Volume 30
Number 2
Spring 2005
Leadership Edition
Contents
A New Paradigm: Entrepreneurial Leadership
Lloyd W. Fernald, Jr., George T. Solomon, and Ayman Tarabishy . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Emerging Role of the “Sales Technologist”
David J. Good and Roberta J. Schultz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Leadership and Upward Influence: A Survey of Business School Deans
J. Michael McDonald and Carl W. Gooding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
A Preliminary Model of Abusive Behavior in Organizations
Matthew Valle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Southern Business Review
Spring 2005
Volume 30
Number 2
RONALD E. SHIFFLER, DEAN
College of Business Administration, Georgia Southern University
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Georgia 30458.
A New Paradigm:
Entrepreneurial Leadership
Lloyd W. Fernald, Jr., George T. Solomon, and Ayman Tarabishy
As the 1990’s gave way to
the next millennium, the
current social, economic, and
political environments were
constantly being affected by
the actions of entrepreneurs
and entrepreneurial ventures.
The current literature in
entrepreneurship devotes
considerable discussion to the
role entrepreneurs play within
their businesses and as
opinion leaders in their
markets and the general
economy. Often described as
Lloyd W. Fernald, Jr., D.B.A.,
is professor of management,
Management Department,
College of Business
Administration, University of
Central Florida, Orlando, FL
32817.
George T. Solomon, D.B.A., is
associate professor of
entrepreneurship, The
George Washington
University, Washington, DC
20052.
Ayman Tarabishy, is a
doctoral student, The
George Washington
University, Washington, DC
20052.
Southern Business Review
innovators, paradigm pioneers,
and visionaries, entrepreneurs
are confronted with the issue
of developing leadership
qualities in order to grow their
businesses and to transform
them to a level of professionalism.
Since the 1980’s, an
increased level of entrepreneurial activity has
spawned, not only because of
the electronic age but due to a
plethora of new materials,
products, financial networks,
joint venture possibilities, and
paradigmatic changes in
politics, economics, and
societies. It appears a whole
new remodeling of the ways in
which business, communication, and government are
conducted has emerged. Thus,
it is imperative for anyone
involved in entrepreneurial
ventures, especially the
entrepreneur, to fully
comprehend the impor-tance
of sound leadership practices.
This article attempts to
reveal those characteristics
common to both successful
leaders and entrepreneurs who
operate in dynamic, changing
environments. It also attempts
to show the characteristics
Spring 2005
entrepreneurs use to cope with
their need to excel and explore
new vistas. In essence, it seeks
to demonstrate a new style of
evolving leadership, entrepreneurial leadership, which
offers a break from the past
and movement into the future.
Literature Review
Entrepreneurship is a
relatively new, sometimes
controversial, and burgeoning
field of management research.
Leadership has been studied
since around 500 BC. New to
the field is the subject of
entrepreneurial leadership.
Both entrepreneurship and
leadership will be briefly
discussed in turn.
Entrepreneurship
Selection of the
appropriate basis for defining
and understanding entrepreneurs created a challenging
problem for entrepreneurial
research. More than ten years
ago, the field of research was
described as young, i.e., in its
formative stage (Paulin,
Coffey, & Spaulding, 1982;
1
Perryman, 1982; Peterson &
Horvath, 1982; Sexton,
1982). Even now, no
generally accepted definition
of an entrepreneur exists, and
the literature is replete with
criteria ranging from creativity
and innovation to personal
traits such as appearance and
style. Models of the entrepreneur are almost as plentiful
as the number of researchers
studying entrepreneurs
(Churchill & Lewis, 1986;
Cunningham & Lischeron,
1991).
Krackhardt (1995) stated
that research on entrepreneurship has defined
entrepreneurship in two ways,
the entrepreneurial firm and
entrepreneurial people. Entrepreneurial firms are small
(Aldrich & Austen, 1986),
fast-growing (Drucker, 1985),
organic, and network-based
rather than mechanistic and
bureaucratic (Birley, 1986). In
studying work flow leadership,
a form of firm-level entrepreneurship, Sayles and
Stewart (1995) defined
entrepreneurship as having
three components:
(1) it is activity that seizes
profit opportunities
without regard to
resources currently
controlled (Stevenson &
Jarillo, 1990);
(2) it expands existing
resources through
enhanced learning,
synergies, or bootstrapping (Burgelman,
1983; Leibstein, 1968;
Stewart, 1989; Venkatara2
man, McMillan &
McGrath, 1992); and
(3) it promotes change and
innovation leading to new
combinations of resources
and new ways of doing
business (Burgelman,
1983; Schumpeter,
1943).
Entrepreneurial people take
advantage of opportunities to
acquire added value. This
definition sees entrepreneurship as a behavioral characteristic of employees and
managers in a firm, not as a
characteristic of the firm itself.
Stevenson, Roberts, and
Grousbeck (1989) argued that
entrepreneurship is an
approach to management.
They distinguished between
“promoters,” individuals
whose strategic direction is
driven by the perception of
opportunity, and “trustees,”
who are driven by the
resources they currently
control. One could argue from
this that “promoters” are
actually leaders while
“trustees” are managers.
Others, however, have written
that both management and
leadership skills play
important roles in determining
the growth rate of a small
business. The skills required
include
(1) seeing and clearly
communicating a clear
direction for the future,
(3) recognizing shortcomings
in the team and supplementing those skills, and
(4) having the business skills
from an educational and
experience viewpoint
(Eggers, Leahy, &
Churchill, 1994).
Over the years, several
schools of thought on entrepreneurship have been
generated that combine
psychological traits with
management/leadership skills.
With respect to entrepreneurial activities, most
important to entrepreneurs are
(1) seeking opportunities,
(2) needing to achieve set
goals,
(3) being independenceminded,
(4) taking risks, and
(5) innovating (Lepnurm &
Bergh, 1995).
McClelland (1961) believed
that entrepreneurial behavior
was embedded in an individual’s personality, the result
of one’s upbringing. Stewart
(1989) documented the “fire
in the belly” of employees who
are always “running hot”
within the firm. Thus, entrepreneurial behavior appears to
be internal, similar to what is
often described as characteristic of leaders.
(2) leading and motivating
others,
Spring 2005
Southern Business Review
Leadership
(2) leadership motivation;
Zaleznik (1977) has
reported that managers and
leaders are different. They
differ in what they attend to
and how they think, work,
and interact. Also, managers
and leaders have different
personalities and experience
different developmental paths
from childhood to adulthood.
Further, managers perceive life
as a steady progression of
positive events, resulting in
security at home and at work.
Leaders are “twice born.”
They endure major events that
lead to a sense of separateness, or perhaps estrangement,
from their environments
(James, 1985). As a result,
they turn inward in order to
re-emerge with a created
rather than an inherited sense
of identity. This condition may
be necessary for the ability to
lead. Finally, managers appear
to be narrowly engaged in
main-taining their identities
and self-esteem through
others. Leaders have selfconfidence growing out of the
awareness of who they are and
the visions that drive them to
achieve (Zaleznik, 1990).
Although research shows
that certain traits alone do not
guarantee leadership success,
evidence that effective leaders
are different from other people
in certain key respects exists.
Key leader characteristics are
(3) honesty and integrity;
(1) drive, which includes
achievement motivation,
ambition, energy, tenacity,
and initiative;
Southern Business Review
(4) self-confidence;
(5) cognitive ability; and
(6) knowledge of the business.
The key leader characteristics
help the leader acquire
necessary skills, formulate an
organizational vision and an
effective plan for pursuing it,
and take the steps needed to
implement the vision into
reality (Kirkpatrick and Locke,
1991).
