Telecommuting in India: Pitfalls and Possibilities

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-220
Author(s):  
Sumita Raghuram
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Work Practices ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Family Balance ◽  
Appraisal Systems ◽  
Central Offices ◽  
Work Family ◽  
And Control

Telecommuting, where individuals primarily work from sites that are miles away from central offices, is making inroads into India’s work practices. This practice carries several promises but also confronts many hurdles in its adoption. The advantages include reduced traffic congestion and commuter hassles, higher productivity and better work–family balance. The problems it confronts include structural and cultural issues such as lack of adequate infrastructure, societal resistance and organizational culture of command and control. This article proposes many possible solutions to enable telecommuting. These include information dissemination, redesign of jobs and appraisal systems and careful configuration of telecommute programmes.

Examining Tensions in Telework Policies

2011 ◽  
pp. 1413-1437
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Gibbs ◽  
Craig R. Scott ◽  
Young Hoon Kim ◽  
Sun Kyong Lee
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Virtual Work ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Family Balance ◽  
Workplace Policies ◽  
Work Family ◽  
And Control ◽  
Monitoring Performance ◽  
Practical Implications

This chapter examines workplace policies related to virtual work, with a specific focus on telework policies. Such policies are important to successful telework in communicating rules and expectations and providing a basis for negotiation between individual teleworkers and their employers. A content analysis of 35 state government telework policies revealed that such policies are characterized by two major tensions between autonomy and control and between flexibility and rigidity. The first tension relates to issues such as individual versus organizational responsibility for monitoring performance, providing equipment, and ensuring physical and data security, while the second tension relates to the standardization of working hours and eligibility criteria, whether rules are clear or left ambiguous, and the degree of work/family balance. Although explicit contradictions between stated benefits and realities of telework implementation may be problematic, most of the policies used tension productively by providing enough ambiguity to allow for competing individual and organizational interests to co-exist. Practical implications for teleworkers and their managers are suggested.

Family-friendly practices, high-performance work practices and work–family balance

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorena Ronda ◽  
Andrea Ollo-López ◽  
Salomé Goñi-Legaz
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Practices ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Family Balance ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
High Performance Work Practices ◽  
Work Family Balance ◽  
Work Family

Purpose This paper aims to establish to what extent family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices are positively related to work–family balance and to identify the role played by job satisfaction and working hours as mediators of this relationship Design/methodology/approach We use data for a representative sample of almost 17,000 employees of dual-earner couples from European countries. To test the mediation mechanism implied by our hypotheses, we follow the procedure outlined in Baron and Kenny (1986). Given the nature of the dependent variables, ordered probit and regression models were estimated in the analysis. Findings The results show that, in general, family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices increase work–family balance and that these positive relationships are partially mediated by job satisfaction and working hours. While both family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices increase job satisfaction, only the first increase working hours. Moreover, job satisfaction increases work–family balance, while working hours reduces it. The net effect of these opposing forces on work–family balance is positive. Research limitations/implications The use of secondary data posits some constraints, such as the type of measures and the failure to control for a higher number of family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices. Additionally, the non-longitudinal nature of the data set implies that some relationships cannot be considered causal in the intended direction. Practical implications Managers should implement family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices, as, in general, they increase work–family balance. A significant portion of this positive effect is channeled through job satisfaction and working hours. Originality/value The paper contributes to understanding the relationship between different subsets of human-resources management practices and work–family balance, proposing a model that aims to disentangle the mediating mechanisms through which this relationship occurs.

scholarly journals Agency and Capabilities in Managerial Positions: Hungarian Fathers’ Use of Workplace Flexibility

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 61-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolett Geszler
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Workplace Flexibility ◽  
Home Office ◽  
Family Balance ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Flexible Schedule ◽  
Work Family Balance ◽  
Managerial Positions ◽  
Work Family

This article analyses the agency freedom of manager fathers in Hungary to claim work–family balance through corporate flexible working arrangements. Hobson’s interpretation of Sen’s capability approach (Hobson, Fahlén, & Takács, 2011) is applied to appraise the effect of individual resources and organizational and national context on managers’ work–family balance, as well as their influence on organizational culture. An interview-based case study was undertaken at the Hungarian subsidiary of a Scandinavian multinational company, wherein 43 personal interviews were conducted with fathers in managerial positions. The interviews were analysed according to structuring qualitative content analysis. Managers benefitted from corporate flexibility (home office and flexible schedule), but experienced power asymmetries in terms of access to and use of the former according to hierarchy and department. Even though the men in these positions are assumed to be change agents, the majority of them perceived limited agency freedom to convert flexible working into work–family balance, or to influence organizational culture. The privileged position of managers was detected at the level of their individual agency. Most managers could economically afford to maintain a male breadwinner model. Therefore, limitations related to securing parental and flexibility rights were due to traditional gender norms, and the strong sense of entitlement to work. Consequently, the extent and means of use of flexibility did not challenge deeply rooted assumptions about ideal employee norms.

