Transform your career or your business with these simple tips and tricks to make virtual working easier than ever before – office no longer required.

The remote work revolution is here. Even before COVID-19 created the largest remote work experiment in history, the business world was already gravitating toward virtual workplaces. Suddenly organizations as big as Twitter are learning that their employees don’t need an office in order to get great results. How to Thrive in the Virtual Workplace shows how to stay productive, feel like part of a team and make the most of remote working.

Robert Glazer shares the principles, tactics and tools his company has developed in more than a decade of successfully working as a joined-up but 100 per cent remote workforce, as well as interviewing other leaders in the sector about what works for them. As founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners, an organization with 170 employees who all work from home, Glazer has been recognized with dozens of awards for its industry performance and company culture. Here, he shares a step-by-step guide to building a culture of flexibility and trust, hiring and communicating effectively – both internally and externally – as a successful remote business.

Graham explores the attitudes of Japanese employees towards their work, their company and on related issues. Based on extensive original research inside a Japanese insurance company (C-Life), which subsequently went bankrupt, the book shows that attitudes towards lifetime employment, company loyalty and the other characteristics of Japanese working life, which are often portrayed in stereotype form in the West, are in fact more complicated than is at first apparent.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203433637

Satire plays a prominent and often controversial role in postcolonial fictions. Satire and the Postcolonial Novel offers the first study of this topic, employing the insights of postcolonial comparative theories to revisit Western formulations of 'satire' and the 'satiric'.
Through the varying lenses provided by satire's relation to irony, allegory, narrative and the grotesque, this book offers new readings of important novels by V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad), Chinua Achebe (Nigeria) and Salman Rushdie (India). It presents a detailed study of the complex and multidirectional ways satire has engaged with the history and messy aftermath of empire.

This book makes a major contribution to the debate within the UK and abroad on the reality of workplace unionism in an era of change. Drawing on examples of union renewal, the authors present an historical overview, and compare the UK experience with contrasting international examples. It presents both qualitative and quantitative research to provide new and comprehensive evidence on trade union strategies.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203167392

A Science-Based Organizational Change Roadmap for Managers"A science-based playbook that is a must-read for every manager of people..." -John A. List, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Voltage Effect and The Why Axis #1 New Release in Office Management and Business Operations Research Adapting to change is part of life. But, change is hard and managing change is even harder. First, understand how the brain works. Because we really don't know how the brain works, we don't know what makes us more receptive to change. Employees can't tell their managers what they need to "get on the train", and managers don't know either. How to get your team on board. In her first book, What Your Customer Wants and Can't Tell You, author and behavioral economics specialist Melina Palmer, applies the science of behavioral economics to unlocking what is behind customer decisions. Behavioral economics combines elements of economics and psychology to understand how and why people behave the way they do in the real world. Now, in her sequel, What Your Employees Need and Can't Tell You, she offers a highly actionable roadmap for business executives and managers faced with the task of instituting successful organizational change. Actionable behavioral economics for successful change management. What Your Employees Need and Can't Tell You delivers insights and research from behavioral economics and the greater behavioral sciences, presented in an enjoyable way that you can actually use to get results. Inside find: An introduction to how the brain really works when faced with change Insights into key biases and concepts the subconscious brain uses to make decisions "Apply it" sections with tips on how to start using what you have learned-immediately If you are responsible for managing change and have tried books such as The Heart of Business, Humanocracy, or Change, you should read Melina Palmer's What Your Employees Need and Can't Tell You.

The key to a harmonious work environment is not by working among people with similar personalities whom you never clash with. Instead, learning to interact effectively with difficult coworkers is essential for success. Most of us are going to work today with individuals who at times come across as incompetent, lazy, spotlight-hugging, whiny, or backstabbing. Then, tomorrow we go to work with them again and again. Like it or not, the bulk of our waking hours are spent with people at work--people who can grate on our nerves. Communications expert Renee Evenson thoroughly explains how anyone can learn how to confront head-on the difficult situations that can arise when dealing with these personalities, before they fester and spread. In Powerful Phrases for Dealing with Difficult People, Evenson shares practical and easy-to-use tactics such as: Thirty common personality traits, behaviors, and workplace scenarios along with the phrases that work best with each Nonverbal communication skills to back up your words Sample dialogues that demonstrate how phrasing improves interactions A five-step process for moving from conflict to resolution "Why This Works" sections that provide detailed explanations Button-pushing situations are going to come up today at work--and tomorrow too. Don't let them rent space inside of you and turning everything to mold. Instead, choose to deploy simple phrases to regain control and resolve conflicts. When you do, you, your colleagues, and your company will be all the better for it!

