Ashley Nevelle
Final Integrative Research Paper
March 16th, 2012
Much of the time when someone thinks about the education of a sales person,
degrees such as business and marketing come to mind. Yes these may be important to
some companies when hiring an employee but what really is going to make them
successful in excelling in their career? For medical sales, it is very important to have deep
education in disciplines other than marketing and business. To be a successful medical
sales person having depth in communication and background in ethics is very beneficial.
In order to sell their products to clients, communication is the key component to
persuasion. The ability to direct and lead communication between clients is directly
linked to how successful a career can become. Ethics on the other hand goes beyond what
the rules and regulations are. Medical sales depends a lot of moral ethics and believing
that people would like to gain an advantage over competition by practicing good ethics.
The two disciplines communication and ethics together can be significant in the
realm of the health care profession. Among the goals of medical ethics should be the goal
of being a salesperson that can recognize, analyze, and resolve ethical issues. Having the
communication tools necessary for medical sales is important to relay and process
information. This is why having an effective communication background can really come
into play along side with portraying good moral ethics. This transfers over to another
important part of a medical sales representative job, which is being able to build
relationships with their clients. By conducting acceptable moral ethics it helps people
develop is interdisciplinary skills and trusting relationships. A main part of the problem
addressed in this paper is finding a way to communicate in every way possible to conduct
actions in morally correct way. Many people have difficulty challenging ethical issues
when they arise and being able to provide them with appropriate communication skills
(Powers, 2005). This is something that is learned in the framework of the education
system. Just by knowing the principles of medical ethics does not ensure ethical behavior.
A hidden framework has been developed for the social and behavioral aspects for ethics
education, which helps socialize students for the career roles they take on in the future
(Clever, Edwards, Feudtner, Braddock, 2001). Ethical communication is the most
important requirement for communication effectiveness.
Using this integrative approach rather than a traditional approach has allowed for
these two disciplines to be paired together and function well together. As Repko explains
in chapter 5, the characteristics of a new whole created by the integrative process form
“insights that do not fit together naturally or easily but are somewhat complementary of
each other” (Repko, 2008). There are the six levels within the cognitive domain created
by Bloom’s classic taxonomy levels from low levels all the way to complex, abstract, and
mental levels (Repko, 2008). By looking at these levels it lays out a pathway to being
able to reach the highest levels of knowledge. Creating is the highest level and involves
integrating elements together to produce something that is new and functional as a whole
(Repko, 2008). Figuring out how to get reach integration is the base of the
interdisciplinary research process and Bloom’s model can lead someone step by step on
how to reach integration. Repko also talks about finding a way to creatively combine
ideas and knowledge together from disciplinary sources to create more understanding.
That is exactly what has been found with these two disciplines chosen. They are two
different and separate disciplines but when research is done they find ways to intertwine
and reflect commonalities. Having an integrative approach is very helpful and can help
include the all-important aspects. If a person has great expertise in one specific area,
chances are they might be lacking in education in another. It is shown that these courses
blend together well and have helped develop many tools that can help solve problems in
the future. The integrative approach lets people shape their disciplines to become better
rounded which is much more beneficial. By reading these chapters in Repko’s book it
helps people understand what exactly interdisciplinary integration is and will help
develop the tools needed to become creative and understand and apply a degree in many
more ways than just one approach.
Literature Review
Persuasion plays the major role in many successful medical salespeople.
Communication skills that teach a person persuasion can be used as an advantage for the
salesperson or as tool for their clients. Depending on the salespersons own values and
beliefs will depend whether they see a client’s best interest in mind, or their own
interests. Regardless of how someone sees this, persuasion is the key component to any
medical sales position. The first discipline communication enables a person to handle
conflict and negotiation as well as understanding the elements of persuasive
communication. Finding a way to sell a product is what salespeople strive for the most.
Salespeople are very skilled at the career they chose and know how to work the element
of communication particularly persuasion. Whether you're in commission sales or on a
salary, your income and career advancement are directly linked to your ability to
communicate and persuade. The higher you climb the corporate ladder, the more you will
be called upon to speak. The success a person has is defined by their ability to persuade
with clarity and passion. Leadership is seen as synonymous with effective
communication. Psychologists say people are born into one of four primary temperament
styles; aggressive, expressive, passive or analytical. Each of these four styles requires a
different approach and communication strategy (Boe, 2009). Developing the ability to
speak with power and persuasion takes time and effort to master, but it will pay off in the
long run.
