NewWOW at Work: Three committees reported their project status at Symposium V:
-
Sustainability Calculator Team Progress Report
The Core Team, represented by Patricia Roberts, Simon Russell, Mike Harold, Tarja Hakkinen and Joe Ouye, updated Symposium V attendees on the background, status and next steps for the Sustainability Calculator project. The calculator is a tool designed to understand the sustainability impacts of alternative ways of working - combining the impacts of globally distributed workgroups, meeting patterns (including air travel and commute patterns), and the efficiencies of workplace locations and design. NewWOW members and colleagues will soon be invited to take part in user testing. The project is on schedule for an external launch in August. See http://www.newwow.net/members/node/880 for their presentation.
Benchmarking Committee Report
Ann Zis and Glenn Dirks led the group through some of the highlights of our first Alternative Workplace Benchmark Survey. The survey was conducted online, by invitation only, and included results from 31 leading organizations from USA, Finland and Germany. See Benchmarking Committee Report July 2008 for links to the documents presented at the Symposium including the PowerPoint deck of survey findings, a quick view report of survey responses from nine companies (Accenture, Autodesk, Bank of America, Hewlett Packard, Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Raytheon Missile Systems, Sun Microsystems and VTT) and a copy of Sun's Work Profile Assessment Overview. http://www.newwow.net/members/node/397#comment-588
CEO Guidebook
Jim Creighton and Eric Richert reported on their article-writing efforts. They have developed two versions of an article aimed at the C-Suite: What Every CEO Needs to Know About Distributed Work (http://www.newwow.net/members/node/891) and a shorter version, What Every Manager Needs to Know About Distributed Work (http://www.newwow.net/members/node/892). Jim and Eric invite the NewWOW community to comment on the draft articles and also suggest media outlets and contacts.
Member discussion: Generational societies in the workplace
In our last update, we summarized the Randstad USA study, Confidence and Concern: The World of Work in 2008. The study found limited cross-generational interactions and limited knowledge sharing in the workplace. This prompted a response from Jay Brand: "This is a fascinating study! It's the most pessimistic--and thus believable--research I've seen on the multi-generational workforce. Anecdotally, in my limited experience, I would agree that I have not observed very much cross-generational interaction--much less cross-fertilization of ideas, learning, or cross-functional teaming--between/among different generations. . . . At the very least, we need to rethink the "knee-jerk" assumption that "more open = more collaborative." Read the rest of Jay's post and contribute your comments at: http://www.newwow.net/members/node/872#comment-583
Have you been wanting to add comments on the site, but were not sure how or where to start? We've created a topic called "How to do stuff on this site" to help you. The first posting describes how to create a new discussion topic or add your comments to something already posted. http://www.newwow.net/members/node/885#comment-587
More library additions. Our library continues to grow. New this week:
-
Intercultural Collaboration in Global Teams. These are the PowerPoint slides that accompanied Pamela Hinds' presentation at NewWOW Symposium V. http://www.newwow.net/members/node/877
Social Project Management. Author David Coleman contributed this white paper. It provides an overview of the various Web 2.0 collaboration technologies that can help make project management more social, allowing organizations to obtain a competitive advantage. http://www.newwow.net/members/node/884
Also new this week:
- Federal mobility study. A study by the Telework Exchange reveals that while half of all US Federal employees use wireless Internet for work purposes and report significant benefits, 40% of Federal IT executives say their organizations do not allow wireless Internet use. http://www.newwow.net/members/node/615#comment-584
- A designer's sandbox . DEGW solved a design problem by creating The Sandbox, a board game to help employees creatively work through workplace design issues. http://www.newwow.net/members/node/890
- More state 4-day workweek & telecommuting plans.
New Mexico and Connecticut join the growing number of states planning shorter workweeks and telecommuting initiatives to combat the high costs of commuting. http://www.newwow.net/members/node/855#comment-589
Upcoming events
Be sure to stop by the calendar to see what's coming up. New calendar items include recommendations by David Coleman (How Web 2.0 Changes Social Project Management, Virtual Worlds Expo, Webinar: Using Mashups to Publish Performance Metrics) and Suvi Nenonen (NordicFM and EuroFM, EFMC 2009). http://www.newwow.net/members/events/calendar/coming
