Employee Motivation and Internal Marketing

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    Sr. No. Title Page Number

    1 Abstract 2

    2 Introduction 3

    3 Literature Review 10

    4 Methodology 24

    5 Discussion, Analysis and Interpretation of data 36

    6 Study Limitations 39

    7 Conclusion 40

    8 Project Reflection 42

    9 Questionnaire 49

    10 Bibliography 53

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    Chapter 1 Abstract:

    Introduction: It focuses on the research conducted on Max New York Life Insurance across

    town classes, SEC and geographies amongst both pension plan buyers and non-buyers a few

    stark facts emerged. The research brought out facts about the youngsters of our country. It

    brought out the fact they are too lazy to give time for acquiring pension plans, which is there

    ultimate help during their old hood days. There is a lack of motivation among sales agents to

    market pension policies in India.

    Literature Review: It revolves around Indian insurance industry as a whole. There are light

    thrown on different aspects of this industry. The focus is on the insurance agents who are

    responsible for selling the insurance policies to the customers. There has been also a study of

    customer-orientation behavior and level of motivation.

    Methodology: The sample of the pilot study consists of 30 part time and full time agents doing

    insurance from companies which do not participate. There will usage of mixed method approach

    in our project.

    Discussion, Analysis and Interpretation of data: These inventions have developed many

    significant results. Previously, it has been seen that customer management behavior are different

    according to their character. But the present study says that the value of customer based policy

    by insurance agents is affected by the standard of managerial commitment and general influence.

    Conclusion: Many aspects came into out purview which would be helpful in generating sales of

    insurance policies which would there by increase sales. Many methods came out which would be

    helpful in motivating the insurance agents to sell move policies and results also came out

    pointing the drawbacks in the management of insurance companies.

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    Chapter 2:- INTRODUCTION

    Introduction:

    Contact personnel play a pivotal role in the delivery of high contact services. The service

    employee often represents the organisation in the eyes of the customer. Due to this, the role of

    employee is both complex and multi-dimensional. Management must be aware of the difficulties

    associated with this role and consequently the need for internal marketing, focusing on the area

    of motivation, which is required for a successful service experience.

    The paper outlined, will highlight the role of the service employee in the service process, the

    challenges which this presents to the boundary spanning employee. The paper will then address

    the manner in which, management can use internal marketing to motivate employee to provide

    the best possible service to customers.

    Internal marketing and the use of motivation in the service context, will lead to lower turnover

    rates, improved performance, increased customer satisfaction and increased communication

    levels within the organisation. The project discusses about motivating insurance agents to sell

    insurance product like pension schemes which is still an underdeveloped concept in India.

    It is the general perception among masses that life after post-retirement needs to be an idle phase,

    where there is no work and life is only for enjoyment. They want to relive those days and

    moments which they missed when they were working. This is their thinking but do we know

    what the reality, does this ever happen? It is seen that the lives after retirement becomes struggle

    some. Their regular income stops, which leads to a series a problems such cost cutting measures

    and change in the lifestyle. Thing becomes worse if they have some dependents with them. Such

    things can be avoided to a great extent if retirement is planned systematically. Planning for

    retirement well before time is advisable because this gives some time in buffer and you can think

    of the retirement in a relatively better manner.

    If we are talking about Indians, then planning for systematic retirement needs sooner than others

    countries because a majority of the Indias workforce (425 million) does not have any pension

    cover. The problem does not end here as there is absence of social security in India and what

    adds to the problem is ever increasing inflation. As a result of inflation, there has been an

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    increase in the cost of healthcare, which cannot be borne by our senior citizens. With all these

    problems the life rarely seems to be idyllic instead the complications keep rising with each

    passing day. This is one of the reasons many people dread post retirement days and keep

    avoiding as much as possible. However, there is always a ray of hope when all the things seem

    bleak. For those people who are vying for retirement insurance plans come as a ray of hope and

    this is one of the reasons why there has been a constant in such life insurance plans. In recent

    times, many reputed names and brands have thrown in their hats in this field. However, it is

    essential to consider as per the perspective of consumers and it is obvious that they do not have

    proper information regarding the plans or in other words they are ignorant.

    The following is the research performed by Max New York Life Insurance across different

    towns, cities, geographies and SEC amongst people who buy insurance and individuals who

    dont. The result was revelation of sorts.

    1) Youngsters consider retirement as a distant subject and prefer avoiding it as much as

    possible. They major concern is focusing on short term goals, where they can get faster

    returns. Their investments include discretionary spending, automobiles etc. They just

    dont want to even think of retirement.

    2) When the eventuality sets in, they turn into late thirties or forties, and then they start

    pondering about retirement. However, the time is lesser so its certain that things

    complicate and they make a sound plan for their retirement.

    3) The basic problem with consumers is that they dont have a proper scale or a criterion,

    which helps them to measure the approximate amount of money required for maintaining

    their present lifestyle post retirement. This is one of the basic reasons why pension plans

    are making merry in the Indian markets.

    4) Most of the consumers are aware that with the time the value of money would diminish

    but they dont have any calculator, which assists them to calculate the inflation rate.

    5) Over the years, pension plans were perceived to be taking care of just roti in the basic

    three necessities for survival which are (roti, kapda aur makaan). Pension plans for past

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    many years were never seen as the post retirement option instead they were meant to

    fulfill daily requirements.

    6) The most striking aspect of this research was that consumer was not willing to be

    dependent on their children post retirement. It was awkward to find that consumers were

    not willing to take any assistance from their children and did not want themselves to be

    looked after their children post-retirement. Most of them referred to Baghban movie to

    support their decision. The thoughts and trend of our society is changing to a great extent

    and it is certain that it may have a huge impact on the rise in the demand of pension plans

    in the coming future.

    It is interesting to know that pension plans in most of the developed countries forms a

    majority of capital in their countries. In the countries such as US, the pension plans

    constitutes to a large section and also the source of financial capital. What amazes many is

    that there are certain countries where the aggregate or total value of pension funds exceeds

    the GDP (gross domestic of the country)

    Over the years, the debate regarding the reforms of pension plans has been intensifying.

    People are giving example of financial sector reforms, which has led to a significant progress

    in different spheres such as banking, capital as we currency markets. Therefore, most of the

    people second that there is need of reforms in the pension plans, which can revolutionize this

    sector and give it a breather. There is need of a comprehensive policy, which helps in the

    revamp of this sector and for past some time now people are demanding for the same.

    It is seen that most of the major retirement schemes such as pensions and provident funds are

    covering only workers from organized sector, which only constitutes to about 10 percent of the

    overall workforce. It is to be believed that a majority of workers which amounts to

    approximately 90% are into the unorganized sector and are not having any access to post-

    retirement security. As stated earlier, they must be enlightened in order to avail these plans and

    here, agents have to do their part.

    It is seen that a majority of agents selling the pension plans lack that passion or killer instinct

    required in marketing such plans because their commissions are way too low, they lack complete

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    knowledge and lackadaisical approach shown by the consumers. It is important that these

    schemes generate lesser commission for agents so there is motivating factor which can drive

    them towards giving them their best. The best part of this report is that it focuses on the

    generation of interest in agents, which is the most important aspect if they are the backbones of

    this industry and completely responsible for the sales of plans. The pension scheme in India is

    under developed and there are expectations that it would be growing up to 20% by 2015.

    This project focuses on the creation of a plan useful for internal marketing, which may help in

    developing the strategies useful for motivating the agents, which helps them in selling the plans

    to the prospective consumers. This is highly beneficial for the entire India given the fact that

    since agents will be motivated to sell the pension plans and they would ensure to sell some of

    them, which would thereby result in secure and sound future of Indians post-retirement.

    Limitations

    Shortage of the time limit

    GD i.e. Group discussion could not be focused properly.

    An expert panel of at least 4 panels could not be drawn.

    Sample

    Sample would be random and heterogeneous

    The gender would be neutral and the age limit would be 16 to 60.

