Ian Cant wrote:
Without wishing to throw out the fresh thought, it
might be well-advised to be very cautious before abandoning
the physical headquarters concept. A main contributor
to the present debacle would appear to be that nobody
on the Board, and very few ordinary members, was ever
in the office to see what happened day to day. Cat's
away, mice play. An internet-distributed office might
be an even harder situation to supervize.

Has anyone had any first-hand experience at actually
running such a 'virtual' headquarters ? How did it
work out in practice ? What sort of safeguards were
used to ensure productivity and financial integrity
were maintained ?

My own limited experience with teleconferencing suggested
that it was lousy for management purposes, but very
effective for engineering. Things that can be reduced
to hard numbers can be disseminated easily; anything
that has human factors or personalities involved tends
not to travel well through the ether. Or perhaps I'm
just a reactionary old fuddy-duddy on this.

Ian

I am on the board of a not-for-profit with 400 employees located in 8
counties of southeastern Washington state that delivers in-home
services for the elderly. The board rarely makes trips to the head
office, even though it is within a short driving distance. We are
briefed monthly by the executive director, finance officer and
department heads. The organization turns a small surplus in a
notoriously money losing business. This can only be accomplished by
very good management and a committed board.

Do not confuse head counting with effective management, because it is
not. Management of people requires the setting of goals (tasks) and
close monitoring of work product.

Communication systems have come along way since the speaker phone. I
just got back from a demonstration of Cisco's Internet telephony
systems. They provide high quality voice and video world wide:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/...esw/index.html
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/...dies_list.html

Major U.S. companies are going this route with at least part of the
work force. Telecommuting is a fast growing trend, and I think it can
work for the SSA. Whether the members can accept it is another, totally
different, question.

Tom