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Gap Analysis: Intersect Investments-Tables 1 and 2

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Gap Analysis: Intersect Investments-Tables 1 and 2
John Doe
MMPBL520-University of Phoenix
November 14, 2011
Dr. Phil

Gap Analysis: Intersect Investments-Tables 1, 2, and 3 Before Intersect Investments begins to implement changes that will affect the future of the business, the company must have a full understanding of the problems they face and the opportunities that exist. Intersect Investments needs to clearly asses where they currently stand as a company and define where they want to be. The Gap Analysis “is useful at the beginning of a project when developing a business case, and it's essential when you're identifying the tasks that you need to complete to deliver your project” (Mind Tools LTD, 2011). In this assignment, Tables one, two, and three are provided as tools to identify issues/opportunities, stakeholders, and the end-state goals. Issues and Opportunities One of the issues facing Intersect Investments is employee retention. The company needs a stable work force to help the company better serve the customer. The company is struggling with low employee morale. The company must develop a culture that helps promote positive motivation amongst their employees. The company will need to strengthen their culture with “the idea is that strong cultures create goal alignment, employee motivation, and needed structure and controls to improve organizational performance” (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2003). Sales have been anything but steady for Intersect Investments. Sales have been steadily declining. Much like employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction is also below a healthy level. Improving employee satisfaction will also improve customer satisfaction. Intersect Investments needs to improve the overall commitment of their workforce. “Organizational commitment also improves customer satisfaction because long-tenure employees have better knowledge of work practices, and clients like to do business with the same employees” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2004). Not all employees are believers in the leadership’s ability to lead the company through these major changes. The senior leadership must deal with resistance and convince the workforce that the company is headed in the right direction. Issue | Opportunity | Reference to Specific Course Concept (Include citation) | Concept | Employee retention issues as a result of low morale. | Employees have expressed their low morale. Morale improvement can improve many aspects of the business. | “The idea is that strong culturescreate goal alignment, employee motivation, and needed structure and controlsto improve organizational performance” (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2003). | Organizational Culture, Socialization, and Mentoring | Organizational Commitment | High turnover rate is a sign of low organizational commitment. | “Organizational commitment also improves customer satisfactionbecause long-tenure employees have better knowledge of work practices, and clients like to do business with the same employees” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2004). | Workplace Emotions and Attitudes | Lack of faith in senior leadership | The employees do not exhibit faith in the abilities of senior leadership. | “Resistance to change an emotional/behavioral response to real or imagined threats to an established work routine” (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2004). | Leading Change | Stakeholder Perspectives There are three distinct stakeholders in the Intersect Investment scenario. Each of the stakeholders has unique interest by which they will judge the success of the change implementation for Intersect Investments. Stakeholder Perspectives | Stakeholder Groups | The Interests, Rights, and Values of Each Group | Employees | The employees have concerns over the direction senior leadership is taking the company in. | Senior Leadership | The company has a specific goal of being #3 in their market. They must develop a plan that will help them achieve this goal. | Customers | The customers want the best products/services possible. They also want to deal with customer service that is truly helpful and act in the consumers’ best interest. | Conclusion/Problem Statement These two tables provide the backbone of a reliable gap analysis. Senior leadership, the consumers, and the employee all have unique interests that will be a factor in the changes that the company will implement. Understanding these interests and the overall goal of the company will help leadership develop the appropriate course(s) of action. Employee focus seems to be the area in which the company needs to put forth the most efforts. The employees are integral to the success of the changes that the senior leadership Is trying to implement. The majority of the issues faced by Intersect seems as though they are directly affected by the employee morale and commitment. I think an appropriate problem statement is: Intersect Investments needs to improve the employee retention rate and morale so that these same employees will help the company improve overall customer satisfaction through service, quality, and continuous improvement.

References
Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A. (2003). Organizational Behaior (6th ed.). New York, NY: The McGraw−Hill Companies.
McShane, S. L., & Von Glinow, M. A. (2004). Organizational Behavior (3rd ed.). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companie.
Mind Tools LTD. (2011, Spring). Gap Analysis-Identifying What Needs to be Done in a Project. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/gap-analysis.htm

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