A qualitative study of leader behaviors perceived to enable salesperson performance

Abstract

This study builds on and extends previous sales leadership research by exploring sales professionals’ perceptions of effective leadership behaviors. Semistructured interviews with both sales leaders and salespeople working in a global enterprise software company were examined through a qualitative analysis. Results indicated that participants believed sales leadership played an important role in influencing sales performance. When asked to describe specific sales leader behaviors that best enable salesperson performance, sales professionals – both sales leaders and salespeople – overwhelmingly referenced coaching, followed by collaborating, championing, and customer engaging. We define and describe these four key sales leader behaviors and identify four potential mediating variables (trust, confidence, optimism, and resilience), from which emerges a conceptual framework of sales leader behaviors perceived to enable salesperson performance. We examine these four key sales leader behaviors and mediators in the broader context of leadership theory, particularly transformational, servant, authentic, and adaptive leadership theories. The key contribution of this study is the identification of a set of leader behaviors that are likely to be especially effective in modern sales organizations given that they originated from the perceptions of sales professionals themselves.     

CHILD-REARING BELIEFS WITHIN DIVERSE SOCIAL STRUCTURES: MOTHERS AND DAY-CARE PROVIDERS IN MEXICO*

The child-rearing beliefs of 32 mothers and 36 day-care providers in Mexico were compared. Day-care providers expected children to master developmental skills at an earlier age than did mothers. Day-care providers more strongly valued the development of independent and cooperative behavior, and placed less importance on obedience. They also reported employing more flexible and nonauthoritarian discipline strategies than did mothers. Mothers and caregivers did not differ in the extent to which they attributed the success of their discipline strategies to their own actions rather than to external factors. Also examined was how mothers' beliefs differed in families characterized by interdependent versus individualistic social structures. In interdependent families, mothers were more likely to believe in later mastery of developmental skills and to make external attributions. These findings suggest that Mexican children experience incongruous social norms as they move between home and day care settings, and that these norms, at least within the home, are associated with the social structural features of the setting.     

Eyeblinking during autokinetic movement observed by a subject living in the up-down inverted visual world

Eyeblinking during autokinetic movement observed by one subject living in the up-down inverted visual world, was investigated. The subject wore frame-spectacles (without prisms) for the first two days and then wore up-down inverting spectacles (with prisms) for the next four days, followed by the resumption of the former frame-spectacles for one day. Eyeblinks during autokinetic movement were measured by using vertical EOG. Analysis showed (1) the occurrence of eyeblinking during autokinetic movement was not influenced by living in the up-down inverted visual world; (2) the frequency of eyeblinking during autokinetic movement significantly decreased with successive days of observation.     

Effects of up-down visual inversion on motor skills

The movement of a hand or fingers and locomotion of the body by a subject wearing prisms which inverted his visual world were investigated. A subject wore frame-spectacles (without prisms) for the first two days and then wore up-down inverting spectacles (with prisms) for the next four days, followed by wearing the former frame-spectacles again for one day. Measurements were made of skill on star-drawing, pegboard tests, and on zigzag-walking and walking up and down stairs. There were no differences on the five measures during acquisition for the four tasks, which suggests smooth progress of prism-adaptation by this man.     

Effects of living in the up-down inverted visual world on apparent movement

The purpose of this study was to examine whether a change of perceptual framework may affect the occurrence of apparent movement. Apparent movement was observed by one subject living over four days in the prismatically inverted visual world, because this situation was considered as the operation in which the subject was forced to change the perceptual framework to adapt himself to the novel environment. Apparent movement with two points was measured in vertical and horizontal configurations before wearing and after removing the prism as well as while wearing it. Analysis showed significant effects of prism-wearing on the occurrence of apparent movement in both vertical and horizontal configurations. Although further elaboration is required, an hypothesis was suggested from the viewpoint of the loss of visual position constancy.