Mob - Attitudes and Perceptions

TASK 1 SCENARIO

I was a Sales Executive in a chemical company, XYZ Chemicals Sdn. Bhd. The job function of Sales Executives in the company is mainly is to increase revenue for the company, with the support from Sales Coordinators. Sales Executives report to a Sales Area Manager, and he reports to a Sales General Manager. This sales team consisted of new and experienced members. It brought a combination of young, enthusiasm, team work, and professionalism to the company, but the turnover was high. However, the team motivation was high when the team achieved sales target in every quarters of year 2008.

In early 2009, the existing Sales General Manager, Mr. Yeo left the company for better career advancement. Within two months, the company found a replacement, Mr. Jimmy. Jimmy came from a big corporate company and held a high position in senior management level. He gave up his job in Australia and came back to Malaysia due to his family problem. With his experience, Jimmy changed a lot of company policies and systems, with the intention to change the local style company to a more professional corporate status. Jimmy announced several attractive incentive schemes and reward systems in order to motivate the staff in achieving KPI. The company environment was enthusiastic towards the company's goal.

However, some of the changes implemented by Jimmy were not agreed by the Sales Area Manager, Mr. Thor. Conflicts between Jimmy and Thor occurred and became obvious by end 2009. Argument and opposition always occurred in the meeting between Jimmy and Thor, especially when Jimmy set a very high target for the sales team. The staff did not share market info as what they used to be, and acted silent in the meeting. The Sales Executives, who are direct reported to Thor were persuaded by Thor to against Jimmy's instructions and policies. The situation became worse when the directors showed their support to Jimmy in most of the circumstances. The sales team had obviously divided to two when the Sales Coordinators following Jimmy while the Sales Executives following Thor. The sales team faced tremendous pressure from internal politics as well as lack of inter-department supports. The incentives were not fairly rewarded as the result of inconsistent sales. More and more customer complaints on the services and responds, and the sales revenue fall tremendously in early 2010. While being the front line, the Sales Executives had been pressured to chase for the sales and to answer the lost sales.

Rumours were spreading within the office that most Sales Executives are resigning. It happened when two Sales Executives tendered resignation after receiving bonus, and another one tendered a month later. Thor was not aggressive as before and showed his ignorance towards the operation results by the conflict with Jimmy. The shortfall in Q1 2010 showed 30% compared to Q1 2009.