Reference no: EM133039333

Assignment:

After graduation, John got a job as a trainee salesperson in a company which markets detergents. The company is amongst the top three Canadian manufacturers of detergents. Apart from John, there are four other salespersons in the same sales territory, each working independently, having their own sales targets.

John was very excited on joining the company, which is his first job, and had thought he could easily achieve his sales targets considering the high demand for the range of detergents he is selling. However, his performance has been unsatisfactory. When he joined the company, he was not advised his goals in detail but was verbally told that he must sell at least $ 35,000 worth of detergents each month. At first, his reporting line was unclear, and he thought he was reporting to Vlad who is another salesperson senior to him who has been working in the company since 2015. Then after one month, he realized that Alan, the Territory Sales Manager, was his direct supervisor. The other salespersons also reported to Alan directly. This misunderstanding has led to a strained relationship with Vlad and the other salespersons in the group who are not cooperating with him.

Although John is working long hours which has also disturbed his work-life balance, his sales are 31% below target. He is getting stressed, demotivated, disengaged, and irritable. Customers are complaining about his poor attitude and behavior.

Alan is a strict, energetic, performance driven professional who is very busy, single handedly managing the office, supplies, deliveries, accounts, etc., and expects the salespersons to achieve their sales targets. He cannot devote enough time to individually monitor, facilitate, train and coach his subordinates. Neither does he motivate them by proper incentives, commissions, recognition, or even verbal encouragement. He has not used the strengths of his team members nor cared for their growth or careers. Vlad, who is the senior most salesperson, has had no promotion, and is doing the same job since 2015 with nominal salary increases, and is thinking of leaving the company.

Considering John's unsatisfactory performance so far, Alan is contemplating the following measures:

• Dismiss John as he is a burden on the company and is impacting his (Alan's) own performance targets. Make John an example for the other salespersons. 
• Tell John that he will get a bonus if he meets his targets. 
• Alan may take out some time from his busy schedule, have a meeting with all the five salespersons together, redesign their jobs, make job descriptions, give each salesperson specific targets, inform them the sales figures achieved so far and the feedback received from customers. 
• Wait for John's performance to improve as he has only been on the job for three months. 
• Ask John to accompany Alan when he makes sales calls, observe, and suggest remedial measures. 
• Send John on a training course where he can learn customer relations, presentation, and negotiation skills. 
• Make a team of the 5 salespersons and give them one joint overall sales target for the whole territory. Decide on a bonus if the team achieves the target which would be split equally between the salespersons. If the joint overall target is not met, none of the salespersons would get a bonus or a salary increase.

Q1) Evaluate and assess various theories of motivation

Q2) Apply different theories and strategies of motivation

Q3) Assess strategies to manage groups and teams