Actors in Temporal Virtual
Environment - Decisions
about Office Space
Melinda Koso-Hirvonen Spring 2016
Background
• In an increasing amount accounting firms move from
typically stationary paperwork into digital form enabled by
accounting software
• Procountor is a cloud-based accounting software accessible
from laptops, PCs and mobile phones.
• The accounting firm, their clients and auditors use the same
system, as the same data is – with small exceptions –
available for all the parties that hold access rights to the
system.
M.Sc. Thesis Presentation
26/11/15
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Motivation
• Nowadays quite of few of the companies work with ICT and
other technology that allow work from anywhere remotely
from home, summer home or from the other side of the world.
• This might indicate that the classical idea of a physical office
is turning to be obsolete or the notion of office is changing
M.Sc. Thesis Presentation
26/11/15
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Research purpose
To identify factors in organizational environment that act as
enablers or barriers for companies to functioning without a
physical office.
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Research questions
1. What factors in the organizational environment support
the company to work without a physical office.
1. Find out what factors don’t support the company to
function without a physical office.
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Theory / literature used
1. Virtual teams
- Boundaries and Discontinuities
2. Virtual processes
3. Virtual organizations
4. Virtual office
- Team awareness
5. Temporal structures
- Sociomaterial practices
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Reference examples
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Chudoba, K. M., Wynn, E., Lu, M., & Watson-Manheim, M. B. (2005).
How virtual are we? Measuring virtuality and understanding its impact in a
global organization. Information System Journal , 15, 279-306.
Davidow, W. H., & Malone, M. S. (1992). The Virtual Corporation:
Structuring and Revitalizing the Corporation for the 21st Century. New York:
HarperCollins.
Dubé, L., & Robey, D. (2008). Surviving the paradoxes of virtual
teamwork. Info Systems Journal , 19, 3-30.
Olson, M., & Primps, S. (1984). Working at home with computers: Work
and non-work issues. Journal of Social Issues , 3 (40), 97.
Orlikowski, W. J., & Yates, J. (2002). It's About Time: Temporal
Structuring in Organizations. Organization Science , 13 (6), 684-700.
Frescha, A. (2000). Workspace Awareness in Mobile Virtual Teams. IEEE 9th
International Workshops on Enabling Technologies.
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Framework
1. Organizational boundaries concept against the
organizational discontinuity theory
2. Team awareness in virtual context and,
3. Temporal structures
M.Sc. Thesis Presentation
24/04/16
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Framework: Boundaries and
Discontinuities
Watson-Manheim et al., 2011)
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Framework: Temporal Structures
• Temporal structures relate to the notion of time
• There exists ongoing practices in a team that restrict and
enable them to act
• These practices are followed weekly, biweekly, annually etc
• These practices may create boundaries and discontinuities
in a team’s environment
 Project schedules
 Vacations
 Team meetings
 General holidays
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Framework: Team Awareness
WHO?
Presence,
Identity,
Ownership,
Authorship,
WHERE?
Location
Nimbus
Focus/Gaze
Reach
WHAT?
Activity
Action
HOW?
Interaction
Artifact
WHEN?
Event History
Action History
WHY?
Motivation Intention
Awareness Utility:
Team Knowledge
Consequential Communication
Implicit communication
Availability for Interaction
Workflow Optimization
Awareness Information:
Gathering
Interpretation
Privacy Filtering
“Smoothing”
Distortion
Diffusion
Visualization
History Logging
Team Memory
Team
Awareness
Awareness Service Design Factors:
Social Aspects, Acceptance, Fidelity
User Control, Sovereignty
Human Capabilities
Legal Consideration
Organizational Embedding
Technical Possibilities/Constraints
Purpose/Functionality
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Methods & Data
Methods:
•Qualitative research
•Case study
Data:
•Data is collected via semi-structured interviews from the target
companies
•Altogether 14 interviews (of which three people were interviewed
twice) including previous study interviews
•Interviews were first recorded then transcribed
•Interview time spanned from approximately 45 minutes to 90
minutes
•The data was analyzed by using Atlas.ti and creating categories
under three framework areas
M.Sc. Thesis Presentation
26/11/15
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Case information
• All the companies use the same system – Procountor
which enables digital accounting
• However, two of the target companies have physical office
and one doesn’t
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Case information
Company 1
Company 2
Company 3
Organizaion size
20
6
15
Location
Helsinki
Klaukkala/Vantaa
-
Physical office
Yes
Yes
No
Temporal
structures impact
on team work
Great impact
Some impact
Little impact
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Results – Discontinuity categories
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Results – Discontinuities
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Results – team awareness (physical
office exists)
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Results
“What factors in the organizational environment support the company to
work without a physical office.”
1. Comprehensive systems (team awareness plays a
significant role) and virtual environments seem to be less
likely to cause as many discontinuities
2. It seems that in order to avoid confusion in which tools to
use strong communication from management of the ICT in
use and their purpose
3. Consistent application/system choices
M.Sc. Thesis Presentation
26/11/15
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Results
“Find out what factors don’t support the company to function
without a physical office.”
1. Based on the answers, the more temporal the structure is
and the more boundaries exist that lead to discontinuities
the more difficult it is for the companies to abandon their
physical office space.
2. The study suggests that multiple different application and
systems that lack integration cause most of the
discontinuities
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Main contributions
1. Managers communication and decision constancy plays a
critical role in employees’ technology adaption
2. Aiming for minimum amount of application integrations and
favoring comprehensive system solutions helps to avoid
confusion
3. Creating virtual team environment in which temporal
structures won’t cause confusion and discontinuities helps
the team to succeed
M.Sc. Thesis Presentation
26/11/15
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Limitations
• This study didn’t concentrate on social aspects
• The sample size is narrow as it only concluded Finnish
companies
• More research is required from international landscape in
order to understand how time zones cultural differences
among others affect the scene
• Research sample is narrow
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