The Poetic Logic of Administration is an investigation of the most important organizational forms of our time, theoretically as well as practically. Central to the presentation are four main trends: the rational bureaucracy, the human network, the harmonious system and the strong culture.
The book provides a new and challenging picture of these organizational forms. Difficult to capture in common logical terms, they appear to follow a certain pattern: a 'poetic logic'. They are, for example, enacted as various literary dramas: comedy, tragedy etc. They are also marked by different conceptions of the world - such as the metaphorical and the ironic - and by different explanatory ideals.
Kaj Skoldberg's book contains a rhetorical analysis of the styles of modern administration and the changes they have undergone. This is a groundbreaking work, offering new interpretations and critical re-evaluations of the individual approaches to organization, including their 'gurus' and current importance, within the framework of a highly-original, overarching analysis. No previous book has tried to capture the major forms of organizing, and their dynamics, in terms of their rhetorical master tropes, main narrative genres, and explanatory ideals, and also uses this as an interpretive scheme for understanding individual organizational theories and practices within those main approaches. Examples are given from both the private and the public sectors and various forms of efficiency and effectiveness are also discussed.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203166620

Workplace violence has emerged as a growing concern in today's interdependent political economy, and increasing attention is being paid to the phenomenon both by business and in the academic world to identifying its causes and to devise strategies to prevent it. In this book a distinguished international team, composed of both academics and practitioners, identify and address the key issues. It reviews the earlier literature on workplace violence, identifying and assessing key trends and patterns of violence at work, and reapplying traditional theories of victimisation and approaches to prevention, security and safety. Particular attention is paid to case studies which reflect innovative practice in prevention strategies, and in assessing informal frameworks which have been developed in response to this. Overall this book provides a foundation on which to base ways of better explaining, predicting, understanding and preventing workplace violence.

Workplace bullying is an area that has attracted significant press attention through the past decade. A variety of well publicised surveys ave reveale that this is as issue endemic within working life in Britian; and at a conservative estimate, over half the working population can expect to experience bullying at work (either directly by being bullied, ir through witnessing it) at some stage in their careers. This is now seen as a disturbing event, with something like a fifth of witnesses and a quarter of direct targets leaving their organisations.
This serious damage to individuals has been accorded little direct research in Britian, although it has resulted in court cases brought under health and safety and equal opportunities legislation. The recognition of the problem and the emergence of the of court cases, have both served to focus the attention of the employers on the need to deal with the issue. The recent strike vote at Ford in Dagenham, asking the employer to enforce existing anti-harrasment policies, highlights the fact that having paper polices is not enough.
This book is derived from the largest study ever carried out on workplace bullying, supported by the CBI, TUC, Federation of Small Businesses, IPD and HSE among others. This study has covered 5,500 people, but the book goes beyond it to explore all the issues associated with what is becoming a majr issue in organisations.
Key Features:
presents a snapshot of the current problem
provides clear guidence
introduces case material, and illustrates general principles and procedures

Based on findings of the recently published Joseph Rowntree report, this book provides an up-to-the-minute review of current research on flexibility, job insecurity and work intensification. It examines the impact of these developments on individuals, their families, the workplace and the long-term health of the British economy. Key questions addressed include:
* How are jobs more insecure?
* Does just-in-time labour mean more flexible contracts or more flexible workers?
* Does job insecurity entail a 'new flexible morality'?
* How does workplace stress affect individual health and family relationships?

A disruption in your call center operation can conceivably cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars. And multiple disruptions can cost in the millions. Call Center Continuity Planning shows you how to plan for - and avoid - service interruptions through disasters large and small. This book will show you how to deal with everything from power outages to major hurricanes. Should you use external Call Volume Management (CVM) solutions such as pre-established procedures for disaster call routing? Or, should you use internal solutions such as planning for a company cold site, virtual call center, or use of the excess capacity of your other call center during emergency? What about managing call volumes to cope with non-emergency seasonal or time of day peaks? Can you use your call centers minimum daily overflow of calls as a benefit rather than a problem? What is involved in contracting to outsource call handling to another call center in terms of effectiveness, expertise, technology, and human resources - and what advanced call processing techniques are available? Call Center Continuity Planning answers all these questions and more. It also provides detailed information on the concept of CVM, that treats the volume of calls as a fluid, that can be channeled from one place to another via computer-managed switching. Your Call Volume Management system acts like a series of aqueducts to manage the floodwaters of incoming calls before your call-takers are swept away.

