New report shows British bosses putting business at risk by not trusting staff to use new mobile technologies
Thousands of bosses who don’t trust their employees jeopardise future growth unless they harness new mobile technologies, a major new report reveals today.
The research study conducted for Orange, shows that just equipping workers with the latest in mobile technologies won’t work unless bosses adopt new management techniques.
The key, says the report, is to ensure that management attitudes change as the technology allows different work patterns to emerge. Government legislation already requires UK companies to offer employees more flexible ways of working. As the workplace continues to accommodate the many diverse social groupings that exist today, more and more employees will be asking for greater flexibility.
The traditional 9-to-5 day is disappearing at breakneck pace. In California, where a lot of mobile technology has been pioneered, more than three quarters of workers have abandoned the traditional day and are working flexibly.
For those employees who favour flexible working hours, many fear their contribution will be ignored by not being physically present in the office. Consequently, they could look elsewhere, possibly abroad, for a more ’progressive’ type of employer.
The report’s author, Dr. Carsten Sorensen of the London School of Economics, says that UK companies must:
embrace both the social and technological aspects of flexible working if they are to continue growing and competing effectively in their sector
need to address deeper organisational issues such as trust and culture to spur uptake of more productive ways of working
accept that working practice has developed and mobile technology can deliver significant improvements to operational structures and processes
Dr Carsten Sorenson, from the LSE suggests that the way for companies to benefit from cost effective, fast and reliable mobile technology is to create a new type of business: the Rock-Fluid organisation. Flexible working, if not managed effectively, puts tremendous pressure on the individual, the team and the company as a whole. The more varied the working day and the place of work become, the more people need to feel a sense of basic security.
In the Rock-Fluid organisation, individuals have an enormous amount of discretion over their working practices. However, the business must provide a structure that encourages collaboration, support, creativity and the sharing of common goals. There is a need to strip away many aspects of the traditional organisational model and invent new ones, but the core values of the business must be emphasised and enhanced.
Commenting on the findings, Alastair MacLeod, customer development director of Orange Business Solutions says: To make mobile working a success and empower UK business, the barriers of trust and organisational culture highlighted by this research are issues that need to be addressed. The traditional technological issues of security, devices and ease of use have been overcome with the development of solutions such as our new Mobile Office Card and no longer represent a barrier to effective mobile working.
The LSE report states that, together with a laptop, the mobile phone is the key working tool for the 21st century employee. Orange is helping the shift to mobile working. The Mobile Office Card, which can be used with almost any laptop, enables fast and easy remote access to corporate applications, such as email, documents and presentations, diary software and the Internet.
Following on from the study four extreme office types have been identified to clearly illustrate the need for mutual trust:
Control Freaks Ltd: (e.g. Working Girl’s Sigourney Weaver) - even on holiday or from their sick bed, the boss is always watching and monitoring the employee’s every movement.
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite Ltd: (e.g. Absolutely Fabulous’ PR company) - the free-flowing, anything goes, no structure environment where working flexibly is actively encouraged to cater for hectic lifestyles.
Mission Possible Ltd (e.g. Mission Impossible set-up) where technology enables people to do anything they want, when they want and achieve remarkable results.
Trading Estates Ltd (e.g. the BBC series ’The Office’) where the practice of flexible working is as unheard of as the existence of an equal opportunities policy.
Lack of trust by bosses holding back UK business
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