"Strategy and Business" 2012 Organizational Culture Book of the YearThis third edition of the classic resource, "Productive Workplaces" is smart, well-written and well-researched, thoughtful, somewhat provocative, and a one-of-a-kind review of the integration of economics, technology, and people. It covers such topics as: the work on self as integral to organizational change; the revision of Lewinian concepts for a new era; and the history behind "getting everybody improving whole systems" as a response to fast change and increasing diversity (not the same as using any particular method). The themes, case studies (many revisited), and models are as relevant as ever.

We work feverishly to make ourselves happy. So why are we so miserable? This manifesto helps us break free of our unhealthy devotion to efficiency and shows us how to reclaim our time and humanity. 'This book is so important and could truly save lives . . . With intelligence and compassion, Headlee presents realistic solutions for how we can reclaim our health and our humanity from a technological revolution that seems hell-bent on destroying both. I'm so grateful to have read this book. It delivers on its promise of a better life' - Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of Big Magic and Eat, Pray, Love Despite our constant search for new ways to 'hack' our bodies and minds for peak performance, human beings are working more instead of less, living harder not smarter, and becoming more lonely and anxious. We strive for the absolute best in every aspect of our lives, ignoring what we do well naturally. Why do we measure our time in terms of efficiency instead of meaning? Why can't we just take a break? In Do Nothing, award-winning journalist Celeste Headlee illuminates a new path ahead, seeking to institute a global shift in our thinking so we can stop sabotaging our well-being, put work aside and start living instead of doing. The key lies in embracing what makes us human: our creativity, our social connections (Instagram doesn't count), our ability for reflective thought, and our capacity for joy. Celeste's strategies will allow you to regain control over your life and break your addiction to false efficiency, including: -Increase your time perception and determine how your hours are being spent. -Stop comparing yourself to others. -Invest in quality idle time. Take a hot bath and listen to music. -Spend face-to-face time with friends and family It's time to recover our leisure time and reverse the trend that's making us all sadder, sicker, and less productive.

This revised second edition presents 15 years of data on Virtual Distance metrics and their predictive impact on organizational success factors shedding new light on how to correct for communication challenges that often show up as a foggy set of digital disconnects where the vitality of the virtual workforce often gets lost in transmission. This still-evolving Digital Age conundrum continues to present new complications. The rise of remote work which rests on an increasing reliance on electronic communication and the overall growth of virtual interactions has led to the escalation of a phenomenon called Virtual Distance. Virtual Distance, which influences our behavior through three components Physical Distance, Operational Distance, and Affinity Distance affects not only how we relate to others thousands of miles away but even to co-workers sitting right next to each other! Perhaps even more problematic, Virtual Distance causes measureable malfunctions in teamwork, innovation, leader effectiveness and overall performance. But it doesn't have to be this way. The Power of Virtual Distance offers specific, proven and predictable solutions that can reverse these trends and turn Virtual Distance into a unification strategy to capture untapped competitive advantage. Surprised? The Power of Virtual Distance, 2nd Edition is a must-read for leadership who want to understand the true and quantifiable costs of the virtual workplace. For the first time ever, readers can take the guesswork out of managing the virtual workforce by applying a mathematical approach derived from the extensive Virtual Distance data set: The Virtual Distance Ratio. The Virtual Distance Ratio can precisely pinpoint the particular impacts of Virtual Distance on the organization's critical success factors. Beyond business metrics, Virtual Distance solutions also detail ways to restore meaningfulness and well-being into people's experience of work, enhancing life lived in the Digital Age. The Power of Virtual Distance reveals an updated set of data, including the first award-winning analysis, collected from an extended range of executives to individual contributors, that represent situations and solutions in more than 36 industries in 55 countries across the globe. Readers will get a "first look" at the data and its revelations on how to be less isolated and more integrated. Helping managers globally, this book: Offers new, real-world case studies and a chance for readers to participate in thought experiments to help with personal performance, group synergy and by extension, relationship dynamics of all kinds Demonstrates (with statistically significant trend analyses) that Virtual Distance is growing at exponential rates in every corner of communities worldwide Offers expert advice on how to manage the "unintended human consequences" of today's digital technologies Companies that successfully harness the power of Virtual Distance demonstrate better performance. The second edition of The Power of Virtual Distance is a valuable, one-of-a-kind resource for everyone - from the C-suite to human resource professionals; from divisional leaders to project managers. Everyone in the organization can benefit by discovering how to improve financials, innovation, trust, employee engagement, satisfaction, organizational citizenship and other key performance indicators. And perhaps best of all, by following the prescriptions on how to reduce Virtual Distance, the entire workforce will have the tools they need to bring about a revival of meaning, purpose and an enlivened sense of "humanhood" back into everyday work and everyday life.

*Shortlisted for the BBC Radio 4 Thinking Allowed Award for Ethnography 2017* *Winner of the 2016 Labor History Best Book prize* Over a million people in the UK work in call centres, and the phrase has become synonymous with low-paid and high stress work, dictatorial supervisors and an enforced dearth of union organisation. However, rarely does the public have access to the true picture of what goes on in these institutions. For Working the Phones, Jamie Woodcock worked undercover in a call centre to gather insights into the everyday experiences of call centre workers. He shows how this work has become emblematic of the shift towards a post-industrial service economy, and all the issues that this produces, such as the destruction of a unionised work force, isolation and alienation, loss of agency and, ominously, the proliferation of surveillance and control which affects mental and physical well being of the workers. By applying a sophisticated, radical analysis to a thoroughly international 21st century phenomenon, Working the Phones presents a window onto the methods of resistance that are developing on our office floors, and considers whether there is any hope left for the modern worker today.

The #1 New York Times bestseller that examines how people can champion new ideas in their careers and everyday life-and how leaders can fight groupthink, from the author of Think Again and co-author of Option B "Filled with fresh insights on a broad array of topics that are important to our personal and professional lives."-The New York Times DealBook "Originals is one of the most important and captivating books I have ever read, full of surprising and powerful ideas. It will not only change the way you see the world; it might just change the way you live your life. And it could very well inspire you to change your world." -Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and author of Lean In With Give and Take, Adam Grant not only introduced a landmark new paradigm for success but also established himself as one of his generation's most compelling and provocative thought leaders. In Originals he again addresses the challenge of improving the world, but now from the perspective of becoming original: choosing to champion novel ideas and values that go against the grain, battle conformity, and buck outdated traditions. How can we originate new ideas, policies, and practices without risking it all? Using surprising studies and stories spanning business, politics, sports, and entertainment, Grant explores how to recognize a good idea, speak up without getting silenced, build a coalition of allies, choose the right time to act, and manage fear and doubt; how parents and teachers can nurture originality in children; and how leaders can build cultures that welcome dissent. Learn from an entrepreneur who pitches his start-ups by highlighting the reasons not to invest, a woman at Apple who challenged Steve Jobs from three levels below, an analyst who overturned the rule of secrecy at the CIA, a billionaire financial wizard who fires employees for failing to criticize him, and a TV executive who didn't even work in comedy but saved Seinfeld from the cutting-room floor. The payoff is a set of groundbreaking insights about rejecting conformity and improving the status quo.

This edited collection offers a nontraditional approach to diversity management, going beyond gender, race, and ethnicity. Examining ageism, disability, and spirituality, the book provides a discussion of different D&I applications and introduces a framework consisting of a diagnostic phase, gap analysis, and an action plan, which can be modified to attend to specific needs of organizations. Researchers and practitioners will learn a viable way to address diversity in global organizations.