    Strategical Internal marketing tools and techniques

    Internal marketing is a process where the companys functional processes aligns and empowers

    all the employees at all management levels to convey a satisfactory customer satisfaction.

    Employees play a very important role in this internal marketing. The ultimate motto of this is

    that you should extract the total resource in your employees by increasing the sales at its best.

    You should tune them in such a ways they their behavior shall get totally changed and shall

    devote for the welfare of the company.

    The most important things behind this internal marketing are that it is a process of continuous

    upgrading of skills and aligning them according to the organizations purpose. Employees must

    realize the core values of the company. Thus it is important to motivate, reframe and empower

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    them in all the ways. Management inside and outside must be efficient. On the whole, the

    output must be positive customer satisfaction. Internal marketing concepts and communication

    skills are very important to sustain as employee in this present day world. Most of the banks and

    finance companies are following this internal marketing formula in which every staff member

    will be assigned targets and they should build up their targets from every step in to the bank.

    (Internal Marketing -Pervaiz K. Ahmed , Mohammed Rafiq)

    The following are the various tools, steps and strategies of empowering employees through

    Internal Marketing

    1. Interaction between marketing department and employees

    It is the responsibility of every employee to upkeep the hope of employer there by understanding

    what you are doing, what you should do to increase the profits of the company, what are your

    existing targets and what shall you do to compete with the toppers of the market. You should

    visualize the target before your marketing department hints. Marketing department should

    interact with the employees from time to time to enhance their skills. Communication with team

    of employees gives realistic results.

    (Relationship Marketing:-Ian H. Gordon)

    2. Training sessions for staff development:

    Training builds confidence in the employees and staff development can be possible. Effective

    internal communication skills can be implemented and can be extracted through various training

    sessions. Their knowledge about the understanding of customers will be enhanced through

    multiple training sessions. Every person will have marketing skills. But extracting them is agreat art and one can achieve with multiple training sessions.

    (The ASTD Training and Development Handbook -Robert Craig)

    3. Leadership needs to "second" what marketing is doing

    Firm management has to be vocal about supporting marketing, and the overhead expenses that

    come with it. There are times when overhead is questioned in any architecture firm or

    construction company, but it is leadership's responsibility to assure everyone that there is a

    strong sense of purpose and that the expenses yield results in the long term. A well-crafted

    marketing plan is always a good thing for leadership to point back to. The though and concept of

    leadership should not come in ones thought. All are treated equally and all should work like

    wheels of a vehicle. Successful Internal co-ordination leads to successful internal marketing.

    ( The Future of Leadership Development- By Jordi Canals)

    4. Needs Project meetings at regular intervals

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    Mobilization of all the employees at regular intervals is very important. Diversification of their

    thoughts and answering their problems increases their efficiency. It may not seem like marketing

    necessarily, but it is important. Sitting in on a few project meetings has several benefits. First, it

    builds trust amongst the team. Doing it once won't work, but if it becomes a regular thing it will

    improve communications. Second, you learn more about what the firm really does. Even for

    more senior marketers that may understand the industry very well, there is much to be said for

    learning a little bit about the specific projects and headaches that your coworkers face. Finally,

    you may get some ideas about new ways to market the firm. You never know what problems

    may pop up during a conversation that you can help solve through a new communications piece,

    additional market research or even a blog post. Meeting leads to discussion and discussion gives

    rise to new hopes and new thoughts. Thus, the relation between various department employees

    must co-ordinate and should be helpful to work in friendly environment.

    (The Manager's Guide to Effective Meetings by Barbara J. Streibel)

    4. Marketing internally builds external customer relationships

    No doubt to say that internal marketing helps to build strong outer customer relationships.

    Break down those cubicle walls and begin a better dialog with your coworkers to help you

    understand more about your clients. Train the employees to find out the nature of customers.

    5. Managing the implementation of internal marketing

    The empowerment of employees in internal marketing is possible by following the acronym

    AOSTC which means better analysis, attaining objectives, following various strategies, inducing

    various business tactics and control over their thoughts can surely extract the internal marketing

    skills.

    6. Set objectives for internal marketing is part and parcel of strategic internal marketing.'

    Tactics would include an internal application of the marketing mix, and could include staff

    forums, presentations, an intranet, away days, and videos, personal visits by company directors

    or newsletters.

    (Contemporary Marketing By Louis E. Boone, David L. Kurtz)

    Evaluation would consider the take up of PRP against your objectives, attendees at away days,

    visits to an intranet page, and so on.. Firstly we should identify our internal customers. As withyour external customers, they will have their own buyer behavior, or way of 'buying into' the

    changes which you are charged to implement. The similarities in differing groups of internal

    customers allows you to segment them, you can target three different segments namely

    'supporters,' neutral,' and finally 'opposers.' Each group requires a slightly different internal

    marketing mix in order that your internal marketing objectives can be achieved. Ignoring some

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    customers who are opposing is highly suggestible. Most of the people are supporters and there

    exists no problem with such people. Some people will be neutral in which they dont deal

    anything and complete their work calmly. Very few people will be opposers in which you

    should be calm enough to complete the transactions with them peacefully. Thus internal

    marketing will be successful with strategic internal co-ordination of various employees

    developing the commitment and co-operation in them to work out externally. Though time

    taking, the strategies will surely work out.

    The following are the various suggestions to implement internal marketing

    Always make sure that you have thought through your approach before starting the

    implementation. Make sure that you have created a cultural climate that is willing to accept

    change. Appoint a change agent, or champion for change that will help to ease your changes

    through. Audit the skills and capabilities of your team at regular intervals. Train and develop the

    employees at your best. Your team must be built around you with the objective as the focus for

    you all. The change must be correctly marketed to your target audience using an approach suchas Jobbers.' Decide what the change will be. Give it boundaries. Work out a realistic budget and

    stick to it. Try to anticipate the arguments against change, and decide how to counteract them

    positively. Function as a continual internal up-skilling process and align the organizations

    purpose with employee co-operation. Balance the core values of the organization by all

    employees.

    The four important things which every employer should remember for effective internal

    marketing are Motivation, Co-ordination, information and education which can give out sure

    success. You should always maker sure about the knowledge of employee, his attitudes and

    behavior. It is the duty of employer to make right selection, providing excellent training, givingmotivation and directing them to achieve the success of internal marketing. However, the

    responsibility and accountability of employees empowers the internal marketing. Appreciation

    boosts up the new energy levels in the employees. Thus very often, they should be appreciated

    for all their achievements. Internal marketing integrates the business culture, customer

    retention, human resource management in an efficient way. Internal marketing should develop

    human potential by the companys best training and organizational goals shall be met through

    achieving individual goals. Consistency in action and word is important at every level of

    management for getting good success rate. By this internal marketing, every employees

    service can be accessible at anytime, anywhere.

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    Chapter 3:- Literature Review

    In recent years, a growing number of companies have invested considerable resources into

    programs for enhancing the customer-orientation of their customer contact employees (Stock &

    Hoyer 2002). Salespeople are encouraged to implement customer orientation behavior in their

    selling activities. Customer-orientation behavior focuses on the extent to which salespeople

    practice the marketing concept by helping their customers make purchase decisions that will

    satisfy their needs (Saxe & Weitz 1982). In many cases, customer contact employees, such as

    insurance agents are the first and only representation of the company in the eyes of customers.

    Thus, customers often base their evaluation of their satisfaction with a company largely on the

    services provided by the customer contact employees (Stock & Hoyer 2002). Consequently,

    there is an interest in determining factors which can lead to and increase the customer-orientationof these customer contact employees.

    However, despite numerous studies undertaken with respect to salespeople customer-orientation

    behavior, a complete understanding of its antecedents is presently lacking (Flaherty, Dahlstrom

    & Skinner 1999; Martin & Bush 2003) and inconsistent across different selling environment

    (Flaherty et al. 1999). Recognition of the need to bridge these gaps in knowledge regarding

    customer orientation is apparent in many calls for further empirical research in this area

    (Deshpande, Farley & Webster 1993; Kohli & Jaworski 1990; Saxe & Weitz 1982).

