An Integrative Theory for Managing the Marketing Executives in Nigerian Banks

Abstract

Encouraging creativity among the marketing executives is such a pressing organizational concern that many banks in Nigeria are hiring outside experts to help them develop programs to train their managers and executives in the art of creative thinking and problem solving. The systems approach to management is an integrative theory that attempts to present and operate an organization as a unified, purposeful system composed of inter-related parts. The study was guided by the work of the learning theorist Peter Senger that offers a powerful conceptual framework for harnessing the knowledge and skills of employees, for developing those skills further, and for creating networks of ideas and concepts that can lead to innovation and success. A sample of 303 marketing executives in selected banks in Nigeria was determined using the finite multiplier. From the analysis of the study, Kendall’s W coefficient of 0.483 was obtained, which indicates an average concordance among the respondents and shows the level of agreement among the respondents. Also the result presented gives a chi-square value of 292.534. This value is greater than the critical chi-square value of 5.991 (X² cal = 292.534 > X² critical = 5.991). This result is significant as P < 0.05. Hence, the null hypothesis is rejected, indicating that a bank in which managers try to maximize the ability of marketing executives and groups to think and behave creatively will perform exceptionally. This reveals that without new ideas, marketing executives in Nigerian banks are unlikely to achieve the breakthrough that generates real success. Creative thinking is a team responsibility in which all marketing executives and managers should participate. Any systematic approach to improving performance needs to challenge existing ways of working. Marketing executives looking to improve must learn to generate their own tasks, tackle problems, agree on solutions, and implement their decisions with confidence. It is therefore recommended that top managers must allow every marketing executive in the bank to develop a sense of personal mastery. Managers should empower marketing executives and allow them to experiment and create and explore what they want. As part of attaining personal mastery, banks need to encourage marketing executives to develop and use complex mental models-sophisticated ways of thinking that challenge them to find new or better ways of performing a task-to deepen their understanding of what is involved in a particular marketing activity in order to develop a taste for experimenting and risking. Managers should do everything they can to promote marketing executives team creativity. Managers should emphasize the importance of building a shared vision- a common mental model that all marketing executives should use to frame problems or opportunities. Managers should encourage systems thinking (a concept drawn from integrative theory). Managers must recognize the effects of one level of learning on another, since there is little or no point in creating teams of marketing executives to facilitate learning when they do not also take steps to give the marketing executives the freedom to develop a sense of personal mastery.

Keywords: Integrative Theory, Marketing Executives, Nigerian Banks, Learning Organization, System Thinking, Brainstorming, Delphi Technique, Nominal Group Technique, Production Blocking.