Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
-
Upload
domingo-verano-tacoronte -
Category
Documents
-
view
222 -
download
0
Transcript of Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
1/29
Vol 5, No. 1
This paper is part of eJOV 5 (2003) 1
Electronic Journalof Organizational Virtualness
The whole issue can be downloaded at:http://www.virtual-organization.net/
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
2/29
Editorial Board of this Issue
Carlos Bremer
Nucleus of Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering School of So Carlos, University of SoPaulo, Brasil.
URL: http://producao.prod.eesc.sc.usp.br/producao/docbreme.htmE-Mail: [email protected]
Kevin Crowston
School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, USA.URL: http://florin.syr.edu/~crowston/E-Mail: [email protected]
Judith Gebauer
Fisher Center for Management and Information Technology, Haas School of Business,University of California, USA.URL: http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/~gebauer/
E-Mail: [email protected]
Chris Holland
Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, England.URL: http://www.mbs.ac.uk/research/html/E-Mail: [email protected]
Jose Jarillo
Hautes Etudes Commerciales, University of Geneva, Switzerland.URL:http://hec.info.unige.ch/professeurs/JARILLO_Carlos/pages_web/prof_jarillo_presentatio
n.htm
E-Mail: [email protected]
Twafik Jelassi
Euro-Arab Management School (EAMS), Spain.URL: http://www.eams.fundea.es/faculty/resident/Tawfik.htmE-Mail: [email protected]
Stefan Klein
Institute of Information Systems, University of Mnster, Germany.URL: http://www.wi.uni-muenster.de/wi/E-Mail: [email protected]
Athanassios Kourouklis
Department of Management and Marketing, University of Paisley, Scotland.URL: http://www-mmd.paisley.ac.uk/users/kour-em0/E-Mail: [email protected]
Helmut Krcmar
University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.URL: http://www.uni-hohenheim.de/~www510h/E-Mail: [email protected]
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
3/29
Marvin L. Manheim
J.L Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Management & Strategy Department,Northwestern University, USA.URL: http://www.kellogg.nwu.edu/faculty/bio/Manheim.htmE-Mail: [email protected]
Abbe MowshowitzDepartment of Computer Science, City College of New York and Graduate Center of theCity University of New York, USA.URL: http://www-cs.engr.ccny.cuny.edu/~abbe/
E-Mail: [email protected]
Jonathan Palmer
Robert H. Smith School of Business University of Maryland, College Park, USA.URL: http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/dit/Faculty/palmer.htm
E-Mail:[email protected]
Simpson Poon
Associate Professor of E-Commerce, School of Information Technology, and Director,Centre for E-Commerce & Internet Studies, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia.
URL: http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~spoon/E-Mail: [email protected]
Arvind Rangaswamy
Professor of Business Administration, Pennsylvania State University, USA.
URL: http://www.ebrc.psu.edu/E-Mail: [email protected]
Markku Sksjrvi
Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration, Information Systems Science,
Finland.URL: http://www.hkkk.fi/~iss/staff/msaaks.htmE-Mail: [email protected]
Marcus Schgel
Research Institute for Marketing and Distribution, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.URL: http://www.unisg.ch/fah/E-Mail: [email protected]
Thomas R. Shaw
Management Science and Information Systems Department, University of Texas atAustin, USA.URL: http://wwwvms.utexas.edu/~bgcw757/vita.html
E-Mail: [email protected]
Pascal Sieber
Dr. Pascal Sieber & Partners AG, ps/ Ideen fr die vernetzte Welt, Switzerland.URL: http://www.pascal-sieber.ch/E-Mail: [email protected]
David Skyrme
David Skyrme Associates Limited, England.URL: http://www.skyrme.comE-Mail: [email protected]
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
4/29
Dirk M. Swagerman
Faculty of Technology and Management, University of Twente, Enschede, TheNetherlands.E-Mail: [email protected]
Paula Swatman
Faculty of Informatics, University of Koblenz, Germany.URL: http://www.uni-koblenz.de/~swatmanp/E-Mail: paula.swatman@uni-koblenz .de
Jrg Sydow
Institut fr Allgemeine Betriebswirtschaftslehre, Freie Universitt Berlin, Germany.URL: http://www.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/w3/w3sydow/E-Mail:[email protected]
Bob Travica
School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, USA.URL: http://php.indiana.edu/~btravica/btravica.html
E-Mail: [email protected]
N. Venkatraman
Information Systems Department, Boston University - School of Management, USA.URL: http://SMGnet.bu.edu/fac/profile.cfm?key=VenkatramanN.E-Mail: [email protected]
Harald von Kortzfleisch
Fachgebiet Wirtschaftsinformatik, Universitt Gesamthochschule Kassel, Germany.URL: http://www.inf.wirtschaft.uni-kassel.deE-Mail: [email protected]
Mary Beth Watson-ManheimCollege of Business Administration, University of Illinois, Chicago, USA.URL: http://www.uic.edu/~mbwm/ E-Mail: [email protected]
Rolf T. Wigand
Center for Science & Technology, Syracuse University - School of Information Studies,USA.URL: http://istweb.syr.edu/~wigand/
E-Mail: [email protected]
Udo Winand
Fachgebiet Wirtschaftsinformatik, Universitt Gesamthochschule Kassel, Germany.
URL: http://www.inf.wirtschaft.uni-kassel.de/E-Mail: [email protected]
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
5/29
1
IMPLICATIONS OF TELEWORK FOR ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN:
RESEARCH PROPOSALS FROM THE VIRTUAL WORK PERSPECTIVE
Verano Tacoronte, Domingo
Melin Alzola, [email protected]
Fernndez Monroy, [email protected]
University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain)
ABSTRACT
New economy raises new ways to understand how value is created and howemployees contribute to this aim. In this sense, some academic and professionalresearchers direct their efforts to study telework, trying to know its implications andresults -among them, its impact on the way to manage and organise firms-. Teleworkrepresents a new kind of relation between the employee and the firm. It implies, onone hand, the recognition of employees abilities and, on the other hand, the use ofinformation and comunication technologies to aim the global organisational goals.
As telework is a way of understanding both individual and group work, our basicproposal is that telework results in meaningful changes in organisational design.Because of this, and after an academic and professional literature review, our studycontributes to developing a theoretical framework of telework implications in all thesevariables.
Keywords: telework, organisational design, virtual work, virtual organisation.
1. INTRODUCTION
In modern society, individuals and organisations alike are faced with an environment
characterised by a high level of uncertainty about the economic, social, political, legal,
environmental and technological variables. That makes it necessary to talk about (1) the
economic changes taking place on a global level and affecting the functioning of any
organisation; (2) the variability of the consumers needs and demands, and of competitors
behavior, which requires constant monitoring by the companies; (3) a growing sensitivity to
protecting the environment, requiring organisations to be more concerned about looking after
the environment; and (4) technological development, such as production technology and
information and communication technologies (ICT), which can affect the way in which work is
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
6/29
2
done within an organisation One of the main consequences and, in turn, one of the solutions
in this new context is the virtualisation of companies, which produces more flexible, efficient
and innovative structures.
