MANAGEMENT

Management

Management

Introduction

There is a trend towards making jobs more mobile and allowing employees to access work remotely from home. Technology has also made a great contribution allowing people to work from home. Equipments such as computers, facsimile machines, telephones etc. have revolutionized the work industry and this trend has helped employers, employees and the state at large. An International Telework Association survey found that the number of teleworking employees grew from 41.3 million in 2003 to 44.4 million in 2005 and projects that number to climb to 51 million by 2008 (Marcia Reed-Woodard, Dec 2005). For a company, employees working from home may save them time, space and money. But for an employee, the benefits are much greater. In addition to the above mentioned factors, the employees benefit with flexibility in working hours, avoid distractions and family commitments are easily fulfilled.

Discussion

Small business creation has been encouraged by governments worldwide as a catalyst for economic growth. Studies in Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Norway and the USA have consistently shown that, for a third of people starting a small business venture, the primary reason is to achieve greater control over their lives, with their control preferences influencing every aspect of business management (Holmes, 1999). However, Gerber (1986) contends that most novice small business owners end up enslaved rather than liberated by the move to career independence.

Women have increasingly been attracted to entrepreneurship, not merely for self-fulfilment but also as a vehicle for greater flexibility in managing family responsibilities (Still and Chia, 1995). Many are establishing small enterprises with their spouses or life partners. Such enterprising couples who work in and share ownership of, commitment to, and responsibility for their business, have been termed “copreneurs” (Barnett and Barnett, 1989).

While Australian statistics are available on small business and women in small business (Department of Workplace Relations and Small Business, 1998), it is difficult to estimate the number of “copreneurial” business partnerships. Nevertheless, they are believed to represent a rapidly growing segment of the business population. Due to comparable economic and social forces, the Australian trend is likely to mirror that of the USA, where it has been estimated that the number of businesses run by husbands and wives working together full time is almost a million, and rapidly growing (Granfield, 1993; Bodnar, 1998). Thus the married couple working together, which was the prime economic unit of pre-industrial society (Epstein, 1971), is once more becoming a major subset of entrepreneurship.

The increase in numbers of “copreneurs” may be attributable to the “glass ceiling”, downsizing and redundancy, which have made career opportunities in the corporate world increasingly uncertain. Moreover, the boom in franchises offers the support of a successful parent company on which to build. Another significant motive for “copreneurship” would appear to be the opportunity for couples to manage their work and family responsibilities more flexibly and effectively than is possible as salaried employees in the corporate world.

The greatest advantage is the time factor which can make the job much comfortable working from ...