Running Head: INTERSECT PROBLEM: SOLUTION AND DEFENSE MBA 520 Transformational Leadership October 27, 2008 Problem Solution: Intersect Investments Introduction Intersect Investment is a financial services organization that has been struggling to compete against Wall Streets compelling record of success since the day of September 11, 2001. The constant flux in the financial organization has left Intersect with a decision they need to make immediately in order to implement and maintain the trust of their clients and their credibility in the market. In the past four years Intersect Investment Financial Services has barely managed to survive but has resisted making any drastic changes. Now it is apparent that the organization must make risky choices in order to see how it affects the changes in the way it interacts with its customers if it is to be competitive and regain the company’s standing in the financial services industry. This paper will examine the problem solution analysis next will follow the problem-based learning model which are: situation background, framing the right problem, identifying end state and goals, identify alternatives, evaluate alternatives, identify and assess risks, make the decision, develop and implement the solution, and finally evaluate the results. The Intersect Problem Solution and Defense analysis will refer to the problem-based learning model and scenario, which will focus on turning challenges into opportunities and transitioning Intersect Investments into becoming a financial market leader. Situation Analysis Issue and Opportunity Identification Intersect Investments has found the business declining in the last five years and they are barely surviving. CEO Frank Jeffers has realized that in order for Intersect to survive the volatile climate of the financial services industry, it must expand the services it provides and step up the service level it provides to its customers. To do this, Frank Jeffers has identified a new vision for Intersect: "Provide a broad set of products and services to consumers and small business customers using a model of customer intimacy that will build long-term relationships based on trust and value to the customer (University of Phoenix, 2008).” Jeffers believes that when Intersect improves its brand image and establishes long-term relationships with its customers that they will gain Wall Streets trust and perhaps its ethics will never be in question. Intersect Investments sales and marketing executive group has an opportunity to adopt an innovative new vision that has the potential to skyrocket their profitability as well as build a broader and more devoted customer base. A few issues that stand in the way of realizing these opportunities is the new Executive Vice President of Marketing Sales leader Janet Angelo and team member resistance to change, both leader and team member values and beliefs, motivation, and lack appropriate feedback. In the past the sales team at Intersect Investment was advised to reduce call times while improving productivity. This worked well for the sales team the last three years in a row; however, in the most recent year there has been a vast increase in employee turnover as well as an inability to meet sales goals and a loss in customer retention. If customers continue to leave and lose trust in Intersect Investment there will be no reason to continue to reduce call times. Customers want an honest customer centric and trusted adviser for their financial services company. Through clear, extensive training and communicating the relating issues will help deliver and implement the new “customer intimacy” model to reach the desired growth they are seeking to see in the next 12 months. Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas CEO Frank Jeffers has hired Janet Angelo as the new Executive Vive President of Marketing Sales to make a transformational change by implementing the new vision and model “customer intimacy.” The new vision is supposed to reflect on a more advanced change that will direct Intersect to bring a new spark to the financial market. Frank Jeffers has worked for Intersect Investments for 25 years and has restructured the company over many years focusing on strategies and change. Recently Frank had to let go of his most recent Vice President of Sales and Marketing due to weakening the visions Frank had for the company for growth opportunities. Frank is extremely loyal to his employees and is hoping that Janet Angelo will implement the changes required in order to fulfill the changes needed to effectively be in the top three financial companies having achievement in their leadership and work. Janet Angelo was recently hired by Frank Jeffers as the new Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales. She is known for her style of restructuring companies using the “customer intimacy” model. Frank has given Janet a 12-month period to apply all the necessary tools to make this new vision a reality. In order to make this happen she needs support of her team to allow new ideas and changes to flow into the Intersect corporation while providing exceptional customer service, superior products and services for their current and future customers. Janet is excited to enter into a new challenge and work with such a remarkable, knowledgeable team. Thomas Hardy is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources and welcomes Janet to Intersect. He believes that she is the right individual to make the necessary changes happen fast. He quickly approaches her with issues that are facing the company as a whole. Focusing on the real issues at hand