Problem
Mandla Nkosi, the regional sales manager for Kwa-Zulu Natal, poured himself another beer and shook his head. Sue De Grout the HR director had phoned him two hours ago to say rumour had it that he wasn't getting all he could out of Peter Jones. Peter was a flamboyant sales rep who had been moved into Mandla's sales territory eighteen months ago, when he had requested a move to Durban. Peter had given as his motivation the need to move to a city that was more laid back and would give him and his family a better quality of life. Talk on the grape vine in the company was that the real reason was that Peter couldn't handle the new, tough and demanding, regional manager in Gauteng. Peter was well known within the company, always at the centre of any fun at the annual conference. He could regale any audience, including customers, with a never ending stream of jokes. Peter was popularity, confidence and charm personified. The managing director often sat next to him at company functions as then he was guaranteed of a good time.
However, Peter's entries into the order system were often inaccurate leading to problems with deliveries to customers. He never submitted the requisite weekly call sheets explaining "After six years in the company my track record speaks for itself". When asked to submit his quarterly reports on his key accounts, Mandla had observed that they were usually very short and had terms in them like "rumour has it our competitors are schmoozing them" and "all is well". Peter had brought in two new major accounts, but had lost 13 smaller customers. All in all his revenue had shown an increase, but marginally below the recent escalating inflation rate. Mandla remembered the call he got telling him that one small group of Indian retailers had decided to no longer stock the company products after Peter had jokingly said "So how are the Coolies today?" as he began a sales call. Mandla wasn't sure if the customers weren't possibly over reacting. But then there was also the matter of the expense claim that Peter had submitted. It was for a date that actually fell into the period when he was overseas on holiday. The claim had been rejected by the financial controller at head office. As this occurred soon after Peter joined Mandla's team it had never been discussed.
Mandla wondered what Sue meant when she had said "You need to manage his performance more closely". She pointed out that Mandla's salary increase was to a great extent measured on how he managed all of his staff and that if he wanted to become the company's national sales manager (the possibility of which had been mentioned to him on several occasions), he would need to prove himself. Mandla has asked you, his mentor and coach, for help.
Task
1. Why do you think Mandla hasn't given Peter the feedback he needs?
2. What type of employee is Peter? Give reasons
3. Draw up a detailed action plan for Mandla.