Dick Spencer Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dick Spencer - Research Paper Example The case study highlights about Dick Spencer, who works as a Vice President in one of the large manufacturing firms. However, prior to that he was a plant manager of a Modrow Company, which was also the Canadian branch office of Tri-American Corporation. Tri-American Corporation was a major player in the aluminum manufacturing industry and it was also involved in the integrated operations such as mining of bauxite, processing and fabrication that result in various end products. The company employed around 22,000 people has presence in different parts of the world. The company followed a decentralized organizational structure that allowed plan managers to gain extra control and authority over the operation but at the same time the pressure of profitability was significant. In order to further experience growth the company had accomplished an expansion project and modernization project. The cost of this project was very high, but the return on investment was expected to surpass the ini tial investment and that made the project feasible. Despite that the plant manager, Dick Spencer was a bit more skeptical about the viability of the project and as a precautionary measure the manager initiated a campaign that encouraged employees to cut expenses in whatever ways possible. He also urged employees to reduce the expenses and cut down cost to the highest possible extent. This report seeks to identify the key factors that contributed to Spencer’s success as a salesperson and tribulations as a manager. The report will also throw light on these factors that led to success as a salesman or his failure as a manager. Lastly, the study will recommend some of the steps or techniques that could be adopted which will help have Dick Spencer to become successful as a manager. Factors Contributing to Spencer’s success as a Salesperson and Tribulations as a Manager Selling and management are two different domains of business as the duties greatly differ from one another (Boles, Brashear, Bellenger & Barksdale, 2000). However, both the functions play imperative role in the success of a company. A sale is a key organizational function and the sales personnel plays key role in bringing revenues for the organization. In doing so a sales person generally exhibits various exceptional qualities. On the contrary, management is another vital function of an organization (Matsuno, Mentzer & Rentz, 2000). It helps in ensuring the organizational tasks are accomplished in a systematic and timely manner. Furthermore, the people of management also have the responsibility to administer the organizational activities and making decisions at every point of time. However, success or failure on these given fields greatly depends upon certain factors. In this context the factors which were responsible for Mr. Dick’s failure and success are underlined below: - Charming personality and business knowledge According to the viewpoint of the colleagues of Mr. Dick, he had a charming personality and good looks. Moreover, Mr. Dick also possessed sound business knowledge. The ability to sell products also needs special mention. This allowed Mr. Dick to become one of the successful salesmen of the company. In addition to these qualities, Mr. Dick also had a tremendous amount of energy and during his initial days enjoyed the work of a salesman. Despite, friend’s advice to switch into sales management jobs, he continued to act as a salesman. This clearly reflects the extent to which Mr. Dick was a self motivating person and how passion for sales had driven him. Self Motivation Self motivation is another major factor that played a significant role in the development of Mr. Dick as a salesperson. Eminent Scholar such as Pelham (2002) emphasizes that