Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

3.6. Limits of organisational change
One must notice that intentions for organisational change are clearly constrained. Flattening
hierarchies or increasing internal transparency are not among the goals to be achieved. Although
the higher ranks obviously encourage the start of pilots, in one third of our cases they are
identified as a factor in hindering a further expansion of telework schemes. Here we can think of
two possible interpretations which could be followed up by further in-depth investigation. Firstly,
stimuli in favour of decentralised work often come from specific persons within the higher ranks.
Some of the narration of our interviewees comprise sentences like: ‘The former director of the
unit...’. Promotion and resistance thus might come from different persons among senior
management. Secondly, telework in the political arena of the EU and of some Member States is
heavily promoted as a component of institutional modernisation. Thus, a few teleworkers can help
to improve the image of the administration, whereas a high quantity could be a critical mass that
seriously changed modes of communication and decision-making. Besides ‘unofficial’ complaints
about the reluctance of the bosses, some of the circumstances in our study also indicate that
telework does not necessarily transform strict hierarchical orders. In one of our potential cases the
completed questionnaire had to be approved by several functionaries within the hierarchy. Whilst
this report is being written we are still waiting for the questionnaire with the signature of the last
of the senior executives.
Further in-depth investigations might focus on detailed discrepancies between intentions and
realities and various perceptions of different actors. Although for one third of our interviewees
team work belongs to the few appreciated and intended organisational goals, the reality of work
practice within the institution might differ. A detailed study within one of the institutions showed
that work results of staff members were mainly controlled by themselves or their immediate
seniors, but seldom by colleagues on an equal level. As a consequence the institution renounced
the use of video-conferencing and joint editing and viewing systems in the telework pilot.