he argued. Lars, an expat from Barbados, vehemently disagreed, “It has nothing to do with our prices or the price of oil. It's our brand! The recent changes to our brand have done nothing but confuse customers hence a decline in revenue. And once this past year, planned volumes from St. Vincent and Grenada failed to come in, causing performance to suffer again, not to mention the relationships with our other partners." "We also have the issue of compensation—the structure recently changed. 80% of our salaries are fixed and the remaining 20% is variable." Brown explained that the variable portion was based on volume and revenue and was not linked to earnings or margins. Thus, when prices went up, salespeople were able to make their revenue targets selling less volume. Yet the cost of goods sold was increasing, which further squeezed the margins. Everyone shifted in their seats. Clearly, changing compensation yet again was not a conversation they wanted to broach. Greene recalled a target setting meeting in which the business manager for the USA refused the responsibility that came with managing the largest country in the region. He told the group the general market was doing poorly and that his country team had recently lost two major accounts, so he could not take the largest portion of the regional sales target, as was expected. Other country managers also frequently made conservative estimates when setting their own goals, downplaying their true ability. As a result, unclaimed parts of the regional goal got passed on to new markets that were not yet online or to countries that were not represented at the meeting. "It seems like no one is willing to take responsibility for their targets. Everyone is playing it safe, because they don't want to miss their targets. Digging for Answers Wilde kept pondering the explanations for the group's poor performance. He continued to push his advisers to go beyond the external factors influencing the group and give him an honest assessment of the team's inner dynamics. What's holding you back here? How come the entire team can't be successful? What is your instinct?

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