Title: Introducing telework in a public and bureaucratic environment: a re-regulationist perspective on a non-conventional change

Authors: Laurent Taskin

Addresses: Louvain School of Management, FUCaM, Chee de Binche, 151, 7000 Mons, Belgium

Abstract: Teleworking is part of the strategy of modernisation of public organisations in Belgium and is largely perceived as a management device coming from the private sector that is not adapted in a public environment. It also deeply challenges traditional organisation of work, like bureaucracy. Based on a case study conducted in a Belgian federal public agency where telework had to be implemented, this article studies the re-regulation process at work. Its main contribution is to argue that the adoption of such organisational change depends on the ability to re-negotiate the prevailing organisational conventions.

Keywords: teleworking; regulation; organisational conventions; control; Belgium; public organisations; public sector; bureaucracy; organisational change; organisational management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMCP.2010.037814

International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 2010 Vol.4 No.3/4, pp.294 - 310

Published online: 30 Dec 2010 *

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