Luận Văn Ineffective Managerial Support In Electrolux Vietnam Ac

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UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
Truong Hieu Lam
INEFFECTIVE MANAGERIAL SUPPORT IN
ELECTROLUX VIETNAM AC
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Dịch Vụ Hỗ Trợ Viết Thuê Tiểu Luận,Báo Cáo
Khoá Luận, Luận Văn
ZALO/TELEGRAM HỖ TRỢ 0932.091.562
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
SUPERVISOR: DR. NGUYEN PHONG NGUYEN

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Table of Contents
Executive summary......................................................................................................................... 5
1. Company background.............................................................................................................. 6
2. Problem mess........................................................................................................................... 8
2.1. Symptoms......................................................................................................................... 8
2.1.1. First symptom: Low sales ......................................................................................... 8
2.1.2. Second symptom: Low customer satisfaction........................................................... 9
2.2. Initial cause-effect map .................................................................................................. 12
2.3. Updated cause-effect map .............................................................................................. 18
2.3.1. Ineffective managerial support................................................................................ 18
2.3.2. Work-life imbalance ............................................................................................... 19
2.3.3. Insufficient training................................................................................................. 20
2.3.4. Ineffective segmentation......................................................................................... 21
2.4. Potential problems.......................................................................................................... 23
2.4.1. Ineffective segmentation......................................................................................... 23
2.4.2. Ineffective managerial support................................................................................ 24
2.4.3. Main problem validation......................................................................................... 25
3. Problem justification.............................................................................................................. 26
3.1. Problem definition.......................................................................................................... 26
3.2. Problem existence .......................................................................................................... 27
3.2.1. Quantitative research findings ................................................................................ 27
3.2.2. Qualitative research findings .................................................................................. 29
3.3. Problem importance ....................................................................................................... 32
4. Cause validation .................................................................................................................... 35
4.1. Literature review ............................................................................................................ 35
4.2. Qualitative research findings.......................................................................................... 36
5. The set of solutions................................................................................................................ 41
5.1. Training sales manager and supervisor .......................................................................... 41
5.2. Developing the performance management system......................................................... 42
5.3. Solution selection........................................................................................................... 43
5.4. Change plan design ........................................................................................................ 45

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5.4.1. Objectives ............................................................................................................... 45
5.4.2. Action plan.............................................................................................................. 45
5.4.2.1. Development of an appraisal form .................................................................. 45
5.4.2.2. Guideline for effective performance feedback ................................................ 49
5.4.2.3. Disciplinary procedure for poor performance management............................ 49
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 55
Supporting information................................................................................................................. 56
References................................................................................................................................... 111
Appendix..................................................................................................................................... 115

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Initial cause-effect map ................................................................................................. 17
Figure 2: Updated cause-effect map ............................................................................................. 22
Figure 3: Managerial support at sales department ........................................................................ 28
Figure 4: Managerial support at sales department ........................................................................ 28
Figure 5: Employee satisfaction of salespeople at Electrolux Vietnam AC 2014-2018............... 33
Figure 6: Final cause-effect map................................................................................................... 40
List of Tables
Table 1: Sales growth of Electrolux Vietnam AC, Daikin, Toshiba and Vietnam AC market from
2016 to 2018 ................................................................................................................................... 8
Table 2: Results of the survey collected from Electrolux Vietnam AC, Daikin and Toshiba...... 11
Table 3: Measurements of managerial support............................................................................. 27
Table 4: Cost estimation for solution to training sales manager and supervisor .......................... 42
Table 5: Cost estimation for solution to updating the performance management system ............ 43
Table 6: Organization of actions in implementation of effective performance management
system ........................................................................................................................................... 51

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Executive summary
Customer dissatisfaction undoubtedly imposes a challenge for the organization to
maintain consumers’ loyalty and retention 62
. Dissatisfied consumers discontinue purchasing the
product or service as well as have a high potential to engage in negative word-of-mouth
communication about the organization’s product or service 62
. The fact that keeping customers
satisfied with their product or service does have a positive influence on an organization’s
profitability is non-negotiable 63
. Hence, customer defection or discontinuance of purchase from
consumers causes Electrolux Vietnam AC to suffer remarkable loss of sales. To investigate the
worrisome situation, potential problems which are identified through interviews and subsequently
confirmed with theories involve ineffective managerial support and ineffective segmentation. By
evaluating and verifying each potential problem, a discussion to focus on ineffective managerial
support is determined as the central one. Electrolux Vietnam AC is confronting the ineffective
managerial support that makes their employees feel dissatisfied with the job and consequently,
has low commitment and intention to leave the company in the future. Their low productivity
causes the organization to experience low performance as well. After further rounds of interviews
and the support of literature, the validated and most important cause of ineffective performance
evaluation is chosen to build the set of solutions. The possible solutions for improvement of
performance evaluation are training sales manager and supervisor on evaluating and giving
performance feedbacks to their subordinates effectively or developing the performance
management system. Basing on the cost-benefit analysis, the development of the performance
management system is feasible to efficiently solve the ineffective managerial support. The
solution is beneficial from available resources that are gained from the cooperation between HR
department and sales department, which costs around VND 11,500,000 and takes approximate
two months without a break in order for salespeople to keep up with the schedule to promote
their work efficiency. By taking an action, this cost-efficient solution can terminate the current
problem of Electrolux Vietnam AC. Not only customer satisfaction but also employee
satisfaction is expected to enhanced in order to improve the organizational performance.

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1. Company background
Electrolux Group which headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden is a world-leading provider
of diverse consumer appliances and electronics with more than 100 years of history. The
organization has 54,400 employees in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and
Oceania. It is in the company’s DNA to continuously strive to further improve efficiency and
quality across the organization, from production to administration. The mission of Electrolux is
to provide outstanding products in order to enrich people’s enjoyable and sustainable life.
As a member of Electrolux Group, Electrolux Vietnam which was established in 1999
specializes in distributing thoughtfully designed and innovative products for households and
businesses. Electrolux Vietnam has a head office in Ho Chi Minh City and representative offices
in Hanoi and Danang. According to the company’s HR report in February 2019, there are 6
departments with a total of 130 employees. There are departments of human resources and
general administration (11 headcounts), finance and accounting (23 headcounts), corporate
marketing (8 headcounts), customer service (5 headcounts) and consumer electronics (83
headcounts) that conjointly support the company’s operation. The consumer electronics
department has three sub functions which are air conditioning (31 headcounts), kitchen
appliances (23 headcounts) and home appliances (29 headcounts). Air conditioning, abbreviated
as AC, comprises air conditioners whilst kitchen appliances include cookers, ovens, kettles and
food processors, and home appliances consist of refrigerators, washing machines, and vacuum
cleaners.
In the AC division, each department has their own departments to go along with to
support their activities for related products. Specifically, there are 4 departments which belong to
AC division. The head of AC administers not only sales management but also product
management, customer service and administration. Product management is in charge of
monitoring pricing, inventory, orders and marketing activities. Customer service is accountable
for handling consumers’ inquiry in terms of installation, maintenance and reparation.
Administration supports administrative tasks. In total, there are 3 managers and 28 employees.
Every department in AC collaborates with each other towards a shared vision with the goal of
achieving excellent business outcomes and outstanding customer experience.
In today’s ever changing business environment, Electrolux is proud of being one of the
leaders in the air conditioning industry that foresees the future and continuously innovates to

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develop future-proof air-conditioning solutions. The product line of air conditioning contains
residential air conditioner and system air conditioner. The compatible models can be single-split,
multi-split, single-split packaged, multi-split packaged air conditioners and VRF system. For the
residential air conditioners, air conditioners are used when an outdoor unit connects to an indoor
unit, which are best suited to houses with a number of floors and rooms with little space for an
outdoor unit. For the system air conditioner, they are ideal for installation in larger areas such as
larger-scale residential houses, commercial buildings, condominiums, etc. A single or multiple
outdoor units serving various indoor units and allows for a mixture of system types. Driven by a
never-ending quest for product innovation, their goal is to deliver products with superior quality
and reliability and provide experience of true comfort for businesses and homes. The proportion
of sales for product type is shown that residential air conditioner constitutes 65 percent of total
sales which is higher than that of system air conditioner accounting for 35 percent.
Electrolux Vietnam AC division’s competitors are Daikin, Panasonic, LG and others.
They target B2B customers that a distribution network is applied through modern trade and
traditional trade to attract customers and sell their products. Regarding modern trade, ecommerce
such as Tiki, Lazada, etc. and supermarkets such as Dien may Xanh, Nguyen Kim, Cho Lon, Tu
Do, etc. Concerning traditional trade, retailers are Truc Mai, Thien Nam Hoa, etc. The proportion
of sales for consumer type is shown that modern trade constitutes 40 percent in which 15 percent
for ecommerce and 25 percent for supermarkets which is lower than that of traditional trade
accounting for 60 percent.
Sales department has a total of 15 members including a sales manager, a sales supervisor,
11 sales representatives and a sales administrator. The role of a sales admin is to assist sales force
with daily sales administration activities. Sales reps are in charge of developing customer
intimacy and establishing new sales opportunities. Sales supervisor is responsible for ensuring
customer satisfaction, increasing sales for the company, consistently monitors the sales activity of
the team and tracks the results. Sales manager participates in strategic and tactic planning and
managing for the department. Because of increasing competition between air conditioning
manufacturers, it is crucial for Electrolux to foster a motivated and committed sales force which
plays an important role in generating revenue for the company.