    We focused on insurance agents because as been has noted in the 21st century, customers

    expectations towards life insuranceproducts have changed with time. They no longer buy life

    insurance productsblindly but will make comparison between various policies offered. Today,

    they expect life insurance agents to analyze their personal and family needsbefore designing the

    most suitable policies for them. Therefore, insurance sales agents must fully understand the

    customers needs and requirements as well as build a trusting relationship between themselves

    and their clientsto promote long-term mutually beneficial relationship (Crosby, Evans &Cowles1990). Furthermore, in marketing life insurance, insurance agents are often considered to be

    marketing complex services (Nik Kamariah 1995).This is because insurance agents are involved

    in long-term commitment anda continual stream of interaction between buyer and seller. After

    the sale,agents provide follow-up service and help customers make policy changes inresponse

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    to changing needs. This would justify the importance of continuous research to satisfy the

    customers in this dynamic marketing industry. Given thecriteria above, it is readily apparent that

    investigation of customer-orientationbehavior in life insurance industry is accentuated.

    A review of work in the area of customer-orientation indicates numerous studies have examined

    the antecedents of this selling approach. To date, this research has focused on situational and

    organizational variables which have been shown to influence the development of a customer-

    oriented approach. For example, organizational factors such as market-orientation of the firm,

    leadership style, and incentive system, locus of decision making, supportive working

    environment and top management emphasis are among the factors that positively relate to

    customer-orientation behavior of salespeople (Boles, Babin, Brashear & Brooks 2001; Jaworski

    & Kohli 1993; Widmier 2002). Unfortunately, practitioners in particular, do not yet have a clear

    understanding of which, if any, individual factors that may influence customer-orientation

    behavior among salespeople (OHara et al. 1991; Widmier 2002). This is an important issue

    because identifying individual factors affecting customerorientation behavior can assist sales

    managers in recruiting and training of salespeople. Furthermore, the need to examine individual

    variables is important as researchers suggest that behind an individuals behavior lie a multitude

    of personal factors that impact a given choice (OHara et al. 1991). Therefore, in light of this

    research gap, the goal of this paper is to examine the impact of three individual related factors;

    namely, organizational commitment, self-monitoring and intrinsic motivation on customer-

    orientation behavior of salespeople selling insurance policies.

    Apart from empirical studies that examined the influence of organizational situational factors as

    antecedents of customer-orientation behavior, the other component of antecedent factors which

    have been frequently included in many customer-orientation behavior studies is individual

    factors. According to Brown and Peterson (1993), individual-related factors include both

    demographic and dispositional variables related to individual salespeople. As customer-

    orientation behaviour involves individual salespeople, there are a substantial number of studies

    that examined the influence of demographic factors such as gender (Siguaw & Honeycutt 1995;

    William 1998), job tenure (Levy & Sharma 1994; OHara et al. 1991; Shoemaker & Johlke

    2002), level of education (Boles, Brashear, Ballenger & Barksdale 2000; Lamber, Marmorstein

    & Sharma 1990; Levy & Sharma 1994), job satisfaction (Pettijohn & Pettijohn 2002; Stock &

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    Hover 2002), motivational levels (Hoffman & Ingram 1992; Kelly 1992; Pullins, Haugtvedt,

    Dickson, Fine & Lewicki 2000) and various types of personal dispositional factors (Brown,

    Mowen, Donovan & Licata 2002; Giacobbe 1991; Hurley 1998; Widmier 2002) as antecedents

    of customer-orientation behaviour. However, this study focuses on individual factors such as

    organizational commitment, self-monitoring and intrinsic motivation as potential antecedents of

    customer-orientation behaviour. Justifications for the selection of these factors are discussed in

    detail in sub-sections that follow.

    Organizational commitment is defined as an individual belief in and acceptance of the

    organizations goals and values and his or her willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf

    of the organization (Porter, Steers, Mowday & Boulin 1974). It is a global and stable in nature

    (Hartenian, Hadaway & Badovick 1994) and is regarded as individual attitudinal component.

    Considerable work has shown that commitment to ones organization is usually accompanied by

    greater work motivation (Lee, 1971) and a desire to make the firm more effective and prosperous

    (Lawless 1979), as well as to exert visible effort beyond what is traditionally expected in their

    jobs (Mowday, Porter & Steers 1982). In particular, highly committed members of the

    organization work harder to achieve goals (Angle & Perry 1981; DeCotiis & Summers 1987).

    Consistent with company practices that actively encourage salespeople to focus on customer

    service (Dubinsky & Staples 1981; Dunlap, Dotson & Chambers 1988), studies undertaken have

    found that salespeople who identify with the organization provide greater effort to satisfy their

    customers. For example, in a study among business-to-business salespeople, Siguaw, Brown and

    Widing (1994) demonstrated that the degree of organizational commitment salespeople exhibit,

    influence his/her orientation toward the customer. Similarly, OHara et al. (1991) found

    increased level of organizational commitment among the salespeople working in industrial and

    advertising setting led them to embrace customer orientation in their day-to-day dealings with

    customers. They argued that salespeople who are committed to their employers would be more

    likely to support the organizations goals regarding the development of customer satisfaction.

    Kelly (1992) also demonstrated that committed employees in banking institutions are more likely

    to support the organization as it attempts to build long-term customer relationship which is

    reflected in the salespeoples willingness to engage in activities that may sacrifice a short-term

    reward. This is similar to the finding of Pettijohn and Pettijohn (2002), who found that

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    salespeople in retail setting who were committed with the company undertake greater efforts

    required to provide customers with greater level of satisfaction. In general, the above studies

    suggest that in retail setting, business-to business organization and banking institution, greater

    efforts to engage in customer-orientation behavior are shown by salespeople who are committed

    to the organization. One plausible reason is because those who value organizational membership

    are willing to exert considerable effort, which in turn translates into high level of focus more on

    meeting customers needs. Hence, based on the literature above, this study investigates further

    the impact of organizational commitment as one of the predictor variables for salespeoples

    customer-orientation behaviour by looking into the insurance industry environment, where the

    salespeople are working on an autonomous or semi-autonomous basis. This is in response to

    OHara et al. (1991) argument that the influence of antecedents of customer-orientation vary

    across different selling environment.

    Apart from organizational commitment, another personal-factor chosen as a variable in the

    present study is the personality trait of self-monitoring. Despite a number of personality traits

    found associated with customer orientation behavior, self-monitoring has been chosen as a

    personality variable to be examined in the present study. One main reason is because self

    monitoring has been found as a relevant personality trait in Indian insurance environment (Nik

    Kamariah 1995). In Indian insurance industry, self-monitoring was found to be an appropriate

    personality characteristic of insurance agents, where they need to make adjustment according to

    different situations and customers needs (Nik Kamariah 1995). Working in a multicultural

    society requires Indian insurance agents to adapt to different and distinct groups of customers.

    Besides, working independently without overseers or peers requires the agent to monitor oneself

    if he/she wants to be successful. Therefore, sales agents with self-monitoring trait are better at

    dealing with various types of customers.

    The appropriateness of self-monitoring is further supported by theory of self-monitoring which

    suggests that those with high self-monitoring are sensitive and responsive to social and

    interpersonal cues of situational appropriateness (Snyder & Gangestad 1986). High self-monitors

    are attuned to role expectations, but the low self-monitors insist on being themselves despite

    social expectations. Hence, people who are high in self-monitoring will demonstrate more cross-

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    situational variability in behaviour than people who are low in self-monitoring (Spiro & Weitz

    1990).

    Furthermore, compared to other personality types, self-monitoring isself-managed behaviours

    which could be enhanced in a person by training and self-control programs (Howell, Bellenger &

    Wilcox 1987; Nik Kamariah 1995) and easy to measure through an established instrument

    (Snyder & Gangestad 1986).

