The Impact Of Supervisory Behavior On Job Satisfaction Management Essay

CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION

This study explores the impact of supervisory behavior on job satisfaction level of a sales person and turnover intention in pharmaceutical industry. The research was carried out through Survey from salesmen working in ten different pharmaceuticals companies in Pakistan Companies were both national and international manufacturers but with proper distribution channel here with well defined structure of organization. Supervisory behavior was classified in to four categories that is 1: Consideration 2: Initiation of structure 3: Participation 4: Feedback. Supervisory behavior has a relationship with job satisfaction and turnover intention of sales force. Consideration can be further explained as friendliness, helpfulness, mutual trust among supervisor and sales person (Evans, 1974; Griffin, 1980). Participation means decision making autonomy by supervisor towards team. In other words the degree to which the salesperson was able to influence decisions about the job. Feedback was the degree to which organizationally mediated performance feedback was provided to the salesperson (Harris, 1962; Likert, 1967). Moreover response of performance by supervisor was known as feedback by team leader, Initiation of structure defines task clarity by supervisor how clear was the assigned task (Churchill, 1976). In other words Initiation of structure the degree to which influential structure and define both the roles of subordinates in job-related activities, such as specifying procedures and assigning tasks. The predictive variable shows the relationship exists not only between supervisory behavior job satisfactions but also on turnover intention (Churchill, 1976).

In an organization a supervisor was the one who supervises or has charge and direction in a team, the duty was to accomplish tasks and organizations goals with help of a working team for a common objective. Day-to-day performance of a small group depends on supervisor’s responsible personality and attitude the supervisor’s duty was to guide the group toward its goals, it has to monitor that all members of the team were productive and resolve troubles as raised. The pleasant environment of an organization influences the employees to stay and work more effectively and efficiently in that organization (Evans, 1974; Griffin, 1980). Especially in sales and distribution concerned companies the job was target based the supervisor has to guide and train the sales executives according to the product features. In Pharmaceutical companies (Clifford, 1997). The supervisor was usually responsible to guarantee that employees go after the organization’s policies and procedures, e.g., for sick time, personal leave, overtime, sales techniques, training related to sales, assigning task and targets etc (Ba-gozzi 1976; Ivancevich 1975; Teas 1983). As a result the supervisor must go after policies and procedures for carrying out managerial responsibilities, e.g. policies and procedures for hire, dismissal and promotions etc. In a pharmaceutical company a supervisor generally does not have the authority to hire or let off employees or to encourage but platform to guide sales person on daily basis and monthly performance was monitored, how targets were achieved and entitled for further promotions a supervisor usually recommends such act to the next stage of management (Clifford, 1997). The supervisor does, however, often have the authority to modify the work roles of the members of the team, for example deciding which person work at which station and which task should be given according to the competencies (Ba-gozzi 1976; Ivancevich 1975; Teas 1983). Supervisors play significant role in structuring the work environment and providing feedback and feedback to employees (Harris, 1962; Likert, 1967). Supervisor must keep this in mind while doing job that ensures staff has the human and physical resources to carry out the work in an efficient manner.

In Pharmaceutical companies the supervisor usually responsible to guarantee that employees follow the organization’s policies and procedures, e.g., for sick time, personal leave, sales techniques ,training related to sales, assigning task and targets etc. Concurrently, the supervisor must follow policies and actions for carrying out supervisory responsibilities, policies and measures for hire, dismissal and promotions. Salesman of a pharmaceutical industry was more satisfied if the supervisor monitor and directs before performing job (Harris, 1962; Likert, 1967). Proper feedback not only minimizes future mistakes but also direct the employees to perform duties more effectively (Evans, 1974; Griffin, 1980). When the salesman perceives that is a respectable and responsible personnel of the company and he is considered by higher authorities, tends to be happier with policies and standards as well as with the other members of firm. The pleasant environment of an organization influences the employees to stay and work more effectively and efficiently in that organization. Especially in sales and distribution concerned companies the job is target based the supervisor has to guide and train the sales executives according to the product features. In no routine jobs, close supervision is valued by subordinates because it clarifies ambiguities surrounding such jobs, thus enabling good performance therefore, to greater subordinates satisfaction (Evans, 1974; Griffin, 1980).

