 |
Teleworking |
 |
|
|
Telework-definition thread from the ETW-Forum Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 12:09:50 -0200 (EDT) Participants of the ETO list discussion, I am trying to make sense of the several definitions of teleworking and telecommuting but I have faced some problems. I would appreciate very much any comments on this topic. 1. For instance, would someone give me some exemples of the difference between teleworking and telecommuting, considering Jack Nilles definition? I understood that all telecommuters are teleworkers, but I couldnt think of a teleworker that is not a telecommuter. To me the diference between the two definitions is too subtle. 2. What really defines telework or telecommuting? The fact that the person works "at distance" of your employer or contractor, or the fact that that person uses information and communications technologies do get your work done away from their employer or contractor? For instance, an AVON sales representative is a teleworker? She or he works at a distance of their employee but does not use necessarily any information and communications technologies. What is the difference between a nomadic worker and a mobile teleworker? 3. ETOs definition of telework is clear " The use of computers and telecommunications to change the accepted geography of work". Again, what defines telework, distance or ICTs? 4. ETOs definition of entrepreneurial teleworkers say that all people who chose to conduct their business at their home location are teleworkers. To me this is also a gray area. For instance, if I have a clothing store located beside my house (it is not in the same building but it is 3 meters away of it), am I an entrepreneurial teleworker? I thank you all in advance for your comments. I appreciate your time. Sincerely, Andrea V. Steil
From: Michael Saunby <mike@chook.demon.co.uk> > > 1. For instance, would someone give me some exemples of the difference between teleworking and telecommuting, considering Jack Nilles definition? I understood that all telecommuters are teleworkers, but I couldnt think of a teleworker that is not a telecommuter. To me the diference between the two definitions is too subtle. Presumably the employees (or more likely the participants) in a virtual organisation are teleworkers, but not telecommuters since there are no company buildings to commute to. There are many people who telecommute one or two days each week. In this case the teleworking is clearly an alternative to commuting albeit for only part of the week. > 2. What really defines telework or telecommuting? The fact that the person works "at distance" of your employer or contractor, or the fact that that person uses information and communications technologies do get your work done away from their employer or contractor? For instance, an AVON sales representative is a teleworker? She or he works at a distance of their employee but does not use necessarily any information and communications technologies. What is the difference between a nomadic worker and a mobile teleworker? Beats me, but at a guess it probably has to do with whether one or more telecommunications technology enabled the work to be done from a distance. Also your Avon sales rep is not remote from the workplace, still going door to door; but a home based telesales worker like those used by some replacement window companies is probably a teleworker. > 3. ETOs definition of telework is clear " The use of computers and telecommunications to change the accepted geography of work". Again, what defines telework, distance or ICTs? Yes, it's clear. I like that, it avoids any hint of positive values by using "change" and "geography". > 4. ETOs definition of entrepreneurial teleworkers say that all people who chose to conduct their business at their home location are teleworkers. To me this is also a gray area. For instance, if I have a clothing store located beside my house (it is not in the same building but it is 3 meters away of it), am I an entrepreneurial teleworker? That doesn't sound right to me. The farmer, the miller, the shopkeeper, etc., in fact any trade mostly untouched by industrialisation becomes "entrepreneurial telework"? These are neither entrepreneurial nor telework to me. Perhaps the key word here is "chose", but even then I don't agree. But why do you need a definition of "entrepreneurial telework"? > I thank you all in advance for your comments. I appreciate your time. > Sincerely, You're welcome. Michael Saunby
From: "Jack M. Nilles" <jala@ix.netcom.com> -----Original Message----- 2. What really defines telework or telecommuting? The fact that the person works "at distance" of your employer or contractor, or the fact that that person uses information and communications technologies do get your work done away from their employer or contractor? For instance, an AVON sales representative is a teleworker? She or he works at a distance of their employee but does not use necessarily any information and communications technologies. What is the difference between a nomadic worker and a mobile teleworker? It's the substitution that is the key. If I substitute telecommunications technology for transportation-that is, I communicate with someone by using the phone, fax, email, video conferencing, etc., instead of going top that person's location--then I am teleworking. The Avon salesperson is not a teleworker. A further distinction is in the sense that telework alters what would ordinarily be done. For example, if you ordinarily would phone someone instead of traveling to see him/her then you are at the fringe of teleworking. I would not count that situation as teleworking. Of course, this makes the definition a moving target since what id ordinary changes with time and usage. 4. ETOs definition of entrepreneurial teleworkers say that all people who chose to conduct their business at their home location are teleworkers. I disagree. Many home-based businesses have nothing to do with telework. For example, a dentist or physician who works from a home office is not teleworking when he/she is working with patients in the office. Not all teleworkers are entrepreneurs, and vice versa. The two terms relate to different aspects of work; an entrepreneur is simply someone who organizes initiates a new business venture. A teleworker is someone who uses information technology to substitute for travel. Some people do both. I am both at present but have also been a non-teleworking entrepreneur (when I started an aquarium supply company at age 12) and a non-entrepreneurial teleworker (when I designed satellites for NASA while working for someone else). Jack Nilles
