Motivation

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Discussion Questions

❚ What is the best way to motivate a

salesforce?
❚ How can you systematically design a
motivation system?

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Three Major Determinants
of Motivation

❚ Environmental conditions
❚ The firm’s management policies
❙ compensation
❙ supervision
❙ task characteristics
❚ Personal characteristics of the
salesperson

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Motivation Session
Objectives

❚ understand the components of

motivation through the expectancy-
value model
❚ relate management tools to
components of the expectancy-value
model, to use in influencing
motivational levels
❚ consider how management style and
the use of various “tools” influence 4
Motivation Session Outline

❚ Locus of Control and Motivation

❚ Expectancy-Value Model of
motivation
❙ what is it?
❙ Who cares? (implications of the model)
❚ Glengarry Glen Ross & the impact of
the sales manager on motivation
❚ The impact of role stress
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Locus of Control and
Motivation

❚ Locus:
❙ External vs. internal attributions
❙ Stable vs. unstable attributions
❚ Examples:
❙ External Stable:
❙ External Unstable:
❙ Internal Stable:
❙ Internal Unstable:
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The Expectancy-Value
model

❚ Why are people motivated

❙ to initiate a task
❙ to choose a certain effort level
❙ to persist in a task
❚ Expectancy Principle: salespeople choose
a level of effort based on the expected
payoffs of alternative effort levels

❚ Most popular model of motivation (at least

among sales force researchers) 7
Expectancy-Value Model in
Notation

❚ Mj=Ej x Vj where:

❚ Mj=motivational drive to achieve level j of

performance (e.g. sales, number of new accounts
etc.)
❚ Ej =beliefs about the effort to performance
linkage: perceived chances of achieving level j of
performance given effort
❚ Vj = overall subjective utility (valence or value) of
achieving level j of performance
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Examples:

Ej Vj Mj Level of Performance

80% 60 48 If j=$200,000 in sales

40% 100 40 If j=$300,000 in sales

10% 80 8 If j=$400,000 in sales

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Valence/Value: Vj
❚ Valence is a composite of the utility you
derive from the suboutcomes
(consequences) that accompany achieving
level j of performance
❚ These might include:
❙ more pay, promotion, liking & respect, lack of
leisure time, personal growth
❙ security, sense of accomplishment,
recognition, hurting personal life
❚ Outcomes can have negative
utility/valence 10
Vj= Σ (Iij x Vi)

Vj = expected overall utility to an individual of achieving

performance level j
Iij = beliefs about the performance to suboutcomes linkages: the
individuals subjective probability that achieving performance
level j would create suboutcome I (instrumentalities)

Example: 30% chance that selling $300K (performance level j)

would get one a promotion (suboutcome I)

Vi = the utility an individual derives from suboutcome I

(e.g., a promotion) Note: this can be negative
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That’s nice, but who
cares?

❚ Nobody thinks like this (it’s too

complicated)
❚ But model holds up well in field
testing (good “as if” model)
❚ Explains up to 40% of variance in
performance

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Expectancy-Value Model
Advantages

❚ Model is a handy way to structure a

messy question
❚ Forces you to project o each
individual’s underlying beliefs
(expectancies) and needs/wants
(values)
❚ Different people can exhibit the
same level of motivation for very
different reasons 13
Implications for How to
Motivate
❚ No reward is motivating if it is out of reach (low
expectancy)
❚ Raising the goal (performance level j) often
depresses motivation
❙ Introduces negative outcomes
❙ Depresses expectancies
❚ Can motivate by trying to induce sales people to:
❙ raise expectancy (I.e. through training, encouragement)
❙ consider a negative suboutcome unlikely
❙ consider a positive suboutcome likely
❙ Add a new positive suboutcome
❙ Change their ideas about whether suboutcomes are
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desirable or undesirable (vi: doomed strategy for the
Glengarry Glen Ross

❚ what is the impact of management style on the

components of the expectancy value model?
❚ What motivational “tools” are used?
❚ How do these tools impact motivation in the
short-term? Over the long term?
❚ How do these tools impact extrinsic motivations?
Intrinsic motivation?

