提高营销人员招聘成效外文文献翻译.docx

提高营销人员招聘成效外文文献翻译.docx

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提高营销人员招聘成效外文文献翻译

文献出处：

BrehmerA,LillyB,TippinsMJ.ImprovingSalespersonRecruitment:

ExaminingPracticesofScreeningCandidatesforPotentialSuccessversusPotentialFailure[J].JournalofAppliedBusinessandEconomics,2013,15

（1）:

29-38.

原文

ImprovingSalespersonRecruitment:

ExaminingPracticesofScreeningCandidatesforPotentialSuccessversusPotentialFailure

BrehmerA,LillyB,TippinsMJ

Salespersonrecruitmenteffortslargelytargetidentifyingcandidateswhoappeartopossess'salessuccesstraits'.However,successtraitsmaydifferfromfailuretraits.Theoryandpracticebothdevotelowattentiontounderstandingtheunsuccessfulsalesperson,andhowtoincorporatesalesfailureintotherecruitmentprocess.Thispaperreportstheresultsofanexploratorystudythatexaminessalespersonrecruitment,teststhenotionthatrecruiters'overlook'failureissues,anddevelopsvariablesthatshouldmotivatefailureprobing,whichshouldbeusefulfortheoryandpractice.

INTRODUCTION

Oneofthemostimportanttasksfacingsalesmanagersishiringtherightpeople.Personnelselectionreceivessignificantinterestintheacademicsalesliterature,withstudiesexaminingantecedentsandconsequencesofhiringdecisions（e.g.,Ganesan,WeitzandJohn1993）,trendsinrecruitmentpractices（e.g.,Cronetal.2005）,hiringforcontextsthatinvolveinternationalsalesefforts（Honeycutt,FordandKurtzman1996）,andindividualcharacteristicsthatsignalpotentialfit（e.g.,Maxwelletal.2005）.Personnelselectionalsoreceivesattentioninpractitionerliterature,reflectedintheGoodtoGreatkeyfindingthat"gettingtherightpeopleonthebus"iscritical（Collins2001）,andinmanageriallyorientedarticlesthatprovideexperience-basedinsightsandsuggestionsrelatedtohiring.Theresearchreportedinthispaperinvestigatestwointriguingsalesrecruitmentinsightsreportedinarecentpractitionerorientedarticle（HRChallyGroup2007）.Thisprojectexploresandextendstheinsightsinamannerusefultotheacademiccommunity,furtheringtheideasforboththeoryandpractice.Notably,manymarketingundergraduatestudentsstarttheircareersinsales,andthusweviewtheprojectashavingpotentialbenefittomarketingprofessorswhohelpcompaniesrecruittheirstudents.

Thetwoinsightsexaminedinthisstudyarestatedasmistakescommonlymadewhenhiringsalespeople.Onemistakewasreferredtoas"Usingsuccessfulpeopleasmodels,"andreferstothenotionofhiringpeoplewhopossesscharacteristicscommontotopsalesperformers,withoutrecognizingthatthesesamecharacteristicsmaybecommonamongbottomperformers.Thus,screeningtoolsusedtorecruitsalespeoplemaybeineffectivebecausetheymayidentifythewrong"top"candidates,asthesecandidatessharecharacteristicsofbothtopandbottomperformers.Thesecondmistakewasreferredtoas"Notresearchingthereasonsthatpeoplefail,"andreferstothenotionthathiringmanagershaveabiasedperspectivewhenhiring,correctlyplacingeffortinunderstandingwhatmakessalespeoplesucceed,butfailingtoascertainwhysalespeoplehavefailed.Thismistake,whichhasbeenstudiedmuchlessintheliteratureasdemonstratedinAppendix1,mayleadahiringmanagertorecruitapersonwhoispoisedtoperformwellonsomeaspectsofthejob,butwhoisalsopoisedtofailonotheraspectsofthejob.Bothmistakesdealwithperformancefailures,andinvolveneglectingfailureissuesinthepersonnelselectionprocess.

Giventheinsightsabove,thepurposeofthispaperistoexaminetheassertionofthesemistakes.Weseektoassesstheimportanceofthetwo'commonmistakes',andmeasurethedegreetowhichtheseproblemsoccur.Further,iftheassertionsappeartobeimportantandprevalent,thenweseektodeveloprecommendationsforresearchandpracticethatwouldleadtocorrespondingimprovementsinhiringprocesses.Theremainderofthispaperisorganizedasfollows.Wediscusstheimportanceoftheseissues;whyincludingfailureissuesinscreeningmayormaynotbecriticaltomanagershiringsalespeople.WethendiscussStudy1,whichwasqualitative,andwhichledtosomevalidationoftheassertionsaboveanddevelopmentofhypothesestotestquantitatively.WethendiscussStudy2,whichentailedasurvey-basedquantitativetest,andprovidedfurthervalidationandresultedinpinpointingveryspecificareaswheremistakesoccur.Finally,wepresentconclusionsandrecommendations.

IMPORTANCEOFINCLUDINGFAILUREISSUESINSCREENING

Theimportanceoffocusingonfailureduringascreeningprocessmaybequestionedforthreereasons,eachdiscussedbelow.Questioningtheimportanceofexcludingfailureinthescreeningprocessisimportant,becauseifexcludingfailureisunimportant,thentheexclusionisappropriateratherthanmistaken.

