Preparation & Staging Notes

 Requirement Reminder: All actors must wear a small ID badge on their left
pocket indicating their role (e.g., "Destin Kit Manuel - CEO").
 Setting: A modern corporate boardroom at Apex Consumer Goods Philippines.
A projector screen is visible.
 Pacing: Do not rush the dialogue. Use the stage directions (in italics) to add
physical action, silence, and realism.

Role Play Script: Reviving the Sales Force

ACT 1: The Bleeding Bottom Line

(Scene opens. Destin stands at the head of the table. The others are seated. Rhafi
Anne is typing aggressively on a laptop. Alexandra is organizing thick folders.)

Destin (CEO): (Stands in silence for a moment, looking at the team, then sighs) Let’s
get started. Good morning. I called this emergency strategic meeting because Apex
Consumer Goods is bleeding. Over the last three quarters, our sales performance has
dropped by 15%. Market share in our key packaged food segments is slipping to our
competitors. Rhafi, give us the financial reality.

Rhafi Anne (Finance Manager): (Pulls up a chart on the projector, speaking crisply)
Thank you, Destin. A 15% drop translates to a multi-million peso shortfall against our
annual projections. But that’s not the only leak. Our recruitment and onboarding costs
have spiked by 35% this year because our top-performing sales agents are resigning.
Every time a senior agent leaves, we lose their client relationships, and it costs us
roughly six months of their salary to hire and train a replacement. Financially, this
turnover is unsustainable.

Destin (CEO): Exactly. We have shareholders breathing down my neck. Alexandra, I

asked HR to conduct an internal assessment. Why are my best people leaving?

Alexandra (HR Director): (Opens her folder and hands out a thick report) Destin, the
data from our recent climate survey and exit interviews points to a severe motivational
crisis. I want to read a direct quote from Mark, one of our top regional agents who
resigned last week: "I work 60 hours a week, I haven't seen my family on a weekend in
a month, and when I missed my inflated quota by 2%, I got zero bonus and a reprimand
from my supervisor."
(Alexandra pauses to let the quote sink in)

Alexandra (HR Director): Our people feel overworked and entirely under-recognized.
The incentive structure we rolled out last year is perceived as a trap. Supervisors are
focused purely on the numbers, offering no coaching. Employee morale isn't just low;
it's practically non-existent.
ACT 2: The Field vs. The Ivory Tower

Khrizzie (Sales Director): (Leaning forward, defensive) Destin, if I may. I think HR is

taking the complaints of a few disgruntled former employees out of context. We sell
packaged goods; it is a cutthroat, high-volume industry. Our targets are mathematically
based on market growth. If anything, the sales force lacks discipline. We don’t need to
coddle them; we need stronger monitoring, tighter KPIs, and stricter daily call logs.

Ruiz Arc (Regional Sales Manager): (Slams a pen on the table, visibly frustrated)
Coddle them? Khrizzie, are you hearing yourself? I am out in the field with these teams
every single day. They aren’t undisciplined. They are exhausted! You increased their
quotas by 20% this year without increasing their territory or marketing support.

Khrizzie (Sales Director): Stretch goals are a standard management practice, Ruiz. It
pushes people out of their comfort zones.

Ruiz Arc (Regional Sales Manager): There is a difference between a stretch goal and
an impossible one! When they ask for help to close a tough supermarket account, your
supervisors just tell them to "work harder." They have zero autonomy. We are treating
them like machines, and when they break, we just blame them.

Prince Karl (Consultant): (Stands up slowly, walking toward the projector screen) Let’s
pause here. This tension is exactly why Apex brought me in. What we are witnessing is
a classic clash of management philosophies. Khrizzie, your approach aligns with
Douglas McGregor’s Theory X—the assumption that employees inherently dislike work
and must be closely controlled and pressured to achieve goals. But the symptoms Ruiz
and Alexandra are describing point us toward Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Prince Karl (Consultant): Right now, your team's foundation is crumbling. Their
"Safety" needs are threatened by the constant fear of missing quotas and losing their
jobs. Furthermore, they are starved of "Esteem" needs—recognition, respect, and a
sense of achievement. If they feel achievement is mathematically impossible, their
motivation shuts down.
Alexandra (HR Director): And it's not just Maslow. Prince, we also looked at the exit
interviews regarding our competitors. Many agents are leaving for a competitor paying
the exact same base salary.

Prince Karl (Consultant): Which brings us to Equity Theory.

