KEL629

Melissa Richardson sat stunned in her office in Phoenix, Arizona, after a disastrous early Julymeetingwithherboss,BethCampbell.InMarch,RichardsonhadbeenthetopChicagosalesperson and a high-potential candidate for management at ColorTech Greenhouses, Inc., apremiumgrower and distributorofannualand perennial flowers.

Richardson remembered the call she had made to her mother, who still lived in her childhoodhome on the north side of Chicago. "Mom, I just got off the phone with the southwest regionalsales manager in Los Angeles," she had said. "They want me for the sales manager spot inPhoenix!" Richardson had been looking for an opportunity to move up at ColorTech, and her bosshad recommended her for the promotion when the position opened. Thirty-two years old andsingle, Richardson had been excited to show her new team how to break into the top sales ranksthewayshe had done.

But after only a few short months, she had failed to improve her team's performance and feltlikealiabilityonherregionalmanager'swatchlist.Richardsonwonderedhowthingshadgonesowrong soquicklyandwhat she coulddo tofix them.

AboutColorTechGreenhouses,Inc.

ColorTech was a privately held supplier of annual and perennial flowers to big-box stores(large, no-frills, warehouse-like retail stores) such as Home Depot and Walmart. Within the colorindustry(the term used to describe growers of the colorful, flowering bedding plants used tocreate outdoor, in-ground floral displays), ColorTech was well known for its patented hybridplantsandhigh-techautomatedgreenhouseoperationslocatedprimarilyinsouthernNorthAmerica.

Alongwiththerestoftheindustry,thecompanywasfacingincreasedpricecompetitionanda downward trend in sales caused by a saturated market and a shift away from water- andmaintenance-intensive home and garden improvements. ColorTech in particular was exposed toaggressivedemands forlower prices and costlycustomization fromthe big-boxstores.

Eagertogrowrevenue,ColorTechhadrecentlypurchasedaColombiancompanyspecializing in cut flowers as part of its growth strategy to become a strong niche supplier togrocerystorechainsandindependentfloriststhatsoldexoticstemsintheirarrangements.

ColorTechwasalsoevaluatingtheacquisitionofanEcuadorianconcernasawaytoenterthelong-stemmedrose segment of the cut-flower market.

ColorTech operated its main U.S. greenhouses in Phoenix, Arizona; San Diego, California;andColumbia,SouthCarolina.Asasupplementtoitsownoperations,ColorTechleasedgreenhouse space in a few other American cities to handle special orders (including plants thatweretoodelicatetoshiplongdistances)andnegotiateddistributoragreementswithothergreenhouses in some northern states that enabled it to offer region-specific and seasonal plants.With a large operation in Nogales, Mexico, its Colombian acquisition, and plans to expand intoEcuador, ColorTech was quickly becoming the largest and most international grower in theWesternHemisphere.

ThePhoenixOffice

PhoenixwasnotonlythelocationofColorTech'scorporateheadquarters;itwasthesiteofthefounders'firstgreenhouseand,quiteliterally,wastheheartofthecompany.State-of-the-artin their day, the Phoenix greenhouses still boasted the highest production levels in the company.Thirteen employees managed the automated assembly line-like process that produced geraniums,pansies, and petunias by moving pots on tracks through the greenhouses, starting with seeds andprogressing through various stages of fertilizing, watering, potting, and labeling for customers.TheshippingareawasanenergizingriotoffloweringcolorandshoutedinstructionsinSpanishas thousands of color products were packed and shipped to ColorTech customers around theUnitedStates.

The six sales staff and the greenhouse administrative workers sat in the company's originaloffices, which were attached to one of the original greenhouses. Located onsite but detached fromthe greenhouses, the newer corporate offices had a more formal atmosphere and dress code.Spanishwasthedefaultlanguageinthegreenhousesduetothehighconcentrationoflaborerswith ancestry in Mexico and Central America, but during meetings in the corporate officeseveryone spoke English, even executives from the Colombia and Mexico operations. In the salesoffice, English was spoken publicly, but most people spoke Spanish to communicate one-on-one.Many of the greenhouse workers cooked their lunches on a portable grill that, at the direction ofmanagement, was kept on the far side of the building complex and out of sight of the parking lots.Salesstaffoftensharedtheseoutdoorluncheswiththegreenhouseworkers,butcorporatestaffdidnot.