It is not necessarily the
individual possessing the most
formal authority who is the
leader in an organization, large
or small. The leader is anyone
who exerts influence over
others. Specific traits,
characteristics, and personal
attributes that will predict
superior performance in any
given role, team, and
organization can be identified
and defined.
Entrepreneurial Leadership
On the surface, one can
associate entrepreneurs with
leadership functions such as
providing vision to the
development of a new
product, service, or organization. A leader has to be
entrepreneurial as well. It has
been written that entrepreneurial leadership deals with
concepts and ideas, and these
are often related to problems
that are not of an organiza-
Spring 2005
tional nature (El-Namaki,
1992). Instead, they tend to
be individual characteristics or
behaviors. These include
vision, problem solving,
decision-making, risk taking,
and strategic initiatives. A
short discussion of each
follows.
Vision. Only in the first
decade of the 20th century has
the role of vision in the strategic management process and
the possible relationship
between vision and creativity,
leadership, and entrepreneurship been given much
attention. A vision is formulated by explicitly identifying a
domain for competitive behavior, a set of sources of
competitive strength, and a
profile for resource capability.
A vision implies a capability
construct. This capability
construct is determined by
many factors including
managerial vision, competence
and capacity, logistic and
technological profiles, as well
as the financial resource
access of the firm. A good
vision is realistic and feasible.
It provides a challenge for the
whole organization and
mirrors the goals of its
constituents. Visions may be
killed by fear of mistakes,
inability to tolerate ambiguity,
and lack of challenge.
Problem solving. Taskoriented leadership gets best
results with purely technical,
fact-based problems. Consideration-oriented leadership
copes more effectively with
emotional, personal, and
interpersonal problems.
3
Effective leadership must
solve, or face, problems
quickly and forcefully,
regardless of their nature.
Decision making. Managers are more likely to seek
assistance from subordin-ates
in solving problems than when
making decisions. As a general
rule, whether leaders are
directive or supportive, they
know they must make
decisions that commit the
organization to critical actions.
If a leader avoids this responsibility, subordinates will
poorly judge him or her and
the organization will suffer
accordingly.
Risk taking. Balancing
risk is a necessity of leadership. Leaders must weigh the
multitudinous factors
involved, while understanding
that no one can predict the
future with certainty. Inability
to deal with uncertainty precludes an organization from
achieving its goals.
Strategic initiatives.
Leaders must have a vision
and plan for beyond a year or
two in order to achieve longterm success (El-Namaki,
1992).
Entrepreneurial leadership
has been coined by those who
realize a change in leadership
style is necessary in order for
America’s businesses, large
and small, to be competitive
with the rest of the world.
Knowdell, Branstead, and
Moravec (1994) have noted
that corporations now undergo
paradigm shifts rather than
linear change. One such
paradigm shift is from a
“producer mentality” that
4
seeks instructions to an
“entrepreneurial mentality”
that seeks results. This has
lead to structural changes in
organizations and new ways of
doing business. The development of the MacIntosh
computer is, perhaps, the
prime example. Other similar
“skunk works,” or entrepreneurial projects, are increasing
in number throughout corporate America.
One might question
whether entrepreneurial
leadership is truly a new style
of leadership, an escape from
management, or both. Since
the 1980’s, the concern has
been that major business
corporations have lost their
competitiveness through an
emphasis on management
rather than leadership. A
survey of 90 top executives
and entrepreneurs revealed
that the four basic competencies common to all leaders
are management of attention,
meaning, trust, and selfesteem (Bennis, 1988).
Bennis’s research indicated
that potential entrepreneurs
are much more likely to have
had business-owning fathers
or relatives and to have owned
their own firms at some stage
of their careers. While no
differences were found
between subgroups in terms of
their needs for achievement or
their locus of control, the
likely entrepreneurs were
found to have a greater need
for autonomy, more creative
tendencies, and a higher
calculated risk-taking
orientation than other
managers. In all, factors in the
Spring 2005
family background or personal
profile of managers that may
attract them to entrepreneurship have some potential for
detecting entrepreneurs among
managers (Cromie &
O’Donaghue, 1992).
It is argued that the
organizational archetype of the
future will be entrepreneurial.
Its leadership, strategies, and
structure will reflect entrepreneurial thinking with
associated characteristics, e.g.,
a problem-solving and actionorientation. The characteristics
and behaviors that spell
success in entrepreneurial
firms and small businesses
now are being considered as
vital for success, even for large
transnational corporations.
That even large companies are
interested in this phenomenon
is reflected in the popularity of
what has been coined as
“Intrapreneurship” by Pinchot
(1985). Intrapreneurship is
said to exist in situations in
which individuals utilize
entrepreneurial thinking to
initiate and implement new
ideas within large corporations
(Chittipeddi & Wallet, 1991).
Based on these prescriptions, and a myriad of other
sources too numerous to
mention here, the similarities
between what is known as
leaders and what is known as
entrepreneurs are considerable. Regardless of the amount
of study each has been given,
particularly with respect to
leaders, much learning is still
needed. Yukl (1994) reported
that, although the leadership
literature includes more than
5,000 studies, the confused
Southern Business Review
state of the field can be
attributed primarily to the
sheer volume of publications,
the disparity of approaches,
confusing terms, many trivial
studies, and the preference for
simplistic explanations. This
same charge has been levied at
the research involving
entrepreneurship (Vesper,
1996; Sexton & Kasarda,
1992; Zimmerer & Scarborough, 1996).
Nevertheless, much is
known about both leaders and
entrepreneurs. As discussed
earlier, both leaders and
entrepreneurs have been
studied relative to their traits,
skills, and behavioral
characteristics. Numerous
studies have been conducted
in an attempt to define a
successful leader or entrepreneur (Welsh & White, 1983).
The general agreement is that
a leader influences others
toward the attainment of a
vision and goals (Zaleznik,
1990; Stoner, 1995). A
successful entrepreneur,
likewise, influences those who
can help achieve a desired goal
or vision, whether the
entrepreneur is a banker or
other financial lender or those
who can help to manufacture
or distribute a product or
service. Many also agree that
leaders are visionary. They
know what they want and
where they want to go. They
have a vision of their goals
(Locke & Kirkpatrick, 1995;
Hajek, 1995). This is best
stated in a quote from
Theodore Hesburgh:
Southern Business Review
[t]he very essence of
leadership is that you
have a vision. It’s got
to be a vision you
articulate clearly and
forcefully on every
occasion. You can’t
blow an uncertain
trumpet (Brainyquote
.com, 2005).
(2) problem-solving skills;
These characteristics are
intended to provide sufficient
information to support a basis
for the argument that the
behavioral characteristics of
leaders and entrepreneurs are
more similar than different. In
addition, it provides a basis
for viewing entrepreneurial
behavior as another type of
leadership. This is particularly
evident in view of the fact that
changes in the workplace are
demanding a new style of
leadership. A flatter organizational hierarchy with its
shrinking management ranks
and less bureaucracy, coupled
with the push for greater
speed, better customer
responsiveness, and on-going
innovation, will require such.
Every employee will be
required to think and to act
like an owner/entrepreneur
(Turknett, 1995).
(3) timely decision-making;
Methodology
(4) a willingness to accept
risks; and
Characteristics possessed
by both entrepreneurs and
leaders were collected from
various sources such as
journal articles, dissertations
and theses, books, and
magazine articles. These
characteristics were listed and
then compared, resulting in a
list of common characteristics.
No scale was attached to
these characteristics. The
existence of the characteristics
and the degree to which they
exist in any individual can be
Successful entrepreneurs also
envision the need for a
product or service and how
that product or service is to be
provided.
