Chapter 2: Communication Models and the CMAPP Analysis

Contemporary Issues Case

New Work Environments

As a result of global competition and restructuring, its no surprise that we are also seeing dramatic
changes in work environments. Thanks to mobile technologies, millions of Americans now
telecommute. They have flexible working arrangements so that they can work at home at least part of
the time. Many workers live thousands of miles from the office, and others carry their work with them
as they travel.
Some Big Five accounting firms are even instituting the practices of hotelling and hot-desking.
Hotelling describes the practice of an open office with unassigned desks. Employees do not have
personal workspaces; they reserve a desk for the days or hours they will be in the office. Hot-desking
refers to a desk thats still warm from its previous occupant.
(Source: Business Communication: Process and Product, 3e, by Mary Ellen Guffey, South-Western College
Publishing/Thomson Learning, 2000.)

Survivors Guide to Technical Writing 2003, South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc.