Scenario 1 Zenith, Inc., is a manufacturing company whose sales success or failure rests in the hands of sales representatives employed by dealers operating independently. Zenith faces a challenging situation because it does not have control over the people working for the independent dealerships. It is the performance of these individuals that dictates Zenith's sales success. To make things more complicated, until recently there was no clear understanding of the role of the sales representatives and there were no formal sales processes in place. Sales representatives varied greatly in terms of their level of skill and knowledge; most put out little effort beyond taking orders, and they did not feel motivated to make additional sales. Finally, independent thealers varied greatly regarding their management strategies and follow-up with Zenith. Recently, understanding the need to improve the performance of sales representatives, Zenith agreed to partially fund and support a training program for them. The network of independent owners in turn agreed to work together to implement a performance management system. As a first step in creating the performance management system, the owners conducted a job analysis of the role of the sale representatives, wrote a job description, and distributed it to all sales representatives. The owners also adopted an independent dealers-wide mission statement based primarily on the need to provide high-quality customer service. This mission statement was posted in all dealer offices, and each owner spoke with his employees about the contribution made by individual sales on achieving their mission. As a second step, the managers set performance goals (i.e., sales quotas) for each employee. Then, all sales representatives attended extensive training sessions. The employees received feedback based on their performance in the training course and then were reminded once again of their sales quotas. Back on the job, managers gave feedback to their employees regarding their standing in relation to their sales quotas. Since the employees had no way of monitoring their own progress toward their quotas, the performance feedback consisted of little more than a reiteration of monthly sales goals. There was no performance appraisal form in place, so discussions were not documented. This lack of feedback continued, and although sales quotas were being met for the first few months, owners received complaints from customers about the low quality of customer service they were receiving. Subsequently, sales began to decline. Furthermore, many orders were often incorrect, forcing customers to return items to Zenith. While the now performance management process was an improvement over no performance management (at least initially), the owners were still far from having a system that included a smooth transition between each of the components of the performance management process. Question 1 Review the following two links and discuss whether each of the links is present, and in what form, in the performance management system described. a. Link between prerequisites and performance planning b. Link between performance review and performance renewal and re-contracting. Tim Page 3 of 6 Question 2 4 Marks Identify the approach that the dealerships are using to rate performance, use an example from the case to support your answer. Is this approach the best for this situation justify your answer. Question 3 2 Marks What is hindering the sales staff performance? Explain your answer. Question 4 performance, contextual performance, or a explain why Zenith should focus on task specific. spectific: Sornaria 2
