CASE STUDY: MAELSTROM COMMUNICATIONS By Daniel Robey, Georgia State University, in collaboration with Todd Anthony Sales manager Roger Todd was fuming. Thanks to as he marketing personnel, and rarely concerns himself with the put it. "those nearsighted addleheads in service," he had day-to-day activities of the service department unless a ma- nearly lost one of his top accounts. When told of Todd's jor problem of some sort crops up. complaint, senior serviceperson Ned Rosen retorted, "That Next in line in Maelstrom's corporate hierarchy is the figures. Anytime Mr. Todd senses even the remotest possi- vice president in charge of production, Lawrence Henderson bility of a sale, he immediately promises the customer the Henderson is responsible for the acquisition and distribu- world on a golden platter. We can't possibly provide the ser tion of all job-related equipment and materials and for the vice they request under the time constraints they give us scheduling of all service department activities. His sympa- and do an acceptable job." thies lie primarily with the service department. Feelings of this sort were common in the departments Each week Whitfield, Henderson, and all members of both Roger and Ned worked for in Maelstrom Communica- the sales force hold a meeting in Maelstrom's conference tions Sales and service, the two dominant functions in the room. The sales personnel present their needs to Henderson company, never saw eye to eye on anything, it seemed. The so that equipment can be ordered and jobs scheduled. Ser problems dated well back in the history of the company. vice requests reported to salespeople from customers are even before Roger or Ned were hired some years ago also relayed to Henderson at this point. Once orders for ser Maelstrom Communications is a franchised distribution- vice have been placed with production, sales personnel re- ship belonging to a nationwide network of companies that ceive no feedback on the disposition of them (unless a sell voice, mobile, data, and cloud telecommunications customer complains to them directly) other than at these products to small and medium-sized businesses. Maelstrom weekly meetings. It is common for a salesperson to think all competes directly with the largest national telecommunica: is well with his or her accounts when, in fact, they are re- tions firms in the hardware market. Equipment installation ceiving delayed service or none at all. When an irate cus- and maintenance service are an integral part of the total tomer phones the sales representative to complain, it sets in package Maelstrom offers. motion the machinery that leads to disputes such as the one Modern telecommunications systems hardware is highly between Roger Todd and Ned Rosen. sophisticated and few, if any, system users have the techno- It has become an increasingly common occurrence at logical know-how to do their own equipment servicing, An Maelstrom for sales personnel to go to Henderson to com- excellent service record is crucial to the success of any com- plain when their requests are not met by the service depart- pany in the field. After the direct sale of a Maelstrom sys. ment. Henderson has exhibited an increasing tendency to side tem, the sales force maintains contacts with customers. with the service department and to tell the salespeople that There is nothing the salespeople dislike so much as hearing existing service department priorities must be adhered to and that a customer hasn't received the type of service promised that any sales requests will have to wait for rescheduling. At at the time of sale. On the other hand, service technicians this point, a salesperson's only recourse is to go to Whitfield, complain of being hounded by the salespeople whenever a who invariably agrees with the salesperson and instructs preferred customer needs even the simplest fiber optic ca- Henderson to take appropriate action. All of this is time con- ble reconnected. As Ned Rosen put it. "I can't remember suming and only serves to produce friction between the presi- the last time a service request came through that wasn't an dent and the vice-president in charge of production emergency from a preferred customer." Discussion Questions Maelstrom's owner and president, Al Whitfield, has a 1. What situational conditions have created the conflict Strong sales background and views sales as the bread-and- in this case? butter department of the company. He is in on all major decisions and has final say on any matter brought to his at- 2. What actions should the organization take to manage tention. He spends most of his time working with sales and the conflict more effectively