Thomas invites Janet to meet with him to discuss the 25% increase in turnover in the sales department within the past year and discuss the transformational change and strategic plan she committed herself to implement within the next 12 months. Frank Jeffers immediately provides Janet to follow up with him on her plans to work with her team to find solutions how to add value to their customers trust in the financial services they offer by giving their new and existing customers “trusted advisors” to trust in their future investments while at the same time providing the customer with exceptional customer service and products and services to add to the “customer intimacy” goal. Janet Angelo meets with her new team Annie Sorrento, Joel Continio, and Lyn Chen. Janet wants to meet with her crew to talk about the plan and give an opinion on how to they might solve the failing plans from the past. Annie Director of Sales Operations is suspicious on how they can make the plan work because she has seen many plans fail in her years working for Intersect. Annie is concerned with the increase in employee turnover; leadership failing to communicate with their employees, which makes her feel the environment, isn’t easy to work in. Annie is worried about customers leaving due to the lack of service and if the percentages will continue to increase in the next few months. She believes that the team can make it happen and insist that Janet not abandon the senior leadership team and help achieve the most important priorities on time. Joel Vice President of Marketing has provided graphs and statistics to assist in understanding the goals him and his team think are important to be at the top. Joel and his marketing team have put together eight different products and services to reinforce the future new vision and brand image Frank desires to see happen quickly. Joel believes there is a lot of work to be done and knows that the true way to make the new vision come together and build relationships with the customers that is unlike the competitors approach is to ensure that Intersect will improve sales create value and become trusted advisors for their clients. If Intersect can roll out eight products on time using price as a comparison with competitors, service exceptional, the most trusted advisors in the industry and add value to each opportunity, then sales could possibly double. On the other hand Lyn Chen is not convinced that any of the new changes will make a difference. As Vice President of Sales she believes her sales tactics have worked for years and there is no need to change the method she is using. She disagrees with what Joel explained about sales. Her sales have increased by 14% and she has had reliable employees working to help sales increase. What Lyn is most concerned about the model “customer intimacy” and how her crew can spend more time on the phone while still increasing productivity? She’s unsure how she can spend extra time with each customer and still increase sales at the pace they are currently going now. Lyn believes that the longer call times will decrease the amount of calls and sales they can make to increase sales. Lyn is against the whole idea even while Janet and the team are ready to get busy. Janet explains to Lyn how using the customer intimacy model can in fact grow a company by 20% while still spending eight percent longer call times with their customers. For the past two years customer satisfaction has declined and Janet has much to consider when making the overall changes of the company. “The most difficult aspect of major change has little to do with getting the right concept, core process redesign, or even a team at the top. It lies in changing the people system-the skills and behavior of hundreds of employees down the line. And it relies on the ability and attitudes of mid-level and frontline managers (Katzenbach, Jon R., p.150).” Janet has many challenges ahead of her by trying to motivate and influence her team and their employees’ hope may take some time and be risky, but she feels it can be done. Frank is impressed by Janet’s approach to add value to the employees trust in Intersect and doubling the size, but is concerned with the new investment and financial service packages that can help retain and draw new customers and employees to believe them to be a trusted advisor. Janet has to find a way to convince Lyn Chen that the plan will work, but some of the major problems that need to be mended are transformation, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors of the team. Janet recognizes the pro and cons of her success. The positive side is that Janet has a strong team with a lot of talent and know much about the business. The negative aspects are Lyn’s resistance to change. Either way Janet will take risks to make the company a major success. Problem Statement According to Jon R. Katzenbach he uses the phrase Real Change Leader (RCL) to emphasis the importance of how much of an impact leaders with the mission to invite organizational change into their company. “Change efforts are often conceived as waves of initiatives that sweep through an organization from the top down, or the bottom up, or both, and flow across functions. Seen through the eyes of the change leader in the middle, however, change looks more like pebbles dropped in a pond, creating expanding waves of energy that spread out to impact people at all levels. The RCL is the pebble that makes these waves (Katzenbach, Jon R., p 151).” Intersect wants to increase customer loyalty and enhance customer satisfaction by providing them with new products and services along with