On the other hand, ROWE can be difficult to manage. It is often harder to communicate withremote employees who work varying schedules. Apart from what Best Buy is currentlypracticing, discuss and suggest how communication can flow more effectively at Best Buy.4. Best Practices at Best BuyDo traditional workplaces reward long hours instead of efficient hours? Wouldn't it makemore sense to have a workplace in which people can do whatever they want, whenever theywant, as long as the work gets done?" Well, that's the approach Best Buy is taking. And thisradical workplace experiment, which obviously has many implications for employeemotivation, has been an interesting and enlightening journey for the company.In 2002, then CEO Brad Anderson introduced a carefully crafted program called ROWEResults-Only Work Environment. ROWE was the inspiration of two HRM managers at BestBuy, Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, who had been given the task of taking a flexiblework program in effect at corporate headquarters in Minnesota and developing it foreveryone in the company. Ressler and Thompson said, "We realized that the flexible workprogram was successful as employee engagement was up, productivity was higher, but theproblem was the participants were being viewed as not working." And that was a commonreaction from managers who didn't really view flexible work employees as "really workingbecause they aren't in the office working traditional hours." The two women set about tochange that by creating a program in which "everyone would be evaluated solely on theirresults, not on how long they worked."The first thing to understand about ROWE is that it's not about schedules. Instead, it's aboutchanging the work culture of an organization, which is infinitely more difficult thanchanging schedules. With Anderson's blessing and support, they embarked on this journey tooverhaul the company's corporate workplace. The first step in implementing ROWE was aculture audit at company headquarters, which helped them establish a baseline for howemployees perceived their work environment. After four months, the audit was repeated.During this time, Best Buy executives were being educated about ROWE and what it was allabout. Obviously, it was important to have their commitment to the program. The secondphase involved explaining the ROWE philosophy to all the corporate employees andtraining managers on how to maintain control in a ROWE workplace. In the third phase,work unit teams were free to figure out how to implement the changes. Each team found adifferent way to keep the flexibility from spiraling into chaos. For instance, the publicrelations team got pagers to make sure someone was always available in an emergencySome employees in the finance department used software that turns voice mail into e-mailfiles accessible from anywhere, making it easier for them to work at home. Four monthsafter ROWE was implemented, Ressler and Thompson followed up with another culturecheck to see how everyone was doing.So what's the bottom line for Best Buy? Productivity jumped 41 percent, and voluntaryturnover fell to 8 percent from 12 percent. They also discovered that when employees'engagement with their jobs increased, average annual sales increased 2 percent. Andemployees said the freedom changed their lives. They don't know if they work fewer hours,they've stopped counting but they are more productive." ROWE reduced work-familyconflict and increased employees' control over their schedules. As Ressler and Thompsonstated, "Work isn't a place you go, it's something you do."Source:Robbins, S. P., & Coulter, M. (2012). Management (11th ed.). Pearson Education.

Question

On the other hand, ROWE can be difficult to manage. It is often harder to communicate withremote employees who work varying schedules. Apart from what Best Buy is currentlypracticing, discuss and suggest how communication can flow more effectively at Best Buy.4. Best Practices at Best BuyDo traditional workplaces reward long hours instead of efficient hours? Wouldn't it makemore sense to have a workplace in which people can do whatever they want, whenever theywant, as long as the work gets done?&#34; Well, that's the approach Best Buy is taking. And thisradical workplace experiment, which obviously has many implications for employeemotivation, has been an interesting and enlightening journey for the company.In 2002, then CEO Brad Anderson introduced a carefully crafted program called ROWEResults-Only Work Environment. ROWE was the inspiration of two HRM managers at BestBuy, Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, who had been given the task of taking a flexiblework program in effect at corporate headquarters in Minnesota and developing it foreveryone in the company. Ressler and Thompson said, &#34;We realized that the flexible workprogram was successful as employee engagement was up, productivity was higher, but theproblem was the participants were being viewed as not working.&#34; And that was a commonreaction from managers who didn't really view flexible work employees as &#34;really workingbecause they aren't in the office working traditional hours.&#34; The two women set about tochange that by creating a program in which &#34;everyone would be evaluated solely on theirresults, not on how long they worked.&#34;The first thing to understand about ROWE is that it's not about schedules. Instead, it's aboutchanging the work culture of an organization, which is infinitely more difficult thanchanging schedules. With Anderson's blessing and support, they embarked on this journey tooverhaul the company's corporate workplace. The first step in implementing ROWE was aculture audit at company headquarters, which helped them establish a baseline for howemployees perceived their work environment. After four months, the audit was repeated.During this time, Best Buy executives were being educated about ROWE and what it was allabout. Obviously, it was important to have their commitment to the program. The secondphase involved explaining the ROWE philosophy to all the corporate employees andtraining managers on how to maintain control in a ROWE workplace. In the third phase,work unit teams were free to figure out how to implement the changes. Each team found adifferent way to keep the flexibility from spiraling into chaos. For instance, the publicrelations team got pagers to make sure someone was always available in an emergencySome employees in the finance department used software that turns voice mail into e-mailfiles accessible from anywhere, making it easier for them to work at home. Four monthsafter ROWE was implemented, Ressler and Thompson followed up with another culturecheck to see how everyone was doing.So what's the bottom line for Best Buy? Productivity jumped 41 percent, and voluntaryturnover fell to 8 percent from 12 percent. They also discovered that when employees'engagement with their jobs increased, average annual sales increased 2 percent. Andemployees said the freedom changed their lives. They don't know if they work fewer hours,they've stopped counting but they are more productive.&#34; ROWE reduced work-familyconflict and increased employees' control over their schedules. As Ressler and Thompsonstated, &#34;Work isn't a place you go, it's something you do.&#34;Source:Robbins, S. P., & Coulter, M. (2012). Management (11th ed.). Pearson Education.

Accepted Answer

The approach Best Buy has adopted is extremely useful in a case where employees are working…

On the other hand, ROWE can be difficult to manage. It is often harder to communicate with remote employees who work varying schedules. Apart from what Best Buy is currently practicing, discuss and suggest how communication can flow more effectively at Best Buy.