Delivers expert guidance on balancing the inherent opportunities for growth with the risks inherent in a hybrid workplace. Remote or office? It's an ongoing debate overtaking productive conversation in many companies. The great debate of remote versus office begins with the myth of separate worlds we all live in: work-life and personal-life. For centuries, work and home were separated by physically going to and from the office. The separation was actually a myth because while we went between two different locations, each of us is one person. Our bosses may have not known anything about our or friends, and vice versa, but we did. Two worlds. One person. Multiply that reality by 6 million workplaces in the United States alone, and it becomes clear how much of a difference to employee and employer satisfaction--and GDP--a healthy hybrid model for work might represent. In this book, Julie Kantor and Felice Ekelman deliver expert guidance on balancing the inherent opportunities for growth with the risks inherent in a hybrid workplace. Given hybrid work is now the norm, leaders need to ensure that remote work is productive, and employees are engaged, both within legal guardrails. This will begin with organizations defining a flexible approach to remote work that aligns with values and business needs. Then, leaders need to be empowered to make decisions regarding how, where and when work is done. These decisions include and impact achieving success, facilitating engagement, attracting, and retaining talent, clarifying roles and responsibilities, maximizing equity, minimizing bias, and establishing a culture in which employees can thrive. Thrive provides an explanation of the various new work arrangements, with insights as to the benefits and shortcomings of each arrangement. Central to the work is a comprehensive outline of the "7-C's" which include culture and communication as a centerpiece to successful leadership. Leaders will find Thrive's practical advice useful: each section includes a host of action items which will enable leaders to implement change in their workplace. For those companies who seek to be known as a "best-in-class" employer, Thrive is a must-read for leadership. Thrive is a resource leaders will turn to again and again for encouragement and advice.

Is it time to be bolder?

Leadership opportunities for women are increasing in the Middle East. As debates about gender parity and gender politics continue to be a hot topic globally, Annabel Harper addresses the complexities of the culture in the Middle East and how business women can navigate these in order to take better advantage of the openings which are emerging.

Using her own experiences of working in this vibrant culture, Annabel explores:

• The meeting of traditionalism and modernism
• How women can create their own style of leadership blending their best skills and the unique culture of the Middle East
• Prerequisites for organisations in the region to maximise the resources of their female talent pipeline
• The imperative for both women and men to collaborate in order to build organisations which are fit for the future

Women's voices are at the heart of the book.

Why do only a few people get to say I love my job? It seems unfair that finding fulfillment at work is like winning a lottery; that only a few lucky ones get to feel valued by their organizations, to feel like they belong.
Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled.
This is not a crazy, idealized notion. Today, in many successful organizations, great leaders are creating environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things.
In his travels around the world since the publication of his bestseller Start with Why, Simon Sinek noticed that some teams were able to trust each other so deeply that they would literally put their lives on the line for each other. Other teams, no matter what incentives were offered, were doomed to infighting, fragmentation and failure. Why?
The answer became clear during a conversation with a Marine Corps general.
Officers eat last, he said.
Sinek watched as the most junior Marines ate first while the most senior Marines took their place at the back of the line. What's symbolic in the chow hall is deadly serious on the battlefield: great leaders sacrifice their own comfort--even their own survival--for the good of those in their care.
This principle has been true since the earliest tribes of hunters and gatherers. It's not a management theory; it's biology. Our brains and bodies evolved to help us find food, shelter, mates and especially safety. We've always lived in a dangerous world, facing predators and enemies at every turn. We thrived only when we felt safe among our group.
Our biology hasn't changed in fifty thousand years, but our environment certainly has. Today's workplaces tend to be full of cynicism, paranoia and self-interest. But the best organizations foster trust and cooperation because their leaders build what Sinek calls a Circle of Safety that separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside.
The Circle of Safety leads to stable, adaptive, confident teams, where everyone feels they belong and all energies are devoted to facing the common enemy and seizing big opportunities.
As he did in Start with Why, Sinek illustrates his ideas with fascinating true stories from a wide range of examples, from the military to manufacturing, from government to investment banking.
The biology is clear: when it matters most, leaders who are willing to eat last are rewarded with deeply loyal colleagues who will stop at nothing to advance their leader's vision and their organization's interests. It's amazing how well it works.

