Fundamentals of Management, 11/e

How Can Managers Design Efficient and Effective Flexible Work Arrangements?

Accenture consultant Keyur Patel’s job arrangement is becoming the norm, rather than the exception.51 During a recent consulting assignment, he had three clocks on his desk: one set to Manila time (where his software programmers were), one to Bangalore (where another programming support team worked), and the third for San Francisco, where he was spending four days a week helping a major retailer implement IT systems to track and improve sales. And his cell phone kept track of the time in Atlanta, his home, where he headed on Thursday evenings.

For this new breed of professionals, life is a blend of home and office, work and leisure. Thanks to technology, work can now ...