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Ropes
courses and other team building
exercises common to U.S. business strategists are making their
way into Mexico.
At a resort hotel just south of Tijuana,
B.C., maquila managers and line supervisors alike gather to walk
a trapeze high wire, climb rock walls or swing from ropes strung
50 feet off the ground. Along the way they learn something about
themselves and their co-workers.
Located 25 miles south of San Diego on
Mexico’s Pacific Coast is the Aquarius Learning Center — the
first of its kind in Mexico. The Learning Center is operated by
Encinitas, Calif.-based Aquarius Training & Development, which
has been providing organizational and professional development
training and consulting since 1983. ATD has served hundreds of
corporations domestically and internationally, and also works
extensively with education and government.
But although team building is an accepted
practice in U.S. business, Mexican-businesses and foreign-owned
maquilas have been slower to come around. Bart Allen Berry, ADT
senior consultant, says many maquilas could benefit.
“There is an incredible black hole of
knowledge at many of these plants,” he says. “The plant manager
may know how to apply best practices, but no one else does.
There is an incredible variation of education levels within a
plant.”
In Mexico, Aquarius Learning Center is
based at the Las Rocas Resort and Spa, near Rosarito. ATD hopes
the combination of a world-class resort and top-notch team
building exercises will attract more maquila business.
“Poor teamwork reduces an organization’s bottom line,” says
Berry. “Dysfunctional, under performing and ineffective teams
create inefficiency, waste, rework and mistakes. They can be the
cause of low morale; they undermine worker commitment and
initiative, and can be a major cause of stress in the workplace.
If poor teamwork is pervasive, it can rob an organization of its
competitive advantage and threaten its very existence.”
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