Report on the case

Wendy Peterson
In partial fulfilment of WAC course

Submitted to: Prof. Madhusri Shrivastava

Submitted by:
Vaibhav Gupta (PGP 47)

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 Memo of Transmittal

Sub: Submission of report on Wendy Peterson case

This document has been submitted in partial fulfilment of WAC course and contains my analysis of the
case Wendy Peterson followed by the options that I considered would be feasible as per the problem
defined by me. I have evaluated these options on the basis of certain criteria and come up with an
action plan. As per my recommendation, Wendy should politely decline Wus request for an assistant
and try to convince him to work by sharing an assistant.
If you need any further information, please let me know. Ill be happy to discuss.

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Content

1. Executive Summary 4
2. Situation Analysis 5
3. Problem Statement 5
4. Options 5
5. Criteria for Evaluation 5
6. Evaluation of options 6
7. Recommendations 7
8. Action Plan 7

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 1. Executive Summary

Wendy Peterson is former Ivey Leaguer who joined an accounting software and service company,
AccountBack after graduation. She excelled as a junior manager and quickly rose to the post of
Vice President Sales of the Plano, Texas office. She is facing trouble from a recently hired
employee Fred Wu, whom she hired to create ties with the growing Chinese Business market. Wu
for the past eight months has displayed unprofessional work patterns and failed on reporting at
many fronts. He also failed to acquire a client during the initial eight months of his service. Now,
after landing his first and Plano offices biggest client, he has put up a request for an assistant. He
has threatened to quit the job if his request is not met. Now Wendy is in dilemma whether to submit
to his request or to let him go.

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 2. Situation Analysis
AccountBack is an accounting software and service company with over $100 million in revenue
and employed over 400 employees. Wendy Peterson is a young, newly promoted Vice President of
Sales for the Plano, Texas office of AccountBack. In order to boost the sales of her domain and
capture the promising and fast growing service business founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, she
hired a business savvy and Mandarin versed gentleman, Fred (Xing) Wu. Wu exuded confidence
and had studied business and economics in the US. Moreover, Wendy wanted to benefit from his
contacts in the Chinese community. During the initial period, Wendy was impressed by Wus
dedication, curiosity and attention to detail. She even altered Wus sales revenue goal considering
that Chinese business executives might be reluctant to sign with AccountBack until Wu establishes
close personal relationship. Wendy as a leader wanted to maintain a collegial environment in her
office, but she started witnessing certain abnormalities in Wus behaviour. He never engaged in
instructed activities such as making cold calls to prospective clients, giving daily updates and
keeping the new sales tool up to date. He often reasoned that his schedule was booked with face-to-
face meeting, luncheons and late night dinners. His presence in the weekly pipeline meetings was
also inconsistent. He was rarely found in the office, but whenever he was in office, he enjoyed
passing knowledge to his colleagues.
Wu closed his first business deal eight months after joining AccountBack. The deal was a one year
contract worth over $400,000 and his client was the single largest client of the downtown office. He
even got expensive add-on to his existing client, but without the approval of his superior. Wendys
relationship with Wu was further strained when Wu requested for an assistant, on the pretext that he
needs an assistant to land three more clients.
Now Wendy has to decide whether to cave to the demands of Wu in order to get more business
from the Chinese or to dismiss Wus unreasonable demands and allow him to leave the company.

3. Problem Statement
Should Wendy accept the request for an assistant put forward by Wu or should she dismiss Wus
unreasonable demand?

4. Options
4.1 Accept Wus request for an assistant and allow him to pursue the Chinese market.
4.2 Decline Wus request for an assistant and allow him to leave AccountBack.
4.3 Decline Wus request and try to reason with him and ask him to stay with AccountBack.

5. Criteria for Evaluation

5.1 Impact on sales revenue.
5.2 Impact on other sales executives.
5.3 Impact on the Chinese Market.
5.4 Wendys credibility.
5.5 Personality mismatch.

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5.6

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 6. Evaluation of Options

Option 1 Option 2 Option 3

Criterion 1 Favourable Unfavourable Favourable

Criterion 2 Unfavourable Favourable Favourable

Criterion 3 Favourable Unfavourable Favourable

Criterion 4 Unfavourable Favourable Favourable

Criterion 5 Unfavourable Unfavourable Unfavourable

1. Accept Wus request for an assistant:

i. There is a strong possibility that accepting Wus request for an assistant will provide
him the required motivation to win the three Chinese deals, that are in the pipeline. With
these three wins, the Plano office will exceed their annual sales revenue targets.
ii. Sales require a lot of discipline among the executives and a little favouritism on the part
of the leadership team can lead to conflict, which can directly impact the sales revenue.
Providing an assistant to Wu are signs of favouritism and can demotivate the other sales
executives.
iii. Wus continued services will help maintain the relationship with the Chinese market that
AccountBack has established in the past eight months.
iv. Wendy is currently viewed as a charismatic person, a Doer, and a person who easily
mingles but accepting Wus request may lead to loss of credibility among her
subordinates.
v. Wendy is extrovert, conscientious, neurotic whereas Wu is introvert, non-agreeable, not
neurotic. These two personalities are bound be engage in conflict in the future as well.

2. Decline Wus request for an assistant and allow him to leave AccountBack :
i. Wus departure will have a direct impact on the sales revenue of the Plano office. Sales
executives have a history of bringing with them their biggest clients when they join new
companies; same is the case with departures. If Wu quits AccountBack, the existing
Chinese Client will be lost.
ii. Wus departure will not make much difference to the existing sales executives, but the
account service team was really irritated by Wus pestering attitude.
iii. Wendy will have to build the relationship with the Chinese market from the scratch.
Hiring a new executive and building credibility will again take more than a year.

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 iv. The Chinese markets will loss the faith in AccountBack as well as in Wendy. This can
pose some serious threat to growth prospects of AccountBack.
v. Letting Wu go will help prevent conflicts in the future because of their personality
mismatch.

3. Decline Wus request and try to reason with him:

i. If Wu is retained as an employee, one can expect the sales of AccountBack to grow,
with more Chinese Businesses getting associated with AccountBack.
ii. Rejecting Wus request will send a stern reply to all employees that indiscipline and
unreasonable requests will not be tolerated. Moreover, employees can benefit from Wus
knowhow and experience.
iii. It can be assumed that under Wus leadership, the AccountBacks clientele will continue
to grow and more Chinese business will use AccountBacks products.
iv. Wendys credibility among her employees and in the market will be left intact.
Moreover her subordinates will view her as a strong, non-negotiating leader who stood
up for what is right.
v. The personality mismatch will continue to exist but Wendy will have to come up with
ways to overcome these issues and make a collegial environment with Wu.

7. Recommendation:
I recommend that Wendy try to reason with Wu and convince him to share the assistant
with other sales executives. Retaining Wu is imperative but maintaining power and
dignity is equally important.

8. Action Plan: The immediate step should be to setup a meeting with Wu.
i. It will be a good idea to read and judge what is going on with Wu and why he needs an assistant so
badly. Is it just to undermine Wendys leadership and to prove his importance or he genuinely requires
an assistant?
ii. Secondly, put alternatives in front of Wu and ask him to share assistant with other executives for the
time being. Promise him an assistant if he is successful in getting those three new Chinese Clients.
iii. It will also be a good idea to politely point out some flaws in Wus working style and make him
understand that leaning is a continuous process no matter how big one grows.