GettingThere

AsshepreparedtoleaveChicago,Richardsonjuggledhersalesmanagertrainingcourseswith packing and saying goodbye to longtime clients in the Chicago area. The latter was no smalltask, as over the past eight years Richardson had built a substantial client base that had earned herfrequent sales awards. In the middle of a wetApril snow shower, however, she hugged hermothergoodbyeanddrove towardthe interstatethat wouldtake herwest toArizona.

During the long drive, Richardson had ample time to reflect on the content discussed in hermanagement training courses. As a salesperson, Richardson had not been exposed to many of themanagementissues,paperwork,andprocessescoveredintheclasses.Legalissuesrelatedto

humanresourceshadbeenstressedrepeatedly,butRichardsonhadlittleconfidenceinherunderstanding of the risks and requirements. Fortunately, every manager-in-training had receiveda business card from the vice president of human resources with the instruction, "When in doubt,giveus a shout."

Morefrustrating,Richardsonfeltthecoursesaboutleadingteamsandtroubleshootingproblems had been of little benefit. She could see that senior managers were trying to help her bysharing stories about their own experiences, but unless her problems were exactly the same,Richardson was not sure how she could apply what they had told her. She had been readingleadership books on her own, however, and had started to develop her vision and ways to share itwith her team. She especially enjoyed books that listed hundreds of ideas for motivating teams;she could already picture the Friday afternoon pizza lunches and ice cream cart celebrations shewouldsponsor when theyexceeded theirquarterly sales goals.

Based on some conversations she had had with other Phoenix staff in her courses, Richardsondecided to brush up on her high school Spanish by listening to Spanish language tapes during herdrive from Chicago to Phoenix. It also helped pass the time on the long trip. After three days onthe road, Richardson pulled into Phoenix on a sunny 80-degree Friday afternoon. She could notwaitfor Monday.

AFirst Look

Literally, Richardson could not wait for Monday. After she checked in with her landlady,Richardson headed directly to the office. She knew Friday was casual day at ColorTech, so herjeans would fit right in. She found the office manager, who showed Richardson her office,directed her to the supply closet, gave her a set of keys, and wished her good luck. Richardsoneased into her chair and with a kick of her feet spun herself around, smiling as she rotated a full360 degrees. Then she left a voicemail message with Beth Campbell, her regional sales manager.CampbellapparentlyhadalreadyleftherLosAngelesofficefortheweekend.Richardsonfrowned. She had met Campbell only once during her interview in Chicago, and she had hoped toschedulesomeone-on-onetimetogetabetterfeelforCampbell'smanagementstyleandexpectations.

Richardson took stock of her office and the supplies she would need, made a few notes, andthen began to head out the door to start unpacking boxes in her apartment. She would return earlyonSaturday sothateverythingwouldbeinorderwhensheofficiallystartedonMonday morning.

As she was leaving the office, Richardson took a quick tour of the area where her salespeopleworked. It was only four o'clock on a Friday afternoon, but no one was there. Except for thereceptionist, the office manager, and a few other administrative staff, the floor was empty. Wherewaseveryone?InChicago,RichardsonworkedsixdaysaweekandwasoncallSundays.Customerscoulddependonhertoanswerhermobilephoneanytimeandanywhere.Shewondered what kind of relationship her absent sales team could possibly have with customers andimmediately understood why hardheaded bosses held sales team meetings on Friday afternoons.Clearly,this teamneeded to get into shape.

SalesTeam

Richardson spent Saturday arranging the furniture in her office and the items on her desk. Sheset up folders for each of her team members, which included three account representatives andtwo store merchandisers. ColorTech store merchandisers supported the account reps for the big-box stores by working closely with customers to ensure that merchandise arrived undamaged,replacement product was ordered when there was damage, and unsold product was shipped backtothegreenhousesforpossibleredistributionorrecycling.Storemerchandisersoftenwerepromotedto becomeaccount representatives.

From her predecessor's notes, Richardson assembledsome basic information on her team(seeTable 1).

Table1:PhoenixSalesTeam

AlexHoffman

AccountRepresentative

Age:32

Length of service: 8 yearsSales this year: $2.11 MMSales last year: $1.95 MMSalespreviousyear:$1.85MM

Gregorio TorresAccountRepresentative

Age:36

Lengthofservice:12yearsSales this year: $850KSaleslastyear: $950K

Salespreviousyear:$1.05MM

SarahVega

AccountRepresentative

Age:26

Length of service: 3 yearsSales this year: $950KSales last year: $1.10 MMSalespreviousyear:$900K

Chelsea PetersonStoreMerchandiser

Age:23

Lengthofservice:2years

NickRuiz

StoreMerchandiser

Age:22

Lengthofservice:1 year

Seekingpromotiontoaccountrepresentative

Hoffmanwas thetopsalesperson inthecompany,andhe had earnedeveryawardandreceived every perk ColorTech offered. Richardson was not sure how he achieved his salesnumbers; his customers had limits on how much product they could purchase in a given season.She figured he must be making phone sales outside his area, something Richardson did to boosther own numbers in Chicago. If that were the case, she had to give him credit for taking that kindofinitiative.

