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Making telework work: leading people and leveraging technology for competitive advantage

Making telework work: leading people and leveraging technology for competitive advantage Purpose – Teleworking is often indicated as a flexible working arrangement. This paper seeks to highlight that flexibility is just one positive characteristic of telework and to demonstrate both the strategic and practical implications of adopting telework. In addition, it aims to highlight best practices and specific activities that enable telework to achieve its full potential. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on a series of interviews, personal experiences and observations encompassing a wide range of organizations to include profit and non‐profit/government across a variety of industry sectors that include retail, high technology, manufacturing and hospitality and service, the paper provides an overview on how to make telework work effectively and smoothly within profit and non‐profit organizations. Moreover, it confronts the leadership literature to examine how leadership – not technology – is the critical variable in telework success. Findings – In the most successful cases of telework, organizations and individuals were seen to fuse technology and leadership to do work without the limitations of geography, time or physical presence. Thus, while many may embrace telecommuting or telework almost exclusively for its flexibility benefits, the most successful organizations and individuals welcomed telework, first and foremost, as a source of competitive advantage. Originality/value – The paper departs from traditional management thought on two fronts. First, it is contended that the essence behind successful telework arrangements is more of a function of leadership than of technology. Second, and related to the previous point, the paper suggests that a creative, innovative and progressive leadership mentality is necessary in the design and implementation of telework programmes. As a result, many managers must be willing to depart from long‐held and conventional notions of leadership. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Strategic HR Review Emerald Publishing

Making telework work: leading people and leveraging technology for competitive advantage

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References (11)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1475-4398
DOI
10.1108/14754391011022244
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – Teleworking is often indicated as a flexible working arrangement. This paper seeks to highlight that flexibility is just one positive characteristic of telework and to demonstrate both the strategic and practical implications of adopting telework. In addition, it aims to highlight best practices and specific activities that enable telework to achieve its full potential. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on a series of interviews, personal experiences and observations encompassing a wide range of organizations to include profit and non‐profit/government across a variety of industry sectors that include retail, high technology, manufacturing and hospitality and service, the paper provides an overview on how to make telework work effectively and smoothly within profit and non‐profit organizations. Moreover, it confronts the leadership literature to examine how leadership – not technology – is the critical variable in telework success. Findings – In the most successful cases of telework, organizations and individuals were seen to fuse technology and leadership to do work without the limitations of geography, time or physical presence. Thus, while many may embrace telecommuting or telework almost exclusively for its flexibility benefits, the most successful organizations and individuals welcomed telework, first and foremost, as a source of competitive advantage. Originality/value – The paper departs from traditional management thought on two fronts. First, it is contended that the essence behind successful telework arrangements is more of a function of leadership than of technology. Second, and related to the previous point, the paper suggests that a creative, innovative and progressive leadership mentality is necessary in the design and implementation of telework programmes. As a result, many managers must be willing to depart from long‐held and conventional notions of leadership.

Journal

Strategic HR Review – Emerald Publishing

Published: Feb 23, 2010

Keywords: Teleworking; Leadership; Communication technologies; Environmental management; Energy conservation

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