Management by Objective: an Imperative factor for Shaping the Salesforce Morale

Abstract

Managers in all sorts of firms have long extolled the importance of morale in building effective sales force management.  Groups with only mediocre talent have achieved great results because their sales people had excellent morale. Conversely, talented sales people with poor morale seldom achieve much.  Sales force morale have been of great concern to every sales manager. To provide a framework for the analysis of this study, much was drawn from Peter Druckers’s concept of Management by Objective (MBO), which is a system of evaluating subordinates for their ability to achieve specific organizational goals or performance standards and to meeting operating budgets.  A sample of 350 salespeople and managers in selected multinational forms in Nigeria was determined using a mean. The hypothesis was tested using the Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) statistics to obtain the results that gives high F – values and P < 0.000 indicating that the results generated are not due to chance, thus are current and significant.  Also with r- Squared values that are at least 0.836, a very strong relationship is established between the research questions.  Having adjusted r-squared values that are at least 0.834, it is determined that at least 83.4% of change is caused by the independent variable.  Based on this, the null hypothesis is rejected, suggesting that joint goal determination and periodic joint review of accomplishment by the sales manager and the salesperson have significant effect on the salesforce morale.  This suggest that salespeople who participate in an MBO program are more likely to know what is expected of them and to feel that their goals are attainable and equitable than those who do not take part in such a program.  Hence, when sales people have a clear understanding of their roles, not only is their performance higher; their moral and job satisfaction is higher, and their propensity to leave the firm is lower.

Keywords: Management by Objectives (MBO), Salesforce Morale, Job satisfaction, Integrating Interests Reward Orientation, Organizational Climate.