Interview With a (Fictional) Manager

Interview With a (fictional) Manager of a (fictional) Company in the Automation Industry

The mission of the Automation Company X, like every automation company in the industry, is solving the problems of the customer. Everyone within the organization of any automation company must be willing to roll up their sleeves and do the work that is necessary to get the job done and to make the customer satisfied. That is what the organization is being paid to do -- although everyone within the business organization has his or her specific function, that function is dependant upon the immediate needs of the customer and the consumer, as well as their technically defined job roles, whether that job be engineer, project manager, or sales manager.

For any automation company or business organization in general, getting the work done above and beyond expectations and ensuring the maximum amount of customer satisfaction is the key to success and succeeding against one's competitors if the marketplace is truly a level 'playing field'. Prime organizational movers in the automation industry usually are businesses with company staff that are particularly turned on by the idea of finding controllable and practical solutions to consumer problems. This is why this organization respects hands-on type of people, in terms of their personalities and vocational orientations.

Automation companies must also be willing and open minded about using new technology. They must be practical and flexible at the same time. Of course, there must be protocols and solid steps upon the path to building successful short-term solutions. But those steps can never become so entrenched that the company's mindset becomes limited. Hence, the organizational mission statement of, 'solving problems today, with an eye upon the future,' is be ideal and applicable to many of the industry's prime movers, including the organization I work for. Organizationally, roles and responsibilities are defined, but never to the point where they become excuses. There are never any real excuses for the work not being accomplished or for innovation and innovative solutions to be ignored in favor of older, less efficient solutions. Role and project definitions function as personal and project benchmarks of expectations, which ideally, one wishes to exceed rather than to merely meet in one's work and in working upon a particular project for the organization.

One of the most exciting things about being a sales manager in this industry is it requires an individual to have a kind of dual personality. Sometimes people say that automation engineers can be too dry and colorless, even if their mechanistic mindset suits the demands of the engineering profession well. But a sales manger in the automation industry must become a kind of engineer with a human face. Working in sales means that you must put your best foot forward, and have a personality as well as a problem-solving work ethic. Of course, to be effective in the profession, a sales manager in automation must also be someone who enjoys the technical aspects of the work. He or she must understand and become comfortable with the industry's vocabulary. But it is almost equally as critical that he or she likes and is effective in face-to-face contact with people in the field and with non-technically oriented customers.

There are decided advantages to being in sales, rather than to being purely involved with the engineering aspect of the automation industry. One advantage, from my perspective and from my personal character orientation, is the ability for sales people to travel. I also have, on a daily basis, relatively more freedom in terms of governing my day. I don't like the feeling that a manager is always looking over my shoulder and watching what I do. I also like the frequently higher compensation sales offers me.