Many people may see salespeople being bias for the products they promote and
may lead clients to make decisions that are inconsistent with their own values and beliefs.
Not all salespeople serve their own interest and it requires trust of the client to see that
also. Salespeople must be master persuaders if they plan for their messages to stick with
clients. Salespeople must be credible messengers to motivate buyers to purchase the
product. This comes from the buyer's willingness to trust the salesperson. Your
credibility, knowledge and concern for the customer will build this trust (Reilly, 2007).
Much of persuasion should not been seen as a bad thing. First, it is untenable to go
without some persuasion because salespeople must always frame things to be seen as one
way or the other (Swindell, 2009). Secondly, it is used to show the client a well-rounded
viewpoint of the product (Swindell, 2009).
Some people are now concerned that any sort of persuasion, even beneficent is
unethical. The second discipline ethics plays a crucial role in any medical sales career.
Ethics is the moral “correctness” of how a person behaves. Using the knowledge
accumulated through education to persuade clients to engage in behaviors that result in
good decision-making is ethically and morally the right thing to do. Ethics is derived
from a normative philosophy discipline where how things should or ought to be, how to
value them, which things are good or bad, which actions are right or wrong. Basically,
ethics is intertwined in philosophy and can be seen in many aspects of it. Any business
ethics is an object of university teaching and research has been captured by another
academic discipline, which is normative philosophy (Marcoux, 2009). Ethically
appropriate persuasion will be for salespeople to use knowledge of these potentially
destructive biases to talk to their clients in ways that promote what the client needs or
believes in. Marketers have been known to use these persuasion techniques to get clients
to engage in unhealthy behaviors and in return only benefits the seller. Much of these
ethics can be determined by the company’s culture and climate. Many companies have
few written policies for those issues ranked as most ethically troublesome by salespeople
(Pettijohn, 2008). Companies have been lacking in enforcing their ethical behavior
policies, which is a gigantic problem. Salespeople who worked for a company with
enforced codes compared to those without codes tend to “perceive ethical problems as
being more sever, agree with non-punitive alternatives as courses of action, and not agree
with punishment as an alternative course of action” (McClaren, 2000). There are many
crucial elements in developing a positive sales model for the sales ethics area. The
“Ethical Decision Action Process” (EDAP) framework was developed to cover marketing
ethics research and stands as the only framework in the sales area that attempts to provide
a comprehensive statement of the process of division making under ethical conditions
(McClaren, 2000). The EDAP framework describes the ethical decision-making process
as a mathematical process where the individual characteristics impact the formation of
moral decisions by participants in given situations (McClaren, 2000). Main aspects of a
salesperson job can run straight into ethical conflict. These things include pressure
associated with the role they have taken on, the role requirements, the natural tendency to
behave a certain way towards ethical behavior between their work and personal lives, the
barriers which change the opportunity to commit certain acts, and organization and task
requirements (McClaren, 2000). All of these items listed can push a salesperson to
become unethical whether it be conscious or unconsciously just to be able to meet
requirements that have been set for them. Medical sales representatives have the most
knowledge of their product and how it can affect their clients. Doing what is morally and
ethically correct is the right path to choose when it comes to compromising personal
ethics for corporate goals. A study was done to see how strong the tendency is to treat top
sales performers leniently. This is an issue because they are the ones who sell to the most
people and are selling the most products. Studies showed that managers do treat their top
sellers differently that there low performers (Bellizzi & Hasty, 2003). Poor performers
were punished more often for unacceptable job behavior and more harshly than those
who were a top performer (Bellizzi & Hasty, 2003). The top unacceptable employee
behavior included in this is unethical selling behavior. This is to mislead customers and
belittle the competition is considered unethical and inappropriate but alluring to
salespeople to raise their sales. Finding show that top sales producers were disciplined
more leniently and if this unacceptable behavior is not disciplined appropriately, it tends
to be repeated (Bellizzi & Hasty, 2003).