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2. Problem mess
2.1. Symptoms
To indicate something abnormal in the current business operation of Electrolux Vietnam AC, the
source of internal data was examined such as reports of HR department, customer report which
was published by management team so that employees are aware of their performance level.
These internal data was found to be advantageous due to its ease to approach and availability,
together with cost efficiency and useful time series data. Moreover, depth interviews with sales
manager and sales supervisor were carried out in order to have a better understanding about what
the division is struggling with and any necessary improvements.
2.1.1. First symptom: Low sales
According to the company’s internal data, Electrolux Vietnam AC experienced an
increase in sales over the last three years. Nevertheless, sales growth rates declined markedly,
falling from the high 17 percent to the low 11 percent in 2017 and 9 percent in 2018, even as the
company added approximately USD 3.5 million of additional revenues in each of the past three
years. As declared by head of AC in the company’s annual meeting, Daikin has continued sales
growth exceeding 25 percent from 2015 to 2018. Another Japanese-based air conditioning
provider, Toshiba has achieved over 18 percent of sales growth in the same period. What is more,
it is reported by Nikkei Asian Review that sales of Vietnam AC market is forecasted to grow
over 14.5 percent from 2015 to 2021. In general, Electrolux Vietnam AC suffered progressive
slowdown in sales growth. From 2015 to 2018, its sales also experienced a slower growth rate
than that of their biggest rivals, Daikin and Toshiba and local AC market.
Table 1: Sales growth of Electrolux Vietnam AC, Daikin, Toshiba and Vietnam AC
market from 2016 to 2018
Unit: million USD
Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Sales revenue – Electrolux Vietnam
AC
24.5 27 31.6 35.3 38.5
Sales growth – Electrolux Vietnam AC 10.2% 17.0% 11.7% 9.1%
Sales growth – Daikin 25.0%
Sales growth – Toshiba 18.0%
Sales growth – Vietnam AC market 14.5%
Source: Nikkei Asian Review43
, internal meeting

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2.1.2. Second symptom: Low customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is defined as a consumer’s response to the assessment of their
consciousness of inconsistency between preceding expectations and actual exhibition of the
product or service as discerned in the time following its consumption 1
. The measure of
satisfaction can be economic satisfaction in terms of financial returns derived from the sales of
the supplier’s products or non-economic satisfaction in terms of satisfaction that could be derived
from interpersonal relationships with the supplier’s sales representatives 2
. In today’s highly
competitive market, customer satisfaction is regarded as a major contribution for organizations to
not only retain customers but also assist in recognizing economic goals like sales turnover and
profitability 3; 4; 5
. It is shown that there is a positive relationship between customer satisfaction
and customer loyalty 6
. The higher level of customer satisfaction leads to the greater customer
loyalty 6; 7; 8
. Otherwise, as a result of customer dissatisfaction, they will not hold commitment to
re-buy or re-patronize product or service 9; 10
in the future and have a potential to cause switching
behavior and negative word of mouth 11; 12
.
It was reported that sales representatives at Electrolux Vietnam AC did not take good care
of their customers. As a consequence, the number of customers who either ceased repurchasing
products or left the company is noticeable. In accordance with Mr. Phu, customer complaints
were regarded as serious problems of which must be taken notice. Customers expressed their
dissatisfaction towards poor service rather than products. They complained about late responses
from salespeople which made them wait for more than 1 day and have to make a call for prompt.
In some cases of emergency, salespeople are the ones that customers directly contact to ask for
immediate help but they were asked to leave messages or voice mails and would be re-contacted
after few hours later rather than receiving an instant support from salespeople. They also
complained that they were not informed about necessary information from salespeople on time
such as delay in product delivery, or changes in promotion. As a consequent, customers were
discontented with salespeople, which brought about not only loss of existing customers but also
low sales. There was no denying the fact that this issue had an influence on the long-term
sustainable growth of the company.
To be more specific, Mr. Phu elaborated the issue that many dealers had not ordered
Electrolux products for more than 2 months although he definitely guaranteed that they had been

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sold out. Most of them were air conditioner specialists, known as ACS, were qualified customers
that were believed to have a potential in buying and selling to gain revenue on a monthly basis
because they had sufficient resources in terms of human resources, financial resources and
inventory capacity. Some of them intentionally sent formal complaints to related parties whilst
others complained by oral and decided to slow down the period of time from buying to selling
Electrolux products as a way of not hurting the relationship with the company, which made the
company challenging to figure out the problem owing to their inaccurate reasons. Therefore, after
receiving a large number of complaints from customers, manager and supervisor were able to
aware of the main cause of this problem, which was because of salespeople. As shared by Mr.
Quan, there were actually 3 cases that have had a close relationship with the company more than
3 years finally being out of business with the company. Alongside, other 2 cases did not want to
enthusiastically sell their products which mean that when individual customers come to ask their
recommendation about proper products that matched their needs; however, they did not mention
about Electrolux brand.
In the context of business-to-business relationship, it is proven that salespeople’s job
performance as customer contact employee plays a crucial role in securing business customers’
satisfaction 13
. Specifically, attitudes, expertise and traits of salespeople can impact on customer
satisfaction 13; 14
. To measure the level of customer satisfaction, a quantitative survey which
includes quality of service in case of salespeople was distributed to 56 business customers that
carry out product lines of not only Electrolux Vietnam AC but also their competitors, among
which Daikin and Toshiba were particularly chosen to investigate the level of customer
satisfaction of these companies and to compare with the existing situation of Electrolux. All
items are measured using 10-point scale ranging from 1 which indicates strong dissatisfaction or
fully disagreement to 10 which indicates strong satisfaction or fully agreement. By providing
them with a hard copy at shop as well as an email invitation to online survey, complete
questionnaires could be acquired from a total of 53 customers out of 56 in total, for a response
rate of 94.6 percent.

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Table 2: Results of the customer satisfaction survey collected from Electrolux Vietnam AC,
Daikin and Toshiba
Items
Mean
Electrolux Daikin Toshiba
1. My sales representative spends sufficient time
with me.
6.24 7.85 7.11
2. My sales representative can be reached when I
need him.
5.77 7.63 6.92
3. My sales representative advises me according to
my requirements.
6.25 8.89 6.78
4. My sales representative deals with my concerns
quickly.
5.86 7.92 7.34
5. My sales representative gives me information
about current developments that are important for
our business.
6.73 8.14 7.42
6. My sales representative is solution-orientated. 6.87 7.26 7.15
7. My sales representative is flexible. 6.98 7.59 7.86
8. My sales representative has professional
expertise.
6.74 8.16 7.22
9. I would repurchase the offering from this
salesman.
6.40 8.48 7.16
10. Overall, I am satisfied with the company. 6.13 8.32 7.89
Source: Quantitative survey from the company’s dealers
According to the table, there were 10 items measuring the quality of salespeople in
Electrolux Vietnam AC, Daikin and Toshiba. In case of Electrolux, the average mean is 6.4
which showed that customers did not really agree or satisfy with all of the statements of this
dimension. Noticeably, item 2 “my sales representative can be reached when I need him” and
item 4 “my sales representative deals with my concerns quickly” had the lowest mean scores
which are 5.77 and 5.86, respectively. Meanwhile, the average of Toshiba was 7.28 and that of
Daikin was 8.02, which indicated the highly agreement of the respondents to this dimension. The
quality of salespeople of Electrolux should be significantly concerned due to their lowest
satisfaction of customers. It is clear from this analysis that sales organizations needed to provide
guidance and support for their team members’ improvement.
Taking everything into account, it is vital for Electrolux Vietnam AC to conduct an
investigation into the reason why the customer dissatisfaction is so high to mitigate the risks of
losing business partners and therefore, low sales. The research plans to scrutinize causes that