What makes an engaging presentation or a useful meeting? How can companies motivate and inspire people to do their best at work? Who are the most effective leaders? Bestselling author and scientist Dr John Medina uses peer-reviewed research to answer the most important questions about the workplace today, providing answers that will help you get ahead. The author of international bestseller Brain Rules, Medina here turns his expertise to the professional world, guiding the reader through what brain science and evolutionary biology have to say on topics ranging from office space and work-life balance to power dynamics and work interactions. He examines why taking breaks in nature during the workday improves productivity; how planning a meeting beforehand makes it more effective; why open plan isn't a good office plan; how a more diverse team is a better team; why allowing for failure is vital to a company's success; and much more. Breaking down the science to practical applications that every reader can understand and benefit from, Brain Rules for Work is the essential guide to modern office life.

This book explores the influence of collaborative relationships among dual career couples on innovation and productivity. It proposes a new definition of egalitarianism that considers joint investment in career satisfaction and success, rather than the division of domestic labour.

Working Equal exposes the myth of heroic individualism that is central to contemporary western thought. With more than 35% of full-time faculty with a spouse or partner in the same profession, dual career couples are a growing presence in higher education in the U.S.. This compelling and innovative volume examines and testifies to the contribution of intimate and familial relationships to artistic, literary, and scientific accomplishment. An original study of a growing phenomena in higher education, Working Equal presents a new and invaluable portrait of contemporary faculty life.

Clinicians and managers are increasingly required to participate in or manage new initiatives which depend heavily on co-operation collaboration and a multidisciplinary approach where effective interpersonal and group skills are of vital importance. This practical guide encourages the reader to determine how their organisations work and the impact they have on their members. It draws on the experiences of primary care research and development projects and contains numerous case studies tips and techniques to manage change. It is an essential guide for healthcare professionals in primary care and will equip those working in practice and facilitators working with practices with a clear understanding of how to achieve successful acceptance and management of change.

In the hypercompetitive context of the new global economy, building a smart workforce is widely regarded as a key strategy for enterprises. However, is this any more than another "fast capitalist" slogan? What substance can be given to the idea? What are its associated values and practices? This book explores these issues from an international perspective in challenging ways. Key themes include: competence and being competent in the world of work; experience, common-sense and expertise in workplace learning; social practices and literacies in the workplace; developing smart, self-directed workers; taking responsibility for learning in workplaces; and empowering workers as learners in the workplaces. These essays are written by leading edge workplace analysts and practitioners from Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and the USA. The multi-disciplinary approach should be of interest to all academics, students and leaders in management, organizational development and workplace learning.

In the hypercompetitive context of the new global economy, building a smart workforce is widely regarded as a key strategy for enterprises. But is this any more than another 'fast capitalist' slogan? What substance can be given to the idea? What are its associated values and practices? This book explores these issues from an international perspective in fresh and challenging ways. Key themes include: * competence and being competent in the world of work * experience, common-sense and expertise in workplace learning * social practices and literacies in the workplace * developing smart, self-directed workers * taking responsibility for learning in workplaces * empowering workers as learners in the workplaces. These essays are written by leading edge workplace analysts and practitioners from Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and the USA. Their wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary approach will be of interest to all forward-thinking academics, students and leaders in management, organizational development and workplace learning.

Contents:
Part One: Professionalism, Boundaries and the Health-Social Care Context 1. Professionalism and Boundaries of the Formal Sector: The Example of Social and Community Care 2. Professionalism in Everyday Practice: Issues of Trust, Experience and Boundaries 3. Professionalism and User Self advocacy
Part Two: Professionalism and Enterprise Culture 4. Boundary work and the Un-making of the Professions 5. Personal Business Advice: Professionalism and the Limits of 'Customer Satisfaction' 6. Colleagues or Clients? The Relationship between Clergy and Church Members
Part Three: Professionalism and New Managerialism 7. The Retreat from Professionalism: From Social Worker to Care Manager 8. Social Work, Professionalism and the Rationality of Organisational Change
Part Four: Professionalism and Credentialism 9. From Befriending to Punishing: Changing Boundaries in the Probation Service 10. Professionalism Definitions in "Managing" Health Services 11. Betwixt and Between: Part-Time Women GPs and the Flexible Working Question
Part Five: Professionalism and Emotion-Management 12. Mixed Feelings: Emotion Management in the Caring Professions 13. The Fat Envelope Patient: Dynamics Between Patient, Doctor and Osteopath 14. Redefining the Role of Emotions in Complementary Medicine 15. Conclusion

Professionalism, Boundaries and the Workplace is a practical text that examines a range of sensitive issues concerned with managing and maintaining professional boundaries between worker and client. It uses experiences from probation, social work, the NHS, small business and church settings. A number of issues are addressed including: *the relationship between personal and professional values
*changing professional-client relationships
*definitions of 'being professional'
*conflicts arising from different understandings of professionalism.

