Intersect Gap Analysis

Running head: GAP ANALYSIS: INTERSECT INVESTMENTS

Gap Analysis: Intersect Investments

University of Phoenix

Gap Analysis: Intersect Investments

The financial and investment industries are facing tough competition and companies like Intersect Investments are feeling its wrath. In order to stay competitive, Intersect is faced with a decision to implement a new company vision that creates organizational conflict. This paper will outline events leading up to the decision made by Intersect Investment to implement this new company vision, the issues and opportunities that Intersect faces, the stakeholders perspectives and ethical dilemmas, an end-state vision and a gap analysis that shows where Intersect Investments is to date and the steps they should take to get to the end-state vision.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Intersect Investment is in the midst of a fluctuating industry and the need for an “ever-expanding array of up-to-minute products coupled with expert advice” (Intersect Scenario, 2008, P. 1) couldn’t be greater. Intersect has barely survived the last few years and have fought the need for change; however, the time has come and Intersect’s CEO Frank Jeffers realizes that without change, Intersect won’t survive.

About a year ago, Frank Jeffers proposed a new company vision that would make Intersect the trusted advisor for their clients by “providing a broad set of products and services to consumer and small business customers using a model of customer intimacy that will build long-term relationships based on trust and value to the customerвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñš (Intersect Scenario, 2007, p.1). The new vision will lead a way for Intersect to gain Wall Street recognition and trust which will ultimately effect how the customer and public view Intersect’s ethics. Proposing this new vision hasn’t been easy and unfortunately it has felt much resistance. Frank recently replaced the previous Executive VP of Marketing and Sales due to a lack of support and a failure to lead an organizational change within the company.

Several issues stand in the way of Intersect’s successful implementation of this new vision, including lack of support from senior management and employees, a weak organizational culture due to a lack of communication, a decline in customer satisfaction, high employee dissatisfaction and turnover rates, and resistance and uncertainty of new leadership.

There are many member of senior management, including the VP of Sales who lacks confidence in the new strategy that the company is trying to implement. The VP of Sales has doubts about the success that the new vision will produce for both her and her department and believes that implementing a “customer advisor” sales technique will only increase time per call and not revenue. “Valence refers to the positive or negative value people put on outcomes. Valence mirrors personal preference,” (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2003, p. 300). Due to her success in the past, she lacks the motivation to change from her ways of the past. “Motivation is affected by an individual’s expectation that a certain level of effort will produce the intended performance goal,” (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2003, p. 298). This directly effects the motivation and trust that her employees put into the new strategy.

Several employees see the resistance from their leadership teams and in response are unsure of the strategy. This is causing a sense of chaos and uncertainty within the organization. This resistance and lack of trust creates a weak organizational culture that overall does not support the necessary changes that are needed to successfully implement the new strategy. Intersect can develop a more adaptive culture by clearly defining the new strategy, its goals, and the processes that are expected to be followed by both all employees at Intersect, including leadership. “…In this era where knowledge is competitive advantage, corporate leaders … need to maintain an open flow of communication up, down, and across the organization.” (McShane-Von Glinow, 2004, p.342).It is also important that Intersect understands the reason for resistance from the VP of Sales and its correspondence to the expectancy theory. Intersect needs to empathize with the resistance but they also must address the issue and use the power of influence to convince the VP of Sales to support the company’s new strategy. If this task cannot be met, Intersect might needs to replace the current VP of Sales with someone who will support the concept and is capable of motivating their department to do the same.

Another issue that Intersect faces is a decline in customer satisfaction over the last 2 years. Since 2001, the competition within the financial industry has increased and Intersect has failed to maintain up-to-date products that their customers can rely on. They have also failed to set themselves apart from other companies in the industry by focusing their efforts on maintaining and keeping happy customers. The sales department has become performance-oriented with the idea that” More calls equals more sales” (Intersect Scenario, 2007, p.6). This mentality has led to a decrease in customer satisfaction by 5% in the last year. In addition, it has placed unnecessary stress on some employees to meet unfocused goals. The unnecessary stress has caused unhappy employees and an increase in employee turnover. Intersect needs to develop a strategic open communications plan that has clear objectives for employee’s performance which aligns with the organization’s goals to achieve a “customer-based” sales model. This plan needs to be clearly communicated to both Intersect leaders as well as employees so they can understand what the goals of the plan are as well as how to obtain those goals. The objectives that are included in the plan should be “SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-related.” (Value Based Management, 2008, Ð'¶ 4). In combination with a SMART plan, Intersect needs to motivate employees to meet the goals of the new plan and train the employees on the new products and services.

Another issue that Intersect faces is resistance and uncertainty of the newly appointed VP of Marketing & Sales, Janet. “She was hired for her expertise

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