Office talk: Have your say
We want your views on what makes the perfect global office.
Who are your role models, how do you navigate through the maze of technology and how can you achieve a glowing annual staff review?
Have your say about Global Office. CNN's Richard Quest and Becky Anderson may read the best e-mails on air.
February 16 , March 1 , March 22
March 29 , April 6 , April 21
May 10 , May 25 , June 3, June 11
There is an attitude towards email that it is still a new toy forgetting that there other forms of communication. In business the face to face cannot be faulted as all emotions are showing. The telephone, with a little prior note making, can achieve all intended but there is the time-tested method of pen to paper. It is personal, permanent and powerful.
Dr Harold Dresner, Karmiel, Israel
Email is one channel of communication which I consider efficient and effective. Its advantages are cost effectiveness, accuracy, less paperwork, quickness. However, one must make it a point not to let them pile up -- maintaining schedules, and signalling indicators for important and urgent messages, filtering procedures will be helpful in maintaining a proper communication system.
However, we should not forget that this kind of communication has less inter-personal interaction, which is a disadvantage. But, this is something happening all over the world due to global competition and day--to-day commitments and we cannot avoid it. This is happening even among our family members, at home between parents & children, between spouses etc.
Therefore, what we should do, while making use of email to do an efficient and effective job, is to remember that personal relations are key to a team's success.
Sumithra De Silva, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Here in Hawaii there is still the old double standard: men wear aloha shirts and khakis every day of the week, but women wear a business suit, hose and heels. Not likely to ever change since Hawaii lives by its own rules.
Linda, Mililani, Hawaii
The interview with Lou Gerstner was a gem and deserves the full transcript being published. Every word that he said was full of plain, common sense wisdom and should be listened to by every CEO or change manager in the world.
Ian Christmas, High Wycombe, UK
Talent management is primarily a strategic, not an HR, issue. The most successful TM strategies I have seen are in organizations in which the driving force is the board and where the primary role of HR is to encourage and support integration of TM strategy across business policy and practice.
Phil Smith, Bristol, UK
Competence has nothing to do with the threads next to the skin, and everything to do with the discipline in the mind. Personally I find that many people, preferring image over substance, use a suit as a smoke screen to project an undeserved air of competence, and so I view a suit-wearer with a large dollop of caution until they've proven themselves to be intelligent despite their unfortunate clothing choice.
Peter Hull, Los Angeles, California
I don't believe dressing formally necessarily makes one work better in the office. I believe one should dress in a manner one believes to be appropriate and beneficial for the intent and purpose of what they are trying to achieve. A blanket dress code for the whole organisation will not necessarily create a conducive work environment. Different personalities react differently in terms of output productivity according to how they are dressed. These days, more and more people are overly concerned about the first 30-second impression theory. First impressions can and do go wrong, and judging a person based on outward external impression alone can prove detrimental.
Amir Abdul Latip, Seria, Brunei