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The dependent variable job satisfaction can be described as more happier people were tend to be more satisfied with the job and stay for longer time period as compare to unhappy people who switch rapidly if the problems were found with the culture, policies job design and job descriptions etc. Job design can enhance job satisfaction and performance; methods consist of job rotation, job enlargement and job enrichment. There were some other factors that have a significant impact on i.e. management approach and culture, employee involvement and work groups. The most common way of measurement is the use of rating scales where employees report and react to job in the questionnaire made to gather data in this study (Harris, 1962; Likert, 1967). Companies with higher levels of productivity and performance were likely to have more resources, greater security and provide more opportunities for employee’s closeness to supervision, regularity of salesperson/sales supervisor communication and job tenure. If the employees were satisfied and happy with the job intention to stay with the organization for longer time. It has been observed that with higher level of satisfaction in employees has lower level of turnovers (Clifford, 1997).With positive attitude among the employees the rate of turnover is intend to decrease It is not important that the supervisor is well-liked or a kind person, starting with clear expectations of the employee, the supervisor has a critical role to play in retention.

1.1 Introduction of Pharmaceutical Industry in Pakistan

The pharmaceutical industry develops, manufactures and markets drugs licensed for use as medications employees were liable to obey laws and regulations regarding the patenting, testing and marketing of drugs. Pharmaceutical companies usually spend a large amount on advertising, marketing in order to attain competitive advantage and spend lot of capital on research and development of the market in the competitive market as many companies were making same medicine with different brand name with same compositions therefore, it is really challenging to grab the market share specially for new companies Advertising and marketing is common in healthcare journals as well as through more mainstream media routes. At the same time sales executives of the company play an important role to target and achieve sales goals Pharmaceutical companies generally hire sales people (often called ‘Drug Reps’ or an older term ‘Detail men’) to market directly and individually to physicians and other healthcare providers to promote the company products. Therefore, it is important to train and reward the sales executives so that a company can achieve organizational goals along with personal goals of sales person Commercial stores and pharmacies were main target of non-prescription sales and marketing for pharmaceutical companies. There were 15 Pharmaceutical companies were on the list of Karachi Stock Exchange and command more than 70 per cent of total pharmaceutical sales in Pakistan .The Pharmaceutical Industry in Pakistan has started its business operation a little years after the country came into being most of the pharmaceutical accompanies came from overseas therefore, after industry experience the economies of scale is achieved. Most of the multinational companies started implementing policies to cope with the obligation of quality drugs and medicines for the quickly growing population in both wings of the country companies were rapidly developing the sales strategies to increases sales by skilled workforce, for this study 10 companies out of 32 were selected to gather data ten respondents from each company. The research was carried out through Survey from salesmen working in ten different pharmaceuticals companies in Pakistan. Companies were both international manufacturers with the proper distribution channel here with well defined structure of organization.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The objective of this study is to find out the impact of supervisory behavior on job satisfaction level of a sales person and turnover intention in pharmaceutical industry. In order to test the hypothesis primary data was collected from salesmen’ working in ten different pharmaceuticals companies in Pakistan .Companies were both national and international manufacturers but with proper distribution channel here with well defined structure of organization. Supervisory behavior is classified in to four categories i.e. 1: Consideration 2: Initiation of structure 3: Participation 4: Feedback. Supervisory behavior has an impact on job satisfaction and turnover intention of sales force as well. Consideration can be further explained as friendliness, helpfulness, mutual trust among supervisor and sales person. Participation means decision making autonomy by supervisor towards his team. In other words the degree to which the salesperson is able to influence decisions about job. Feedback is the degree to which organizationally mediated performance feedback is provided to the salesperson moreover response of performance by supervisor is known as feedback by team leader, Initiation of structure defines task clarity by supervisor how clear is the assigned task, in other words Initiation of structure the degree to which leaders formation and describe the roles and the roles of subordinates. Salesmen who were very unhappy with the jobs were likely to quit and work for another firm or to seek another profession as the interest is lost in job and spend much time in finding a new job.