Work-family balance through border theory lens: the case of a company “driving in the fast lane”

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonora Karassvidou ◽  
Niki Glaveli
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Work Attitudes ◽  
Work Setting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Border Theory ◽  
Family Balance ◽  
Work Family Balance ◽  
Work Family ◽  
A Company ◽  
Work Domain

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to seek to provide support and extend work-family Border Theory (BT) in order to investigate organizational and individual factors that determine the complex nature of work-family balance (WFB). Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative research was conducted in a company in Greece. In total, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted. Data analysis was guided by interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings – The key findings illustrate that strong borders protect the investigated, powerful, work domain and expand only to accommodate its’ needs. In congruence with BT, employees choose to be central participants in the powerful, highly impermeable and inflexibly bordered, work domain. The deeply entrenched organizational culture, as well as leaders’ behavior and leadership style, support the development of an array of positive work attitudes which boost central participation in the work domain. Due to the strongly bordered work setting, employees were found to choose segmentation as a WFB cope strategy; however, shifts in the participants’ life phase, as well as unfulfilled expectations, lead them to reset priorities and reevaluate their central participation in the dominant work domain. Practical implications – The present study has implications for HR practitioners. Communication and open discussions on work-family themes reveal issues that can positively contribute to WFB. Further to this, organizations need to consider individual differences when they deal with WFB issues and frame interventions to facilitate this process. Originality/value – This paper adds to current thinking in BT by illustrating that organizational culture, leadership and work attitudes have a strong impact on the nature of the work domain and its borders, as well as on employees’ central participation in the work setting and the attained WFB.

Examining Tensions in Telework Policies

2010 ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Gibbs ◽  
Craig R. Scott ◽  
Young Hoon Kim ◽  
Sun Kyong Lee
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Virtual Work ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Family Balance ◽  
Workplace Policies ◽  
Work Family ◽  
And Control ◽  
Monitoring Performance ◽  
Practical Implications

This chapter examines workplace policies related to virtual work, with a specific focus on telework policies. Such policies are important to successful telework in communicating rules and expectations and providing a basis for negotiation between individual teleworkers and their employers. A content analysis of 35 state government telework policies revealed that such policies are characterized by two major tensions between autonomy and control and between flexibility and rigidity. The first tension relates to issues such as individual versus organizational responsibility for monitoring performance, providing equipment, and ensuring physical and data security, while the second tension relates to the standardization of working hours and eligibility criteria, whether rules are clear or left ambiguous, and the degree of work/family balance. Although explicit contradictions between stated benefits and realities of telework implementation may be problematic, most of the policies used tension productively by providing enough ambiguity to allow for competing individual and organizational interests to co-exist. Practical implications for teleworkers and their managers are suggested.

scholarly journals Menjawab Tantangan Pengasuhan Ibu Bekerja: Validasi Modul “Smart Parenting” untuk Meningkatkan Parental Self-Efficacy

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Fitri Hayati ◽  
Arum Febriani
Keyword(s):  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Working Mothers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Short Version ◽  
Control Group Design ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Family Balance ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Work Family ◽  
And Control

This study aimed to validate "Smart Parenting" a training module to increase feeling of competence in carrying out the duties as parent, or Parental Self-Efficacy (PSE) of working mothers with toddler. The research was conducted using a quasi-experimental design in a model of untreated control group design with dependent pretest, posttest, and follow up among 12 participants. Six participants were in treatment group, and the other six were in control group. "Smart Parenting" was arranged based on Work-Family Balance and Domain Specific Parenting for Toddler. The maternal self-efficacy was measured using the short version of Self-Efficacy for Parenting Tasks Index-Toddler Scale. The statistical analysis using Mann Whitney Test showed that there was a difference (p<0.05) in mother’s PSE between experimental group and control group. This research concluded that the "Smart Parenting" training program is effective for the purpose of increasing PSE for working mothers with toddlers.

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