Orville C. Walker

The Determinants of Salesperson Performance: A Meta-Analysis

The authors use meta-analysis techniques to investigate the evidence that has been gathered on the determinants of salespeoples performance. A search of the published and unpublished literature un...

Marketing's Interaction with Other Functional Units: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Evidence

The authors develop a framework for examining how and why marketing personnel interact with personnel in other functional areas in planning, implementing, and evaluating marketing activities. Build...

Organizing for effective new product development: The moderating role of product innovativeness

Marketing and sales personnel are frequently called on to work with—and sometimes to lead—specialists from other functional areas in the development of new products and services. Such cross-functio...

Motivation and performance in industrial selling: Present knowledge and needed research.

This position paper argues that current knowledge of the determinants of motivation and performance in industrial selling is woefully inadequate. As a first step toward improving this situation, th...

Upper management control of new product development projects and project performance

Abstract While some degree of freedom and flexibility is an essential ingredient to productive cross-functional NPD teams, upper-managers are faced with the challenge of instituting effective control mechanisms which head projects in the right strategic direction, monitor progress toward organizational and project goals, and allow for adjustments in the project if necessary. But too much or the wrong type of control may constrain the team’s creativity, impede their progress, and injure their ultimate performance. Therefore, this study examines formal and interactive control mechanisms available to upper-managers in controlling new product development (NPD) projects, and the relationship between these mechanisms and NPD project performance. Formal output and process controls are examined which consist of the setting and monitoring of outcomes, such as goals, schedule and budgets, and of processes and procedures, respectively. This study also looks at how the effectiveness of these control mechanisms may be contingent upon the degree of innovativeness in the project and the degree to which the project is part of a broad product program. In addition, the use of formal rewards for achieving team performance as opposed to rewards for individual achievement is investigated. Lastly, interactive controls are examined which consist of upper-managers interacting directly with project members in the development of strategy and operational goals and procedures prior to the start of the project, and upper-managers intervening in project decision-making. Questionnaire data are collected on 95 projects across a variety of industries. The findings suggest that while NPD projects teams need some level of strategic direction concerning the objectives to be accomplished and the procedures to be followed, upper-level managers can exert too much control. In particular, the findings showed a negative association between the use of upper manager-imposed process controls and project performance. The findings also indicated that the degree to which upper-managers intervened in project-level decisions during the project was negatively related to project performance. However, the results showed support for the notion that early and interactive decision-making on control mechanisms is important for effective projects. In particular, early team member and upper-management involvement in the setting of operational controls, such as goals and procedures for monitoring and evaluating the project, was positively associated with project performance. This study provides additional insight into our understanding of upper-management support in new product development. The study suggests that upper-managers can over control with the wrong type of controls, and suggests effective ways of implementing participative and interactive control mechanisms.

Organizational Determinants of the Industrial Salesman's Role Conflict and Ambiguity

T HE IMPORTANCE of the field salesman in the successful marketing of industrial goods has long been appreciated. Only recently, however, has attention been given to the fact that the nature of the field salesmans job can produce some perplexing problems for marketing and sales managers, as well as for salesmen themselves. Specifically, several characteristics of the industrial salesmans job make him particularly susceptible to role conflict and role ambiguity.1 Role conflict occurs when the salesman faces two or more incompatible job demands from his organizational superiors, customers, family members, or other role partners. The salesman experiences role ambiguity when he is uncertain about how he is expected to perform his job. The high potential for role conflict poses a problem for the individual salesman because of the negative psychological reactions people often experience in conflict situations. A wide variety of empirical studies have found positive relationships between high levels of perceived role conflict and high levels of job-related tension and anxiety, on the one hand, and low levels of job satisfaction, on the other.2 There is also evidence that prolonged exposure to high levels of role conflict can have physical consequences, such as an increased incidence of coronary disease.3 Similarly, when an individual experiences a great deal of uncertainty about how he is expected to perform his job (role ambiguity), he may experience more mental anxiety and tension and less job satisfaction.4 The potential for high levels of perceived role conflict and ambiguity among field salesmen also presents some major problems for sales and marketing managers. To the extent that conflict and ambiguity reduce the job satisfaction of salesmen, for example, they are likely to produce higher levels of turnover within the sales force and accompanying recruitment and training costs.5 The amount of conflict and ambiguity the salesman experiences may also affect his job performance, although the relationships between conflict, am-

Effects of organizational and decision-maker factors on new product risk taking

Abstract Using samples of evening MBA students having considerable managerial experience, two experiments were conducted, through which we explore the effects of organizational and decision-maker factors on managers’ new product investment decisions. Subjects were asked to choose among new product development projects having equal investments and expected values but differing degrees of risk. Riskier projects were chosen by managers whose organizationally imposed goals were based on aspirational versus survival reference points, whose prior project decisions had resulted in the accumulation of additional financial resources, for whom prior project outcomes were attributed to the manager’s guidance of the project versus competitive factors, and by managers whose propensities to take risks were higher. These results have important implications for the design and staffing of new product decision processes, for the creation of organizational cultures that foster new product risk taking, and for other organizational practices.

Reactions to disappointing performance in manufacturer–distributor relationships: The role of escalation and resource commitments

A model is presented of an exchange episode between a manufacturer and a distributor that generates disappointing performance outcomes. The authors suggest that manufacturers commit different types of resources in the initial stages of relationships with distributors, which affect both the distributors ability and willingness to achieve performance goals. These initial resource commitments affect the commitment of further resources, after the receipt of negative outcomes, both directly (through a mental budgeting process) and indirectly (through the attributions made about the cause of the disappointment). The authors use resource theory, attribution theory, and research on escalation of commitment to structure their conceptual framework and research propositions.