In summary, based on a
review of the literature, both
leaders and entrepreneurs are
successful largely to the extent
that they provide
(1) strategic leadership (vision
and long-term goals);
(5) good negotiating skills.
“Successful” is a key adverb
and a vital factor in this
review. Clearly, many leaders
and entrepreneurs fail.
Whenever possible, the
authors have made an effort to
include only those behavioral
characteristics shared by
leaders and entrepreneurs that
lead to successful attainment
of visions and goals.
Spring 2005
5
most reliably determined by
an in-depth, structured
interview by an experienced
and trained psychologist.
Nevertheless, the number of
times each characteristic was
noted in the review of literature was used to compare the
characteristics of leaders and
entrepreneurs.
Results
Table 1 identifies characteristics that are associated
with successful entrepreneurs
and leaders and the number of
times those characteristics
have been noted in the
literature. Risk-taker,
achievement-orientated, and
creative are the most highly
cited characteristics among
entrepreneurs whereas
visionary, able to motivate,
charismatic, able to
communicate, honest and
sound, and trustworthy are
the most highly cited characteristics among leaders. By
comparing the characteristics
of entrepreneurs and leaders,
a model can be developed that
specifies the personal characteristics reflected in those
who practice entrepreneurial
leadership.
Characteristics that are
common to both entrepreneurs
and leaders are presented in
Table 2.
Table 2 reveals that the
characteristics common to
both entrepreneurs and
leaders are visionary, risktaker, achievement-orientated,
able to motivate, creative,
flexible, persistent, and
patient.
Discussion
Table 1 is the result of a
generally exhaustive search for
entrepreneur and leader
characteristics. Nevertheless,
only 136 sources were
included in this study. The
authors believe that the
numbers associated with each
of the characteristics would
Table 1
Characteristics of Entrepreneurs and Leaders*
Entrepreneurial Characteristics
Leadership Characteristics
Able to motivate (3)
Able to communicate (12)
Achievement orientated (15)
Able to listen (9)
Autonomous (6)
Able to motivate (15)
Creative (10)
Able to work with others (7)
Flexible (2)
Achievement orientated (7)
Highly tolerant of ambiguity (5)
Charismatic (13)
Passionate (3)
Committed to mission (7)
Patient (1)
Creative (5)
Persistent (3)
Flexible (6)
Risk-taker (24)
Honest and sound (12)
Visionary (6)
Patient (3)
Persistent (2)
Risk-taker (6)
Strategic thinker (5)
Trustworthy (12)
Visionary (29)
*Cites for these characteristics may be obtained from the authors.
6
Spring 2005
Southern Business Review
Table 2
Common Characteristics
Entrepreneur
Able to motivate
Leader
3
15
Achievement orientated
15
7
Creative
10
5
Flexible
2
6
Patient
1
3
Persistent
3
2
Risk-taker
24
6
Visionary
6
29
change, perhaps considerably,
if more sources were included.
At the same time, the authors
believe that it is likely that the
same characteristics found in
Tables 1 and 2 would remain
in a future study.
Some of the characteristics
noted appear consistent with
anecdotal reports. For
example, entrepreneurs are
generally known as risktakers, high achievers, and
creative in their abilities to
produce unique goods and
services. Anecdotal evidence
suggests the most successful
leaders are visionaries.
Additionally, they are
charismatic, able to communicate, have reputations of being
honest, and are trusted by
others. Conversely, while
anecdotal evidence suggests
that such characteristics as
autonomous, highly tolerant of
ambiguity, passionate, and
persistent are generally found
in entrepreneurs, the study
data support such, but reflect
a remarkably small number of
sources. So as with leaders, it
would appear from anecdotal
evidence that characteristics
such as achievement-oriented,
strategic thinker, and committed to mission would have
been more evident than the
data found in this study.
A more in-depth study
would likely shed light on this
issue. Nevertheless, the study
results reflect actual citations
in the entrepreneurship and
leadership journals. The data
provided are considered more
valid in describing entrepreneurs and leaders than that of
anecdotal evidence.
Table 2 is interesting as
well. Eight common characteristics were found in
entrepreneurs and leaders.
Risk-taker clearly led all other
entrepreneurial characteristics,
and visionary was the
strongest characteristic in
leaders. These findings are
well-supported by anecdotal
evidence. Other characteristics
Southern Business Review
Spring 2005
common to entrepreneurs and
leaders are not surprising,
with the possible exception
that the numbers were smaller
than the authors anticipated.
Table 2 offers researchers
several questions. When the
number of cites is small, such
as with “Patient,” should it be
discarded as a common
characteristic? Could other
characteristics be added to
this table? Most importantly,
does possessing the common
characteristics found in this
study predict an individual
whose performance would
exhibit entrepreneurial
leadership and successfully
contribute to an organization’s
success?
Conclusions
The findings of this study,
i.e., the common characteristics shared by both
entrepreneurs and leaders,
represent an attempt to both
reveal the commonality of
7
these two populations and to
provide a base for further
studies on entrepreneurial
leadership. The lists shown in
Tables 1 and 2 include those
characteristics often found in
a successful leader or
entrepreneur. This information
may be helpful to individuals
considering the entrepreneurial life or seeking other
leadership positions.
Clearly, much remains to
be done in clarifying the role
and characteristics of tomorrow’s leaders. New
organizational designs, new
thinking patterns, and new
information systems will
require new leadership styles.
Entrepreneurial leadership
offers one answer. The
question remains as to
whether entrepreneurial
leadership will consist of the
characteristics found common
to both the successful
entrepreneur and leader in this
study.
Some will argue that
entrepreneurs are not necessarily “good” or successful
leaders. Such doubters can
find support in the literature
for the iconoclastic characteristics found in many
entrepreneurs that are
inconsistent with “good”
leadership characteristics. For
doubters, the term “entrepreneurial leadership” is seen as
an oxymoron, a combination
of terms that are contradictory
to what they have been
accustomed in the past.
Successful entrepreneurs,
however, have provided the
risk-taking, achievement
orientation, and creativity that
8
have lead to the birth and
growth of numerous major
firms in the U.S. and globally
and continue to do so. Entrepreneurial thinking is being
increasingly demanded in even
the largest corporations.
More research in this area
is essential. Future studies
may rank preferences of the
characteristics of leaders and
entrepreneurs to permit a rank
order or other statistical
analyses of the characteristics
of leaders and entrepreneurs,
helping to further define the
characteristics needed for
entrepreneurial leadership.
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Southern Business Review
The Emerging Role of
the “Sales Technologist”
David J. Good and Roberta J. Schutlz
Marketers have long
sought to craft marketplace
opportunities to provide a
differential advantage that is
both significant and
sustainable. Particularly
important in the sales
organization, creating and
maintaining a marketplace
advantage are often the keys
to success or failure. In this
pursuit, a host of strategies,
mechanisms, and processes
have evolved through
marketing departments as
managers constantly seek the
“best” tools for rapidly
changing marketplaces.
Employing considerable
resources to obtain such
marketplace advantages,
management has sought to
integrate many different
David J. Good, Ph.D., is
professor of marketing,
Grand Valley State
University, Grand Rapids, MI
49504.
Roberta J. Schultz, Ph.D., is
associate professor of
marketing, Western
Michigan University, Grand
Rapids, MI 49503.
Southern Business Review
elements into the marketing
domain. One contemporary
effort that has received a great
deal of attention has been the
increased usage of sales force
automation, coupled with the
need to enhance the relationship management of clients
through communications
technology. This effort has
resulted in an escalated need
to determine where and how
technology is being used in
personal selling (Widmier,
Jackson, & McCabe, 2002) to
maximize technological
integration within the sales
organization.