    Applying to customer-orientation behaviour, it seems that high selfmonitors have greater

    tendency to practice customer-orientation behavior than low self-monitors. High self-monitors,

    with more sensitivity and responsiveness to social and interpersonal cues are expected to display

    higher customer-orientation behaviour in their selling activity to satisfy customers needs than

    those with low self-monitors. This is consistent with the proposition made by Spiro and Weitz

    (1990) and Verbeke (1994) that sales people with high self-monitoring trait have higher tendency

    to develop relationship with customers than those with low on the trait. They discovered that

    salespeople who scored high in self-monitoring measures seem to be able to tailor their

    personality to any particular situation. This allows selfmonitors to provide appropriate

    information to which the listeners respond and encouraging a positive feedback in the

    conversation. Similarly, Eppler, Honeycutt, Ford and Markowski (1998) have shown that

    salespeople with self-monitoring personality trait appear to alter their behaviour because of a

    desire to be accepted by others. They further noted that this acceptance by others creates a

    positive environment between the salespeople and the buyer; thus increasing the likelihood of

    sales success.

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    However, despite the positive relationship, the study by Widmier (2002) discovered no

    significant impact of self-monitoring personality type on customer-orientation behaviour among

    sales personnel working in industrial firms. He relates this with the level in which self-

    monitoring operates. Although one dimension of self-monitoring which is the ability to perceive

    social situation is conceptually similar to perspective-taking (the ability to understand and predict

    anothers thought, feelings and actions) which he found to have significant impact on customer-

    orientation behavior, self monitoring measures salespeoples ability to interact with multiple

    people in a social situation while perspectivetaking is at one-on-one or individual level. This

    seems contrary to previous studies (Eppler et al. 1998; Spiro & Weitz 1990; Verbeke 1994) who

    generally found a positive linkage. Based on the findings about self-monitoring and customer-

    orientation behavior relationship, most of the studies have shown that certain characteristics in

    people with self-monitoring have a positive impact on customer-orientation behavior. However,

    the impact of this personality trait on insurance agents is not empirically investigated although it

    is found as a relevant personality trait in Indian insurance environment. Therefore, the potential

    impact of this factor on Indian insurance agents merits further investigation.

    Another individual factor which is the focus of this study is motivational orientation. Various

    components of motivational orientation found to be predictive of human behavior. In the context

    of customer-orientation behavior in particular, various dimensions of motivational orientation

    such as arousal of effort, direction, as well as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation have been

    examined with respect to customer-orientation behavior (Boles et al. 2000; Hoffman & Ingram

    1992; Katerberg & Blau 1983; Kelly 1992; Weitz et al. 1986). Previous researchers found that

    the arousal of direction and effort of employees are important facets of motivation (Weitz, Sujan

    & Sujan 1986). Correspondingly, Kelly (1992) examined the impact of these dimensions on

    customer-orientation behaviour of bank employees. Arousal of effort considers the amount of

    effort an individual exerts during the performance of a task (Weitz et al. 1986) while

    motivational direction focuses on the appropriateness of the particular activities into which effortis directed and maintained (Katerberg & Blau 1983). Kelly (1992) found that amongst bank

    employees, only motivational direction was positively related to customer orientation, whereas

    arousal of effort was not significant. Motivational direction of employees may have a greater

    influence on behaviour in situations where a great deal of latitude is provided to employees

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    (Sujan 1986; Weitz et al. 1986). In many cases, the financial services setting from which the

    sample for his study was drawn provides this latitude to employees regarding the level of

    customer-orientation they can display in the performance of their duties.

    Another dimension of motivational orientation which sparked interest in the study of customer-

    orientation behavior is the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is defined as

    the motivation to seek rewards derived directly from content of the task or job itself whereas

    extrinsic motivation is the motivation to seek rewards derived from the environment surrounding

    the task or work-associated with the context of the task or job (Spiro & Weitz 1990). In relation

    to that, Deci and Ryan (1985) and Hodgins, Koestner and Duncan (1996) found that salespeople

    with intrinsic motivational orientation promote open, non-defensive interaction and are satisfied

    from being able to help others satisfy their needs. They also initiate and regulate job-related

    activities autonomously (Keaveney 1995). Therefore, people with intrinsic motivational

    orientation tends to select job tasks and strategies that are consistent with their own, personal

    conceptions of how to do a job well rather than being controlled by outside forces (Condry &

    Chambers 1978). Goolsby, Lagace and Boorom (1992) and Sujan (1986) found that industrial

    salespeople with higher intrinsic motivational orientations toward their jobs tend to possess

    greater technical knowledge and have highly developed knowledge about various selling

    strategies. They also appear to be able to handle work situations that require interpreting

    conflicting or ambiguous demands as challenging and stimulating aspects of their job

    responsibilities (Grant, Cravens, Low & Moncrief 2001).

    Similarly, Weitz et al. (1986) reported that retail salespeople with intrinsic motivation were more

    likely to alter their sales behavior to match with the selling environment because they are driven

    to be creative and to gain mastery over their job. Further, Spiro and Weitz (1990) demonstrated

    that salespeople with intrinsic motivation are likely to engage in adaptive selling behavior and

    provide informational feedback to their companies and in behaviors that control their selling

    expenses. Additionally, Hoffman and Ingram (1992) found that intrinsic motivation are

    positively correlated with customer-orientation of service providers, and that intrinsic motivation

    plays a more significant role than do extrinsic motivation in developing customer orientation

    behavior. Boles et al. (2000) discovered that intrinsically motivated insurance agents are more

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    likely to express cooperative intention behavior to their customers. The positive association is

    perhaps because they are more motivated in doing what they think the job requires.

    The above discussions show that intrinsic motivation plays a significant role in enhancing

    salespeoples customer-orientation behaviour. Apart from studies undertaken in business

    relationships, studies relating to other types of relationships also reported the importance of

    intrinsic motivation. For example, in student-parent relationships students higher in autonomy

    orientation (intrinsically motivated personality) had more pleasant and more honest interactions

    with their parents (Hodgins, Koestner & Duncan 1996). Similarly, Blais, Sabourin, Boucher and

    Vallerand (1990) found high autonomy orientation relationship partners saw problems more as

    challenges and handled them better. These partners are also more open, adaptive and happier

    with the relationship. Hence, salespeople who are intrinsically motivated see selling as inherently

    rewarding. Sujan (1986) further supports that intrinsic motivation is related to working smarter,

    making better choices about the approach to use and be creative at work. Similarly, Keaveney

    (1995) in her study among retail buyers found higher levels of intrinsic motivation toward jobs

    influenced them to gather information for decision making from a greater number of different

    sources. Furthermore, she found intrinsically motivated retail buyers maintained significantly

    more positive boundary spanning relationships with vendors than did extrinsically motivated

    buyers. From the discussion above, it appears that intrinsic motivation has generally produced

    supportive evidence for the relationship with customer orientation behavior. However, since

    most of these studies have been conducted in Western countries, the consistency of prior findings

    in another country such as India is a relevant extension of knowledge (Grant et al. 2001). Thus,

    motivational orientation is included as a potential antecedent of customer-orientation behavior in

    this study. Given these findings, greater levels of intrinsic motivation can be expected to lead to

    sales techniques emphasizing a greater customer orientation.

    INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL MARKETING

    Internal marketing was first proposed within the services literature in the 1970s as a solution to

    the problem of delivering high quality service (Vary and Lewis, 1998). Internal marketing is a

    concept aimed at developing customer conscious employees that will consistently deliver

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    superior quality service to the external marketplace (Papasolomou-Doukais, 2003). Internal

    marketing depends on a variety of individual activities throughout the organisations and it

    attempts to inform and educate the employee regarding the organisations mission the benefits of

    the product or service being sold, and the expectations of the organisations customers (Vary and

    Lewis, 1998). Such a programme aimed at generating employee commitment is not new as it is

    inherent in total quality management literature.