Richardson had no information about Torres except that his sales numbers were low for histenurewiththe companyandlower thisyearthanlast.She madeanote todiscussthis withhim.

Vega was new to sales and had only been with ColorTech for three years. Her numbers weresporadic from month to month and year to year. Richardson was unsure if she just needed moretimetobuildherclientbaseorifsomethingelsewasgoingon.Richardsonmadeanothernote.

MaybeshecouldgiveTorresandVegasomeFridayafternoonlessons.Shesmiledatthat,rememberingthe emptyoffice yesterday afternoon.

The sales team was supported by two store merchandisers, Nick Ruiz and Chelsea Peterson.Both appeared to have arrived fresh out of college. Ruiz had apparently expressed an interest injoining the sales team. Richardson liked that kind of initiative and decided she would talk to himtofindout more;if he hadtheright stuff, she wouldkeep himin mind.

FirstMeeting

Late Sunday night Richardson got a call from her regional manager, Campbell, who said shewould be unable make it to Phoenix in the morning and asked if Richardson could introduceherself to her new team. Campbell also said she would e-mail the first quarter sales report toRichardson for her to complete. The report had to be submitted by April 15in eight days.Althoughthiswasnotexactlywelcomenews,Richardsonfiguredshemayaswelllearnhowtodothe reportnow and enteredthe due date into her calendar.

Richardson arrived at the office on Monday morning before anyone else. She wanted to greether team members individually as they came in rather than show up after some had already settledin at their desks. The first arrival, a neatly dressed man with shoulder-length black hair and adazzling smile, had a tray of cookies in one arm, a bakery box in the other, and a messenger bagslung over his shoulder. Richardson offered to help him with the door, but before she couldintroduce herself, he gave her a big smile and said, "You must be Melissa! I'm Gregorio. Hola!Welcome to the Phoenix office. Here, take this box. It's for you." Flustered by the unexpectedgesture,Richardson tookthe box and thankedhim.

As Torres hurried into the kitchen with the cookies, a man and woman walked in the door.Box in hand, Richardson greeted them. "Hi, I'm Melissa. And you must be . . . ?" "Alex. AlexHoffman," said the young man abruptly, with barely a smile. "And this is Chelsea." "Hi!" said theyoung woman as they hurried past her to the kitchen. Ruiz arrived a few minutes later andpunchedinjust before 9:00a.m. The only onemissingwas Vega.

Wanting to establish some order the office seemed to lack, Richardson popped her head intothe kitchen where the team members had congregated and announced a meeting in the conferenceroomat 9:15 a.m. so shecouldget acquainted with them.

At 9:15, Vega still had not arrived at the office. Torres, Ruiz, and Peterson were sitting in thebig leather chairs around the conference table and Hoffman was nowhere to be seen. After afruitless scan of the floor, Richardson returned to the conference room to start the meeting. "I said9:15,"she thought, "so we're starting at 9:15."

Richardsondeliveredtheshortspeechshehadprepared.Shebeganbyexplainingherbackground with ColorTech and then said she had some ideas for improving sales in Phoenix andlooked forward to learning what motivated each of them. She ended by sharing her goal to makePhoenixthenumberonesalesoffice.JustasRichardsonfinishedherspeech,Hoffmanbargedinto the room, mobile phone in hand, and noisily took the conference chair closest to the door.Richardson stood with her mouth slightly open as he continued texting on his phone. At thatmoment,awomanwhomusthavebeenVegarushedintotheroom,obviouslyhavingrunfrom

theparkinglot."Arewehavingameeting?SorryI'mlate,butthetrafficwaskiller.WhatdidImiss?"ShesatdownnexttoHoffman,lookedup, smiled,andsaid,"Oh!YoumustbeMelissa!"

Before Richardson could respond, a young man in coveralls knocked on the open conferenceroom door. "Melissa Richardson? I'm T.J., the greenhouse manager. Ms. Campbell called me thismorningand told meto giveyou a tourof theoperations."

