arketing teams
| International Business and Economics Research |
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|Las Vegas, Nevada |
|October 11-13, 2010 |
|Managing Marketing Teams |
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|Jay Edwards, PhD |
|Murdoch University |
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|Andrew Honeycutt, DBA |
|Shorter university |
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Abstract . Changes in technology, competition, the economic environment and war have resulted in a need for companies to produce more, reduce costs and improve efficiency. Through luck, trial and error, managers discovered ways to motivate others and increase productivity. Historical writers such as Machiavelli, Adam Smith, Plato and Aristotle influenced organizational management theorists which helped shaped the way academicians and managers think about their organizations. (Buhler, 2003; Harrington, 1999; Kennedy, 1998).
In successful teams the individual members are not controlled, managed, or supervised. Instead, team members are led by a shared vision of the goals and purpose of the organization (Ray & Bronstein, 1995). The nature of an environment where multiple individuals are collectively working toward one goal suggests involvement strengthens individual performance in a synergistic coupling of resources (Katzenbach & Smith, 1993). As a result, the underlying purpose of constructing a team is to enhance existing organizational abilities through the coalescing of individuals who offer different strengths (skills, interests, backgrounds) to a joint venture (Cespedes, 1996).

Organizing Teams for Effectiveness History has demonstrated that organizations are much more than static structures.

Our research has found that organization action or organization performance of expected

tasks is a function of both “structure” and “relationship.” Nearly every action an

individual takes in somehow related to other people and the action is commonly

performed in the context of a group. It is impossible to discuss individuals without

referring to collective behavior in some form. Understanding the basic components of

collective action is of critical concern for managers of teams, because the results of