Kay Sunderland : Making the Grade at Attain Learning

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of problem identifying and solutions analysis to an issue involve with Attain Learning and Gramen Equipment Company. Gramen COO Juan Nunez complaints about Mike Morgan, content development director of Attain, irritated voice mails. In order to protect a possible long-term relationship with Gramen, Kay Sunderland, account executive of Attain, must find a way to confront to Morgan and deal with the issue. After performing solutions analysis on Sunderland's possible solutions, calling Morgan after his meeting would appears to be an appropriate handling solution. However, an alternative solution of calling Morgan after the meeting and then report to Chama is highly recommended due to the greater advantages.

1.1 About Kay Sunderland

Kay Sunderland currently works for Attain Learning as an account director. She is an MBA graduate from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business and acquired corporate management experience when she worked on account executive positions at Oracle and IBM. Although she was laid off by IBM during the third quarter of 2007, her past work experience has trained her to become expertise in managing high-profile accounts with several media, entertainment, travel industry, healthcare, and life-sciences industry clients. In November 2007, she joins Attain Learning as account director, which offers a more entrepreneurial style work environment, and she enjoys the opportunity to acquire more responsibility, work from the ground floor to build the business, and of the feeling of getting closer with the clients. Her management duties at Attain Learning include the responsibility to work closely with the company clients to ensure that the program design meets their goals. She is also required to coordinates with the staffs to develop the custom training solutions and manages program implementation (Hill & Beckham, 2011, p.7).

Sunderland's management style is pronounced as "formal, and efficient, always setting expectations at the outset of a project." While she is an admired manager and being complimented by her coworkers for her knowledge, great strategic mindset, and aggressive and direct personality, she is also criticized for her work style for being too strict, somewhat inflexible and overly demanding at times, and "a bit of a control freak" (Hill & Beckham, 2011, p.4). She is being perceived as having single-minded in delivering clients' requests and rebels against products outside the box. Her self-serving decisions and behaviors can be reflected as following the organization interests principle which she acts on the basis of what is good for the organization and her work style decision is based highly on this ethnical principle (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2008, p.40). She is high on the personal trait of conscientiousness