Page 126 - DMGT205_SALES_MANAGEMENT

Sales Management

Notes results of an experiment with a group of British sales people by Paul, Robertson and Herzberg
(1969) showed that greater responsibility given to salespeople by such changes resulted in
higher sales success.
Herzberg's theory has been well received, in general, by practitioners, although academics have
criticised it in terms of methodology and oversimplification (see Dessler, 1979). The theory has
undoubtedly made a substantial contribution to the understanding of motivation at work,
particularly in extending Maslow's theory to the work situation and highlighting the importance
of job content factors which had hither to been badly neglected.

Figure 9.1: Herzberg's Motivational Theory

Motivation Factors
Achievement Work itself
Recognition Growth Potential
Self Advancement Responsibility
Actualisation
Hygiene Factors
Interpersonal Relations
Peers, Supervisors,
Esteem
Subordinates,
Company Policy, Job,
Social
Security work,
Herzberg’s Conditions, Salary,
Security
Maslow’s Two factors Model Personal life
Physiological

9.3.3 Vroom's Expectancy Theory

Basically this theory assumes that a person's motivation to exert effort is dependent upon his
expectations for success. Vroom based his theory on three concepts - expectancy, instrumentality
and valence.

Expectancy: This refers to a person's perceived relationship between effort and performance,
i.e., to the extent to which a person believes that increased effort will lead to higher performance.
Instrumentality: This reflects the person's perception of the relationship between performance
and reward, for e.g., it reflects the extent to which a person believes that higher performance
will lead to promotion.
Valence: This represents the value placed upon a particular reward by a person. For some
individuals promotion may be highly valued, for others it may have little value. Thus, according
to the theory, if a sales person believes that by working harder he or she will achieve increased
sales (high expectancy), and that higher sales will lead to greater commission (high
instrumentality) and higher commission is very important (high valence), a high level of
motivation should result. The nature of the relationships in the sales setting are depicted in the
following figure.

Effort Expectancy Performance Instrumentality Reward Valence

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