The impact of aligned rewards and senior manager attitudes on conflict and collaboration between sales and marketing

This research was carried out using five case studies and a survey to discover how sales and marketing managers are rewarded and if alignment of rewards can improve collaboration between sales and marketing and/or reduce inter-functional conflict. In addition, it examined the role of senior managers' support for coordination on sales/marketing collaboration. The results reveal that organizations which use aligned rewards can increase sales/marketing collaboration through such reward structures, but not reduce inter-functional conflict. In addition, senior managers' support for coordination is vital, as it increases sales/marketing collaboration, and strongly reduces inter-functional conflict. This is important because inter-functional conflict has a strong negative impact on collaboration between sales and marketing in business to business firms. ► Survey of UK, B2B companies revealed the value of aligned rewards to sales/marketing. ► B2B organizations which align rewards can increase sales/marketing collaboration. ► Aligned rewards alone do not reduce inter-functional conflict between sales/marketing. ► Senior managers' support for coordination is vital in improving collaboration. ► Senior managers' support can reduce inter-functional conflict between sales/marketing.