One of the changes affecting organisational functioning stands out, that of the development
of new forms of work, with telework constituting the most important example. The intention of
this paper is to build up a theoretical framework for studying the cause-effect relationships
between telework and organisational design parameters, adopting Mintzbergs model (1979)
and reviewing academical and professional telework literature. As a result of this, we put
forward a set of theoretical propositions. Our work represents a conceptual and theoretical
approach, although the expressed propositions could be tested as hypotheses in future
empirical research.
In the next sections, after analysing the main characteristics of organisations in the virtual
context, we will review the conceptualisation of telework, study the various modes of telework
and examine its advantages and limitations. Then we will address the influence of telework
on the organisational design variables, a key issue to the achievement of business
objectives. The article finishes by setting out the main conclusions that may orient future
research.
2. ORGANISATIONS IN THE VIRTUAL CONTEXT
Skyrme (1998) proposes a series of overall trends that lead towards increased
virtualisation: (1) products (goods and/or services) are increasingly based on information
and knowledge, in such a way that their sale and even their delivery are carried out by virtual
means; (2) the Internet revolution, which has meant, and still means, redefining businesses;
(3) networking and the interdependence, that have led to new forms of organisation andcollaboration; and (4) globalisation of markets and resources, which has given organisations
access to the world market, irrespective of their physical location. Consequently, that author
identifies different types of virtuality: virtual products, telework, virtual offices, virtual teams,
virtual organisations and virtual communities. The factor common to all those virtual
operations is the use of ICT, which permits geographically widespread activities to be carried
out, more dynamic organisational structures, new ways of relating to clients and the market,
as well as new ways for the employees to work.
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
7/29
3
Organisations must have more flexible structures at their disposal that enable them to
increase their capability to adapt and respond quickly to the changing conditions of their
environment, thus maintaining, or even strengthening their competitive position. Those more
flexible structures can be achieved by separating the companys activities so that they are
developed outside the organisational borders. In that way, there is an attempt to break the
traditional value chain, by dividing its activities and carrying them out externally. This gives
rise to the concept of the virtual organisation (Davidow and Malone, 1992), also called
intelligent or knowledge-based company (Quinn, 1992) or imaginary organisation (Hedberg
et al., 1997) among others. Venkatraman and Henderson (1996) defined virtuality as the
organisations ability to acquire and maintain the basic competences by designing value-
adding business processes in order to stand out in the market for its better performance.The
organisation obtains the non-critical competences from outside, from other companies
included in the virtual organisation.
In those organisations, the managers main concern is to develop and protect the resources
and capabilities that give the company long-term sustainable advantage. Those resources
would permit the organisations to identify, recognise and assume the organisational activities
and processes that the company is capable of carrying out more efficiently (e.g., Quinn,
1992; Bueno, 1996; De la Fuente et al., 1997; Hedberg et al., 1997), eliminating those others
that produce excessive costs or make the organisational structure too rigid and inflexible to
respond to changes in the environment. Then, the company will be prepared to carry out the
basic activities and seek other organisations to carry out other tasks (Davidow and Malone,
1992). In that way, there will be a development of a temporary network of independent
companies suppliers, customers, even erstwhile rivals- linked by information technology to
share skills, costs, and access to one anothers markets (Byrne et al., 1993:37).
In general terms, and despite the literatures different interpretations of the concept of virtual
organisation, it can be said that this structure shows the following characteristics (Jgers etal., 1998):
- Crossing organisational frontiers. Continuous changes taking place in the environment
require organisations to be sufficiently flexible to respond quickly. That flexibility can be
guaranteed through the co-operation of many specialists that make their distinctive
capabilities available to the others.
- Complementary distinctive capabilities and shared resources. Participants in a virtual
organisation complement one another, since each contributes the activity that it carries
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
8/29
4
out most efficiently, making it possible to deliver a product or finish a project, thanks to
co-operation.
- Geographical dispersion. The physical location of the work is not a critical factor, since
communication between organisations making up the network is carried out by means of
ICT.
- Changing participants. Members of a virtual organisation can vary over a period of time.
- Equality among the participants. Each member of the network plays an established role
and contributes to the product development, so the efforts of each must be considered.
In that sense, it is essential to strengthen the culture based on trust.
- Electronic communication. For virtual organisations to function adequately, it is
necessary for them to turn to ICT, since that will allow geographically disperse units or
organisations to co-ordinate.
The basic unit of virtual organisations is the virtual team (Jarvenpaa and Shaw, 1998). From
the organisational point of view, and given the complexity of todays environment, the
creation of work teams means an efficient alternative to achieve the flexibility and efficiency
that managers seek after. However, and considering recent technological advances, it is not
necessary for the team members to be located at one site. They can become a virtual team,
in other words, a team with a common purpose and that uses technology to travel across
time, distance and organisational frontiers (Lipnack and Stamps, 1999). However, as those
authors state, the success of virtual teams depends more on people than on technology.
In that sense, Lipnack and Stamps (1999) consider that the model of virtual team must be
based on three principles: purpose, people and connections. Purpose, important in any
organisation, becomes a key factor in virtual organisations and teams, since it is the glue
that holds them together. In fact, it requires the establishment of co-operative objectives,
individual tasks and specific results. Nevertheless, people make up the heart of the virtual
team. One of the most stressed aspects is their high degree of independence or autonomy,while the need for interdependence and collaboration is also recognised. Connections
between the team members are critical and must be able to be made both by face-to-face
interactions and through ICT. Moreover, the results of Eggerts (2001) work suggest that
physical presence is not decisive in the achievement of successful collaboration, and that
there is no difference between a situation where people speak face-to-face in the same
location and one where they see one another on a video screen. The basic issue is,
therefore, that those interactions result in trust-based relationships.
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
9/29
5
Then, the creation of a special culture figures as a key factor in virtual organisations and
teams (e.g., Davidow and Malone, 1992; Handy, 1995; Hedberg et al., 1997; Zimmermann,
1997) and makes possible the co-ordination of people whose actions cannot be directly
observed. That culture is founded on trust, responsibility, common values and openness.
Trust building is a very important mechanism to unite the participants in the organisation or
virtual team in such a way that management must be based more on trust than on control
(Handy, 1995; Davenport and Pearlson, 1998). Therefore, we are talking about developing a
high-trust culture, in a way that each participant has to be someone who deserves the others
trust, and who, at the same time, trusts his collaborators (Hedberg and Olve, 1997). As these
two authors state, surveys, information bulletins, employees meetings, or relationships on the
intranet or Internet can be used to build trust, which proves that the use of modern ICT in a
virtual work environment is essential.
However, apart from the need for a culture of trust, constant stimulation of the relationship is
also required in an attempt to boost the feeling of belonging, by means of ideologies,
traditions and beliefs shared by the members (Hedberg et al., 1997). A shared mission plays
an important role in the control or co-ordination of a collaborative relationship, since it can
avoid opportunist behavior by the various participants, align the individual objectives (of each
company participating in the virtual organisation) with the organisational objectives, and
increase the social cohesion of the network (Van Aken et al., 1998). That same idea could be
applied to the concept of the virtual team.
