Howsales managers can find a balance between High Performance and Well-being in sales teams

Abstract

Managers play a major role in leading organizations towards growth. The subject of leadership is clearly very important for organizational performance and well-being amongst employees. Furthermore, in the dynamic and constantly changing field of business, managers within sales departments face a distinct challenge: to strike a balance between employee satisfaction and high performance. This study aims to investigate what characteristics a leader could adopt to in an optimal way achieve this balance. Moreover, this study aims to contribute with findings that could help organizations to increase satisfaction and performance of teams which results in healthier, growing and performing employees. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with sales managers supplemented by a survey to incorporate the perspective from the sales employees. The data collection resulted in several interesting findings that outline three subchapters of the thesis- employee satisfaction, employee performance and finding the right balance. The data was later coded and analyzed by comparing with the theoretical framework that consists of concepts and previous research related to this topic. While analyzing the empirical findings, several characteristics were found to be of high importance when managing sales teams. It could be concluded that by focusing on feedback, supporting behaviors, work-life balance and promoting growth instead of demanding growth, a balance between the two investigated focuses can be achieved. The answer to the research question is shown in a figure that illustrates the characteristics a sales manager could adopt to find balance.