Page 278 - Introduction to Business

252 PART 2 Managing Business Behavior

full-time employees receive. Of course, there is no hard and fast rule regarding bene-
fits, and much depends on the specific company and the demand for the skills of the
work-share program employees. By implementing work-share programs, firms are
also able to attract and retain some key personnel. The challenge is to identify the right
partners for the work-share program. Often employees themselves identify their work-
share partners before approaching managers with their proposal. If the partners are
not compatible, work will not get done and corporate objectives will not be achieved.
There are different ways of sharing jobs. The two employees may choose to work
half a day every workday of the week or to work on alternate days. Regardless of the
schedule that is finally worked out between the two employees, the manager is always
kept informed of their plans so that she or he knows who is doing what and when.
Since job sharing calls for a strong partnership of two employees, these workers need
to keep each other well informed about their daily work through effective communi-
cation, be it via telephone or e-mail. Also, work sharing will be successful only if each
partner gets the feeling that the other is contributing his or her fair share of work.

Self-Managing Teams
self-managing teams Employee-formed Self-managing teams are the most successful approach to employee performance
teams that make wide range of improvement and motivation in recent decades. Terms such as self-managing
decisions, including traditional
management choices teams, self-directed teams, and semiautonomous groups have all been used to
describe team-working practices, and names and methods vary from organization
to organization. Self-managed teams make a wide range of decisions, often includ-
ing traditional management choices. These may include selecting leaders, assign-
ing jobs, training, redesigning processes, assessing internal performance, judging
and managing quality, managing budgets, and liaising with other teams. Self-
managing teams, therefore, are involved in a variety of activities with ample
responsibilities, and this motivates employees. Furthermore, self-managing teams
offer members the opportunity to rotate among jobs and broaden their profes-
sional skills. Yet, a self-managing team approach cannot be implemented in all
businesses. Some 35 percent of businesses in the United Kingdom use self-
managing teams. However, their prevalence varies considerably with the type of
core occupational group in the workplace. Over 50 percent of British companies
that have professional workers as the largest occupational group in the company
use self-managing teams, as compared with only 13 percent of workplaces that
have plant and machine operators as the largest occupational group. 11
Research shows that the benefits of self-managing teams are greater than those
of quality circles. Studies have also shown that when correctly implemented, self-
managing teams increase employee satisfaction, improve work attitudes, reduce
absenteeism, and enhance work outcomes. Yet, for self-managing teams to operate
effectively, senior management must be committed to this approach and be willing
to provide ongoing training and rewards for team-based performance.

Telecommuting and Alternative Work Styles
A growing number of people long to work from home, hoping for more personal
time. The reasons why some employees prefer to work at home include eliminating
commuting time, taking care of a young child or elderly parent, and needing flexi-
telecommuting An employee’s working ble work hours. Telecommuting—working at home while being “virtually” at
at home for family or physical reasons work—is a way to resolve this challenge. Companies are increasingly exploring this
while being “virtually” at work with the
help of current information technology avenue as a means of reducing the fixed cost for office space, as long as they are able
to get the same amount of work from the employees. Telecommuting is information
technology driven.With constant advances in information technology, telecommu-

Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.