Building Effective Teams - Essay Example

Building a Sales Team With Diversity Staffing a global sales team to service our diverse base is an overdue necessity. With the correct approach we can create better communications with our customers as well as increase their level of trust and understanding of our organization. Diversity of the team members will also act to improve our own competency, as we will have various points of view to learn from and a broader range of knowledge available on how to handle unique sales situations. Though we currently follow the law with respect to diversity in the workplace, its imperative that we go beyond the legal requirements and begin to benefit from a pro-active approach to the program.

To maximize the capability of our sales team we should also diversify in the areas of age, ethnicity, and tenure.While age is protected to a limited degree from job discrimination, Ace needs to do more to reap the benefits from the experience that age can offer. With a diverse age group, we can gain from the energy and creativity of youth while also realizing the rewards of age and experience. Along with temperament and seasoned judgment, the older person can perform at above average levels. Robbins, 2003, dispels the common misperception of lowered output with age when he contends, ".

[E]vidence demonstrates a positive relationship between seniority and job productivity" (p 40). The older staff can get new ideas from the younger members, while the younger can grow with the help of coaching by the more senior team members. People from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds are mandatory in today's global marketplace. Not only can they be knowledgeable about culture specific traditions and customs, they may prove invaluable in certain sales situations where trust may be an issue.

Bahry, Kosolapov, Kozyreva, and Wilson, 2005, concluded that, ".such generalized trust is far more common in ethnically homogeneous than in more diverse societies". An ethnically diverse team could prove to be useful for Ace as well as our customers. Greater trust and understanding would result in better communication across ethnic borderlines.Diverse tenure among the team members is another area that would aid in building and sustaining a stronger team. The senior people would carry with them the knowledge of our customer base, their special requirements, and specific needs.

Recently hired employees would be in a position to offer fresh solutions to fulfilling those needs. The newer members would not allow the team to get caught in the rut of "this is how we've always done it", while the senior staff would realize when its time to say, "this is the way it needs to be done". Kusumoto, 2005, states, "I am conscious of the strategic need to have as many perspectives to work with as possible". A team that reflects a wide range of ages, ethnicity, and tenure would benefit from the unique experience and capabilities of each individual.

The younger staff could benefit from the experience of age while a wide range of tenure will assure that we maintain consistency with our customers while avoiding the trap of growing complacent. Everyone would benefit from the enhanced ethnic exposure that would be gained by creating a more diverse sales team.ReferencesBahry, D., Kosolapov, M., Kozyreva, P., & Wilson, R. (2005, January). Ethnicity and Trust: Evidence from Russia. Retrieved August 27, 2006, from http://brl.rice.edu/Siberia/Papers/APSR_Trust_final.

pdfKusumoto, A. A. (2005). Workplace & marketplace questions and answers. Retrieved August 27, 2006, from http://www.diversity.umich.edu/futuring/kusumoto.htmlRobbins, S. P. (2003). Organizational Behavior (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.