a new brand image of Intersect at a lower market value than competitors. Some options that Intersect Investment can focus on to accomplish their vision are to: Recognize, develop, and utilize strategic thinkers at all levels and in all areas. Engage community in transformation using continuous and authentic communication and engagement opportunities. Put employees at the center of the change effort and clarify the vision and share a meaningful purpose to all stakeholders using concrete images of the intended changes. End-State Vision While organizational transformations have taken the forefront, I believe that the key to unlocking transformational success is the people within the organization. Organizations are simply groups of individuals working toward a common goal or objective. Therefore, for organizational transformation to be effective with Intersect, there must be a transformation of the individuals that make up those organizations. For transformation to succeed, however, it must progress to the level of being internalized by each individual in the organization. Internalizing transformation at the individual level means that each individual in the organization considers the transformation journey and ensures that his or her personal efforts harmonize with and support of the Intersects transformation efforts. When the problem is solved and Intersect has risen back to the top first they need to ask themselves, where do I really want to be in the next 10 years, 15 years, or 20 years? Do I have a clear long-term vision? And is that vision congruent with the Department's transformed vision? Few organizations seriously considered ethics to be a legitimate topic for enterprise planning and strategic thinking. Those at the top of an enterprise regularly spend time developing their organizational and functional strategic plans, their growth strategy, possibly even their brand strategy, but ethics and regulatory compliance is merely an issue for the finance department, legal counsel, and human resources within the Intersect organization. While Frank and Janet continue to advance their vision the focus should not steer away from culture and ethics. It needs to continually be brought to each individual employees attention. “When talking about ethics in organizations, one has to be aware that there are two ways of approaching the subject--the "individualistic approach" and what might be called the "communal approach." Each approach incorporates a different view of moral responsibility and a different view of the kinds of ethical principles that should be used to resolve ethical problems. More often than not, discussions about ethics in organizations reflect only the "individualistic approach" to moral responsibility. According to this approach, every person in an organization is morally responsible for his or her own behavior, and any efforts to change that behavior should focus on the individual (Brown, Marvin, 2008).” To have an effective solution Intersects decision based on ethical issues should not only focus on one individual but also use the communal approach so that the individual does not feel out of place. Alternative Solutions After careful reviewing other companies Intersects issues are like the companies that we researched on, Intersect Investment's transformation started with a new vision. Leaders either saw weaknesses in current operation or realized that the company can become more profitable by looking at other opportunities. Most of the companies were under a lot of pressure to turn their business around or face the dreadful consequences of declining sales and customers. As with Intersect Investment, these companies are often faced with the arduous task of implementing these changes from communicating to actually putting it in place. Competition is intensified when there are a number of similar products or services available to consumers. Thus, companies will have to be innovative enough to set themselves apart from their competitors. Like Intersect, General Motors is struggling to be at the top three in their industry. They have been a major player for 100 years in the automobile industry and are strategically planning to stay in the business for another 100 years. With GM and Chrysler in a merging process they are deciding on the future on their businesses. “GM could benefit from Chrysler once the ravaged auto market rebounds. "Pent-up demand will flow back into the market, and the industry will see record profitability," Cole forecasts. Automakers have permanently cut so much production as sales have fallen that there could be shortages when demand for new cars and trucks snaps back, he says. Then, instead of giving discounts, car companies could boost prices. With this being said they are trying the approach of redesigning and reorganizing their businesses (Healey, James, 2008).” Transforming Intersect is number one on their list and after providing sufficient benchmarking data relative to Intersect my research shows that Intersect will be profitable was again in their future. Analysis of Alternative Solutions The best alternative would be for Intersect to invest in a 12-month “customer intimacy” model and provide a transformational change to continue their future goals of being one of the top three financial companies. This will increase profit, reduce employee turnover and fulfill the vision Frank Jeffers had imagined for a long time. My second alternative is focusing on the values and ethics within the organization. See where every employee fits in and have discussions on change and productivity as a team, not individual. It is important to