Perception versus Reality
Action-to-Results Connections essentially follows the “you get out of it what you put into it” cliché. Consider Example 3 on Page 56 of your text involving Tom the salesperson. There is a disparity between the number he perceives and the actual number of cold calls that result in sales.
- Explain why Tom’s perception of effectiveness varies so greatly from his manager’s grasp of reality.
- Propose how you think Tom might react if his manager told him to stop conducting cold calls as a form of generating sales. Assume the role of his manager and justify your situation in a manner that keeps Tom motivated to sell pharmaceutical products.[unique_solution]
Reference Example 3 In text Book below:
Pritchard, R. D., & Ashwood, E. L. (2008). Managing motivation: A manager’s guide to diagnosing and improving motivation. Retrieved from https://www.vitalsource.com/
Example 3
Suppose that Tom, a sales representative for a pharmaceutical manufacturer, sometimes makes cold calls to physicians’ offices, arriving without an appointment to make a sales presentation. The graph on the left side of Figure 6.2 shows the connection that Tom thinks exists between effort devoted to cold calls and sales results. The horizontal axis shows levels of effort from 0 (none) to 10 (high), and the vertical axis shows number of sales per month. Tom believes that more effort devoted to cold calls will result in more sales each month. This is shown by the linear section of the function between 0 units of effort and 6 units of effort. The more effort he exerts, the more sales he makes. Tom also believes that after 6 units of effort per month, the expected number of sales per added unit of effort increases much more slowly. In other words, he believes that 6 units of effort is the point of diminishing returns for cold calls.
Figure 6.2 perceived and actual action-to-results connections.
The graph on the right is the actual action-to-results connection. Based on years of experience, Tom’s manager knows that cold calls rarely lead to sales. The flat section of the connection from 0 to 6 units of effort indicates that Tom can put a fair amount of effort into cold calls and get no sales at all. In fact, he must put in a great deal of effort to get even a few sales.