Correspondingly, sellers
have become increasingly
aggressive in recent years as
they seek and implement
constructive assets that
improve their positions and
opportunities for success. For
instance, training has become
a key strategic organizational
tool being visualized as an
important vehicle for success
(e.g., Leach & Liu, 2003).
Spending in some situations
more than $100,000 and two
years in the development of
one salesperson (Johnston &
Marshall, 2003) to cultivate a
competitive advantage in a
Spring 2005
single territory, marketers
have demonstrated their
interest and willingness in
acquiring and deploying assets
that can cultivate a significant,
sustainable differential
advantage under virtually any
condition.
Actual applications of
sales force automation indicate
a range of failure that suggests
technology cannot be
automatically and easily
intertwined within the sales
force. One study used identity
theory to better understand
these failures and found
salespeople have positive
perceptions of the technology
immediately after the training;
however, six months after
implementation, the
technology had been widely
rejected (Speier & Venkatesh,
2002). To make sales
technology more functionally
valuable, some European
companies have discovered
that technology that dictates
how salespeople behave will
fail while technology that
respects how salespeople
really behave has a better
chance at success (Schrage,
2003). What this suggests is
that, while technology may be
11
a positive force in some
situations, as with any tool, its
usage must be balanced
against the value it brings and
the resources required for its
implementation.
Similar advances in other
areas such as hiring practices,
market identification
techniques, strategic development, and compensation
systems are but a few of the
elements considered for usage
in contemporary marketplaces
to gain a differential advantage by salespeople. The critical
issue as it relates to the sales
force, therefore, is that
marketing managers are
increasingly demonstrating a
willingness to take risks in
discovering tools and
strategies that maximize field
opportunities. In turn, the
failure to maximize situations
as they occur can result in
mixed opportunities.
As the shift toward
relational sales approaches
and emerging technologies
continues to drive the
changing nature of selling, it is
important for the sales
organization to identify,
explore, adjust to, and exploit
the needs of the marketplace
in highly competitive
situations. For example, the
critical role of marketing
communications as part of
relational strategies (Andersen,
2001) suggests B2B sellers are
learning to craft relational
selling strategies in an
environment in which ecommerce is increasingly
viewed as a critical
marketplace tool. In this
regard, most marketing tools,
12
whether implemented by
upper management or by local
field managers, are designed
to satisfy the core needs of the
seller (identify, explore,
adjust, and exploit). It is
reasonable to anticipate,
therefore, that when new
methods, processes, tools, and
strategies are considered for
future implementation, the
criterion for acceptance will
rest on this same ability to
meet selling needs.
It is in this spirit of sellers
constantly needing new tools
and strategies that this
research examines the
emerging role of the sales
organization becoming
oriented toward the usage of
technology. The next
generation of B2B sellers may
require a newer form of
specialists to manage this
focus on technology.
Why Combine Sales and
Technology?
Selling is evolving to the
point at which professionals
will have two related, but
quite separate skills.
Specifically, successful
contemporary B2B sellers will
increasingly need technological
abilities. For example, at the
Aetna Insurance Company,
educating sales professionals
about customer-facing
technology has become a high
priority (O’Donnell, 2003).
Facing the need to enhance
customer connections, a new
generation of sales strategies
starting to evolve is of a move
toward a “sales technologist”
Spring 2005
(ST). As discussed in the
following sections, these
employees will assume a
broader marketing orientation
and will be less restricted to
specific functional areas as
they expand the role and
connections of traditional
salespeople.
What is a “sales
technologist”? The sales
technologist is, in most
contexts, an employee who
carries many of the traditional
sales responsibilities (e.g.,
creating revenue), but utilizes
technology as a critical sales
tool for strategic and tactical
purposes. The ST is primarily
focused on selling and
providing organizationally
required performance output.
As part of his/her performance
guidelines, he/she incorporates
contemporary technologies
into the selling effort. For
instance, STs seek methods in
which e-commerce efforts are
incorporated into relational
and selling efforts. This could
include fostering customer
relationship systems driven
through web order points,
customer records and
inventory management
systems, and automatic
reorder points derived from
the buyer to the seller. The
critical aspect of the sales
technologist is that he/she
utilizes contemporary
technologies to gain and retain
competitive advantages
through technology. Hence,
the ST is not tied to any
particular technology but to
technologies in general. As the
technologies change, so does
Southern Business Review
the focus on the types of tools
that the ST utilizes.
The sales technologist is
more of an operational title
than a functional title. These
employees may be drawn from
a variety of functional roles in
and out of the traditional sales
function. New to these
positions may be skilled
employees from finance,
logistics, information
technology, and other areas
previously not included in the
selling function. Possible titles
may include customer data
specialist, information
technology analyst, technology
solution advisor, customer
solutions developer, contact
center professional, or
professional services engineer.
These sales technologists will
become more skilled and
participative in a wider array
of organizational levels than
has previously existed for
those who came strictly from
the sales area of the business.
The inclination of many
managers when faced with the
challenge of hiring or developing a sales technologist
would be to employ someone
who is fundamentally
technologically inclined (e.g.,
computer analyst) and, then,
attempt to transform him/her
into a salesperson who
understands technology. A
number of years ago, when
selling was not considered to
be a professional skill, sales
organizations routinely found
salespeople internally from a
host of positions throughout
the company (e.g., engineers).
Employers found that simply
knowing the product, under-
standing the employer, and
being willing to hire a
technologist is not the same as
meeting the needs of the buyer
in competitive markets.
In today’s business
climate, more of what were
previously considered to be
non-boundary spanning
employees are now boundaryspanning at an increasingly
fast pace. More of the
organization is interfacing
with customers. While these
non-customer contact
personnel may have been
socialized in a non-client
orientation, they may be likely
candidates to move into these
positions and receive the
additional training to handle
the customer development/
maintenance and sales
responsibilities. More
individuals are being asked to
wear multiple hats, and, just
as salespeople are also being
asked to provide return on
investment and become
finance-savvy employees,
finance people are becoming
increasingly sales- and
marketing-oriented. It is a
two-way street.
The wide range of
integration will, in turn, allow
B2B sellers to create more
sustainable advantages in
highly competitive markets. As
a result, organizations that
cultivate these STs will
prosper over those
organizations that reject their
usage. Changing the very
nature of the marketing
organization, this research
proposes that the usage of the
ST will foster an advantageous
atmosphere that will enrich
Southern Business Review
Spring 2005
the competitive benefit of B2B
marketers.
The Emerging
Environment
The role of the salesperson
has historically and consistently been defined in a
reasonably confined context
and structure. Producing
revenue through sales activity,
salespeople are expected in
very basic terms to retain
existing customers, find new
accounts, sell accounts,
and/or replace clients when
they depart. While other
general expectations of
salespeople often exist
(training new salespeople,
servicing complaints and
accounts, overseeing
territories, etc.), the main
managerial direction of the
salesperson has been altered
very little in recent decades.
Salespeople are first and
foremost expected to create
and maintain revenue. Of
course, the tactics underlying
this performance may vary, as
sellers utilize a variety of
mechanisms (e.g., relational
selling, major accounts,
teamwork) to accomplish
performance objectives.
Therefore, while the specific
content of how one engages
most effectively in selling for
particular markets may have
varied in recent years, the
focus has been on, and
continues to remain on,
revenue performance for the
vast majority of salespeople.
