英语论文网

Ford (1995) cites that according to Business Horizons, a surveyconducted amongst 6,000 human resource managers across the UnitedStates regarding teleworking, several organizational characteristicsare important for the success of teleworking programmes. The strongestpoint of agreement was having the support of top management for theprogram. This was followed closely by having the program inorganizations that encourage innovation, which is noteworthy because itrepresents the importance of a firm's culture in facilitatinginnovation and change.

As telecommuting is a relatively innovative idea in itself, thischaracteristic may be critical for successful telecommutingprogrammes. It is easy to argue that a company that does not endorseinnovation is unlikely to find good people who are willing to take thechance on participating in an innovative program such as teleworking. This in reverse would increase the likelihood of an organisationoffering teleworking retaining qualified employees in the high-techsector.

The questionnaire also sought to identify the characteristics of thetask that the respondents felt were important for the success of theprogramme. The most important characteristic, reported bythree-fourths of the managers, was having tasks or jobs with measurableoutput. This was reinforced by agreement on having jobs that areeasily monitored. Teleworkers are viewed by their production andresults, therefore, rather than the hours they contribute to anorganisation. This supports previous findings that teleworkers aremore productive than traditional employees.

Training for telecommuters was also seen as very important in theBusiness Horizons survey. The emphasis on training as a key ingredientto telecommuting program success is reinforced by the level ofagreement for a related item of training for supervisors. However,when asked in another section of the questionnaire if they actuallytrained their telecommuters, only one-fourth stated that they did. Even more interesting, only one in six also train their supervisors. Despite the data showing that these respondents believe in theimportance of training, surprisingly few actually do it. This couldstrongly influence the detractors of teleworking, cited previously inliterature reviewed, who contend teleworkers feel isolated,disconnected from the organisational culture, and not well-trained.

Other characteristics noted in the literature on telecommuting asimportant for programme success include requiring a minimum time forthe telecommuter to spend at the primary work site, requiring aseparate work space in the home, and having a formal written policy ontelecommuting. Company policy and guidance, combined with trainingregarding these recommendations, will go a long way to establishing amore effective teleworking programme.

Ford (1995) also cites that certain supervisory characteristics wereassociated with success in telecommuting programs. By far, thecharacteristic found to be most important is the supervisor's abilityto establish good communication with the telecommuter. No other item inthe entire study scored as high as communi本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。