remind your employees who they are working for and what the companies’ values and mission is to support the people. In essence communication has to be maintained throughout the internal and external parts of the company. When sharing information Intersect needs to give the employees a feeling they belong and not be given mixed signals. Once communication is addressed it will assist in balancing the entire transformation for the future of the organization. Finally I rated marketing as number four because with all four components Intersect can increase customer loyalty with the marketing of new products and services as a growth mechanism. Risk Assessment and Mitigation Techniques New Management brings in a lot of new challenges. Finding the right fit to fill the shoes to do the job is tough. There are many risks involved with a new leader and a plan for redesigning. Resistance of new team members can affect the performance of the leader in charge, communication barriers, and making sure the plan is carried out in the 12-month period. “The challenge, however, of organization change, transformation, and continuous improvement is difficult and demanding. It is a relentless pursuit to consistently enhance and add value to everything you do to drive bottom line results. It is a constant quest to improve the management systems and processes used to drive the value your product and services offer into the marketplace. In essence, it is a challenge to not only get better and faster, but also newer and different. As organizations race forward in this new millennium, seeking to create and secure competitive advantage, it would be wise to remember the words of Thomas Jefferson who said, “A little revolution is a good thing now and then (Henderson, Mark; Vujnovich, Andrew, 2008).” Optimal Solution The mission of the Organizational Transformation practice is to help client organizations achieve organizational excellence. Organizational excellence can be measured by any number of ways including time-to-market, operational costs, and productivity. Transforming Intersect means changing the way it supplies services to its customers. The purpose of doing this transformation is to establish high-quality outcomes in a low-cost service model. Once Intersect Investments has been transformed, the cost of services will be reduced through process and technology while utilizing standards and technology to improve the outcomes for the customer. Before undertaking an organizational transformation initiative Intersects entire organization needs to understand and respond to many critical pressures in the current marketplace. Intersect needs to bring in a low-cost, high value product to the marketplace, hold each team member accountable for their results on projects assigned, create key metric indicators: change cannot be measured without having benchmarks in place. This will require a huge investment on the company and the inviduals to make it happen. However, I do believe change doesn’t happen over night. Implementation Plan The arrival of a new Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales has offered Intersect the opportunity for implementing change. What first needs to be accomplished is defining where the company is going by providing the results of the “customer intimacy” model with measurements that translates into the business objectives. Janet as the new leader needs to use as much as possible of what already exist in the organization and develop a rhythm of change to maintain employee awareness. While defining the challenge Janet needs each of her team of executives to work through the changing process with her. Implement a plan by holding all employees accountable for achieving results, assessing organizational readiness and change with flexibility, and maintain your promise to change. When the plan has been executed attain and sustain improvement, even though the plan to implement the new vision was positive Intersect will need to stay focused on adjusting and improving any issues that arise as soon as they are noticed. Evaluation of Results If Intersect team members and customers provides adequate planning and support the company will see ultimate growth in each department, not just sales. More Jobs can me made available to ensure the continued progress and achievements Intersect will make. Customer will have trusted advisors and products and services they can afford and appreciate. Conclusion Customer Intimacy is the superior management of the customer experience and relationship and is the new commitment of Intersect Investment Company. Customer Intimacy demands to deliver a higher level of service to every customer across all channels, product lines, and geographies. Simply stated, it means knowing a customer’s wants and needs and delivering, or even anticipating their wants before the request is ever made. It is an experienced based loyalty that promotes a valued customer perception. A customer intimacy model implementation is exactly the plan that Intersect Investments has established within their corporation and all the goals they plan to achieve. To conclude Intersect Investments research to make the vision a reality has a positive rating by successfully implementing many viable solutions to acquire change for the company. By identifying the problem, benchmarking other companies to compare similar issues and offering alternative solutions with a clear vision and purpose Intersect will have challenges as any company with a new vision, but for the most part their future to be one of the top three competitors looks superior. References Brown, Marvin (2008). Ethics in Organizations. Retrieved October 22, 2008, from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v2n1/homepage.html Wesley, Doug (1996). Leading Your Organization Through Change. Retrieved October 24, 2008, from, http://www.changecraft.com/Articles/leading.htm Healey, James (2008). ‘GM and Chrysler consider merger.” USA Today. Retrieved October 18, from, http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2008-10-11-gm-chrysler-r Henderson, Mark; Vujnovich, Andrew (2008). The Architecture of Transformational Change: Building A Strategic Management System. Retrieved October 24, 2008, from,http://www.lxconsulting.com/architecture_of_transformational_change_building_strategic_m