Richardson sighed. The interruption only added to her feeling that this meeting had been aweak introduction to her team, but a part of her welcomed the excuse to disappear. Before she leftshe told the team she would work her way across the floor later in the day to find out more abouttheirworkandtheirexpectationsfromherasthenewsalesmanager.Richardsonthankedthemfortheirtime,andasshewalkedoutthedoorwithT.J.,sheheardTorressayingsomethingterseto Vega in Spanish. Vega replied in an equally curt tone. Richardson felt the tension in the air asshewalked out of the room.

GettingtoKnow theTeam

IttooklongerthananafternoonforRichardsontomeetwitheachmemberofherteam.Duetoherownphonemeetingswithpersonnelandamountainofpaperwork("Whydidn'tanyonetell me I would spend so much time on paperwork?" she thought), Richardson had to settle formeetingwith everyone over the first week.

AlexHoffman

GregorioTorres

Richardson's meeting with Torres was no more successful, but for different reasons. Torresseemeduninterestedindiscussinghissalesperformance,buthewasenthusiasticaboutsharinghis ideas for a new website to manage customer service, especially for the small florist shopsColorTech was targeting with the new cut-flower business. Richardson had to admit that Torreshad some creative ideas for servicing scattered, low-volume florists that might be customerssomeday, but she needed him to be making sales now. When asked why he felt his sales numberswere so low, he shrugged. "I'm just not a hard-sell kind of guy," he answered. "I keep getting introuble with the greenhouses for the orders I'm taking. They are so rigid in there. I keep gettingcaught between customers who are trying to meet demand and that archaic greenhouse operationthatcan change course onlywith three months' advance notice!"

NickRuiz

From the moment Ruiz met Richardson, he wanted her to know he would do whatever it tookto get into a sales position. His attitude proved refreshing to Richardson after her discussions withHoffman and Torres. Ruiz knew a lot about the product from his conversations with customers. Inaddition, being on site with the Phoenix greenhouses gave him first-hand knowledge about theoperation that account reps in other locations could never match. During breaks he often could befound in the greenhouses, following workers around and asking them about their jobs. Before theendoftheirshortmeeting,RuizpresentedRichardsonwithhisresumeandaletterexplainingwhy he would be a great fit for sales. Richardson left the meeting with a desire to tap into thisyoungman's energyand drive.

ChelseaPeterson

Peterson, by contrast, was openly hostile to her new boss. Richardson tried to keep hercomposure but finally had to be quite direct. "Look, I'm not sure what's going on," she said. "Weonly just met, so why are you so upset with me?" Through clenched teeth, Peterson answered, "Iknow you've been talking to Nick about promoting him to account rep. I've been here six monthslonger than him." "I didn't know you were interested in a sales position," Richardson replied,tryingtosoundcalm."Ididn'tknowtherewasanopening!"Petersonexclaimed."Apositionisn't open right now, but if you're interested, why don't you put together your resume, and youcanbeconsideredshouldsomethingcomeup,"Richardsonresponded,tryingtodefusethesituation."Iwouldthink youofallpeoplewouldwanttogivethisopportunitytoanotherwoman,"retorted Peterson. And withthat, the meeting wasover.

SarahVega

It took Richardson a few days to pin down Vega for a meeting. Richardson could not helpthinking of a butterfly whenever Vega came into a room. She arrived late and flitted about beforesitting down, onlyto begin fidgeting again after a few minutes. Vega's approach to her jobseemed equally scattered. Her messages piled up at the reception desk. Her product knowledgewas deep in some places and almost nonexistent in others, and she seemed more interested in thetext messages that were constantly coming in to her phone than in the career advice Richardsonwastrying todeliver.

By Friday, Richardson was weary and her enthusiasm had waned a bit. So far, she had seenmore challenges than positives in her sales team. She made a few notes on each person and addedthemto her files (seeTable 2).

Table2:PhoenixSalesTeamAdditionalInformation

AlexHoffman

AccountRepresentative

Likescolorindustry,unclearaboutColorTech(orme)Go-getter, top seller, driven by commissionsResistanttoselling newstem products

Gregorio TorresAccountRepresentative

Seemstolikethecompany,but notclosingsalesIdeasaboutcustomerservicewebsite

Understandsproductsandcustomerservice,butdoesheunderstandgreenhousing?

