Relationship of telecommuting to organizational communication: A preliminary study of group process and communication satisfaction

This study investigated whether letting employees telecommute affects the organizational communication of telecommuters and their co-workers. Telecommuters miss face-to-face communication at the office and require mediation to handle organizational communication needs while out of the office. This study investigates some of the effects of telecommuting on organizational communication satisfaction, work group satisfaction and work group cohesion. Participants from 15 organizations who either telecommuted or worked in a group with telecommuters completed surveys examining work arrangements, use of technology and the satisfaction and cohesion variables. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the contributions of time away from the office, media use, organization support and experience as a telecommuter to the satisfaction and cohesion variables. In general, it was found that employees who felt their organizations supported telecommuting were more satisfied. Spending work time at the office seemed to improve organizational communication. However, the richness of the media that participants used to communicate did not have a direct relationship. Subsequent examination of the data suggests that there may be a curvilinear relationship between both time and the office and richness of media and satisfaction with organizational communication. Overall, these results imply that the relationship between technology and organizational communication is more complex than has been previously theorized. Study participants were invited to comment on the findings of the study and their suggestions are used in interpretation and discussion of the results.