Until now, the concepts of the virtual organisation and team have been approached as
structures that permit the achievement of the flexibility and efficiency so necessary in such a
dynamic and complex environment as todays. The high degree of ICT development has
contributed to the appearance of new organisation forms with the necessary requirements to
enable them to compete in the market, specifically by means of virtual collaboration. Daniels
et al. (2001) consider that companies characterised by having virtual structures are morelikely to adopt telework. In turn, Pratt (2000) considers telework as the precursor of working
in an organisation with no frontiers, also stating that virtual teams represent an extreme
example of distance working. That gives rise to a broader concept, virtual work, which Fritz
and Manheim (1998) define as the interdependent work activities carried out by individuals
working in different physical locations. So, virtual work offers a strategic approach to how
technology facilitates changes in work by sharing knowledge and skills across traditional
organisational barriers (Jackson, 1999).
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
10/29
6
As Kurland and Bailey (1999) state, all forms of telework have in common the transition from
personal supervision to remote management, from face-to-face communication to
communication through technology, from work in the physical location of the company to
work outside its boundaries (even in multiple locations), and, in the case of team work, from
side-by-side collaboration to virtual teamwork. Consequently, given the important
repercussions that distance working has on the company and, in turn, on its organisational
design, the following section will analyse the concept of telework in greater detail.
3. TELEWORK: CONCEPT AND SCOPE
The definition of telework has changed with time to include different forms of working that
have common elements while reflecting important differences. The most traditional
definitions described telework as the working activity carried out outside the traditional office,
basically taken to mean working at home (Nilles, 1998) and not necessarily implying the use
of ICT (Mokhtarian, 1991; Nilles, 1998). The more up-to-date definitions include the various
places, apart from the traditional office, where work can be done, and defend the intensive
use of ICT (Daniels et al., 2001). However, it is no easy task to offer a definition of telework,
due to the lack of agreement among existing definitions. That aspect, which will be dealt with
later, needs some brief comments about the commonly accepted telework types and the
main advantages and disadvantages of this flexible work formula mentioned in the literature.
Telework categories
Despite the above-mentioned difficulties of conceptualisation, and in order to focus the
discussion on telework and its place in the virtual organisation, the main types are
mentioned, since a certain consensus has been found in the literature consulted (Mokhtarian,1991; Gray et al., 1993; Huws, 1995; Davenport and Pearlson, 1998; Kurland and Bailey,
1999; Gray, 2001).
- Home workers. This term includes employees who work full-time at home and only visit
the office to collect and hand in material or to attend meetings, as well as those
employees who combine part-time work at home with working at the office.
- Mobile workers. These workers have no fixed location and work on planes, at home, in
the car, in hotels, etc.
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
11/29
7
- Telework centres. The work is not carried out in the companys own offices, but in an
agreed physical location where workers use their own material or share it with other
teleworkers by means of shift-work. Within this group, the following can be found:
o Satellite offices. These move the workplace closer to the workers homes, thus saving
travelling and other costs.
o Telematic offices. These are centres equipped with a suitable tele-infrastructure
shared by various companies; thus reducing investment in wholly owned equipment.
o Telematic work centres. Centres that offer the tele-infrastructure and staff to assist,
making it possible for them to cover the services that companies ask for.
Advantages and limitations of telework
The analysis of business reality reflects the growing number of companies that are adopting
telework as a work formula (Skyrme, 1998; Johnston and Nolan, 2000). The advantages that
telework offers to companies can be summed up as follows: (1) increasing worker
productivity because employees experience greater schedule flexibility and autonomy,
allowing them to work during the times they work best (Kurland and Egan, 1999; Doherty et
al., 2000); (2) teleworking enables organisations to cut costs related to office space, as well
as to address space constraints; (3) allowing organisations to recruit people who would
otherwise be unable to work in the organisation (Baruch, 2000); and (4) telecommuting
benefits society because employees commute less, which reduces traffic congestion and air
pollution (Mokhtarian, 1991).
However, having set out the advantages, there are some objections to the formula. In that
respect, Davenport and Pearlson (1998) stress the difficulty in measuring the companys
productivity and identifying the factors that really affect it. They believe that there may be
changes in management systems that generate higher productivity that cannot be attributed
exclusively to telework. Moreover, there is a tendency to measure the more quantifiableaspects and neglect the less tangible aspects, such as informal training, which could lead to
high, unrealistic productivity rates. For example, telework may cause a reduction in shared
tacit knowledge (Davenport and Pearlson, 1998), which could lower the productivity rate.
Along those lines, Shin et al. (2000) point out that the traditional concept of productivity, as a
ratio of input-output quantities, may not be suitable for measuring work based on knowledge,
due to quantifying difficulties.
Regarding the reduction in costs, although telework does need less investment, especially inoffices, its execution requires a series of resources (e.g., physical space taken up in
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
12/29
8
teleworkers homes, investment in ICT resources and tools), although some of those costs
are assumed by the teleworkers themselves (Shin et al., 2000).
In addition, telework can be detrimental to the teleworkers, insofar as it isolates them socially
or professionally (Davenport and Pearlson, 1998; Kurland and Bailey, 1999; Kurland and
Egan, 1999). Social isolation would basically affect those teleworkers working full-time at
home, while professional isolation, or the limited possibilities of professional promotion within
the company, affects all types of teleworker. The solution put forward to that problem is to
stimulate internal communication with the aim of increasing informal communication and
keeping the teleworkers present in the organisation by having them to attend the traditional
work place with a certain regularity, so that they do not lose touch.
The problem of telework conceptualisation
Having shown the main characteristics of telework, it is necessary to go in depth into the
problems extensively reflected in the literature on telework conceptualisation. The definition
of telework as a generally accepted concept does not exist, since, as new possibilities arise
from technological advance, the concept irreversibly evolves. The appearance of new forms
of telework based on the use of ICT has caused different approaches to be used at each
moment to conceptualise telework, so academics and professionals have not reached an
agreed definition (Gray et al., 1993; Huws, 1995; Helling, 2000; Pratt, 2000; Daniels et al.,
2001). That situation has made not only research extremely difficult, but also the comparison
of telework in various countries, as well as the evolution of this work method over time. As an
example, two of the definitions considered the most complete are offered. Gray et al.
(1993:73) define telework as a flexible way of working which covers a wide range of work
activities, all of which entail working remotely from an employer or from a traditional place of
work, for a significant proportion of work time. Teleworking may be either on a full-time or
part-time basis. The work often involves electronic processing of information, and alwaysinvolves using telecommunications to set the remote employer and employee in contact with
each other. Padilla (1998:33) considers it a work system in which the worker can work
where and when he/she wishes by means of ICT. Telework means places of work other than
the usual ones, remote supervision, an information-based activity, intra- and extra-
organisational electronic communication, and intensive use of ICT.
