Does Gender and Age Matter as a Sales Person in the John Lewis Partnership - Research Proposal Example

Research Proposal Introduction Diversity of the workforce is a common feature in any modern business organization. Gender and age are two widely seendiversity factors the workforce in almost all functions of business activity in an organization. The diverse nature of the work force and the impact of each of the components of diversity on the business activities have invoked the interest of researchers. Sales is the revenue generating business activity of a business organization, and this study attempts to evaluate whether there is any impact of gender and age on the business activity of a sales person and the manner in which these two factors influence the performance and commitment of a sales person in the focused environment of the John Lewis Partnership, which has a democratic style of functioning. The reason for choosing to study the impact of gender and age on the sales function in a business organization is because I am interested in research in sales and the choice of the John Lewis Partnership business organization is because I work for this business organization in London. The results of this study will enable a better understanding of how the diversity factors of gender and age influence the performance and commitment of a sales person at the John Lewis Partnership, which will be useful to me as well as the organization itself. The study will be conducted in the department stores of the John Lewis Partnership. The John Lewis Partnership is the largest department store retailer in the United Kingdom with 29 department stores. There permanent staff strength is 69,000. They are also partners of the business organization and own the company and share in the profits. In 2008 the John Lewis Partnership had a total turnover 6.9 billion pounds. The John Lewis Partnership has an innovative way of structure and style of functioning that causes it to be driven by its permanent staff (John Lewis Partnership, 2009). Research Question The question that this study aims to answer is does gender and age matter as a sales person in the John Lewis Partnership? In answering this research question, the study hopes to throw light on any differences in the performance and commitment between male and female members of the sales force at the John Lewis Partnership and impact on age, experience and maturity on the commitment and job behaviour on the sales force at the John Lewis Partnership. Literature Review The world of sales has witnesses a rapid increase of the number of women entering it, which has resulted in questions being raised on the impact of gender in a modern sales force. The critical issues in the evaluating the impact of gender on the sales force lies in whether there are attitudinal and behavioural differences between the male and female members of a sales force. Evaluation of the presence of such differences in a Fortune 500 international service organization demonstrated the presence of significant differences between male and female members of the sales force with respect to behaviour and attitudes, which had an impact on their commitment and performance ( Moncrief et al, 2000). The presence of women in industrial sales has also increased significantly. Many companies have the impression of separate training and motivation needs based on gender and as a result have separate training and motivation programs based on gender. Evaluation of the differences related to gender in an industrial sales force with regard to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, role conflict, role ambiguity, and performance demonstrated that there were significant differences only in the three aspects of role conflict, role ambiguity and customer-oriented selling. Women were found to have lower levels of role conflict and role ambiguity and higher levels of customer-oriented selling, which enabled to perform better than men (Sigauw & Honeycutt, 1995). Ladik et al 2002 evaluated the relationship between performance, job satisfaction, commitment and loyalty among 1042 sales persons across 61 different companies. For both male and female sales persons job satisfaction was a strong influencing factor on loyalty to the business organization. Another important finding of the study was that high performing women showed greater commitment and loyalty to the organization, while high performing salesmen showed less loyalty to the business organization and were more likely to leave the company unlike high performing sales women (Ladik et al, 2002). Evaluation of perceptions from the buyers’ perspective, across both male and female buyers, on sales performance, buyer trust of the salesperson, similarity to the buyer, product expertise, adaptive selling ability, and sales presentation ability shows that buyers rte males better in performance dimensions and selling behaviour and hence were likely to get better prices on the sales, but the buyers found no difference between male and female salespersons on the overall interaction in the selling process. The evaluation also suggests that buyers apply different assessment criterion to male and female sales persons, tending to have higher criterion for male sales persons. This may be the reason for the equating the overall sales interaction for men and women, even though in