Read the case given below and answer the questions given at the end.
CASE STUDY-1:
Be Careful What You Wish For: From the Middle
Sharbari was delighted when she was promoted as the Regional Sales Controller of a leading chemical producer, where she had been employed for the last three years. It was a big boost in responsibility and would enable her to participate in the incentive compensation program. Now that he was facing her first end-of-the quarter Sales Report, however, she wondered what she had got herself into.
A major customer has placed a large order just one week before the end of the quarter, but they do not want delivery till the middle of the next quarter. The Sales Director of Sharbari's group wants to recognize the revenue now, thereby ensuring the maximum bonus for his group for the quarter.
This means processing the order, shipping the product to a warehouse and bearing the carrying costs until shipment to the customer.
Sharbari feels pressure from all sides. When she used to sit in the Accounting department, she saw the costs of such revenue recognition problems - it involved the cost of sending messages to all levels of the organization that it is OK to blame the system; the loss of information and distortion in expectation that jeopardized effective decision-making; the cost of cleaning up of the records when the distortion in expectation that jeopardized effective decision-making; the cost of cleaning up records when the distortion eventually came to light; and so on. She still reports to her old team and she knows that they are counting on her to make the right decisions on this kind of thing.
On the other hand, she wants the Sales Director and her new unit's General Manager to consider her as one of the team. She wants to earn their trust and respect
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Questions:
1. What are the sources of conflict for Sharbari?
2. What is at stake for the parties concerned?
3. What arguments can Sharbari use to influence those with whom she disagrees?
4. What actions do you recommend for dealing with this and similar situations in future?