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result in customers’ action to leave the company and to suggest solutions to improve customers’
retention.
2.2. Initial cause-effect map
The depth interview was conducted in order to investigate the potential causes of
customer dissatisfaction and low sales situation which Electrolux Vietnam AC is struggling with.
All of 7 respondents were chosen to work for the sales department and a product manager works
for product management department in the company’s AC division at least 2 years in order for
them to be capable of understanding the operation and management system of the company. In
the sales department, sales manager and sales supervisor who are responsible for the symptoms
as well as sales representatives who are directly related to the symptoms joined the interview for
the data collection. Interviews which were done by face-to-face interviews to reflect the customer
experience under viewpoint of Electrolux Vietnam AC salespeople. There are 9 causes resulting
in 2 symptoms in AC division that were clearly shown in an initial cause-effect map.
Basing on the symptoms, sales manager and sales supervisor noticed that customer
dissatisfaction was due to the lack of customer follow-up from salespeople. Regarding
salespeople’s lack of awareness in dealer programs, the company had a policy to ensure a quality
customer service that salespeople were responsible for providing dealers with special offers in
special occasions. Nevertheless, according to sales supervisor and a sales rep, some salespeople
did not send special promotions like gifts, vouchers, etc. to customers in holidays such as
Christmas Eve, Vietnamese New Year, etc. Some customers also complained about the lack of
PG, PB support in running promotion in their grand opening days. What is more, dealers were
assisted with marketing and training sessions in order for them to be well equipped to attract and
serve their customers well. Salespeople were those who were ready to fully support customers by
any means of communication. However, they were regarded as promises that made customers
have a long wait. Consequently, customers were dissatisfied with the service of the company.
Besides, there were some delays in delivering air conditioners to the customers. Sales
supervisor admitted that salespeople did not meet the deadlines because the product was not
delivered and installed as promised. Although it is not salespeople’s subjectivity because the
main reason for this situation is due to unexpected delay from manufacturer or the longer
shipping time, salespeople needed to actively contact with customers to inform them about it

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instead of their irresponsibility to let customers wait. Some customers show their displeasure by
asking another salesperson to consult them instead of the first one who was responsible for
selling the product to them before. Another case was illustrated by sales manager which was
about an adjustment in sales forecast of customers. Some customers increased their purchasing
volumes after a period of time of initial order that makes the company impossible to follow their
new orders because their initial order was approved and completed. It was possible that
customers were conscious of this policy; however, they blamed salespeople for not spending time
on consulting them clearly about the increasing trend of that line of air conditioners in that
season. Likewise, another salesperson disclosed that there are some situations in which customers
ordered products in advance and willing to receive products later without exact time; however
salespeople believed that it was customers’ responsibility to actively contact with them to ask for
their products, so they were unable to meet customers’ requests for product delivery at a specific
point of time set by customers because the company’s policy allowed salespeople to order their
products at one random week set by product management on a monthly basis. Salespeople also
did not respond to requests of brochures from dealers because they believed that marketing team
would actively send brochures to them. Salespeople seemed to take it for granted, which showed
their unconcern about their customers’ needs. Consequently, they did not provide product and
service delivery on time, which made customer unhappy.
Insights from salespeople revealed that they could not follow up with all customers due to
their hectic working schedules which results in work-life imbalance. Salespeople performed their
jobs that involved three main duties which are ongoing relationship management to grow sales
from upselling or cross-selling, new consumer acquisition and non-selling activities such as
paperwork, meetings, reviews, etc. Salespeople received large number of emails coming in their
mail box and phone calls and they were so busy to check email and answer phones every day. In
specific occasions, they had to travel to other regions to interact with clients and colleagues in
more than one week. As a rule, companies could not lie within their existing territories, so in
order to be not only a survivor but also a passion to be market leader; salespeople of Electrolux
Vietnam AC were required to help the company increase their market share by find new potential
ones. They were counted as 20 percent of each salesperson’s KPI. In order to complete jobs and
achieve sales targets, they had to work overtime and in the weekends besides 8 official working
hours on a daily basis. They had to sacrifice their personal choice such as family time, doctor’s

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appointment, etc. Moreover, they rarely had enough for a full breakfast or lunch meals in busy
days. Work-life imbalance was so common in the company that when a salesman decided to
leave the office earlier than others, sales supervisor did not let him away from the office by
asking him to help his urgent paperwork. Salespeople also revealed that they usually had to meet
clients in office hours, so administrative tasks must be done by working overtime. Although
salespeople were aware of customers’ needs, their high workloads made them unable to timely
keep track of all customers’ requests.
Moreover, some salespeople were unable to provide answers to customer enquires about
products. Salespeople needed to acquire sufficient product knowledge to present benefits of their
products accurately and persuasively because customers were likely to respond to enthusiastic
salespeople who were passionate about their products and eager to share the benefits with them.
Air conditioners were complicated and expensive, so they were challenging to sell. Salespeople
could diversify different models with distinct designs, materials, specifications, dimensions, BTU
and functions regarding energy saving, comfortable, convenient and clear. However, it was not
the end of selling because many business customers were more concerned about the technology
of products which were regarded as the competitive strengths between Electrolux and other
competitors. When being asked to make a comparison of V-PAM and i-PAM which were
optimized inverter control or the function of sine-wave DC inverter control between the company
and other competitors, salespeople could not demonstrate confidence and expertise that made
customers enjoy. Another case was shared about mistaken suggestion of the product selection
because the salesperson remembered wrong indicators of the product application, which
somehow showed their poor understanding of products. As revealed by salespeople, their
knowledge was limited due to the lack of training, so what they could overcome the situation and
persuade customers to purchase products was to emphasize on their products’ attractive features
and competitive price scheme. It seemed that salespeople mainly focused on achieving the
revenues rather than customer orientation. As a result, customers agreed to purchase a small
volume of the company’s air conditioners; however, some of them were not motivated to
enthusiastically sell our products to their customers.
Insights from salespeople revealed that they have deficiency of product knowledge due to
the lack of training opportunities. It was confirmed that there was no adequate training sessions
because they were only given opportunities to work alongside with more experienced colleagues

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so that they were expected to learn and develop their current role. In contrast to the expectation,
salespeople affirmed that they could shadow a couple of people who were extremely busy with
their clients and their tasks without giving any advices or responses to their questions.
Consequently, salespeople had to figure out everything by themselves. They could learn on their
own from their experience, failure, quick conversation with colleagues at their spare time, etc.
They also expressed their difficulties with sales supervisor; however, he did not take their
concern into consideration and reminded them to actively figure out answers for their problems.
They believed that the main reason for lack of training provision was not because of sales
manager’s busy schedule but because he underestimated the importance of coaching and training
since he was a formerly successful sales professional before being promoted into sales manager.
For him, selling came naturally and he often could not understand why salespeople were not
“getting it.” Moreover, salespeople were recruited as they must possess more than 2 years of
experience. However, many of them admitted that their skills and knowledge are at a basic level.
Salespeople were provided with a variety of software as tools for them to utilize to improve their
selling process. However, how to use them depended on their capacity and time allocation
because they had to learn all by themselves. As compared with other departments, marketing
team was given a chance to participate in a training course for digital marketing whilst new
members of HR team who were had less than 2 years of experience were brought up by both
unique training courses and specific on-the-job assignments, together with HR director’
involvement in coaching these talents. The company also had a talent program for STEM talent
to develop their potential to be able to work in factories and laboratories. What salespeople
expected was a solid training program for selling skills and technical knowledge must be come
down so that they were much more confident and excellent in selling and serving their customers.
Besides, as shared by product manager, the company was struggling with intense
competition with other air conditioning rivals who constantly found a breakthrough to spur a
cutting-edge technology. Because the existing products of Electrolux remained the technology
without advancement, dealers expressed their expectation for the company to make an additional
innovative features in the product in such a way that increased their cooling capacity but
significant energy saving such as dual inverter compressors as LG or effectively carried heat and
had lower environmental impact such as R32 as Daikin. Many of dealers’ customers revealed that
the climate change and an increase in electricity bills up to approximately 8.4 percent which

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might affect their change in buying behavior for air conditioners in the near future. Therefore, the
salespeople found it challenging to attract new clients who kept pace with the latest trend to be
more concerned about energy efficiency.
Lastly, product manager also shared that the price of the company’s air conditioners are
not really as attractive as other rivals. Dealers were encouraged to purchase products with high
discounts; however, there is no policy to require consistent and transparent pricing of dealers.
The larger volume of products were purchased, the higher discount dealers would receive from
the company; however, they wanted to preserve their profit as much as possible, so they dealt
with their customers with different prices and always higher than original one, which made the
company unable to strongly compete with other organizations.

