After listening to the presentations on Wednesday, I was really intrigued by the information given on the virtual office. I had not idea that some companies existed without having a physical office and further, conducted all of their daily business strictly from laptops and cell phones. While this option is great for small companies who don’t have the funds to shell out huge amounts of money for an office space, I think a very vital component of work life is lost: daily face-to face communication. Human interaction is possibly one of my most important aspects of my day. I can’t imagine the day when I only talked to people from my home and on my cell phone- that sounds miserable.
At the beginning of our reading this week there is a quote by Voltaire that states, “Work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.” I believe Voltaire makes a simple yet truthful point. As discussed in the presentation, there are positives to a virtual office, and there are also an abundance of negatives that include the some of these “evils.” For one, boredom is definitely a risk in my eyes. Certain types of the teleworkers breed isolation. What if you have ideas for a new pitch or questions you just quickly want to bounce off some of your coworkers? There’s no one around. In addition to that, as mentioned in the presentation, isolation can hurt you when it comes time for raises and promotions. When you are never at the office, it gives the idea that you aren’t really adding anything to the company or organization.
I know this shift is probably inevitable, but is it really a positive change? There are still so many unanswered questions. Which form of telework would be the less destructive to the physical office space? Will there be a balance of the physical and the virtual office? Would you feel comfortable working in a virtual office, or would you even want to?
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I agree with pretty much everything that Carrie said in this post. Having never thought about virtual offices in this way, I enjoyed the Voltaire for its simplicity and truth. I know that I cannot personally get anything productive done from the confines of my own home (Davis 5th Floor, all the way). The vices are yet another story. I mean going to work every day makes some people want to take a nice long pull of dark liquor, and with the convenience of the home liquor cabinet why not start cocktail hour off a little early?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, who wants to work all day without any human interaction (save conference calls and such)? How would you ask your superiors questions? How would you get better at what you do? Chances are you would simply plug along in mediocrity until you couldn't take it anymore. I think that the competitive advantage for most small companies (those who use virtual offices to cut costs) is their sense of teamwork and camaraderie. Without this tight-knit feel, how do they stand a chance against large corporate giants which hold a majority of market share?
While this shift may seem inevitable, I think that it will ultimately fail. Business has always been done face-to-face, ingraining a sense of trust and cooperation in both parties. With all the evils (hackers, etc.) which plague the world of computers, why would anyone trust anyone else without meeting them personally and conducting business transactions? Beware of virtual offices and the inherent downsides which they present - they may come back some day to bite us.
In the IT world, at least, a lot of work can be very solitary. A comfortable, secluded environment might be the best option for many types of IT workers. I do agree that face-to-face time is very important in most business situations. However, all-the-time close proximity is not a necessity in most IT business situations. Allowing people to separate and work from home also might remove some of the negative elements of a close-knit corporate environment, such as some of the rigid hierarchy that can exist and impede business progress.
ReplyDeleteWhile the shift to a more virtual approach to communication and interaction will inevitably come upon us one day, I do not believe this means that offices will become "extinct". Businesses need a core unit of people working together, side-by-side in order to function correctly (I'm speaking on large scale businesses). I do think the virtual office will play an important role in the way we work later in life, though. It will be very useful as international relations grow increasingly vital, and one needs to work out some figures with their business partners in Japan. I won't go as far to stating that virtual offices will be the only form of communication between co-workers, but it will become more prevalent in use. I think this will continue until a major issue occurs which will convince us that the best conversations happen in a personal, face-to-face environment.
ReplyDeleteVirtual office might be a trend, but I don't think it is a positive change. It might be good if companies properly use digital equipments to improve the efficiency or communication, such as using Skype for international conferences without gathering everyone from all over the world. However, for virtual offices, which existed without having a physical office, I would doubt that whether the positive outweighs the negative. The values lie in working experience including not only the experience that employees learn from their job, but also the experience that they obtain from personal interactions at work. These two experiences are the most important components at work. To lose either one would make work less challenging and even much less interesting. However, I do think it would be necessary for companies to utilize modern technologies to increase efficiency and productivity. But a "completely" virtual office would not be positive, since it easily deprives employees and employers of the most precious learning experiences about personal interactions at work.