Therefore, the debate on what telework is or is not continues. The main points of argument
are as follows: (1) the inclusion of working in telecentres as a telework category, since theseare very similar to traditional branches (Gray, 2001); (2) the consideration or not of
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
13/29
9
complementary work related to the occasional use of a computer at home, outside traditional
office working hours and for short periods (e.g., less than one day a week or as overtime) as
telework (Huws, 1995; Johnston and Botterman, 1998; Nilles, 1998; Johnston and Nolan
2000; Gray, 2001); (3) tacit telework, that is, not recognised in any contract, nor explicitly
permitted by the organisation employing the worker (Johnston and Botterman, 1998;
Johnston and Nolan, 2000); (4) the consideration of free-lance or self-employed as
teleworkers, on the one hand, because it cannot be said that it is a new form of employment,
since the same occurs with staff such as salespeople who have always been mobile
(Johnson, 1997; Gray, 2001); and on the other hand, because of the lower degree of
company control and organisation of their work, which would imply that the teleworker should
be contracted as an employee (Doherty et al., 2000; Gray, 2001); and (5) the need to use
ICT for the activity to be considered telework (Mokhtarian, 1991), although in that aspect the
position appears to be clearer, insofar as the majority of the most relevant authors consulted
consider that the use of ICT is a prerequisite of the concept of telework. Helling (2000)
believes that for an activity to require the factor use of ICT before being considered
telework is redundant since most de-located jobs are possible due to the very existence of
ICT.
The solution to the problem of conceptualising telework and clarifying it demands different
requisites. One of them would be maximum transparency in the operativisation of the work
activity studied (Johnston and Botterman, 1998; Johnston and Nolan, 2000), which makes it
easier for researchers to know exactly which category of telework they are studying. Another
recommendation would be to centre the study on only one type of telework, specifying its
characteristics and avoiding over-generic definitions, which are necessarily inclusive and do
not allow the analysis of the reality of every category (Huws, 1995; Gray, 2001). Lastly, other
authors, with Huws (1995) and Daniels et al. (2001) standing out, recommend the use of
factors common to telework in all its definitions.
4. IMPLICATIONS OF TELEWORK FOR ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN
As previously mentioned, todays organisations are operating in a continuously changing
environment. That means the search for new forms of organisation that enable rapid
response to those changes. The function of organising means the design of the most suitable
organisational structure to achieve the established objectives efficiently and effectively. The
structure of the organisation is built by means of organisational design, that is, pushing the
buttonsthat influence the division of work and the co-ordination mechanisms, which in turnaffect the way an organisation functions, in terms of authority flows, information and decision
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
14/29
10
processes (Mintzberg, 1979). Consequently, the definition of structure comprises
differentiation, which means dividing the work to be done into a set of tasks, and integration,
which refers to the co-ordination of those tasks in order to achieve the objectives established
(Hodge et al., 1998). However, to achieve an efficient design, it is necessary to analyse the
contextual factors affecting organisations. This analysis will reveal the contingency variables,
such as the environment, technology and the size and age of the organisation itself, among
others, and, in that way, the structure fitting those characteristics will be selected.
In generic terms, organisational structures fall into one of the following classifications:
mechanistic structures or organic structures. Mechanistic structures are characterised by the
bureaucratisation of its activities and the tendency to seek stable, efficient designs. On the
other hand, organic structures represent dynamic designs that are prone to change and that
sacrifice stability for organisational flexibility. Distinguishing characteristics of each structure
obey the variables shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Characteristics of the mechanistic and organic structure
Source: Adapted from De la Fuente et al. (1997), Hall (1991), Hodge et al. (1998)MECHANISTIC STRUCTURES ORGANIC STRUCTURES
- High functional specialisation.- High formalisation. Strong dependence on
rules.
- Extremely hierarchical structures ofcommunication and control.- Appropriate model in stable environments.
- Great importance of knowledge andexperience to carry out the tasks.
- Continuous adjustment and redefinition of
tasks.- Network structure of communication and
control.- Appropriate model in dynamic
environments.
From the above classification, it can be said that present structures must seek the most
suitable organisational form in order to face the new enviromental determinants (e.g., the
revolution in communications and information systems, market globalisation, greater
competition, more demanding consumers). In other words, companies need to change their
organisational structures, eliminating the traditional pyramidal model, removing many of the
hierarchical levels, seeking more flexible forms, with more ability to adapt and learn, and with
new strategies enabling the companies to adapt to the new environment, and even prompt it
(Padilla, 2001). Telework is not suitable for companies with very centralised decision making
and underformalised job appraisal (Shin et al., 2000). In effect, as previously mentioned,
many authors relate telework to the so-called virtual organisations. One key argument is that
virtual structures give greater access to organisational skills and flexibility to face dynamic,
complex environments. To be coherent with that idea, companies that adopt those structuresare more likely to adopt telework. The line to follow will be to favour knowledge-intensive
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
15/29
11
telework, remote co-ordination of highly qualified groups of workers, and in extreme cases,
dismantle the organisation until the project has been completed (Daniels et al., 2001). In this
work proposals for research based on that type of telework are developed.
Once the greater potential of telework is accepted in the heart of virtual, organic companies,
one key area of interest is seen to be the influence of telework in defining the design of
parameters in those structures, that is, how remote work affects the structural configuration.
This obliges the management to take a stance in each one of the design parameters (see
Figure 2) in an attempt to find the organisational structure that best meets the demands to be
faced.
Figure 2. The design parameters
Source: Adapted from Mintzberg (1979)GROUP DESIGN PARAMETER
Job design Horizontal and vertical specialisationBehavior formalisationTraining and indoctrination
Superstructure design Grouping of unitsUnit size
Design of lateral linkages Planning and control systemsLinking mechanisms
Design of decision making system Decentralisation
From the joint analysis of the implications of telework on the organisational design variables
appears a series of basic premises applicable to knowledge-intensive telework that also
requires a high degree of autonomy in decision making and work planning by the
teleworkers. Given the variety of existing telework types, it is accepted that those proposals
are of a generic nature, so they may be subject to review, even more so when telework may
be applied to one part of the organisation (activity, task or process) and not to all its levels.
Vertical specialisation
One objective of telework is to make the tasks flexible so that the employee has the
autonomy necessary to achieve his/her objectives within the limits set by the organisation. In
that way, vertical specialisation of job positions decreases, with the consequent increase in
employee autonomy, since, as some authors (e.g., Davenport and Pearlson, 1998; Kurland
and Egan, 1999) point out, the worker has greater planning flexibility and power. Thus, the
teleworker acquires the capability to organise him/herself to his/her convenience in order to
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
16/29
12
carry out the task at his/her best, adapting the timetable and work rhythm to personal
preferences.
That capability to decide when to do the work matches what is known in organisational
design as job enrichment, meaning the jobs are designed to increase responsibility,
recognition, and opportunities for growth and achievement (Daft, 1998), by giving greater
autonomy to the employee. Faced with that situation, it is necessary to warn that only
individuals capable of achieving the set objectives without close supervision and who act with
strong self-discipline and self-motivation are ideal candidates to participate in a telework
program (Apgar, 1998). However, self-discipline and self-motivation in their highest degree
may lead to the teleworker not being able to draw a clear line between private and
professional life, which in turn may lead to exceeding the necessary working hours (Ellison,
1999; Shin et al., 2000).