SarahVega

AccountRepresentative

Unfocused,distractedbyeventsoutsideofwork?Uneven sales performance, often late or absentMayneedtraining

Chelsea PetersonStoreMerchandiser

Negativeinteractionsarethenorm

Interestedinsalespositionwhen open,butnoexperience,skills

NickRuiz

StoreMerchandiser

Enthusiastic,knowledgeable

Readyforsalespositionwhenopen(seeresumeinfile)Knowsgreenhousingfromthe groundup

The deadline for the quarterly sales report, April 15, was Monday, and she still did not knowwhere to get many of the numbers, even though she had the last report as a reference. It looked asifher plans to bikeand hike over theweekend wouldhave to takea back seat.

ProblemsEmerge

SalesReport

Thequarterlysalesreportwasanexerciseinfrustration.Richardsonspenthoursworkingonit over the weekend but finally had to give up because some of the numbers on the previous reportmade no sense. She faxed what she had to Campbell first thing Monday morning. The phone rangalmost immediately. Without even saying "Good morning," Campbell started in. "You're usinglast quarter's report as a reference? Do you know why your predecessor left? He was fired forfalsifying his reports!" Richardson wondered why that bit of news had not been shared with herbefore she had been assigned to do the report or even had accepted the job. Rather than challengeCampbell, however, she apologized. "I'm sorry, I had no idea," she said. "I can still work on this.Thedeadline'snotuntilfiveo'clock."Campbellreplied,"Nevermind.I'lldoitmyself."Andthen with a little impatience in her voice, she added, "You should start thinking about yourmonthly report, which is due in three weeks." Richardson started to ask if they could review ittogetherbeforetheMay6deadlinebutCampbellcutheroff,saying,"I'lle-mailtheformandyoucan start getting acquainted with itnow."

GreenhouseWoes

In late April, a fungus infected one of the greenhouses in the Colombia cut-flower facility,resultingintheneedtodestroythestockinsideit,disinfectit,andstartover.Theresultwouldbe

weeks of delay in orders to new customers, most of them small florists. Richardson's sales teamcouldnotaffordtolosethesehard-wonnewaccounts,soshelookedforhelpinfillingtheaffected orders; her team might have to absorb the added cost of placing rush orders, but heroicefforts could save the accounts. Richardson's hopes rose when sheheard the Nogalesmanagerhad connections with local cut-flower providers in Mexico, but those hopes were soon dashedwhen she was told the export paperwork alone would take weeks, and even that was possible onlywithpersonalattentionthemanagerdidnothavetimetogive.ForRichardson,themostfrustrating part of the problem was thatthe deliverydate was still a few weeks in the future; itwas as if she were watching an automobile accident in slow motion and could do nothing to stopit. Unable to think of a viable alternative, Richardson made the difficult phone calls to her team'snewcustomersandattempted tomakegoodby offeringdiscounts onfutureorders.

HRChallenges

When she had a moment to spare, Richardson tried to work with her team members. ButHoffman almost never came into the office and never answered his phone, so Richardson had tocontact him by sending e-mails and leaving voicemail messages. When he learned about thefungus problem in Colombia, he seemed almost smug and his tone of voice seemed to say, "I toldyou so!" The Colombia fiasco seemed to have deflated Torres more than ever, and Richardsoncouldnot find a waytomotivate him.

A call from personnel informed Richardson that Vega was missing a day of work almostevery week for some reasona dentist appointment, a sick day, and so on. Richardson hadlearned that Vega lived with her extended family just outside of Phoenix, and she suspected Vegamight be staying home to help care for her cousin's baby. Richardson did not think that qualifiedasfamilyleave, but she made a notetoconfirmit with personnel.

SurpriseCustomerVisit

Just when Richardson thought she could not manage one more challenge, a regional buyer forHomeDepotmadeasurprisesitevisittothegreenhouse.Everythingwasfineuntilhenoticedthat the product was being put in the wrong potseach big-box customer received plants inplastic pots that showed its unique bar codes for price scanning and inventory management. Thismistakewouldmeantheteamwouldbechargedforemergencyrepottingcostsaswellasdiscountsofferedas compensationfordelayed deliveryiftheydidnot actquickly.

Richardson called on her team to show up at the greenhouse the next Saturday morning tohelp repot plants. She thought it would be a team builder, but it turned into another failure. Torresand Ruiz arrived early, ready to work. Vega, as usual, was late and came dressed in a businesssuit. Hoffman and Peterson never showed up. Richardson's mood darkened as Vega, Torres, andRuiz fell into an easy Spanish banter with the greenhouse employees. Despite her efforts with thelanguage tapes, she could not understand a word. Her team members seemed to be bonding witheach other, anyway. Richardson smiled ruefully; she never imagined that being promoted to salesmanagerwould result in herbeing up toherelbows in dirt ona Saturday.

