FACTORS IN SELECTING PERSONNEL
My personal work continues as I try to
develop a diagnostic tool which will assist organisations and individuals to
identify aptitude for teleworking. Based on research reports, well summarised
and refined in the work of Experience With Telework Project of the Finnish
Labour Administration, I have accepted 5 factors relating to competencies for
teleworking. I am seeking to define each of these factors by reference to the 3
standard training components - Attitude, Skills and Knowledge. The next step
will be to devise appropriate diagnostic self-questions which will test the
subject's level of competence in the relevant area.
THE 5 KEY COMPETENCIES FOR TELEWORKING
TASK COMPETENCE
I T COMPETENCE
INDEPENDENCE
RESEARCH/NETWORKING
SELF ORGANISATION
These are not in any order of priority.
In most instances I would suggest that the last three listed are most desired
because they would be the most expensive to develop. Task and IT competence can
be relatively easily trained, not so independence and self organisation.
Experience to date shows that selecting
the right people is a crucial factor in successful implementation of
Teleworking projects. Many projects were flawed in execution because selection
criteria were loose or inappropriate. Eg ;
- Volunteers often come forward for reasons which are
personally compelling, but may harm their capacity to Telework, eg caring
for aged or sick family
- People chosen solely on the criteria that they were
best at the job as it was currently organised
- People chosen for organisational convenience, eg
they were the most distant from the workbase
- People chosen for their IT expertise alone
Teleworkers are in some ways more
analogous to the self-employed than traditional employees. The kind of person
who will make a success of it is likely to share the attributes of the
self-employed. Teleworking is about doing things differently, but also about
doing different things.
Last Updated on 11 December 2002 by COLIN TIERNEY