First,insalessettingsarefailuresrareorlowincost?

Weconsiderafailuretobeanemployeewhofailstoachieveminimumworkrelatedgoals,orwhodecidestoleavethecompanysothecostoftherecruitmenteffortisinsufficientlyrecovered.Ifvirtuallyallrecruitedsalespeoplewerelaterdeemedasnon-failures,thenspendingtimeidentifyingpotentialfailureswouldbewasteful,astheirlikelihoodofoccurringwouldbeverylow.Also,ifthecostofrecruitmentislow,thenagainspendingtimewithfailureissueswouldbewasteful,asahirethatresultsinfailurecouldbereplacedinexpensivelywithanotherhire.Forthis"arefailuresrareorlowincost"question,wenoteresearchindicatesfailureratesinsalespositionsarehighbothinabsolutesenseandrelativetoothertypesofpositions（Richardson1999）,andthatcostsofreplacingfailingemployeeshavelongbeenassessedashigh（Rosenberg,GibsonandEpley1981）.Further,wenoteacompanycouldhaveanemployeetheyconsidertobefailingandyetretaintheemployee;inthiscasethecostisalsohigh,asworkrelatedgoalsarenotachieved.Thus,failuresinsalessettingsarenotrare,andarecostly.

Second,doesscreeningcandidatesforsuccessessentiallyaccomplishthesameobjectiveasscreeningcandidatesforpotentialfailure?

Ifso,thenfailureissuesareaddressedthrougheffortsthatfocusonsuccess.Inresponsetothissecondquestion,wenotesuccesstypicallyisequatedtoin-roleachievements,suchassalesproductivity.Ontheotherhand,asrecognizedintheOCBliterature,extra-rolebehaviorsoftencorrelatesignificantlywithmanagers'evaluationsofsalespersonperformance,andyetmaynotbeconsciouslythoughtofassuccesselements（MacKenzie,PodsakoffandFetter1993）.Thus,performanceinsomedimensionsmaydistinguishsuccessfromlackofsuccess,whereasperformanceinotherdimensionsmaydistinguishfailurefromlackoffailure.ThisnotionhasbeenappliedfrequentlyinthestudyofsatisfactionwithproductperformanceviatheKanomodel（Vargoetal.2007）,whichisanalogoustosatisfactionwithemployeeperformance.Ultimately,weexpectasalespersoncouldbeclassifiedassuccessfulinbothsalesproductivityandvariousextra-roledimensions,classifiedassuccessfulinsalesproductivityandyetfailedinextra-roledimensions（orviceversa）,ormaybeclassifiedasfailedinbothsalesproductivityandextra-roledimensions.Infact,evenifasalespersonisviewedassucceedingonbothsalesproductivityandextra-roledimensions,afailurecouldexistbecausethesalespersondecidedtoleavethecompanybeforethecompanysufficientlyrecoversthecostoftherecruitmenteffort.Thus,screeningforsuccessmayfocusonasubsetofcriticaldimensions,insufficientlyprotectingagainsthiringapersonwhoendsupfailingonotherimportantdimensions.

Third,aresignalsoffailureobvioustosalesmanagers,orevenpotentialsalespeople?

Inthiscase,puttinglowoverteffortintoscreeningforfailurewouldmakesense,asscreeningwouldoccurwithoutmucheffortornotice.However,researchresultsindicatesalesmanagersoftenhavemistakenimpressionsofwhyfailuresoccuramongsalespeople（LillyandPorter2003）,andareunabletoanticipatewhowouldbetheworstsalespersonataratehigherthanchance（EmeryandHandell2007）.Further,evensalespeoplethemselvesareoftenuncertainaboutwhatfactorshavecontributedtotheirperformance（Dixon,ForbesandSchertzer2005）,andweexpectsignalsoffailurewouldbeevenlessobvioustopotentialsalespeople.Thus,weconcludethatfailuresignalsarenotsimplyobvious,andthateffortfulscreeningforfailureisimportant.

Basedontheissuesabove,ouroverallassessmentisthat:

1）salespersonfailureiscostlyandfrequent,2）screeningforpotentialsuccessmayinsufficientlyguardagainsthiringapersonwhofails,and3）effortspentscreeningforfailureislikelytobehelpful,ascausesoffailureareoftennon-obvious.Tosomeextent,theoft-repeatedadagefromWinstonChurchillapplies,specificallythatthosewhofailtostudyhistoryaredoomedtorepeatit.Inthecontextofsalespersonrecruitment,someinclusionoffailureinthescreeningprocessseemsveryimportant.

STUDY1:

QUALITATIVEASSESSMENT

WehadfourprimaryobjectivesforStudy-1whichparallelfourquestions.First,fromtheperspectiveofprofessionalsinvolvedinsalespersonrecruitment,dorecruitmenteffortsgenerallylackacomponentoflookingforissuesthatsignalpotentialfailure?

Second,ifrecruitmenteffortsreallydoomiteffortstoprobeforpotentialfailure,dopractitionersviewtheomissionasacaseoffailurebeingoverlooked,oristheomissionintendedforreasonsbeyondthethreeissuesdiscussedabove?

Third,arepost-mortemscommonlyconductedaftersalespersonfailuresoccur,inamannerwhereresultingknowledgecouldbeeasilyusedin