The effects of power, influence, and interdependence on the effectiveness of marketing manager/sales manager working relationships

This paper examines three contextual drivers of relationship effectiveness between Marketing Managers and Sales Managers. Specifically, how the power of the Sales unit, the manifest influence of the Sales Manager, and the level of interdependence between these managers influences conflict, and the perceived effectiveness of that relationship. Our results show that the greater the Sales unit power, the greater the conflict between these managers, and the lower the relationship effectiveness. In addition, where a Sales Manager has high influence, this is associated with greater effectiveness in Marketing/Sales relationships, but not with lower conflict. In contrast, the level of interdependence between these managers does not affect either conflict, or the perceived effectiveness of this important working relationship.