Teleworking Through Cooperation

Abstract

The diffusion of ICT has massive effects on society and economy. The impact of the new technologies on work is apparent in new ways of organizing work and in new practices introduced in organizations. Telework is one good example within these. In this paper, we present the results of a recent research project on telework, in which we have been engaged. Differently from the approach referring to a model of benefits for economic and social actors, our hypothesis is that the dialogical scheme is strictly connected to new technologies and cooperation is an important dimension of teleworking. In our study, cooperation is found performed both in social relations between employers and employees and in institutionalized relations between managers and unions. Although the two forms of cooperation, here called “social trustee cooperation” and “institutional cooperation”, are often thought as prerequisites of “best practices” of new working arrangements, our case studies demonstrate that cooperation has not always arisen that make possible to implement practices of teleworking. By focusing on cooperative relations, the results of different case studies in industry and in the service sector are discussed, thus intending to contribute to the development of sociological debate on telework.

Keywords

• telework
• cooperation
• trust
• information communication technology