Information Technology and the Virtual Workplace

Abstract

A holistic research project commenced in 1997 and was completed in 1999 investigating a new administrative scenario, the virtual office (VO). This exploratory and ex post facto project aimed to identify the characteristics of a virtual office environment that emerged in enterprises worldwide, due to the influence of information technology innovations. The VO is also closely related to telework: tele, meaning distance and implies that teleworkers perform their duties away from the traditional office while still maintaining their positions as corporate employees. This paper only focuses on two selected areas of the holistic project, visualizing telework supplemented by telecenters as possible VO's against the theoretical framework of the traditional office scenario as it has been known for ages. The aim was to market the concept in the Republic of South Africa where it is relatively unknown, according to the research findings that proved significantly beneficial to the socio economies of other countries-but more specifically the USA-where telework has been practiced for more than a decade. Recommendations are focused on how these two related concepts can also result in a paradigm shift for the corporate arena in the Republic of South Africa, in order to add to, maintain and develop its global competitiveness.