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Less attractive price
Difficult to find new
clients
Lack of product
innovation
Lack of training
Lack of product
knowledge
Figure 1: Initial cause-effect map
Low
sales
Organizational symptoms
Low customer
satisfaction
Delay in service
delivery
Lack of customer
follow-up
Lack of awareness in
dealer programs
Overwhelming
workload

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2.3. Updated cause-effect map
2.3.1. Ineffective managerial support
Managerial support means that managers are willing to adjust working schedule, job tasks
and provide assistance to help employees manage their work and non-work demand 57
. It is
management’s responsibility for supporting employees 15; 16; 17; 18
in such a way that employees
perceive their work matters are consulted, and their needs are considered and are taken action
properly 19; 20
.
The value of training subordinates concerning the advantages of demonstrating support
for their supervisors fosters a virtuous cycle of support between subordinates and managers 55
.
Management that pays attention to the occurrence of actions such as upper management
involvement, pre-training preparation, support during training, job linkage and follow-up plays an
important role to support the transfer of training to the job, which helps increase productivity of
employees while controlling the high costs of training 56
. Hence, a relationship can be established
as ineffective managerial support results in insufficient training.
Managers play an important role in introducing and endorsing work-life balance policy
within the organization 57
. It is suggested that employees should be given some autonomy and
flexibility regarding working hours and the ability to work from home to improve work-life
balance 18
. Not only working parents and young employees but also employees at developing and
pre-retirement career stages find managerial support for work-life balance important 57
. All levels
of managers should take effort in undertaking a supportive workplace. Therefore, a relationship
can be established as ineffective managerial support leads to work-life imbalance.
In order to confirm the new variables and new relationships established based on the
literature, manager, supervisor and employees from sales department were asked to participate in
the subsequent round of interview. Salespeople believed that their concerns about work-life
imbalance and training opportunities were not heard by the management, so there was lack of
perceived management support in this company. Sales manager thought that the current number
of salespeople were not enough to manage and serve their customers as well as expected.
However, after the investigation of causes of customer dissatisfaction from salespeople, the
actual reason lied in the management of sales department because salespeople perceived that their
management did not care about the overwhelming workload that their salespeople were

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emotionally and physically exhausted to perform so that they had to sacrifice their personal
obligations for work responsibilities. Moreover, the management was discerned to not provide
salespeople sufficient training so that salespeople did not have competencies necessary to have a
conversational comfort level with varied technology offerings and a comprehensive
understanding of what technology could do for customers.
2.3.2. Work-life imbalance
Work-life balance consists of initiatives from organization to help employees reconcile
their work and personal life 57
. Management support flexible work will offer advantages to both
employers and their employees so that employers are beneficial from employee productivity,
commitment, motivation and retention whilst employees are advantageous from better time
management and less stress 21, 22
. Indeed, work-life balance enhances overall well-being of
employees and reduces absenteeism. In order to assuage the burden of work-life balance, there
should be availability of work-life policies that enable employees to enact both their work and
non-work roles without threats 23
. Hence, a relationship can be established as lack of work-life
policy creates work-life imbalance. Work-life imbalance brings about either absenteeism or work
stress which generates low overall well-being.
Sales supervisor admitted that sales team was always under pressure to achieve higher
growth, so they cared about employees’ achievements at work rather than their personal life.
Salespeople are preferred to put themselves as much as possible at work. Sales supervisor
realized that some employees consistently requested for absence due to sickness or family issues;
however, salespeople were not encouraged to take days off without rationale. As a result,
employees voluntarily took sick leave before asking permission from sales supervisor, which
made work behind the schedule. A salesperson, Mr. Anh, revealed to plan to have a break in
roughly more than 2 months to let his mind free and relaxed because his mental and physical
resources get drained as the consequence of insomnia and personal relationship matter. In case of
poor performance, another salesperson, Mr. Phong, did not receive any support but a warning to
suffer not only a decrease in salary but also a possibility to lose the job. In addition to daily high
workloads, he had to increase his effort and time to overcome the challenges of the work to reach
the quotas. Consequently, he got depressed and stressful because he had to stand alone to be
survival. The work was so much that another salesperson, Mr. Minh, did not have enough time

20
for his outdoor activities to increase his well-being because he had to frequently meet clients in
the evening after leaving the office. Mr. Long, the most experienced salesperson, had physical
problem caused by work-life imbalance in a combination with the essence of the work that
required him to drink without exercises.
2.3.3. Insufficient training
Training fulfillment refers to the extent which training meets the expectation and desire of
employees. Self-efficacy is regarded as the belief of an individual in his or her capability to
control the work situations and handle them well 24
. Thus, individuals with lower levels of self-
efficacy are likely to find the work unbearable and highly stressful whilst those with higher levels
of self-efficacy perceive the job as a challenge to be mastered rather than as a threat 24
.
Meanwhile, motivation can be intrinsic, which shows employees’ engagement in work for its
own benefits since the work itself is interesting and satisfying whilst extrinsic motivation shows
employees’ motivation to work in response to something apart from the work, such as
recognition or rewards 25
. Training plays an important role to enhance motivation and self-
efficacy of employees, so organizations should take effort to develop right training programs to
enhance the training fulfillment of employees 58
. Hence, a relationship can be established as
insufficient training results in lack of motivation and lack of self-efficacy.
Although sales supervisor and sales manager admitted that they were not aware the need
for providing employees with training workshops, employees were encouraged to learn by doing
and learn from experienced co-workers. From the viewpoints of salespeople, they were not
performing to their best at work due to lack of required skills and knowledge. Therefore, they
were demotivated to hit their revenue targets by always making excuses for their poor
performance without actual improvement. They were also unconfident about their capabilities to
perform their work better because they believed that they could not achieve excellent results
since their field was extremely competitive with very complicated products and that their quotas
were reached in some quarters was because of serendipity or luck. Therefore, they agreed that it
was necessary for the company to organize job-related training workshops to help improve
workmanship of employees as well as enhance their working motivation and self-efficacy.

21
2.3.4. Ineffective segmentation
In order to support marketing’s goal that creates value for customers and generate
profitable consumer relationships, segmentation plays a key role in helping the company to know
and determine which customers to serve. The company segments the market based on certain
criteria that are relevant to the context of the company so that they are able to target customers
effortlessly with advertising and marketing programs 53
. Concentrating on customers’ desired
outcomes, organizations utilize segmentation for the purpose of innovation which is regarded as a
key instrument to use resources and capabilities to win customers and markets through different
market offerings 53
. Innovation is steered by customers and market requirements as well as
competition among suppliers and shaped by the advancement of technology 26
. Product
innovation is regarded as product differentiation in the marketing sense although all
differentiation may not be innovations 27
. It is also noted that the companies can find customers at
higher prices especially for high technology innovations; however, it is suggested that in order to
achieve superior value, the organization needs build extraordinary features at bearable prices 27;
53
. Hence, a relationship can be established as ineffective segmentation results in insufficient
product innovation and less attractive price, both of which generate the difficulty in finding new
clients. Being a sharp weapon in segmentation, innovation mechanism based on technology helps
the company catch up with competitors or surpass the world levels. When few changes in their
products and most of products were of slight differences, the company utilizes price mechanism
based on attractiveness to fight with competitors in the price wars 53
.
Product manager agreed that the segmentation of the company was ineffective. The
company did not stand out to offer newness and difference in product offerings, as revealed by
her, because of limited R&D resources. Moreover, dealers were more likely to offer prices that
made them profitable; however, they explained to her that the fact was that they compensated
into the cost of marketing activities, accompanied gifts or vouchers, cost of installation, etc. She
believed that there should be an unambiguous policy for the pricing of dealers so that new ones
would be confidently cooperate with the company.

22
Figure 2: Updated cause-effect map
Low overall
well-being
Potential central
problems
Ineffective
segmentation
Ineffective
managerial
support
Insufficient work-
life balance policy
Symptoms
Low customer Low
satisfaction sales
Lack of customer
follow-up
Lack of awareness
in dealer programs
Delay in service
delivery
Lack of motivation
Lack of self-
efficacy
Insufficient
training
Lack of product
knowledge
Less attractive
price
Difficult to find new
clients
Insufficient
product innovation
Absenteeism
Work-life
imbalance
Work stress

23
2.4. Potential problems
2.4.1. Ineffective segmentation
The availability of technology of Electrolux air conditioners was consistently taken up by
their competitors. Compared with competitors in the same industry, the utilities of Electrolux air
conditioners are generally no different from competitors such as cooling mode, temperature
sensor mode, sleep mode, powerful mode, anti-bacterial filter, inverter technology, etc. Sales
manager revealed that designers, marketers and engineers had to work together in cross-
functional teams under pressure to add advanced technology as well as come up with new air
conditioners that would appeal to a wide range of our customers. Product manager emphasized
on the significance of advancement in products’ technology due to many reasons: people were
more likely to spend most of their day indoors, so they highly appraised quality air to steer clear
of diseases caused by toxic contaminants, climate change, global warming and an increase in
electricity bills that arise their awareness and purchasing behavior to shift to air conditioners
which are ozone-safe, climate friendly, energy efficient. It is noted that Panasonic’s most
advanced purification system, the nanoe technology, deodorizes, inhibits bacteria and viruses,
remove dust and purifies room even though cooling function is turned off. Meanwhile, Daikin’s
econo mode is accompanied with inverter to create a much more energy savings and minimize
the monthly electricity bills. LG incorporates dual inverter which saves energy up to 70 percent
compared to single inverter. In order to meet consumer demand and compete with other
competitors to gain customers, it is necessary for the company to consistently update those
utilities to exceptionally higher level of efficiency.
Electrolux Vietnam AC aims at middle class. Price goes along with the technology of the
product. Comparing the lowest price for the Inverter line 1 HP cooling capacity between
Electrolux and Toshiba, the price is at VND 8 million for Toshiba and VND 8.5 million for
Electrolux. Although the air conditioner of Toshiba costs customers VND 500 thousands higher
than Electrolux, the saving mode of Electrolux only has inverter whilst that of Toshiba has both
DC hybrid inverter and eco. Moreover, Electrolux's antibacterial technology is HD dust filter
whilst Toshiba’s features IAQ filter, anti-fouling technology magic coil and mold-resistant filter.
As a result, customers are more likely to pick up Toshiba’s. It was also revealed by product
manager that dealers of Electrolux enjoy a relatively good discount, generally at 30 percent and it