However, the underlying logic of the teleworker autonomy is that this mode basically includes
workers with a solid knowledge base (Davenport and Pearlson, 1998; Daniels et al., 2001).
At this point, it should be pointed out that one of the reasons for reducing vertical
specialisation is that, faced with the need to take decisions in the job, the individual has the
necessary training. If the company can define the development of the tasks a priori, it will do
so, but in cases where the tasks are complex and unpredictable, it will leave decisions to the
discretion of the trained worker (Mintzberg, 1979). Various authors (e.g.,Handy, 1995; Fritz
and Manheim, 1998; Jarvenpaa and Shaw, 1998; Lipnack and Stamps, 1999) support that
idea since, once the management have defined the objective to be achieved, and trusting in
the competence of the virtual teams and organisations members, the individual or the team
can be left to get on with that goal, having the capability to solve their own problems,
although it is important that the individuals be interdependent. So, it can be considered that,
in many cases, teleworkers are usually professionals who perform complex tasks, with the
product either not defined or not clearly defined, and with supervisors that cannot programthe employees work at all (Daniels et al., 2001). In other words, a large part of telework
involves handling autonomies, knowledge, complexity and diversity, therefore there will be a
tendency to reduce vertical specialisation.
Proposition 1: The use of telework leads to a reduction of vertical specialisation of the
jobs within an organisation.
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
17/29
13
Horizontal specialisation
Davenport and Pearlson (1998) indicate that one of the reasons why a company may decide
to operate in a virtual environment (e.g., virtual offices) stems from the process
reengineering. According to Hammer and Champy (1993), reengineering involves radical
rethinking and redesign of business processes in order to achieve dramatic improvements in
their performance (e.g., cost, quality, service, speed). That emerging organisational aspect
implies the restructuring of the activities to be developed in the company in such a way that it
evolves from the comprehensive division of labor involving high horizontal work
specialisation, towards a regrouping of the most interdependent tasks and their assignation
to a specific job, meaning a reduction in horizontal specialisation. As Davenport and
Pearlson (1998) explain, by redesigning the process of handling orders, for example in a way
that the company sales staff can fix a product, its price and the form of delivery while in the
actual clients office, there will be less need for physical contact between the salesperson
and the manufacturing, financial and logistic staff. For success, nevertheless, Handy (1995)
considers that reengineering must be built on trust.
All that contributes to reducing the importance of assigning specific tasks to the worker if it
improves individual and group performance, which means that horizontal specialisation of the
job position is relatively low. In certain circumstances, nevertheless, telework can be used to
carry out non-knowledge-intensive activities (e.g., Davenport et al., 1996; Daniels et al.,
2001), which are characterised by being routine, isolated and low autonomy tasks. However,
based on the premises that process reengineering is an emerging aspect of organisational
design, that telework is a method that facilitates organisational structuring in a virtual
environment and that the resulting designs offer greater organisational flexibility in a
dynamic, complex environment, the original notion that telework contributes to reducing the
horizontal specialisation of job positions is still valid.
Proposition 2: The use of telework leads to a reduction in the horizontal specialisation
of the jobs within an organisation.
Formalisation and training
The review of the literature on telework in its widest sense shows that individuals need
certain skills in order to be more effective in a virtual work environment (e.g., Apgar, 1998;
Davenport and Pearlson, 1998; Fritz and Manheim, 1998; Manheim and Watson-Manheim,1999). To be specific, Fritz and Manheim (1998:125) state that the development of the skills
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
18/29
14
of individuals and overall management of people in any virtual work environment appears to
be crucial to effective performance.
In an analysis of the human dimension of virtual work, it is important to stress the need to
train the employee to be able to work with every possible means of telecommunication, for
example in the use of e-mail, distribution lists and Groupware (Skyrme, 1998). Moreover,
Davenport and Pearlson (1998) explain that companies that adopt virtual work must offer
programs for training in strategies of personal work in a virtual office environment. Those
training programs must be aimed both at teleworkers (e.g., how to work at home without
interruptions, to plan in advance the best location to work on determined days, to maintain
adequate communication with co-workers and supervisors) and managers. So, training must
not only include teleworkers, but also their bosses, and even their non-teleworking
colleagues. Supervisors must learn a new way of relating to their collaborators, new means
of communication and a necessarily different system of appraisal and motivation, that is, they
must learn to manage and appraise the employees by remote means (Davenport and
Pearlson, 1998; Skyrme, 1998). Furthermore, non-teleworking colleagues must be kept up to
date in ways of communication, and above all, they have to be convinced of the legitimacy of
telework as a work option. As Shin et al. (2000) state, there is a potential danger for
teleworkers in the belief that telework is a luxury and not a distinct work option with its own
problems and benefits.
Since the introduction of telework into the company represents a significant change in the
way of working, the traditional schemesmust be modified. Success formulas in traditional
work do not easily adapt to telework. Therefore, it can be said that not all good workers have
to be good teleworkers, nor are all good managers prepared to manage a team with
teleworkers, hence the importance of training all those participating and all those involved.
It is also necessary to mention the importance of training in their performance because of thehigh autonomy required to achieve the objectives, as previously mentioned. As Davenport
and Pearlson (1998:60) state, virtual office work is particularly well-suited to processes
performed by autonomous knowledge workers.
Lastly, and referring to the parameter of formalisation, it can also be said that the
organisations need to design jobs with a high degree of autonomy in decision making and in
planning knowledge-intensive work makes the standardisation of tasks very complex and
even unviable. The behavior formalisation leads to vertical specialisation of the job positions
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
19/29
15
(Mintzberg, 1979) and since, as previously argued, that specialisation must be low,
formalisation must also be low.
Proposition 3: The use of telework requires high levels of on-going training for
teleworkers and non-teleworkers.
Proposition 4: The use of telework requires low behavior formalisation.
Indoctrination
In line with Mintzberg (1979), indoctrination is of great importance when the work is delicate
or remote and when the organisations culture and ideology require strong commitment.
Therefore, Davenport and Pearlson (1998) state that, as offices are places in which to be
socialised in the organisations culture, telework generates an opportunity cost because the
company loses that potential for indoctrination. In the words of Johnston and Botterman
(1998), isolation, both social and professional, is one of the main disadvantages of remote
work. In adition, Daniels et al. (2001) show the need to analyse the social implications of
telework by studying variables such as required intra-organisational contact, extra-
organisational contact, or client contact, and other factors.
Along the same lines, many authors (e.g., Apgar, 1998; Kurland and Bailey, 1999; Kurland
and Egan, 1999) warn of the danger of social and professional isolation that the employee
may experience on adopting this new work mode. In that respect, Baruch and Nicholson
(1997) and Raghuram et al. (2001) recognise that, in generic terms, the employees
identification with the organisation strengthens the adaptation and acceptance of the
behavior desired by the organisation they belong to, which is a key success factor to
implement telework. In order to strengthen its culture and values, the organisation must seek
socialisation formulas, for example, by means of regular meetings that allow the company totransmit, and the teleworker to assume the corporate values. Johnston and Botterman (1998)
suggest a package of solutions or possible practices, from which the following stand out: (1)
promoting a strong identification with the organisation; (2) developing a supportive corporate
culture; (3) introducing informal support networks for self-employed teleworkers; and (4)
requiring a minimum number of days work in the office.
