Organization of the Sales Force

Organization

Organization is the basic management function of arranging the firms work activities . Organization represents a continuation of the companys strategic planning process Organization permits the assignment of specific tasks to a position. Effective Organization eliminate delay and buck passing

Organizational structure
Structure involves the ways in which an organization divides its activities into distinct tasks and then achieves coordination among them
MKT

CEO

HRM

FIN

Components of Organization Structure

Task of the sales Organization

Following Basic task must be accomplished by organization 1. Maintenance of order in achieving a sales force goals and objectives 2. Assignment of specific tasks and responsibilities 3. Integration and coordination with other elopements of the firm

Organizational Structure
Effective structure allows the maintenance or order

With out structure sale force will be in state of confusion and turmoil Goals and objectives will be misunderstood, Selling efforts will be misdirected Channels of communication will be blocked and inappropriate

The size of the company and Developing a sales organization

Formal and informal organization Horizontal and vertical organization Centralized and decentralized organizations Span of control The line and staff position

Formal organization

Informal organization

Vertical and horizontal organization

Vertical sales organization
CEO

Regional or Zone sales manager

District sales manger

Sales supervisor

salesperson

Horizontal sales organization

CEO

Punjab

Sind

AJK

Balochistan

NWFP

Decentralization and Centralization

Decentralization

The process of systematically delegating power and authority throughout the organization to middle- and lower-level managers.

Centralization

The process of systematically retaining power and authority in the hands of higher-level managers.

Decentralization and Centralization

Factors Determining the Choice of Centralization

The complexity and uncertainty of the external environment. The history of the organization. The nature (cost and risk) of the decisions to be made.

Establishing Reporting Relationships

Span of Management (or Span of Control)

The number of people who report to a particular manager. There is no ideal or optimal span of management.

Span of management and Tall Versus Flat Organizations

Tall Organization
President

Flat Organization

President

Basic types of sales organizations

Barney, Jay B. and Ricky W. Griffin, The Management of Organizations. Copyright 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Used with permission.

Product Departmentalization
Advantages All activities associated with one product can be integrated and coordinated. Speed and effectiveness of decision making are enhanced. Performance of individual products or product groups can be assessed. Disadvantages Managers may focus on their product to the exclusion of the rest of the organization. Administrative costs may increase due to each department having its own functional-area experts.

Customer Departmentalization
Customer Departmentalization Grouping activities to respond to and interact with specific customers and customer groups. Advantage Skilled specialists can deal with unique customers or customer groups. Disadvantage A large administrative staff is needed to integrate activities of various departments.

Location Departmentalization
Location Departmentalization The grouping of jobs on the basis of defined geographic sites or areas. Advantage Enables the organization to respond easily to unique customer and environmental characteristics. Disadvantage Large administrative staff may be needed to keep track of units in scattered locations.

Combination methods
President

General sales manger Product

General Sales Manager Product

Eastern District

Central district

Western district

Eastern district

Central district

Western district

Departmentalization
Advantages

Disadvantages

Each department can be staffed by functional-area experts. Supervision is facilitated in that managers only need be familiar with a narrow set of skills. Coordination inside each department is easier.

Decision making becomes slow and bureaucratic. Employees narrow their focus to the department and lose sight of organizational goals/ issues. Accountability and performance are difficult to monitor.

Coordinating Activities
Coordination

The process of linking the activities of the various departments of the organization.
Departments and work groups are interdependent; the greater the interdependence, the greater the need for coordination.

The Need for Coordination

Relation ship with other departments

Relations with marketing function (Marketing Mix) Relations with non marketing departments (R&D , Production, HRM, finance , accounting

Major trend in sales organizations

Telemarketing
Inbound telemarketing Outbound telemarketing

Direct marketing System selling Center

Alternatives to Specialization
Work Teams
An alternative to job specialization that allows the entire group to design the work system it will use to perform an interrelated set of tasks.

Job Specialization

Benefits of Specialization Workers can become proficient at a task. Transfer time between tasks is decreased. Specialized equipment can be more easily developed. Employee replacement becomes easier. Limitations of Specialization Employee boredom and dissatisfaction with mundane tasks. Anticipated benefits of specialization do not always occur.

Alternatives to Specialization
Job Rotation Systematically moving employees from one job to another. Most frequent use today is as a training device for skills and flexibility. Job Enlargement An increase in the total number of tasks workers perform. Increases training costs, unions contend that workers deserve more pay for doing more tasks, and the work may still be dull and routine. Job Enrichment Increasing both the number of tasks the worker does and the control the worker has over the job.

Alternatives to Specialization

Job Characteristics Approach:

Core Dimensions
Skill varietythe number of tasks a person does in a job. Task identitythe extent to which the worker does a complete or identifiable portion of the total job. Task significancethe perceived importance of the task. Autonomythe degree of control the worker has over how the work is performed. Feedback the extent to which the worker knows how well the job is being performed.

Core job dimensions

Critical psychological states

Personal and work outcomes

Skill variety Task identity Task significance

Experienced meaningfulness of the work

High internal work motivation

Autonomy

Experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work

High-quality work performance

High satisfaction with the work

Feedback

Knowledge of the actual results of work activities

Low absenteeism and turnover

The Job Characteristics Approach

Employee growth-need strength Figure 6.1