Molding a Total Quality Salesforce through Managing Empowerment, Evaluation, and Rew Ard and Recognition Processes

Abstract

Salespeople are ideally positioned to benefit from the integration of Total Quality Management (TQM) principles into the sales function area. This article introduces the basic TQM principles and illustrates how they apply in a sales context. A model of how to manage the performance of salespersons within a TQM-oriented organization is also developed. This model draws upon the empowerment, performance evaluation, and reward and recognition processes. A discussion of how this model relates to established sales performance models follows. An applied illustration of this model that can be introduced into a sales situation closes the paper

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen B. Knouse

Stephen B. Knouse (Ph.D., Ohio State University) is the Alvin and Patricia Smith Professor of Management at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He researches human resources management and Total Quality Management. He is the author of three books, Hispanics in the Workplace (Sage, 1992), The Reward and Recognition Process in Total Quality Management (American Society for Quality Control Press, 1995), and Human Resources Management Perspectives on Total Quality Management (American Society for Quality Control Press, 1996).

David Strutton

David Strutton (Ph.D., University of Mississippi) holds the Acadiana Bottling Professor in Marketing and the 1. Wesley Steen Professorship in Business Administration at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He primary research interests lie in the areas of personal selling and buyer-seller relationships. He is co-author of Marketing Channels: A Relationship Management Approach (Richard D. Irwin & Co., 1996).