Differences in Perceived Constraints of Telework Utilization among Teleworkers and Office Workers

Approximately 37% of the U.S. labor force currently works from a remote location. Costs and competition are driving organizations to increase the use of telework among remote workplaces. Increasing organizational knowledge of the perceptions of current teleworkers could increase its adoption by employees and improve its implementation by managers. The purpose of this research was to test hypotheses regarding the perceived levels of telework efficiency, social interaction, and technical support to determine in those perceptions differed between teleworkers and office workers. Goldratt\u27s Theory of Constraints framed the quantitative research design. A purposive sample of 54 teleworkers and office workers in the Southeastern Division of the USDA received Harandi & Ghafari\u27s Telework Management Scale. Thirty-eight participants responded yielding a confidence level of 0.95 with an interval of 0.15 given the population of 211 employees in the division. Teleworker scores from the Telework Management Scale were found to be significantly higher than office workers scores for telework efficiency (p=.001), social interaction (p=.027), and overall approval of telework (p=.017). No statistically significant difference existed between the two groups for technical support. The scores of both groups, however, were lower than the maximum approval scores of 25 per factor and the overall maximum potential score of 75. Nevertheless, preliminary indications from the findings of this study suggest that the perceptions of current teleworkers could increase its adoption by other employees and improve its implementation by managers. Increasing the level of adoption of telework and improving its implementation by managers could bring about positive organizational, economic, and social changes across the public, private, and non-profit sectors

An empirical investigation of technology usage, virtual status, organizational justice, need for affiliation, organizational identification and their influence on work success

Advancements in information communication technology have led to a growth in the telecommuting work force and increased interest in telecommuting research. Antecedents of work success are re-examined. This study attempts to disclose the relationships among communication technology usage, need for affiliation, organizational justice, employee\u27s virtual status and organizational identification and how these factors affect work success. Four main questions drove this research: Do organizational justice and employee\u27s virtual status moderate the relationship between communication technology usage and organizational identification? ; Do organizational justice and employee\u27s virtual status moderate the relationship between need for affiliation and organizational identification? ; Do organizational identification, organizational justice, and employee\u27s virtual status help explain employee\u27s work success? ; and How does the communication technology usage portfolio of telecommuters differ from that of their non-telecommuting counterparts? Cross-sectional data were collected using an online survey. A total of 263 full-time employees affiliated with a variety of industries in the US provided responses to the questions included in the survey. Upon developing testable hypotheses, the results of employing hierarchical regression analysis reveal that (1) both communication technology usage and need for affiliation positively influence organizational identification; (2) employee\u27s virtual status moderates the two relationships between communication technology usage as well as need for affiliation and organizational identification; (3) organizational justice positively moderates the relationship between communication technology usage and organizational identification; and (4) both organizational identification and organizational justice positively influence work success. Applying multivariate statistical methods to the usage data of 22 communication technology devices led to the classification of the devices into four groups: office technology; mobile technology; new technology; and older technology. A comparison of usage between telecommuters and non-telecommuters reveal, among others, that (1) telecommuters use office technologies significantly less frequently than non-telecommuters; (2) telecommuters use mobile technologies significantly more frequently than non-telecommuters; and (3) telecommuters do not use new or older technologies any different from their non-telecommuting counterparts. Interpretation of research findings, contributions of the study to information systems theory and practice, its limitations, and directions for future research are highlighted

Telework: outcomes and facilitators for employees

This chapter reviews current research on telework. We first examine the literature on telework and job performance, job attitudes, and professional isolation, before reviewing the outcomes of telework on employee well-being as characterized by stress and work-life balance. We then turn our attention to factors that contribute to a successful telework experience: characteristics of the job, characteristics of the employee, and characteristics of the employee’s manager(s). We also identify the key role of technology support in influencing many of the established outcomes of and contributors to telework. Finally, we discuss the gaps in our knowledge of telework’s repercussions for employees and organizations. We conclude by identifying the implications of what we do know for theory and practice. To maximize positive outcomes, we recommend evidence-based guidelines for organizations with regard to 1) selecting and preparing employees for telework, and 2) managing their use of this flexible work practice

A correlational study of telework frequency, information communication technology, and job satisfaction of home-based teleworkers

In 2008, 33.7 million Americans teleworked from home. The Telework Enhancement Act (S. 707) and the Telework Improvements Act (H.R. 1722) of 2009 were designed to increase the number of teleworkers. The research problem addressed was the lack of understanding of factors that influence home-based teleworkers\u27 job satisfaction. Job dissatisfaction has been found to have a significant impact on voluntary turnover. The purpose of the study was to assess the relationship among telework frequency, information communication technology (ICT), and job satisfaction. The research questions were designed to answer whether correlational relationships exist among telework frequency, ICT, and job satisfaction and to identify primary concerns of home-based teleworkers regarding social interaction, recognition, and career advancement. Sociotechnical theory was the theoretical framework used in this quantitative correlational study. Data were collected from 218 home-based teleworkers via an online survey. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed to test the hypotheses. A Pearson product-movement analysis showed a significant positive relationship between ICT usage and job satisfaction. There was no significant relationship between telework frequency and job satisfaction. Pattern matching analysis indicated that teleworkers\u27 concerns centered on a perceived desire for increased face-to-face communication with managers and coworkers. Organizational leaders could use the results of this study to develop strategies that leverage ICT media to enhance communication and collaboration and improve the quality of work life in virtual organizations

