Praise for Uniting the Virtual Workforce "e;Uniting the Virtual Workforce offers much-needed guidance on how to navigate the largely unmapped territory of virtual work environments in the global economy. The authors do an outstanding job of presenting how organizations should address the challenges of virtual workforces so as to reap the huge potential benefits of increased growth, productivity, and innovation."e; -C. Warren Axelrod, PhD, Chief Privacy Officer and Business Information Security Officer, U.S. Trust, and author of Outsourcing Information Security "e;Lojeski and Reilly bring us something that readers of business books so rarely get-no nonsense practical guidance on how to manage distance, especially where it most often serves as an impediment to working effectively. If you interface with widely dispersed team members who rarely see one another and communicate by virtue of impersonal electronics, you may expect to find this book provocative, counterintuitive, and above all, exciting. It gives all of us who have to struggle, while working with talent stretched across distance, hope, that maybe there are ways to do this right!"e; -Patrick J. McKenna, author of First Among Equals "e;A must-read for global corporate executives who manage geographically dispersed job sharing teams. Practical strategies for preventing productivity loss and optimizing innovation. The authors pull no punches in showing the real downsides to the virtual work phenomenon; they have done a great service for us all."e; -Jeff Saperstein, author of Creating Regional Wealth in the Innovation Economy "e;Uniting the Virtual Workforce charts the course for competing in the twenty-first century by tapping into the powers of virtual work. Any manager who ignores the virtual workforce is underperforming, and any company or organization that does not appreciate virtual work is already at a competitive disadvantage. Karen and Dick have tapped into a key ingredient in the recipe for global growth."e; -Jerry MacArthur Hultin, President, Polytechnic University, and former Under Secretary of the Navy "e;Authors Sobel Lojeski and Reilly have provided a useful primer for the harried executive striving for productivity improvements while seeing the workload expand and the workforce disperse. Using conceptual definitions of Physical, Operational, and Affinity Distance to describe the multifaceted dimensions of building teams of people to work effectively together, the authors construct a very powerful set of metrics for a manager to improve the capability of his or her workgroup, no matter where it resides or how it is composed. The book is rich in anecdotes and specific studies that illustrate the concepts in an engaging, pertinent, and easy-to-understand manner. In an age of outsourcing, offshoring, and decentralizing groups of people who have to get things done together, reading this small book will repay itself many times over."e; -Charles House, Director, Media X Lab at Stanford University, and former Director of the Societal Impact of Technology, Intel Corporation

Praise for Uniting the Virtual Workforce"Uniting the Virtual Workforce offers much-needed guidance on howto navigate the largely unmapped territory of virtual workenvironments in the global economy. The authors do an outstandingjob of presenting how organizations should address the challengesof virtual workforces so as to reap the huge potential benefits ofincreased growth, productivity, and innovation."C. Warren Axelrod, PhD, Chief Privacy Officer and BusinessInformation Security Officer, U.S. Trust, and author of OutsourcingInformation Security"Lojeski and Reilly bring us something that readers of businessbooks so rarely get-no nonsense practical guidance on how to managedistance, especially where it most often serves as an impediment toworking effectively.Ê If you interface with widely dispersedteam members who rarely see one another and communicate by virtueof impersonal electronics, you may expect to find this bookprovocative, counterintuitive, and above all, exciting. It givesall of us who have to struggle, while working with talent stretchedacross distance, hope, that maybe there are ways to do thisright!"Patrick J. McKenna, author of First Among EqualsÊ"A must-read for global corporate executives who managegeographically dispersed job sharing teams. Practical strategiesfor preventing productivity loss and optimizing innovation. Theauthors pull no punches in showing the real downsides to thevirtual work phenomenon; they have done a great service for usall."Jeff Saperstein, author of Creating Regional Wealth in theInnovation Economy"Uniting the Virtual Workforce charts the course for competing inthe twenty-first century by tapping into the powers of virtualwork. Any manager who ignores the virtual workforce isunderperforming, and any company or organization that does notappreciate virtual work is already at a competitive disadvantage.Karen and Dick have tapped into a key ingredient in the recipe forglobal growth."Jerry MacArthur Hultin, President, Polytechnic University, andformer Under Secretary of the Navy"Authors Sobel Lojeski and Reilly have provided a useful primer forthe harried executive striving for productivity improvements whileseeing the workload expand and the workforce disperse. Usingconceptual definitions of Physical, Operational, and AffinityDistance to describe the multifaceted dimensions of building teamsof people to work effectively together, the authors construct avery powerful set of metrics for a manager to improve thecapability of his or her workgroup, no matter where it resides orhow it is composed. The book is rich in anecdotes and specificstudies that illustrate the concepts in an engaging, pertinent, andeasy-to-understand manner. In an age of outsourcing, offshoring,and decentralizing groups of people who have to get things donetogether, reading this small book will repay itself many timesover."Charles House, Director, Media X Lab at Stanford University, andformer Director of the Societal Impact of Technology, IntelCorporation

Preface xiAcknowledgments xvIntroduction: The Road to Virtual Distance 1PART ONE: MEETING, MEASURING, MAPPING, AND MANAGING VIRTUAL DISTANCE 7Chapter 1: Redefining Distance 9Chapter 2: Meeting Virtual Distance 25Chapter 3: Measuring Virtual Distance 51Chapter 4: Mapping Virtual Distance 71Chapter 5: Managing Virtual Distance 89PART TWO: HIGH-IMPACT VIRTUAL DISTANCE STRATEGIES 107Chapter 6: Redefining Teams 109Chapter 7: Ambassadorial Leadership 123Chapter 8: Re-imagining Innovation 143Chapter 9: Technology: The Elephant in the Room 161Chapter 10: The Future 187Index 199