The way we work has changed. We need new tools to help navigate this world of work - not only to achieve career success, but to stay sane while doing so - and this book can be one of them. Our jobs can become such an important part of our identity that we walk the treacherous line between loving our work and speeding towards burnout. An always-on culture, the cult of busyness and blurred boundaries mean that work and life can become seriously out of balance. So if you are burnt out, anxious, feel like an imposter or caught in a cycle of procrastination, this life-changing book contains all the advice you need to restore your balance and get back on track. 'The definitive guide for those who want to be more organised, mindful and productive at work - without sacrificing their personal life' Thejournal.ie 'This is a wonderful idea' Dr Ciara Kelly, Newstalk 'Packed with genuinely workable tips on how to slow down to get ahead.' Sunday Business Post 'McElwain's book reads like a manifesto for the new era, a manual for finding balance between work and productivity and the equally important play and rest.' IMAGE Magazine

Organizational culture is a quiet, but driving, influence on our perception of a company, whether as a consumer or as an employee. For instance, we know Southwest Airlines as laid back and friendly. We think of Google as innovative. To almost every well-known company we can assign a character. It is now well recognized that corporate culture has a significant impact on organizational health and performance. Yet, the concept of corporate culture and culture management is too often tantalizingly elusive.
In this book, Flamholtz and Randle define culture, identifying and explaining the five key dimensions that determine it: a customer orientation; a people orientation; a process orientation; strong standards of performance and accountability; innovation and openness to change. They explain why culture is a critical factor in organizational success and failure--a key determinant of financial performance. Then, they provide a theoretically sound, highly practical, and field-tested method for managing corporate culture--presenting a set of international and domestic cases that show how actual companies have leveraged culture as the ultimate source of sustainable competitive advantage. In addition to well-known companies such as Starbucks, Ritz-Carlton, American Express, IBM, and Toyota, the text presents lesser known culture stars, such as Smartmatic and Infogix.
While other titles on culture have focused too heavily on the organization as a psychological being, or on academic studies of culture as a business lever, "Corporate Culture" draws on empirics to present a go-to, must-read guide for leveraging corporate culture as a source of competitive advantage and as a means of impacting the bottom line.

Being laid off can be a traumatic event. The unemployed worry about how they will pay their bills and find a new job. In the American economy's boom-and-bust business cycle since the 1980s, repeated layoffs have become part of working life. In A Company of One, Carrie M. Lane finds that the new culture of corporate employment, changes to the job search process, and dual-income marriage have reshaped how today's skilled workers view unemployment. Through interviews with seventy-five unemployed and underemployed high-tech white-collar workers in the Dallas area over the course of the 2000s, Lane shows that they have embraced a new definition of employment in which all jobs are temporary and all workers are, or should be, independent "companies of one."

Following the experiences of individual jobseekers over time, Lane explores the central role that organized networking events, working spouses, and neoliberal ideology play in forging and reinforcing a new individualist, pro-market response to the increasingly insecure nature of contemporary employment. She also explores how this new perspective is transforming traditional ideas about masculinity and the role of men as breadwinners. Sympathetic to the benefits that this "company of one" ideology can hold for its adherents, Lane also details how it hides the true costs of an insecure workforce and makes collective and political responses to job loss and downward mobility unlikely.

After the local newspaper where she worked as a reporter closed, Emily Guendelsberger took a pre-Christmas job at an Amazon fulfilment centre outside Louisville, Kentucky. There, the vending machines were stocked with painkillers and the staff turnover was dizzying. In the new year, she travelled to North Carolina to work at a call centre, a place where even bathroom breaks were timed to the second and finally, Guendelsberger was hired at a San Francisco McDonald's, narrowly escaping revenge-seeking customers who pelted her with condiments. Across three jobs and in three different parts of the country, Guendelsberger directly took part in the revolution changing the U.S. workplace. ON THE CLOCK takes us behind the scenes of the fastest-growing segment of the American workforce to understand the future of work in America - and its present. Until robots pack boxes, resolve billing issues and make fast food, human beings supervised by AI will continue to get the job done. Guendelsberger shows us how workers went from being the most expensive element of production to the cheapest - and how low wage jobs have been remade to serve the ideals of efficiency, at the cost of humanity. ON THE CLOCK explores the lengths that half of Americans will go to in order to make a living, offering not only a better understanding of the modern workplace but also surprising solutions to make work more humane for millions of Americans.

Work hours has become a 'hot topic'. This volume examines the effects of work hours on individual, family and organizational health. It considers why some people work long hours and the potential costs and benefits of this investment. Some work long hours out of necessity, others willingly. Interestingly, most people, however, want to work fewer hours than they now do. One's motives for working long hours (the why) and one's attitudes and behaviours while working (the how) emerge as critical factors in the link between work hours and well-being.Contributions from experts from six countries address workaholism, the distinction between passion and addiction to work, 'loving one's job', the role of technology as an enabler of long work hours, consequences of fatigue from over-work, strategies for short-term recovery from long hours, and initiatives for enriching one's quality of life. Coming to grips with work hours requires difficult choices by individuals, families, organizations and society at large. This collection will be of value to managers and professionals concerned about people, and academics, students, researchers and policy makers interested in ways work can be meaningful, decent rather than debilitating.

Remote working makes us happier, more productive and more profitable, but it can bring its own set of challenges. How do we manage our work-life balance; communicate and collaborate effectively as teams; and ensure our technology is efficient? In Work Remotely, Penguin Business Experts Anastasia Tohme and Martin Worner explain everything you need to know: - Set your own targets and monitor productivity - Establish boundaries between working hours and free time - Manage effective communication and decision-making at a distance Including case studies from the companies around the world who are innovating and revolutionizing the way we work, Work Remotely shares useful advice and practical tips to ensure you get the most out of working away from the office environment.

Every customer-facing corporation has at least one call center. In the United States, call centers handle a billion calls per year. Call Center Operation gives you complete coverage of the critical issues involved in the design, implementation, organization, and management of a customer call center. Sharp provides information on advanced technology tools for workforce management, workshop examples for training call center staff, and an analysis of the significance of the call center to overall corporate customer relationship strategies.
A special feature of the book is its focus on call center case studies, describing a number of successful call center strategies and best practices, selected from various business sectors - financial, retail, healthcare, travel, technology, and others. These case studies provide useful guidelines based on successful corporate call centers that will guide you in establishing and maintaining the most effective call center operation for your enterprise.
-Presents key concepts and techniques, including a formal development process, in a real-world context
-Provides extensive management guidelines
-Stresses the importance of staff selection and training

Have you ever noticed that great CEOs, managers and other people in charge always seem to know exactly what to say in every situation? Author Pamela Straker, with more than 25 years experience as a mental health and management professional, has. And in Let Me Stop You Right There, she outlines various common scenarios for effective communication with office archetypes: "by-any-means-necessary" overachievers, gossips, office invaders, negativity-mongering complainers, and many more.
Chapter-by-chapter, Straker addresses effective means of communication in the workplace with great humor and insight. Each chapter outlines a scenario, proposes the response, or "line," to bring the discussion to its logical conclusion, and provides an explanation of why these lines work. Whether a CEO, manager, or supervisor, Let Me Stop You Right There is sure to become an indispensable addition to your business library.

Want to create an inspiring workplace? In Inspiring Generational Leadership, DeLinda Forsythe shares her passion and success in developing tomorrow's leaders. This guide takes readers on a journey revealing the financial, societal, and emotional benefits in leading, building, or working for a conscious business enterprise. DeLinda field-tested her leadership concepts for fifteen years at Innovative Commercial Environments, San Diego's most creative and resilient office furniture dealership. As Founder and CEO of ICE, DeLinda discovered how to effortlessly partner with millennial coworkers to cocreate policies that led to industry-defying growth and financial stability-even through crisis. Her thorough research confirms the alignment of millennial values when organizations incorporate tenets of conscious capitalism in partnership with emerging neuroscience data and emotional and spiritual intelligence. DeLinda's absorbing storytelling style and her inclusion of intimate interviews with other conscious leaders and educators guides readers along the rewarding mentoring path. Inspiring Generational Leadership provides tools to create an ideal workplace for leaders and their organization that is passionately alive with ethical values and purpose.

