Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Innovations in telecommunications technology increase the possibilities of working from the home. Implications of work-at-home arrangements for the individual's quality of working life are discussed. Included are discussions of several major aspects of the work experience relevant to quality of working life, analyses of the differences along these aspects between working at home and working at a normal workplace, and speculation about the possible consequences for the individual of the transfer of jobs from employers” premises to employees' homes. <s> BIB001 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Job satisfaction and productivity were compared for 34 in-house employees and 34 telecommuters performing data-entry and coding. Job satisfaction was measured on the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Ques... <s> BIB002 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> This paper develops a « contingency theory » of technological work reorganization that addresses organizational, managerial, and job characteristic contengencies in the reorganization of the work process. Sustantively, the focus is on the rationales of top decision-makers in a sample of firms for adopting and designing telecommuting jobs. Following the theoritical model developed in the paper, the AA. find that telecommuting innovation is primarily contingent on organizational constraints (such as bureaucratic inertia) and, on the other hand, upon managerial goals (such as control of the labor process) in interaction with the relative power and status of the target employee group. <s> BIB003 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Abstract There are many emerging corporate strategies designed to make large, complex business enterprises more responsive to environmental concerns. One major corporate innovation that has a direct environmental impact is the increased use of telework options for employees. These programmes significantly reduce the amount of employee travel, thereby reducing air pollution. However, adoption of telework programmes requires a change in organizational management strategies. The prevailing attitude of “If I can't see them, how do I know they are working” must be changed. This attitudinal change, coupled with the structural move towards the ‘virtual corporation’ can be managed using existing organizational development strategies and tactics. The paper reports the results of several field studies in California which examined the phenomenon of telework. The studies consistently report increases in worker productivity of 16 per cent and a significant reduction of personal automobile travel of between 20–40 per c... <s> BIB004 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Summarizes the results of a European Commission project led by the author, which has examined business re‐structuring across Europe and the relationship between business process re‐engineering (BPR) and new ways of working. Found that there are many ways other than BPR for achieving fundamental change and that most exercises being undertaken in the name of BPR are of an improvement nature and in some cases more radical improvements are being achieved by those adopting new patterns of work. Argues that BPR is failing to harness enough of the potential of people. Business processes rather than management support or learning processes are being re‐engineered. People are working harder rather than smarter. <s> BIB005 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> This article reviews the effects of the computer age on our environment. Although the usefulness of computer technology is inarguably an asset in today's world, the environmental implications are not yet fully understood by the majority of computer users. The subjects discussed in this article fall in three general areas: the direct effects of computers on the computer user and the workplace (ergonomics and telecommuting); the effects of the use of computers on the environment (consumption of electrical energy and solid waste disposal); and the environmental hazards of producing computers. > <s> BIB006 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Keynote address to the 1994 Information Resources Management Association International Conference in San Antonio, Texas by Karen D. Walker Compaq Computer Corporation <s> BIB007 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Discusses and attempts to anticipate the changes in consumer attitudes and behaviors which may result from the growing importance of digital information technology. Based on a survey conducted among early adopters of the technology, the “telecommuters”, finds a high incidence of pet ownership among telecommuters, rejection of some forms of computer shopping, and long working hours interlaced with long breaks, etc. Suggests the need to further investigate ways to capitalize on these future trends for the businesses of: banking, finances, travel, video rental, pet supply, grocery and retail trade. <s> BIB008 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> One of the most interesting changes in business practices is telecommuting, namely doing work in places other than the corporate offices. The extent of telecommuting has been on the rise during the 1990s and it is expected to rise rapidly during the next few years. A major driving force in the spread of telecommuting is the increased availability of cost-effective supportive information technologies. The tasks performed by telecommuters are expanding. While the early telecommuters performed repeated transactions (such as processing insurance claims at home), today's telecommuters can perform at home, or on the road, almost any task that they do at the office. Thus, their information needs have been changed. This paper examines the various tasks performed by telecommuters and surveys the major supporting information technologies. Special attention is given to electronic mail, accessibility to databases and