Sales Organizational Plan - Essay Example

Sales Organizational Plan of Phoenix MKT 467: Sales Management Walter Sajna May 03, 2007 Sales Organizational Plan Sales organizational plan is one of the most important elements of successful organizational performance and quality service. Human resource management is intimately involved with the environment in general and certain trends are noticeable. New terms and techniques have appeared, for example, manpower planning and management by objectives. In Bracrekunmitso Pharmaceuticals, manpower planning should not, though, be regarded as a new technique as it embraces existing techniques, i.e. work study, job evaluation, and description performance rating. Hiring, Recruiting and Selection Practices Bracrekunmitso Pharmaceuticals can use the Internet and local press for advertising purposes. Also, it is possible to use employment agencies to find professional staff in a short period of time. Selection practices will be based on manual resume screening and computerized. This procedure will help to select high professional applicants for the first interview. If the recruitment is competitive, it can create a feeling that those who are selected are truly valued. It can help build a positive self-image if the on-the-job experiences confirm that feeling. For Bracrekunmitso Pharmaceuticals, to recruit high qualified professionals is crucial especially for direct sales and customer support services. Medical degree and experience within pharmaceutical industry will be the main requirement applied to all candidates. The main criteria for selection will be professional skills and practical knowledge, personal characteristics and experience. Interviews will consist of several parts: behavior based analysis, training and experience evaluations, biographical information and motivational fit (Armstrong 2001). Training Bracrekunmitso Pharmaceuticals will need expensive training programs for new staff. A special programs will be designed for pharmaceutical representatives and physicians referrals. One approach, which is somewhat broader than an assessment of training needs, and may be biased to the strategic changes the company is facing, is to design a workshop for senior managers to work through what is needed to implement some of the strategic decisions the company has made. Armstrong (2001) divides training needs assessment into three levels: corporate, group and individual level. The aim of the training is to help employee to cope with new environment and develop effective communication skills. Customer orientation means application of quality control principles to design/specification activities to formalize the mechanism for ensuring that customer requirements are incorporated. One of the most basic dilemmas faced by trainers is the balance between theory and practice; between what may be considered as theoretically desirable and what participants perceive as practically possible to implement. It is also important to achieve an appropriate balance between the assimilation of knowledge information and the development of skills in order to do something. Employees, for their part, should receive positive recognition for good training achievements. Also, special programs could be designed for team leaders to ensure effective group work and communication. Training will help to inspire and motivate employees. (Campbell, 1997). Bracrekunmitso Pharmaceuticals can use learning curve. Following Schuler (1998) it ascends quickly, showing increasing proficiency. There are various levels in the curve, where an employee is consolidating and developing the knowledge. Where a group of persons is trained, the group may set 'norms' which may stop individuals from moving ahead, and therefore it is important to ensure that the group norms are the same as the objectives of the trainer, so that individuals can progress (Schuler, 1998). Policies and Procedures The staff can exercise self-direction and control to achieve objectives to which they are committed, if they are persuaded by the manager. Under proper conditions people can learn to accept and seek responsibility to follow his style of management and personal characteristics. Policies and procedures aim to encourage employers and employees to play a positive role in promoting safety, A duty is thus laid on employees to take reasonable care for their own safety and that of others, there is provision for the appointment of safety representatives and safety committees from among employees, and the employer must issue a written statement of his safety policy. In furtherance of this 'positive safety' aim, the idea of criminal sanctions for breach of the Act is pushed into the background (Robbins, 2004). Regulations, dealing with fair treatment of staff, honesty and ethics, will require Bracrekunmitso Pharmaceuticals, having regard to the nature and size of the undertaking, effectively to plan, organize, control, monitor and review the protective and preventive measures which the risk assessment identifies as being appropriate. As these are specific requirements they should be integrated into existing policies. This will provide evidence that these matters are being attended to, and satisfy the further requirement that such arrangements are to be recorded where five or more employees are involved. A special attention will be given to professional honesty and medical ethics. Qualities required include efficiency, high morale, courage, so that he can be respected, and he should be able to mix well with other people. Procedures will stipulate disputes resolution which may be settled by negotiation, conciliation, arbitration, investigation and formal enquiry (Robbins, 2004). Workpeople have different interests. Their main concern is to maintain and improve their standard of living. They seek improvements in wages and salaries, increased leisure, better working conditions, stability of employment, opportunities for advancement and satisfaction in their work. Motivational techniques In Bracrekunmitso Pharmaceuticals, loyalty will be promoted through involvement and consultation. Loyalty brings with it a sense of belonging, a common purpose, and high levels of motivation and commitment (Armstrong, 2001). The manager must also encourage staff to direct their efforts (their driving force) towards the successful attainment of the goals and objectives of the company. Also, motivation can be described as goal-directed behavior and ability to contribute to a solution. Bracrekunmitso Pharmaceuticals can use Expectancy theory to motivate and encourage staff. According to this theory, people act only when they have reasonable expectation that their actions will lead to desired goals. They will perform better if they believe that money will follow effective performance, so if money has a positive value for an individual, higher performance will follow This theory places emphasis on performance noting that there must be a clearly recognized goal and relationship between performance and outcome. In general, this theory explains that motivation is a function of the expectancy of attaining a certain outcome in performing a certain act multiplied by the value of the outcome for the performer (Robbins, 2004). The motivation techniques will include personal image of the leader and team coordinator and compensation for high qualified professionals. Outcomes that are highly valued and having higher expectations of being realized will direct a person to make a greater effort in his task. Outcomes with high expectations which are less highly valued (or even disliked) will reduce effort expended. Other studies on expectations and job performance emphasize the greater importance of intrinsic motivation factors. Compensation Within Bracrekunmitso Pharmaceuticals, compensations have arrangements whereby the employee receives a bonus or periodic payment, e.g. weekly or annually, based upon a number of factors, such as reduction in labor costs, or total costs per unit or increase in total profit, or output. They are said to be economical to install and operate and encourage. co-operation and improve the employee's interest in the business. They are of course very remote from the actual work and the bonus may be too small a part of the total wage to be significant and the employee cannot calculate in advance what he is to receive. Examples of these schemes are the Scanlon plan, which starts by fixing a ratio between total manpower costs and total sales value of goods produced. A reduction in this ratio, therefore, is a saving, and the amount of the saving is distributed (Robbins, 2004). A major responsibility for raising the status and security of workers must rest with management. Any raising of standards costs money and must be paid for by higher productivity (Campbell, 1997). The granting of staff status has been put into effect by a few progressive firms. Certain of the workers, who may be the longest serving, or at a certain level of responsibility, are rewarded by staff benefits, e.g. longer holidays, annual salary and special sick pay schemes. Schemes based on output are obviously inappropriate when the operator cannot control the level of output or where measurement is difficult. References 1. Armstrong, M. (2001). Human Resource Management. 8th edn. Kogan Page. 2. Campbell, D.J. (1997). Organizations and the Business Environment. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. 3. Robbins, S. (2004). Organizational Behavior. Prentice Hall. 11 Ed. 4. Schuler, R. (1998). Managing Human Resources. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Publishing. Read More