The rapid growth of our digital world has brought huge advantages - access to information anywhere, at any time, and the ability to communicate with colleagues, family and friends around the globe in real-time. But in other ways, the same technology has also disconnected us. Computers risk becoming less of a productivity tool and more like information firehoses, drowning us in a deluge of data that can keep us from doing meaningful, real work. The devices in our hands connect us like never before, but they vie for our attention to the point where they are beginning to disconnect us from the real world. In this book, Dave Coplin, Chief Envisioning Officer at Microsoft UK, argues that right now it feels like the machines are taking over but if we stop thinking about the digital deluge as a problem and instead see it as an incredible opportunity we will be able to redress the balance. Technology offers our society so much but it is up to us, the humans, to rise to that potential.

The "informal" economy economic activity and income outside government regulation, taxation and observation is, by its very nature, difficult to quantify. Recent estimates suggest it accounts, in OECD countries, for around 13% of national income (in the UK, the equivalent of GBP150 billion) and in developing nations it can make up as much as three-quarters of all non-agricultural employment. Whatever the exact figures, it is clear that the informal economy plays a significant role in national incomes (eventhough excluded from calculations of GDP or GNP) and affects a large share of the global workforce. Colin C. Williams provides an authoritative introduction to the topic, explaining what the informal economy is (and what it isn't) and how it can best be measured. Taking a global perspective, he examines its characteristics in developed, developing and transitional economies, and looks at its role as a driver of economic growth. The theoretical underpinnings are explored, from conceptual origins in the development models of the 1950s, through to present-day discussions, which question whether a formalised economy is always the ideal. The book considers the economic motivations of the informal economy workforce, which may include tax evasion, circumventing regulations and maintaining state benefits, and assesses the different policy options available to governments to combat them, whether a punitive policy of deterrence, or one of accommodation that recognises the value of the sector in generating income and in meeting the needs of poor consumers. The book provides a masterly summation of the published research on the informal economy and an expert assessment of the key areas for research going forward. It will be welcomed by students taking courses in development economics, economic growth, labour economics, welfare economics and public policy.

Are you happy with the way you work? Are you engaged, energised in the office? Or do you sometimes feel that your days are dominated by process and technology? Reimagining business is about waking up to a new environment, based on collaborative and flexible working, on technology that, used correctly, liberates rather than constrains. The future of work must be based on being open, on focusing on results, not process and on empowerment, not hierarchy. Dave Coplin, Chief Envisioning Officer at Microsoft UK, has been immersed in the technologies that are making waves in the workplace. This is his call to reimagine business.

Essential steps for leaders working to build an antiracist organization Providing a roadmap to workplace and organizational change, Inside Out is packed with practical tools for working collectively towards racial justice and dismantling institutional racism. This essential guide includes: An adaptive approach to moving race conversations forward with authenticity and genuine curiosity Concrete strategies to help unpack the painful legacies of power, privilege, and oppression A framework including awareness, knowledge, skills, and action/advocacy Key components for engaging effectively, calling people in, bridging the divide, identifying and addressing microaggressions, and guiding difficult interactions Critical cross-cultural skills for facilitators and leaders faced with fears, worries, conflicts, and concerns that surface in PoC and White participants Helpful suggestions for equity leaders trying to find their why and identify their foundational beliefs, as well as tips for practicing self-care to lessen burnout and fatigue How to establish an equity team and bring decision makers on board Checklists, discussion questions, recommended readings, best practices, and many other valuable resources. Inside Out is written specifically for prospective leaders championing diversity, equity, and inclusion in their workplace. It is a must-read for anyone guiding the challenging work of becoming an anti-racist organization where no one's identity is a barrier to access or opportunity and everyone belongs.