    According to Ahmed and Rafiq (2002, p.1) internal marketing requires:

    The acceptance of marketing techniques and philosophy within an organisation

    Customer orientation and a market orientation

    A participative approach to management

    A strategic approach to human resources management

    The coordination of all management activity to achieve customer or market orientation or

    customer focused management.

    Definition of internal marketing

    Internal marketing is an ambiguous concept (Flipo, 2000). The term internal marketing is used

    widely as a means of highlighting commitment to improving the effectiveness of the services

    offered by an organisations resources (Gilmore, 2000). Internal marketing is not a departmental

    function rather an organisational activity as the entire resources within the organisation must be

    coordinated (Hogg and Carter, 2000).

    The definitions reviewed within the literature highlight the ability possessed by internal

    marketing to improve service quality through an organisational effort. The definitions

    encountered within the literature can be categorised according to three perspectives, the internal

    customer, the development of a customer orientation and the theory of internal marketing as an

    implementation mechanism. For the purpose of this paper the group will focus on the customer

    orientation perspective as it is relevant in the context of high contact service employees.

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    Customer Orientation

    Internal marketing has been defined as the approach employed by the organisation to advocate

    the philosophies of customer and service orientation throughout the organisation through the

    motivation of employees (Varey, 1994). In this context the organisation attempts to instil a set of

    values related to achieving a superior service climate within the employees belief systems

    (Varey, 1994).

    Barnes (1998) approaches internal marketing in a similar manner by defining it as actions taken

    by the organisation to ensure that customers receive the highest standard of service due to the

    employees commitment to service quality. The organisation cultivates employee commitment

    by encouraging the use of customer focused quality techniques (Ballantyne, 1991).

    In the context of customer orientation internal marketing considers the attraction, retention and

    motivation of service-minded employees. The motivation of employees is not enough in itself, as

    the customer orientation, must be communicated into the external marketplace through employee

    action (Rafiq and Ahmed, 2000).

    George (1990) illustrated that relational exchanges between employees within an organisation

    should be considered a prerequisite for successful exchanges with external markets. The

    satisfaction of the internal customer is of critical importance as; satisfaction will ultimately effect

    the satisfaction of the external market (Ballantyne, 1997). Internal marketing is a technique

    implemented by the organisation in an attempt to ensure the provision of excellent service.

    The Models of Internal Marketing

    Gronroos (****) believes Internal marketing is concerned with ensuring employees are

    consistently conscious of delivering service quality (Appendix 1). The model highlights how

    internal marketing should be supported by management with information exchange, recruitment

    and training and employee decision making (Rafiq and Ahmed, 2002). Employees realise the

    importance of their position within the organisation and develop into satisfied individuals. The

    model stresses the importance of interactive marketing in conjunction with internal marketing.

    Interactive marketing is aproposed with how customer contact employees take care of customers

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    during service encounters (Bitner and Evans, 1993). By improving the service encounter through

    internal marketing customer satisfaction and employee motivation can be increased.

    However, Gronroos (****) does not encapsulate all the elements of internal marketing (Rafiq

    and Ahmed 2000). The elements of internal marketing identified by Rafiq and Ahmed (2000)

    include:

    Employee motivation and satisfaction

    Customer orientation and customer satisfaction

    Interventional co-ordination and integration

    Marketing like approach to the above

    Implementation of specific corporate and functional strategies

    Rafiq and Ahmed developed a comprehensive model of internal marketing based on these

    elements (Appendix 2). According to the model the use of a marketing like approach is

    fundamental in internal marketing, as it incites the employee to become customer orientated

    through motivation and coordination of functional departments (Rafiq and Ahmed, 2002). Job

    satisfaction is incorporated due to the belief that if the internal customer is satisfied in the service

    position this satisfaction will be transferred to the external customer (Rafiq and Ahmed 2000).

    Empowerment is integrated into the model to highlight the importance of allowing the employee

    flexibility in terms of decision-making during the service encounter (Rafiq and Ahmed, 2000).

    This model focuses on the area of service quality so it is largely applicable in the service

    industry.

    The objectives of internal marketing

    Internal marketing aims to improve customer consciousness by changing the beliefs of the front

    line employees (Ahmed, Rafiq and Saad, 2003). Helman and Payne (1992) believe the objectives

    of marketing depend on the reason it is being implemented. Internal marketing may be concerned

    with improving employee routines through internal motivation. Internal marketing may be

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    concerned with ensuring the entire organisation understands each departments function within

    the organisation. The internal marketing function may be aimed at marketing the organisations

    product or services to customers.

    Internal marketing aims to improve the overall business process within an organisation to ensure

    that resources to progress the organisations aspiration are made available to the internal customer

    (Joesph, 1996).

    MOTIVATING SERVICE EMPLOYEES:

    As previously discussed, the service encounter and internal marketing include the use of

    motivation, as a perquisite for their success in the marketing of services. Management need to be

    aware of motivations exact connotation to comprehend its use to their business. Motivation can

    be defined as the development of a desire within an employee to perform a task to his/her

    greatest ability based on that individuals own initiative(Rudolf and Kleiner, 1989, p. 1). By

    analysing the definition, one can ascertain, motivation to be the level at which an employee will

    perform a specified activity for the company, an imperative function for success.

    Motivation can also mean employees strive to reach peak performance every day, enjoy

    the continual challenge of improving results, genuinely care about their peers and their company,

    and will maintain positive results (Evenson, 2003, p.21), or as the willingness to exert highlevels of effort toward organisational goals, conditioned by the persons ability to satisfy some

    individual need (Robbins, 1993 as cited in Lu, 1999, p. 63).

    The definitions of motivation, lead an organisation to believe their employees will perform their

    specified tasks better than the norm and will genuinely wish to do so, while this is important for

    the business, motivation can also have other benefits.

    Carlsen (2003) believes a motivated workforce is essential, as the complete participation of

    employees will inevitably drive the profitability of the organisation. Another paramount concern

    for management is, motivating their employees relates directly to the perceived increase in

    performance the employees with deliver from managements participation in the exercising of

    motivation techniques, therefore, there is a direct result between the levels of motivation and

    managements participation. (Tyagi, 1982).

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    Certain academics have linked motivation as being a key determinant of job performance and

    how a poorly motivated force will be costly in terms of excessive staff turnover, higher expenses,

    negative morale and increased use of managements time (Jobber, 1994). Therefore,

    management need to know what exactly motivates their staff so resources are not misallocated

    and dissatisfaction develops among employees (Jobber, 1994). While motivation is a key

    determinant of performance, management must not neglect how motivation is the also concerned

    with the educating of employees. Darmon (1974) believe motivation is the educating of

    employees to channel their efforts towards organisational activities and thus increasing the

    performance of the said boundary spanning roles.

    If management neglect to educate and motivate their employees, they will inevitable become

    dissatisfied or disenchanted with their job. Disenchantment in the workplace leads to

    absenteeism, turnover, sick leave, strikes, grievances and even accidents. Denton (1991) believes

    a motivated workforce would alleviate disenchantment felt by employees and improve these

    factors. Denton (1991) also believes a motivated workforce will lead to greater understanding,

    acceptance, commitment to implementation, understanding of objectives and decision making

    between management and employees.

    Finally, motivation can also be used as a tool to develop further, the high performers and ensure

    they are satisfied with their work activities. Green (2000) envisages motivation to be proactivein the sense of; in dealing with employees who are high performers, motivation is essential,

    otherwise their performance will decline or they will simply leave the job. In the area of dealing

    with low performers, motivation is a prerequisite, otherwise these employees will drag results

    down, lower productivity and certainly wont leave the organisation, as they will have nowhere

    else to go.

