| International Business : The Challenge of Global Competition, 8/e Donald Ball Wendell H. McCulloch,
California State University Long Beach Paul L. Frantz,
California State University Long Beach Michael Geringer,
California Polytechnic State University Michael S. Minor,
University of Texas Pan American
Human Resource Management
E Business CasesStudents: Included here are some internet/case assignments relating to E-Business that you can use to review or that your instructor may give as assignments. Your instructors have been given the answers to these questions and may choose to give them out to you or not. Global Telecommuting
This case is designed to:
- Expose you to the growing company use of teleworkers;
- Provide you with information about issues related to virtual workplaces;
and
- Compare and contrast work on a traditional team with that of a virtual team.
A revolution is occurring in the workplace today. Computer and telecommunications
advances have dramatically widened the workplace choice for information workers.
By one estimate, as much as 30% of the US labor force now works at home. This
number is expected to grow dramatically. It is estimated that by 2005, over 16.2
million or 10.8% of the European workforce will be teleworkers. On a global basis,
forty million employees telework. That number is expected to grow to more than
137 million workers worldwide.
As global competition continues to grow, more and more firms are stepping outside
of their domestic boundaries in search of a qualified workforce. For example,
a firm might source software development from Indonesia or Romania, data entry
from China or the Philippines and site call centers in France, India or Brazil.
This allows firms to reduce labor costs, improve employee efficiency and better
serve customers on a 24 hour, 7 days a week basis. Other reasons for instituting
virtual workplaces include reduced real estate expenses, increased productivity
and access to global markets. The downside can be increased setup and maintenance
costs, loss of cost efficiencies, and worker feelings of isolation.
In addition to utilizing teleworkers, companies are embracing the concept of virtual
teams. A virtual team is a group of people who are working on the same business
project, but are located at different geographical sites around the world. Often,
virtual team members represent different disciplines reporting to different departments
and organizations. Virtual teams utilize technology to facilitate their discussions.
Often, members of virtual teams have diverse cultural backgrounds and speak different
languages.
As all of this is occurring, managers are finding that managing virtual employees
is different than managing a traditional workforce. In addition, companies are
finding that their entire human resource management efforts are changing.
Case Instructions:
Answer the following questions:
- What exactly is a teleworker? (Hint: try surfing the net and entering the
search term "teleworker.")
- What are the challenges that businesses face in creating a virtual workplace?
Go here to find out http://www.brint.com/igp/virtual.html
- What is one of the most important issues that companies must face as they
move to establish global virtual workplaces? Go here to find out: http://telecommuting.about.com/smallbusiness/telecommuting/library/weekly/aa062799.htm
- In a virtual workplace employee activities are moved from centralized company
offices to home offices and other locations. Often these locations are in
different countries than the company's central office. The employer, however,
is still required to comply with labor and employment laws. What are the five
most significant areas of the employment relationship that telecommuting impacts
in the US? Go here to find out: http://www.smc.org/db/hrtelecom.html
- Assume that in your job, you are placed on a virtual team tasked with developing
an international strategy for the introduction of a new product. How is working
on a virtual team likely to be different than working on a traditional team.
(Hint: try surfing the net and entering the search string "managing virtual
teams".)
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