Prince Karl (Consultant): Equity Theory states that employees compare their inputs
(effort, hours) and outcomes (pay, recognition) to others. Right now, your agents look at
competitors and see that their peers are working 40 hours for a realistic quota, while
they are working 60 hours for an impossible one. The perceived inequity is driving them
to quit, even if the pay is the same.

ACT 3: Diagnosing the Compensation Flaw

Rhafi Anne (Finance Manager): (Tapping her pen) I appreciate the psychology lesson,
Karl, but let’s talk numbers. If the solution to this "inequity" is raising their base pay or
lowering the quotas, my answer is no. We cannot afford to inflate our compensation
costs while revenue is down 15%. I need a solution that protects the company's cash
flow.

Alexandra (HR Director): We don't necessarily need to increase base pay, Rhafi. We
need to restructure how they are motivated. According to Herzberg’s Two-Factor
Theory, base pay is just a "Hygiene Factor." It prevents dissatisfaction, but it doesn't
make people work harder. To get that 15% revenue back, we need "Motivators"—
achievement, recognition, and the work itself.
Prince Karl (Consultant): Exactly. And to fix the incentive structure, we must apply
Victor Vroom’s Expectancy Theory. Motivation is a calculation: Expectancy x
Instrumentality x Valence.
Prince Karl (Consultant): Right now, "Expectancy" is broken. Employees don't believe
extra effort will lead to hitting the 20% quota increase. "Instrumentality" is also broken;
the bonus structure is so complicated they don't trust they will actually get paid if they
do hit it.

Khrizzie (Sales Director): (Softening slightly, looking at her notes) So... my aggressive
stretch goals are actually causing them to give up? I thought setting the ceiling high
would force them to jump.

Prince Karl (Consultant): It does, but only if the goal is perceived as attainable. This is
where we need to implement Goal-Setting Theory. Goals must be SMART: Specific,
Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.

Ruiz Arc (Regional Sales Manager): That’s exactly what they need. Instead of an all-
or-nothing annual quota, we need tiered, quarterly goals. Let them win small victories.

Alexandra (HR Director): I propose a two-pronged intervention. First, we restructure

the financial incentives. We create tiers: they get a payout for hitting 80%, a bigger one
at 90%, and a multiplier at 100%. Second, we introduce non-financial recognition—an
"Apex Circle of Excellence" program to celebrate effort and client retention, not just
gross sales.
ACT 4: Negotiating the Action Plan

Rhafi Anne (Finance Manager): (Typing quickly to run the math) Tiered incentives...
actually, that protects cash flow better than flat bonuses. If we tie the payouts directly to
the revenue brought in at each tier, I can support it. But there has to be a cap.

Destin (CEO): Good. We have a compromise on the financials. But Ruiz, you
mentioned the supervisors are part of the problem. Khrizzie, how do we fix the
leadership style?

Khrizzie (Sales Director): (Taking a deep breath) If we are shifting our strategy, I need
to shift my managers. I will admit, I trained them to be enforcers. I will work with HR and
Prince Karl to design a "Coaching for Conversion" workshop. We will train supervisors
to act as mentors, helping agents close deals rather than just demanding results.

Ruiz Arc (Regional Sales Manager): If you give my team attainable targets and
supervisors who actually help them sell, I promise you, we will recover that 15% drop
and then some.

Destin (CEO): (Nods decisively) Then we have a plan.

1. Alexandra and Rhafi, you have until Friday to finalize the tiered incentive
structure. I want it rolled out by the 1st of the month.
2. Khrizzie, your supervisory coaching workshops begin next week.
3. Rhafi, set the KPIs. I want to see a 50% drop in voluntary turnover and a 5%
bump in quarterly sales by the next review.
Are we all aligned?

(The team murmurs in agreement and nods. Destin closes his laptop.)

Destin (CEO): Meeting adjourned. Let's revive this sales force.

(Actors freeze for a moment, then break character, turning to the audience.)

ACT 5: Out of Character Summary

Prince Karl (Consultant / Presenter): (Stepping forward to the audience) Thank you,
everyone. To wrap up our presentation, let's briefly summarize how the theories from
Chuck Williams' Management solved Apex's crisis:
 The Problem: Low motivation caused by Theory X management and broken
Expectancy.
 The Diagnosis: Using Equity Theory, Maslow's Hierarchy, and Herzberg's Two-
Factor theory, we identified that employees lacked attainable goals and
recognition.
 The Solution: Implementing Goal-Setting Theory (SMART, tiered goals) and
shifting leadership to focus on Intrinsic Motivators (coaching and support).
(The team bows).