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the shift
from a presence-oriented to output-oriented style of control’
.
Liaison
Mintzberg (1979) describes liaison as connections between different departments.
He states that “
organizations have developed a whole set of devices to encourage liaison
contacts between individuals, devices that can be incorporated into the formal structure
”.
Liaisons thus concern communication links between two units (Duncan, 1979). “
Liaisons are
essential to creating the total organizational structure; their removal destroys the connected
unity of the organization
” (Ross and Harary, 1955).
Hamelink (1999) describes ICT as “
all technologies that facilitate the handling of
information and enable different forms of communication among human actors, between
human beings and electronic systems, and among electronic systems
”, which is comparable
to Mintzberg’s definition of liaison as stated above. In fact, the C in the abbreviation ICT
(communication) already emphasizes its importance on the connectedness between, and its
influence on, organizational departments. The use of electronic communication instead of
3
It must be noted that this relationship also occurs vice versa. Not only does the possibility given by ICT to
control from a distance enable NWW, NWW also requires a different type of control, namely output-oriented.
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face-to-face communication increases the overall amount of communication in organizations
(Hiltz et al., 1986). ICT use in organizations create “
the ability to link and enable employees
both within and between functions and divisions
” (Dewett and Jones, 2001). Barley (1986)
states that technology causes changing institutionalized roles and patterns of interaction,
which results in a changing departmental structure. Decreasing costs stimulate technology
use, enabling rapid exchange of information and knowledge within and between
organizations (Siegel et al., 1986). The fast rate of information and knowledge exchange
increases connectedness between departments. Lee and Brand (2005) state that ICT allows
people to communicate with others and have access to information and knowledge on every
desired place and at any time. “
In the virtual work environment, traditional social
mechanisms that facilitate communication and decision making are effectively lost and
participants must find new ways to communicate and interact, enabling effective teamwork
within the new technical context
” (Townsend et al., 1998). Sproull and Kiesler (1986)
conclude that the use of electronic mail results in status equalization, meaning that
“
managers may have access to information that formerly would have been difficult if not
impossible for them to get
”. They also claim that uninhibited behavior may lead to new ideas
flowing through e-mail, similar to brainstorm sessions in face-to-face groups. Furthermore,
groups that use computer-mediated communication are relatively more task oriented and
made more decision proposals as a fraction of their total remarks (Siegel et al., 1986).
However, relying solely on IT for communication can lead to increase alienation among
employees (DeSanctis and Monge, 1999). Another huge effect of ICT on liaison is that the
necessity of a physical routing decreases or even disappears, which results in virtual
organizations or virtual teams (Nohria and Berkley, 1994; Bosch-Sijtsema and Bosch, 1996;
Townsend et al., 1998; Den Hengst et al., 2008; Nenonen et al., 2009; Hyrkkänen and
Nenonen, 2011). Virtual teams use ICT to work independent of time, place and even
independent of organization, in order to communicate and coordinate. All in all, there seems
to be enough evidence to conclude that ICT facilitates easier ways of communications and
thereby contribute to increasing connectedness between organizational departments. ICT
thus fulfills the liaison function.
Beside its important relationship with ICT, liaison is also an important aspect
regarding to NWW. Around the 1970s, a number of studies already noticed an increase in
communication associated with a move from conventional to open-plan office concepts
(Hundert and Greenfield, 1969; Zeitlin, 1969; Brookes and Kaplan, 1972; Allen and
Gerstberger, 1973; Nemecek and Grandjean, 1973). More recently, NWW (supported by
electronic communication) enhances connectivity among co-workers (Gajendran and
Harrison, 2007; Ten Brummelhuis et al., 2012). The use of flexible work arrangements is
combined with electronic availability, guaranteeing connections between employees
(Walther, 1992, 1995; Van Dyne et al., 2007). This is consistent with Katz and Aarhus (2002),
who claim that NWW facilitate to high pace information sharing and constant connectivity,
improving communication processes between co-workers. Simon (1945) claims that distance
between people is a determining factor for the amount of verbal communication. NWW
decreases this distance on the work floor (by removing walls and increasing attainability),
resulting in higher amounts of communication. Also De Croon et al. (2005) found that desk-
sharing stimulates communication between office workers. Employees need to change
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workplaces repeatedly to increase interaction opportunities and thereby improve
communication (Vos and Van der Voordt, 2001a).
It can be concluded that liaison is closely related to ICT and NWW. ICT and the
flexible workplace both contribute to easier ways of communication among employees,
thereby increasing connections between departments. The liaison function is thus fulfilled by
the departments themselves.
Therefore, liaison is included in the empirical part of this study as ‘
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