24
can be increased up to 45 percent for new ones to encourage them to try our products. The
discount rate is believed to be competitive compared to that of other competitors. Some dealers
increase the price to compensate into the cost of marketing activities, accompanied gifts or
vouchers, cost of installation, etc. to attract their customers. It is suggested by product manager
that there should be an unambiguous policy for the pricing of dealers so that new ones would be
confidently cooperate with the company. However, doing so does not mean to help dealers
because they find it challenging to compete to promote their products. Some of them denied
purchasing products from Electrolux and turned to its competitors. As a matter of fact, the
original price which is considered as not attractive because all costs and expenses have to be
taken into account which can be import price from Thailand and China (50 percent), taxes (40
percent), overhead expenses (approximately 15 to 20 percent) and discount for dealers (30 to 45
percent).
2.4.2. Ineffective managerial support
Sales representatives perceived the insufficiency of support from their sales manager and
sales supervisor. Sales manager and supervisor did not care about subordinates’ problems and
concerns regarding to their work overload and insufficient training sessions. From the viewpoint
of sales manager and supervisor, salespeople were expected to devote their time and effort to
work and contribute to the achievement of not only themselves but also the whole team. Because
of an imbalance between work and personal lives, salespeople’s performance was negatively
impacted concerning customer dissatisfaction and their low overall well-being. Salespeople were
believed to be well-qualified to have a capability to carry out their selling and non-selling
activities effectively as all of them had prior experience in the same industry. From the beginning
of their first days in the company, they were expected to start right away in to their new job as
their experience and knowledge were believed to be more than sufficient. However, salespeople
shared that they were not confident and persuasive in selling products to customers as they
focused on what they knew and thought about their products rather than showed how a particular
product would address consumers’ needs. The bottom line was that customers crave and need
product knowledge. It was how they made the buying decision and how they knew they could
trust salespeople. The current situation in which lack of training opportunities and lack of work-
life balance policy made salespeople not satisfied with their job and would jump jobs when better

25
opportunities arrived. Moreover, it was challenging for salespeople to satisfy and retain
customers as well as attract new clients to translate into lifetime customer value.
2.4.3. Main problem validation
Electrolux is renowned for its wide range of products that segment consumers from mid
to high income. Likewise, its air conditioners segment fast-growing middle class. However, the
combination of inadequate product development and relatively high price are not highly
recommended by this consumer base. It is more difficult than ever for sellers to compete on price
in order to satisfy their market while earning a profit and to foster technology innovation so as to
make their products stand out and differentiate from the competition and stay aligned with
customer needs in an ever-changing market. To develop and impel technical innovations of air
conditioners, the company has to invest millions of dollars with the involvement of personnel in
the research and development of new products. In spite of the fact that air conditioners of
Electrolux are not exceptionally innovative, their current features are still above average that
adapt to a group of consumers’ preference and purpose. To set a price that equals or beats
competitors’ prices, the company has to cut a proportion of cost which is added to the total cost
to determine the selling price. However, it is actually not effortless to lower the price in this way
since the price is allocated by the top management in the headquarter for the business’s operation
in terms of importing costs, taxes, overhead expenses, etc. that maintain its existence and comply
with Vietnam trade promotion policy. Otherwise, the discount for dealers should be decreased in
order for the final price to their customers to be more attractive and better appropriate with
current features of the product. However, it has an adverse effect on dealers’ profit, which results
in their low motivation to keep purchasing products from the company and sell them to their
customers as well as their likeliness to turn to other competitors with more attractive discount
scheme.
Ineffective managerial support in sales department should be the focus of the problem
solving for Electrolux Vietnam AC due to their strong influence on both sides of employees and
customers. Initially, the implementation of work-life balance policy should receive support from
management to create a supportive workplace environment. Besides, training can be provided
and supported by management to enhance motivation and improve productivity for employees.
Consequently, managerial support will enhance empowerment, well-being, job satisfaction and

26
performance of employees which are sources of a profitable organization 28
. It is reported that 60
to 80 percent of customers described themselves as satisfied did not go back to do more business
with the organization that initially satisfied them since lack of connection 29
. Therefore, in order
for the organization to survive in coming years, it is necessary for salespeople to stay in touch
with each of customers because with advances in technology and increased competitive
pressures, if salespeople of Electrolux do not connect, someone else probably will. It is also
feasible to measure the level of managerial support in the division. Finally, sales manager and
sales supervisor are responsible to solve the problem.
3. Problem justification
3.1. Problem definition
Managerial support could be understood as “management’s actions and behaviors to
support the well-being of employees” 30
. It first began with social exchange theory when a
person did a favor and expected a future return, so there was a great deal of research interested in
the exchange relationship between employees and organization 31
. Management support is an
extension of perceived organizational support. The perception of management support was
developed based on the organizational support theory as “developed global beliefs concerning the
extent to which the organization values the contribution and care about the well-being of
employees” 32
. Besides, employees were assured with management support as “the aid will be
available from the organization when it is needed to carry out one’s job effectively and to deal
with stressful situation” 32
. The term as “employees’ cognitive assessments of management
behaviors and actions (e.g., teamwork, rewards and recognition, listening to employees,
eliminating fear or intimidation, degree of “walking the talk”)” was agree with previous study
and explained to support the well-being of employees 30
. It is asserted that the distinction between
the employees’ exchange relationship with organization (perceived organization support) and
employees’ exchange relationship with supervisor (leader-member exchange relationship) was
due to different outcomes, but they influenced and related to each other 31
. Later research divided
managerial support into top management support (perceived organizational support) and
supervisor support (relationship with leaders) 33
. Therefore, the important roles of top
management support and supervisor support influences the outcomes of organization.

27
3.2. Problem existence
3.2.1. Quantitative research findings
In order to justify the existence of the problem, the survey was distributed to sales
department which has a total of 13 salespeople and product management department with a total
of 6 employees. A questionnaire consisting of 16 questions was adapted from the model
developed by Wayne, Shore and Liden11
. The purpose of questionnaire was to provide some
indicators for measuring the level of managerial support for sales department. Responses were
designed using 3-item scale 34
ranging from 1-disagree to 3-agree.
Table 3: Measurements of managerial support
Statements
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
1. Managers show very little concern for me. (R)
2. Managers care about my general satisfaction at work.
3. Managers really care about my well-being.
4. Managers strongly consider my goals and values.
5. Managers care about my opinions.
6. Even if I did the best job possible, managers would fail to notice.
(R)
7. Managers take pride in my accomplishments at work.
8. Managers are willing to extend itself in order to help me perform my
job the best of my ability.
9. Help is available from managers when I have a problem.
10. I usually know where I stand with my managers.
11. Managers have enough confidence in me that he/she would defend
and justify my decisions if I was not present to do so.
12. My working relationship with managers is effective.
13. Managers understand my problems and needs.
14. I can count on managers to “bail me out”, even at his/ her own
expense, when I really need it.
15. Managers recognize my potential.
16. Regardless of how much power manager has built into his/her
position, my managers would personally incline to use his/her power to
help me solve problems in my work.

28
Figure 3: Managerial support at sales department
Source: Quantitative survey from sales department
Figure 4: Managerial support at sales department
Source: Quantitative survey from product management department
From the findings above, managerial support was significantly perceived by members of
product management department. Specifically, all items received more than 50 percent of
agreement, which ranged from item 2 indicating the managers’ care about employee satisfaction

29
at work accounted for the lowest, at 50.9 percent to item 12 indicating the effective working
relationship between employees and their managers accounted for the highest, at 90.4 percent.
Their relationship with managers was so good that employees felt appreciated and heard because
their managers created and cultivated this healthy working environment. Difficulties meant
nothing to employees when they were supported and helped along the path to improvement.
Their potential was recognized by the way their good performance was publicly acknowledged to
encourage outstanding, sustained performance whilst those with poor performance was partnered
with managers to take on challenge and get back on track. Employees at product management
were encouraged to take risks and given the resources and support for those risks to bear fruit for
both of employees and managers.
Meanwhile, management support was evaluated to be not effective in the sales
department. Employees received little care and concerns from the management regarding job
satisfaction, well-being, goals and values as well as opinions of employees, so their concerns
were often overlooked by the management. Employees worked hard to accomplish their job but
they did not receive recognition and praise, so they were demotivated to put extra efforts in the
job. Although the relationship with direct supervisors in work was fine, it did not show that
managers understood the needs and problems of employees. Most employees were not willing to
seek help from their managers in difficult time. Similarly, it was less likely that managers would
exert the power to help employees in solving their problem. Finally, potential of employees were
not fully recognized by the managers, so the job assignments was sometimes unreasonable and
there was lack of development opportunities.
3.2.2. Qualitative research findings
Besides the findings from surveys, the interviews with 5 sales representatives were
conducted to justify the existence of the problem happening at sales department: there was
ineffective managerial support for sales team. Although sales manager and supervisor did not
have much time to interact with salespeople because sales manager was usually away from the
office, perhaps because he travelled to meet his partners in another region, or he had important
meetings with top management and other relevant parties whilst supervisor was busy with calls
and sometimes have quick conversation with salespeople about common topics, all of them
confirmed that their relationships with sales manager and supervisor were fine. Even when

