Interpreting Technology: Telework and the Myth of Liberation - Essay Example

INTERPRETING TECHNOLOGY: TELEWORK AND THE MYTH OF LIBERATION Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Literature review 4 Work experience6 Analysis 9 Conclusion 11 Reference List: 12 Bibliography: 16 Introduction The influence of information and communications technology on the business sector as well as the social network is quite vibrant in the contemporary scenario (Knights and Willmott, 1988). Maruyama, Hopkinson, and James (2009) have termed communication as the link between all the activities performed in business houses and also an effective contributor for evaluating the performance of a company and its stakeholders. The growth of information and communication technology has allowed firms to initiate a remote work process which has increased the overall time for working and the business requirements of the firm. New aspects such as telework, mobile monitoring and tracking of performance, video conferences, etc are being used in the business functions for accelerating the functions. Teleworking in this regard has been one of the most growing aspects of the work process design of corporate houses. According to Wynarczyk (2005) information technology is the primary factor increasing the usage if telework. New technological frameworks such as cloud computing have allowed the business houses to operate and manage their functions remotely and has also allowed the employees to manage their personal and professional life in a better way. However, Hynes (2013) considered that teleworking has reduced the ability of the firms to monitor their workers and have reduced the aspect of ethics in the work practices of the firms. Employees are now working for multiple organisations at the same time with the help of teleworking facilities whereas organisations are utilising this technological advantage for recruiting more human resource at lesser expense (Baumruk and Gorman 2009). This essay is based on analysing the advantages and disadvantages of the teleworking processes on the business as well as the employee functions. The essay will also include a critical analysis of the existing theories and discussions on the concerned topic and the personal reflection of the researcher to examine the need of teleworking in the contemporary business scenario. Literature review The functions and processes of organisations have changed vastly with the development of information and communications technology. In the words of Armstrong (2012), as firms are expanding their business scope in the global market, the functional segments are being designed in a customised manner for enhancing the resource utilisation of the business. Cascio, Boudreau and Davis (2011) observed that communication is one of the most important aspects of the business functions from employer as well as employee perspective. Based on this statement, the development of Telework can be related with the business process of the organisations. Gagne and Deci (2007) noted that the over 17.2 million employees all over the world are involved in telework for at least 1 day in a month and this number has grown by 42.3% since 2004. The most vibrant benefit of telework is that it creates more alternatives for the employees in terms of utilising their skills and also allows the organisations to reduce their operational expenses by decreasing the resource utilisation. From the perspective of work culture and work structure, Klie (2007) mentioned that teleworking and other information technology aspects being used in the business operations have significantly increased individualism in the business functions. This can be considered as an added advantage as individualism reduces the influence of external factors such as culture and helps the employees in optimising their productivity. On the other hand, Marrelli (2010) argued that individualism is reducing the ability of a worker to adjust with new environments and work in a collective manner. Some researchers such as Stiles et al. (2008) and Werner and DeSimone (2011) have criticised teleworking for reducing the integration among the employees of an organisation and also related it to the failure of leaders in managing teamwork and team culture within a firm. Not only this, if related with the supply chain functions of the business where the physical presence of employees is necessary to develop a streamlined approach is extremely important for cost reduction and improvement of the business processes of the firms. Jimmieson, Terry and Callan (2007) studied on the supply chain functions of small scale companies of UK retail sector showed that most of the company allows their workers to work from remote conditions as this reduces the operational expenditure of the business. However, this also enhances the scope of professional utility for the employees as they can manage their schedule and engage in other works (Gagne and Deci, 2007). From the technological prospects, Elizabeth and Adelina (2007) noticed that communications is now an inseparable part of the business functions. Global expansion of the firms has enhanced the range of functions and segmentations in the strategic as well as operational departments of the business. One of the most influential changes in this regard is the concept of outsourcing of the business functions to other countries with lower labour cost. Service based companies are among the primary group engaged in outsourcing their administrative and customer care functions to third-party agencies so that the operational cost of the firms can be managed (Meyer, Becker and Vandenberghe, 2007). Milliman, Czaplewski and Ferguson (2003) related the utilisation of technology with the ability of the firms to design their work culture in a compatible manner and questioned the overall control of the firms on their technological resources. Harris, Janes and Boonthanom (2005) criticised teleworking because of