Learning From the of Joe Salatino: The Great North American - Case Study Example

Learning From the Case of Joe Salatino: The Great North American Discuss how Joe could address the importance of understanding how people form perceptions and make attributions about others with his employees. He could offer a training workshop for those who want to become a top salesperson and think they have what it takes. He could ask a couple of top salespeople to explain how they foster intimacy with a customer by subscribing to their hometown newspapers so they can talk like a hometown friend instead of being perceived as an outsider. This strategy removes any sense of threat and response of resistance from customers, and fosters trust and therefore loyalty. The customer attributes the salesperson’s hometown news fluency to internal factors, specifically to their similarity, competence, and caring, factors under the salesperson’s control, and not to external factors like just trying to make a random sale to a random target. Salatino could also explain how critical behaviors and expressions of rapport with the customer are during the fast and furious blue-light special sales. Saving money is certainly part of the equation, the most visible customer factor in the sales. But even in those fast and furious moments, when the customer is thrown off-balance by the pace of the special circumstance sale, the customer is caught off-guard, induced into a kind of trance state by the intensity of the moment, and more vulnerable to suggestion, if the salesperson makes use of that appropriately. In such a state, the customer makes the attribution that the salesperson is their guide, friend, and mentor, is highly competent and is making a massive effort on their behalf. The customer believes the salesperson is keeping in mind their needs, and watching their back. This is an internal attribution. An external attribution would be for the customer to draw a conclusion that they were just lucky to have good timing, by answering the phone in time for a special. But, with external attribution, the customer will not feel any reciprocal connection with the salesperson or the company, in the way they would if they attribute the circumstances of the sale to the salesperson’s competence and effort. The whirling blue light motivates the salesperson’s most intense and concentrated efforts to catch the customer’s attention, and lead them to perceive that there is a shopping emergency, that time is of the essence. But it is the attitude and behavior of the salesperson that leads to additional purchases and customer loyalty. Salatino could explain that internal attributions, when applied to a situation that has gone wrong, can solicit more punitive behavior, as a reaction (Slocum, 2009, p.84). Therefore, when circumstances turn negative, within the perception of the customer (for example, they were unable to successfully complete their preferred selection during a blue-light special, due to a credit card malfunction, or the phone connection was dropped), if the customer blames the salesperson and the company, a potential loyal customer may be eternally lost. However, if the customer has strong rapport with the salesperson, and positive antecedents (information, beliefs, motivation), an external attribution is more likely to be made, and the situation is more easily managed by the salesperson and the company, in a way that fosters customer loyalty. The customer will be more likely to notice that the company and salesperson have consistent supportive behavior, that these circumstances are distinct, and that their experience falls within the range of normal, given the circumstances. Since customer loyalty translates into more money, it is a good idea to educate all salespeople about how these factors shape customer perception, and how these perceptions have monetary outcomes. Each salesperson who participates in the workshop should be assigned to shadow a top salesperson for 2 hours, so that they can see these concepts in application. Although salespeople are highly competitive, the result could mean increased sales and more money for everyone. Shadowed salespeople could be offered a training appreciation bonus, or offered a more advanced training opportunity through a conference or formal education. 2. Evaluate which learning theory (either operant conditioning, social learning theory, or the learning theory you research) would be most appropriate for Joe to apply in this situation and explain why. “Organizations which fail to provide a direct correlation between an employee’s individual efforts and contributions to the Company’s overall success often find themselves challenged with remaining competitive and relevant…organizational values serve as the “guiding principles” for which employees should be measured against and encouraged to demonstrate” (Argano, 2009). The Great North American Company is a telemarketing business, trying to remain competitive with the rising tide of Internet users. Furthermore, they are dealing with a high employee turnover rate. These are two indicators that Social Learning Theory could be helpfully applied, because this theoretical orientation goes beyond simple conditioning, to deal with human feelings and values. Increasing competition and worker retention require that the feelings and values of sales staff be responsibly aligned with company goals and efforts. Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory indicates that self-regulation provides a basis for action by mediating outside influences, so that the individual can be responsible and control their actions and motivators (Argano, 2009). Joe Salatino has all kinds of external motivators in use with his sales staff. He uses bonuses and commissions. He uses whirling blue lights and white snowflakes to motivate a furious intensity and pace. The area, during a sales promotion, is noisy. Sales people feel the tightening of company expectation around them. But these are external motivators and what Joe needs to have happen is for a gradual transition to occur, among his sale staff, from external to internal motivation. Without that, sales staff will have to be micro-managed and forever externally manipulated, and retention issues are inevitable. This requires more than money, whirling blue lights and snowflakes. It requires company values to be made explicit, and programs and goal-setting implemented to support the internalization of those explicit values. Ultimately, Bandura indicates, motivation must become internal. People are not machines or puppets, to be efficiently operated by external controls. Bandura notes that external controls are good because rewards support motivation, but motivation is also supported by internal rewards, such as the satisfaction of reaching one’s highest standard or surpassing one’s previous limit. External controls must be mediated by self-regulation, so that the salespeople are completely on-board with company values and goals, with or without flashing blue lights. 