Executive summary of The effect of workplace spirituality on salespeople’s organisational deviant behaviours: research propositions and practical implications

Citation

(2014), "Executive summary of The effect of workplace spirituality on salespeople’s organisational deviant behaviours: research propositions and practical implications", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 29 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-01-2014-0015

The effect of workplace spirituality on salespeople’s organisational deviant behaviours: research propositions and practical implications

Article Type: Executive summary and implications for managers and executives From: Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Volume 29, Issue 3

This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives a rapid appreciation of the content of the article. Those with a particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the research undertaken and its results to get the full benefit of the material present.

Let’s face it, for all the excellent work most salespeople do, there are plenty of bad apples in the barrel who manage to give a poor reputation to an entire profession. Not that these bad apples are relatively few in number – indeed some research has hinted that salespeople’s deviant behavior has become an epidemic. You know the sort of thing: cheating on expenses, telling managers you are working when you are playing golf, doing a second job on company time, lying about delivery times and so on.

There’s "organizational deviance" which includes fudging those expenses, "working from home" (but not really), running personal errands, using company resources (paper, supplies, copier) for personal use. These behaviors are all targeted at the sales organization and threaten its wellbeing. Then there is "interpersonal deviance" which includes swearing at coworkers, blaming them when things go wrong, and accepting credit for other people’s achievements. "Fontline" deviance includes using deceptive selling tactics, acting out work-related frustrations in front of a customer, and making the sales organization look bad to customers. These frontline deviant behaviors also violate significant organizational norms but they differ in that they threaten the wellbeing of an organization, not by any direct action to it or its members, but through behaviors targeted at the organizational external stakeholders.

So these bad things can be classified, but what’s to be done to eradicate them? In "The effect of workplace spirituality on salespeople’s organisational deviant behaviours: research propositions and practical implications" Vaibhav Chawla, while restricting the focus to salespeople’s organizational deviant behaviors, suggests the consideration of workplace spirituality. From an organization’s perspective, leaders are becoming convinced that bringing some form of spirituality into the workplace has many benefits, including increased productivity, job retention, competitive advantage, honesty and trust, job satisfaction, employee’s creativity, customer service and employee’s ethical behavior.

Despite its growing popularity, there is no consensus on the definition of workplace spirituality although it is emphasized that its values do not belong to any specific religious group and are equally embraced in all religious and spiritual disciplines. That being the case, employees with different beliefs may be willing to participate in creating and maintaining a value-based spiritual culture. Ten values have been assigned for the assessment of workplace spirituality:

1. Benevolence. Benevolent organizations are kind to their employees and promote their happiness and prosperity so it is reasonable to expect that salespeople of a benevolent organization will avoid organizational deviant behaviors such as fiddling expenses or using company time and resources for personal purposes.

2. Generativity. This includes concern for and commitment to promoting future generations and employees who practice it assume responsibility for future generations and are therefore less likely to set a bad example.

3. Humanism. A concept involving the ability and responsibility of each individual to conduct themselves in a manner which brings about the greater good of humanity. Organizations promoting humanism are more likely to have employees who are happy about their work and workplace and who would not consider cheating their employer.

4. Integrity. The most important characteristic of organizational integrity is its strict adherence to a code of conduct. When a law and code dimension is uncompromisingly adhered to in the organization, employees are expected to strictly follow the rules.

5. Justice. It is expected that salespeople’s perceptions of fairness or unfairness in an organization will decrease or increase their organizational deviant behaviors.

6. Mutuality. Mutuality is about employees’ interconnectedness and interdependence. A feeling that members of a community matter to one another and to the group, and that they have shared needs, suggests that a feeling of "community", by increased job satisfaction, will make people less likely to behave badly.

7. Receptivity. Sales organizations with high receptivity encourage open-mindedness, flexible thinking, creativity and innovation. In contrast, organizations with low receptivity will restrict salespeople’s autonomy, leading to reduced creativity and innovation. It is suggested that when employees perceive a loss of control over their work environment, they will express hostility by engaging in organizational deviant behaviors which will give them a sense of control.

8. Respect. It is expected that disrespectful treatment of workers by leaders and supervisors leads to organizational deviant behaviors. When managers engage in participative leadership in which employees feel respected, valued and able to express themselves, there is high job satisfaction which reduces employee’s organizational deviance.

9. Responsibility. Responsibility is associated with a willingness to exert effort independent of external controls and independently following through on goal attainment irrespective of difficulty or obstacles. It is expected that organizations that promote the value of responsibility in their salespeople will witness less bad behavior.

10. Trust. The development of trust in organizations takes time and it happens from a series of positive interactions. It is expected that salespeople who have trust in their organizations will reciprocate by showing care for it.

To read the full article type 10.1108/JBIM-08-2012-0134 into your search engine.

(A précis of the article "The effect of workplace spirituality on salespeople’s organisational deviant behaviours: research propositions and practical implications". Supplied by Marketing Consultants for Emerald.)