| Course | MT455 Strategic Management of Sales |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 6 |
| Paper type | Seminar reflection |
| Length | About 790 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MT455 Unit 6
What the Plan Paid For, Not What It Meant: An MT455 Unit 6 Seminar Reflection on Commission Caps
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
MT455: Strategic Management of Sales
Unit 6 Seminar Reflection
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Keystrand Access, the classmates and their employers' plans are composite; the sources cited are real.
Four Plans
Our seminar compared four compensation plans brought by classmates and me. An electronics retailer paid floor staff a flat $75 for every extended warranty sold. A copier leasing company paid double commission on everything above quota sold in the final month of each quarter. A grocery chain paid a store-wide team bonus when the store hit its quarterly sales target. And my employer, Keystrand Access, pays its sellers 5 percent on every dollar of hardware or first-year subscription up to quota and 7.5 percent above it, with no cap and no adjustment for discounts.
Intended and Actual
Each plan was described twice in the seminar, once as its designers meant it and once as the classmate saw it work. The warranty bonus was meant to lift attachment rates on expensive televisions. In practice, Jordan said, it produced pressure on customers buying $40 headphones, because $75 was $75 whatever the item. The copier accelerator was meant to reward strong quarters. Priya said it produced a quiet second month in every quarter, as sellers held signed orders back to book them in the third month at double rates. The team bonus was meant to build cooperation; Marcus said it did, mostly, though two people on his team admitted they eased off once the target looked safe. And Keystrand's plan was meant to reward revenue. What it actually rewards is hardware volume at any discount, since a dollar of heavily discounted reader sales earns the same as a dollar of subscription. Kerr (1975) warned about paying for one result while wishing for another, and the warning fit every plan on the table.
Every plan in the room paid for something slightly different from what its designers wanted, and sellers followed the pay.
Recognition or Money
The seminar then split over whether recognition motivates sellers more than money. Marcus argued that the grocery team cared more about being the top store in the district than about the bonus itself. Priya disagreed: her copier colleagues, she said, would trade any plaque for a better accelerator. I found myself between them. The evidence from our own stories suggested that money shapes what sellers do and when they do it, while recognition shapes how they feel about doing it. Neither replaces the other, and a plan that gets the money wrong cannot be rescued by an awards dinner.
My View on Caps
I came into the seminar in favor of capping commission, and I argued for it in the first half of the session with some confidence. At Keystrand, one seller earned $117,500 in incentive pay last year by selling a large volume of heavily discounted hardware, and a cap seemed like the obvious way to stop a windfall the strategy did not want.
Priya's copier story changed my mind. Her plan had no cap, but it had a timing rule, and sellers bent their behavior around it. Oyer (1998) found that sellers shift sales across periods to take advantage of nonlinear pay schedules, and Larkin (2014) found the same timing games in enterprise software sales, with real costs in discounts. A cap is another nonlinearity. A seller who reaches the cap in October has every reason to hold November's deals until January. Steenburgh and Ahearne (2012) note that caps tend to demotivate exactly the top performers a company most wants to keep.
Our problem was never that a seller earned too much. It was that she earned it for the wrong thing. A cap would have reduced the windfall and taught every seller to stop selling once they reached it. Fixing what the plan pays for, by crediting subscription more than hardware and reducing commission on heavy discounts, addresses the cause. I still think a company should know its worst case, so I would set a budget ceiling for total incentive spending and review any individual payout above twice target, but neither of those changes what a seller earns for the next deal, which is where behavior is decided.
What This Means for Evaluating Keystrand's Plan
For the Unit 7 evaluation I will test Keystrand's plan on both a top and a weak seller, as the seminar showed that plans behave differently at the extremes, and I will judge it on what it rewards in practice, not on what its designers meant. I will also check any revision for timing effects, month by month, before recommending it.
References
Kerr, S. (1975). On the folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B. Academy of Management Journal, 18(4), 769-783. https://doi.org/10.2307/255378
Larkin, I. (2014). The cost of high-powered incentives: Employee gaming in enterprise software sales. Journal of Labor Economics, 32(2), 199-227. https://doi.org/10.1086/673371
Oyer, P. (1998). Fiscal year ends and nonlinear incentive contracts: The effect on business seasonality. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113(1), 149-185. https://doi.org/10.1162/003355398555559
Steenburgh, T., & Ahearne, M. (2012). Motivating salespeople: What really works. Harvard Business Review, 90(7/8), 70-75.
