The much vaunted information super-highway will, if implemented, provide a communication backbone for teleworking. Teleworkers will have access to a high quality, broadband public network which will carry data, audio and video information across nations ?the information super-highway will "allow the nation's telecommunications network to be more versatile in transmitting a greater range of telecommunications services" [Lynch,1994a].
Thomas Cross [1986] notes that, while not all office tasks are suitable for telework, the decentralised processes of the automated office and the organisational trends towards processing ever-increasing amounts of information are creating more and more opportunities to telework.
Telework as an Office Technology
James D. Thompson [1967] defines three types of technology, based on different types of dependence among tasks.
Mediating technology is characterised by pooled interdependence, While workers depend on others completing tasks contributing to the success of the final product, each task is essentially independent. Coordination of tasks is achieved by setting and working to standards, either to ensure that outputs from the subordinate tasks are compatible, or that the needs of anonymous customers are satisfied.
Long-linked technology features sequential interdependence. Each tasks depends on the successful completion of previous tasks. Coordination is often achieved by pacing tasks mechanically, for instance with conveyer belts. Irregularities in the pace of production, the supply of raw materials or the disposal of final product are dealt with by providing buffers of partly finished product at various stages in the sequential process.
The most complex technology is the intensive, where interdependence is reciprocal. That is, different tasks must interact synchronously. Coordination is through (often implicit) negotiation, but ultimately this depends on shared goals or values within the work group.
Different types of teleworking can be seen to belong to different technologies. Direct terminal connection can potentially operate in any mode, depending on how work is done at the central node, but considerations of bandwidth and response time usually limit this work to mediating technology. Mediating technology is also the model in file transfer, electronic mail, fax and most forms of asynchronous telecommunication. Videoconferencing is an intensive technology, but the product is somewhat intangible.
Group support systems can support either long-linked or intensive technology. When CSCW is based on a strong work flow model, the technology is essentially long-linked, although multiple branching work flows relax dependencies and allow some aspects of mediating technology. A CSCW system supporting intensive technology may be truly synchronous (what I see is what you get) or may provide shared documents which can be built through reciprocal interaction.
What are the Benefits of Teleworking?
Teleworking can benefit employees, employers and society in general by permitting work to be performed in a time and location independent manner.
Teleworking employees can work at home during the hours in which they feel best [Cross,1986]. They do not have to travel to work, saving time and money each day, and can choose to live in a location that suits their life style rather than one that is accessible to the office. Being at home, appearance, dress and working habits are unobserved by supervisors and colleagues plus they can attend to family concerns, such as child care, shopping, cleaning etc., when required. Teleworkers have control over their time and place of work they can choose to work at convenient times, "in a quiet setting that allows full concentration" [Cross,1986:p253]. Also, teleworkers experience responsibility and autonomy by exercising their personal preferences and demonstrating their commitment [Glukin,1985].
Teleworking employers can gain through increased productivity, reduced costs and improved morale. Teleworkers are believed to be more productive because they work when they feel like it, they work without interruption, and they put in longer hours [Lewis,1984]; studies have shown worker productivity gains of between 20% and 40% ["Newsfront",1984; "US Companies...",1994; Lynch,1994b; San Francisco Examiner,1994] with some increases reported to be as high as 300% [Lewis,1984]. Employers can save money on expensive city centre office space when work is performed in less costly accommodation or in employees' homes [Chabrow,1985]; teleworkers do not charge their employer for office space, heating, air conditioning or cleaning [Cross,1986]. Also, some employers have extended their teleworking beyond national boundaries in order to take advantage of cheap labour in developing countries [Cross,1986]. Finally, the mutual respect and trust that is created when employer and employee enter a teleworking agreement results in improved loyalty and morale in the employees; a study in South Carolina [Chabrow,1985] showed that employee stress levels, fatigue and low production problems were improved after a teleworking scheme was introduced.
From a broader social perspective, teleworking can reduce government infrastructure costs. Teleworkers do not need to use urban highways or public transport to travel into city centres. Also, they reduce the demand for local child care facilities.
Examples of Teleworking
Teleworking is not just causing excitement in the literature. A number of organizations are actually implementing teleworking schemes :-
- IBM has introduced teleworking for 800 marketing and service employees in the New Jersey and New York areas ["US Companies...",1994] ?employees are equipped with laptops and cellular phones and, since late February 1994, have access when necessary to shared office space in a renovated warehouse in Cranford, New Jersey (they are allocated a desk for the day when they check in at the building);
- AT&T Virtual Office Solutions now has 8,000 employees functioning as teleworkers [San Francisco Examiner,1994];
- the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority began Australia's biggest teleworking trial in December 1993 [Lynch,1994b];
- other companies with teleworking schemes include Ernst & Young, Arthur Andersen, General Electric and Hewlett-Packard ["US Companies...",1994].
This list represents neither a comprehensive survey of the literature nor a comprehensive account of all organizations with teleworking schemes ? it is merely to illustrate that teleworking has moved beyond the pages of the literature.
The Age of the Introvert?