The main purpose of this research is to find out the relationship exists between the independent supervisory behavior further classified into four factors 1: Consideration 2: Initiation of structure 3: Participation 4: Feedback and dependent Variables Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention.

1.3 Objective

First Objective of this research is to find out the relationship between supervisory behavior and Job Satisfaction and second objective is to find out the relationship between supervisory behavior and Turnover Intention. Supervisory behavior can be further classifies into following categories:

1.3.1 Supervisory Behavior (Independent variable)

1. Consideration.

Friendliness

Helpfulness

Mutual trust among supervisor and sales person

2. Initiation of structure

Task clarity by supervisor

3. Participation

Decision making autonomy by supervisor

4. Feedback

Response of performance by supervisor

1.3.2 Job Satisfaction (Dependent variable)

1.3.3 Turnover Intention (Dependent variable)

CHAPTER 2:

LITERATURE REVIEW

The support and consideration of supervisors is one of the significant features of job satisfaction in sales concern companies. Supervisor’s role is to structure the work situation and provide information and feedback to employee’s role of supervisory behavior in sales management is to guarantee the accomplishment of desired organizational objectives (Evans, 1974; Griffin, 1980). It is the supervisor who has the major responsibility of planning implementing the sales procedure with the help of team by coordinating and, translating into efficient and productive performance of the firm. Satisfied employees stay with the organization for long span of time and take the interest in order to achieve organizational goals. It is not compulsory that the supervisor is admired or a kind person, starting with clear expectations of the employee, the supervisor has major role to play in retention and job satisfaction of an employee. Anything the supervisor does to make an employee feel disrespectful and unimportant contribute to turnover. The style that managers in an organization follow in supervising the subordinates can have an impact on the amount of independence the subordinates have in doing the job, how structured the activities were and the type of dealings with the superiors. Suppose that with connection with supervisor result into higher level of job satisfaction & lower level of turnover (Evans, 1974; Griffin, 1980).

One major aspect of supervisory behavior is simply the amount of supervision given to the employees, how often the sales team communicates the method of communication, how closely his job activities were structured, monitored and directed with rapid feedback. In many professions close supervision has been shown to have a negative impact on a worker’s job satisfaction In measuring trust between supervisor and salesperson, research have used a rational analysis that view trust as a mutual exchange that integrates both honesty and emotionally oriented behavior .Closely supervised salesmen have a more absolute knowledge of how the performance is being evaluated by the superiors for purposes of compensation and promotion thus, inclined to view the company’s pay and promotion practices entirely by such direct causes as the company’s pay and promotion practices.

The salesman’s job often requires to produce innovative solutions to non routine problems every day sales team have to face the different and challenging customer as there were many other brands for the same medicine therefore, sales person have to try utmost to convince to prefer the brand for medicine and accomplish sales target. Every sales jobs of course, demand more innovativeness than others sales person should be very clear about product its efficiency and effectiveness must have know how Though the demand for innovativeness is inherent in the job, the impact of that demand on the salesman’s well-being and performance is influenced by company policies and management actions.

