The Distance Manager: A Hands On Guide to Managing Off-Site Employees and Virtual Teams


Book Description

Global business demands and new technologies have created a virtual workplace for many companies, with employees and teams routinely collaborating from distant geographical locations on the road, from home, at client sites—even on the other side of the globe. The Distance Manager provides practical information and tools to help managers bridge the communication gaps created by geographical separation, and get peak performance from employees they rarely see. This handbook is perfect for sales managers, project team leaders, senior managers, and anyone who manages people at more than one location. Key topics include: • Using e-mail, teleconferencing, and videoconferencing for maximum effectiveness • Mastering the people skills required to manage from a distance • Virtual team building, and strategies for managing multiple locations




Encyclopedia of Communities of Practice in Information and Knowledge Management


Book Description

"This encyclopedia will give readers insight on how other organizations have tackled the necessary means of sharing knowledge across communities and functions" -- Provided by publisher.




Leading Virtual Teams


Book Description

How do you lead a team scattered across the globe? How do you keep members you can't see organized, communicative, and productive? In this book, you?ll find valuable advice on forming virtual teams, assessing their communication and technology needs, and ensuring that they produce high-quality work. You'll learn how to: - Understand the benefits and challenges of virtual teams - Build a virtual community that promotes collaboration and ongoing communication - Utilize technology to enhance your virtual team?s focus, motivation, and output Meet Your Mentors Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps are CEO and Chief Scientist, respectively, of the Boston-based consulting firm NetAge and authors of many books and articles on networked organizations, including Virtual Teams."




Manager's Guide to Virtual Teams


Book Description

Get solid collaboration from team members in remote locations Globalization and new technologies have made team collaboration from distant geographical locations—on the road, from home or client sites, even on the other side of the globe—a routine part of business. Managing these teams requires new skills and sensitivities to maximize team and organizational performance. Emphasizing pragmatism over theory and offering helpful tips instead of vague observations, Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams helps you bridge the communication gaps created by geographical separation and get peak performance from employees you rarely see. You will learn how to: Keep team members in remote locations motivated and involved Coach for peak performance via e-mail, telephone, teleconference, and videoconference Help widely scattered team members understand their contribution to the business Build consensus for decisions among virtual team members Learn effective communication and feedback techniques for enhancing team performance Briefcase Books, written specifically for today’s busy manager, feature eye-catching icons, checklists, and sidebars to guide managers step by step through everyday workplace situations. Look for these innovative features to help you navigate each page: Clear definitions of key terms and concepts Tactics and strategies for managing virtual teams Tricks of the trade for executing effective management techniques Practical advice for minimizing the possibility of error Warning signs for when things are about to go wrong Examples of successful virtual managing Specific planning procedures, tactics, and hands-on techniques




Virtual Teams


Book Description

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.




A Manager's Guide to Virtual Teams


Book Description

With an increasing number of employees working remotely, it is more difficult than ever to ensure that team members are working smoothly and productively. This books provides a roadmap for bridging the logistical, cultural and communication gaps that can prevent any virtual team from reaching its full potential.




Implementing Virtual Teams


Book Description

Many organizations worldwide are currently exploring the potential gains to be made from working with virtual teams. Although many different things are meant by use of 'virtual' (and indeed by 'teams'), usually it denotes groups of people with common purpose and goals working in different locations and often different time zones; they will be interconnected via a variety of telecommunications networks, perhaps including the Internet and intranet, video conferencing, shared white boards, as well as telephone, mail and e-mail. For organizations implementing such virtual teams there is a great need for guidance, in terms of the organizational structure and support which needs to be put in place. This book offers a practical guide to developing virtual teams, providing both an overview of what is involved and also a clear simple framework around which organizations can build their own implementation process. Although the different support technologies are discussed (at a generic level), the thrust of the book is on the organizational and human factors issues which must be addressed to make virtual teams a success. It contains detailed case studies to show how virtual teams work and where they can go wrong.




Recruiting, Retaining and Releasing People


Book Description

The greater part of an HR budget is spent on recruitment and retaining good people is key to a company's success. This book contains essential and up-to-date material around recruitment and retention including those issues that are currently pressing on companies with regard to flexibilty, returning to work, coaching and skills shortages. The problems of retirement, redundancy and dismissal are also addressed which is an integral part but not included in many texts. It provides the student and the professional with one place to find all the aspects and consequences of good practice in recruitment and retention.




The Cross-Cultural Communication Trainer's Manual


Book Description

The global market means that many organizations now have offices, affiliates, suppliers, call centres, clients and customers in a wide range of countries and cultures. Employees at a variety of levels are expected to have as good skills in cross-cultural working as in any other key competency. The Cross-Cultural Communication Trainer's Manual provides a complete toolkit for the trainer/facilitator needing to design and deliver cross- or inter-cultural training, for both mono- and multicultural audiences. Volume One: Designing Cross-Cultural Training The first volume in this two-volume set opens with an outline of useful information on cross-cultural training content, design and delivery. This is followed by a series of readings that flesh out many of the concepts important for trainers and learners alike and provide important facts, theory and practical background on an area in question. They can be used as a basis for facilitator presentations or given to learners as reading exercises. The manual concludes with (1) a series of action planning activities to help consolidate what learners have experienced and (2) evaluation forms for assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of any cross-cultural training events. The Appendix offers outline designs for seven half-day, one-day and two-day workshops using activities from Volume Two: Activities for Cross-Cultural Training along with a detailed bibliography. Volume Two: Activities for Cross-Cultural Training With 80 activities (covering skills such as understanding culture and differences, stereotypes, cultural self-awareness, cultural influences, barriers to communication) this varied and imaginative collection is a must-have resource for anyone involved in cross- or inter-cultural training. The collection concludes with a detailed bibliography of further reading and references.




The Office Professional's Guide


Book Description

When do you address correspondents by their first names in an e-mail? How is business conducted in a particular foreign country? Now, all these workplace questions--and many more--are answered in one convenient volume. The Office Professional's Guide takes you through office basics (frequently misspelled words; proper telephone, fax, and email etiquette; common filing systems), important business and financial concepts (P&L, ROI, price-to-earnings ratio), international business (a glossary of terms in five different languages; a guide to travel arrangements), giving presentations (with PowerPoint), setting up meetings, and much more.