Faced with the problem of how you manage people whom you do not see, many authors
(e.g., Handy, 1995; Fritz and Manheim, 1998; Jarvenpaa and Shaw, 1998; Skyrme, 1998)consider that the answer is to be found in the development of trust. Nevertheless, Handy
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
20/29
16
(1995) points that it does not sit easily with a managerial tradition that believes efficiency and
control are closely linked and that you cant have one without a lot of the other, and
therefore, it is necessary to rediscover how to run organisations based more on trust than on
control, since virtuality requires trust to make it work, because technology on its own is not
enough.
Proposition 5: The use of telework requires high levels of indoctrination.
Grouping of units
Traditionally, companies have used the procedure of grouping based on functional criteria,
which creates problems of inter-functional co-ordination. However, in order to respond rapidly
to an increasingly competitive market, it is necessary to co-ordinate the work flow
interdependencies, that is, the relationships of dependence across an organisations
functional areas. Therefore, the company must achieve a balance between the management
of functional competences and the co-ordination of the key processes.
In that sense, the appearance of the new ICT, as well as the development of work in a virtual
context, facilitate knowledge and skills sharing across the functional and physical
organisational frontiers (Jackson, 1999; Lipnack and Stamps, 1999), which favours the
creation of virtual teams based on projects or processes.In fact, Daniels et al. (2001)
consider that virtual structures are often characterised as flexible federations of groups and
individuals, operating by means of matrix structures. Similarly, Skyrme (1998) recognises the
potential for productivity of multi-disciplinary teams in the virtual context. In that way,
organisations based on project co-ordination and having virtual structures can obtain great
advantages from remote work.
Proposition 6: The use of telework favours the grouping of units based on multi-disciplinary work teams.
Unit size
Telematic means that support telework facilitate communication between work team
members. That characteristic is exploited to promote the creation of multi-disciplinary teams
requiring intensive co-ordination. Therefore, considering the peculiarities of ICT and of work
in a virtual environment, it can be said that organisations have large units at their disposalsince personal supervision of unit members by their superior is not necessary (in general
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
21/29
17
terms, the employee has great autonomy and, a priori, face-to-face encounters are not
necessary).
However, although ease of co-ordination may permit the unit size to be increased, it must be
pointed out that the complex nature of the tasks performed and the need for high
interdependence might encourage a reduction in size. In that respect, Skyrme (1998)
indicates that the most productive teams in knowledge-intensive work are small-sized multi-
disciplinary groups of about five to eight people. In turn, Pratt (2000) states that the new
virtual context that organisations operate in are characterised by networks of small groups
functioning as self-managed teams that are objective-oriented with comprehensive horizontal
communication, as well as being closely linked, and with many leaders. In fact, Lipnack and
Stamps (1999) consider that a virtual team is a type of small group, and it differs from other
small groups in forms of communication, number of relationships, and in the ability to create
in a global context.In that way, and in general terms, telework at group level that attempts to
maximise the co-ordination of its members to take advantage of shared knowledge will lead
to a reduction in the unit or team size, especially if small groups are considered necessary
for trust to function (Handy, 1995).
Proposition 7: The use of telework leads to a reduction in the basic units size in multi-
disciplinary work teams.
Planning and control systems
Telework promotes the use of planning systems and the need to develop control
mechanisms different from the traditional ones based on direct supervision, which reinforces
the idea that those organisations are based more on trust than on strict control. The co-
ordination of teleworkers requires detailed planning, with defined products and measurable
criteria of appraisal, regular meetings and the establishment of suitable monitoring methods.On similar lines, Kurland and Egan (1999) indicate three approaches that may be used to
supervise a team of teleworkers: (1) management by objectives or projects, instead of the
supervisors subjective appraisals; (2) written job descriptions and performance requirements
for each tele-job; and (3) formal communication between employees and supervisors.
In turn, authors such as Davenport and Pearlson (1998) and Fritz and Manheim (1998)
explain that establishing performance standards is the prevailing trend in telework. More
specifically, this can be done at both individual and work team level, covering such mattersas the termination of the project, its development, customer satisfaction and financial aspects
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
22/29
18
(Davenport and Pearlson, 1998). In that way, telework cannot be conceived without
management by objectives that assesses according to the criteria of efficiency and results,
although, since it is impossible to physically control the employee, this must be done by
means of ICT. However, among the critics of remote management are the managers
themselves, opposed to losing direct control of their employees (Apgar, 1998; Johnston and
Nolan, 2000).
Davenport and Pearlson (1998) confirm those aspects when they state that virtual work
requires the explicit establishment of objectives between managers and employees and that
control in a virtual context is different from that in a physical environment. According to those
authors, the underlying logic is that, if the workers are not physically close to their
supervisors, traditional control loses its efficiency. Hence the need to seek new trust-
developing forms of control (e.g., set the objective to be achieved and leave the individual or
team to achieve it). As Handy (1995) points out, freedom within boundaries works best when
the work unit is self-contained, having the capability within it to solve its own problems.
Therefore, in virtual teams purpose is the glue that holds them together. It requires co-
operative goals, interdependent tasks, and concrete results (Lipnack and Stamps, 1999).
Proposition 8: The use of telework requires the development of planning and control
systems that permit the limits of the actions of workers and teams to be established,
and the results achieved to be monitored.
Linking mechanisms
Lateral linkages constitute horizontal co-ordination mechanisms that attempt to resolve the
deficiencies in co-ordination that occur when one type of grouping is chosen (Mintzberg,
1979). By developing ICT, that co-ordination is favoured, which will permit communication
between the various team members to intensify (Gristock, 1997).
However, it does not mean that ICT are going to eliminate lateral linkages, except in some
cases (e.g., the function of a liaison position created to transfer information can be
substituted by telematic networks). It is fairer to say that the new technologies are going to
serve as a platform for virtual encounters (e.g., taskforces and permanent committees by
videoconference). In fact, Skyrme (1998) recognises the role of videoconferences in
improving communication and in raising levels of trust.
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
23/29
19
Physical distance between teleworkers and their company causes communication to be
discontinuous. Therefore, faced with the tendency to implement telematic communication
instead of personal communication, and although telecommunication networks permit
geographically distanced staff to remain in contact, there must be promotion of regular
personal meetings and communications between employees and their superiors (Davenport
and Pearlson, 1998) in line with the task performed. Gristock (1998) and Skyrme (1998)
express their agreement with that when they defend the combined use of the new ICT and
face-to-face meetings in virtual work.
Proposition 9: The use of telework stimulates horizontal communication by telematic
means, but combined with personal communication.