Pursuing increased
revenue as an outcome
13
measure has been evidenced
by sales organizations seeking
various methods to enhance
their effectiveness in their
operational environments. For
example, while the ABC’s of
selling (“always be closing”)
were at one time considered
an effective selling method,
today’s environment relies
increasingly on creating and
maintaining long-term
relationships between clients
and sellers. Efforts to improve
B2B sales force productivity
have suggested revisions in the
way most sales divisions
traditionally view salesperson
time. Revenue per available
salesperson hour is proposed
to integrate the salesperson’s
time in calculations of sales
potential and revenue
generation (Siguaw, Kimes, &
Gassenheimer, 2003). As part
of this evolution, it will be
important to examine the
effects of technology-mediated
tools upon the important
relationship outcomes such as
trust and future intentions
(MacDonald & Smith, 2004).
The question for sales
organizations, therefore, rests
on the next major evolution in
the sales force. In this vein,
what strategic and operational
adjustments should management make to prepare both
salespeople and customers for
the environment of the next
decade? Further, given that
the salesperson will continue
to sell products, how will
sellers be shaped to be able to
meet changing environmental
needs?
To respond to these concerns, it has been proposed
14
industry is on the verge of a
third industrial revolution, in
which issues such as technology are becoming the
driving force of business
commerce. The rapid and
explosive growth of technology
has cultivated an environment
in which electronic commerce
has been widely adopted to
improve efficiencies in the
marketing of products
(Osmonbekov, Bello, &
Gilliland, 2002). This
environment needs visionaries
who are able to incorporate
increasingly rapid technological changes with the needs of
the marketplace. This suggests
that the possibility of recasting
some of the sales force and
employees from other functional areas as STs provides
interesting strategic and
operational opportunities for
B2B sellers.
Technology as an
Emerging Force
Sales organizations
increasingly operate in an
environment in which
participating in risk and
innovation is needed for a
trade-off of gain that would
not be otherwise possible. In
other words, successful sales
organizations are able to
respond to changing
conditions. Organizations that
conduct stagnant operations
and strategic actions in their
markets will eventually be
lead to declining performance
results. Several aspects of
salesperson attitudes
(perceived usefulness, attitude
Spring 2005
toward the new system, and
compatibility) about sales
force automation technology
(Jones, Sundaram, & Chin,
2002) are worthy of
examination as they affect the
success of the business.
In an examination of
market conditions, a number
of changes have occurred over
the last several decades,
encouraging and demanding
successful firms to adjust to
environmental fluctuations.
For instance, a growing
diversity in the types,
locations, and nature of
purchases has reformulated
how many sellers are now
addressing their markets.
Changing market conditions
have forced sellers to alter
their methods of business in
order to survive. While other
alterations have occurred
during the past years,
dramatic changes have been
seen in the application, usage,
and management of data and
their transmission via
electronic mail (Bean, Boles, &
Rodriguez Cano, 2003) and
online databases (Wilson,
2003).
Rapid advancements in
computer and related
technologies have changed
how markets operate. For
instance, the rapid exchange
of information between
customers and sellers now
allows buyers to carry minimal
inventory, reduce costs, and
gain selective competitive
advantages. Subsequent
changes in e-commerce and
other related types of
technological progressions
Southern Business Review
have caused most organizations to adjust, at least to
some degree, how they do
business. These changes in
sales approaches and emerging
technologies require sales
managers to examine factors
important to the success of the
salespeople they hire. Skills,
content knowledge, attributes,
and historical indicants of
performance are such factors
to consider (Marshall, Goebel,
& Moncrief, 2003) for incorporating technology into the
sales force.
A tidal wave of technological advancements has created
a new and very unique differential advantage among those
marketers able to capitalize on
these advance-ments. Among
the tools of the trade in the
sales arsenal is the irreplaceable laptop. The ST would find
it difficult to work without the
ability to close sales in the
field. Mobile communication
allows instant contact with
sales staff personnel. Even
more important is the quick
access to clients. A popular
handheld device allows the ST
to receive calls and e-mails
simultaneously, enabling
negotiations of contract
specifications while communicating with customer
employees. Increased coordination and productivity
become the key component.
Even wireless ear pieces made
possible by Bluetooth allow
the ST to press a button to
talk even when the cell phone
is not in reach. Navigation
systems, powerful PDA’s that
quickly sync to office computers, lightweight projectors
that eliminate compatibility
problems for presentations,
and small storage devices that
allow transfers of large data
files while at the client’s
premise are all tools to
differentiate a great marketing
firm from a mediocre firm
(Cummings, 2003).
Sales force automation
systems are electronic
software-based devices that
enable field salespeople and
companies to keep detailed
records of their dealings with
customers at all stages of the
sales cycle, from initial
contacts through closing
contracts. Companies have
found success with incorporating sales and automation
systems. The 60 or so
salespeople at Pegasus
Airwave, which markets
special air mattresses to
medical facilities, willingly
accepted a new online system
that helped speed up payments.
Completely Internet-based
systems such as MyNetSales
.com propose suitability for
small businesses. These
systems have the capability to
streamline the sales processes
in companies with several
different offices since
individual sites do not need
their own servers (Riggs,
2000). Those sales
organizations able to construct
and utilize technology in a
competitive sense within the
sales field are likely to gain a
sustainable advantage that will
enhance existing and future
buyer-seller connections. STs
offer unique opportunities and
challenges to the sales organi-
Southern Business Review
Spring 2005
zations that utilize their skills
and knowledge.
Incorporating the Sales
Technologist
Sales organizations have
historically gone through a
number of positional changes
as market conditions have
demanded market adjustments. For instance, a few
years ago many sales
organizations determined that
one method of creating greater
connections to major clients
was to create major accounts
managers. These individuals
were (and remain in many
sales organizations today)
chiefly responsible for crafting
better relationships with
significant accounts that
generated large amounts of
revenue. The idea behind the
concept rested on the notion
that better personal relationships allowed for a stronger
understanding of the client,
and, through this
understanding, the potential
for greater amounts of longterm revenue could be
generated. As in most
markets, the response of the
sales organization has been to
create connections with
customers that enhance opportunities for the buyer and
seller.
The specific type of
technologies utilized by the ST
is of little strategic importance
from the standpoint of the
organization. What is most
important is that because
technologies have, and always
will, change, organizations
15
adopting STs as part of their
sales structures will systematically ensure that these
professionals remain current
in the needed technologies of
that time period. Much like
the salesperson of the 70’s
who became more connected
to telecommunications (e.g.,
programs like “Phone Power”),
a similar type of role transformation will occur in the next
decade.
The role of this seller will,
in many cases, expand and be
more inclusive and participative in current technologies.
The move toward the ST is a
more formal recognition that
technologies need to be
increasingly incorporated into
the training and development
of sales organizations. As
such, technologies are not just
idle tools, but, instead, they
offer vibrant opportunities for
sellers to advance their
competitive causes. It is
critical in such environments
that sellers are able to
incorporate a variety of these
changing technologies into
their technological “tool
boxes,” as advancements
rapidly outdate new
innovations.
Of course, not all salespeople, or their organizations,
will want or need their sellers
to become STs; however, it
appears that this role will
increasingly become merged
with the selling function, and
eventually most salespeople
will incorporate at least some
of the ST skills and
capabilities into their daily
functional responsibilities. In
the short-term, organizations
desiring this type of strategic
advantage will need to make
distinct structural decisions
that incorporate these skills
and knowledge into the selling
function. As such, the ST is a
unique professional offering an
array of qualities and skills.
Implications for Usage
of the Sales Technologist
A number of implications
can be gathered from the
utilization of an ST. These
implications represent impacts
at the organizational and
managerial levels. These
implications are provided in
Table 1 and are discussed in
more detail following the
table.