the performance and behaviour in the selling process, salesmen are rated better by the buyers (Dion, Easterling & Javalgi, 1997). Marital status has an impact on the performance, commitment and job satisfaction of sales people, with this impact being felt more severely by female sales people than male sales people. Family-work conflict is experienced more by married female sales people than by their male counterparts, which has a negative impact on their performance and commitment that gets translated into lack of job satisfaction (Boles, Wood & Johnson, 2003). Though the differences in gender of the sales force and its impact on several dimension of functioning and performance of the sales force has been the focus of many studies, clear positions on the impact of differences in gender have not been clearly established. While some studies provide evidence of variance in performance and commitment between males and females in a sales force, other studies have found minimal variance between males and females in a sales force and some studies have even suggested greater similarities than variances between males and females in a sales force, making it difficult to establish a clear cut position. A possible reason for this mixture of findings could be because most of the seminal studies on women in a sales force occurred more than two decades ago, when women were starting to find their place in a sales force and the circumstances that women faced in their work was different from what it is today. Circumstances have changed in some of the selling situations, which may lessen the influence of gender differences in these selling situations (Pullins, Reid & Plank, 2006). Customer satisfaction is the key to enhanced sales performance due to its link to the development of a relationship between the customer and the sales person. Trust is the key element in the development of this relationship. Customers are more prone to develop trust in sales persons, when the interaction continues over a period of time, and the maturity demonstrated by the sales person in the relationship (Jap, 2001). The analysis of performance of a sales force demonstrates that age has an impact on the performance of a sales person. In general, it is found that sales persons between the age of twenty-five and thirty-five demonstrate the best performance. Education also has a role to play in the performance of sales persons. An education level ranging from high school to college graduate is found to be the best education level in a sales person for maximum performance. A certain degree of education assists the sales person in the activities associated with selling, but too high an education level is found to be a hindrance to the required sales activities for good performance. Hence the optimal educational qualifications that contribute towards performance in a sales person is between high school and college graduate (Spiro, 2003). Universe of the Study The study is concentrated and limited to the department stores of the John Lewis Partnership in the United Kingdom. Sample Size Ten department stores of the John Lewis Partnership will be randomly selected as sites of the study. This random selection will mean that any of 29 department stores will have an equal opportunity to be a part of the study. In each of the selected department stores thirty participants, who are regular patrons of the department stores will be recruited for the study, again on a random basis, which means any of the regular patrons have an equal opportunity to be a part of the study. The thirty participants will be further classified into age groups of 25-35, 35-50 and above 50, with ten participants in each of these age groups from each of the ten department stores. The total sample size is 300 (N=300). Random selection is employed to reduce the impact of bias on the study (Riordan, 2005). A large sample size has been selected to make the sample more representative of the cross section of the customers of the John Lewis Partnership and thereby increase the validity and reliability of the study (Royer & Zarlowski, 2001). Methodology This study will use a mixed methodology through the use of an inductive and deductive framework to find answers to the research question of the study. The reason for the combination of inductive and deductive frameworks lies in making use of the advantages of both. Many of the problems that management research explores are done more effectively through the combination of inductive and deductive methods. The inductive method is better suited for the use and interpretation of qualitative data, while the deductive method has more emphasis on measurement and therefore is better suited for use in quantitative data and the interpretation of quantitative data (Lancaster, 2005). The study will employ a mixed methodology by collecting both qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data will be secondary data as compiled through a literature review and will make up the body of knowledge on the subject of the impact of gender on sales force. From the analysis of the secondary the study expects to find themes that can be employed through a questionnaire to provide the quantitative primary data. The study has chosen to use the questionnaire method to acquire the required quantitative data for the purposes of the study. Questionnaire are one