Sales manager Roger Todd was fuming. Thanks to, as he put it, “those nearsighted addleheads in service,” he had nearly lost one of his top accounts. When told of Todd’s complaint, senior serviceperson Ned Rosen retorted, “That figures. Anytime Mr. Todd senses even the remotest possibility of a sale, he immediately promises the customer the world on a golden platter. We can’t possibly provide the service they request under the time constraints they give us and do an acceptable job.”

Feelings of this sort were common in the departments both Roger and Ned worked for in Maelstrom Communications.

Sales and service, the two dominant functions in the company, never saw eye to eye on anything, it seemed. The problems dated well back in the history of the company, even before Roger or Ned were hired some years ago.

Maelstrom Communications is a franchised distributionship belonging to a nationwide network of companies that sell voice, mobile, data, and cloud telecommunications products to small and medium-sized businesses. Maelstrom competes directly with the largest national telecommunications firms in the hardware market. Equipment installation and maintenance service are an integral part of the total package Maelstrom offers.

Modern telecommunications systems hardware is highly sophisticated and few, if any, system users have the technological know-how to do their own equipment servicing. An excellent service record is crucial to the success of any company in the field. After the direct sale of a Maelstrom system, the sales force maintains contacts with customers.

There is nothing the salespeople dislike so much as hearing that a customer hasn’t received the type of service promised at the time of sale. On the other hand, service technicians complain of being hounded by the salespeople whenever a preferred customer needs even the simplest fiber optic cable reconnected. As Ned Rosen put it, “I can’t remember the last time a service request came through that wasn’t an emergency from a preferred customer.”

Maelstrom’s owner and president, Al Whitfield, has a strong sales background and views sales as the bread-andbutter department of the company. He is in on all major decisions and has final say on any matter brought to his attention.

He spends most of his time working with sales and marketing personnel, and rarely concerns himself with the day-to-day activities of the service department unless a major problem of some sort crops up.

Next in line in Maelstrom’s corporate hierarchy is the vice-president in charge of production, Lawrence Henderson.

Henderson is responsible for the acquisition and distribution of all job-related equipment and materials and for the scheduling of all service department activities. His sympathies lie primarily with the service department.

Each week Whitfield, Henderson, and all members of the sales force hold a meeting in Maelstrom’s conference room. The sales personnel present their needs to Henderson so that equipment can be ordered and jobs scheduled.

Service requests reported to salespeople from customers are also relayed to Henderson at this point. Once orders for service have been placed with production, sales personnel receive no feedback on the disposition of them (unless a customer complains to them directly) other than at these weekly meetings. It is common for a salesperson to think all is well with their accounts when, in fact, they are receiving delayed service or none at all. When an irate customer phones the sales representative to complain, it sets in motion the machinery that leads to disputes such as the one between Roger Todd and Ned Rosen.

It has become an increasingly common occurrence at Maelstrom for sales personnel to go to Henderson to complain when their requests are not met by the service department.

Henderson has exhibited an increasing tendency to side with the service department and to tell the salespeople that existing service department priorities must be adhered to and that any sales requests will have to wait for rescheduling.

At this point, a salesperson’s only recourse is to go to Whitfield, who invariably agrees with the salesperson and instructs Henderson to take appropriate action. All of this is time-consuming and only serves to produce friction between the president and the vice president in charge of production.

Discussion Questions 1 What situational conditions have created the conflict in this case?

2 What actions should the organization take to manage the conflict more effectively?