1. Trusting Telework in the Federal Government
Pearl Richardson Smith, PhD
University of Phoenix
Martha Taylor, EdD
8th Annual TQR Conference
January 12,2017

2. Agenda Primary Study Overview Purpose of Secondary Study
Secondary Analysis Overview
Implications

3. Primary Study
Title: Exploring the perception of managers regarding telework in the federal government
(Brown, 2014)
Problem: Managers in federal government prohibit telework despite executive order to permit it
Purpose: Explore perceptions of federal government managers who prohibit telework

4. Primary Study, cont’d Research questions:
What perceptions of telework exist among federal managers who do not permit telework in their workforce?
What factors influence federal managers' decision to prohibit teleworking?

5. Primary Study, cont’d
Brown Heidegger’s hemeneutic phenomenology to explore the lived experience and perceptions of 12 federal government managers who prohibit telework. Phenomenology is the study of human experience and individuals perceive it. Heidegger’s approach reflects an interpretive rather than descriptive approach to phenomenology. He sought to explore everyday experience believing these experiences are intentional. Hermeneutics, which suspends the need for bracketing, is suited for this study because Pearl, Courtney, and Nancy have federal government experience.

6. Primary Study, cont’d
Conducted open ended interviews with 12 federal government managers from one agency.
Analyzed data using three stages of coding: open, axial, and selective coding (Cornwell, Fleming, Ownsworth, & Turner, 2009) and Nvivo 10 to assist with identifying themes and patterns.

7. Primary Study cont’d Eight themes identified
Past experience and technology compliance
Employee disappointment and understanding.
Productivity sustainment, accountability, and increased cohesiveness among team
More flexible work environment and increases the security risks.
Required trainings and better organized policy
Trust and job duty requirements
Manager symposium and online webinar
Discussions with other managers.

8. Secondary Analysis Title: Trusting Telework in the Federal Government
(Brown, Smith, Arduengo, & Taylor , 2016)
Purpose: Ascertain which themes from Brown (2013) are trust-related.
Yahoo
Bans
Telework!

9. Secondary Analysis cont’d
Conceptual framework
Dispositional
History-based
Third parties as conduits
Category-based
Role-based
Rule-based
Kramer (1999)
Sought to define trust from an organizational perspective. First was Kramer (1999)
Dispositional trust is based on a predisposition to trust;
History-based trust is based on past experience with the trustee;
Third Parties as conduits of trust is based on information from a third party;
Category-based trust is based on the trustee's membership in a social or organizational category;
Role-based trust is based on a role held by the individual; and
Rule-based trust is based on understanding of systems of rules regarding appropriate behavior

10. Secondary Analysis cont’d
Conceptual framework, cont’d
Trust
Deterrence-based
Knowledge-based
Identification based
Robbins and Judge (2007)
Deterrence-based trust is found in most new relationships. This type of trust is fragile and one violation or inconsistency can damage it.
Knowledge-based trust reflects most manager-employee relationships and is based on predictability based on past events. Much list Kramer’s History Based Trust.
Identification based trust entails an emotional connection between the parties, where one party can act as an agent for the other in interpersonal transactions.

11. Secondary Analysis cont’d
Analyzed data from Brown (2013) to identify key words or ideas from the trust literature.
Five of the eight themes from Brown (2013) involve trust.
1, 3, 5, 6, & 8

12. Secondary Analysis cont’d
Trust-related factors influencing leaders’ decision to prohibit telework:
Did not trust employees because of their own past counter productive behavior.
Lacked trust in ability to sustain current high level of productivity.
Did not trust ambiguous telework guidelines.
Did not trust technology, and
Trusted recommendation of mentor to prohibit telework.

13. Secondary Analysis cont’d
Themes reflect five types of trust
History-based
Rules-based
Deterrence-based
Knowledge-based
Third party-based

14. Implications Leaders must: Organizations must:
Question their rationale for not approving telework
Foster open communication with employees
Adopt leadership behaviors conducive to telework
Organizations must:
Establish clear policies
Develop effective performance measures
Provide leaders with training and/or coaching to enable their effectiveness
Identify and address technology issues
Courtney focus on two aspects:
. Revise teleworking training for managers.
. Limit the amount of experiences and legacy technological solutions into the employee teleworking decision.

15. References
Brown, C. (2013). Exploring the perception of managers regarding telework
in the federal government. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation).
University of Phoenix, Tempe, AZ.
Brown, C., Smith, P., Arduengo, N., & Taylor M. (2016). Trusting telework in the federal government. The Qualitative Report, 21(1), Retrieved from
Kramer, R. (1999). Trust and Distrust: Emerging Questions, Enduring
Questions, Annual Review of Psychology, 50,
Robbins, S. P. & Judge, T. A. (2007). Organizational behavior (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

16. Questions