Date
2003-10-15
Dewey
Ressources humaines
Sujet
Organizational performance; Flexible labour; Teleworking; Ventes; Télétravail; telework; salespeople
JEL code
J6; M54; J24; M12
Conference name
26th European Accounting Association Congress
Conference date
2003
Conference city
Séville
Conference country
Espagne
Type
Communication / Conférence
Abstract (EN)
Currently, telework stands a s one of the fastest developing
illustrations of the so called virtual organization. Although it
has started to boom in Europe, it still raises reluctance in
companies that may implement it in their teams. One main
reason listed in the literature for this reluctance is the fear of
destroying the links that bind a companies members together
as well as the links that attach them to their organization.
Behind this hides the feeling that managers, and thus the
organization, may lose control over their employees if the latter
are becoming teleworkers. The issue this paper addresses is:
Does telework have an impact on the hierarchical relationship
and, if so, what sort of impact is it?
We first propose a literature review on this theme. We then
restitute the empirical results of a case study realised in a
sales team where the sales persons are home-based
teleworkers and their managers are not teleworkers. Through
the analysis of various documents (e-mails, work contract,
electronic agenda), in-depth interviews and direct observation,
we propose the following results dealing with our research
question:
Telework reduces formal communication between employees
and their direct manager while it develops interpretation bias. It
facilitates communication between distant hierarchical levels,
reducing the importance of professional and social status.
Telework increases employees’ autonomy towards their
manager. One of the only ways for the manager to evaluate
his teleworkers is to devote their accountability to results.
Overall, telework reduces the importance of the manager in
the employee’s professional concerns. As it deals with the
degree of independence and control an individual has over his
job, it leads to various adjustments from the teleworker as well
as from his manager.