12/6/2015
Stephanie Nguyen
MGT 3013.010
PROFESSOR J. CAVICH
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO
DECEMBER 6, 2015
Career Management
Business Management & Dell
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The World of Business Management and Sales Directors
Regardless of the industry or company, management will always be a necessary sector of
the business. How people obtain management roles is not usually based on if they have any
actual knowledge on how to lead people. Reasons people who aren’t fit for leadership positions
may find themselves in charge of others is due to seniority, because they were good at their
previous job, or a magnitude of other reasons. This happens quite often, so employees can be left
upset and without proper direction. That is why it is so important to have a good management
team. Having a good and bad management team can make the difference between a workforce
that is motivated to do the very best at their job and one who does the bare minimum.
The problem that Dell had with their management was the opposite of the problems listed
above. The situation that they faced was that the leaders that they were placing in charged were
certified in management, but were not up to date on, for example, the technology that their team
was trying to implement. Being such an innovative company, unless you were actually working
on that project, you may not have any knowledge on what is actually going on. They were
switching out managers so quickly that by the time an employee would finish a problem, the
person that they originally asked for advice is now in another sector. (Fisher) This problem was
later fixed by the company growing and realizing what was going on. As people stuck with Dell,
they became more knowledgeable about the many different sectors operated.
“A Sales Director is a team leader charged with the task of managing a group of Sales
Managers to be as effective as possible,” is how a sales director is defined by The Telegraph in
the article “Sales Director.” Usually a phenomenal sales representative is promoted to a sales
manager and then is given more responsibility and becomes a director. Dell, being such global
company requires several sales directors in order to continue operating. Looking through the
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different positions that can be held at Dell I was surprised to find out just how many levels there
are before you even get anywhere near executive levels. Looking into the global side of Dell, for
Europe they have a sales director for the “small business sector “in each country, one for
Southern Europe, Europe as whole, Online, Financial Services, and many more (Verger). There
are a few who have obtained the title of director by staying loyal to Dell and just moving up in
the company. By gaining experience they were able to become directors, not needing to further
their education more than a BBA. Although, most of the sales directors in executive positions
had gone back to school to get a MBA. Some certifications may help but what is the most
important is to have experience in your field (The Telegraph).
The Innovative Company: Dell