The Leadership and Teamwork of our Next-Door Neighbors.

Ninety-five employees across three market leading Mexican-based corporations were interviewed to empirically evaluate the level of leadership and teamwork found within the organizations. Employees interviewed ranged in hierarchal ranking from upper-management, middle to lower management, and bluecollar positions. Based on the interviews, employees were judged on four essential characteristics of leadership and three essential traits of teamwork. Each element was scored out of five (=1 not exhibited, =2 rarely exhibited, =3 somewhat exhibited, =4 often exhibited, =5 always exhibited) and summed to compose an overall score for each of the values. Leadership and teamwork were defined using globalized oriented standards to compare how Mexican companies would be assessed if they were to enter international competition. The paper finds that high levels of productivity exists even with deficits of leadership and teamwork are present. It concludes that the managerial strategy is successful due to the culturally accepted behaviors of the Mexican society. It proposes that as Mexico continues to become a more globalized nation, the cultural mannerism will directly contradict working philosophies common to developed nations. Additionally, it suggests that if certain cultural practices were eliminated, Mexico would experience faster assimilation into the global market sphere.