of the effective means to get quantitative data and is popularly used in many research studies, because of the limited constraints it puts the research team in and the utility of the data received through it. The study prefers to employ an open questionnaire over a closed questionnaire. In an open questionnaire there is greater structure, which allows for probing in depth to remove the disadvantage of receiving superficial data, as in the case of a closed questionnaire (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe & Lowe, 2004). The questionnaire will be applied to the participants of the study during their regular visits to the selected department stores of the John Lewis Partnership. Limitations The study acknowledges that there is a limitation in the knowledge and skills in the use of advanced statistical tools like SPSS. This limitation will mean that simple statistical tools like classification, tabulation, averages, percentages, graphs, bar charts and pie diagrams will be employed for the statistical analysis of the data. Lack of use of advanced statistical means that analysis will not consider complex issues like correlation and there will be deficits in the understanding of all the aspect of the data collected. Only one third of the department stores is covered by the study, nor are any of the other activities of the John Lewis Partnership covered by the study. The study would have liked to increase the sample size to enhance the scope of the study, to increase reliability and validity of the study, but constraints of time and resources of manpower and finance are the constraints that have led to limits in size and scope of the study. Ethical Considerations 1. Administrative sanction from the institution and permission from the John Lewis Partnership will be received before starting the study and applying the questionnaire respectively. 2. The business organizations will be clearly informed about the nature and purpose of the study, while taking the permission. 3. Since human volunteers for a part of the study, the nature and purposes of the study will be explained to the prospective volunteers and their consent received in writing prior to their participation. The consent process will also consist of answering any questions that they have and providing clarifications when necessary. 4. Professional ethics as a researcher will be maintained at all times during the study. 5. Data collected will be for academic purposes only. 6. Data will be collected in such a manner as to ensure confidentiality of the business organizations (Data sheets will be coded). 7. At the end of the study the data sheets will be handed over to the administrative authorities for safe keeping or destruction. Proposed Time Table Activity Jan 2010 Feb 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 Institutional Sanctions and Permission from the John Partnership ------ Literature Review, Analysis of Literature, Review, Questionnaire preparation and training for applying the Questionnaire ------ ------- Applying the Questionnaire ------ ------ Compiling the Data and Data Analysis ------ Writing the Report ------ . Literary References Boles, S. J., Wood, J. A. & Johnson, J. 2003,’ INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF ROLE CONFLICT, ROLE AMBIGUITY, AND WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT WITH DIFFERENT FACETS OF JOB SATISFACTION AND THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF GENDER’, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, vol.23, no.2, pp.99-113. Dion, P. A., Easterling, D. & Javalgi, R. 1997, ‘Women in the business-to-business salesforce: Some differences in performance factors’, Industrial Marketing Management, vol.26, no.5, pp.447-357. Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R. & Lowe, A. 2004, Management Research: An Introduction, Sage, California. Jap, S. D. 2001, ‘The Strategic Role of the Salesforce in Developing Customer Satisfaction Across the Relationship Lifecycle’, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, vol.21, no.2, pp.95-108. John Lewis Partnership. 2009, ‘About Us’. Online Available at: http://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/Display.aspx?&MasterId=768e29e8-41aa-4716-bce2-df302fa1c3d8&NavigationId=543 (Accessed December 13, 2009). Ladik, D. M., Marshall, G. W., Lassk, F. G. & Moncrief, W. C. 2002, ‘Reexamining gender issues in salesperson propensity to leave’, International Marketing Management, vol.31, no.7, pp.599-607. Moncrief, W. C., Babukus, E., Cravens, D. W. & Johnston, M. W. 2000, ‘Examining Gender Differences in Field Sales Organizations’, Journal of Business Research, vol.49, no.3, pp.245-257. Pullins, E. B., Reid, D. A. & Plank, R. E. 2006, ‘Gender issues in buyer-seller relationships: does gender matter in purchasing?’ Journal of Supply Chain Management, vol.40, no.3, pp. 40-48. Riordan, J. 2005, Breastfeeding and Human Lactation, Third Edition, Jones and Bartlett, Massachusetts. Royer, I. & Zarlowski, P. 2001, ‘Sampling’, in Doing Management Research: A Comprehensive Guide, ed. Raymond-Alain Thietart, Sage, California Siguaw, J. A. & Honeycutt, D. E. 1995, ‘An examination of gender differences in selling behaviors and job attitudes’, Industrial Marketing Management, vol.24, no.1, pp.45-52. Spiro, S. R. 2003, Management of a Sales Force. New York: McGraw-Hill. Read More