Evan’s (1974) one of the elements of supervisory style is the rate of communication between the sales manager and salesmen. No matter whatever is the medium of communication among supervisor and sales force, telephone conversations, or written letters and memoranda, the more probable the salesman is to understand and implement and appreciate supervisor’s demands and his company’s policies particularly those relating to evaluation and compensation? Empirical findings from several previous studies support the connection between performance feedback provided by supervisors and salespeople’s role clarity second type of supervisory control focuses not on sales output, but rather on salespeople’s reactions. The more frequent the communication between the salesman and superiors, the more likely it is that feel that has an input into policy decisions affecting position in the company. One variable that reflects how the firm’s authority structure is total number of departments that can modify the terms of a sale how many direct reporting officer above a sales person it can make sales procedure some time difficult plus it influence the salesman’s activities in carrying out job critical (Churchill, 1976). The dependent variable job satisfaction can be described as more happier people were tend to be more satisfied with the job and sales person has stay for longer time period as compare to unhappy people who switch rapidly if problems with the culture were found , policies job design and job descriptions etc. Job design can enhance job satisfaction and performance; methods consist of job rotation, job enlargement and job enrichment. Perceived role difference occur when a salesman assumes that the expectations of two or more of role partners were incompatible and that he cannot at the same time satisfy all the demands being made. Other studies have argued that salesmen were particularly at risk to this kind of conflict because sales person occupy a position at the boundary between the firm and the customers’ organizations. The relationship between organizational climate and job satisfaction moderated by the salesman’s time of practice on the job. In general, one expects to find a positive relationship between experience and job satisfaction for two causes. First, satisfaction effects job tenure. Salesmen who were unhappy with the jobs were likely to quit and work for another firm or to seek another profession loses the interest in job and spend much time in finding a new job in the same industry there for a positive relationship cam end into productive workforce for a company employees (Donnelly, 1973).

Role Stress and Job Satisfaction model, supervisory variables and job experience were explained as exogenous variables, role stress and job satisfaction variables were explained as endogenous variables. The hypothesized associations between the variables. 1. Initiation of structure-the degree to which leader’s arrangement and define the roles and the roles of the subordinate in job related activities, assigning tasks 2. Consideration the degree to which leaders develop a work environment of psychological support, trust, helpfulness and friendliness 3. Participation-the degree to which the salesperson is able to influence decisions about job. 4. Feedback-the degree to which organization feedback is provided t o the salesperson relate to current news and policies. 5. Experience-the total number of years of selling experience. 6. Role argument the degree to which a salesperson Believes that the demands of two or more of role partners were incompatible and that cannot simultaneously satisfy the entire burden. 7. Role ambiguity the degree to which a salesperson does not feel necessary information to perform his job adequately, when it’s uncertain about what his role partners expect, how to act to satisfy those expectations, or how final performance will be evaluated (Churchill, 1976). Behavioral feedback serves an informational function by clarifying to salespeople what behaviors were expected and how the current behaviors measure up to those expectations it is expected that supervisory behavioral reaction to lead to superior behavioral role clarity of salespeople. The research expects this general relation to hold for both positive and negative behavioral feedback because both serve to describe salespeople’s roles.

Robert’s (1978) Initiation of structure the degree to which supervisors define the roles and the roles of the subordinates in job concerned activities, specify procedures and allocate tasks .Marketing scholars consistently hypothesize that initiation of structure improves sales-people’s job satisfaction and role clarity. (Churchill, 1976) report evidence of a linkage between job satisfaction and closeness of supervision. Linkage was not found finally. Empirical substantiation in related disciplines also is mixed. Roberts report that initiation of structure has a positive impact on the satisfaction of subordinates who were upwardly mobile, but a negative impact on that of subordinates who were not upwardly mobile. Similarly, close supervision appears to increase satisfaction of subordinates working, but to reduce satisfaction of employees in routine and prearranged jobs (Harris, 1962; Likert, 1967). The Path Goal presumption (House, 1971; Dessler, 1974) provides useful insights into the reasons for these differential effects. The path-goal theory suggests that a supervisory behavior has a favorable effect on subordinates if it clarifies the goals attaining those goals.

