Maureen Frye at Quaker Steel and Alloy Corporation
Background: Maureen Frye, as assistant product manager of Titanium Alloys at Quaker, had attempted to plan and implement a change in the call patterns of salespeople responsible for selling extruded titanium alloy products. Although the top management had approved of her plan, the District Sales Managers (DSMs) and their subordinate sales representatives did not accept her recommendations because even after eleven months since her suggestions in January 1995, the old status in the sales system existed. We will try to understand the reasons for the failure of this implementation. We will also see what changes she can introduce in her second attempt to plan and implement these sales personnel distribution changes.
Why her first attempt at implementation of her sales focus shift plans fails: In an organization that functions in a small-town atmosphere of informality, friendliness, equality and old-values, Maureen was a relatively new entrant. In an organization that prefers to appoint its managers from within, she was a manager who came in from outside. She was also the only woman manager at her level in a male dominated Marketing and Sales Division. This leads to a cognitive dissonance about Maureen developing among the organization and its employees, especially the DSMs, who were also at the same management level as her, but who were much older members of the organization. The saliency of Maureen’s background and qualification would have led to a prejudiced opinion about her as being ambitious and eager to fit in with the organization. This opinion would no doubt be amplified by the fact that prior to Maureen, there was another highly qualified woman Dr. Olivia More in the organization who had earned the respect of the employees for her fairness, smartness and down-to-earth attitude. When compared with Dr. More, as was inevitable, Maureen would appear to the older employees of Quaker Steel to be more...