Motivation.

This article presents an abstract of the article "The Use of Communication to Motivate College Sales Teams," by Theodore E. Zorn and Sarah E. Ruccio, which appeared in the October 1998 issue of the "Journal of Business Communication." Sales managers often are expected to provide motivation to their salespeople, and organizations spend millions every year to train managers in the skills needed to motivate employees. The article presents extensive examples of and analysis of the communication between managers and salespeople, and suggests an alternative theoretical framework for explaining motivational communication. Managers must be aware that any communicative act potentially has multiple functions, multiple implications, and multiple interpretations.