Organizational Behavior in Sales Team - Assignment Example

Organizational Behavior in Sales Team Name Lecturer Course Institution Date Question 1 Comparison of the sales cultures Sales force should have a highly competitive environment where they have a healthy competition among the team (Gonzalez, Hoffman, Ingram & LaForge 2010, 224). Both Tickford Flexible Products and Samuel Jones, sales persons are indicate to have good team players prior to acquisition. Though it is poorly demonstrated in the case, sales management have made efforts to create a team towards a positive sales environment. Professionalism and consistent standards are established where at Jones, David carried out sales management tasks, and remuneration plan recognized individual efforts and skills. The sales team from Jones is indicated to have social and enjoying environment. Both firms have agile cultures as Jones have diversified their products to get better results through fast changes. Similarly, Tickton’s increased revenues results from positive effects of alignment of sales to organization goals (Cron and Dalrymple’s 451). At Tickton, formal procedures were followed with every grade of workers having their own privileges and allowances. Additionally, both exhibit strong branding strategy though they lack strong technical support and transference of relationships. The new structure appropriateness The structure is absolutely inappropriate for both organizations and its customers. This is because, Tickton-Jones has considered expansion to consumer products lines which means that the upper management will have to adjust to maneuver in new markets. These are two different products with differing market and workforce. Absolutely, as much as each arm of production is controlled by specific sales managers and sales persons with prior skills and experience in it, there will be collisions with the sales administration, distribution manager and marketing director who operate across both product lines. This is because, while the salespersons like Ramona tend to recognize the scope of business, his seniors can face marketing myopia and quality services slippages due to lack of a strong technical support and transference of relationships (Eden 2013, 94). There will be collisions when the seniors do not understand the personalities and methods used by their subordinates as strengths towards sales activities. It also appears that, salespersons like Pitesti posses more knowledge of the market compared to their seniors. For instance, the failure of Marketing Director to understand Pitesti’s sales tactics has led him to perceive Pitesti as undisciplined and to put pressure of Sales Manager who directly supervises Pitesti. The outside sales team may really struggle following along with the inside sales team noting the abrupt shift brought about by the new structure. Currently, poor planning for absorption of middle and lower-level staffs from Jones has turned out as complicated with growing frictions and divisions (Cron & Thomas 2009, 452). Question 2 Conversations between David Courtney and Romano Pitesti Description of the behavioral issues and actions for each of them David adopts occasional leadership approach as the communication with Pitesti shows that he has lost touch of his subordinates. He appears to be reactive and only acting when pressured by the marketing director. Continuous leadership means that a leader will develop well-defined goals by handling ambiguities under the department and form the path forward (Ladyshewsky 2010, 296). However, it appears that David does not set goals, milestones and communications across the firm’s teams. In turn, people like Pitesti execute what they think best so long as they will achieve their individual sales goals. David has not instilled a process by having a repetitive interaction with sales team. Pitesti argues that, if they get five people like him, the firm will increase its sales. David has poor vision and communication due to failure to promote collaboration that can allow the sales organization benefit from strategic and well built sales process. As Pitesti complains, he has never put him in the limelight for others to emulate him or recognized his achievement for his effort. David is preoccupied with playing defense rather than assuming a proper delegation. From the communication, he appears to have inconsistent standards as he is unable to articulate specific codes of conduct that Pitesti should take and mostly when inappropriate behavior promote the firm’s sales objectives (Messikomer & Cirka 2010, 64).. Pitesti is an individualistic person whose attitude makes it hard to be tolerated by his coworkers. He is preoccupied with illusionary superiority, show-off, insubordination and overconfidence. In turn, he does not collaborate with others and at times disregards others by overlooking their feelings. He is said to spend much time at secretary’s office making personal phone calls and parking in inappropriate manner. He leaves a trail of negativity to nearly every place he walks into. Additionally, he is an egomaniac as he constantly boasts throughout the conversation with David and brag about how wonderful he is. He views how perfectly he knows and does everything even to an extent of making a bad impression when he contributes to topics which he is poor at. He too autonomous and disregard any correction by approving how each help him perform his job duties better. The greatest challenge in his actions is failure to separate his personal life and work responsibilities as he carries both during his personal and office hours. In turn, he ignores any policy and procedures such as being at work on time and specific days (Skakon, Nielsen, Borg & Guzman 2010, 112). David Courtney’s sales management abilities Sales management role involves a number of activities and abilities like direction, motivation, monitoring, delegation, training, advice and guidance and evaluation that help the sales manager to coordinate the efforts of the subordinates. However, in this case, David appears unaware of the Pitesti’s marketing tactics. It shows that he spend very little time in the field. It appears that he does not have constant joint calls or meetings to communicate frequently to his subordinates. In turn, the differences among the subordinates reduce effectiveness. A sales manager should monitoring day-to-day activities of the sales persons and highly pays attention to travel and watch credit terms (Ladyshewsky 2010, 295). However, these are some of the areas of concern to him. For instance, he should not have contended despite the report that Pitesti’s claims for clothing replacement are higher than others. As a manager, he ought to investigate the situation first and set a good way to impose discipline. However, he poorly investigates the situation. A sales manager ought to lobby for support for their sales forces from other parts of the firm. However, as he is unaware of Pitesti’s personality, he merely defends him when summoned by the marketing director. Generally, he ought to have provided special support to such a beneficial sales person. Romano Pitesti’s salesperson abilities Pitesti exhibit better personal selling with business to business selling focus. He is naturally