Clifford (1997) if a supervisory behavior is not instrumental in clarifying either the path or the goal for subordinates, it is unlikely to have a positive effect on salespeople. The differential effects of initiation of structure can be explained by the theory in the following way. In an organization a supervisor is the one who supervises or has charge and direction in a team, Robert’s (1978) duty is to accomplish tasks and organizations goals with help of a working team for a common objective. Day-to-day performance of a small group depends on supervisor’s responsible personality and his attitude the supervisor’s duty is to guide the group toward its goals, he has to monitor that all members of the team were efficient and solved the issues as raised. The pleasant environment of an organization influences the employees to stay and work more effectively and efficiently in that organization. Robert’s (1978) especially in sales and distribution concerned companies the job is target based the supervisor has to guide and train the sales executives according to the product features. In no routine jobs, close supervision is valued by subordinates because it clarifies ambiguities surrounding such jobs, thus enabling good performance therefore, to greater subordinates satisfaction .In contrast, because subordinates working on routine jobs tend to have a clear idea of the goals and the means for attaining, have a tendency not to see much value in close supervision and it does not lead to greater subordinate satisfaction (Harris, 1967). Thus, the theory suggests that the more a subordinate values a supervisory behavior, the more employees responsive to it, for that cause the stronger is the relationship between the behavior and subordinate satisfaction dispute that experienced salespeople were fewer likely to have feelings of ambiguity and therefore, were less likely to need close supervision. In contrast, less experienced salespeople were more possible to have feelings of ambiguity and to value initiation of structure to a greater level.

Robert (1978) Less experienced salespeople therefore, would be more active and alert to the supervisory behavior so the author expect initiation of structure to have a greater outcome on the role clarity and job satisfaction of less experienced salespeople.

Consideration can be defining as degree to which supervisors develop a work climate of psychological support, mutual belief and respect, helpfulness and responsiveness (Donnelly, 1973). This behavior has been studied to be linked to salespeople’s satisfaction as well as role clarity. There is evidence, however, that the effects of consideration diverge across subordinates (Evans, 1974; Griffin, 1980) the author argues that salespeople who differ in the self-esteem and feel about his position and job need for clarity how clear is required task of supervisor understands the target and procedures. Knowledge of work and self perceived performance value supervisory consideration to dissimilar therefore, respond differentially to the behavior. Moreover, the author argues that individual differences among salespersons were likely to lead to expect different levels of consideration from the respective supervisors. The dependent variable job satisfaction can be described as more happier people were tend to be more satisfied with the job and stay for longer time period as compare to unhappy people who switch rapidly if the problems with the culture was found, policies job design and job descriptions etc. Job design can enhance job satisfaction and performance; methods consist of job rotation, job enlargement and job enrichment. These variations in expectations in turn were likely to moderate the effects of consideration on salespeople.

The authority structure of a firm and the salesman’s position within that structure obviously can have a major impact on the salesman’s autonomy and the number of limitations placed directly or indirectly in the reporting and supervision structure. on job and output of sales officer performance one variable that shows how the organizations authority structure affects the salesman is the number of departments in the firm that can support or reject a sale, can redesign and make some modification in sales methods the policies of company and appreciation by authorities can not only boost sales but also motivate the sales persons. The experiential facts relating to the effects of multiple authorities on worker morale and performance is reviewed widely elsewhere The literature can be summarized and applied to the salesman in the following way the level of freedom given to sales man how perfumes his job and achieve target should be liberal as the restriction on every little step can result the low performance of the sales men the larger the number of people and/or departments that can influence a sales-man’s activities therefore, it is suggested that self efficacy is a significant factor that helps sales men to help in difficult and challenging environment. The less independence has to do his job as thinks it should be done. Sales person is likely to view company policies as overly restrictive. Sales person is also likely to receive inconsistent difficulty from various superiors within his company. Consequently, the salesman may be dissatisfied with company policies, supervision, friendliness among collogue and perhaps the job itself. Supervisory feedback has another impact on employees it is a motivational factor if employees were well informed and directed on regular basis according to the task and job sales team will be highly motivated because sales person have clear information and standardized method of job to perform. On the other hand if supervisory feedback is not provided and clear information and method of job to perform is not available the employee does not be able to set goal, subsequently accomplishments of goals were difficult.