networks, desk top teleconferencing, personal digital assistants (PDAs), screen sharing, workflow systems, idea generation, and distributed group decision making. Also, Lotus Notes is viewed as a major computing environment that will facilitate telecommuting. Technological developments in an integrated services digital network (ISDN), an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), wireless communication, and local area network (LAN) connectivity will have a major impact on the growth of telecommuting and so will the resolution of managerial issues such as appropriate controls and security, cost-benefit justification, training and ownership and maintenance of the necessary equipment at home. <s> BIB009 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> In this paper the results of surveys of about 400 telecommuters in the USA, including transportation impacts, are presented, and whether telecommuting is actually related to any net reduction in travel in general and in car-use in particular is discussed. Findings from trip logs completed by driving age household members for an entire week are given. Teleworking is also shown to have no severe negative socio-psychological effects on either teleworkers or telemanagers, at least short term, provided all parties are properly selected and trained and do not telework full time. Brief mention is made of the differences between teleworkers in the USA and elsewhere. <s> BIB010 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Abstract While there are over 7 million telecommuters in the U.S. today, there has been little empirical research and virtually no theoretical work on telecommuting. Drawing from the literatures on contingent employment, job design and social isolation, this article presents a theoretical framework for understanding how different constellations of telecommuting arrangements and job characteristics lead to different patterns of employee attitudes and behaviors. After presenting a series of propositions, the article concludes with suggestions for the empirical testing of these propositions and a discussion of the implications for management practice. <s> BIB011 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Employees who had become telecommuters at several corporations in the mid- Atlantic region of the United States were surveyed and interviewed. In inter views, telecommuters consistently reported th... <s> BIB012 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> The juxtaposition of available enabling technologies and low demand for telecommuting focuses attention on the need for businesses to understand how more flexible and innovative workplace strategies can help them gain competitive advantage. The integrated workplace strategies approach leverages settings, technologies, and management practices to support more effective ways of working and achieve the seemingly contradictory goals of reduced costs, improved performance, enhanced flexibility, improved air quality, and reduced traffic congestion. <s> BIB013 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Although telecommuting may have some role in reducing traffic congestion and air pollution, a transportation planner advises promoters of telecommuting to look beyond broad social benefits and focus instead on telecommuting's role as a contributor to a full and financially sound system of distributed work. This way of thinking requires a market-based approach that focuses on the concerns of customers (i.e., employers), particularly their business needs. <s> BIB014 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Accurate forecasts of the adoption and impacts of telecommuting depend on an understanding of what motivates individuals to adopt telecommuting and what constraints prevent them from doing so, since these motivations and constraints offer insight into who is likely to telecommute under what circumstances. Telecommuting motivations and constraints are likely to differ by various segments of society. In this study, we analyze differences in these variables due to gender, occupation, and presence of children for 583 employees of the City of San Diego. Numerous differences are identified, which can be used to inform policies (public or organizational) intended to support telecommuting. Most broadly, women on average rated the advantages of telecommuting more highly than men – both overall and within each occupation group. Women were more likely than men to have family, personal benefits, and stress reduction as potential motivations for telecommuting, and more likely to possess the constraints of supervisor unwillingness, risk aversion, and concern about lack of visibility to management. Clerical workers were more likely than managers or professionals to see the family, personal, and office stress-reduction benefits of telecommuting as important, whereas managers and professionals were more likely to cite getting more work done as the most important advantage of telecommuting. Constraints present more strongly for clerical workers than for other occupations included misunderstanding, supervisor unwillingness, job unsuitability, risk aversion, and (together with professional workers) perceived reduced social interaction. Constraints operating more strongly for professional workers included fear of household distractions, reduced social and (together with managers) professional interaction, the need for discipline, and lack of visibility to management. Key constraints present for managers included reduced professional interaction and household distractions. Lack of awareness, cost, and lack of technology or other resources did not differ significantly by gender or occupation. Respondents with children rated the stress reduction and family benefits of telecommuting more highly than did those with no children at home. Those with children were more likely than those without children to be concerned about the lack of visibility to management, and (especially managers) were more likely to cite household