The Power of Virtual Distance: A Guide to Productivity and Happiness in the Age of Remote Work - Hardcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

DR. KAREN SOBEL LOJESKI is CEO of Virtual Distance International (VDI), a research-based predictive analytics and consulting firm specializing in measuring, mapping, and managing the impact of Virtual Distance in the workforce and beyond. She holds a BS in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Technology Management, Leadership, I/O Psychology and Innovation from Stevens Institute of Technology. Sobel Lojeski is affiliated with many academic institutions including the Stockholm School of Economics, University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and the Graduate School of Education, Institute for Advanced Study and Babson College.

RICHARD R. REILLY is Professor Emeritus at the School of Business, Stevens Institute of Technology. He is the co-author of Blockbusters: The Five Keys to Developing Great New Products.

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Praise for The Power of Virtual Distance, Second Edition

"It wasn't all that long ago that working over virtual distances was considered a groundbreaking new concept. The authors' first book on the topic, published in 2008, had to be devoted to explaining how to navigate this new style of working. As is often the case, what was once groundbreaking has now become mainstream and routine. Yet, challenges remain, both in how to reap the benefits while avoiding the pitfalls of virtual distance. In The Power of Virtual Distance, Second Edition, the authors address these challenges head on with data from more than 55 countries and over 1,400 case studies across 36 industry sectors. This book is required reading for anyone trying to understand the continuing evolution of the workplace in the digital age."
IRVING WLADAWSKY-BERGER, IBM VP Emeritus; MIT Research Affiliate

"Lojeski and Reilly bring us something that readers of business books so rarely get no nonsense, practical guidance built from rigorous predictive metrics. The Power of Virtual Distance, Second Edition pinpoints how to manage both real, psychological, and emotional distance when interacting with digital communication technology between people sitting thousands of miles apart or people simply sitting right across the same table! It gives all of us who struggle working with talent that's mediated by electronic devices no matter where they're located a roadmap for how to do this right!"
PATRICK J. MCKENNA, author of First Among Equals

New research on the hidden costs of virtualization and how to manage them

The world of work is becoming increasingly virtual. This means much more than the rise of remote work, which comes with its own set of costs and benefits. The challenges of the Digital Age give rise to Virtual Distance a new phenomenon that profoundly changes how we think and feel about the relationships to each other, ourselves, and the world around us. The transition to a "virtual" workforce whether in-person or remote creates real and quantifiable challenges to collaboration and innovation.

The Power of Virtual Distance, Second Edition shows through new findings from more than 1,400 studies spread across 55 countries that traverse more than 36 industry sectors over the past 15 years that there are substantially increasing and damaging costs to companies as well as people's personal sense of purpose, as we move deeper into the depths of doing work virtually. The authors then offer scientifically proven methods for measuring these costs and go further to provide predictive solutions on how to manage them into the future.

Wherever your organization is in its understanding of Virtual Distance, this book will show you how to manage the new risks to productivity and human well-being that arise with digital work. With this book, you'll learn how to reignite meaning into the workplace, fully accounting for the costs of virtualization and leading your teams to new heights.

Aus dem Klappentext

Virtual Distance the measurable disconnect that arises when we rely on digitally mediated communication applies to all of us. In the Second Edition of The Power of Virtual Distance, Karen Sobel Lojeski and Richard R. Reilly showcase 15 years of data to describe their powerful framework for predicting everything from trust, employee engagement and job satisfaction to bottom-line results. With new research from over 1,400 studies, this book demonstrates that the disorder inherent in digital work is quantifiable and can hold down financial returns as well as materially decrease meaningful experience, if we don't take Virtual Distance into account in every strategic decision.

Employees in the internet age often show up to work, only to spend their days "typing" their way through work, writing and responding to e-mail, and screen-tapping with unseen others online rather than sharing a felt sense of experience. Technology is at the very core of everything we do, and it enables us to be more connected than ever before. But even though technology can collapse the physical distance between us, it can also spark an explosion of psychological and emotional distance. Every business leader needs to understand how these phenomena affect employees' health and well-being and, ultimately, business performance.

The Power of Virtual Distance, Second Edition represents a major new update to the authors' original text on the concept of Virtual Distance, published ten years ago. What was, at that time, a groundbreaking new theory, proved to be a prescient expression of what has become the mainstream understanding: the more connected we become, the more isolated we begin to feel. In this Second Edition, the authors present new data, case studies, and the exponentially growing body of evidence underscoring the business case and human necessity for accounting for Virtual Distance.

This unique book has the power to help leaders in organizations of all sizes reorient their focus to minimize the negative effects of Virtual Distance and generate positive change while embracing the benefits of the digital era.