Communication and Coordination in the Virtual Office.

Author List: Fritz, Mary Beth Watson; Narasimhan, Sridhar; Rhee, Hyeun-Suk;
Journal of Management Information Systems, 1998, Volume 14, Issue 4, Page 7/28/2017.
As information technology becomes more pervasive, the structure of the traditional work environment is changing. A number of alternatives are emerging where work is performed at remote locations. Existing work practices and managerial strategies are often not appropriate in this environment. In particular, traditional office communication with coworkers and management, which is often dependent on physical proximity, is disrupted. In this study, individual satisfaction with office communication in the telecommuting and conventional work environments is compared through a study of telecommuters and a comparison group of non-telecommuters in nine firms. We investigate the influence of certain organizational factors, such as job characteristics, IT support, and coordination methods, on satisfaction with office communication in the two work environments. We find telecommuters report higher satisfaction with office communication. Our findings indicate that task predictability, IT support, and electronic coordination have similar influences for both groups. We discuss implications of these findings for research and practice.
Keywords: distributed work; distributed work environments; electronic coordination; organizational communication; telecommuting
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List of Topics

#298 0.124 job employees satisfaction work role turnover employee organizations organizational information ambiguity characteristics personnel stress professionals conflict organization intention variables systems
#257 0.120 group support groups meeting gdss decision systems meetings technology study electronic ems task process communication computer-supported outcomes quality consensus face-to-face
#203 0.117 communication media computer-mediated e-mail richness electronic cmc mail medium message performance convergence used communications messages face-to-face findings participants results work
#256 0.097 coordination mechanisms work contingencies boundaries temporal coordinating vertical associated activities different coordinate suggests dispersed coordinated horizontal relative demand spatial hours
#116 0.091 research study influence effects literature theoretical use understanding theory using impact behavior insights examine influences mechanisms specifically context perspective findings
#299 0.082 office document documents retrieval automation word concept clustering text based automated created individual functions major approach operations prototype identify report
#146 0.079 work people workers environment monitoring performance organizations needs physical useful number personal balance perceptions create computer-based technological technologies investigation achievement
#252 0.067 management practices technology information organizations organizational steering role fashion effective survey companies firms set planning focus committees executives managing committee
#224 0.057 complexity task environments e-business environment factors technology characteristics literature affect influence role important relationship model organizational contingent actual map dimension