MT455 Unit 6 instructions, in plain terms
The Unit 6 assignment in MT455 comes after a seminar on sales pay and calls for a first-person account of what the discussion changed for you. Summarize the plans discussed briefly, then describe each one twice: as its designers intended and as it actually worked, using classmates' examples by role. Identify the pattern across plans rather than collecting stories. Where the seminar debated a question, such as recognition against money, give your position with reasons. Describe any view you changed, what changed it and the evidence behind the change. Close by saying how the discussion will shape your next assignment, usually the evaluation of a specific plan. Around 650 words in five short sections, in the first person, is typical. Sections running the written alternative apply the same moves to a posted compensation case instead of live stories.
How the MT 455 Unit 6 example is put together
The reflection opens by listing the four plans in a sentence each. A section then sets intended and actual behavior side by side for every plan, from warranty pressure to held-back copier orders, citing Kerr, under a highlighted line that sellers followed the pay. The recognition debate comes next, and the writer settles between the two classmates: money shapes what sellers do, recognition how they feel about it. The longest section records the changed view on caps, starting from Keystrand's $117,500 windfall, moved by the copier story and supported by Oyer and Larkin on timing games and Steenburgh and Ahearne on top performers, ending with a budget ceiling and payout review in place of a cap. The close commits to testing Keystrand's plan on a top and a weak seller in Unit 7.
Where the points sit in the MT455 Unit 6 rubric
Compensation reflections in MT455 are marked on analysis of intended against actual behavior. Instructors credit reflections that describe each plan from both sides rather than retelling stories. Drawing a pattern across plans shows synthesis. Taking a reasoned position in a seminar debate earns more than reporting both sides neutrally. A changed view is rewarded when the student shows what changed it and supports the change with research. Connecting the seminar to the next assignment shows the learning will be applied. First-person writing, concise and organized, carries the communication marks. Classmates should be described by role and situation. Research on incentive timing, caps and recognition should be cited where it explains a point, not added at the end.
MT455 Unit 6 help from the desk
The most frequent weakness in Unit 6 is a reflection that lists four pay plans with no analysis of what each actually rewarded. Another common problem takes a side in the recognition debate without reasons. Students often report a changed view without explaining what changed it. Research is sometimes cited for general claims rather than for the specific point it supports. Reflections tend to end by saying compensation is complicated. Before submitting, check that every plan you describe has two sentences, one for what it was meant to do and one for what it did. If any plan has only the first, ask the classmate's story again what behavior it produced. Then make sure your final section names a concrete method you will use in the next assignment.
Get an MT455 Unit 6 example written to your instructions
Tell us which compensation stories came up in your Unit 6 seminar, including your own if you shared one, or send the written alternative's case if you worked from that, and add the rubric. A custom reflection setting each plan's intent beside its effect is turned around in 24-48h at no cost for a first request. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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MT455 Unit 6 questions, answered
What if I have no compensation story of my own?
You can reflect on classmates' stories, a plan described in the readings, or a public example such as a well-known incentive scandal, provided you analyze what the plan rewarded. Many students also draw on part-time jobs with bonuses or tips, which raise the same questions. The reflection is about incentives and behavior, not about having worked in sales.
How should I describe a classmate's story?
By role and situation rather than name, and briefly. Give enough detail about the plan, what it paid for and when, that a reader could see why sellers behaved as they did. Credit the insight to the classmate who offered it. Then add your own analysis, since the grade depends on what you make of the story.
Is it acceptable to disagree with the seminar's conclusion?
Yes, if you explain why. A reflection that disagrees thoughtfully, using an example or a principle from the readings, often shows more engagement than one that simply summarizes consensus. Be fair to the view you reject, state it accurately, and name the evidence that could still persuade you. That balance usually reads as analysis rather than contrarianism.
Where can I find a free MT455 Unit 6 sample paper?
This page holds the complete MT455 Unit 6 reflection comparing four sales pay plans' intended and actual effects and explaining a changed view on commission caps.
Why does the writer of the MT455 Unit 6 sample turn against caps?
A cap adds a threshold sellers work around by holding deals, as a classmate's end-of-quarter accelerator showed, while the real problem was paying for discounted hardware.