its open work structure which can be accessed by multiple individuals and thus the security aspects of organisations are reduced. Lack of monitoring and control over the activities of the employees engaged in teleworking are some major disadvantages of the firms for measuring their need and organisational growth. Houldsworth (2006) cited the example of call centres and business process outsourcing firms who are also the largest user of teleworking in the global business segment. Finally, it can be stated that teleworking is more of a work structure rather than a technological system which has enhanced the ability of the firms and employees alike to perform their roles and responsibilities. The foremost benefit of teleworking can be considered as the increase in flexibility which has increased the time allowed for completion of the activities of the employees. For the organisations, employment process has taken a new shape as they are recruiting employees without investing their resources. However, teleworking is also increasing the aspect of individualism in the business processes that enhances employee participation in business functions but at an individual level (Milliman, Czaplewski and Ferguson, 2003). Lack of collective effort towards organisational growth can also reduce the chances of organisational development. Thus, it can be observed that increase in teleworking can create both positive and negative outcomes for the firms, but to evaluate its potential contribution the organisations will have to measure its utility in strategic terms. Work experience From my personal point of view, the inclusion of teleworking in the business processes of the firms has been a beneficial change for the employees. This is one specific advantage of information and communications technology for the workforce of the firm. The changes in the work structure of the firm have contributed greatly towards the inclusion of teleworking in the business process of the firms. My experience is based on observation of a friend of mine who used to work in a service based company and also my own experience of working with a retail firm. I would first like to analyse my personal experience about teleworking in relation to the retail operations. The work structure of the firm was simple and mostly required physical presence of the employees in order to conduct their business activities. The responsibilities of the base level employees were mostly related with sales and were manual jobs. On the other hand, the supervisors and team leaders were required to be present in the floor observing the performance of their respective teams and also allowed them to monitor the accuracy of the service structure of the firms. However, many times I had observed that the supervisor was allowed to take work from home where the concerned person used to manage the daily operations over phone. Also the supervisor was often required to physically report to the headquarters of the company which was situated at a different location and used to manage the operations over phone. The home based laptop of the supervisor was connected with the software of the company which allowed him to observe the functions of his team on regularly. However, there used to be a security on the laptop every month for ensuring the ethicalness of the supervisor and that the organisational software is secure. I would prefer to call my experience as a managed version of teleworking where the company was aware of the duties being performed by the concerned employees while working from home or teleworking. Focusing on the experience of my friend, he used to work in a company which was concerned with the online promotional activities for other business houses and the basic resources required for working were just a phone, a computer and an internet connection. My friend was related with the blogging department and had to write creative blogs for promoting the products, services and brand of their clients. He often used to take work from home by showing his educational needs. The company had no issues with this concept of teleworking as long as the employees were able to complete their work within the stipulated time. Although, the company had a monitoring process with the help of their internal software, the time taken by the employees each segment of the work cannot be measured and hence they used to finish their work early and engage in other activities such as freelancing activities for other firms. This I think is under utilisation of resources as the potential skill of my friend could not be utilised by the firm. The company was not able to utilise the talent of my friend as well as my friend was also not able to climb up the professional ladder in that company as teleworking processes was helping him to increase his earnings. Observing both these, I experience I would like to state that teleworking is no doubt a contributing factor for promoting the productivity of the business houses. But the process of teleworking needs to be monitored crucially so that the firm can also ensure resource utilisation. Although, my friend’s organisation was able to reduce their operational expenses but the work process utilised by the employees engaged in the business processes was not professionally ethical. Another factor that is related with the ethics of operations is that while teleworking employees represent the brand of the company but the organisational representatives are not being monitored and can result in transfer of erroneous information hampering the brand image of the firm. My final thoughts on teleworking would be that technology has given many essential aspects for improving the functions of the business houses but the users need to develop their control on these technological factors for confirming the positive contribution of technology towards the organisational growth and development. Analysis The literature review of the study has related the aspect of teleworking