Discussion post and Journal - W3

CHAPTER 4 IT AND THE DESIGN OF

WORK Dr. Mia Simmons

American Express Opening Case

■ What is the “Blue Work” program?

■ What was the strategic thrust behind the Blue

Work program?

■ What are “hub,” “club,” “home,” and “roam”

employees?

■ What is the role of technology in these

arrangements?

■ What was the impact of Blue Work?

■ Have other firms found roaming employment

useful?

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Work Design Framework

IT Has Changed Work ■ IT has:

– Created new types of work

■ Bureau of Labor Statistics: IT employment in

the USA is at an all-time high

■ New jobs such as:

– Data scientists/data miners

– Social media managers

– Communications managers

– Enabled new ways to do traditional work

– Supported new ways to manage people

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How IT Changes Traditional Work

■ Changes the way work is done

– Broadens skills; faster but more tasks

– Sometimes IT disconnects us from the tasks

– Sometimes people can perform more strategic tasks

– Few staff are engaged in order entry any longer

– Crowdsourcing is now possible at very low cost (M.Turk)

■ Changes how we communicate

– More asynchronous and more irregular

– Social networking has provided new opportunities for

customer interaction

– Collaboration allows a firm to look “big” with new tools

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How IT Changes Traditional Work ■ Changes decision-making

– Real-time information; more information available

– Data mining can identify new insights

– Ideas can be gleaned from social networks

– Middle management ranks have shrunk as

Leavitt/Whisler predicted

■ Changes collaboration

– Work is now more team oriented; more collaborative

– Sharing is easier than ever, using multiple methods

– Crowdsourcing can now provide quick answers from

tens, hundreds, or even thousands of people

– We now can disconnect PLACE and TIME (Figure 4.2)

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Collaboration Technologies Matrix

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How IT Changes Traditional Work

■ New ways to connect – Many employees are always connected

– Lines between work and play are now blurred

– For many, home technologies are better than work technologies

■ New ways to manage people – Behavior controls – direct supervision

– Outcome controls – examining outcomes not actions

– Personnel controls – pick the right person for the task

– The digital approach provides new opportunities at any of those three levels (Fig. 4.3)

8 © 2016 John Wiley & Sons,

Inc.

Changes to Supervision/Evaluations/ Compensation/Hiring

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Where Work is Done: Mobile and Virtual Work

■ Much work can be done anywhere, anytime

■ People desire the flexibility

■ Telecommuting = teleworking = working from home or

even in a coffee shop

■ Mobile workers work from anywhere (often while

traveling)

■ Remote workers = telecommuters + mobile workers

■ Virtual teams include remote workers as well as those

in their offices, perhaps scattered geographically

– Virtual teams have a life cycle (Figure 4.4)

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Key Activities in the Life Cycle of Teams

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Telecommuting: Global Status

■ A poll of 11,300 employees in 22 countries: 1

in 6 telecommute

■ When employees in 13 countries were asked if

they need to be in the office to be productive:

– Overall 39% said “yes”

– But specific countries differed in the “yes” votes:

■ Only 7% in India, but

■ 56% in Japan

■ 57% in Germany

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Driver Effect

Shift to knowledge-based work

Changing demographics and

lifestyle preferences

New technologies with enhanced

bandwidth

Web ubiquity

“Green” concerns

Decouples work from any particular

place

Workers desire geographic and time-

shifting flexibility

Remotely-performed work is practical

and cost-effective

Can stay connected 24/7

Reduced commuting costs; real

estate energy consumption; travel

costs

Drivers of Remote Work and Virtual Teams

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Advantages of Remote Work Potential Problems

Reduced stress: better ability to meet

schedules; less distraction at work

Higher morale and lower absenteeism

Geographic flexibility

Higher personal productivity

Housebound individuals can join the

workforce

Informal Dress

Increased stress: Harder to separate

work from home life

Harder to evaluate performance

Employee may become disconnected

from company culture

Telecommuters are more easily

replaced by offshore workers

Not suitable for all jobs or employees

Security might be more difficult

Some advantages and disadvantages of remote work

Virtual Teams ■ Virtual Teams: geographically and/or

organizationally dispersed coworkers:

– Assembled using telecommunications and IT

– Aim is to accomplish an organizational task

– Often must be evaluated using outcome controls

■ Why are they growing in popularity?

– Information explosion: some specialists are far away

– Enhanced bandwidths/fast connections to outsiders

– Technology is available to assist collaboration

– Less difficult to get relevant stakeholders together

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Challenges Virtual Teams Traditional Teams

Communications • Multiple time zones can lead to greater efficiency but can lead to

communication difficulties and

coordination costs (passing work).

• Non-verbal communication is

difficult to convey

• Same time zone.

Scheduling is less difficult.

• Teams may use richer

communication media.

Technology • Proficiency is required in several technologies.

• Support for face-to-face

interaction without replacing

it

• Skills and task-technology

fit is less critical

Team Diversity • Members represent different organizations and/or cultures:

- Harder to establish a group identity.

- Necessary to have better com. skills

- More difficult to build trust, norms

- Impact of deadlines not always

consistent

• More homogeneous

members

- Easier group identity

- Easier to communicate

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Challenges facing virtual teams.

Managerial Issues In Telecommuting and Mobile Work

■ Planning, business and support tasks must be

redesigned to support mobile and remote

workers

■ Training should be offered so all workers can

understand the new work environment

■ Employees selected for telecommuting jobs

must be self-starters

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Managing the Challenges

■ Communications challenges

– Policies and practices must support the work arrangements

– Must prepare differently for meetings

– Slides and other electronic material must be shared beforehand

– Soft-spoken people are difficult to hear; managers must repeat key messages

– Frequent communications are helpful (hard to “overcommunicate”)

■ Technology challenges

– Provide technology and support to remote workers

– Use high quality web conferencing applications

– Clarify time zones for scheduling

– Information should be available for everyone (cloud storage can help)

– Policies and norms about use of the technology can be important

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Managing the Challenges ■ Diversity challenges

– Concept of time differs throughout the

world

■ Anglo-American cultures view time as a continuum

(deadlines are important; many prefer not to

multitask)

■ Indian cultures have a cyclical view of time

(deadlines are less potent; many prefer to multitask)

– Team diversity might need nurturing: ■ Communications differences

■ Trust building

■ Group identity formation

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Gaining Acceptance For It- induced Change

■ Many changes might be a major concern for employees

■ Changes might be resisted if they are viewed as negative impacts

■ Several types of resistance: – Denying that the system is up and running

– Sabotage by distorting or otherwise altering inputs

– Believing and/or spreading the word that the new system will not change the status quo

– Refusing to use the new system (if voluntary)

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Kotter’s Model

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Week 4 Objectives

Complete Weekly Discussion & Respond to 2 other students.