Talia is the northeast regional sales rep for Mountain Bike Tires 4 Less (MBT4L). Her territory includes a number of large chain stores and smaller bike shops that carry her company's bike tires. She has good personal relationships with many of the smaller shops, but she has been hearing from many of them that they are having trouble competing with the larger chains on price. In order to keep the smaller retailers happy, she offers extended payment terms on large orders. She told Bob of Bob's Bikes that he could take 120 days to pay on his latest order. Bertram works in the credit department at the MBT4L headquarters and is in charge of monitoring shipments and payments to the customers in Talia's region. When he sees that Bob's Bikes has not paid for their most recent order, he places
their account on credit hold pending the receipt of payment. When Bob is unable to place a new order, he calls to complain to Talia who then calls and yells at Bertram for holding up one of her customers' orders. Bertram explains that Bob's Bikes' account is past due. Talia tells him that it is not past due because she offered extended terms. Bertram tells Talia that he had no knowledge of these special terms. The conflict between Talia and Bertram causes mistrust and resentment, and Bob's Bikes is caught in the middle. Eventually, Miguel, the VP of sales and marketing, is forced to intervene. Keeping the benefits of cross-training in mind, which approach should Miguel use to achieve improved communication and reduced friction between Talia and Bertram?
A. having Talia sit in Bertram's cubicle for half a day observing the demands of his job
B. requiring Bertram and Talia to attend anger management classes together
C. organizing a lunch meeting between Talia and Bertram so they can become better acquainted
D. providing Talia with a copy of Bertram's detailed job description and recent performance reviews
E. hiring a team-building consultant to craft a series of trust exercises for Talia and Bertram to perform together
Answer: A
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