1. D Organizational Change Mishaps
Due to the competitive nature of organizations, organizations are being pushed to the outer limits in an effort to remain competitive in a global market. As such, organizational change initiatives continue to hit rock bottom with most deliverables not being achieved due to scarce resources and poor planning. In figure 1, Gilley, Gilley, & McMillan (2009) suggest that 60% of organizational change will not achieve success.
in an effort for the organization to stay competitive. As a result, the employees' work environment becomes toxic (Rivero, 2013).
Unfortunately, the average American worker is limited by career choices/career mobility, which leads to job dissatisfaction. Consequently, the Multilevel Marketing (MLM) industry has become a popular choice for many Americans leading to entrepreneurship independence for some. This paper will evaluate Multilevel Marketing (MLM) industry and recommendations will be provided for those who are seeking entrepreneurship independence by means of the multilevel marketing industry.
According to Rivero (2013), "?most layoffs were middle managers who worked alongside of line workers; other managers who remained behind were forced to do more with fewer resources, which made it difficult to accomplish day-to-day objectives" (p. 171). Unfortunately, managers develop a "siege mentality" behavior leading to the mistreatment of employees (Horstein, 1996). More specifically, managers are faced with the unfortunate dilemma of promoting deliverables that are unreachable.
Consequently, employees are faced with a difficult decision to either remain employed by a dysfunctional organization or perhaps take it upon themselves to retrain for a new career path. For many, the traditional method to complete a degree program/education initiative is unreachable due to the high tuition cost of most colleges/universities throughout the United States. Overall, there has been an uproar about the increased tuition rate among United States Colleges/Universities, which has had a drastic effect on university/college enrollment figures (Conger, 2014).
iii.
2. Entrepreneurship Spirit
From a traditional perspective, the term Entrepreneur is defined as "a person who starts or organizes a commercial enterprise, especially one involving financial risk" (Peredo and McLean, 2006, p. 56). Additionally, Bygrave and Hofer (1991) further state that an entrepreneur is "an individual who perceives an opportunity and partakes in the necessary functions, activities, and actions associated with the creation of an organization to pursue that opportunity" (p. 15). Moreover, the barriers of entry to establish a business ownership could be costly and unreachable for the average individual (Porter, 1985). Consequently, for certain individuals who have limited resources and training, Multilevel Marketing (MLM) can be the answer for promoting their Entrepreneurship Spirit due to the low overhead and risk free investment start-up ( Another study also suggested that within a 12 month period Finland had reported that 25% of their population had purchased from a direct selling company. Within this same study, South Africa also reported that 72% of their population had purchased products from a direct selling company (Brodie et al., 2004, p. 7-8).
v.
3. Pyramid Analysis
The surge to join MLM continues to progress and limited academic research has been performed to support industry's achievements (Peterson & Albaum, 2007, p. 318). Unjustified remarks have been published by critics of MLM suggesting that 99.94 % of MLM lose their investment and eventually withdraw/abandon their membership (Taylor, 2005). On the other hand, according to Seale, (2007, p. 22), the United States Direct Selling Association suggested the average gross income for an MLM United States distributor stands at about $14,500 annually. Based on this writer's perspectives, negative remarks suggesting that MLM have not met up to their expectations are posted by bloggers and are unsubstantiated.
Peterson and Albaum (2007) have established a pyramid test model to determine if the MLM is an illegal pyramid scheme by answering the following four questions 1. What is being sold -a product/service or the right to sell a product/service? 2. Is the fee for becoming a distributor fair and reasonable and what does a person receive for it from the company? 3. Is there pressure to purchase excess inventory? 4. Is there a provision for the MLM firm to buy back unsold inventory?
selling is simply face-to-face selling away from a fixed In so doing, as organizations strategize for the future, at times, the Humanistic Approach to management is lost. As a result, employees are mistreated in the workplace and are pushed to meet unreachable expectations. According to Rivero, "the Humanistic Approach to Management is much related to the commonly used humanism theory" (p.104). Melé (2003) further suggests, "more specifically, humanism is usually conceived as an outlook to emphasizing common human needs and is concerned with human characteristics" (p. 79).
vi.
4. Recommendations -Damage Control Measures
The author of this article proposes the following recommendations for addressing potential MLM membership for those who are interested in becoming a distributor. They are as follows:
1. Utilize the Peterson and Albaum (2007) vii.
5. Conclusion
Corporate America continues to seek new ideas in order to remain competitive in their respective markets. At times, change initiatives are unrealistic. Studies have suggested that most organizational change initiatives do not succeed, which leads to organizational derailment. In the end, both employers and employees suffer in not meeting expectations leading to employees losing interest. Although, an MLM is not the answer for all who are seeking financial freedom, it certainly provides an open opportunity for those involved to reach their financial objectives.
| retail, or a process of communication" (1996, p. 2.) | |
| Sparks & Schenk (2001) further state that "Quite obviously, the success of each distributor | |
| is based on his/her efforts. For the most part, most | |
| legitimate MLM provide extensive training programs that | |
| Year 2014 | include leadership development, public speaking, etc. (Peterson & Albaum, 2007, p. 318). Moreover, Coughlan and Grayson (1998) elaborate that "the essence of MLM involves the development of social networks that evolve into business alliances" (p. 425). |
| Undoubtedly, the phenomenal growth conti- | |
| nues to evolve. According to the 2012 Direct Selling | |
| Statistics (2014) from the Direct Selling Association of | |
| the United States, Direct Retail Sales industry increased | |
| from $29.87 billion in 2011 to $31.63 billion in 2012. | |
| iv. | Multilevel Marketing Industry |
| -Causes and Effects |