Joe Salatino

Faulkner 1

JOE SALATINO, PRESIDENT OF THE GREAT NORTHERN AMERICAN CASE STUDY

Christopher R. Faulkner

BUS 520

Winter 2012

Faulkner 2

INTRODUCTION

Joe Salatino’s methods are primarily based upon positive reinforcement methods, using secondary reinforcers. In the case study, it mentioned several devices in the salesroom. There are rotating blue lights that flash when a deal is on. There are large dry-erase boards where a manager would draw “snowballs” at the end of each sale, which would serve as visual cues to the salespeople. By providing commissions to his salespeople, Salatino uses secondary reinforcers, money, to incentivize his sales force to keep selling. Salespeople can receive between 5% and 12% commission, and the level of commission would provide an increasing incentive to sell the higher-commission items (Hellriegel & John Slocum Jr, 2011). I would assume that the salespeople that had been there awhile also might enjoy the frenetic pace of the sales floor, and that would serve as a secondary reinforcer for them to come to work each day. It’s probably an exciting environment for them to work in. According to the textbook, the Great Northern American has been in existence for 35 years. The company is based out of Dallas, TX. Salatino believes that spending money is necessary to keep his sales force motivated when it comes to competition of Internet users (Hellriegel & John Slocum Jr, 2011).

Faulkner 3

If I were Joe Salatino, I would address the perceptions and an attribution that one would make about my employees is by using the self-efficacy concept in the event of company planning and hiring my employees. According to the text, self-efficacy is the individual’s estimate of his or her ability...