Culture.Com: Building Corporate Culture in the Connected Workplace Book

The .com world has brought untold benefits to business, but for workers, stresses and pressures have increased exponentially. As business races headlong into the new economy, staff must develop a new set of skills that will enable speed to market, improved communication and first-class customer service. While there are a thousand books that tell new economy workers how to create the technical infrastructure of e-commerce, Culture.com is the first blueprint for creating a .com culture--and it isn't all football tables and Koi carp.Covering issues such as recruitment, training, team building, relationships and mergers, the book addresses every possible stage of the e-business. While academic at heart, Culture.com is lifted with dozens of detailed case studies from leading enterprises including Nike, Proctor & Gamble, Amazon.com and Cisco Systems. Most valuable for managers are the key tips and action points. Following each case study, you will find a list of key points and questions that will help you apply the expertise to your own organisation. These run from the mundane--how to fit into a new company--to the daunting--how to implement a corporate knowledge management strategy. For example, the chapter on how to keep remote workers involved in the company culture includes the following advice: "When you first hire workers, have them spend a few weeks in the office to get to know the people they will be working with from a distance. Publish newsletters with photographs so people can keep up with their peers. Have company outings and parties and invite virtual workers".The beauty of Culture.com is that it is task based--you don't need to sit and read every page to derive value from the book. In fact, as your company's e-commerce strategy matures, different areas of the book will come into their own. In the early stages, chapters covering finding virtual workers and interviewing to create a team are highly rated, while more mature companies will benefit from the advice on facing market troubles and how to make alliances successfully. --Sally WhittleRead More