30
managers were at the office, they admitted that they did not stick their noses into salespeople’s
personal affairs because it was believed to meaningless and they mostly cared about results of the
work. Salespeople generally described that they almost did not receive the support from their
manager and supervisor.
Initially, salespeople claimed that they rarely received help from management in
performing their job. As shared by Mr. Huy, Mr. Phong and Mr. Anh, each person had their own
quotas to achieve besides team quota. Meetings were organized on a quarterly basis in order for
salespeople to have opportunities to interact with their managers; however, managers did not
show their intentional effort to offer them with constructive feedback and clearly articulate what
they should do to reach their goals. When things ran smoothly, managers did not highlight what
was working and communicate their success throughout the organization. Salespeople were
encouraged to keep moving ahead to find new clients and sign more contracts. When problem
arose, managers did not consider the potential impact salespeople could have by constructively
communicating their concerns. Salespeople were threatened with the possibility to be withdrawn
from the company and therefore, they strived to meet expectations on their own without receiving
help from managers in supporting to resolve problems.
Secondly, in difficult time, regardless of managers’ position, they did not use their power
to help salespeople solve problem. As shared by Mr. Minh, when salespeople could not delivery
products to his dealer on time because of slow process caused from other related department, he
was unable to count on his manager to use manager’s power to push other departments to
accelerate their speed because sales manager did not accept his request. Instead, the manager
asked him to regretfully inform the dealer about the change in delivery date, which made his
customer disappointed before accepting the adjustment. According to Mr. Long, sales team was
required to sell both types of air conditioners, RAC and SAC so that their sales were recognized
and they would receive worthy bonuses. However, if they only sold one type of air conditioners,
they should be recognized. Manager was totally capable of doing salespeople favor by flexibly
rewarding their effort for selling products no matter what type they were so as to inspire and
motivate them. He could remind them that they had better sell both types for some reasons, yet
they were so harsh that asked their subordinated to strictly follow the standards and did not care
about how hard their salespeople suffered from this situation when their efforts were not
appreciated.

31
Thirdly, salespeople believed that managers did not provide them with care and concerns.
Their overall well-being were disregarded in such a way that managers did not care about
whether his salespeople were going home (or coming in to work) with exhaustion or depletion.
Instead of feeling challenged with their jobs, salespeople felt overwhelmed. They were not
encouraged to take vacation days and take regular breaks as if managers did not lose the reins and
let salespeople find their own stride (Mr. Huy, Mr. Phong). Managers also did not care about
their opinions. Specifically, salespeople suggested adding a rewarding policy of incentives for
their dealer’s customers to directly approach and stimulate them with the launch of new model
which were not interested in by their dealers (Mr. Anh). Or, the adjustment into the frequency of
product confirmation regarding an issue of COO and COQ was suggested to avoid potential
unnecessary issues that waste a lot of their time (Mr. Minh). It seemed to salespeople that they
were not encouraged to voice their concerns and suggestions since managers always came up
with reasons to deny their ideas instead of taking time to consider them (Mr. Anh).
Fourthly, salespeople believed that their managers did not understand their needs and
problems. Salespeople expected their managers to help further their personal development in
order for them to take new knowledge and experience that were beneficial for their job. However,
they were not given opportunities of improvisation in terms of skills and competencies.
Especially, they were not provided with training sessions or allowed to participate in sales
conferences in order for them to widen their horizon, reach their full potential and boost their
performance (Mr. Phong, Mr. Minh). They believed that it might be because the unavailability of
sales manager and supervisor in some events with the department. Sales manager did not attend
year-end party with sales team twice because he got stuck in his travelling schedules whilst
supervisor was accidentally busy that he had to leave the event after joining with them in the first
half period of event, which was regarded as a large gap between superior and subordinates was
built (Mr. Anh). This made salespeople challenging to build the rapport with managers. Managers
were also believed to care about mutual benefits by finding ways to help their team quota to be
reached at the possible highest number in order for managers to receive huge commissions (Mr.
Long). There was a salesperson who can sell a lot whilst there was another who cannot sell
anything. It caused different sales and different commission that salespeople received in the end
of in the end of the quarter. However, salespeople who got stuck in this situation were asked to

32
find ways of selling more products to my other dealers to compensate the loss from these
customers (Mr. Long).
Fifthly, salespeople did not think that their managers actually recognized their potential
and praise their accomplishments. Salespeople’s performance was known to be good or bad
based on unambiguous indicators set by managers. The indicators showed their final results to
ensure their incentives. They got proper payouts; however, commission alone is not enough.
Salespeople expected managers to push beyond commission for them to truly feel recognized for
their achievements. There could be a certification such as Employee of the quarter or year,
Outstanding achievements in surpassing their sales quota, etc. as other organizations did to
acknowledge their employees’ accomplishment (Mr. Huy) or an intimate dinner as another sales
team in the company in order for the persons who hit their quota or did something great to be
recognized in front of all of their peers (Mr. Minh). Not only they but also others were motivated
to not only work harder but also work together. The top performer was rewarded by managers
with a preferential deal for his customers that made other salespeople difficult to compete with
him and persuade their customers no matter how hard they had been working (Mr. Long).
Salespeople also were not given opportunities to branch into selling in new territories although
they were not good at their current ones so that their potential could be uncovered as well as they
could gain more valuable experience in the new area (Mr. Anh).
3.3. Problem importance
If the problem is not resolved, potential consequences such as job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, turnover intention and perceived organizational performance will be
affected 30, 33
. Job satisfaction is the overall affective attitudes of employees towards jobs 35
.
Organizational commitment, especially affective commitment is when employees feel attached to
the organization and “incorporate their employee membership and role status to their social
identity” 35
. Turnover intention means behavioral intention to leave of employees 35
. Perceived
organizational performance is employees’ assessment of the organization on achieving various
aspects including profitability, employee retention and customer satisfaction 36
.
Job satisfaction:
Electrolux Vietnam carries out a survey of employee satisfaction on an annual basis to
determine how employees feel about their company’s leadership, general work environment, co-

33
workers and their own opinions to make the company a better place to work. A measurement of
Likert scale ranging from 1 which indicates strong dissatisfaction or fully disagreement to 5
which indicates strong satisfaction or fully agreement.
Figure 5: Employee satisfaction of salespeople at Electrolux Vietnam AC 2014-2018
Source: Annual survey of employee satisfaction at Electrolux Vietnam
As can be clearly seen from the figure 5, the level of employee satisfaction of employees
in sales department experienced a slight decrease in 2017 before significantly slipping in 2018
compared with previous period from 2014 to 2017. As targeted by the division, the average score
of employee satisfaction in Electrolux Vietnam AC should reach 3.9. The middle level of all
items was 3 indicating a neutral stance that is neither agreement nor disagreement. Therefore, the
level of employee satisfaction in 2018 was noticeably below target.
The company should take ineffective managerial support into consideration to improve
the scores. The line between work and personal life was increasingly wiped out because although
salespeople were provided with good benefits such as free eating and moving, gym, barber shop
and many other forms of entertainment, they still felt they were exploited. Most of them revealed
in the interview that the management did not pay attention to employees’ concerns such as stress,
work-life imbalance, lack of training and development, so their satisfaction for job was low.
Organizational commitment:
These unresolved concerns also reduced the emotional attachment that employees had
towards the company. When being asked about their current job, they were not proud of telling
others that were part of the company since they were doubtful about their future in the company.
Support from managers was not available to them when they needed, so when their performance

34
was not as good as expected, they believed that they would be likely to be disregarded from the
Electrolux and replaced by higher potentials. Moreover, their current workload was so high that
made them exhausted to complete, so they admitted that they focused on their current tasks
without having enough time to voluntarily do anything else that were not formally required by
the job. The quota for the whole team was believed to be managers’ responsibility, or they were
frustrated with being asked to lend a helping hand in other salespeople’s tasks which should have
been done on their own. They also did not feel a sense of “ownership” for the company but as an
employee. Their opinions were not considered by managers in decision making process, so when
problems arose and their performance suffered, they felt lost and separated from the team.
Turnover intention:
There was also initiated intention to quit job from them. Many salespeople uncovered that
they often searched for other job opportunities from internet or through friends, and they also
received job offers from other competitors and headhunters, so they had turnover intention. The
most experienced salesperson had a physical problem mainly because of work-life imbalance, so
he was eager to leave the company in a near future. The problem could arise with turnover
especially when some best employees left the company and brought with them special skill sets
that hardly to attract in the market, so sales manager was under great pressure to find qualified
replacements. Sales supervisor shared that he worked for the company for roughly 5 years, along
with the growth of the company, so he decided to stay even when he received better offer from
competitor.
Perceived organizational performance:
Ineffective managerial support was proven to lead to unproductive and unmotivated
workforce, which in turn affected negatively to organizational performance in terms of the
profitability, customer satisfaction and employee retention. As illustrated, employee retention
might be affected because most of salespeople had turnover intention. Customer dissatisfaction
was shown in a high number of complaints they sent to the mail of the company and reflected
from their points for salespeople of Electrolux which was 6.4 much lower than that of
competitors, 7.28 for Toshiba and 8.02 for Daikin. The sales growth of the company slipped
considerably in the last three years, which had impeded the growth of profitability of the
company. As collected from the internal report, the profit of the company was estimated to be