    Gap Model:-

    The Gaps Model provides an integrated framework for managing service quality and customer-

    driven service innovation. In the years since the models introduction, service quality, service

    innovation, and customer focus have all become increasing important as competitive strategies

    for organizationsthus foundational, integrative frameworks have more relevance across more

    industries than ever.

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    Theory of the Gap Model:-

    Perceived service quality can be defined as, according to the model, the difference between

    consumers expectation and perceptions which eventually depends on the size and the direction

    of the four gaps concerning the delivery of service quality on the companys side.

    Customer gap = f (Gap 1, Gap 2, Gap 3, Gap 4).

    The magnitude and the direction of the each gap will affect the service quality. For instance gap

    3 will be favourable if the delivery of a service exceeds the standards of service required by the

    organization, and it will be unfavorable when the specifications of the service delivered are not

    met.

    The centerpiece of the model is the Customer Gap the gap between customer expectations and

    perceptions of the service as it is actually delivered. The ultimate goal is to close this gap by

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    meeting or exceeding customer expectations. The other four gaps in the model are known as the

    provider gaps and each represents a potential cause behind a firms failure to meet customer

    expectations: not listening to customers (Gap 1); failing to design services that meet expectations

    (Gap 2); performance and service delivery failures (Gap 3); and not communicating service

    promises accurately (Gap 4). At its most basic level, the logic of the model suggests that the

    Customer Gap is a function of any one or all of four provider gaps.

    Strategies to increase the market share in Pension Policies:-

    To stay competitive and to increase market share insurance companies must practice the modern

    marketing concept. This is even more important for a compulsory pension product like Max New

    York, as the only way to increase market share is to have superior service quality, leading to a

    superior product thus causing potential customers to switch companies. Successful companies

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    today practice the modern marketing concept (this can be reviewed in any standard marketing

    text) which views the customer as the focal point of all marketing activities. There are four

    premises to the marketing concept: (1) there is a customer orientation that argues that a firm can

    be more successful if it first considers the customers needs and wants. This sounds simple in

    theory but in actual practice is difficult to implement as the company often is driven by its own

    needs and wants, which can differ vastly from those of the customer. (2) To correctly identify the

    customers needs and wants requires a continuous program of market research. It is important to

    ask the customers what they need and want too often companies and management merely

    assumes they know what the customers need and want. Why a continuous market research

    program? Customers, competitors and companies micro and macro environments change. (3) All

    activities within the firm need to be integrated so that all departments function like a team

    working towards the same goals and objectives.

    Each department must see themselves as an integral part of the team that is in the business of

    delivering a service to a set of customers. Departments within a company often have their own

    goals and objectives, and if they are not well integrated can leave individual departments

    functioning at odds with the goal of delivering the service so that it best fulfills the needs and

    wants of the customer, thus losing customers to the competition. (4) If a firm operates as if it

    were a team, carries out continuous market research, has the customer as its focal point and

    delivers the service to best fulfill the customers needs and wants--this provides a quality service,

    which leads to customer satisfaction, which in turn will lead to loyal customers, repeat business,

    growing market share and greater revenue.

    The marketing mix is the elements, an organization can control to communicate with customers

    and to satisfy customers needs and wants. Traditionally the marketing mix has four elements:

    Product, Place, Price and Promotion. The traditional theory for these four elements was

    developed for goods and cannot be directly applied to service products; they must be applied

    using a services marketing perspective (Zeithaml & Bitner, 1996 for a good review of services

    marketing principles). In services marketing there are three more elements that must be

    considered: People this includes customers as well as employees, Physical Evidence this

    includes the environment in which the service is delivered and includes all the tangible parts that

    facilitate the delivery of the service or communicate to the customer about the service, and

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    Process this includes all the procedures, mechanisms, and operating systems by which the

    service is delivered. These seven elements or 7 Ps are central to a companys marketing decision

    making and marketing strategy, especially the last three Ps for services marketing. The 7 Ps

    have an impact on the customers decision making process to purchase as well as influencing

    their levels of customer satisfaction and repurchase decisions.

    The services marketing triangle (see below, Kotler, 1994, p. 470) illustrates that there is not just

    one type of marketing but three types of marketing that must be carried out for an insurance

    company to succeed. Our central premise is to the customer, it is making a promise about how

    the service will be delivered and the type of quality that can be expected.

    On the left side of the triangle, we have internal marketing. This involves the marketing efforts a

    company must perform with its employees. This includes how the company attracts the right

    employees, their hiring practices, the training procedures, and motivation and employee rewards.

    The employees must be able and willing to deliver the promise as made by the company to the

    customer. The primary assumption underlying internal marketing is that employee satisfaction

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    and customer satisfaction is inextricably linked. Thus, creating employee satisfaction is as

    important as creating customer satisfaction.

    On the right side of the triangle, we have external marketing. This includes all the activities and

    marketing mix elements a company uses to communicate to the customer before the service is

    actually delivered. This is how the company tells their customers what they are promising to

    deliver. External marketing plays a vital role in the formation of customer expectations of the

    service they hope to receive.

    These three types of marketing are inextricably linked, without one a total marketing effort

    cannot be supported. Each side of the triangle represents significant challenges for the insurance

    marketing manager. Insurance marketing managers need to consider the 7 Ps of the services

    marketing mix, the unique challenges and questions facing services marketing managers, and

    they need to address the issues highlighted by the services marketing triangle.

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    Chapter 4:- Research Methodology

    How organizational commitment can be a forecaster variable for salespeoples customer

    orientation behavior for selling pension schemes, that what the study looks in to basing on the

    discussion above. Basing on the argument, it can be theorized that

    1: There is an optimistic relation between organizational commitment and customer orientation

    behavior.

    2: one can be pretty much optimistic about self-monitoring when customer orientation behavior

    is the topic of consideration.

    3: when it is all about customer orientation behavior then intrinsic motivation can be an

    optimistic relation.

    Before plunging in to deciding the different tools to be used for the study, a pilot study was

    conducted. The sample of the pilot study consists of 30 part time and full time agents doing

    insurance from companies which do not participate. The study was conducted with researchers

    and respondents. Researchers did questionnaire to sort out difficulties in wording and to answer

    respondents questions. The smoothness with which the questionnaire completes that was the

    main aim of the researchers. The pilot study data was used in the reliability test of each tool or

    instrument.

    The study population consisted of full-time insurance agents working in Max New York Life

    Company in different branches in Mumbai. An important characteristic of the sample was to

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    select the sales agents who work on full-time basis and have worked with the organization for

    more than a year. Only full-time life insurance agents were included in this study to eliminate

    differences between full-time and part-time agents (Leong, Randall & Cote, 1994). The

    requirement to select only those with more than a year experience was necessary to ensure that

    all respondents have some knowledge and experience in sales jobs, so that they were able to

    answer the questionnaire accurately. Furthermore, with more than a year experience, they were

    able to determine their performance, in terms of annual income and target achievement.

    Therefore, in the present study these two characteristics were controlled.

    Demographic Profile of Respondents:

    Consistent with a male-dominated industry under investigation, majority (71.9%) of the

    respondents are males. This is common in the insurance industry as reported in Update (2003),

    male agents continue to dominate the profession of life insurance selling. As the profession of

    life insurance agents demands hectic travel schedules, it is more suitable to the young and as

    expected, 76 percent of them are considered young (below the age of 40 years old). This is

    consistent with the industry standard where Update (2003) reported that the majority of agents in

    the industry are less than 40 years old. In terms of academic qualifications, the minimum

    education requirement to be an agent is the completion of SPM/MCE or 11 years of formal

    education. It is not surprising that majority (60.7%) of the respondents in the present study had

    indicated SPM/STPM as their highest academic qualifications. This is consistent with the

    industry trend whereby agents with SPM/STPM qualifications continue to form the majority

    group (Update, 2003). Since Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) membership includes only the

    extremely successful agents in the life insurance industry, it was found that only 4.7% of the

    respondents are MDRT members. This generally reflects the industry hierarchy where about 10

    percent are at the highest level of the profession (Update 2003).