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ica_usa_canada_europe_england_uk_new_york.html Katzenbach, Jon R. (1996). Real Change leaders. McKinsey Quarterly, 1996 Issue 1, p148-163, 14p, 1 color, Retrieved October 23, 2008, from EBSCOhost database. Kinicki & Kreitner. (2004). Organizational behavior (6th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill. Table 1 Issue and Opportunity Identification Issue Opportunity Reference to Specific Course Concept (Include citation) Concept CEO Frank Jeffers has hired Janet Angelo to provide a new vision for the companies’ future. Each team member is up for the challenge, but Lyn wont budge her judgments on her sales capabilities. How can Janet and other team members encourage Lyn to make some changes? Janet needs to approach Lyn with a positive attitude and proof of change to encourage Lyn’s resistance. “First, motivation is affectedby an individual’s expectation that a certain level of effort will produce the intended performance goal. For example, if you do not believe increasing the amount of timeyou spend studying will significantly raise your grade on an exam, you probably willnot study any harder than usual (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2004, p. 298).” Motivation Frank Jeffers goal is to transform Intersect Investments into one of the top three financial firms. With the help of Janet Angelo implementing the “customer intimacy” model and having a strategic plan to make larger profits, have trusted advisors for loyal customers and sustain a team that can help build the future of Intersect will take a lot of work. Janet has the opportunity to prove that she can move to different industries and still see the same positive outcome in her past successes. This is the chance to prove her transformational leadership abilities to a struggling Investment company. Janet has the chance to get Intersect from being a failure in the industry to being at the top of the charts. Transitional Change is reactive and defensive in nature. From a position of success, a company carefully adopts proven formulas and technologies to stay competitive. Great emphasis is put on protecting traditional strengths and on maintaining roots. The idea is to change just as much as is necessary to meet the challenges it faces (Wesley, Doug, 1996).” Transformational Change There has been an increase if 25% turnover in the sales department within the past year. In order to reduce the turnover rate some changes need to be met by all leaders in order to keep their employees. Important things to remember when hire an employee is not hiring out of desperation just to fill a spot, each leader should offer skill testing to find the best match, pay competitive, provide rewards for reaching goals, and hold regular meetings to keep employees up to date on changes being made in the company. First, research shows that some workers value interesting work and recognitionmore than money.38 Second, extrinsic rewards can lose their motivating properties overtime and may undermine intrinsic motivation.39 This conclusion, however, must be balancedby the fact that performance is related to the receipt of financial incentives (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2004, p. 304).” Decrease turnover rate Table 2 Stakeholder Perspectives Stakeholder Perspectives Stakeholder Groups The Interests, Rights, and Values of Each Group Frank Jeffers Seeks new leadership to implement the new vision has for Intersect investments, and loyal to employees. Janet Angelo Plans to provide the new vision Frank Jeffers is after, while continuing to make new ways to prove to her team that her idea will work. Truly motivating and understanding of others concerns. Lyn Chen Resistance to change and wants proof of how the changes will make a difference internally and externally. Table 4 Risk Assessment and Mitigation Techniques Risk Assessment and Mitigation Techniques Alternative Solution Risks and Probability Consequence and Severity Mitigation Techniques Transformational Change · Choosing the right person to do the job· Making the vision a reality· Ensuring success of change with executive and board members · Consecutive setbacks/delays· Longer strategic planning time period· Not able to provide proof that the plan will work · Project planning· Project monitoring · Integrated teamwork Communication · Resistance· No Solution· Disagreements · Find new team member· Resolve concerns if not negotiable· Meetings and feedback on objectives and difference in opinions · Daily/ Weekly meetings to come to a conclusive decision· Have individual meetings to find strengths and weaknesses among team· Offer group therapy no finger pointing Table 5 Optimal Solution Implementation Plan Deliverable Timeline Who is Responsible Define the challenge 3 months Frank Jeffers and Janet Angelo Work through Change 12 months + All employees Attain and Sustain Improvement Ongoing All employees