This book on social constructionist thinking addresses the manager's job for creating reflective space for people to observe themselves and others. It explores broad societal and organizational discourses that offer positions from day-to-day realities that govern behaviour are constructed.

How does new information technology become part of the fabric of organisational life? Drawing on insights from social studies of technology, gender studies and the sociology of consumption, Valuing Technology opens up new directions in the analysis of sociotechnical change within organisations. Based on a major research project focused upon the introduction of management of information systems in health, higher education and retailing, I explores the active role of end-users in innovation.
This book argues that it is through the, often difficult, engagement between users and technology that new computer systems come to gain value within organisations. Key themes developed through analysis of case studies include:
*the valuing of technology via the on-going construction of needs, uses and utilities
*occupational identities, organisational inequalities and technological change
*the gendering of technological and organisational change
*interpretive flexibility and the 'stabilisation' of technological systems and their incorporation into the lives of people in organisations.
A stimulating blend of the theoretical and substantive, this book demands a radical redefinition of 'technology acquisition'. It's highly original approach makes Valuing Technology essential reading for students, lecturers and researchers within the fields of organisation studies and the sociology of technology.

"Worlds Apart: Acting and Writing in Academic and Workplace Contexts" offers a unique examination of writing as it is applied and used in academic and workplace settings. Based on a 7-year multi-site comparative study of writing in different university courses and matched workplaces, this volume presents new perspectives on how writing functions within the activities of various disciplines: law and public administration courses and government institutions; management courses and financial institutions; social-work courses and social-work agencies; and architecture courses and architecture practice. Using detailed ethnography, the authors make comparisons between the two types of settings through an understanding of how writing is operative within the particularities of these settings.
Although the research was initially established to further understanding of the relationships between writing in academic and workplace settings, it has evolved to examining writing as it is embedded in both types of settings--where social relationships, available tools, and historical, cultural, temporal, and physical location are all implicated in complex ways in the decisions people make as writers. Readers of this volume will discover that the uniqueness of each setting makes salient different aspects of writers and writing, resulting in complex, and potentially unsettling implications for writing theory and the teaching of writing.

"Worlds Apart: Acting and Writing in Academic and Workplace Contexts" offers a unique examination of writing as it is applied and used in academic and workplace settings. Based on a 7-year multi-site comparative study of writing in different university courses and matched workplaces, this volume presents new perspectives on how writing functions within the activities of various disciplines: law and public administration courses and government institutions; management courses and financial institutions; social-work courses and social-work agencies; and architecture courses and architecture practice. Using detailed ethnography, the authors make comparisons between the two types of settings through an understanding of how writing is operative within the particularities of these settings.
Although the research was initially established to further understanding of the relationships between writing in academic and workplace settings, it has evolved to examining writing as it is embedded in both types of settings--where social relationships, available tools, and historical, cultural, temporal, and physical location are all implicated in complex ways in the decisions people make as writers. Readers of this volume will discover that the uniqueness of each setting makes salient different aspects of writers and writing, resulting in complex, and potentially unsettling implications for writing theory and the teaching of writing.

'Terrific. So funny' Zadie Smith 'Monstrously depressing but so comic and well observed that I didn't really mind .... It is great' Dolly Alderton 'A dark comedy of female rage' Catherine Lacey 'Brilliant. For fans of Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation' Pandora Sykes 'Funny, shocking, clever, and hugely entertaining' Roddy Doyle 'A definitive work of milennial literature' Jia Tolentino 'The best thing I've read in years' Emma Jane Unsworth 'Vicious ... hilariously spot on' Guardian In a windowless office, a woman explains something from her real, nonwork life - about the frustration and indignity of returning her online shopping - to her colleagues. One wears a topknot. Another checks her pedometer. Watching them all is Millie. Thirty-years-old and an eternal temp, she says almost nothing, almost all of the time. But then the possibility of a permanent job arises. Will it bring the new life Millie is envisioning - one involving a gym membership, a book club, and a lot less beer and TV - finally within reach? Or will it reveal just how hollow that vision has become? 'Made me laugh and cry enough times to feel completely reborn' The Paris Review 'A definite work of millennial literature. Wretchedly riveting, with the sick, obsessive pleasure of looking under a bandage at a wound' The New Yorker 'So darkly funny and acutely observed that it feels like a documentary' Andrew McMillan 'Anyone who has ever felt like their life is going nowhere - and to make it worse, going nowhere in an achingly slow manner - will recognize themselves' Nylon