Open plan office space may inhibit concentration and productivity

William Belk of Rocket Fueled People is reporting something that many of us have known for a while now: Open plan office space is the worst if you need quiet to concentrate and, y’know, actually get things done: Their work appears to be geared toward tech workers, but the open plan office fad has spreadContinue reading “Open plan office space may inhibit concentration and productivity”

Google’s 20% time at accounting firms?

It’s well known that Google encourages their employees to spend roughly equal to one day per week pursuing personal projects, or about 20% of their time at work. The results of this unique policy are numerous and successful: Gmail, Google Suggest, Google News, AdSense and Orkut. What would happen if an accounting firm allowed theirContinue reading “Google’s 20% time at accounting firms?”

Saga of Semco continues

I blogged about Semco SA yesterday, but it was a shallow, dull post merely outlining the ways in which the management philosophy has improved operations for the Brazilian manufacturing and environmental/IT services company. Some more interesting details: Due to management style clashes with his father and founder of the company, current CEO Ricardo Semler threatenedContinue reading “Saga of Semco continues”

Unorthodox management style is paying off for Semco

Semco is a Brazilian company that has recently taken digg by storm and is making waves amongst more real world folks too. The company is turning pretty much everything we know about how to run a business organization upside down, and getting great results doing just that. The long and short of it: Employees setContinue reading “Unorthodox management style is paying off for Semco”