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Motivators

❚ Positive Motivators ❚ Negative

Motivators
❙ Commission ❙ Fear
❙ Recognition ❙ Intimidation
❙ Acceptance ❙ Revenge
❙ Respect ❙ Obligation
❙ Trust ❙ Social Comparison
❙ Achievement (one-up)
❙ Pride

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Sales Manager Objectives
& Tools

❚ Objectives:
❙ Increase magnitude and accuracy of expectancies
❙ Increase accuracy of instrumentalities
❙ Understand and work with valences

❚ Key:
❙ reduce role stress arising from role ambiguity & role
conflict

❚ Tools:
❙ training: expectancies
❙ evaluations, reviews: expectancies, instrumentalities
❙ communication, participation: instrumentalities
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❙ selection: hire SP whose Vi’s match company
 How to Motivate

❚ Define each employee’s motivating factors and

provide an environment that incorporates those
factors
❚ Praise performance
❚ Address poor performance
❚ Set goals & clearly communicate expectations
❚ Share your vision and include your team in creating it

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Measuring Components of the
Model

❚ May be done informally for small sales forces, but

beware of biases (e.g. we believe what we want
to believe; we think everyone else is like we are)
❚ periodic surveys can be conducted to quantify
each component of the model
❙ expectancies: to what extent do you believe that if you
do x, y will happen
❙ instrumentalities: to what extent do you believe that if y
happens, you’ll receive z
❙ valences for suboutcomes: how important is ..
❚ Quantified information is valuable at both the
aggregate level and the individual level
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Role Stress

❚ “A primary influence on how salespeople perform

is their perceptions of the demands placed upon
them”
❚ “A role is a prescription:
❙ it tells you the activities and behavior that are expected
of anyone in a position
❚ Role partners
❙ communicate expectations
❙ pressure salespeople to meet them
❚ A role partner is anyone with a vested interest in
how a salesperson does the job, such as:
❙ the boss, the customers, other executives, other
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salespeople and support people, people who are
Role Stress (continued)

❚ Role stress is like a disease; most reps suffer

complications of role stress
❚ Why?
❙ Sales is at the boundary of the firm; salespeople are
boundary spanners, which means lots of role partners
❙ Salespeople often have to be creative; find solutions;
reconcile needs
❙ A sales reps performance affects performance of lots of
other people
❙ Sales reps personify the cruel voice of the marketplace
(scapegoat- kill the messenger)
❙ Time and resource constraints necessitate tradeoffs
between role partners’ expectations
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Role Stress (continued)

❚ Day after day, salespeople grapple with the

messages their role partners send them and the
pressures role partners put on them.
❚ Two things create role stress (create problems
that eventually will make the salesperson
miserable):
❙ Perceived Role Conflict
❙ Perceived Role Ambiguity

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Perceived Role Conflict:

❚ you feel that the demands of your role partners

are incompatible. To make one happy, you have
to upset another (perceived).
❚ Upshot: misery & poor motivation

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Perceived Role Ambiguity:

❚ You feel you don’t have the information to cope

with your job demands
❙ don’t know how to do a task
❙ don’t know what role partners expect
❙ don’t know how your performance is being evaluated
❙ don’t have clear objectives
❙ SUM: unsure how you’re doing and what to do next

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How to reduce Role Stress

❚ Communicate! Give feedback!

❚ Even bad news is better than news
❚ Salespeople must have accurate expectancies &
instrumentalities
❚ Training and encouragement: increase
expectancies for desired levels of performance-
people who believe they can, often do
❚ Accept that some role stress is normal (even
desirable)
❚ but be especially alert for dysfunctional levels of
role stress in inexperienced people
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Sales Manager Atmosphere
Creation

❚ Traditional Approach
❙ Authoritative “management”
❙ Emphasis on rewards the manager gives out:
❘ pay
❘ promotion
❘ recognition of achievement
❚ Leading to:
❙ Motivation to work harder: intensity, persistence

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Non-traditional atmosphere

❚ Participate leadership
❚ Emphasis on intrinsic rewards & motivation
❚ people work because selling satisfies them with:
❙ challenges
❙ pride in serving customers
❙ pride in skills
❚ “Warm Culture”
❙ informal
❙ sense of shared values
❙ identify with company
❙ long-term employment
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Motivating

❚ A motivator is one who can understand an overall

goal and inspire others to make a personal
commitment to this goal
❚ 5 ways to provide a motivating environment
❙ Participation: involvement in decisions that affect the
team
❙ Environment: climate for success, creativity
❙ Recognition: giving credit, praise, rewards
❙ Knowledge: having it, communicating it
❙ Style: use appropriate style for each situation:
❘ coaching, supporting, delegating, directing

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