The problem studied was whether supervisors evaluated telecommuters differently than their on-site co-workers and, if they did, was this difference explainable by the models on performance ratings by Landy and Farr (1980, 1983, 1989)? For this study, telecommuting referred to employees who are full-time employees, but work off-site using electronic communication devices and telecommuted at least one day per week. Twenty organizations nation-wide were surveyed. Hypotheses stated that there was no difference in supervisory performance appraisal criteria, supervisory performance ratings whether the supervisor selected employees to telecommute or the supervisor telecommuted or not, and the frequency between formal performance appraisals for telecommuters and non-telecommuters. Performance appraisal criteria and other questions concerning the evaluation process were analyzed. The data supported the first hypothesis of no difference in performance appraisal criteria used to evaluate telecommuters and non-telecommuters. The second hypothesis was not supported by the data. The three groups disagreed that telecommuters were generally better performers than their on-site co-workers. Supervisors and telecommuters disagreed on their perceptions of telecommuters as rated as better employees. It was assumed in the third hypothesis that supervisors who themselves telecommuted would not rate telecommuters as better employees than their co-workers. Due to the small sample size, the results were inconclusive. In the fourth hypothesis, it was assumed that supervisors who had the final say about who would be eligible to telecommute would not perceive telecommuters as better employees. Based on the analysis, the hypothesis could not be supported or refuted due to the small sample size. Finally, the fifth hypothesis relied on measuring the number of months between formal reviews to determine if telecommuters were evaluated more frequently than their onsi te co-workers. The analysis verified that there was no difference between the two groups.
Because no prior research has been conducted about differences in evaluating telecommuting and nontelecommuting employees, there is no data available for comparison purposes to discover any trends or changes. Future research on this subject should include a review of actual performance appraisal records to determine if differences in ratings for telecommuters and nontelecommuters exists.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:vcu.edu/oai:scholarscompass.vcu.edu:etd-5030 |
| Date | 01 January 1994 |
| Creators | Klayton, Margaret A. |
| Publisher | VCU Scholars Compass |
| Source Sets | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | © The Author |
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