The Virtual Office Survival Handbook

Whether you're working at home, on the road, or in any othernontraditional work arrangement, here's what you'll need to set up,survive, and thrive in the virtual office. Alice Bredin, theleading authority on the virtual office, gives you expert adviceon: * Getting there--choosing the right business idea, negotiating fortelecommuting, and selling your family on your new workstyle * Organizing yourself--structuring your environment, setting up avirtual office in your home or car, dealing with a satellite officesituation, choosing and finding the best technology * Maintaining your virtual office--staying in the loop when you'renot in an office, keeping in touch when you're on the road,generating business, finding free publicity, adopting the habits ofhighly successful virtual office workers, maintaining contact withthe office or customers, communicating effectively via technology * Surviving--creating and maintaining work/life balance, working athome with kids, avoiding overwork, making sure your accomplishmentsare recognized, learning to take vacations, staying away from thefridge, being a good boss to yourself Whether you are contemplating this new work arrangement, activelyin transition, or firmly entrenched in this workplace revolution,this comprehensive guide is your key to success in your new workingenvironment.

The leading expert on virtual office has written the first comprehensive handbook to starting, managing and thriving in a virtual office. Written for both the telecommuter and the entrepreneur, here is advice on working in all types of virtual offices, including the home office, satellite work center, time-shared workspace, and mobile office.

Getting to the heart of what binds and breaks organizations: emotion, Stephen Fineman explores beyond the surface of work to the rich emotional life bubbling underneath, showing what employees and managers constantly deal with but are often ill-equipped to do so.

The virtual work world is upon us. It is ever increasing as both workers and organizations become more familiar with this new structure. The way leaders and managers deal with the virtual worker will become increasingly more important. This book takes a look at the virtual work environment from a view of human perceptions. Trust, isolation, and presence are the three main human perceptions discussed throughout the book and are the foundation for the theory presented. The Change–Self-Efficacy Loop Theory provides the basis for a new tool to maximize the productivity level of the virtual worker. The book takes a journey from the industrial revolution through a second shift or technology revolution which we are currently experiencing known as the virtual work environment. It presents argument and ideas to encourage all of us to take action now to prevent the potential negative outcomes that could affect many working in the virtual work environment. The book is designed for anyone associated with the virtual work environment. Based on the premise that the virtual work environment needs to be a productive alternative to the traditional work environment, the book focuses on variables that can create the most successful outcome.

Virtual teams are a relatively new phenomenon and by definition work across time, distance, and organizations through the use of information and communications technology. Virtual Teams: Projects, Protocols and Processes gathers the best of academic research on real work-based virtual teams into one book. It offers a series of chapters featuring practical research, insight and recommendations on how virtual team projects can be better managed, as well as in depth discussion on issues critical to virtual team success, including the place of virtual teams in organizations, leadership, trust and relationship building, best use of technology, and knowledge sharing.

The fast progress in computer networks and their wide availability complemented with on one hand the "explosion" of the mobile computing and on the other hand the trends in the direction of ubiquitous computing, act as powerful enablers for new forms of highly dynamic collaborative organizations and emergence of new business practices. The first efforts in virtual enterprises (VE) were strongly constrained by the need to design and develop horizontal infrastructures aimed at supporting the basic collaboration needs of consortia of enterprises. Even pilot projects that were focused on specific business domains were forced to first develop some basic infrastructures before being able to develop their specific business models. Nowadays, although there is still a need to consolidate and standardize the horizontal infrastructures, the focus is more and more directed to the development of new vertical business models and the corresponding support tools. At the same time, in the earlier R&D projects, the attention was almost exclusively devoted to the operation phase of the VE life cycle, while now there are more activities addressing the creation phase, developing mechanisms to support the rapid formation of new virtual organizations for new business opportunities. In order to complete the life cycle, there is a need to also invest on support for VE dissolution.

The two-volume Praeger Handbook of Human Resource Management is an indispensable resource for anyone with a question relating to workplace practice or policy. Volume One contains information organized by HR task or topic: Recruitment and selection, employee development, performance management, compensation and benefits administration, and employment law. Volume Two covers organizational issues like leadership and HR strategy, organizational development, change management, and general HR issues and workplace policy. Written by experts of all stripes, including HR professors, HR consultants, and practicing HR managers, this is the one-stop, preeminent source for all things HR. Anyone with personnel duties—whether VP for Human Resources or office manager—will find actionable answers to all their questions quickly. Personnel management is a critical business function. Make a mistake in, say, firing an employee, and soon you may find yourself on the phone with a lawyer. This handbook will help readers avoid personnel potholes and snares. Volume one of this set tells—among dozens of other topics—how to hire well, train employees, evaluate and develop workers, fire legally, set compensation, and abide by federal and state employment laws. Volume two rises above the trees for a look at the forest: leadership development, succession planning, managing change and conflict, creating emergency response plans, managing teams, forecasting employment trends, measuring results, and acquiring HR credentials. In addition, volume two will help companies develop workplace policies on everything from suitable dress to disciplinary procedures to work life balance. Entries in each category are short and to the point-from 500 to 1,000 words. Sprinkled throughout are longer, overview/theory pieces on subjects like performance management, selection, training, and HR Strategy. And the set will contain an extensive bibliography, resource section, and checklists on topics like hiring, safety, termination, training, and more. The Best Places to Work for are also the most profitable and the most fun. This handbook helps lay the foundation for building a rewarding, inspiring, and productive workplace, where people come to work each day with smiles on their faces.