Understanding and Modeling Industrial Marketing Managers’ “Behavioral Distress” using Grounded Theory Approach

  Nowadays, one of the most important problems of marketing managers is the confrontation with a variety of behavioral disturbances. Behavioral and emotional states of marketing managers can have a direct impact on their performance. A marketing manager who has a psychological turmoil cannot play an efficient role and cannot help to the result of the marketing unit; respectively, the firm’s overall performance and success are at risk. The mental turmoil disturbs their entire focus and hinders their ability to work and perform their duties. Considering the importance of the position of marketing managers in the success or failure of companies, the main issue of this research is the "behavioral distress" of corporate marketing managers. A problem for which there is no model proposed so far. Therefore, it can be pointed out that the purpose of this paper is to use the appropriate methods and in different stages of research to investigate the issue of "behavioral distress" of marketing managers in order to draw up the status quo and to propose solutions to solve it. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting the dimensions of marketing managers’ distress.

The present qualitative research uses qualitative grounded theory. The research data were collected through in-depth interviews with the marketing managers and then analyzed based on grounded theory premises. The statistical population of this research consisted of marketing managers of companies. According to the research structure, in this paper, judgmental sampling was used. To determine the sample size, the persuasion rule was used and the sampling procedure continued to reach the theoretical saturation.

The results of the interviews with marketing managers of reputable companies, various themes and codes were extracted and finally a model for explaining the factors affecting behavioral distress in industrial marketing managers was proposed. Structural factors, behavioral factors, production factors, marketing factors, financial factors, market situation and customer status with respect to individual characteristics can lead to distress among marketing managers.

To avoid the behavioral distress, the affective factors should be reduced to minimize its negative effects on the performance of the marketing manager and the organization. Based on the model, the factors affecting turmoil are influenced by the "macroeconomic environment" factors. Due to the uncontrollability of this factor, planning should be done in a way that the level of vulnerability of the company and, consequently, the marketing manager are reduced. The diversification strategy of suppliers can be used to reduce the level of reliance on each supplier. Also, the strategy for developing export markets and simultaneous setting of two or more target markets can help to reduce the risk of customer disconnection, and have a less negative impact on the marketing manager. In the area of ​​"behavioral factors", firstly, company management itself must balance its behavior with the marketing manager using the appropriate strategies of organizational behavior and eliminate the background of distress. In the next step, when the manager, as a model for the managers and staff’ behavior in the organization, improves his behavior, other managers as well as the other staff will adapt the necessary modeling and improved their behavior. In the case of "structural factors", having a unit of strong systems and methods as well as implementing the coordination methods between units can help solve the problems. The coordination process between units should be designed in such a way that it causes the least conflict between the different units of the company. The prerequisite for such changes is the promotion of team spirit. In the case of "organizational task forces", the strengthening of a robust and supreme organizational culture in all organizational units, including production, finance and marketing, will be decreased by the turmoil of the marketing manager. You have to establish the motto "everyone for sale" in the company. Moreover, in the case of "customer status" factors, customer relationship management systems can be used to establish customer validation systems and create a strategy to help distinguish between customers. The advent of new technologies, such as information technology, can be of great help in this regard. Optimum interaction with reputable customers and sales planning based on a customer's declared credit can reduce the behavioral distress of the marketing manager. The next proposal is not to grant exclusive agents in broad markets, in order to control the company's representatives. In the case of "market factors" that goes beyond the organization, although the factors are uncontrollable, market monitoring and data mining techniques can be used to optimize market changes in order to dramatically reduce the vulnerability of the company and the marketing unit. Another aspect of the job is the "suitability of the person employed with the job". If there is a conflict between the characteristics of the person employed and the job, the efficiency and functioning of the worker will be reduced. It is suggested to use different personality tests, such as Myers-Briggs Personality Test, Job Path Anchor Test, Typing Yang Index Test, and ... to help select the correct marketing manager. It is also necessary to pay attention to the intelligence issues of the marketing manager