The human communication theory studies the communication between messages
and people. There are four different tiers but the one that will be talked about the most is
the first, second, and fourth tier. The first tier looks at the nature of the message itself and
it analyzes general message structure including the intentional versus non-intentional
message behaviors (Powers, 1995). The second tier is called the communicator centered
tier because it looks at the nature of the communicator as an individual, the nature of the
socials relationships that are created, and the role that the communication play in creating
a cultural community (Powers, 1995). The cultural community can be explained as
transmitting its values and beliefs from generation to generation. All people have their
own belief structures as to what they see as important and unimportant, right and wrong,
and good and bad. Scholars conclude that communication plays a center role in the
creation and the dissemination of a culture. These two tiers go hand and hand because the
questions asked at tier two could not be approached unless a concept at tier one is
selected. Just like with the social relationships that are created through using
communication are said to have mutual or social influence on each other. Tier four is
known as the situation centered tier because it is identifiable by the recurring social
situations in which are studied in previous tiers. The social situation that is prevalent
would be medical and heath care consultations. People do not study health care, they
study the message related activity in the health care situations, which is part of
communication research. This is the model of the human communication discipline and
the four tiers helped people understand how to analyze message structure and the
function. Also, the structure provides the model for assessing concept and principles of
communication to have a better overall understanding of what this discipline is (Powers,
1995).
The term ethics is used in the personal sense in which a person’s ethics or morals
is a particular person’s beliefs and assumption about right and wrong, good and bad,
justified and unjustified (Ethics, 2001). A persons morals is something a particular person
has. That is, a person’s morals include the person’s moral beliefs, as well as a variety of
things the person takes for granted in everyday life like moral rules, laws, principles,
values, or ideals displayed in the person’s behavior or involved in the person’s character
(Ethics, 2001). Ethics is the historical inquiry into how one is to be. Morality is a science
in practice; a description of behavior that is already done and ethics is the art of theory, a
prescription for conduct yet to be done (Ethics, 2001). Ethics is often used to refer to that
branch of philosophy also called “moral philosophy.” This branch is concerned with the
philosophical study of the principles governing man’s life in society. Ethics in this sense
is theoretical and its aim is to bring about an intellectual understanding of the nature of
moral action and judgment (Downie, 1980). People practice ethics or moral philosophy,
rather than simply have ethics or morals or a moral philosophy that may or may not be
shared with most members of their group.
Ethics and communication share much in common when looked at in a deeper
level. When people conduct themselves according to their morals they build social
relationships that are created through using communication. Repko discusses in chapter
11 that interdisciplinary common ground is “one or more theories, concepts, and
assumptions can be reconciled and integrated” (Repko, 2008). Creating common ground
involves “bringing out potential commonalities underlying the conflicting disciplinary
and theory based insights so that these can be reconciled and integrated together” (Repko,
2008). To find the common ground between these two using the integrative technique of
extension was a large part of this process. This addresses conflict between disciplinary
concepts or assumptions by extending the meaning of the idea beyond the domain of one
discipline into the domain of another discipline (Repko, 2008). By expanding ethics into
the domain of philosophy it creates a larger background and find many more insights into
something that was much more narrow. Ethics is the branch of moral philosophy, which
is a science and explores many theories on the discipline of ethics and morals. The
technique of organization helps manage and redefine what concepts or assumptions there
were to bring out a relationship among them (Repko, 2008). Communication not only is
words but can be expanded into analyzing underlying meanings and what social influence
it can have on others. People have difficulty with ethical issues and providing the issues
with appropriate communication skills can help problem. How a person beliefs and
values can be expressed through communication and then leads into discussion about
ethics and moral philosophy. By using Repko’s techniques discussed in his
Interdisciplinary Research book proves that these can help create common ground from
something that seems so far apart. These techniques help achieve the goals of integration
by replacing regular thinking characteristics with new ways of thinking in characteristics
of the interdisciplinary approach.
Annotated Bibliography
Bellizzi, J., & Hasty, R. (2003). Supervising unethical sales force behavior: How strong
is the tendency to treat top sales performers leniently? Journal of Business Ethics,
43(4), 337-351. Retrieved February 11, 2012, from the ProQuest database.
