Reference no: EM132206211

1. How does the work life of an executive such as Knapp sound to you? Attractive? Tiring? Why or why not?

2. How can executives manage this kind of travel if they have younger kids at home? What if they also have spouses with demanding careers?

Required information is below:

Have Manager, Should Travel?

Accounting powerhouse Price waterhouse Coopers (PWC) is a bona fide global empire, with some $32 billion in revenues in 2013. Driving that revenue is more than 180,000 employees serving clients in over 150 countries from almost 800 offices. Ellen Knapp was one of the executives who helped build that PWC empire. During her tenure as PWC’s chief knowledge and information officer, Knapp’s role was to expand PWC and keep its empire running well. As such, she spent much of her time traveling overseas.

Knapp’s was hardly a unique situation. She once survived three international red-eye flights crammed into less than a week. In the process, she ran into a colleague in London who was about to endure two such flights in two days. On another occasion, she ran into an acquaintance from consulting giant McKinsey at the Philadelphia airport. He was bound for New Delhi while Knapp was in transit to London and Frankfurt.

These days, international travel is not confined to CEOs who hop on corporate jets for two-week-long business trips spanning a dozen time zones. The growth of international business means that managers such as Knapp slog through airports as they crisscross the globe on their firm’s behalf. But at least Knapp could fly business class. Lower-ranking employees in most companies endure international travel wedged into economy seats.

Nevertheless, how did Knapp survive such grueling travel burdens? Being extremely organized, dedicated, and optimistic certainly helped, as did being amazingly immune to jet lag. On the home front, Knapp had few complications because her two children were grown. Her two administrative assistants also kept Knapp plugged in at the home office. PWC helps its traveling executives by holding meetings near big airports and providing office support when they arrive at a company outpost.

If you are wondering why executives such as Knapp have to travel overseas so much, the answer can be summed up in one word: bonding. Most travel is aimed at building relationships and trust between employees scattered around the world. The idea, at least in theory, is that over time better relationships encourage more cross-border information sharing and greater collaboration. That said, some question whether direct, face-to-face contact is the best, if not only, way to encourage international sharing and collaboration. Clearly, many believe that relationship building requires plenty of informal face time (e.g., over lunch). Nevertheless, whether traveling really pays off or not is debatable. But one thing is certain— it makes airlines happy.