distractions as a constraint. <s> BIB015 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Millions of employees now use portable electronic tools to do their jobs from a “virtual office” with extensive flexibility in the timing and location of work. However, little scholarly research exists about the effects of this burgeoning work form. This study of IBM employees explored influences of the virtual office on aspects of work and work/life balance as reported by virtual office teleworkers (n = 157) and an equivalent group of traditional office workers (n= 89). Qualitative analyses revealed the perception of greater productivity, higher morale, increased flexibility and longer work hours due to telework, as well as an equivocal influence on work/life balance and a negative influence on teamwork. Using a quasi-experimental design, quantitative multivariate analyses supported the qualitative findings related to productivity, flexibility and work/life balance. However, multivariate analyses failed to support the qualitative findings for morale, teamwork and work hours. This study highlights the need for a multi-method approach, including both qualitative and quantitative elements, when studying telework. <s> BIB016 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Today many organizations, including AT&T and IBM, are pioneering the alternative workplace--the combination of nontraditional work practices, settings, and locations that is beginning to supplement traditional offices. This is not a fad. Although estimates vary widely, it is safe to say that some 30 million to 40 million people in the United States are now either telecommuters or home-based workers. What motivates managers to examine how people spend their time at the office and where else they might do their work? Among the potential benefits for companies are reduced costs, increased productivity, and an edge in vying for and keeping talented employees. They can also capture government incentives and avoid costly sanctions. But at the same time, alternative workplace programs are not for everyone. Indeed, such programs can be difficult to adopt, even for those organizations that seem to be most suited to them. Ingrained behaviors and practical hurdles are hard to overcome. And the challenges of managing both the cultural changes and systems improvements required by an alternative workplace initiative are substantial. How should senior managers think about alternative workplace programs? What are the criteria for determining whether the alternative workplace is right for a given organization? What are the most common pitfalls in implementing alternative workplace programs? The author provides the answers to these questions in his examination of this new frontier of where and how people work. <s> BIB017 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> A stream of air whose pollution is to be measured is forced between the plates of a first and second air capacitor having a suitable length and applied voltage for furnishing a first and second measurement signal varying, respectively, as a function of small and large positive ion concentration in the air. A divider circuit divides the second by the first measurement signal. The resultant first output signal is added to a second output signal similarly derived from the measurement of negative ions to furnish the final pollution measuring signal. <s> BIB018 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> This article provides a gendered perspective on access to the emerging information infrastructure. It examines access issues as they affect women; discusses public policy work on gender equity to national information infrastructure initiatives; and provides recommended reforms towards increasing gender equity to the information infrastructure. <s> BIB019 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> As telecommuting programs proliferate, a better understanding of the relationship between telecommuting and career success outcomes is required to provide human resources managers, telecommuters, and information systems managers with information to decide the future of telecommuting arrangements. This paper addresses this need by exploring whether turnover intentions and their determinants differ for telecommuters and non-telecommuters. Four hundred salespeople from one large company in the southeastern United States were asked to participate in the study. The organization entry point was the marketing director. One hundred and four telecommuting employees and one hundred and twenty-one regular employees responded, with a total of 225 usable questionnaires. Telecommuters seemed to face less role conflict and role ambiguity and tended to be happier with their supervisors and more committed to their organizations. They also showed lower satisfaction with peers and with promotion. Based on the results, recommendations are proposed for managing the implementation of telecommuting programs and their impact on the rest of the organization's employee population. <s> BIB020 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> AbstractAre the factors motivating present telecommuting employees the same motivating factors found for the workers of the Industrial Revolution according to Herzberg's Two-Factor theory? Herzberg concluded that motivating factors increasing job satisfaction are: achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement, and growth. By survey of telecommuters, this article shows that telecommuters are motivated by the same Herzberg factors. Additionally, their newfound flexibility and control over their work, schedule and personal life motivates telecommuters, and that work overload has become a serious “dissatisfier” for the telecommuter. <s> BIB021 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> The advent of technologies that enable virtual work arrangements brings with it a challenge to managers: do they trust their employees to work outside of their presence? A perceived loss of control and