As noted in Table 1, a
number of organizational and
managerial implications exist
as they relate to the utilization
of the ST. While these
implications address a number
of issues that are germane to
the selling organization, they
are also implications that
impact top management and
Table 1
Implications of the Sales Technologist
Organizational Implications
Organizational support from upper management needed
Challenges in measuring outcome performance
Managerial blending of technologies with other organizational
tactics and strategies
Managerial Implications
Must continuously educate and re-retrain employees of seller and
buyer in technologies
Impact on traditional monitoring (outcome versus behaviors based)
Inter-departmental educational responsibilities
Ability to move between positions and/or between companies
Technology provides a common connection point and mechanism
for communication within the selling organization and externally
with the buying organization
16
Spring 2005
Southern Business Review
ultimately customers. As a
result, selling organizations
need to closely consider these
implications before
determining if the utilization
of a technologist is in the best
interest of the firm.
For the principle of the ST
to succeed, upper management
organizational support of the
concept is strongly needed.
Because sales personnel have
many conflicting responsibilities, it is easy for sales
managers to minimize the
technology aspect of
salespeople. Upper management must commit to the
concept of the ST, and this
commitment must be
expressed throughout the
organization to clarify that its
usage and continuance is a
dominant beacon.
One of the chief problems
of using STs remains in that
its usage represents a
“blended strategy” designed to
incur long-term results
through some sort of synergy.
What this suggests is that the
ST is not a stand-alone
strategy or tool but is, instead,
part of a bigger set of organizational issues designed to
work in combination with
other assets. Seldom is
technology able to be a standalone tool in the marketing
organization since it offers no
immediate advantages to
clients unless it is directly
linked with advantages
customers need. As a result,
technologies utilized to
advance selling strategies need
to be aligned with these
strategies, ensuring
consistency in assignments,
principles, objectives, and
resources. For example, if
relational selling is the
selected message a seller
wishes to send buyers, the
usage of technology must be
crafted in such a manner to
ensure clients continue to
connect with the relationship
message. The biggest concern
in this regard is that it is easy
to separate issues and not
utilize technology as the
supporting strategy, but
instead make it the driving
force around which all other
issues revolve. Under such
conditions, the advantage of
technology to construct meaningful support mechanisms
will lose its favor with the
customer.
Foremost, firms deciding
to utilize technology as part of
their selling strategies and
tools must accept the idea
that, from an organizational
perspective, such a decision
can be costly if it is determined by upper management
to position the sales organization at the forefront of
technologies. A firm cannot
take the risk of becoming
committed to technologies as
part of the connection process
with customers and then, a
short period later, change this
decision. The decision to
utilize technology as an
integral aspect of internal
strategies should be viewed as
a long-term commitment.
Alterations in this approach
“mid-stream” will negatively
impact buyer-seller
relationships. Sellers can be
seen as fickle if they change
their positions on the usage of
Southern Business Review
Spring 2005
key buyer interconnection
tools. Similarly to being at the
front of the product life cycle,
the decision to utilize
technology aggressively in the
sales force suggests, from a
firm perspective, that the
seller is attempting to be a
“leader” in technological
advancements. Therefore,
being placed in the leader
category provides risk and
costs as part of the potential
returns to the firm.
Other more managerial
implications exist with the use
of the ST concept. As part of
the internal costs of adoption
of this strategy, and for sellers
to utilize an ST, the selling
organization encumbers
significant development and
related training responsibilities
for field personnel. If the
selling organization employs
personnel who do not have
current technological understanding and skills, the firm
has to develop these skills to
an acceptable level.
Correspondingly, if the
organization hires personnel
with these skills, it still incurs
the expensive responsibility of
maintaining this knowledge as
the requirements of technology
change. Further, part of the
advantage is in allowing
customers to benefit from the
usage of technology. This may
include the client actually
participating in the usage of
the technology, suggesting that
critical professional training,
maintenance, and preparations
for the utilization of the
technology will often fall into
the hands of the seller. Under
these circumstances, it is
17
critical to provide the highest
degree of professional
education for clients, which is
likely, at least in part, to fall
into the responsibility domain
of the seller.
The measurement of the
STs’ success is one of the
factors that separates them
from other organizational
members. It is not likely,
however, that the issues of
quota and account
productivity will become
unimportant for these individuals. Instead, much like
account managers have in
many firms been directed
toward longer term outcome
measurement systems (less
immediate sales results
expected), it is possible that, if
a limited number of sales
personnel are designated as
STs, a restructuring of
outcome measurements may
be necessary for firms. For
instance, one of the
responsibilities of the ST
might be to work with other
salespeople implementing new
technologies into the sales
force. As a major objective,
the accomplishment of this
task will need to be measured.
The task should not be minimized if it is to be successful.
The ST is the key for
linking sales and staff
personnel in implementing
new technologies in the field.
The ST should be utilized to
first determine the suitability
and acceptability of new field
technologies. Then, based on
successful field experiences,
he/she should be utilized as
an opinion maker in the
integration of technologies to
18
other sales professionals and
inter-departmental colleagues.
Again, such quasi-management
activities suggest he/she needs
to be on a separate or different
control system.
Employees who represent
STs are individuals who are at
the introduction stage of the
product life cycle in terms of
application and usage of
technologies. These salespeople will offer flexibility in
moving between positions in
and between business units.
As with the PLC, early stages
are more expensive to
maintain, and replacement can
be costly. Equally, competitive
firms will seek more rapid
remedies of perceived lost
marketplace positioning by
duplicating successful
strategies through the least
expensive manner possible
such as hiring away successful
Sts; however, once a selling
organization has made the
decision to utilize STs,
managers should be reminded
that in many respects
retention of current employees
is less expensive than
retraining and efforts to
maintain these resources
should be made.
Sales Technologists will
have to assume much of the
field training of internal and
external personnel. Forms of elearning modules are being
successfully implemented to
help salespeople understand
products at Fifth Third Bank
(Nelson, 2003). This type of
learning tool may be expanded
to assist participants of both
sides of the exchange. The STs
will be expected to enhance
Spring 2005
knowledge in the selling
organization as well as that of
customers. As a result, they
must be skilled communicators
who are able to build the
knowledge base of users in a
very non-threatening atmosphere.
One of the real strengths
of STs is that they allow the
sales organization to cross
over to a variety of other
organizational and functional
levels through the language of
technology. Because technology is the language of the
next decade, it provides a
common connection point and
mechanism for internal
communications that seem to
be becoming prevalent.
Further, as customers become
increasingly more technologically demanding, the
technologist is able to reach
more of the client’s functional
areas through this common
language. In turn, STs are able
to construct a stronger linkage
with clients via a common
thread of “language.”
References
Andersen, P. H. (2001).
Relationship development
and marketing communication: An integrative
model. Journal of Business
& Industrial Marketing,
16(3): 167-182.
Bean, C. J., Boles, J. S., &
Rodriguez Cano, C.
(2003). Electronic mail
appraisal: A buyer and
seller survey. Journal of
Business and Industrial
Southern Business Review
Marketing, 18(4-5): 419434.
Cummings, B. (2003). Tools
of the trade. Sales and
Marketing Management,
155(10): 46-47.
Johnston, M. W. & Marshall,
G. W. (2003). Churchill,
Ford, and Walker’s sales
force management, 7th
edition. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Jones, E., Sundaram, S., &
Chin, W. (2002). Factors
leading to sales force
automation use: A
longitudinal analysis,” The
Journal of Personal Selling
& Sales Management, 22
(Summer): 145-156.
Leach, M. P. & Liu, A.
(2003). Investigating
interrelationships among
sales training evaluation
methods. Journal of
Personnel Selling & Sales
Management, 23(Fall):
327-339.
