Alex and Melinda

Alex and Melinda

        In management a manager will deal with many difficult situations and have many different problems to solve. This video presents a problem that a company is faced with. The main issue of this video is the decline in sales. Throughout the video other issues are revealed.  The beginning of this paper will summarize the video. The conclusion will consist of solutions on how to better approach the situations presented in the video.

Alex Baker and Melinda Perez both work for a large international corporation that sales diet products and nutritional supplements. Alex is one of four regional sales managers for the company. Melinda Perez is in charge of the sales for the Mexico and Brazil district, she is supervised by Alex Baker. Sales of the company had significantly decreased by 40 %.  Alex had conducted a meeting with Melinda to discuss why the company had been affected in this way. Melinda expressed that for the past couple months, she is having issues working in Brazil and Mexico. She blames this on her being the sole woman assigned to this area. She expresses to Alex that it would be beneficial if she was assigned an assistant to help her manage those territories. Alex agrees that hiring an assistant and would be beneficial, but informed Melinda it will cut into the budget and she would not get her bonus. At this point in the video there is a significant change between the tone that Melinda started with in the beginning of their conversation. Melinda became upset and shifted the focus of the conversation. She then began to discuss the lack of female managers within the company. At this moment a lack of respect is displayed towards Alex by Melinda. Starting out Alex was in the dominant position talking to his employee. Melinda had shifted who had control by using her body language and tone. As a manager Alex should have took control over the conversation and kept on track of this issue that brought this meeting about.

         Melinda explained that her poor performance was due to the lack of and discrimination against women managers within the company. Before the decline of Melinda’s sells she was one of the top five sellers within the company. Over the past fifteen years she had gained much experience with the company. She perfected her brand to become the best in the company. I feel that Melinda thought that her past performance gave her leverage to talk to Alex in an unprofessional manner. At this point in the conversation Melinda should have been dismissed from the meeting. The issue was addressed and her reasoning behind the declining sales was expressed. Melinda kept beating around the bush as to why the decline in sales. As a manager I would of placed her on a probation period and request her to be evaluated at the end of the period. The main issue of this video is the decline in sales. As a manager you want the best for your company. If the company is not up to par then changes have to be made.