Out of reach out of touch? The impact of flexible work arrangement use on collaboration within teams

Organisations are faced with a growing interest in flexible work arrangements that enable employees to control where, when and for how long they work and need to find ways to adapt and integrate these practices into work routines and processes. Because these arrangements reduce employees’ facetime at the office, doubts remain regarding their impact on collaboration within teams. In this thesis I explore the impact of the use of part-time work, telework and flexible working hours on collaboration within teams and the contextual features that explain this relationship. Seven case studies were conducted in software development teams in three organisations in The Netherlands and Belgium. Findings suggest that telework, part-time work and flexible working hours impact on collaboration within teams because of reduced passive facetime – passive presence of team members at the office without necessarily engaging in interactions with each other. Passive facetime was interpreted as availability to others and an enabler to collaboration. A theoretical framework is put forth outlining six sets of contextual features that impact on this relationship. At the team-level, these included skill differentiation, task characteristics (task complexity and goal clarity), temporal characteristics (temporal stability and task urgency) and structural characteristics (regular face-to-face meetings, amount of absence, predictability of absence and synchronisation of presence). At the individual level, proactive behaviours were found to have an impact. Finally, the whole framework is nested in and dependent on environmental characteristics, in particular the organisational setting. This thesis contributes to theory by outlining the double-faceted role of passive facetime in the relationship between FWA use and collaboration, by delineating how structural characteristics can provide teams with sufficient passive facetime, and by presenting a framework explaining the influence of FWA use on collaboration and the features that explain how and when this happens

Effectiveness of Elicitation Techniques in Distributed Requirements Engineering

Software development teams are often geographically distributed from their customers and end users. This creates significant communication and coordination challenges that impact the effectiveness of requirements engineering. Travel costs, and the local availability of quality technical staff increase the demand for effective distributed software development teams. This research reports an empirical study of how groupware can be used to aid distributed requirements engineering for a software development project. Six groups of seven to nine members were formed and divided into separate remote groups of customers and engineers. The engineers conducted a requirements analysis and produced a software requirements specification (SRS) document through distributed interaction with the remote customers. We present results and conclusions from the research including: an analysis of factors that effected the quality of the Software Requirements Specification document written at the conclusion of the requirements process and the effectiveness of requirements elicitation techniques which were used in a distributed setting for requirements gathering

Distance Matters, Except When It Doesn\u27t: Discontinuities in Virtual Work

Virtual work has become an increasingly common phenomenon in today\u27s organizations. Substantial and continuing changes in organizational processes and IT infrastructure have increased the pace and intensity of working across traditionally impermeable boundaries, enabling diverse forms of collaboration. However, our understanding of the consequences and implications of virtual work still lags and research results have been contradictory. We suggest that some of these inconsistencies have been because the boundaries that characterize virtual work-time, space, culture, organization, and so forth-are objective demarcations that are not uniformly problematic. It is only when those working in virtual settings perceive a boundary to be a discontinuity that it hinders work processes. We develop a model of virtual work that differentiates between boundaries and discontinuities, which helps account for contradictory findings. By examining the process of virtual work in more detail, we can uncover issues that are the underlying cause of problems, rather than deal with the more obvious symptoms that can mask underlying problem. Our model has implications both for research and for those working in virtual environments

Rigor and relevance: The application of the Critical Incident Technique to investigate email usage

Information systems research is often criticized for its high rigor, but low relevance. One approach to overcome the low relevance issue is to employ sound qualitative methods, out of which this study focuses on the critical incident technique (CIT) that has mostly been overlooked in IS research. The primary goal of this study is to demonstrate and validate the usage of the critical incident technique in the management information systems domain. The secondary objective is to develop a number of practical recommendations for email service providers and to offer novel theoretical insights that may be employed in future research. To this end, 107 positive and 113 negative critical incidents pertaining to email usage were collected and analyzed through classical content analysis techniques. Overall, this investigation validates the usage of the CIT in the MIS field and presents practical and theoretical recommendations

Teleworking during COVID 19 Pandemic Crisis : Influences of Female Leadership on Business Continuity and Employee Layoff in Eight Countries

COVID-19 pandemic propelled teleworking for most firms to conduct work and sustain businesses. However, teleworking invades work-and-personal boundaries and hinders some employees from conducting complex tasks, potentially leading to layoffs. Did the teleworking trend during COVID-19 lead to unfair employee layoffs while companies sustained businesses using teleworking? Did the gender of a company leader predispose them to leverage telework differently because of the work-and-personal boundary predisposition? Motivated by these puzzles, we explore the impact of teleworking on business continuity and employee layoff, differentiated by leadership gender. The firm-level dataset used in this study comes from multiple surveys conducted by a reputable international financial institution with a worldwide presence. Ordinary least square estimation reveals that teleworking has positive impacts on business continuity but adverse effects on employment. We also found subtle moderating effects of female leadership in samples of eight countries with different income levels. Theoretically, this study contributes to our understanding of both technological and human factors during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. It also provides practical implications on IT for development with consideration of income levels