Sales representatives were concerned about privacy issues and their lack of computer skills. Middle managers were concerned about their lack of experience managing a distributed workforce and their perceived loss of control over employees. The program affected salespeople, middle managers, and information systems (IS) personnel. Of course, these benefits did not materialize without cost.
The firm achieved greater accountability and control through automation, thereby alleviating one of management’s main concerns -how teleworkers allocate their time outside of a traditional office setting. The program generated real-estate savings, increased managerial control of the field force, reduced processing errors, and improved customer service.
The firm’s telecommuting program transformed paper-based procedures and heavy reliance on voice and in-person communications into automated procedures and full-scale connectivity.
By 1998, the company had expanded its telecommuting program to support two more sales-people and fourteen part-time telecommuters in managerial and analytical positions - 24 percent of the firm’s workforce. In 1995, the company’s twenty-person salesforce became remote workers who relied on mobile computing equipment to conduct business. Headquartered in New Jersey, the firm had also maintained sales offices in Pennsylvania and Illinois before introducing telecommuting. The information architecture of the company consists of a mainframe, a minicomputer, and more than 200 personal computer (PC) systems linked by four file servers. The general manager - a champion of high-tech solutions who has supported the telecommuting program since its inception - creates company policy, which the executive board members implement. Each of the firm’s eight divisions is headed by a director or vice president who sits on the firm’s executive board. In this article, we describe in detail a successful telecommuting program implemented at a 150-person company that provides interactive marketing and sample-distribution services for the pharmaceutical industry. Although a few detailed case studies address telecommuting, analytical frameworks for examining cost/benefit issues are rare. 1 Should the strategy be aimed directly at solving business problems or be integrated into the reward structure of the organization? These and other questions persist. Despite considerable research, many managers remain ambivalent about introducing telecommuting as a business strategy.
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