Measuring the Impact of parttime, homebased telework based on roleset analysis: a longitudinal study

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Measuring the Impact of part-time, home-based
telework based on role-set analysis a
longitudinal study on the experience of the OECD

• Robert A. Lewis
• Kingston University, London
• Les Roches School of Hotel Management,
  Switzerland
• 12th International Workshop on Telework, 29
  August 2007, Lillehammer, Norway

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Summary

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Research aims
• 3. Research relevance
• 4. Theoretical background
• 5. Literature review
• 5.1. Concept of telework
• 5.2. Telework employee issues
• 5.3. Telework employer issues
• 6. Research questions
• 7. Methodology
• 8. Contribution to the field

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1. Introduction

• The OECD
• 30 member countries, 70 non-member countries.
• Two-thirds of worlds goods and services.
• Functions according to committees.
• Respected source of statistical data and studies.
• Headquarters in Paris with approximately 1850
  staff.

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1. Introduction

• The OECD pilot group
• In 2001 Organisation, Human Resources Management
  (HRM), noticed informal telework arrangements.
• 2002 Organisation extended insurance coverage for
  home-base staff.
• 2002 Organisation began to formalise 8-year move
  to La Défense from Paris increased requests for
  telework from Staff.
• 2002 Organisation provided pilot budget.

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1. Introduction

• The OECD pilot group (continued)
• 2003 Organisation approved telework pilot policy
  voluntary basis, 2-days per week.
• 2004 Launch for six pilot participants.
• 2004 Most technical issues resolved.
• 2005 Pilot population reached 20 participants.
• 2006 Formal study launched

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1. Introduction

• Research problem
• Examination of advantages and disadvantages of
  telework to main stakeholders
• to allow us to evaluate telework pilot programme
  for the OECD.
• to identify lessons for similar organisations.

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2. Research aims

• Evaluate Impacts from the perspective of the
  teleworker, and from key individuals with whom
  they interact.
• View effects over time longitudinal aspect.
• Provide cost/benefit analysis of the pilot for
  OECD policy recommendations.

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3. Research relevance

• To the academy
• There is a significant research gap in the area
  of telework, and no known studies on part-time,
  home-based teleworkers in a context such as that
  of the OECD.
• To practice
• There is utility for a cost/benefits model for
  telework programmes such as that of the OECD, for
  similar organistions.

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4. Theoretical background

• This study is based on the assumption that
  teleworkers benefit and/or are at a disadvantage
  vis-à-vis non-teleworkers in the context of a
  traditional workplace.

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5. Literature review

• 5.1 Concept of telework
• 5.2 Telework employee issues
• 5.3 Telework employer issues

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5. Literature review 5.1 Concept of telework

• Definition
• Not confined by time or space (Pinsonneault,
  Boisvert 1996), heated debate persists to define
  what it is (de Beer, Blanc 2000 Shin et al
  2000), paucity of studies on France (de Beer,
  Blanc 2000).
• Categories
• Lack of coherency (Pinsonneault, Boisvert 1996,
  ETO 2000).
• Literature shows no apparent commonalities for
  telework categories, except for distinctions of
  location (Johnson 1997, ETO 2000) and time (eg
  dominant, marginal (Johnson 1997)).

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5. Literature review 5.1 Concept of telework

• French perspective
• Lack of studies on telework in France (de Beer,
  Blanc 2000). Most reliable statistics from EU
  (2003) 6.3 of French population teleworks,
  although not clear for how many hours, and
  includes temporary staff in population.
• In SIBIS study, Belgium and Switzerland (using
  identical categories) have rates of 10.6 and
  16.8 respectively.

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5. Literature review 5.2 Telework employee
issues

• Part-time work
• Failure to show costs and benefits of literature
  reviewed (European Foundation 2003, Eurostat
  2004 Edwards, Robinson 2004) on part-time
  teleworkers.
• Flexibility issues
• Hill et al (1998) show positive effect of
  telework on flexibility, conversely European
  Foundation study (2003) shows increased
  precariousness.
• Lack in literature to provide multiple
  perspectives on flexibility issues, and what
  types of flexibility (temporal, based on skill,
  etc.).

