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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