Reference no: EM133216559
Mark is a sales manager of a housing company. As the company prepares to launch a large scale state of the art residential apartment, plans have been made to carry out an ambitious 72 hours sales initiative, where the sales agent of Mark's team will take turns and take positions at various locations in the city which enjoys high traffic and aggressively promote the upcoming launch of the apartment, with the goal to achieve sales of eighty percent of the units available.
On the day of the launch, however, Mark was nowhere to be seen. In the eight different locations of city squares, train stations and shopping complexes, the sales agents were wondering where their manager was, but were still enthusiastic in getting their jobs done and achieving their goals anyway. At a point in time, the rain came and resulted in many of the agents getting drenched, but they still braved the storm and did their job anyway. By the late afternoon, many of them were hungry but due to a lack of manpower, still swallowed their hunger and got their jobs done anyway.
Finally, when the long and daunting 72 hours ended, the results of the sales project was consolidated, only to discover that the team fell short of 13 units. Rather than being given the two days of off that the team deserved, Mark summoned the team to his office for a big dressing down for failing to hit the target. Never once did he commend them for their effort, for braving the weather, for going without food. It turned out that Mark was, all these times, hiding within the comforts of his office, enjoying its luxurious facilities and monitoring the progress at his own leisure.
Questions
- Do you think Mark's team regards him as a leader? Why or why not?
- Assume that you have been appointed as the new sales manager for the housing company. What would you do to be seen as a leader? (Consider the morale of the employees and express how you would handle another 72 hour sales initiative differently.)
- Which source of power would you use to establish credibility and gain loyalty from your team and why?