a sense of being taken advantage of, may be experienced by a manager as employees disappear from the manager's daily gaze. To enable the transition of employees to virtual work arrangements, managers who work in bureaucratic organizations that value a high degree of control and stability may need to change their management style to accommodate new methods of employee communication and interaction. Alternately, corporate cultures well suited for the transition value results and are characterized as having the atmosphere of trust (a shared emotional understanding about who is to be trustee based on compatible values and open communications/attitudes). Telecommuting, as one form of virtual work arrangement, provides a prime opportunity to look into the management attitudes and corporate cultures that may hinder the transition of workers into remote settings. The study of telecommuting among information technology (IT) professionals suggests that management trust of employees, the ability to secure the technology involved, a rational culture, and a group culture, which emphasizes human resources and member participation, facilitate telecommuting implementation. Thus the study offers strong support for the important role of trust, security, and culture in the implementation of virtual work arrangements. <s> BIB022 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Abstract This study represents a preliminary step towards developing an understanding of how telework arrangements affect intra-organizational communication. The following general research questions are addressed: (1) Do telework arrangements change the way in which teleworkers communicate with their superiors, their subordinates, their colleagues and their clients?; and (2) Do telework arrangements change the way in which managers communicate with subordinates who telework? The study, which was conducted at two Canadian federal government departments, was designed to collect information from four groups: (1) teleworkers ( n =36 at Time 2); (2) managers of teleworkers ( n =28 at Time 2); (3) co-workers of teleworkers ( n =27 at Time 2); and (4) a control group ( n =25 at Time 2). Three data collection techniques were used in this study: paper and pencil questionnaires, telephone interviews, and focus group interviews. Data were collected at three points in time: (1) two weeks prior to the start of the telework pilot; (2) three months after the telework pilot had begun; and (3) six months after the start of the telework pilot. Analysis of the data suggests that, with a few important exceptions, part-time telework arrangements have little impact on intra-organizational communication. <s> BIB023 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> The “triple bottom line” approach emphasizes not only economic goals, but social and environmental objectives as well. The “telework” option—in which employees work from home or a satellite office rather than from a central location—would appear to advance all three of these aims. But a close look at the specifics of teleworking makes clear that more data are needed to determine its ultimate impact. Moreover, despite its apparent advantages, teleworking is gaining acceptance less quickly than might be expected. For these reasons, telework offers a fascinating case study in the difficulties of applying the triple bottom line concept.© 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. <s> BIB024 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Today, with the increasing proliferation of telecommuting in firms, information technology managers are confronted with yet another challenge of what telecommuting technologies and services to offer and to whom these technologies and services should be offered. This study intends to identify the telecommuters' patterns of usage of computer and communication technologies based on their background, employment, residential, and occupation characteristics. Based on a sample of 375 responses, this study finds that all of these factors can help to explain the usage of computer and communications technologies. The implications of the findings for researchers and technology managers are discussed. <s> BIB025 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Summary Telework has inspired research in disciplines ranging from transportation and urban planning to ethics, law, sociology, and organizational studies. In our review of this literature, we seek answers to three questions: who participates in telework, why they do, and what happens when they do? Who teleworks remains elusive, but research suggests that male professionals and female clerical workers predominate. Notably, work-related factors like managers’ willingness are most predictive of which employees will telework. Employees’ motivations for teleworking are also unclear, as commonly perceived reasons such as commute reduction and family obligations do not appear instrumental. On the firms’ side, managers’ reluctance, forged by concerns about cost and control and bolstered by little perceived need, inhibits the creation of telework programmes. As for outcomes, little clear evidence exists that telework increases job satisfaction and productivity, as it is often asserted to do. We suggest three steps for future research may provide richer insights: consider group and organizational level impacts to understand who telework affects, reconsider why people telework, and emphasize theory-building and links to existing organizational theories. We conclude with lessons learned from the telework literature that may be relevant to research on new work forms and workplaces. Copyright # 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. <s> BIB026 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> Telecommuting programs transform communication patterns, performance management, corporate culture, and potentially the work itself. This study addresses middle managers’ views concerning the introduction of telecommuting programs in their organizations. Middle