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 1997 09:14:58 -0500 Hello Andrea Valeria Steil! There has been endless debate about this. The ETO site offers some explanations of terminology as a help, but doesn't in any sense claim our definitions are <authoritative>. Context is important. If you are investigating telework in the context of an employer trying to improve your business process then you need to consider the widest possible range of options. If you are a self employed person concerned with selling your services to people who are too far away for you to work on their site, then you need to focus on what we have called <teletrade> - how to do business across networks. Whether or not you choose to call yourself a teleworker is of little consequence. You ask: <<ETOs definition of entrepreneurial teleworkers say that all people who chose to conduct their business at their home location are teleworkers. To me this is also a gray area. For instance, if I have a clothing store located beside my house (it is not in the same building but it is 3 meters away of it), am I an entrepreneurial teleworker?>> Bear in mind that all our <Common terms and definitions> stem from the basic concept that telework is:
So the answer to your question depends . . . : If you started by making garments for people who visited you at home and you start to promote your services across the Internet and make garments for people in distant places, you are <changing the accepted geography of work> (ie the work of selling your products. We think its more useful to call this <teletrading> but if you want to call yourself a teleworker, why not? On the other hand if you are making garments on a piece work basis for a company that delivers the materials to you and collects the finished items, this is <traditional home working> not telework. If the company starts to send you new patterns by email or by download from a website, they might say that they are introducing a telework element. I hope this helps to illustrate why we focus on <the use of technology>. And why we use separate terms like teletrade and telecooperation not just telework. Best wishes, Horace Mitchell
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 21:12:10 +0000 Andrea Valeria Steil wrote: > 1. For instance, would someone give me some exemples of the difference between teleworking and telecommuting, considering Jack Nilles definition? I understood that all telecommuters are teleworkers, but I couldnt think of a teleworker that is not a telecommuter. To me the diference between the two definitions is too subtle. I think the confusion here may well lie in the dual meaning of "tele-". It is actually defined as referring to something at a distance. So for example telephone is phonics (speech) at a distance, television is vision at a distance, and telecommunications is communications at a distance. However "tele-" has also come to be used to refer to things connected with telecommunications itself, in a sense an abbreviation. For instance telesales is sales done over the telephone and telecast is broadcasting using the television. So when we refer to telework we are referring not only to someone working at a distance from where they normally would do but also someone who works by means of using telecommunications. On the other hand since you can not commute at a distance telecommute in its strictest sense refers only to replacing physical commuting with the use of telecommunications. So someone who already under normal circumstances would not commute to another place can not be referred to as a telecommuter even though they use telecommunications in their work. On the otherhand they could be termed teleworkers as using telecommunications to work falls within the definition. Because of this some people use telecommuting to refer to working from home rather than communiting to the office ie for employees, and they use teleworker to refer to people who normally work from home ie self-employed people both of which use telecommunications as a main part of their work. Having said all that, in practise the two are interchangable and telecommuting is usually the term used in the US while teleworking is the term used in Europe. > 2. What really defines telework or telecommuting? The fact that the person works "at distance" of your employer or contractor, or the fact that that person uses information and communications technologies do get your work done away from their employer or contractor? I would say that it is more someone who <Some line(s) missing in mail> > What is the difference between a nomadic worker and a mobile teleworker? I would think that a nomadic worker is one who moves to where the work is and then works in a normal way such as construction workers who move around depending on where they can find work. While a mobile teleworker is one who carries their office with them so the work follows them. But I have not particularly come across the terms very often to be sure this is definative. > 3. ETOs definition of telework is clear " The use of computers and telecommunications to change the accepted geography of work". I am not too sure about the need to include computers in this definition although is is generally accepted that they are used. Computers in a teleworking sense are more there to aid the translation of material into a form that can travel down a telephone line. So for instance a graphic designer that draws his work by hand might scan the drawing into a copmuter to send to a client. On the other hand if it was in black and white he could simply fax it and that IMO would still be teleworking (although it could be argued that the fax machine is a form of computer). The telecommunications is however necessary as someone who receives instructions through the post, say dictation for example, uses their computer to do the work (type the document) and then posts it back to the client is not IMO a teleworker, even though they use a computer and work at a distance. Craig Pickup
Last modified: 13 August, 2002, by MVS |
