Gap Analysis: Intersect Investments
The Financial Industry is one that is often unpredictable. Intersect Investments has managed to survive through the instability of the industry. After experiencing a decline in sales and customer satisfaction, CEO Frank Jeffers realized the need to make a drastic change. Jeffers chose to transform the company in an effort to recover from the recent losses. The new vision is one that will expand products and services while increasing customer loyalty. The new culture will be based on a model of customer intimacy. In their efforts to change, Intersect Investments has come across obstacles within its infrastructure that could negatively impact the company goals if not resolved immediately. Once resolved, Intersect Investments will be on the way achieving stability in an industry considered to be chaotic.
Situation Analysis
Issue and Opportunity Identification
Intersect Investments has had the opportunity to succeed through times of uncertainty. Continued success will be dependant on a complete cultural transformation. The aggressive 12 month transformation plan has been approved and it is now necessary for the current culture to adapt to the new vision. With change comes resistance. Intersect Investments is experiencing resistance from the directors of the company. The directors are avoiding the new vision and focus on what they personally feel will improve sales performance.
The management's resistance to change is creating problems with the new vision because the directors are not implementing any of the changes in support of the new initiative. The directors have expressed the feeling that the commitment to the customer intimacy model would have the opposite affect of that which is intended. Companies that follow the customer intimacy model generally look towards the customer's lifetime value (Treacy & Wiersema, 1993, p. 87). Resistance to change is an emotional/behavioral response to real or imagined threats to an established work routine (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2004, p. 685). In order to overcome this resistance it will be necessary for Intersect Investments to implement change strategies.
Intersect Investments must first make the effort to understand the reasoning behind the resistance exhibited. Once the resistance is understood strategies can be implemented to overcome the obstacle it presents. Participation and involvement will create a sense of worth for the directors. The change was approved without the involvement of the management team which created the resistance. Cultural change initiatives have little positive effect if the top and senior managers do not embrace the need to actively engage in the process from the beginning (Alimo-Metcalfe & Alban-Metcalfe, 2005, p.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of the article called “Can We Keep Our Promises?” by Robert D. Arnott, and to help better understand the three key risks facing each investor.
For this project, we researched Wells Fargo?s performance in the last couple of years as a way to check on its progress to greatness. What we found was an overwhelmingly charismatic company that not only puts down its values in ink, but also strictly abides by them. Much to our surprise, a huge chunk of their thick annual report for 2002 was an honest listing of all the threatening factors that stand in the company?s way rather than its exceptional rankings in its sector. In this paper, we will focus specifically on Wells Fargo?s leadership, company culture, SWOT analysis, and financial performance analysis. We will try to link our findings to Jim Collins?s book as a way to prove that the company has really made the jump from good to great.
This paper will be broken down into six sections profiling each critical part of implementing and managing change in an organization. The sections included are; outline for plan creating urgency, the approach to attracting a guiding team, a critique of the organizational profile, the components of change, and how to empower the organization.
In today’s ever changing world people must adapt to change. If an organization wants to be successful or remain successful they must embrace change. This book helps us identify why people succeed and or fail at large scale change. A lot of companies have a problem with integrating change, The Heart of Change, outlines ways a company can integrate change. The text book Ivanceich’s Organizational Behavior and Kotter and Cohen’s The Heart of Change outlines how change can be a good thing within an organization. The Heart of Change introduces its readers to eight steps the authors feel are important in introducing a large scale organizational change. Today’s organizations have to deal with leadership change, change in the economy,
Kotter, JP 1995, Leading change: why transformation efforts fail. In Harvard Business Review on Change, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Harvard Business School case 274-116. Cooper Industries, Inc. Retrieved on August 31, 2008, from University of Phoenix, Resource, FIN/545 web site: https://mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource
The major issues facing the company comprises of there being multiple businesses with different demands. There are separate levels of performance and success as well as growth chances for each of the sector and the firm needs to tackle with issues in each of these divisions (Dube, J.P., 2004).
Kotter, J. P. (2007). ‘Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail’. Harvard Business Review, January: 96-103.
Under CEO Philip Purcell’s management, Morgan Stanley’s infrastructure and systems did not grow with the needs of employees and customers, nor did it apply future technologies to their current systems, it’s focus was reducing overheads to maximize profits in the short term. Many brokers resigned, taking with them valuable portfolios and profits. In June 2005 Purcell resigned, and John Mack provided new leadership. The firm then began to change its information systems and provide better services for clients, which saw stronger ethos and integrity within the employees.
... Accordingly, when dealing with resistance to change, the best approach to use in most situations is the power of resistance. This approach accepts resistance as part of the process and enables leaders to understand where the resistance is coming from, facilitating listening and respect while focusing on the objectives of the change (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009). Conclusion Managing resistance starts with dialogue that engages and reveals the underlying reasons for resistance (A. Gilley, J. Gilley, & Godek, & 2009). Resistance to change is a complex issue and managers and leaders need to take the time to understand why and where the resistance is coming from if they have any chance of being successful.
Pascale, Richard and Linda Gioja. “Changing the Way we Change.'; Harvard Business Review, Vol. 75, No. 6, Nov-Dec 1997, p. 126.
Change in an organization occurs when an organization identifies an area of where necessary change must be undertaken, examines it thoroughly and adapts to it. This may lead to gaps where employees may not adapt to a certain change and therefore it is important that an organization takes into considerati...
One can accurately state that the role of the competent and capable financial manager is figuratively worth its weight in gold. As global markets today's financial markets increase in complexity, the tradition of learning by doing will not suffice. The financial manager today must hit the ground running with ready expertise to be used effectively as the CFO or as part of a team of financial experts within the ranks of the CFO's office. In navigating the international marketplace effectively, financial managers find themselves in a technology driven, real time information deluge which helps them to satiate the knowledge demands of investors, commercial and investment bankers, shareholders, employees, brokers, traders et al who must know particular companies, their products and the markets wherein they operate. The financial manager is charged with providing the information necessary to fulfill this relentless demand for a range of financial information that literally runs the gamut.
I am currently majoring in Finance Management. Most of the time people think of finance as just managing money. However, finance is needed for so much more! The finance industry deals with starting businesses, developing new products, expanding markets, as well as everyday things like saving for retirement, purchasing a home, and even insurance. The stock market, asset allocation, portfolio analysis, and electronic commerce are all key aspects in finance. In this paper, I will explain how these features play a vital role in the industry, along with the issues that come with these factors.
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