PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment for The Business of Government Report Assesses the State of Telecommuting within the U.S. Federal Government.Business Editors ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 4, 2000 The U.S. government's early experience with employee telecommuting telecommuting, an arrangement by which people work at home using a computer and telephone, transmitting work material to a business office by means of a modem and telephone lines; it is also known as telework. demonstrates that alternative work arrangements can improve worklife quality and customer service, but resistance among federal managers and inadequate resources continue to limit the potential of federal "distance working," according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a new research report funded by The PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment for The Business of Government. "Managing Telecommuting in the Federal Government: An Interim Report," by Gina Vega of Merrimack College Merrimack College is a small private, liberal arts, Catholic college in North Andover, Massachusetts, located on Route 114. It was founded in 1947 by Augustinians. Approximately 2,100 full-time and 300 evening students from more than 26 states and 17 countries are enrolled at and Louis Brennan Louis Brennan (28 January 1852 – 17 January 1932) was an Irish-Australian inventor. He was born in Castlebar, Ireland, moving to Melbourne, Australia in 1861 and starting his career as a watchmaker and a few years later was articled to Alexander Kennedy Smith, a renowned of Trinity College Trinity College, Ireland: see Dublin, Univ. of. Trinity College Private liberal arts college in Hartford, Conn., founded in 1823. It is historically affiliated with the Episcopal church, though its curriculum is nonsectarian. , University of Dublin Unlike the universities of Oxford and of Cambridge, after which the University of Dublin was modelled and both of which comprise several constituent colleges, there is just one Dublin college: Trinity College. , examines who telecommutes in the federal government, what type of work telecommuters do, and where, when, why and how they telecommute See telecommuting. . The report also identifies best practices and provides telecommuting recommendations for government as a whole, for individual agencies and for individual telecommuters. "Professors Vega and Brennan provide valuable insights on lessons learned to date about how to make telecommuting `work' in government," said Ian Littman, co-chairman of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment. "The authors conclude that while there are many good reasons to undertake telecommuting, there continues to be resistance to the practice among many mangers. With continued research on the telecommuting experience, the federal government will gain increased understanding of the types of work and the workers most likely to succeed in telecommuting." Alternate-work setting practices - commonly known as teleworking, telecommuting, or distance working - have been enthusiastically embraced by the private and public sectors in recent years. Advances in workplace technology, coupled with social trends, have spurred employers to create new and more flexible work styles and schedules. Beginning in 1990, with the Federal Flexible Work Place Pilot Project, the federal government has attempted to foster telecommuting and "family-friendly workplace" arrangements for nearly every federal worker. In addition to employee worklife issues, federal telecommuting policies seek to minimize budget expenditures, improve customer service, reduce energy consumption and traffic congestion The condition of a network when there is not enough bandwidth to support the current traffic load. congestion - When the offered load of a data communication path exceeds the capacity. and improve the environment. Federal telecommuting today encompasses a wide variety of government employee grade levels, job titles, functional areas, tasks and occupations, the report found. While federal policies promote telecommuting, federal practices do not uniformly provide adequate resources to make distance working feasible or effective for many federal workers. "Inadequate funding levels result in technological scrimping scrimp v. scrimped, scrimp·ing, scrimps v.intr. To economize severely. v.tr. 1. To be excessively sparing with or of. 2. To cut or make too small or scanty. , lack of training for managers and workers results in a 'make do' attitude, and governmental managerial uncertainty has created an environment antithetical an·ti·thet·i·cal also an·ti·thet·ic adj. 1. Of, relating to, or marked by antithesis. 