competitive though a poor team player. His efforts to play golf with Singleton’s Purchasing Manager prove his skills in building strong relationships with customers. He goes further to monitor and maintains beneficial relationships. He is skilled in personal communication. He represents his firm by ferrying voters to the polling station using the company’s vehicle. In turn, that way, he attempts to show the public that the firm is the source of that service. He understands the trick as he aligns his efforts with those of the competitors. He is able to forecast the end goals and interact with people to hit larger goals by looking forward to prospective customers. He is good in persuasive communication as it he ascertains from his long phone calls. Agility is skill manifested well by Pitesti. He is not stuck in the firm’s approach by figuring out how his activities compare with company’s rules no wonder he does not fall behind some extremely strict rules like David who regards the rules than the results. Possible implications for the organization of these behaviors and actions Both David and Pitesti hold very special positions in the company and their behaviors might have several implications in the organization. Firstly, inconsistent standards noted with David can make it hard for the sales department to be high performing. Lack of common rules and collaborative forecast will cause the entire sales team to adopt individual styles of working. The team might adopt random actions that might not add up to the company’s goals and priorities (Spector & Fox 2010, 26). It appears that the company rules do not align with workforce preference and no wonder their strict rules makes it hard for Pitesti to perform. Without effective approach to resolve the issues with unsatisfied workers who complains of Pitesti’s behavior, the company will end up increasing mistrust between coworkers. Pitesti blames the secretary for the reports about the car. Pitesti perceives the complaints as mediocre and in case the company tolerates it, he might be aggrieved or choose to adopt their style but after all become less productive. Weak accountability where the company fails to hold everyone accountable when an issue of concern happens may end up damaging the relationships within. They should not provide exemptions for Pitesti as an individual but must set a clear rules to ensure that no single employee affect the other when delivering their duties. Question 3 An action plan to overcome the issues David Courtney and Pitesti Pitesti Action Goals Relationship building David attempt to build effective working relationships, Foster an atmosphere of mutual respect and collegiality Have regular one-on-one sessions with all the sales team to set metrics. Have regular informal staff /group meetings to ease tensions, discuss or address issues before escalating into conflicts. Insist that sales persons recognize and respect managerial positions; try to meet their defined goals and objectives. Good communication at every level to build a feeling of trust. All senior managers communicate verbally and or in writing concerning plans, expectations and anticipated changes. Identify issues that affect individual employees. Sales manager need to request regular updates, status reports indicating individual and team efforts. Use dialogue to resolve issues. Develop procedures for routine tasks Make sure that everyone knows what they are expected. Have daily routine list of projects or tasks accomplished. Keep all the people clear on current goals and objectives. Managers’ and employees’ training programs Experienced managers will deal with conflict and greatly reduce it in the department. Have seminars to promote communication, emphasize on listening skills, better working relationships, interpersonal dynamics and conflict management. Organizational action plan: Adopted from Bindl & Parker (2010) Who to involve in the action plan The marketing directors, with the entire manager that immediately report to him should have a high-level executive and managerial level meeting. In turn, they need to look at various issues that are affecting the company and the circumstance surrounding the complaints and behavior such as: Investigate whether the managerial order is direct, clear or ambiguous- Generally, they need to consider who should control which area. In turn, Daniel should assume his niche of control in consumer products sales department while Jack identifies the person to deal with human resources issues in the company. Make sure that complaints should be in line with the published policy and work rules- In turn, all employees need to know the best conduct and when they are closing the line or if they have violated. To correct the problem that exist, they need to understand whether the employee/ Pitesti recognize that certain rules were broken. In turn, they can plan for the necessary training and dialogue to address other issues that affect Pitesti’s relationships with coworkers. All employees must be aware of the consequences- Employees will refrain from an action or inaction if they see real consequences that might befall them. The managers must communicate them accordingly to promote adherence. When all managers are involved, they can reach a better decision and choice of actions that suits the company; ensure implementation and follow-up at departmental levels, accountability and continuous evaluation of their departments and feedback. Ultimately, the sales department should hold a meeting where David and other salespersons dialogue to see whether the policy is favorable and the rules that might make performing quite problematic. The sales team must advocate for the company to be willing to let go of some of its extremely strict rules that makes sales processes not to reflective of actual decision-making and purchasing processes of the buyers.  References Bindl, U, & Parker, S K 2010 Proactive work behavior: Forward-thinking and change-oriented action in organizations Vol 2, pp 567-598 Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Cron, W L & Thomas E D, 2009, ‘Dalrymple’s Sales Management’,10th Edition John Wiley and Sons Hoboken NJ pp 451-454. Eden, B L 2013 The new user environment: The end of technical services?Information Technology and Libraries, 292, 93-100. Gonzalez, G R, Hoffman, K D, Ingram, T N, & LaForge, R W 2010 Sales organization recovery management and relationship selling: a conceptual model and empirical test Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management,303, 223-237. Ladyshewsky, R K 2010 The manager as coach as a driver of organizational development Leadership & Organization Development Journal,314, 292-306. Messikomer, C M, & Cirka, C C 2010 Constructing a code of ethics: An experiential case of a national professional organization Journal of Business Ethics, 951, 55-71. Skakon, J, Nielsen, K, Borg, V, & Guzman, J 2010 Are leaders' well-being, behaviours and style associated with the affective well-being of their employees? A systematic review of three decades of research Work & Stress,242, 107-139. Spector, P E, & Fox, S 2010 Counterproductive work behavior and organisational citizenship behavior: Are they opposite forms of active behavior? Applied Psychology, 591, 21-39. Read More