Richardson heard the phone ringing from the hallway as she made her way back to her officeat three o'clock that afternoon. When she answered, she heard Campbell say, "Oh, you're there. Iwasgoingtoleaveyouamessagetoremindyouthatyouneedtogetyourmonthlyreportinon

Monday. And don't forget, you need to submit your team's monthly expense reports on Monday,too." More paperwork. Staring at the dirt under her fingernails, Richardson took a deep breath."Monday. Right," was all she had the energy to say. "Is everything all right?" Campbell asked."Fine.Everything'sfine,"saidRichardsoninthemostprofessional toneshecould muster.

EventsLeadTo ACrisis

SalesTakeaHit

Sales results were down for the rest of May and June, in part because Colombia had struggledto get the greenhouse fungus under control and also because the big-box stores seemed to beheaping more and more demands on all growers, ColorTech included. Richardson was workingtwelve-hour days, six and sometimes seven days a week. She felt most of her time was spentbabysitting her team: Hoffman's sales continued to be strong, but he would not share informationif Richardson did not specifically ask for it; Torres continued to whine about his web-basedcustomer service project while his sales numbers slid; Vega had a great May, but her June saleswere down 50 percent; Ruiz was starting to test Richardson's patience with his perky inquiriesabout a sales position; and Peterson mostly pouted. Richardson's team hated paperwork as muchas she did, so she asked Torres to do some of his colleagues' reports for them in order to meettheirdeadlines.

CampbellVisitPart1:ACrypticMessage

CampbellmadeavisittothePhoenixofficeinearlyJune,whichRichardsonsuspectedwasto make sure the monthly sales report was going to be done on time. They sat down together toreview the report, and Campbell corrected some of Richardson's mistakes. It was an uneventfulmeeting, and when it was over Campbell left Richardson with the advice: "Keep your eyes on theprize."

NewCustomer

At the end of June, Richardson closed a big client. She had met the regional buyer for Lowe'sduring a trip to Chicago, where she learned Lowe's was interested in a new southwestern supplierfor annuals and perennials. She arranged a meeting in Phoenix and closed the deal after Lowe'shad a tour of the greenhouses. She was also now working with a large grocery chain to switch itscut-flower business to ColorTech. Richardson asked Torres to meet with her and the buyer. Afterthat meeting, Torres was more energized than she had ever seen him; he was full of ideas forservicingthis demanding,detail-oriented type ofcustomer.

CampbellVisit Part 2: Crisis

When she visited again in early July, Campbell did not even mention the new Lowe's andgrocery chain customers. After reviewing the monthly sales revenues and expenses, CampbellaskedRichardsonwhatshewasdoingtoaddressperformanceissueswithherteam,assales

figures were below last year's. After listening to Richardson's explanations about the Colombiagreenhouseproblemsandthebigboxes'increasinglyidiosyncraticdemands,Campbellpushedher chair back and asked, "Is there something you need to tell me about Chelsea Peterson?"Before Richardson could figure out why she was being asked about the store merchandiser,CampbellsharedthatshehadreceivedacallfromColorTechlegalthepreviousdayinformingher that someone claiming to be Chelsea Peterson's attorney had called to ask about ColorTech'sgenderdiversity record.

Richardson wasshocked. A coupleof weeks ago,Peterson had finallysubmitted aresume,but she had failed to include a cover letter. More important, she lacked the experience andenthusiasm for a sales position, and she had continued to be just barely civil to Richardson. Andwith sales down, there was no chance of adding an account rep. Richardson had explained toPeterson why she was not ready for a sales position and suggested some ColorTech trainingcourses Peterson could take to prepare herself. Peterson had left the meeting angry and had notraised the topic since. Now it seemed she had hired an attorneybecause she was denied apositionthatdid not evenexist.

Conclusion

After Campbell left that afternoon, Richardson sat in stunned silence. She thought back to hernave dreams of Friday pizza lunches and ice cream cart celebrations. Not only was there nomoney in her budget for parties, her team had not earned those kinds of rewardsnor had evenacted like a team. She had had such high hopes for making a difference in Phoenix. "What'swrong with them? What's wrong with me?" Richardson thought. "I wonder if I could go back toChicago. Maybe my old boss would take me back." She heaved a big sigh and asked herself,"Whatdo I do now?"

Do you think-Melissa Richardson is a good manager? In case of positive or negative, provide your own opinions.

What can we learn from this case study? Give your comprehensive arguments.