Smart Working (PDF)

It is more possible than ever to influence and shape our working environments, our experience of work and each other. Business leaders who set the conditions and create engaging, meaningful work through organisational design and use of the knowledge and creative potential of their workforces are engaging in smart working. In Smart Working: Creating the Next Wave, Anne Marie McEwan explains how smart working is more than just flexible and mobile working. It is about flexibility and autonomy - how people work, not just where and when. She argues that systems, working environments and governance are more likely to lead to effective performance if they maximise self-determination and choice. She describes how collaborative communication technologies create possibilities for stimulating and harnessing collective intelligence, within and beyond organisational boundaries. In short, smart working is an outcome of designing organisational systems that are good both for business and people. McEwan warns that the tendency to talk about new management paradigms risks overlooking insights derived from years of academic research, and particularly from lessons learned from process innovation methodology. This rigorously researched but intensely practical book examines current workplace trends relating to people, technology, place and space. It reviews what we already know about effective management and high performance work methods and shows how those insights can be used to advantage in contemporary workscapes. It will help those with responsibilities for the strategic direction of their organizations. Learning and development and HR professionals will understand how to interpret these insights for their own business.