|
Case Study
To be completed after presentation and discussion
Activity 1
Please read the following case study and in subgroups complete task number 1.
Case Study
Mary is the manager of 27 employees in the investigation section of intellectual
property – claims & frauds – in all its forms (i.e. Literature, music,
software programming, inventions, …)
The staff members are distributed as follows: 2 policy makers, 1 admin/finance officer,
4 project leaders and 20 investigators to cover claims and frauds.
Robert, one of the project leaders approached Mary to request the permission on behalf
of himself and his 5 team members to work part time or full time from their home instead
of always having to do all of their analysis and reporting from the main office.
Mary does not know much about telework and wonders about the position of the government
and her own department on the subject matter. Also, she has many questions like
"What’s in it for me?"; "What are the advantages of going that new
work arrangement avenue?".
Task 1
As Mary’s fellow managers, your task is to advise her on what steps she should
take and what does she need to consider following receipt of Robert’s request.
In Plenary
Select a spokesperson, present, explain and discuss the answers provided by your
subgroup.
Activity 2
Mary really appreciated the comments of her fellow managers but she is having second
thoughts about the new work arrangement. She reflects and pursues her search with the
following questions:
– If I allow Robert and his team members to do it, all the other teams will want
to do it. What will I tell them?
– I like to be close to my staff members, especially when I receive difficult
questions from politicians, media representatives and our own DM. Besides, I worked very
hard to create a team spirit. What kind of team will it become if several of them are
working in alternate mode?
– Some of the work cannot be planned in advance. Will I rely more extensively on
those working from the main office? How will this affect their workload?
The more she thinks about it the more apprehensive she becomes. She realizes that it
could be a fairly significant change in the "culture" of her unit and feel that
she may lose some control over her employees. Subsequently, she is leaning towards denying
the request.
Task 1
From the material covered in the presentation and your own experience, what would you
tell Mary?
In Plenary
Select a spokesperson, present, explain and discuss the answers provided by your
subgroup.
Activity 3
Individually write down what impact this work arrangement would have on your OWN
operations, identifying any issues or perceived barriers to the implementation of telework
for your employees.
Plenary Discussion
Plenary discussion on any issues/impacts relating to each manager’s operations
that have not been previously discussed.
|