management views are important, because telecommuting directly impacts their positions, and their support is vital to ensure its successful implementation. The findings indicate that the majority of managers perceived cultural change as the most difficult issue to resolve when introducing a telecommuting program. <s> BIB027 </s> Telecommuting's Past and Future: A Literature Review and Research Agenda <s> Description of schema <s> This paper suggests that 'telework' alters the context within which teleworkers acquire knowledge. Because of sophisticated information technologies, teleworkers have greater access to on–line information and documentation. This access creates the potential for higher explicit knowledge in comparison with the traditional work environment. However, telework increases the physical distance from work and decreases the ability to socialize. Increased physical distance creates a challenge in the teleworkers' abilities to acquire tacit knowledge. Socialization, mentoring, training and documentation practices, therefore, become important for maintaining knowledge in the organization. <s> BIB028
The first element of the schema is the breakdown of four issues: workforce issues, organizational issues, technological issues, and environmental issues. These issues were chosen based on their relevance to the various management disciplines (Figure 1 ) and their strong association with telecommuting. The majority of published articles and studies address issues in the first two categories (Table III) . The four issues are further described in the following section. In each category we discuss a representative selection of articles that illustrate each main issue. Workforce issues. The "Workforce Issues" category is primarily viewed from the employee's perspective. In this category the topics of balance family responsibility and work, productivity, impact on job satisfaction, communication, quality of working life, and employees' attitude towards telecommunication are discussed. One major issue that has garnered a significant amount of attention is the balance issue that may be stated in terms of "Work/Life Balance" or "Work/Family Balance." Some of the articles that address this issue in various forms include  ,  ,  , BIB015 ,  and BIB016 . This issue is often cited as the major benefit that the worker who elects to telecommute will receive. The most frequently discussed topic within this group is work responsibility and family responsibility tradeoffs for telecommuters  BIB001 . The flexibility issue, of caring for young children or elderly family members while working from home, is typically discussed in conjunction with the balance issue.  examine the relation between family structure and the perception of quality of work and non-work lives of telecommuters. BIB016 present the results of an empirical study where the influence of the virtual office was examined. They found that it has a positive influence on productivity and flexibility; however, their results did not support the positive influence on work/life balance. BIB026 further conclude that work/life balance is indeed a benefit of telework but that the effect is primarily a benefit for "dual-career" families.  in a series of case studies of UK telecommuters provides additional support for the benefits to dual-career spouses. In three focused BIB004 CA  E X X Teo and Lim (1999) E X Tomaskovic-Devey and BIB003 C X X Tung and Turban (1996) Telecommuting's past and future cases, one male spouse was able to take on more family duties including "child rearing tasks" as a result of telework opportunities. A female in another case felt more pressure to maintain a very structured work atmosphere at home so that she could be productive and keep pace in her career. By contrast, one male subject turned down a promotion because it did not offer the opportunity to telework. From the range of research outcomes and propositions, the work/life balance issue is not as many had envisioned. In particular, women do not seem to benefit as much as do men. Additionally, the time that can be devoted to family duties is very limited. We believe that two major reasons for this limitation are the part-time nature of most telework arrangements and the need to show work results when teleworking. Another frequently discussed topic is the increased productivity that results from eliminating the wasted time that a real commute requires  BIB016 ). An empirical study performed by BIB002 showed an increase in productivity of work-at-home employees, this was primarily associated with work that is structured, repetitive and measurable. The productivity benefits described in these articles are to some extent counter to the expected result. The potential productivity increases are key to company decisions to utilize telecommuting. As long as jobs and people are selected carefully for telecommuting, any concerns over productivity are mitigated. Job satisfaction and worker motivation were the topic of empirical research by Bélanger (1999a), BIB020 ,  ,  and BIB002 . They reported telecommuters' satisfaction with their job arrangement particularly if it is not mandatory by their employers. Working conditions, scheduling of one's own working hours, and taking care of family/personal responsibilities were the source of job satisfaction BIB002 . Employees who reported the greatest satisfaction were those with children living at home BIB002 . A smaller number of articles have addressed worker attitudes BIB021  BIB011 BIB008 . An empirical study by BIB008 examined telecommuters' attitude and behavior. They found that telecommuters appreciate the freedom and feel more efficient; however, the one aspect of the office that they missed was socialization BIB008 . Workforce Issues are also often interwoven with organizational issues and technology issues  BIB028 . One example of the crossover effect from one category to another is a group of articles that have suggested, "work rules" for the telecommuter BIB011   . This approach places