The potential benefits described above persuaded pundits in 1985 to forecast that teleworking in the US would expand to 15 million by 1990 [Hellman,1985]. However, a recent report by Link Resources Corporation ["US Companies...",1994] estimates that, while 41 million Americans now work from home, there were only 7.6 million teleworkers in the US in 1993. A study by the Yankee Group Asia Pacific [Zampetakis,1994] shows that Australian companies have been much slower to adopt teleworking, with only 1 in 1000 Australian workers teleworking. This study also predicts that this situation is unlikely to change in the near future, with a projected growth in Australia of only 5% a year until 1996.
Why has the practice failed to fulfil the rhetoric? Margrethe Olsen found that teleworkers, unless they fit the profile "of a person with high needs for autonomy and low needs for affiliation" [Olsen,1991:p8], have to give up the social support of office life. Typically, organisation culture dictates that membership of the organisation is "signified by being on- site, supervised primarily by visual observation". Further, the membership and status which motivate organisational members require observation ?"the number of windows in one's office, the quality of the furniture, and the size of the desk are important signs of status and power; they are invisible if the employee's office is at home and there are no electronic substitutes for them" [Olsen,1991:p8]. This view is supported by a list of qualities required of teleworkers that includes "less gregarious" [Cross,1986:p255] and problems of teleworking including a failure to socialise [Slatta,1984]. This evidence indicates that people do not work for the recompense or inherent interest alone ? they actually go to work to fulfil a social need. Teleworkers are denied this social interaction and "miss the informal networking around the office watercooler" ["US Companies...",1994].
The OED defines an introvert as a "(person) characterized by introversion, unsociable or reserved".
Dorothy Rowe [1988,p45] expands upon this definition : "When someone is rather withdrawn, quiet, not very talkative we can describe that person as 'introverted'. If that person behaves like this persistently we can describe that person as 'an introvert'".
Jung [1971:p229] states that "the introvert interposes a subjective view between the perception of the object and his action, which prevents the action from assuming a character that fits the objective situation". The 'objective situation' includes the social situation - the introvert in some sense decides (often unconsciously) whether to fit in, while the extravert does it automatically. Jung emphasises that this may be a quite valid strategy at times. The 'objective situation' may not necessarily be moral or have long term survival value. Nevertheless, introverts and groups always have a slightly ambiguous relationship.
Introverts, then, display the low need for affiliation, or low social need strengths, referred to by Olsen. They are prime candidates to find teleworking an appealing form of work. Olsen writes that teleworking "is not an ideal work situation from any standpoint; it is a tradeoff" [Olsen,1991:p8] ?introverts are most likely to make that tradeoff and give up the social support of the office. Part of the tradeoff is also a reduction in opportunities for advancement, though it might be argued that in many organizations introverts would be limited in these opportunities, even if they stayed in the office.
Future Trends in Teleworking
Until now teleworking has been mainly practised in situations where mediating technology is appropriate. Ouchi [1979] has pointed out that the information requirements for coordination increase greatly as the level of technological complexity increases. Only as greater bandwidth becomes available will it be feasible for telework to take in long-linked or intensive technologies such as remote CSCW. Will this change the position of the introvert, or encourage extraverts to work from home? Long-linked technologies, where the workflow among tasks is clearly defined, will appeal to the same personality types as current telework. There may be less flexibility in the timing of work, but adequate buffering should ease this effect.
With intensive technology the situation may change dramatically. Since coordination in intensive technology depends on the workers internalising the project's goals or values this technology would seem more suited to extraverts. A current example of such a technology might be the use of mobile phones by small business and salespeople who are often extraverts. Conversely, attempts to use computer newsgroups for complex discussions often fail because of difficulty in establishing a group culture. This difficulty may be due to a majority of newsgroup members being introverts, or to the inability of the medium to carry the necessary implicit clues to establish group norms. Groups which might be expected to have a high introvert population (eg alt.cyberpunk [1994]) carry a fair amount of discussion as to what it means to be a member of the group - a discussion which can be interpreted as introverts verbalising their negotiation between the objective and the subjective.
As teleworking moves to cover tasks with more complicated technologies introverts may find themselves feeling less comfortable; and extraverts will only be able to cope if the medium is capable of supporting a rich social interaction.
Conclusion
In post-industrial society, organizations are information-rich and information-dependent prime telework candidates include insurance companies, banks, and computer and software firms [Hellman,1985]. Professor Jack Woods of the University of Sydney's Graduate School of Business (quoted by Adrian Lynch [1994b]) says that "70% of the Australian work force deals with information" and that it is information- based employment that is "most suitable" for the transition to teleworking. In addition, "the technology and cost barriers that once made telecommuting prohibitive are disappearing, with the advent of accessible wireless and portable technology" ["US Companies...",1994]. The nature of work and the availability of technology have combined to make teleworking an attractive option. Yet, the incidence of teleworking is well below expectations, because teleworkers are denied the social interaction of office life. Teleworking so far has only appealed to those with low social need strengths, the introverts. Rather than feeling alienated by informal networking at the office, introverts can become valuable electronic teleworkers contributing fully to an organisation from the cocoon of their home. But as teleworking takes on more complex technologies jobs may become available which suit the gregarious extraverts. For this expansion to occur teleworking hardware and software will need to support a richer social interaction than it does at present.
References
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