It used to be necessary to bring workers to where the work was. But with the adv

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It used to be necessary to bring workers to where the work was. But with the advent of the World Wide Web, the Internet, and mobile phones and the global communication they make possible, it is now possible to send work to wherever workers are by putting together multinational project teams, by using the Internet to recruit employees on a global scale, or by using open-source software to accommodate global collaboration. These new styles of work and employment are arising particularly in response to the capabilities of the computer and to the chronic needs for IT skills in growing numbers of industries. For example, one firm from Bern, Switzerland, recruited from the web a group of doctorates in discrete mathematics and graph theory from as far away as Belarus, India, Israel, and Ireland, for a semiconductor design project. Team members never left their home countries and the team leader never left his home office. And the task group beat its deadline. In industry after industry, as customers expect quicker service and competition forces shrinking product life cycles, employers are being driven to apply a “Hollywood model” to their tasks. They assemble the best talent available at the moment from anywhere in the world (which is the way teams are put together to film a movie). When the project is complete, the team breaks up and the members move on to new projects. The end result is a new and highly efficient global labor market unlike any seen before. Even for small businesses: their new talent pool is the world. A new generation of online services is providing small businesses with opportunities to find specialized expertise and affordable labor. Main Street businesses can shop a virtual international bazaar of freelancers to recruit computer programmers in Russia, graphic designers in Italy, or data analysts in India. A small business of one can look to the world like a very large company and have access to all kinds of services. Technical advances have made remote work and virtual teams more feasible. And, increasingly, freelancers are taking on assignments like customer service, data entry, writing, accounting, human resources, marketing, payroll— virtually any “knowledge process” that can be performed remotely, even setting up and managing business profiles on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. In some cases, the cost savings can be substantial: for example, the hourly rates of programmers in Russia, India, or Pakistan are a fraction of those in North America or Europe. And these freelance marketplaces also allow small businesses to assemble teams quickly, find specialized expertise, begin new initiatives, and then be able to drop everything when it’s no longer needed. When John Wilde, chief executive of Tailor Made Products, a small manufacturing firm in a small town in Wisconsin, in the US, wanted to build a website for a new line of children’s kitchen gadgets called the Curious Chef, he turned to oDesk and hired a firm in India. He paid about US $ 20,000, which he estimates was roughly half what he would have paid in the US. work force of freelancers. The New York Times, June 24, 2009, Small Business Guide; Norris, C.D. (2000). Already starting: A world marketplace for jobs. International Herald Tribune, August 8, 6.

Please answer questions 1 and 2 with at least 250 words.

1. Where are the best places in the world to live (and work)? Where do you want to live and work? Do you want to work from home? Are you interested in working on global teams? What skills and competencies will enable someone to live and work wherever he or she wants? Are you interested in creating or working on a micro-multinational?

2. What are the human resource implications of these new ways of working?

Explanation / Answer

The best places in the world to live can be the developed countries, as they provide better standards of living and better opportunities, but with the advent of micro multinationals, opportunities can be found irrespective of the country boundaries, hence the home country has become the best place to live and work, as it provides the opportunities and the benefit of familiarity. I would personally prefer to work and live in my home country, as it offers me good opportunities, as globalization has strengthened the local markets, and hence there is abundance of opportunities and also better living standards.

I would also prefer to work from home, as it gives me the privilege to earn from the convenience of my home, and in some cases also the advantage of flexible timing. Working on global teams offer great opportunities, not only from earning point of view, but also from knowledge sharing and growing point of view. On global teams, we get the opportunity to work with people with varied expertise and knowledge pool. Hence, in the course of the work within the team, we get to learn alongside working on the task assigned to the team.

For someone to live and work wherever he or she wants, one needs to have good internet, and basic computer skills, to be able to connect with the global team members. She/he should be fluent in social media platforms, usage of mails, etc. Also, he/she should be flexible enough to adjust to the timing requirements of the team members, when needed (if needed), to work together on any task.

Personally I am interested in creating and/or working on a micro multinational, as I would be able to earn and learn with convenience of my home country, and get the benefit of the global talent pool.

2. These new ways of working require initiative, self direction, horizontal communication, and teamwork, thus arises the issues of compensation, recognition and rewards. Hence, role of HR in such teams much more critical than is in the traditional organizations. These teams are also replacing the traditional hierarchies in the organizations hence; there is increased need for effective conflict management on the part of the HR. Such teams project the need of changed ways for career management, organizational change and nature of team work. The focus with the advent of virtual teams has changed from managing humans to managing knowledge, i.e. value creation by collaboration, without actual face to face communication. Such teams have also changes the nature of career management, as the work is based on projects and results, as the focus has shifted from actual jobs to the available global opportunities and possibilities. With all this the organizational change is unavoidable. Technologies change fast, and the organization has to keep up with that pace to manage global teams, and thus the organization always face the dilemma of maintaining or scrapping its old systems, or amending it to fit to the new requirements. Also, with the global talent pool available for the organization to chose from, the HR’s role of effective selection and hiring processes for these teams becomes more crucial, as the benefit of face to face evaluation of the individuals is also not there.

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