limits on the worker thereby reducing their freedom but from the organization's perspective work rules offer at least a small degree of control that they may fear will be lost. Organizational issues. Topics under organizational issues range from telecommuting adoption, employee retention and recruitment, increased work capacity, and other benefits to be gained by the organization    BIB017 . Corporate culture, management attitude, relationship between telecommuters and managers, intra-organizational communication, and the role of trust are also investigated BIB022 . The relationship between telecommuting and business process reengineering was presented by BIB005 . A limited number of organizations have openly shared their experiences and given free access for researchers to delve deeper into the details of their organization's telecommuting initiatives BIB016 BIB017 . We identified 62 articles that focus on organizational issues. BIB018 explored environmental factors that impact telecommuting adoption and pinpointed "competitor's adoption" as a key factor that motivated firms to initiate their own telecommuting program. This factor also relates to several other organizational issues such as employee recruitment and employee retention.  empirically tested the success factors for telecommuting programs. They found that the characteristics of supervisors, employees, tasks, and work environment are positively related to the success of the program. They also emphasized the importance of planning, management support and employees' selection. The corporate culture is another concern, and it may be highly impacted when a telecommuting program is implemented BIB027 .  presented two arguments. The corporate culture that draws its strength from the employees' continuous interaction and face-to-face communications will be most affected. However, a bureaucratic culture that has extensive rules and regulations will handle telecommuting well. Additionally, BIB022 empirical study indicates that the lack of trust of the employees is a primary barrier to telecommuting adoption and diffusion. It appears that group culture and organizational culture will influence the level of trust.  supports this argument and proposed seven rules of trust as a way to foster an environment that is conducive to telecommuting adoption. In a directly linked topic, BIB023 assess empirically the impact of telecommuting on intra-organizational communication. They found that telework arrangements have no significant impact on the method or frequency of communications. They also found that managers effectively adapted how they communicate with telecommuters. The issue of procedure and direction for choosing and assessing telecommuters was further discussed by Schilling (1995) . He presents guidelines for evaluating types of telework positions and parameters of telecommuter selection policy. Another study performed by BIB012 emphasized the importance of telecommuters' selection as well as the quality of the relationship between them and their managers. One of the few case studies found during our research presents a successful telecommunication program implementation. The success was due to: "top management support, comprehensive training, deployment of reliable IT architecture in less than 6 months, and addressing technical and personnel issues immediately"  . An interesting relationship between telecommuting and BPR was presented by BIB005 based on a European study. It was found that more radical improvement and fundamental changes could be achieved by adopting telecommuting. The introduction of telecommuting may "redefine both processes and organizational structure" and its outcome can be as substantial as those of BPR. A very revealing perspective suggests that telecommuting remains a passive strategy rather than a strategy that is pursued aggressively by management. This stems from management's reluctance to implement telecommuting as a prominent corporate wide strategy  . If this assessment is accurate, this is a major factor in the slow growth of telecommuting implementation. Technological issues. Technology is the backbone of any telecommuting program. Managing information technology is critical in the ongoing support of all telecommuting programs. Companies must invest in the appropriate equipment at the central office and at the virtual office before they can claim any success in the world of telecommuting. The topics and articles that deal with technological issues range from visionary  to very technical and very practical  and ultimately to the conceptual end of the spectrum BIB009 . The primary topics include the most appropriate technologies for the telecommuter and the matching of technology with the task to be performed  . Competing technologies, technology choices, and availability of technologies (i.e. rural versus urban) have also been described extensively. Gender equity has been raised as an issue with regard to access to the Canadian information infrastructure along with other issues that affect women who are telecommuting BIB019 . Of the articles we reviewed, there were 26 articles (12.8 percent) that focus on technological issues.  discussed the importance of E-mail as a distributor and disseminator of information. However, they do caution that E-mail should not be utilized to solve employee problems or to convey criticism. Guidelines should be provided so that employees know when they should use face-to-face or telephone interactions. Several telecommuting issues were evaluated by Scott and Timmerman (1999) including communication technology options and their effect on virtual work and multiple workplace identification. The communication technologies they tested were voice mail, fax, electronic mail, videoconferencing and GroupWare. They concluded that the telephone is the most frequently used technology. They also found that there are several differences between the telecommunication technologies teleworkers used for interaction with a variety of other parties. An empirical study to test the use of these communication technologies was conducted by BIB025 . They found telecommuters with college degrees tend to have higher usage of technology. They also found that the usage is higher among females than males and are significantly high among telecommuters living in suburban areas vs urban and rural areas BIB025 . The importance of IT infrastructure is described by Pliskin (1997) . He explains how the availability of high bandwidth communication facilitates information sharing and group collaboration.  