ReplyDeleteHaving an entirely virtual office is hard for me to imagine, seeing that I've only worked in places where a physical workplace exists. There are, however, elements of the virtual office in places that I've worked in. Things like databases of stored information and of course word-processing programmes are just some of the many examples.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the change will be all-consuming, in the sense that it not all companies may adopt virtual offices because the fact reamains that there are compaies that require hands on interaction with both employees as well as other stakeholders. Take the service industry for example. It is true that many services these days have become computerised and you can get many things done on the internet without encountering humans such as booking a holiday or online banking. The fact remains, however, that these places still need a tangible offices for people working in the service industry to carry out their true work-- service.
I also, agree with Carrie's comments, especially the part about how working from home all the time would be miserable. I think that I would get extremely bored by myself 5 days a week every week. I also think that the office environment could allow a release from the constant work. Although, I realize that everyone is very different and lots of people would much rather work from home everyday, especially if they have children to care for or health related problems.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Carrie's comments as well. Working at home would not be ideal if it were all the time. I would not want to be stuck in the house. I hate it now. I need a changing environment in order to keep me grounded and being at home all the time, I would neglect some of the things that I would have to do for work. I think that everyone in general needs to their own niche. Virtual offices would be ideal if their was a balance between the actual workplace and home. Kind of a trade off where there can be satisfaction on both sides of the issues
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would prefer to work in a space separate from my home. It's important to me to separate these aspects of my life - work vs home. That said, I think the technology that makes telecommuting possible is absolutely positive. People who would not otherwise be able to hold some of these demanding jobs because they, for whatever reason, need to be at home, can contribute and utilize their talents thanks to telecommuting technology. Also, I wouldn't mind at all the flexibility of having the option of doing my work at home if I wanted/needed to. That said, I don't think telecommuting will be replacing the physical workplace anytime soon, maybe never. Something about a place made for work will always prompt more productivity than working from home, but who knows. Maybe the human psyche's malleability will really surprise us on this one. Personally, I think we'll quickly find the appropriate balance of physical versus virtual office time by trial, error, and retraining. Before we know it, it will be seamlessly integrated into the way the world does business.
ReplyDeleteI was also shocked about how popular virtual offices have become. I understand that many people work from home and that it's a growing trend but I didn't know that it went as far as having virtual people communicating through an actual virtual office setting like we saw in the presentation last week. It was almost a little creepy to me how the whole thing worked and I don't think that if given the choice I would want to be a part of a workplace like that. I would much rather go to work and have interaction and make friends with people who I work with then talk on the phone because that seems very impersonal to me. On the other hand, if I had children and I don't think I would want to return to work for a while and working at home would seem like a good way to keep my income without losing face time with my kids. I guess it's just a catch 22.
ReplyDeleteI believe that working at home can be productive for some people but not for some. I prefer working at an office because I like the person to person interaction. I would definitely get distracted easier if I was at home compared to an office. Plus working at an office would make me get up early and go to work, while working at home will make me lazier since there is really no need for a professional appearance. Plus if I work from home I would feel like I do not really have a job. My idea of a house is some place I go to to get away from work and the office, not a place to bring my work. But yet again, there are jobs out there that are more appropriate at working at home.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I would like to point out that just because you work at home doesn't mean you can't have a type of face to face interaction. There are lots of technologies that make this possible. No it isn't physically face to face, but webcams are great. When I was in Argentina, I used Skype all the time to talk to my mom and friends. I obviously couldn't see them in person, but by having a webcam I felt like I was seeing them and interacting with them.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's different for everyone, but I don't think that it is impossible to still interact with people just because you can't physically touch them. I mean, would you physically touch your boss or co-worker anyway? I think most people are looking at this in the wrong way. How often do you interact with friends on facebook w/o actually seeing them? Or texting or talking on the phone. It is impossible to see all your family and friends on a daily basis, but we make up for this in other ways. Just like working from home, there might be days you stay home, and days you go in.
I find the Voltaire quote very applicable, but it fails to consider the business limitations of not having a congressional location. Ideally, a business could be run from various locations with a laptop and cell phone, but in must circumstances, that is simply an unrealistic concept. Communication in its purest form occurs with face-to-face interaction, and only with this can the brightest ideas be produced.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, modern technologies are allowing for face-to-face connections between people in various geographic locations across the globe through video conferencing. While these technologies in no way compare to in-person interacting, they could ultimately reach that point.
Despite technological advancements, however, it will be centuries into the future before digital offices are universalized, if ever.