Problem Solving in Organizations A Methodological Handbook for Business and Management Students

Objectives and Target Audiences

Marc checks his PowerPoint presentation one last time. He is a bit nervous, and experiences some stage fright. At the same time, he is also quite excited. This afternoon he will get a full hour at the weekly marketing management meeting to present and defend his design for a new medium-term sales planning system.

It was several months ago that Marc, a graduate MBA student, started his internship at the marketing department of a small business unit in industrial measurement equipment, part of a multinational company. At the intake the assignment had looked quite straightforward, but during the orientation stage in the first weeks it proved to be quite a complex one. This was partly due to political tension between corporate headquarters and the struggling business unit and partly to the fact that market research by the marketing department proved to be underdeveloped. After the orientation phase, therefore, the assignment was broadened somewhat. It was not always easy; some people supported his assignment, giving him much time and many ideas, but others were somewhat sceptical, and were reluctant to interrupt their busy schedules to talk with him (especially at headquarters). However, with the strong support of the marketing manager, his principal for the assignment, his company mentor and his academic supervisor, and, furthermore, with the methodological support of the book Problem Solving in Organizations, he had been able to overcome these obstacles. He had carried out a systematic review of the literature on the various aspects of his assignment and had used this as a major input for improvement proposals for market research and for the design of his sales planning system; his design surely is an example of the ‘state of the art’.

Now he is confident that the meeting will be successful and that his design of a solution will be formally adopted. The key participants of the meeting have been briefed by him beforehand on his design, and most seem to support it, including the marketing manager. The only people whose positions he is not sure of are the two market researchers, who keep asking awkward questions. Never mind, though; the die has been cast.