MacDonald, J. B. & Smith, K.
(2004). The effects of
technology-mediated communication on industrial
buyer behavior. Industrial
Marketing Management,
33 (February): 107-116.
Southern Business Review
Marshall, G. W., Goebel, D.
J., & Moncrief, W. C.
(2003). Hiring for success
at the buyer-seller interface. Journal of Business
Research, 56 (April): 247253.
Nelson, K. (2003). Fifth Third
improves cross-sell ratios
with e-learning. Bank
Systems & Technology, 40
(September): 20-21.
O’Donnell, A. (2003). Tech
stressed at New Aetna
school. Insurance &
Technology, 28
(September): 13-14.
Osmonbekov, T., Bello, D. C.,
& Gilliland, D. J. (2002).
Adoption of electronic
commerce tools in business procurement:
Enhanced buying structure
and processes. Journal of
Business & Industrial
Marketing, 17 (2/3): 151166.
Riggs, L. (2000). Speeding
sales: Companies want
fast automation systems
that do it all. Direct Marketing Business Intelligence, (July1): 1-2.
Sales and Marketing Management, 155 (August):
25-26.
Siguaw, J. A., Kimes, S. E., &
Gassenheimer, J. B. (2003).
B2B sales force productivity: Applications of
revenue management
strategies to sales management. Industrial
Marketing Management,
32 (October): 539-547.
Speier, C. & Venkatesh, V.
(2002). The hidden minefields in the adoption of
sales force automation.
Journal of Marketing, 66
(July): 98-112.
Widmier, S. M., Jackson, Jr.,
D. W., & McCabe, D. B.
(2002). Infusing Technology into personal
selling. The Journal of
Personal Selling & Sales
Management, 22
(Summer): 189-198.
Wilson, D. R. (2003). Using
online databases for developing prioritized sales
leads. Journal of Business
& Industrial Marketing, 18
(4-5): 388-402.
Schrage, M. (2003). Software
that’s actually useful.
Spring 2005
19
20
Spring 2005
Southern Business Review
Leadership and Upward Influence:
A Survey of Business School Deans
J. Michael McDonald and Carl W. Gooding
An empirical study of how
business school deans use
“upward” influence tactics as
a leadership tool to get things
done has never appeared in
the research literature on
management. The purpose of
this study is to examine what
types of influence tactics
business school deans use
with their superiors. The
methodology includes
examining how frequently
deans used various upward
influence tactics and how
effective those tactics were
considered to be.
Additionally, the researchers
seek to compare the tactics
used by business school deans
to those used by managers in
general. Do business school
deans use the same upward
J. Michael McDonald, Ph.D.,
is director of Graduate
Studies, College of Business
Administration, Georgia
Southern University,
Statesboro, GA 30460-8050.
Carl W. Gooding, Ph.D., is
professor of management,
College of Business,
Jacksonville State University,
Anniston, AL, 36205.
Southern Business Review
influence tactics as other
managers? Are those tactics
used as frequently by deans as
by other managers? Are the
tactics used by deans viewed
as effective for managers?
While some might argue
business school deans are no
different than other managers
in terms of their leadership
styles and patterns of
behavior, the researchers
hypothesize otherwise.
Business managers generally
have clearly defined goals to
work toward such as
profitability, return on
investment, cost reduction,
productivity, and quality
improvements. Academic
deans, however, work in
environments in which the
goals are less clearly defined
and much more subject to
budgetary constraints and
philosophical differences.
Business school deans, in
particular, often report to
superiors whose backgrounds
are not in business. Those
superiors frequently do not
share the same goals, values,
points of view, or needs (e.g.,
AACSB accreditation) as
business deans. Hence, it is
incumbent upon the business
dean to learn how to lead
Spring 2005
“upward.” In a very real
sense, the business school
dean is leading upward as
resources are negotiated. To
be effective, the dean of
business must understand that
upward power (and influence)
is partly based on the ability
and willingness to use
influence tactics. To negotiate
for limited resources, an
effective dean will, by
necessity, have to appreciate
the upward influence nature of
leadership.
Literature Review
Power and Upward Influence
Leadership, influence, and
power are inextricably linked.
In fact, some scholars think
that understanding power and
the use of influence might be
the most important concepts
in all of leadership (Burns,
1978; Gardner, 1990; Hinkin
& Schriesheim, 1989). While
the concepts “power” and
“influence” are often used
synonymously, for this study,
power is defined as the
capacity to cause change.
Influence is the degree of
actual change in a target
21
person’s attitude, values,
beliefs, or behaviors (Hughes,
Gannett, & Curphy, 2002). In
one sense, power is the
potential that a leader has to
influence others. The leader
then uses influence tactics,
methods, and actual behaviors
to affect change in others.
Several authors note that
successful managers expand
their power by learning how
“to influence someone higher
in the formal hierarchy of
authority in the organization”
(Kanter, 1983; Yukl & Falbe,
1990; Kotter, 1985; 1990).
Early research (Pelz, 1959)
suggests that upward influence
is a key factor in the effectiveness of managers. Others
observe that the ability to
influence superiors can be
“acquired, enhanced, or
reduced” by a manager’s
behavior (Case, Dosier,
Murkison, & Keys, 1988;
Bartolome & Laurent, 1986).
Research has demonstrated that leaders’
effectiveness with subordinates depends heavily on their
abilities to develop upward
influence with superiors (Pelz,
1959; Bartolume & Laurent,
1986). Likewise, influence
with superiors depends on the
ability of a leader to accomplish things through
subordinates (Uyterhoeven,
1972; Ruello, 1973).
Consequently, the more the
leader enters into a set of
reciprocal relationships, the
more a resulting cycle
develops. As the leader
becomes more effective in
influencing the superior,
he/she will become more
22
effective with subordinates.
The reverse is equally true; as
the leader gains influence with
subordinates, influence will be
enhanced with the superior.
In terms of using upward
influence tactics effectively,
several empirical studies offer
strong support for the idea
that the most effective leaders
in organizations understand
the nature of influence,
understand what influence
tactics are available to them,
and know “how” and “when”
to use those tactics (Case et
al., 1988; Kaplan, 1986;
Kipnis & Schmidt, 1988;
Mowday, 1978; Schilit &
Locke, 1982; Yukl & Falbe,
1990).
It is difficult to find
empirical data supporting
these conclusions. Numerous
articles have been published in
trade-oriented publications
like the Chronicle of Higher
Education, Selections (Graduate Management Admissions
Council–GMAC), and various
AACSB publications such as
Biz Ed. While these articles do
provide guidance and
interesting, anecdotal, caseoriented advice, none has an
empirical, research-oriented
focus (Tyson, 2003; Bijoux,
2003; Schmotter, 1998).
One empirical study found
in the literature that examined
leadership among business
deans basically examined
clique formation (Hartman,
Lundberg, & Lee, 1997). In
this study of 18 deans at
AACSB schools, the
predictability in what causes
deans to form communication
cliques was very limited. This
Spring 2005
study attempted to identify
which factors might cause
business deans to form
informal networks. The
primary focus of this study
was how business school
deans form communication
cliques as a way of dealing
with changes in AACSB
guidelines. Location (i.e.,
proximity to another college)
and opinion similarity on
AACSB issues were the most
important factors related to
clique formation.
Research Methods
Based on the work of Keys
and Case (1990), ten upward
influence tactics identified in
similar surveys were used.
Preliminary field interviews
conducted among several
business deans (or retired
deans), yielded two additional
upward influence tactics.
These two tactics (“developing
and showing support of other
people” and “showing confidence and support for my boss”)
were added to the survey.
