Managing Information Technology

Chapter 13 • Leading the Information Systems Function 547

Required (or recommended) product standards (hardware and software)

Requirements (recommendations) for workstation ergonomics

Approval process for product purchases

Requirements for product inventorying

Upgrade procedures

Application quality review process

Guidelines to identify high-impact applications and sensitive data

Policies for corporate data access

Guidelines for program and data backup procedures

Policies for document retention

Requirements for audit trails

Documentation standards

Policies to control unauthorized access and file sharing

Policies to control unauthorized software copying

Policies for acceptable use of computing resources

Virus protection procedures

Spam filtering procedures

FIGURE 13.10 Common Policies and Procedures

Telecommutersspend at least a part of their

regular business hours using IT to perform their

jobs outside of a company’s physical facilities,

using a mobile office, an office in their personal

home, or at a temporary office at a shared work

center away from the company’s main office.

However, not all “white-collar” work (knowledge
work) is suited to a telecommuting arrangement, and not all
telecommuters have the same needs for remote work support.
One way to think about these differences is to categorize job
positions in terms of to what extent an employee is “tethered”
to a physical building in which he or she works:

• Office-boundOffice-bound employees are “tethered”
  to an office in a building, where they typically use IT
  that might or might not be portable.


• Travel-drivenTravel-driven employees take their
  office with them to whatever location they are work-
  ing in, which can change during the workday or
  workweek. For example, many sales force personnel
  have travel-driven jobs; they were likely to be among
  the first employees within their organizations to
  become telecommuters.


• IndependentIndependent workers do not have a per-
  manent office work space owned or leased by an

employer. Instead, the worker uses IT in a home

office or a mobile office, or both.

Some organizations have implemented telecommut-

ing options for individual employees who weren’t neces-

sarily independent or travel-driven workers, but who de-

sired more flexibility in their work arrangements to

achieve a more positive work-life balance. For example, an

employee might normally go to an office building to work

but occasionally would be able to work at home. Other

telecommuters might simply be “day extenders”—

employees working full days at a permanent office but then

working at home during evenings and weekends. Some

companies’ programs are designed to facilitate working at

home for different types of projects that might require

uninterrupted work time. Companies having trouble

recruiting full-time employees with specific skills have

also developed work-at-home programs for new hires.

For those knowledge workers in positions that are not

highly office-bound, the benefits from implementing

telecommuting programs can be compelling. Self-reports by

telecommuters emphasize three types of personal benefits:

• Increased workday flexibilityRemote workers gain
  flexibility in their work schedules that can reduce
  work stress and could allow them to avoid rush-hour
  traffic.