Results Only Work Environment (ROWE)
Create and submit for evaluation on or before September 16, a paper version of a double-spaced report
on the topic enunciated below. Employ 12pt Tahoma text comprising at least five pages, including
abstract, main theme and conclusions. In addition, create a sixth page; the cover-page. Append a
seventh page that presents a list citing the sources that were used to develop the report.
As the Director of Manufacturing at a XYZ Inc. in Sunnyvale California, you are asked by the company
CEO to analyze the notion of a radically different company-wide work environment at XYZ Inc. This work
environment would be totally focused on results. Indeed, this would be the only metric for measuring
success. It might be termed ROWE…..a results only work environment. All other artificial constraints
should be eliminated from the corporate culture.
The basis for the CEO’s request is the ubiquitous Internet and Information Technology. She posits that
perhaps people are more creative on the beach with their laptop, or sitting with a latte in Starbucks,
than sitting in an oppressive stuffy corporate office in a stressful psychological state after
commuting to work for 90 minutes on a crowded freeways. Would her proposal yield higher productivity
for XYZ Inc.? Is the traditional work environment really a dated ineffective constrained Victorian
imposition on people? Would her proposal yield a happier more creative workforce? Can you trust
people to deliver the results of their labors when they are not working in the supervised office 24/7?
Should team meetings be round a conference table or is teleconferencing an appropriate compromise?
A Potential Resource:
• “Why work sucks: and how to fix it” by C. Ressler and J. Thompson, Portfolio-Penguin, 2008,
$15.00
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