Then a survey identifying
the twelve upward influence
methods (i.e., tactics) was
designed. The actual ordering
of these methods was random
to avoid affecting the resulting
rankings.
The surveys were administered to a group of business
school deans attending a meeting of the Southern Business
Administrators Association.
This group meets semiannually to discuss issues of
importance to business school
leaders. While most of the
deans present were from
Southern Business Review
As the results show in
Table 2, the most frequently
used tactic for deans influencing their own bosses was to
“present a rational explana-
tion” for what was needed.
This is consistent with
research with other types of
leaders and in other types of
settings, be it in the not-forprofit or for-profit sectors. In
fact, most of the influence
literature suggests that direct,
simple, rational, logical
explanation for why something
is needed tends to be the most
effective tactic with any
“direction” of influence, i.e.,
with subordinates, peers,
customers, etc.
The next most frequently
used tactic was, surprisingly,
to “tell, argue, or talk without
support.” The ranking of this
tactic was surprising since it
was assumed that the deans as
a group would be less likely to
be this forceful so quickly
without exhausting other
tactics; however, in defense of
deans, other surveys suggest
that managers in general tend
to quickly move into the
“telling-arguing” tactic if their
first tactic does not achieve
results (Case et al., 1988). As
seen in Table 1, the third most
frequently used tactic was to
“use other people as a platform to present ideas.” This
tactic, while used more
frequently by the deans, is the
sixth most used tactic by
managers in general (Case et
al., 1988). Since the third,
fourth, and fifth most
frequently used tactics by the
deans also involved people
issues, it might be that
business deans place a much
greater emphasis on human
relations and collegial
behavior than do managers in
other settings. The deans in
Southern Business Review
Spring 2005
AACSB schools, not all of
them were. The deans represented a cross-section of
schools from large to small,
from private to public, and
mostly from the Southeastern
U.S. A 100 percent response
rate was obtained from the 53
deans participating in the
conference.
The survey asked the
deans to rank twelve influence
methods (tactics) from one to
twelve in terms of frequency
of use. For example, if a dean
used the tactic of “presenting
a rational explanation” with
his/her boss more than he/she
used any other tactic, he/she
was to rank that tactic as
number one. Then, the dean
was asked to identify the
second most frequently used
tactic. These rankings of
“frequencies of use” were
summed and divided by the
total number of deans responding. The result of this
was a rank ordering that could
be compared to the Case et al.
(1988) study of managers.
This same ranking procedure was used to identify how
effective the deans found each
influence tactic. Similar procedures were used to sum the
individual rankings and a
mean response was calculated.
The resulting sum totals and
mean rankings are shown in
Table 1.
Survey Results
this study ranked “threatening”
the boss as the least frequently
used tactic. This is consistent
with other studies of upward
influence. The dean in an
academic environment has
learned to be “collegial” (if
nothing else) with his/her
superior, even when the
dean’s requests are turned
down.
One particularly
interesting result from this
survey of deans is that all 53
ranked “threatening the boss”
as the least used of any of the
tactics. This does suggest that
business deans are slightly
different from the managers in
the Case et al. (1988) study.
(Their study found that
“offering to trade favors or
concessions” with their bosses
was the least used upward
influence tactic.)
The effectiveness of the
influence methods/tactics are
shown in Table 2 as well.
Consistent with other surveys,
the deans ranked “presenting
a rational explanation” to your
boss as the most effective
tactic; however, after this
tactic, the effectiveness
rankings do not match the
frequency rankings on items
“b” through “h.” For example,
while the deans ranked
“telling, arguing, or talking
without support” as their
second most frequently used
tactic, they ranked it fifth in
terms of effectiveness. Likewise, “presenting a complete
plan to your boss” was
seventh in frequency, yet
second in terms of effectiveness.
23
Discussion
The biggest difference
between deans and executives
appears to be the time devoted
to “presenting complete
plans.” Industry managers
ranked “presenting a complete
plan” as their third most used
tactic, while deans ranked it
seventh. Industry managers
ranked “presenting an
example of parallel situations”
as the fourth most frequently
used, while deans ranked it
eighth. Clearly, the deans in
this study do differ from other
leaders in terms of their
frequency of presenting
complete plans and examples
from parallel situations. This
may be an area in which deans
could become more effective
as leaders.
For example, a surprising
finding in this survey was
learning how quickly business
deans shift to a tactic of
“telling, arguing, or talking
without support.” Since the
researchers were able to
summarize the data from the
surveys and feed it back to the
deans before they adjourned
from their meeting, it was
interesting to hear one dean’s
explanation: “I suppose we all
know what we ought to be
doing, but sometimes we’re
only human and fail to do it.”
These survey results
suggest that most deans of
business schools are like their
counterparts in industry.
Clearly, followup research
needs to be done with a larger
sample. An interesting
possibility would be to
compare deans of business
schools to their peer deans in
Table 1
Influence Methods*
To Influence your boss …
How frequently do
you use this tactic?
Sum
Total
a.
Presenting a rational explanation
b.
Mean
Ranking
How effective is this
tactic?
Sum
Total
Mean
Ranking
84
1.6
64
1.2
Telling, arguing, or talking without support
117
2.2
296
5.6
c.
Using other people as a platform
137
2.6
202
3.8
d.
Developing and showing support of other people (e.g.,
employees, staff, faculty, alumni, etc.)
219
4.1
370
6.9
e.
Showing confidence and support for my boss
286
5.4
425
8.0
f.
Using persistence and repetition
347
6.5
219
4.1
g.
Presenting a complete plan
391
7.4
150
2.8
h.
Presenting an example of parallel situation
455
8.6
213
4.0
i.
Listening, offering advice, or soliciting advice
463
8.7
447
8.4
j.
Offering to trade favors or concessions
478
9.0
569
10.7
k.
Using manipulative techniques
552
10.4
544
10.3
l.
Threatening
636
12.0
625
11.8
* The “Sum Total” was calculated by adding all individual rankings of the 53 deans. The “Mean” was calculated
by dividing the “Sum Total” by the number of deans responding (N = 53).
24
Spring 2005
Southern Business Review
Table 2
Influence Methods
To Influence your boss …
How frequently do you
use this tactic?
Deans
Managers*
How effective is this
tactic?
Deans
Managers*
a.
Presenting a rational explanation
1
1
1
1
b.
Telling, arguing, or talking without support
2
2
5
2
c.
Using other people as a platform
3
6
3
6
d.
Developing and showing support of other people (e.g.,
employees, staff, faculty, alumni, etc.)
4
7
7
7
e.
Showing confidence and support for my boss
5
N/A+
8
N/A+
f.
Using persistence and repetition
6
5
6
5
g.
Presenting a complete plan
7
3
2
3
h.
Presenting an example of parallel situation
8
4
4
4
i.
Listening, offering advice, or soliciting advice
9
N/A+
9
N/A+
j.
Offering to trade favors or concessions
10
10
11
10
k.
Using manipulative techniques
11
8
10
9
l.
Threatening
12
9
12
8
* Case et al., 1988
+
not available from the Case et al. (1988) study. Rank ordering of the Case et al. research is not exactly parallel
to the deans survey because in this study’s field interviews, several deans mentioned that “showing confidence
and support for my boss” and “listening and offering advice” were important methods. These tactics were not
used in the Case et al. study.
other disciplines to see what
similarities and differences
might exist. A reasonable
argument can be made that
influence tactics are learned
behaviors, and anything that
can be learned, can be
“unlearned” or changed.
Hopefully, a dean who wants
to be as effective as possible
will want to learn how to
develop more influence in all
directions.
Southern Business Review
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Southern Business Review
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