Question

The Global Insurance Tag Team
Calvin is the director of disaster insurance at a
global insurance company. He has a large department
of his own in New York, but he is also the
team leader of ten different representatives around
the world. Each team member is responsible for
encouraging the sales representatives in offices around the globe to sell disaster insurance to cover
such risks as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and
terrorist attacks.
As Calvin describes it, “I wear twomajor hats.One
hat is the leader of my own group of professionals in
the disaster insurance field. My other major hat is
that of a team leader and product manager who is
trying to get team members around the world to
facilitate the sale of disaster insurance. What makes
this hat so difficult is that the team members do not
really report to me. To complicate matters further,
the reps who actually sell the insurance do not actually
report to the members of my team.”
When asked how the disaster insurance team
was performing, Calvin replied, “Not as well as I
would like. I have to keep chasing after the team
members to remind them of their roles in helping
the company cover disaster risks. Hillary, my team
leader in Great Britain, told me that I need to trigger
an earthquake in Europe to get clients interested
in more disaster insurance. She asked me to
start a major flood as a second possibility.”
“Another problem I’m facing,” said Calvin, “is
that I don’t see much integrated effort among the
team members. I do see a few e-mails sent to the
group discussing common concerns, but I don’t
see much coordinated effort.
“We held a videoconference early this year,
attempting to get everybody on board pulling
together. One problem was that we couldn’t get
full participation because of the difficulty in finding
a time to meet because of the wide spread in time
zones. We had a few laughs, with Tom from
Australia saying that his wife thought he was
headed out to the pub, not really attending a latenight
meeting.
“Another hurdle I need to conquer is that there
seem to be some cross-cultural differences in the
importance businesspeople attach to disaster insurance.
Sophie, our team member in Columbia, told
me that executives in South American countries
worry less about potential disasters than do Americans.
As a result, she said it is difficult for her to be
as heavily committed to selling disaster insurance
as some of the other team members.”
“One of my biggest agenda items for the year,”
concluded Calvin, “is to get my disaster insurance
team coordinating their efforts better.”

Questions
1. Identify the teamwork problems you think
Calvin might be facing.
2. What steps do you recommend Calvin take to
enhance teamwork in his global disaster insurance
team?
3. What might Calvin do to provide stronger leadership
to his global team?

Answer 1

1.

Calvin is the director of disaster insurance at a global insurance company and he has his own large department which located in New York. He is also the team leader of ten different representatives around the world. Each team member is responsible for encouraging the sales representatives in offices around the globe to sell disaster insurance.
Being a team leader of 10 different representatives, Calvin is facing teamwork problems of communication, organization and structural problem, as well as personnel issues. Firstly, his team member do not realize their roles or their lack of integrated efforts among team members. Specifically, the team members are not reporting to Calvin with their progress. Also the representatives who are actually selling the insurance do not report to his team members either. Secondly, due to different time zones, it is impossible for him to find a time that everybody is available. So they cannot have video conference together which is an obstacle to their communication. Thirdly, there are some cross-cultural differences relates to the importance of disaster insurance which would make it difficult for his representatives to be as heavily committed to selling disaster insurance as some of the other team members.

2. Recommendation for Calvin to take to enhance teamwork in his global disaster insurance team Calvin could practice E-leadership with each of his ten representatives. E-leadership is a form of leadership practiced in a context where work is mediated by information technology. The leadership focus shifts from individuals to networks of relationships because the Internet facilitates connecting so many people. Calvin should organize weekly meetings in all of the time. Also, he should maintain communications by phone, email and Skype more frequently to share team members’ sales information and progress.

3. Calvin could set up a goal which gives his team members a vision that their task is meaningful to tem and resonate with the value of each team member. Besides that, he would try to ensure that diversity in the team is understood, appreciated, and leveraged. These two strategies would inspire team members to contribute coordinated efforts. To encourage his team member perform better, Calvin could arrange one or two face-to-face meetings every year. Face to face meeting would be the best way for human interaction which enable Calvin receive feedback from his team members directly. Conclusion Calvin is the director of disaster insurance at a global insurance company and the team leader of 10 representatives around the world. He encountered some problems within his team including communication, organization and structural issues. His representatives are not well aware of their roles in their team. So Calvin should practice E-leadership to fix these problems and improve his team members' performance.