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5. Literature review 5.2 Telework employee
issues

• Work/life balance issues
• Work/life balance remains an unclear concept. In
  France work/life in literature linked to 35-hour
  work week (Méda 2004).
• Culture implications of workplace in France
  French show rigidity in work schedules (in spite
  of 35-hours) (Méda 2004).

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5. Literature review 5.2 Telework employee
issues

• Telework and gender
• Literature shows that in 1980s (Venkatesh,
  Vitalari 1992) shift in telework from female
  based to male why is this so? Lack in studies
  to show link between gender and job types, gender
  and professional development.
• Employment conditions of French women inferior to
  men (Bonavita 2004) it is unclear if OECDs
  telework participants have different perspectives
  of gender effects.

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5. Literature review 5.2 Telework employee
issues

• Teleworker qualities
• There appears to be no clear stream in the
  literature to describe what qualities are most
  desirable for teleworkers, most studies have been
  based on in-company questionnaires (Baruch and
  Nicolson 1997) and lack multiple perspectives.

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5. Literature review 5.3 Telework employer
issues

• Structural barriers
• Diffusion of telework in France remain below
  expectations (ETO 1998, SIBIS (EU) 2003).
• French government (DATAR) created objectives
  (2005) to improve access for ADSL lines for
  business - Frances lack to provide nationwide
  access to internet (OECD 2001) infers that this
  impeads spread of telework.
• Acceptancy issues for managers
• Management based on presence (Spony 2003),
  cultural aspect impacts lack to view output
  versus presence (de Beer 2002).
• Spony (2003) also shows French tendency for
  higher levels of visual and personal
  communication with staff.

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5. Literature review 5.3 Telework employer
issues

• Productivity issues
• Abundancy in literature supporting positive
  effects of telework on productivity (Collins
  2005, Felstead et al 2005, Halford 2005, Illegems
  and Verbeke 2004, Wiesenfeld et al 1999) none
  have shown effects of part-time telework on
  productivity longitudinally in an organisation
  such as the OECD.
• Lack to show negative effects of telework on
  productivity. Multiple bias such as models to
  evaluate telework productivity and visual bias
  such as Mayo (1933) and observation.
• Staff retention issues
• Illegem and Verbeke (2004) claim telework can be
  effective to retain staff not certain if
  applicable to French context. Our study will
  attempt to provide evidence of the ability of the
  OECD to attract and retain staff (who otherwise
  could not accept employment due to commuting
  constraints).

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6. Research questions from literature

• For what reasons do workers choose home-based
  telework?
• In the OECD sample, are there differences in
  mens and womens experiences of teleworking?
• What personal characteristics are most desirable
  for telework?
• What affects employers decisions to adopt the
  OECD telework programme?
• What are line managers experiences of managing
  teleworkers in the OECD sample?
• What impact does the OECD telework programme have
  on employee retention?

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7. Methodology

• Introduction to role set analysis
• Rationale for role set analysis
• Teleworker role set (20 participants)
• Data collection
• Data analysis
• Research design model

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7. Methodology

• Introduction to role set analysis
• Based on the premise that social roles form
  social structure (Merton 1957).
• Role set analysis claims that there is a tendency
  for role holders to manage role sets (ibid).
• Role set analysis maintains that relationships
  between role holders are associated by links that
  can be evaluated.

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7. Methodology

• Rationale for role set analysis
• Through this method we seek to provide a
  comparative, yet holistic view of the impacts of
  teleworkers by measuring effects from the
  perspectives of the teleworker role sets
  vis-à-vis (links) the actors with whom they
  interact.

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7. Methodology

• Teleworker role set (20 participants) 
• Teleworkers vis-à-vis non teleworkers (20
  participants) in similar jobs.
• Teleworkers vis-à-vis their line managers (20
  participants).

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7. Methodology

• Data collection
• Quantitative and qualitative data based on
  questionnaires (pre-questionnaire).
• Questionnaires to be administered using email and
  interviews.
• Longitudal track change and study impact over
  time.
• Data analysis
• Use of statistical tool (Cronbachs alpha),
  qualitative analysis.

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7. Methodology

• Research design model

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8. Contribution to the field

• The academy
• Provide a longitudinal study on part-time,
  home-based teleworkers in a French context for
  further research.
• Practice
• Provide a cost/benefit model for other telework
  programmes in organisations similar to the OECD.