Beyond telecommuting: organizational suitability of different modes of telework

In the broadest sense, the term telework refers to organizational work performed outside of the normal organizational confines of space and time, augmented by computer and communications technology. While most of the interest in telework has been confined to “telecommuting” or working from home, very little research has been done on the other forms of telework. Beyond telecommuting, the paper describes the various modes of telework, i.e., satellite offices, neighborhood work center and mobile workers. It discusses the organizational suitability of each of these four telework modes. The analytical framework used is based on a variant of the Leavitt´s (1958) model of organizational subsystems consisting of five components viz. technology, tasks, people, structure and culture. A suitability model is proposed to suggest the type of telework according to the organization´s objectives and culture, and the selection of teleworkers and tasks for increasing the success of implementing telework