with the operational functions of the business houses whereas the reflection segment has been mainly used to analyse the experience of the researcher in respect of teleworking and focused on professional ethics and resource utilisation. The analysis segment will summarise the preceding sections of the study and also evaluate their major findings. On the basis of the importance of teleworking for the employees, the foremost benefit is the reduction of operational expenditure which can also be associated with the need for space of the operational functions of business. Apart from this, travel related problems or any incident occurring at the organisational place won’t hamper the progress of the work (Westlund and Hannon, 2008; Milliman, Czaplewski and Ferguson, 2003). Also teleworking has been considered by Birdir (2002) as an attraction process for new and talented employees. However, the primary disadvantage of the teleworking process is that it reduces the control of the employers on the employees and also exceeds their business processes. The aspect of limited teamwork is also another disadvantage for the employees which reduce the overall effort of the business to reach its strategic objectives. As employees are focused on achieving their personal objectives and gaols their contribution and loyalty towards the organisational objectives can diminish and result in an insignificant performance for the firm. Czarniawska-Joerges (2009) noted that teleworking increase the risk related with transfer of information for the employers and so the employers may not chose to utilise the teleworkers for high-end functions. But, based on the work environment of teleworkers and the regular employees, the teleworkers do not have to face the barriers or interruptions created in the work structure of an office (Eby, Rush and Lance, 2008). Pophal (2010) argued that teleworkers do not have the luxury of achieving direct guidance from their supervisors and can ask for help only when they require, but in case of mistakes engraved in the existing work process. These arguments show that teleworkers can be a useful resource for an organisation provided the employee loyalty and sincerity can be guaranteed by the business. A similar notion was also presented by the researcher in the personal reflection section of the essay and was concentrated on the requirement of strict monitoring system to handle the barriers for employing teleworkers in the operational process of the business. From the perspective of the employee, the teleworking is access to work for them in a comfortable environment. The employees can easily work around with their family and also focus on the personal life as well as professional responsibilities. It was mentioned by Chorng, James and Clifford (2007) that teleworking is also a process for balancing the personal and professional requirements for the employees. The challenges faced by the employees in fulfilling the responsibilities towards their family, society and culture are reduced when as employee has the opportunity for amalgamation of personal and professional activities. However, teleworking also has its disadvantages for the employees, the employees are sort of left behind in terms of human interaction (Boxall, Ang and Bartram, 2011). As teleworking reduces the interaction between an individual and other employees operating from the concerned work place, the ability of the individual to grow his/her skills and knowledge are also reduced. According to Farndale et al. (2011) from a social point of view as an individual is not communicating with his peers and colleagues he is not able to understand the changes taking place in the outside world and hence may lack behind in completion. From this sentiment, it can be gathered that the employees also lose chances for promoting themselves in the professional careers and can be left behind. One of the most crucial aspects of teleworking is that the employees need to be focused, disciplined and determined so that their personal interests are not in conflict with their work processes. Lack of monitoring may tempt an individual to design his/her work process in a manner which is not suitable for the work structure of the firm (Saks, 2008). Relating the experience of the researcher, it was noted that the friend was engaged in multiple work processes while teleworking. Apart from being unethical, this also signifies the limited control of the company over the activities of their employee as well as their technological resources. Conclusion Based on the analysis and findings of the report, teleworking for sure can be considered as an special segment which enhances the ability of the employees to develop their professional careers and may also reduce the productivity of the employee because of limited spread of knowledge. The changes occurring in the technological sphere has allowed the business firms to utilise their resources in an optimal manner. However, the actual control over the technological resources of the business is yet to be revealed and this can be considered as the base of the problems in managing technological tools. Employees on the other hand have the luxury to work in a customised environment which will boost their morale and also have a positive perception regarding the brand of the firm. Nevertheless, in terms of performance the most highlighted question is the loyalty, sincerity and ethical strength of the teleworkers. The reflection statement included in the essay describes the personal view of the researcher in two different contexts and hence also proves that the aspect of teleworking can only be considered in a short-term situation but for longer duration it can create undesirable results of the firm. Reference List: Armstrong, M., 2012. Armstrongs Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice 4th ed. Belgium: Peeters Publisher. Baumruk R. and Gorman B., 2009. 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