    In general, the working experience in the present company and in the life insurance industryamong respondents is short. Majority (75.1%) of the respondents have less than five years

    working experience in the present company and 60.2% in the insurance industry. This is in line

    with the age structure where most of the respondents are young (below 40 years) and consistent

    with industry trend, where the majority of the agency forces comprised of agents who have less

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    than two years of experience in the industry (Update 2003). To conclude, the above discussions

    indicate that the sample of this study does not deviate significantly from the general population

    of insurance agents and the sample is therefore deemed representative of the population of

    interest.

    Internal consistency of scales with Cronbachs alpha reliability coefficient was one criterion for

    choosing past tools. Table 1 shows the consequences on measure for pilot study. For research

    purpose the range used is 0.62 to 0.78 for reliability estimates. The range used for research

    purpose is called Nunnally 1978. The scale used for research purpose can be a regarded as the

    reliable range. The pilot test finds many problems like questionnaire content, understanding of

    items and time taken. Many false sentences were traced and rectified accordingly.

    The hypothesis was derived on the basis of data collected during the survey. Multi stage

    probability sampling was used as a procedure of sampling. Many insurance industries like Howe,

    Hoffman & Hardigree 1994, Nik kamariah 1995 in which similar studies were conducted.

    Branch managers were not agreeing to detail about the exact number of agents in the beginning

    of the survey. The main reason behind this was that the banks were maintaining secrecy over the

    fact. The reason at times was that the bank managers were unsure about the number of active and

    inactive agents in the company. For making a good survey proportionate sampling is needed. The

    proportionate sampling can be done with the proportionate data. Since, the data availability was a

    big impediment so; equal numbers of agents were divided in to two groups of twenty five each.

    The number of agents required for survey was very small, so all the companies were agreed to

    this.

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    NON-RESPONSE BIAS

    Non respondents were treated at par with the late respondents according to Armstrong and

    Overton (1977). This procedure is all about making partition in the responses which are early

    responses and late responses and then comes the t-test basing on the key variables of the study.

    Early response is a response which is received within a month of distribution and that to before

    any follow-ups and late response is the response which returns after a month of distribution and

    after follow-ups. The number of early respondents was 133 and the number of late respondents

    was 312. The result of non response test is displayed in the table 2. P less than 0.05 are

    considered as the significant level. The p value analyses did not show any difference between the

    two groups. Non response bias did not have any crucial influence on the generalizations of the

    results of the study, which can pretty well be concluded. The analysis was done with 445

    responses.

    MEASURES

    Using multiple item measures the constructs were measured. The scale used was a 5 point one.

    The 5 point indicated strongly agree and the point 1 indicated strongly disagree. One can refer to

    the appendix for the viewing sample of measurement items. A small version of Saxe and Weitz

    (1982) SOCO scale modified by Thomas, soutar and Ryan (2001) was used to measure customer

    orientation behavior which consists of 10 items.

    Owing to avoid response tiredness the smaller version was used. The study should be made a big

    one with the use of multiple item scales which was why the smaller version was used.

    Respondents were asked about their selling intension in relation to the customers needs and

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    satisfaction. The biggest question was that whether they were concerned about the customers

    needs and satisfaction or not. For the purpose of matching the domain with the local agents the

    wording of the scale was modified for the purpose of present day study. In the year 2001 Thomas

    et al. found the range between 0.7 and 0.91 as the reliability of the measurement. This range was

    found to be the perfect range for the researchers. Cronbachs alpha was found in the present day

    study to be 0.86 as from the table 3. This indicated its reliability for the study of organizational

    commitment using nine item measures from porter et al. (1974). Agreeing with the possible

    feelings with which an individual works with a company or organization is required by the

    respondents to be indicated. It is rife in the sales and insurance setting. The famous sales and

    insurance setting are Johnston, Parasuraman, Futrell & black 1990; Low et al. 2001; siguaw et al.

    1994. The reliability scale was 0.80 to 0.90 in general. 0.90 was reported by Low et al. (2001) as

    internal consistency. The reliability coefficient for this was 0.77.

    Now comes self monitoring and its relation with customer behavior. The measurement of self

    monitoring was done with a tool made by Snyder in the year 1979 and the tool underwent

    rectifications in the year of 1986 by Snyder and Gangestad. The items in the tool were made with

    18 statements. Modifying self presentation and the sensitivity to aver characters to others through

    ones potential and wish was what the self monitoring tool lingered around. Alpha which is the

    reliability coefficient lies in the range of 0.70 to 0.81 in the past studies done by Browne &

    Kaldenberg in the year 1997 and Verbeke in the year 1994 and 0.87 in the present day study.

    Intrinsic motivation was measured using a four item scale which was developed by Anderson

    and Oliver in the year 1987. This scale was used by Craven, Ingram, Laforge, and young in the

    year 1993, low et al. in the year 200 and Oliver and Anderson in the year 1994. The motivation

    of salespeople towards job is measured by the above four item scale. The motivation is all about

    personal satisfaction which one feels towards the job. Awards are given to encourage people or

    employees in order to work well and which work as a motivation towards work. The four item

    scale measures the degree of motivation of the people towards job when they get rewards for

    their work. Low et al. in the year 2001 showed that the reliability coefficient can be 0.77 of this

    instrument. But the alpha from the present day study is found to be 0.87. In the year of 1978

    stated 0.70 as the cut off range. Since the values of alpha were in between 0.77 and 0.86 and well

    above the cut off level of 0.70, the constructs were termed as reliable. Table 3 depicts the

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    standard deviation and reliabilities of the scale. To form composite scores the items for each

    measure were averaged for further analysis.

    Mixed Method Approach

    Mixed method research is the only way to reach at the destination, in this particular research. The

    aim of the mixed method approach is to give the freedom to the research conduction fellow at the

    time of giving answers to the various research questions, rather than confiding him or her. Rather

    than a limiting form of research, the mixed methods research is a creative and expansive form of

    research. Neither the qualitative nor the quantitative method is fully capable alone to capture thedetails and trend of a particular situation; that is why mixing is inevitable. But as both the

    qualitative and quantitative method is complimentary to each other, so they produce great result,

    when employed along with each other. When employed simultaneously, they help the researcher

    to delve more into the topic and that to without facing much trouble. A word of caution, though

    these two methods produce great results, when employed together but there are some constraints

    are there, to employ these two methods together. However, a research conducting person can get

    the better understanding of the phenomenon by applying these two methods at one go. Going for

    the two methods simultaneously also helps the researcher to draw samples easily from a

    population to conduct the research.

    Many steps are required to chalk out a mixed methods research but most of the steps are more or

    less similar to that of the traditional research methods. Some of the steps are research questions,

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    to decide the aim and purpose of the work or study, and which types of data should be collected.

    This also includes making a decision, whether to use explicit theoretical lens at the time of

    integration procedures, data analysis identification, and data collection procedures or not.

    The below mentioned methods are getting used combining, in order to achieve meet the

    objective of this particular study.

    Field-based research

    Desk-based research

    Case study research

    Field Based Research

    In this way of doing research, the primary data will be collected by conduction semi-structured

    or structured interviews of the top management level executives of various retail firms.

    Thereafter, this primary data will be processed to find out answers for the question related to

    strategies of sales promotion online. This method of research mostly takes the help of close

    ended questions to muster defined answers. However, this method also employs both close ended

    and open ended questions to address some complex issues. The process of interviews is more or

    less flexible and the only aim of the interviews is to understand and explain the patterns, events,and forms of behavior.

    Desk-based Research

    Desk-based research technique is used to obtain a clear idea about the subject under study.

    Secondary data collected and processed with the help of desk based research. The secondary data

    can be survey based data, documentary data, or multiple sources data. It is easy for the

    researchers to find secondary data as that can be easily found in libraries and even in the web

    space. The easy availability of secondary data makes the desk based research comparatively

    easier than the other research methods.