discussed the role of IT managers. He emphasized the importance of security issues as well as the importance of the proper choice of hardware/ software.  in their case study describe the successful deployment of a highly reliable IT infrastructure. The realized benefits from the project include increased revenue as a result of an increase in sales force field time and improvements in customer relationships. New technology developments and competing delivery technology systems will continue to dominate this category. Other issues deal with standardizing the "at home" technology for all telecommuters and whether the technology is provided by the company or by the employee. Since, technology is the enabler that makes telecommuting possible, our first model ( Figure 2 ) is a simple one based on the fundamental concept of supply and demand as documented by BIB013 . Gray also states that it is inadequate to assume that demand will follow just because enabling technology makes it possible to supply telecommuting opportunities BIB013 . But this simplistic model provides a starting point to assist our development of more comprehensive model of telecommuting. Environmental issues. Decreased highway traffic, air quality, and atmospheric ozone levels are some of the interrelated environmental topics that have been presented  BIB014 . Other topics include; the environmental impact of telecommuters technology, the initiatives taken by organizations, city governments and the federal government to enhance the environment and the measures of environmental benefits. The breadth of "telecommuting" has also led to stern disagreement about the environmental benefits (Economist 1998 (Economist -1999 . For example, is fuel actually saved and is there an air quality benefit if telecommuters are still taking trips in their vehicle at some point during the day BIB010 ? Does the increased Telecommuting's past and future electricity consumption to power personal computers offset the energy benefit associated with reduced fuel consumption resulting from reduced travel miles BIB006 Technology is the enabler of telecommuting. One possible reason that the environmental impact of telecommuting has not received substantial attention may be due to the uncertain environmental impact of technology in general. BIB006 points more specifically to the uncertain environmental impact of computers. Major areas of environmental concern include: "the direct effects of computers on the computer user . . . the effects of the use of computers on the environment (consumption of electrical energy and solid waste disposal) and the environmental hazards of producing computers" BIB006 . All of these concerns can be added as concerns of telecommuting because computer technology is an unavoidable requirement. The first two concerns are directly connected with telecommuting but these certainly are not the favorable environmental impact that telecommuting advocates would highlight. The primary environmental issue is air quality. Congress, in the 1990 Amendment, Title I of the Clean Air Act, mandated the environmental motivation for telecommuting programs. The eleven states in the US with the worst air quality were targeted specifically. Organizations in those eleven states with more than 100 employees are required to reduce the number of employees commuting each day by 25 percent  . The original target areas were expanded to include major cities, where firms with more than 100 employees had to "increase their average vehicle occupancies (or reduced vehicles) . . . by 1996" BIB007 . Penalties for non-compliance by those firms with more than 100 employees vary from state to state and range "from $5,000 a month to $25,000 a day"  . Telecommuting is not a mandated solution but telecommuting is one means to achieve this reduction along with car pools, van pools, mass transit incentives, and other similar measures. More recently, the 106th US Congress passed legislation aimed at promoting significantly more telecommuting in the "Telecommuting and Air Quality Act (HR2556, S1521)"  . AT&T was one of the organizations that offered environmental programs at various locations as New Jersey BIB017 and Los Angeles (McLarty 1993) . Dobrian (1999) provides an excellent overview of the AT&T programs and discusses New Jersey, Los Angeles and Phoenix as areas that have been favorably impacted. Within the AT&T organizational structure there is a functional area that deals with all environmental regulation compliance. This extends from the manufacturing processes owned by AT&T to all of the long distance operations consisting primarily of offices. Prudential Insurance Company has also a "clean air compliance office" and they explicitly state that a major reason for their telecommuting program is the Clean Air Act  . At Hewlett Packard (HP) clean air regulations were why HP got involved in telecommuting  . HP supports their program with an extensive set of guidelines. The guidelines are an important tool for managing the telecommuting workforce and for providing a guide regarding health and safety issues  . Throughout the US, somewhere between "4,000 and 6,000 HP workers telecommute at least once very two weeks"  . The city of Phoenix, Arizona began a telecommuting program in 1995 based on research that indicated about 50 percent of all their workers were interested in BPMJ 12,4 telecommuting or had jobs that were well-suited to telecommuting  . Other governmental agencies have also instituted