3. Discuss ways that Joe could apply the learning theory you selected to improve employees performance Because an alignment of values supports internal motivation through self-regulation, it would be good to have a sense of how well employment candidates’ values are initially aligned with those of the company. It would also be good to be able to predict the likelihood and direction of value change, within the context of the company, if hired. Actually, Chatman’s research (Chatman, 1989) suggests an interesting methodology to accomplish these goals through a Q-sort of values. It involves an interactive model of person-organization fit, which includes personal and situational factors, as well as the effects of the person on the situation. I would suggest that Joe utilize this method in order to raise employee retention. Once recruited as a sales person, the individual should be carefully socialized. Jones’ research, on newcomer adjustment to organizations, indicates that “institutionalized tactics lead to custodial role orientations, and individualized tactics to innovative role orientations” (Jones, 1986, p.262). This would suggest that using a shadowing and mentoring model would be of more benefit than the usual Human Resources orientation, with a film of the company history, a lot of papers to fill out, a handbook to read, and a tour of the work environment. A more individualized introduction to the position will establish company expectations in the form of values and attitudes. When these are observed by the newcomer, it will lead to innovative role orientation and gradual value internalization. This supports healthy self-regulation, which mediates external influences, and the newcomer adjusts to the demands of the position, and makes good money, which functions as external reinforcement. An application of Bandura’s theory to Joe’s business would also suggest the importance of implementing goal setting programs, since learning takes place by observing attitudes and behavior. This will result in the sales personnel feeling invested in the company’s values and success, and not merely in their own personal success (Argano, 2009). Also, it is more effective if company goals are articulated together, since it encourages better employee-manager relations and also apparently results in higher quality goals (Argano, 2009). I would suggest that Joe hold a company-wide meeting to articulate company values and goals, and that sufficient discussion be encouraged, so that everyone is involved. Small discussion teams could be allocated to work on various aspects of this task, and entertaining feedback from the group. Joe should modify the list, as needed, and then should post the company values and goals attractively on the walls, for easy access. Joe should also implement an employee of the week, or employee of the month program. Recognition should be extended to the top salesperson and also to an employee whose actions or attitude best especially demonstrated the organization’s core values. This would strengthen the company by balancing external motivation with internal self-regulation. 4. Determine how Joe could leverage an understanding of the value of self-efficacy to ensure he hires the most successful salespeople. Salatino obviously has some top-performing sales people who exhibit the confidence and self-certainty that is self-efficacy. The sales person who is able to complete a sale in five minutes, with a lot of potential distraction around, is a self-efficacious person with an internal locus of control. Salatino has noticed that his top-performers are socially-fluent with customers. They can make personally-meaningful small talk, which their customers appreciate. They can convey intimacy in their relationships with customers, and efficiently manage their demands. A person with low self-efficacy would be more likely to convey nervous uncertainty, which could be contagious to the customer. The results of Jones’ study showed that low self-efficacy leads to custodial role orientations in the socialization learning process (Jones, 1986, p.262). A custodial role orientation is an obstacle to social fluency, since they are basically externally motivated and are not activated by internalized values which inspire an innovative orientation. We have already established that internalized values and an innovative orientation characterize those top salespeople who make the most money for the company and for themselves, and who foster relationships with customers that develop and sustain a loyal customer base. Therefore, Joe needs to hire salespeople with high self-efficacy, and should do everything he can to inspire increasing self-efficacy in all his salespeople. Research in the application of Social Cognitive Theory also indicates that self-efficacy boosts salesperson performance, and is directly affected by the salesperson’s learning efforts and, through those efforts, is affected by perceived job autonomy and by how demanding the customer is (Wang & Netemeyer, 2002). Internalized values leads to self-regulation, which inspires personal interest and initiative in dealing with the customer (learning efforts), which results in more sales and more money (external reinforcement), increased confidence (self-efficacy), and a relationship with the customer (job autonomy) that is intimate enough to personally manage demands and foster customer loyalty, further increasing self-efficacy. This yields a more complete picture of the core dynamic, referred to by Bandura in his Social Cognitive Theory and applied in this paper to the Joe Salatino case. References Argano, M. T. (2009, November 1). Social learning theory and organizational applications. Retrieved January 24, 2012, from Articlesbase: http://www.articlesbase.com/organizational-articles/social-learning-theory-and-organizational-applications-1452369.html Chatman, J. A. (1989). Improving interactional organizational research: A model of person-organization fit. The Academy of Management Review, 14 (3): 333-349. Jones, G. R. (1986). Socialization tactics, self-efficacy, and newcomers adjustments to organizations. The Academy of Management Journal, 262-279. Slocum, H. &. (2009). Organizational Behavior. Mason: Cengage Learning. Wang, G., & Netemeyer, R. G. (2002). The effects of job autonomy, customer demandingness, and trait competitiveness on salesperson learning, self-efficacy, and performance. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 30 (3): 217-228. Read More