Date of Award

6-1994

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Robert O. Brinkerhoff

Second Advisor

Dr. Charles Warfield

Third Advisor

Dr. Richard Malott

Abstract

This study examined job satisfaction and appraisals of management actions as they related to sales productivity for financial planners. Planners from three Midwestern divisions of a national brokerage firm comprised the non-random sample (n = 89, out o f 137 potential participants, for a response rate of 65%). The planners completed two surveys: (1) Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (long form, 1967 revision) for obtaining job satisfaction data; and (2) The PROFILOR™, from Personnel Decisions, Inc., for determining planner appraisals of their immediate superior’s leadership actions. Productivity information, using two different measures (one related to sales of financial products, the other related to sales of financial analyses), was obtained from the divisions on each planner.

For the group as a whole, the typical planner had been appointed for an average o f 5.8 years, and had productivities in a nominal grouping (about 70% of the planners were rated as nominal production, about 30% as exemplary’). The typical planner's average job satisfaction was low-average, and he or she was most satisfied with being of social service to others, and least satisfied with relationships with coworkers. The typical planner’s manager was rated, on the average, as being highest in the leadership skills of speaking effectively and driving for results, and lowest in establishing plans and fostering open communication.

The planners were divided into two groupings based on sales productivityexemplary and nominal. Using correlation tests at a significance level of .05, the following conclusions were reached:

1. Tenure as a planner was found to be statistically significant and directly related to one measure of productivity (sale of financial products), and inversely related to a different productivity measure (sale of financial analyses).

2. Overall job satisfaction was not shown to be significantly related to the overall leadership performance of the planners' superiors.

Using t-tests for independent means, at a significance level of .05, these conclusions were reached:

3. Sales productivity was significantly related to job satisfaction on several facets: general satisfaction, creativity, variety, social status, authority, compensation, advancement, co-workers, and recognition.

4. Sales productivity was not shown to be significantly related to any leadership dimension.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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