The Changing Nature of Work
Organisations are increasing their use of information technology and this is contributing to many changes in the workplace. There are increases  in part time work, the proportion of women in the workforce and the use of contracted labour. Some employees are multi skilled and undertake ongoing training and others are required to have fewer skills

The internet is having an impact on traditional businesses. Some Businesses Trade only online and others are creating web sites as an addition al way to sell their goods and services.
	• Advantages include a global market, 24 hour access, lower marketing costs and lower storage costs
	• Disadvantages include privacy and security problems


Other recent developments include :

Working from home. Telecommuting or teleworking involves workers completing many of their tasks from office. All that is required is a PC, phone connection and modem.
	• Advantages include no time lost travelling, reducing costs for office space, flexibility of work hours and reduced absenteeism for child care reasons.
	• Disadvantages include reduced productivity resulting from interruptions in the home environment and an absence of socialisation with co-workers.

Virtual organisations. The development of high speed network connections such as cable, satellite, ADSL, plus new advances in digitisation and  compression of video image data, it is now possible to have affordable and effective video conferences. This allows operation of organisations in which personnel do not share the same physical office space. This would be a virtual organisation.