    While looking out for a sampling method I was perplexed given the fact that there were

    innumerable methods, which deteriorated my case rather than helped me. I had to go through

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    each method intensively and then finally try making out which one is better for me. However, I

    was happy to have acquired plethora of information on this front. Following are sampling

    methods I went through and their description:

    Different Types of Sampling

    A sample can be made in various styles. However, samples can be broadly grouped divided into

    two categories; those are probability and non-probability samples

    ( Okechukwu Ukaga & Chris Maser, 2004)

    Probability Samples

    This particular type of samples is created by random selection. Each of the samples comes from

    a population of interest. Let us discuss the four most important categories of probability samples.

    .

    ( Earl R. Babbie, 2006)

    Simple Random Sampling

    Simple random sample is the most common and widely known type of the random sample. In

    case of the simple random sample or SRS the probability of the selection remains exactly same

    for each and every case in the population. In SRS n numbers of sample is collected from a

    population of size N; so that there is a chance of each and every sample size getting drawn. .

    (Sergey Dorofeev, Peter Grant, 2010)

    Only an example could explain the above mentioned fact properly. There are 100 eligible voters

    are there in a place and you have to carry out a survey by including 10 voters. Then, just do one

    thing; write down the name of the all voters in a plain paper. Then, cut the name piece of the

    whole paper into 100 pieces with name of one voter in every piece of paper. Then, put all those

    papers in a box, shake that well, and pick one of them. Then, again shake the box and choose any

    one of them. Repeat this procedure for 10 times, you will end up with selecting 10 names of the

    voters. In this procedure, there is chance of every name getting selected. The probability of every

    name getting selected is equal.

    This method is a good method to choose samples, as the probability of getting selected is equal

    for all but it is not possible to implement this method, in real life. It is a cumbersome job to write

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    names of a millions of voters and then make slips and then choose thousand from them. There

    are many other reasons for which you should not choose simple random sampling. Let us discuss

    those reasons.

    Example 1

    Suppose, you have a task in your hand to compare the incomes of Hindus and Muslims in a

    population, where both of them are present in almost equal number. Let the size of the

    population is 1000 and you have to pick only 100 of them and out of 100, 50 should be Hindus

    and rest Muslims, so you can make a fair comparison. In this case, if you choose the random

    sampling method to draw 100 samples out of 1000, then there is no guarantee that out of 100

    samples, you will find 50 Muslims and 50 Hindus. So, it is better to take any alternative way

    than the simple random sampling. It is better to divide the population into Hindus and Muslims

    first and then adopt the simple random sampling method.

    Example 2

    Let us think that your frame of sampling is the telephone directory of a particular city, which has

    more 2 millions of entries. In this case SRS would not be very effective and would be very time

    taking. First of all, here you have to assign every name with a phone number and that is beyond

    the scope of SRS and the size of the sampling is also huge; so better is to go for systematic

    sampling.

    Example 3

    For instance, the task in your hand is to pick 100 samples of the employees of bars of London.

    However, you dont have any list of bars of employees. Then, there is no data available in front

    of you to carry out the SRS. Even if, you collect the name of all bars of London for the sampling,

    that is not also enough, as you have to take employees of the bars as samples. If you go ahead

    and find out the names of the employees of each bar and carry out a SRS, then there is a chance

    that employees of some bars will not be drawn at all, and that is against the requirement.

    In all the above discussed examples, we finds out that SRS could not be effective in most of the

    cases. You have to take any alternative way than SRS. No one can deny that SRS is the easiest

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    and most secular way to select samples; however, one can adopt that method only in very limited

    occasions. In other situations, you have to follow any different way to draw the samples of your

    requirement.

    Stratified Random Sampling

    In case of this method of sampling, the whole population is first of all divided into minimum two

    or more exclusive groups, by factoring in any criteria of interest. After dividing the whole

    population into smaller exclusive groups, then the simple random sampling method is applied to

    obtain the samples for final requirement.

    (Frederick J. Gravetter, Lori-Ann B. Forzano, 2004)

    This method could be applied in the example 1. The best way to take samples in example 1 is to

    divide the mixed population into Hindus and Muslims and carry out the simple random

    sampling. There are many benefits of this method and there are some cases, where sampling

    could be done, by adopting this method only.

    The first benefit of this method is, this divides a large pool into small exclusive pools; so it

    makes the condition favorable for the simple random sampling. Simple random sampling is

    easier to carry out in smaller pools than larger pools. The second reason is, it helps the sample

    takers to achieve at their objective. In case of the example one, one could not achieve at the

    objective of getting 50 Hindus and 50 Muslims as the end samples, if he or she carries out the

    simple random sampling. Simple random sampling applied on the mixed population never

    resulted in 100 samples, out of which 50 are Hindus and 50 are Muslims. In case of taking

    samples of a population, where there is a mix of people from different races, stratified random

    sampling is the one and only way to go to get the result.

    Stratification is a widely used technique, as far as sampling is concerned. This technique finds

    utility in most of the cases for below mentioned reasons.

    It is required to divide a large population into smaller sub-populations at the time of taking

    samples. After dividing into sub-population, each and every sub-population is considered as a

    population and studied, accordingly.

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    In some cases, stratification technique is used for administrative convenience. For

    example, if the company, which is taking the survey has branches at different locations, then

    each branch studies a particular population and the parent company stitch the data comes from

    different branches to arrive at the final conclusion.

    In case of some sub-population, the sampling problem could be inherent like people

    residing in institutions like hospitals, hotels or prisons.

    In case of heterogeneous population, the stratification is the only way to carry out the

    sampling. Stratification makes the heterogeneous population into many homogeneous

    populations. Sampling done in every homogeneous population and finally stitched together for

    the ultimate report.

    Stratification method of sampling also has some statistical advantages. Almost in all cases

    the stratified random sample varies only a bit from the statistical parameters like estimated mean

    and others.

    Systematic Sampling

    This method of taking samples varies greatly from the simple random sampling. However, it can

    be called as a variant of simple random sampling. In this method, the whole population is listed

    down first and every nth element of list is taken as the sample. . Look at the example 2

    mentioned above. One has to pick 2000 entries from a list of 20,00,000 people, who have

    telephone connection; if the person applies the systematic sampling method, then he or she

    would consider the name of the people appearing at n=1000, n=2000, n= 3000 so on.

    ( Earl R. Babbie, 2006)

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    Chapter 5:- Presentation of data

    MEASURES

    Using multiple item measures the constructs were measured. The scale used was a 5 point one.

    The 5 point indicated strongly agree and the point 1 indicated strongly disagree. One can refer to

    the appendix for the viewing sample of measurement items. A small version of Saxe and Weitz

    (1982) SOCO scale modified by Thomas, soutar and Ryan (2001) was used to measure customer

    orientation behavior which consists of 10 items.

    Owing to avoid response tiredness the smaller version was used. The study should be made a big

    one with the use of multiple item scales which was why the smaller version was used.

    Respondents were asked about their selling intension in relation to the customers needs and

    satisfaction. The biggest question was that whether they were concerned about the customers

    needs and satisfaction or not. For the purpose of matching the domain with the local agents the

    wording of the scale was modified for the purpose of present day study. In the year 2001 Thomas

    et al. found the range between 0.7 and 0.91 as the reliability of the measurement. This range was

    found to be the perfect range for the researchers. Cronbachs alpha was found in the present day

    study to be 0.86 as from the table 3. This indicated its reliability for the study of organizational

    commitment using nine item measures from porter et al. (1974). Agreeing with the possible

    feelings with which an individual works with a company or organization is required by therespondents to be indicated. It is rife in the sales and insurance setting. The famous sales and

    insurance setting are Johnston, Parasuraman, Futrell & black 1990; Low et al. 2001; siguaw et al.

    1994. The reliability scale was 0.80 to 0.90 in general. 0.90 was reported by Low et al.