Decentralisation
Decentralisation refers to the degree of decision making dispersion (Mintzberg, 1979), which
means that a high degree of decentralisation allows the lower levels of the organisation to
assume the responsibilities relative to their work areas with the objective of more informed
decision making. Among the factors that contribute to decentralisation are: better
qualifications of subordinates and the availability of, and speed of, access to information
which will permit more suitable decision making in the lower hierarchical levels (Navas,
1994). Furthermore, process reengineering in the organisational design leads to flat
structures and to delegate authority to lower levels (Daft, 1998). In fact, there is a tendency
to make the organisation more flexible by trusting those who have the knowledge necessary
for decision making. In that sense, ICT give the worker a greater decision making capability
by improving the information transfer between employees and teams.
Regarding this design parameter, Raghuram et al. (2001) uphold the idea that telework has a
positive impact on the organisational design by bringing about the development ofdecentralised structures, which is supported by process reengineering in remote work
(Handy, 1995; Davenport and Pearlson, 1998). Meanwhile, Nilles (1998) stresses the role of
telework in the decentralisation of companies since it contributes to eliminating the tendency
to physically centralise all the activity by splitting it up where that is more suitable, a
consequence of knowledge society, where true added-value lies in knowledge management.
In the same way, Skyrme (1998) considers that telework requires decisions to be made when
and where are necessary, that is, decentralisation.
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
24/29
20
However, Navas (1994) argues that ICT justify greater decentralisation of the organisation,
as well as greater centralisation. Consequently, the casuistry of telework is a means and not
an end, and, therefore, telework can be used both in bureaucratic and in organic companies.
Hence, the degree of decentralisation/centralisation can vary.
However, starting from the idea supported throughout this work that telework is based on
autonomy and the delegation of responsibilities, the tendency to decentralise the
organisational structure stands out.
Proposition 10: The use of telework requires the dispersion of decision making and
decentralisation of the organisational structure.
As a result of the above analysis, Figure 3 shows the main ideas or premises resulting from
examining the reviewed works about the influence of telework on organisational design.
Figure 3: Influence of telework on organisational design
DESIGN PARAMETER IMPACT OF TELEWORK
Horizontal specialisation Low
Vertical specialisation Low
Behavior formalisation LowTraining Strong knowledge in ICT use and in new control and
communication formulas
Indoctrination When there is a danger of social isolation, socialisationmechanisms must be stimulated
Grouping of units Multi-functional or multi-disciplinary groups
Unit size Low
Planning and control systems Management by objectives or projects
Linking mechanisms Combination of ICT and face-to-face communication
Decentralisation High
The aspects shown, as mentioned before, represent first thoughts in an area of study still in
its infancy. Therefore, in-depth studies will follow that will check the truth of the proposals set
out, in order to obtain a better understanding of the impact of ICT and business practices in
the heart of organisations.
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
25/29
21
5. CONCLUSIONS
The professional and academic literature review reveals the need for a more complete and
detailed analysis of the relationship between telework and organisational design. In this
sense, we hope to have contributed to addressing the aforementioned existing issues. As a
result, we present the following conclusions and final comments:
- The new economy, mainly characterised by the use of technologies as a formula to
create added-value, generates the development of new organisations and modus
operandi.New market demands and new ways of understanding how to manage the
company determine the establishment of new relationships, including those with the
worker. Teleworker are exponents of this new stream.
- The variables defining telework are widely recognised in the literature (contractual
relationship that includes the mode of remote work by telematic means), as are the types
of telework (mainly home, mobile and in established centres and offices).
- Given the importance and impact of telework on the organisation at financial,
organisational and human levels, systems or formulas that permit the assessment and
measurement of telework efficiency and its contribution to the organisational goals must
be created.
- In relation to costs, contrary to the reduction of costs attributed to lower investment in
infrastructure, it should be considered that there is a cost item, often not estimated,
namely the training or recycling of those employees accustomed to another form of work
(e.g., face-to-face with other employees, managerial supervision), and who may not
show the productivity intended with telework. Since such expenditure can be considered
opportunity costs for the company, when redesigning the work, the type of activity and
task, and which workers are ideal for this new method must be estimated. Also, there
must be an analysis of the treatment or location of those workers (staff and
management), that are productive for the company but do not adapt to the new system.- The main implications of knowledge-intensive telework with a high degree of autonomy
on the organisational design are: a) the reduction in horizontal and vertical specialisation
of job positions; b) worker training in the new medium; c) the maintenance of the
organisational culture in the teleworkers; d) greater emphasis on the creation of
interfunctional work teams that stress processes more than functions; e) the importance
of clearly planning the objectives and guidelines of the task to be performed by the
teleworker; g) the need to establish controls, not physical, but by the achievement of
established goals; h) the simplicity of the function of lateral links that telematic means
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
26/29
22
provide, and that contribute to co-ordination between remote workers or teams; and g)
decentralisation of the organisation.
- Finally, and since the design variables must have different configurations depending on
the type of telework that is going to be introduced, the propositions set out are valid
exclusively in an environment of knowledge-intensive tasks with a high degree of
autonomy.
Nevertheless, we only attempt to describe how the organisation should design its structure
when considering telework implementation. So this work does not focus on the process of
change to the new design, but in the resulting structure design.
As a final comment, we want to remark that the propositions set out should be considered to
be starting points for developing the theoretical hypotheses to be tested in an empirical study
and useful insights for managerial practice in the introduction of telework in organisations.
6. REFERENCES
APGAR, M. (1998), The alternative workplace: changing where and how people work,
Harvard Business Review, (Mayo-Junio), 121-136.
BARUCH, Y. (2000), Teleworking: benefits and pitfalls as perceived by professionals and
managers, New Technology, Work and Employment,Vol. 15, 1: 34-49.
BARUCH, Y.; NICHOLSON, N. (1997), Home, sweet work: requirements for effective
homeworking, Journal of General Management,Vol. 23, 2: 15-30.
BUENO CAMPOS, E. (1996), Organizacin de empresas. Estructura, procesos y modelos,
Madrid: Pirmide.
BYRNE, J.A.; BRANDT, R.; PORT, O. (1993), The virtual corporation, Business Week,
(february), 8: 36-40.
DAFT, R.L. (1998), Organizatinal theory and design, Cincinnati: South Western CollegePublishing.
DANIELS, K.; LAMOND, D.; STANDEN, P. (2001), Teleworking: frameworks for
organisational research, Journal of Management Studies, Vol 38, (December), 8:
1151-1185.
DAVENPORT, T.H.; JARVENPAA, S.L.; BEERS, M.C. (1996), Managing and improving
knowledge work processes, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 38, (Summer), 4: 53-65.
DAVENPORT, T.H.; PEARLSON, K. (1998), Two cheers for the virtual office, Sloan
Management Review, Vol. 39, 4: 51-65.
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
27/29
23
DAVIDOW, W.H.; MALONE, M.S. (1992), The virtual corporation, New York: Harper Collins
Publishers.
DE LA FUENTE SABAT, J.M.; GARCA-TENORIO RONDA, J.; GUERRAS MARTN, L.A.;
HERNNGOMEZ BARAHONA, J. (1997), Diseo organizativo de la empresa,Madrid:
Civitas.
DOHERTY, S.; ANDREY, J.; JOHNSON, L. (2000), The economic and social impacts of
telework, Paper presented in U. S. Department of Labor Symposium on Telework,
October 16, Xavier University, New Orleans, LA. Accessed 05/27/02 in
http://www.dol.gov/asp/telework/.