35
approximately from USD 2.5 to 3 million, which was lower than top management’s expectation
to set a target of USD 5 million.
4. Cause validation
4.1. Literature review
With the aim to identify a list of real causes of the central problem, literature was
reviewed prior to carry out the third qualitative research so as to make sure that all of potential
causes were regarded and scrutinized in the context of the organization.
From the literature review, the causes of ineffective management support can be listed as
following:
The provision of unfair rewards and recognition of employee performance 35; 38
: It shows
that whether or not employees are getting back as much as they were putting in. If employees
perceive fairness of reward and recognition from management, they will be fairly rewarded
considering the responsibilities they have. They will deserve a payback for the stresses and
strains of their jobs. They will also receive an exchange for the amount of effort they put into
their jobs.
Ineffective performance evaluation 41
: The performance evaluation has a direct and
positive impact on employees’ perception of managerial support. A structured and regular
performance review creates an opportunity for employees to raise their problems and concerns as
well as express their opinions about their work. It is also appointments for employers to discuss
each employee’s progress and to make a comparison between their job description and desired
goals or other performance standards. Performance evaluation is beneficial to the business in
many aspects so that both employers and employees better understand their ability to add value to
their organizations and their customers.
Insufficient training and career development opportunities 39; 40
: In order to sustain a
competitive edge in the marketplace, the organization must invest in the training and
development programs of their employees. They serve as signals to employees about the extent to
which the organization values and cares about their employees. Initially, it is the platform that
emphasizes on developing employees’ competencies in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes

36
for their current jobs. Secondly, it helps facilitate employees to growth by developing their future
roles and responsibilities for their career advancement in the organization.
4.2. Qualitative research findings
To verify the real causes of the central problem in Electrolux Vietnam AC sales
department, the further qualitative research of depth interview was conducted subsequently. A
detailed method of this qualitative research is stated in the part of supporting information. On the
basis of responses from the interviews, the result of qualitative research demonstrated three main
causes of ineffective management support as following:
Insufficient recognition and rewards of employee performance: Salespeople believed that
their contribution at work were not recognized and rewarded worthily. Their performance was
evaluated on a quarterly basis and there was no detailed feedback and constructive criticism from
managers to inform salespeople about their strengths and weaknesses in order for them to make
improvement. The lack of rewards and recognition from management is reflected through
initially, the lack of peer-to-peer recognition that did not create a culture to let employees
congratulate each other for personal successes or to be informed about someone's achievements
in case someone did not catch it. Underperforming employees who missed the sales target were
left with huge pressure and tension without being given the encouragement and motivation to go
through although colleagues could understand others’ struggle much better so that overall spirit
of the group could not be enhanced. Secondly, there was shortage of sales incentive programs
that were conducted by their competitor, Toshiba, to offer top-selling performers with travelling
incentives to encourage others to join in a healthy competition. Thirdly, they did not have added
benefit of a much needed mental break after every sales season such as an extra paid-time-off day
in order for them to re-energize for better come back to next sales quarters. Fourthly, there were
actually no certifications to acknowledge their achievements such as employees of the year or
outstanding accomplishment in surpassing one’s sales quota. Salespeople also perceived that they
were not treated fairly in such a way that the top-selling performer was done with a favor to
receive higher percent of discount than others’, which made the unable to compete with him. As a
consequent, they lost their motivation because there was no recognition and reward to encourage
multiple winners to take part in the game.

37
Ineffective performance evaluation: From interviews with salespeople, the ineffective
performance evaluation is reflected through unclear performance criteria and insufficient
performance feedback. The KPI did not reflect actual performance evaluation of salespeople
because salespeople have alike KPI. In other words, there was a salesperson who could sell a lot
whilst there was another who could not sell anything. It caused different sales and different
commission that salespeople received in the end of the quarter. Some people did not need much
effort for their work, yet they still achieved their target on their assigned territories whilst some
others were grappling with difficult channels to get sales. Hence, there should be not only
different KPI for each job division. Besides, the evaluation process was considered as one-sided
communication because managers claimed final results for salespeople without setting aside time
for employees to join in the discussion with their managers. Although the performance evaluation
was held on a quarterly basis, salespeople admitted that it was non-sense and time-wasting. The
review sessions could be organized semi-annually as long as managers changed the way they
reviewed their subordinates’ performance. As a matter of fact, managers criticized low-
performing salespersons publicly without giving them any chances to have a discussion with
sales managers about their difficulties, so they were left alone with pressure and anxiety.
Alongside, they did not have a slack channel which was regarded as a collaboration hub or
intranet platform to enable both managers and salespeople to share and listen to mutual concerns.
They knew others’ results that were reviewed by one side of managers in quarter meetings
without encouraging the involvement of all salespeople to nominate or give feedbacks.
Consequently, salespeople regarded the evaluation as unfair and inaccurate measure of their
performance, which made it become useless as a motivator.
Insufficient career development opportunities: Salespeople did not even know the
requirements that enabled them to get promoted to the next level up in their career path. It was
due to the fact that similar to salespeople who must possess prior sales experience before being
recruited, the management level from sales supervisor to sales manager required equivalent
experience in management positions and were always fulfilled by external candidates instead of
giving salespeople promotional opportunities to get a promotion within the firm with greater
responsibility. The lower level of sales positions was sales admin that was outsourced from HR
agencies such as Talentnet even had no chance to be promoted to an official sales representative.
Managers did not agree to recruit more people because of currently limited headcounts, so

38
salespeople got stuck in their high workloads and therefore, there was no room to ask for
promotion. As a consequent, no development plan for salespeople made them feel that there was
no job opening and hence, they were not satisfied with managers and the company. Salespeople
who were ambitious about professional development opportunities would consider leaving the
company to seek advancement in another organization as a sign of prestige or stability.
Insufficient training opportunities: No training made salespeople believe that they were
not prospect enough to become a manager. This could result in their turnover intention to move
to another direction such as selling in another field or opening their own small business. Since
their first days in the company, salespeople were regarded to be experienced because of their
previous working experience in other organizations although the essence was that they were
totally new to Electrolux, so the company underestimated the importance of training them to fit
into the overall culture. Managers did not spend time on communicating with salespeople in
order to realize their extreme need of the training to equip them with fluent product knowledge of
a wide range of Electrolux’s products as well to enhance their selling skills with the support of
appropriate sales techniques. As a result of shortage of training programs, salespeople easily
missed their sales targets. They also believed that the company did not value them, which
engendered their low motivation and loyalty to the company.
These three main causes significantly affect the ineffective managerial support in
Electrolux Vietnam AC and all of them play a key role in sales force’s continual development,
retention as well as enhancement of long-term customer relationships. Among these potential
causes, performance evaluation is regarded as a good instrument to check that employees possess
the right skill, knowledge and attitude that are vital for the organization to accomplish their
business objectives. If the performance evaluation is done in the correct manner, they can provide
the organization with a series of valuable outcomes. Having an effective performance evaluation,
the business can ensure that the recognition and reward disbursements are consistent with actual
salesperson performance, determine the specific training and counseling needs of individual
salespeople, identify salespeople that might be promoted and help them set career goals as well as
improve their performance and strengthen the communication between salespeople and sales
managers 44
, which leads to greater efficiency 45
. Otherwise, the incorrect process of employee
performance evaluation can result in lower levels of job satisfaction and productivity 46
.
Salespeople agreed with the significance of performance evaluation that should be the top

39
priority to solve in order to help their sales manager and supervisor recognize their potential and
have a better plan for their training and development. Taking everything into account,
performance evaluation is chosen as the main cause for the main problem. Therefore, it is vital
for the author to come up with solutions to effectively deal with the final real cause, ineffective
performance evaluation of the central problem, ineffective managerial support.

