Caselet 1: Southeastern Industrial
James Johnson is regional sales manager for Southeastern Industrial, a supplier of industrial products for manufacturers of computer peripherals located in the seven southeastern U.S. states. Although Johnson’s region has met its total sales and profitability goals during the past three years he has been sales manager, he is concerned about his region’s turnover rate. The first year he was sales manager, the turnover rate was15 percent, followed by a rate of 18 percent the second year, and a 22 percent rate the third year. Each of the salespeople who resigned offered good reasons for leaving. A few were old enough to retire, one or two found better paying jobs, and, unfortunately, two salespeople just did not meet our standards and had to be let go. Johnson would like to reduce the annual turnover rate to below the industry average of 12 percent per year. He plans on analyzing the situation over the next month, talking to others both inside and outside the firm, and making a proposal to upper management to revamp the recruitment and selection process.
Questions
1. What recommendations would you offer James Johnson for evaluating the current recruitment and selection process at Southeastern Industrial?
2. How would it help to compare the performance of each salesperson who either resigned or was let go?
3. Would it be helpful for Johnson to know how each salesperson was originally recruited?
4. Should Johnson scrutinize the notes from the former salespeople’s personal interviews or their preemployment test scores? Assuming these items were available, what insight might they give Johnson?
5. How would you recommend that Southeastern recruit and select new salespersons?