2. Being in diametrical opposition. See Synonyms at opposite. to a commitment to teleworking," according to the report. The report notes that when federal managers were asked to describe the benefits of teleworking at their agencies, their responses were "inconsistent and confused." Some federal managers said they are willing to consider the concept of telework See telecommuting. for their employees, but many are "totally disinterested." Federal workers also appear to have mixed feelings about telecommuting, citing the worklife and productivity advantages of distance working but also voicing concerns about being isolated from other workers. The report includes 16 recommendations to address current problems in implementing a far-reaching federal telecommuting program. The authors recommend that agencies allocate resources to underwrite the set-up costs of formal teleworking arrangements and provide consistent allocation of resources allocation of resources Apportionment of productive assets among different uses. The issue of resource allocation arises as societies seek to balance limited resources (capital, labour, land) against the various and often unlimited wants of their members. and compatibility of equipment. They also suggest that the impact of different approaches to teleworking be compared in terms of costs and resources, both human and fiscal, before encouraging further development. Copies of the research report are available on the Endowment's Web site, endowment.pwcglobal.com. Authors Gina Vega and Louis Brennan are available for interviews. Contact Michael Cosgrove at (703) 322-5922 to arrange an interview. About the Authors Gina Vega is research director for the Project for the Study of Telecommuting Practices and Assistant Professor of Management at the Francis E. Girard School of Business and International Commerce at Merrimack College, where she teaches courses in organizational behavior, business ethics business ethics, the study and evaluation of decision making by businesses according to moral concepts and judgments. Ethical questions range from practical, narrowly defined issues, such as a company's obligation to be honest with its customers, to broader social and the theory of management. She has specialized in issues of human relations human relations npl → relaciones fpl humanas , communication and organizational design as a consultant and manager at the level of practitioner, as well as in her role as educator and writer. Dr. Vega holds a Ph.D. in organizational behavior/entrepreneurship from the Union Institute Graduate School. She received a B.A. in Romance languages Romance languages, group of languages belonging to the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Italic languages). Also called Romanic, they are spoken by about 670 million people in many parts of the world, but chiefly in Europe and the Western from Queens College/CUNY. Louis Brennan is a Senior Lecturer in Business Studies at the School of Business Studies, Trinity College, University of Dublin, and a research associate for the Project for the Study of Telecommuting Practices at Merrimack College. He has published widely in the area of operations An operational area defined by the joint force commander for land and naval forces. Areas of operation do not typically encompass the entire operational area of the joint force commander, but should be large enough for component commanders to accomplish their missions and protect their management with a particular focus on the modeling of both human and technical systems. Dr. Brennan's research concentrates on an examination of flexible, mobile, and remote working methods and the impact of logistics systems on global business success. Dr. Brennan holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering/manufacturing from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. , England, and an MBA MBA abbr. Master of Business Administration Noun 1. MBA - a master's degree in business Master in Business, Master in Business Administration from Northeastern University, Boston. About The PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment for The Business of Government Founded in 1998, the Endowment is one of the ways PricewaterhouseCoopers seeks to advance knowledge on how to improve public sector effectiveness. The Endowment focuses on the future of the operation and management of the public sector. Through grants for research, thought leadership forums, and the Senior Executive Service leadership program, the Endowment stimulates research and facilitates discussion on new approaches to improving the effectiveness of government at the federal, state, local, and international levels. All grants are competitive. For information on the PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment and the Endowment's 1999-2000 grant awards, visit our Web site at endowment.pwcglobal.com. About PricewaterhouseCoopers The Management Consulting Services practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers helps clients maximize their business performance by integrating strategic change, process improvements and technology solutions. Through a worldwide network of skills and resources, consultants manage complex projects with global capabilities and local knowledge, from strategy through implementation. PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwcglobal.com) is the world's largest professional services organization. Drawing on the knowledge and skills of more than 150,000 people in 150 countries, we help our clients solve complex business problems and measurably enhance their ability to build value, manage risk and improve performance in an Internet-enabled world. PricewaterhouseCoopers refers to the member firms of the worldwide PricewaterhouseCoopers organization. Note to Editors: The name PricewaterhouseCoopers is one word, with upper case P, upper case C, and all other letters in lower case. |
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