Gap Analysis: Cross InvestmentsThe financial sector is often unpredictable. Intersect Investments has managed to survive despite the instability in the sector. After experiencing a decline in sales and customer satisfaction, CEO Frank Jeffers realized the need to make a radical change. Jeffers chose to transform the company in an effort to recover from recent losses. The new vision will be to expand products and services while increasing customer loyalty. The new culture will be based on a model of customer intimacy. In its change efforts, Intersect Investments has encountered obstacles within its infrastructure that could negatively impact the company's goals if not addressed immediately. Once resolved, Intersect Investments will be on its way to achieving stability in an industry considered chaotic. Situation Analysis Identifying Problems and Opportunities Intersect Investments has had the opportunity to succeed despite periods of uncertainty. Continued success will depend on a complete cultural transformation. The aggressive 12-month transformation plan has been approved and it is now necessary for the current culture to adapt to the new vision. With change comes resistance. Intersect Investments is encountering resistance from company executives. Managers avoid the new vision and focus on what they believe will improve business performance. Management resistance to change creates problems with the new vision because managers do not implement any of the changes needed to support the new initiative. Executives expressed the feeling that committing to the customer intimacy model would have the opposite effect than intended. Companies that follow the customer intimacy model typically look toward customer lifetime value (Treacy & Wiersema, 1993, p. 87). Resistance to change is an emotional/behavioral response to real or imagined threats to an established work routine (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2004, p. 685). In order to overcome this resistance, it will be necessary for Intersect Investments to implement change strategies. Intersect Investments must first make the effort to understand the reasoning behind the resistance shown. Once resistance is understood, strategies can be implemented to overcome the obstacle it presents. Participation and involvement will create a sense of value for directors. The change was approved without the involvement of the management team that created the resistance. Cultural change initiatives have little positive effect if senior and senior management do not recognize the need to actively engage in the process from the beginning (Alimo-Metcalfe & Alban-Metcalfe, 2005, p..