40
Figure 6: Final cause-effect map
Possible causes
Main cause
Ineffective performance evaluation
Ineffective managerial support
Insufficient training and career
development opportunities
Insufficient recognition and rewards
Symptoms
Consequences
Job satisfaction
Organizational commitment
Turnover intention
Perceived organizational performance
Low customer satisfaction
Low sales

41
5. The set of solutions
From the analysis above, the main cause of the ineffective managerial support at sales
department in Electrolux Vietnam AC is the ineffective performance evaluation. By solving the
ineffective performance evaluation, not only will salespeople change their perception about their
managerial support and have a complete understanding of what is required, when it is required
and how their contribution measures up but sales manager and supervisor also understand the
hurdles that the employees have to overcome and have responsibility to fix any issues resulting in
loss of productivity. In order to solve the cause, alternative solutions are approached as below.
5.1. Training sales manager and supervisor
Sales manager and supervisor were not trained on how to evaluate and give feedback to
their subordinates. As a matter of fact, they were promoted as supervisor and manager because
they had prior experience and they were expert in this field; however, it does not mean that they
are good at managing and leading people. They regard self-learning as the best way to
comprehend knowledge and skills, so they underestimated their important role in coaching and
training salespeople. It was revealed by all salespeople that sales manager and supervisor did not
care about anything else except sales quotas, so they reviewed salespeople’s performance
negligently without being conscious of their competencies. It is suggested that managers should
have transformational leadership which enables them to be active in communication and value
their subordinates contributions by allowing them to involve in decision-making process to
determine how to achieve tasks and reward based on their performance. A transformational
leader possesses certain characteristics that are inspirational motivation, individualized impact,
individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation. Being an inspirational motivator,
managers states the inspirational organizational vision clearly and in detail as well as challenges
their subordinates to have a better performance and attain organization goals 47
. Being an
influencer, managers become a role model and gaining their followers’ respect and credence 48
. A
manager who has individualized consideration will show their care and pay attention to their
people by equipping them with professional development, coaching and guiding 49
. They are also
intellectually stimulating because their subordinates are motivated to question the current
condition and to enhance their capability of solving problems by being innovative and creative 50
.
However, there are no criteria to have an exact evaluation about what kind of leadership styles

42
managers have. Therefore, managers’ managerial skills should be trained in general to be capable
of listening, interacting and motivating their salespeople. A cost-benefit analysis helps compare
the total costs of this approach with its benefits.
Receiving proper training sessions, managers are aware of their roles and responsibilities
as well as gain experience in resolving conflicts before they get worsen. Moreover, they are
capable of estimating their salespeople and team’s workloads so that they can allocate tasks to
them appropriately, give timely feedbacks and inspire them to perform better. They are also
capable of identifying their salespeople’s needs and provide them with tools and training they
need to reach their full potential. Most importantly, they are aware of assessment criteria and
improve their rating skills so that they are perceived to be less biased in carrying out performance
evaluation. With the support of internal data of HR department, the total cost for training sales
manager and supervisor is estimated at VND 14,860,000, so the cost per trainee is VND
7,430,000.
Table 4: Cost estimation for solution to training sales manager and supervisor
No of
activity
Description Estimated cost (VND)
1 Hiring the trainer in 7 days 12,000,000
2 Training documents, manuals and related materials 660,000
3 Meals and tea break 1,200,000
4 Incurred cost (equipment, electricity, transportation, etc.) 1,000,000
Total cost 14,860,000
5.2. Developing the performance management system
A batter performance management system is established by fulfilling 2 aspects which are
a detailed performance evaluation form in which KPIs are clearly demonstrated so as to steer
clear of any misunderstanding and conflict between sales managers and salespeople, and
evaluation process should be a two-sided conversation so that feedbacks are collected from not
only manager and supervisor but also salespeople. Especially, the performance system should be
linked to other actions such as ongoing reviews, rewards and recognition, and ongoing
professional development and training 59
. Basing on the performance management system, sales
managers and salespeople notice guidelines and goals that are already established, documented,
clearly explained, understood and are preferably consented upon mutually 59
. The performance of
salespeople is reviewed on a frequent basis with regular feedback so that at the end of each

43
evaluation, salespeople are provided with the opportunity to enhance any deficiencies 51
. The
decision of evaluation is relied on argument and evidence so that appraises know exactly reasons
for their outcomes because judgment is derived from the documentation of matters concerning
their performance with factual proof rather than personal feeling and beliefs 51
.
Therefore, advantages of an updated performance management system are obvious. With
an unambiguous system, there is a reduction in bias from one side of managers. The evaluation
criteria are so clear that measurements and related data are pellucid and precise. It is a firm and
stable basis for manager to rely on in order to determine a good compensation package to
motivate and monitor salespeople’s good performance 54
. It is regarded as a reliable source of
information managers are provided with for being aware of what their subordinates did and
whether they are acceptable or not, so managers can involve in steering them in a right direction.
It is a mean of communication from which managers are beneficial for setting goals for
salespeople, encouraging individuals with skills, abilities and competence necessary and making
a proper plan for their performance to have further growth and development 46
. With the support
of internal data of HR department, an effective performance evaluation is estimated to cost VND
11,500,000.
Table 5: Cost estimation for solution to updating the performance management system
No of
activity
Description Estimated cost (VND)
1
Meetings between sales department and HR department
to generate ideas and expectations about evaluation
measures, KPIs
5,500,000
2
Create guideline and procedures on the new
performance evaluation
6,000,000
Total cost 11,500,000
5.3. Solution justification
5.3.1. Cost-benefit analysis
A cost-benefit analysis is demonstrated in order for the author to decide whether to go
ahead with a decision. In a comparison between two solutions regarding estimated cost, an
effective performance evaluation has lower cost than training sales manager and supervisor. To
confirm the solution, a quick survey from salespeople and sales supervisor is conducted and as a
result, rather than just updating performance evaluation system, there should be a combined

44
solution between training sales managers and developing a new performance evaluation system
together into solving the ineffective performance appraisal. In other words, a new performance
evaluation system cannot be carried out smoothly and efficiently without the support of sales
supervisor and manager whose awareness should be enhanced to make sure that they are
equipped with necessary skills and knowledge to understand the significance of a performance
evaluation and make a valid assessment of salespeople’s performance. The performance
evaluation system is regarded to be fair and produces favorable reactions from both appraisers
and appraises 52
. It not only provides a clear direction for both managers and employees to follow
and get satisfactory results but also creates a chance for salespeople to be able to contribute their
opinions and expectations to ensure its fulfillment of both sides’ expectations, managers and
employees. Hence, the overall cost of the combined solution needed for the plan would be VND
26,360,000.
The benefits of improved performance evaluation system are considerable in case of
effective solution. As a result of an effective evaluation system, salespeople increase their sales
effectiveness in terms of customer satisfaction and sales volume. When dealers are satisfied with
not only product but also service of Electrolux Vietnam AC, they are motivated to maintain their
long-term relationship with salespeople in specific and the organization in general by repetitively
purchase Electrolux air conditioners from the organization and sell more to their customers. From
the financial outlook, the sales growth rate would be achieved by at least 14.5 percent as that of
Vietnam AC market, which brings about USD 30 million in total. As expected by the
management, the profitability would be USD 5 million, which constitutes of 17 percent of the
sales revenue of the organization.
5.3.2. Other potential issues
The duration is assumed to be within 7 days to conduct the training to be able to estimate
the cost, so it can take longer if wished; however, personalities and leadership styles of sales
manager and supervisor may not be changed in a short period of time. There is an increase in
investment in changing leadership skills since there is not a “one-size-fits-all approach”, so
changing leadership styles takes time and effort to develop and needs constantly enhancement
and adaptation through a combination of formal and informal learning. Moreover, it can be
challenging and time-consuming to build an effective performance evaluation system for
salespeople with different goals as well as getting relevant parties involved in scheduled interval

45
meetings, especially making salespeople commit to the process and truly involve. Nonetheless, in
case of Electrolux Vietnam AC, building a new performance evaluation does not require external
counselor since the size of Air conditioning sales department is relatively small-scale with 15
personnel and they comprehend the operation and requirements better than outsourcing. The
formation of a new performance evaluation system can be implemented by the collaboration
between HR team and manager of Air conditioning sales department.
5.4. Change plan design
5.4.1. Objectives
An effective performance management system aims to provide supervisors with a base to
offer their subordinates with base pay, promotion and make retention decision. Moreover, it lets
managers and their subordinates develop a plan for correcting any deficiencies, and to reinforce
the things the subordinates does right. Employees are provided with an opportunity to review and
recalibrate their career plans in light of their exhibited strengths and weaknesses. Supervisors also
utilize performance evaluation to identify employees’ training and development needs. It lets
supervisor identify performance gaps between current and expected performance and to
formulate the necessary remedial steps. Building a new performance evaluation is not costly and
also has a positive effect on the long-term performance of the Air conditioning sales department.
Therefore, it is worthwhile for management to take action on the solution.
5.4.2. Action plan
The action plan of developing a performance management system is broken down into 3
parts regarding performance evaluation and competency evaluation, both of which are
demonstrated in an appraisal form that will be developed to be more effective, and guidance on
providing performance feedback effectively. Following, the KPI should be linked to recognition
and rewards so that salespeople are provided with the outcomes needed to keep their goal-
directed and performance on track.
5.4.2.1. Development of an appraisal form
Performance evaluation which accounts for 60 percent of total weightage of performance
management is based on KPI achievement to measure personal and department business
objectives. The current KPI (shown in Appendix section) is so simple that cannot reflect the

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