EGGERT, A. (2001), The role of communication in virtual teams, The Electronic Journal of
Organisational Virtualness. Vol. 3, 2: 1-11 .
ELLISON, N. (1999), Social impacts: new perspectives on telework, Social ScienceComputer Review, Vol. 17, 3: 338-356.
FRITZ, M.B.; MANHEIM, M.L. (1998), Managing virtual work: a framework for managerial
action, in P. Sieber and J. Griese (eds.), Organisational Virtualness. Proceedings of
the VoNet Workshop, 123-135, Bern: Simowa Verlag Bern.
GRAY, M. (2001), Under the umbrella of teleworking: analysing the diversity of working
arrangements, Paper presented in Work, Employment and Society Conference,
University of Nottingham.
GRAY, M., HODSON, N.; GORDON, G. (1993), Teleworking explained,New York: Wiley.GRISTOCK, J. (1997), Communications and organisational virtuality, The Electronic
Journal of Organisational Virtualness. Vol. 1, 5: 6-11.
GRISTOCK, J. (1998), The combinatory role of virtual experiences: implications for
knowledge exchange, The Electronic Journal of Organisational Virtualness.Vol. 2, 2:
9-14.
HALL, R.H. (1991), Organisations: structures, processes and outcomes, New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.
HAMMER, M.; CHAMPY, J. (1993), Reengineering the corporation, New York: Harper
Collins.
HANDY, C. (1995), Trust and the virtual organisation, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 73,
(May-June), 40-50.
HEDBERG, B.; DAHLGREN, G.; HANSSON, J.; OLVE, N.-G. (1997), Virtual Organisations
and Beyond. Discover Imaginary Systems,London: Wiley.
HEDBERG, B.; OLVE, N.-G. (1997), Inside the virtual organisation. Managing imaginary
systems, Paper presented in Managing in an interconnected world, Strategic
Management Society, 17th Annual International Conference. Barcelona.
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
28/29
24
HELLING, A. (2000), A framework for understanding telework, Paper presented in U.S.
Department of Labor Symposium on Telework, October 16, Xavier University, New
Orleans, LA. Accessed 05/27/02 in http://www.dol.gov/asp/telework/
HODGE, B.J.; ANTHONY, W.P.; GALES, L.M. (1998), Organisation theory. A strategic
approach,New York: Prentice Hall.
HUWS, U. (1995), Social Europe follow-up to the White Paper, European Comission
Publication,DG V.
JACKSON, P. (1999), Virtual working: social and organisational dynamics, London:
Routledge.
JGERS, H.; JANSEN, W.; STEENBAKKERS, W. (1998), Characteristics of virtual
organisations, in Sieber, P. and Griese, J. (eds.), Organisational Virtualness.
Proceedings of the VoNet-Workshop, 65-76, Bern: Simowa Verlag Bern.
JARVENPAA, S.L.; SHAW, T.R. (1998), Global virtual teams: integrating models of trust, in
P. Sieber and J. Griese (eds.), Organisational Virtualness. Proceedings of the VoNet
Workshop, 35-51, Bern: Simowa Verlag Bern.
JOHNSON, M. (1997), Teleworking in brief,Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemannn.
JOHNSTON, P.; BOTTERMAN, M. (1998), Status report on european telework, Telework 98,
Brussels: European Comission.
JOHNSTON, P.; NOLAN, J. (2000),e-Work 2000: status report on new ways to work in the
information society,Brussels: European Comission.KURLAND, N.B.; BAILEY, D.E. (1999), Telework: the advantages and challenges of working
here, there, anywhere, and anytime, Organisational Dynamics, 28, 2: 53-67.
KURLAND, N.B.; EGAN, T.D. (1999), Telecommuting: justice and control in the virtual
organisation. Organisation Science. Vol. 10, (July-August), 4: 500-513.
LIPNACK, J.; STAMPS, J. (1999), Virtual teams: the new way to work, Strategy and
leadership. (January-February), 14-19.
MANHEIM, M.; WATSON-MANHEIM, M.B. (1999), Managing virtual work: integrating
reflection and action through appropriate software support, in P. Sieber and J. Griese(eds.), Organisational Virtualness and electronic commerce. Proceedings of the VoNet
Workshop, 19-42, Bern: Simowa Verlag Bern.
MINTZBERG, H. (1979), The structuring of organisations,New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
MOKHTARIAN, P.L. (1991), Defining telecommuting,Research Report UCD-ITS-RR-91-04,
Los Angeles: Institute of Transportation Studies.
NAVAS LPEZ, J.E. (1994), Organizacin de la empresa y nuevas tecnologas, Madrid:
Pirmide.
-
7/26/2019 Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness
29/29
NILLES, J.M. (1998), Managing telework: strategies for managing the virtual workforce,New
York: John Wiley & Sons.
PADILLA, A. (1998), Teletrabajo, direccin y organizacin, Madrid: Editorial RA-MA.
PADILLA, A. (2001), Las formas organizativas del e-business: organizacin en red virtual y
teletrabajo, en E-business y comercio electrnico: un enfoque estratgico, Madrid:
Editorial RA-MA, 153-172.
PRATT, J. (2000), Telework and society. Implications for corporate and societal cultures.
telework in the global economy. Paper presented in U. S. Department of Labor
Symposium on Telework, October 16, Xavier University, New Orleans, LA. Accessed
05/27/02 in http://www.dol.gov/asp/telework/
QUINN, J.B. (1992), Intelligent enterprise,New York: Free Press.
RAGHURAM, S.; GARUD, R.; WIESENFELD, B.; GUPTA, V. (2001), Factors contributing tovirtual work adjustment, Journal of Management. Vol. 27, 383-405.
SHIN, B.; LIU SHENG, O.; HIGA, K. (2000), Telework: existing research and future
directions, Journal of Organisational Computing and Electronic Commerce. Vol. 10, 2:
85-101.
SKYRME, D.J. (1998), The realities of virtuality, in P. Sieber and J. Griese (eds.),
Organisational Virtualness. Proceedings of the VoNet Workshop, 25-34, Bern:
Simowa Verlag Bern.
VAN AKEN, J.E.; HOP, L.; POST, G.J.J. (1998), The virtual organisation: a special mode ofstrong interorganisational cooperation, in Hitt, M.A.; Ricart I Costa, J.E.; and Nixon,
R.D. (Eds.) Managing strategically in an interconnected world,Chichester: John Wiley
& Sons.
VENKATRAMAN, N.; HENDERSON, C. (1996), The architecture of virtual organizing:
leveraging three interdependent vectors, Discussion paper, Systems Research
Center, Boston University School of Management.
ZIMMERMANN, F.O. (1997), Structural and managerial aspects of virtual enterprises.
Paper presented in European Conference on Virtual Enterprises and Networked
Solutions. New Perspectives on Management, Communication and Information
Technology. Paderborn, Alemania, 7-10 de abril. Accessed 06/23/98 in
http://www.teco.uni-karlsruhe.de/IT-VISION/vu-e-teco.htm.