telecommuting programs including the City of San Diego and the State of Georgia. Although Georgia was not among the original eleven states targeted in 1990 but the Atlanta area was faced with rapidly increasing smog in the early 1990s. Atlanta's inability to meet ozone limits specified by the Clean Air Act led to the threat of losing federal funding for city highways. The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce then approached local companies like Georgia Power (division of Southern Company) and urged them to take major strides to reduce the number of their employees commuting to offices in downtown Atlanta  . The US Federal government has also implemented telecommuting in a wide range of agencies. In recent years, US Federal employees have utilized several "telework centers" located around the perimeter of Washington, DC and are actively supporting more telework opportunities for other Federal workers  ). In the Washington, DC area there are fifteen (15) satellite telework centers where federal employees can conduct their work. Average capacity utilization is about 54 percent for the fifteen telework centers based on regular users with reserved space  ). The range varies from 25 percent to 85 percent utilization with a few centers approaching 100 percent utilization for some time slots  . These numbers clearly indicate that the number of federal teleworkers taking advantage of the telework centers could be dramatically improved upon for those centers with low utilization. There is also the potential to spread telework beyond the DC area to include other Federal offices nationwide. The barrier seems to be a lack of willingness on the part of federal agencies to allow certain types of work to be performed in this fashion. This attitude may be out of concern for confidentiality, security or some other reason that dictates that certain tasks still have to be conducted at a centralized location rather than from a distance. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) research in the US has found that telecommuters reduce their vehicle use by 30 percent despite taking more personal trips compared to workers that do not telecommute (Leonard, 1997) . Again, the logic is that fewer cars, fewer commuters, less time traveled, fewer miles traveled all translate into fewer pollutants that are being emitted. That is the logic and it does not appear to be flawed but quantifying improvement of air quality that is associated with telecommuting is a difficult task. However, some organizations and agencies attempt to measure the environmental improvement due to telecommuters. Georgia Power estimates that the use of satellite centers saves each employee "about an hour and a half of their" commuting time each day and "each center saves about 300 commute miles a day" (or 3,000 total commute miles per day for ten satellite centers) (Tanzillo, 1995, p. 14) . Other organizations and agencies have attempted to make more detailed and scientific measures. The City of Phoeniz, AZ estimates that 1.4 tons of pollutants were kept out of the air in the first six months of their program based on a total reduction of 97,000 commuting miles  . This type of measure may be more speculative but it does attempt to address the Clean Air Act and the air quality issue as it relates to telecommuting. A few guesstimates have also been thrown out into the discussion. The New York City Department of Transportation has proposed a "what if" measure. "If 15 percent of the workers in New York City telecommuted 3.7 days per month, the potential impact . . . would be 95,000 fewer commuting vehicles per day (and) 2.5 fewer tons of toxic emissions per day"  . The California Engineering Foundation (CEF) with members from leading organizations such as Pacific Bell, Xerox Corp., Bechtel Industries, and Rockwell International Corp. took a bolder approach and estimated that the state of California could "save close to $5 billion a year in fuel costs and productivity loss"  . Conceptually, the "triple bottom line" is a very appealing description that acknowledges telecommuting's benefits to the company, the employee and society BIB024 . The environmental impact is the primary benefit that society stands to gain. One very recent estimate takes a step towards answering the environmental questions that have been sparsely addressed.  uses the following data to extrapolate an environmental impact: "one gallon of gasoline produces 19 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), the 5.1 million gallons of gas teleworkers didn't use in 2,000 equate to almost 50,000 tons of CO 2 . . . " and continues by stating that "these are estimates based on reasonable assumptions, but they provide an idea of the magnitude of reductions in emissions which teleworking might support if engaged in on a global scale"  . What is the appropriate measure? Ozone levels? Number of smog alert days per season? Perhaps it is compliance with Federal regulations for emissions in the region? These are the types of measures where improvement is not likely to be found. But these are exactly the measures that need to be improved. These are the measures that prompted congressional action in the beginning. The telecommuting advocate might simply argue that: "Without telecommuting, the air quality would be much worse." That is probably the best argument one can make when the measures that matter most are used. Table III shows the distribution of the articles between the four categories. The reader will notice that the majority of the articles published are in the descriptive and empirical categories with very few in the conceptual and case study categories. A careful review of Table III will show that most of the empirical studies are done in the past few years. The availability of the World Wide Web and the easy access to databases and lists make performing this type of study easier and less expensive. Moreover, many of the case studies were published in practitioner or trade journals that we excluded from our review.