Transformational Leadership of a Salesforce for Higher Level of Job Satisfaction and Performance

Abstract

In today’s sales environment traditional work relationships are being questioned and often replaced with new ones.  Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the relationship between sales person and sales manager.  In the traditional top-down bureaucratic styles, managers were the supervisors responsible for administering the salesforce.  Conversely, they were held directly accountable for the actions of their sales people.  Words like control and manager were used to describe the activities.  The highly dynamic and competitive environment of the 21^st century demands a more responsive, flexible approach to sales management.  Salesforces are becoming less hierarchical with fewer layers of management while more responsibility if being given to the salesperson.  Leading versus managing has become an important distinction for today’s successful sales managers.  Therefore, this study was undertaken to determine the effect of transformational leadership behaviour on the job satisfaction and performance of a salesforce.  The House’s Path- Goal theory which focused on what leaders can do to motivate their subordinates to achieve group and organizational goals guided the study.  A sample of 350 sales people and managers in selected multinational firms in Nigeria was determined using a mean.  The hypothesis was tested using the Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) statistics to obtain the results that give high F-values and P<000 showing that the results generated are not due to chance, thus are current and significant.  Also with r-square values that are at least 0.727, a very strong relationship is established between the questions of the research instrument.  Having adjusted r-squared values that are at least 0.724, it is determined that at least 72.4% of change is caused by the independent variable. Based on this, the null hypothesis is rejected, indicating that when sale manages engage in transformational leadership, their salespeople tend to have higher level of job satisfaction and performance.  Additionally, salespeople of transformational salesforce managers may be more likely to trust their managers and their organizations and feel that they are being fairly treated which in turn, may positively influence their work motivation, satisfaction and performance.  This suggests that all organizations; no matter how large or small, successful or unsuccessful, can benefit when their managers engage in transformational leadership.

Keywords: Transformational Leadership, Transactional Leadership, Salesforce Management, Job satisfaction, Higher Levels of Performance