CASE STUDY$-$ Unit $1$

Arnold Hodge has recently been promoted to the position of Sales Manager of the Eastern Division of ALCO Products, Inc. Before his promotion, Arnold spent $12$ years as a highly successful salesman for the company. He seemed to have a knack for talking to people, and many clients thought of him as a close personal friend.

In his new job, Arnold spent his time hiring and firing salespeople, writing up sales programmes for his division, reviewing the daily reports of his twenty sales people and supervising the activities of his office staff. Sales in his division had risen $(10\%)$ since Arnold had become manager, while no similar improvement had occurred in the other divisions.

One evening Arnold was talking to his friend Ray Bower about his new job. $$It just seems like I never get anything done in the office. It$$s just a constant stream of other people$$s problems. I wish I were back on the road where I was doing some real work. I feel like all I am doing in the office is pushing paper.

$1.$ Why did Arnold feel that his selling job was more important than his managerial job? Do you agree with Arnold? Why or why not?

$2.$ Which dependent variable$($s$)$ would you say affects Arnold? Explain. Which independent variable $($s$)$ is the cause of the effect on the dependent variables? Explain

$3.$ Would you say that Arnold$$s situation is more of a challenge or an opportunity for the top managers of AlCO Products, Inc? Which challenge$/$opportunity in OB does his situation relate to$?$

$4.$ You are an OB specialist who has been asked to make recommendations to correct this situation. What recommendations would you make?