Summary: This journal highlights that fact that top sales performers have
more leeway with getting away with unethical behavior that those
who are poor performers. The fact that they get away with this more
often and with less severity, allows for this behavior to continue.
Boe, J. (2009). Principles of Persuasion. The American Salesman, 54(11), 14-17.
Retrieved February 10, 2012, from the ProQuest database.
Summary: This article talks about the success of your sales career
depends on your ability to persuade with clarity and passion.
Effective communication is seen as something that is synonymous
with career advancement and directly linked to your ability to
communicate and persuade others. A section talks about the four
primary temperament styles and finding the right communication
strategy for you.
Clever, S., Edwards, K., Feudtner, C., & Braddock, C. (2001). Ethics and
Communication. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 16(8), 560-563. Retrieved
March 12, 2012, from the Springer Link database.
Summary: This journal talks about finding way to appropriately communicate
problems found in an unethical environment.
Downie, R. (1980). Ethics, Morals and Moral Philosophy. Journal of Medical Ethics, 6,
33-34. Retrieved March 11, 2012, from the OneSearch database.
Summary: This article breaks down ethics and explains why it is a part of moral
philosophy. Also, it explains that ethics is synonymous with morals.
"Ethics." Encyclopedia of Postmodernism. London: Routledge, 2001. Credo Reference.
11 Aug. 2008. Web. 10 Mar. 2012.
<http://huaryu.kl.oakland.edu/login?url=http://www.credoreference.com/entry/rou
tpostm/ethics>.
Summary: This encyclopedia helps people understand that morality is a science in
practice and ethics is the art of theory. It explains that the science portion is
something that is done and ethics is something that is yet to be done in the future.
Marcoux, A. (2009). Retrieving Business Ethics from Political Philosophy. The journal
of Private Enterprise, 24(2), 21-33. Retrieved February 25, 2012, from the One
Search database.
Summary: This paper is completely based around the argument that the
main conversation in academic business ethics is derivative of
normative political philosophy.
McClaren, N. (2000). Ethics in personal selling and sales management. Journal
of
Business Ethics, 27(3), 285-303. Retrieved February 10, 2012, from the
ProQuest database.
Summary: Research in ethics has been a growing importance for
companies. Here it lays out a model of ethical behavior and how
one reaches that decision. The EDAP framework describes the
ethical decision-making process as a mathematical process where
the individual characteristics impact the formation of moral
decisions by participants in given situations.
Pettijohn, C. (2008). Salesperson Perceptions of Ethical Behaviors. Journal of
Business Ethics, 78, 548. Retrieved February 11, 2012, from the Springer Link
database.
Summary: Firms that emphasize ethical values and social responsibilities
tend to be more profitable that others. This article shows the
research done to study evaluated salespeople perception of ethics
of business in general, and their employers ethic standards.
Powers, J. (1995). The Intellectual Structure of the Human Communication
Discipline. Communication Education, 44(3), 191-212. Retrieved March 9,
2012, from the Communication & Mass Media Complete database.
Summary: This essay lays out the four tiers and structure of the human
communication discipline. It goes into depth with each tier and how each one
cannot exist without the other.
Reilly, T. (2007). The Power of Persuasion .Industrial Distribution, 96(12), 20. Retrieved
February 12, 2012, from the ProQuest database.
Summary: Persuasion plays a major role in the success of salespeople.
They must be master persuades to have their message stick to
others. These salespeople must be credible messenger to incite
buyers to purchase from them. Most importantly the buyer needs to
trust the salesperson. Making ethical decisions play a giant role in
this and your credibility and concern for the customer builds trust.
Repko, A. F. (2008). Explaining the Importance of Integration. Interdisciplinary
research: process and theory (p. 119). Los Angeles: SAGE.
Swindell, J. (2009). Beneficent Persuasion: Techniques and Ethical Guidelines to
Improve Patients’ Decisions. Ann Fam Med, 8(3), 260.
Summary: This journal talks about the fact that the salesperson needs to
keep the best interest of the buyer in mind. They need to makes
sure that they are not promoting counterproductive actions and not
being completely bias towards their products. Clients need to be
persuaded to look at their long-term goals they have and be
supported by their salesperson.