Mobile Virtual Work A New Paradigm phần 8 potx

280 Robert M Verburg et al.
pen, the information of which was downloaded once a week at the main
office. At the same time, employees would submit their time sheets, which
were then the basis of payroll. The new practice has decreased office vis-
its: now the office is visited once every two weeks to load the van and
once every two months for a team meeting. Otherwise, the hours are spent
in the service field. Both employer and employees are content with this
working mode.
Earlier, assignments and acute work tasks were sent to the device in the
van, and in crisis situations the customer service centre had to phone the
serviceman on duty in addition to sending the assignment to the device.
Now any sudden assignments can be sent to the work location, and the
servicemen do not need to return to the van to read the assignment. The
new practice has clarified the method of contacting employees.
Not using certain features is … positive? The palm computer could, ac-
cording to the interviewees, be used also in the follow-up and control of
working hours, since the time of the ”first opened job” is recorded into it,
and also the out-booking each day is registered in the machine. It would
also be possible to monitor the routes taken and locations where employees
are. Employees feel that they are trusted, and, therefore, the monitoring of
beginning time, out-bookings or routes has not been implemented. Trust is
very important to them. On the other hand, servicemen conceive GPS
monitoring as a safety factor and an opportunity: if something were to
happen, the man on the move could easily be located.
Accelerated customer service is the main value and object. Although the
objective for mobile device development was to attain a portable reporting
method, the main value has been in customer service. On-the-go reporting
from the job location boosts customer service and invoicing. The reports
on maintenance acts could be forwarded to clients quicker than before.
Problems are linked with the reliability of the programme operations.
The Feature programme operations are unreliable and the programme can,

for instance, lose report information. The employee does not receive a con-
firmation upon reception of the information he has reported. Often, the loss
of report information is only discovered when the foreman asks for time
sheets. Employees keep a manual double ledger on their work performance
in order to remember the details, so that payroll and client invoicing can be
taken care of.
The development work on the added features, e.g. text messages and
telephone calls, continues. The telephone feature has only been tested for a
short period – the telephone development has not been the main issue. Be-
cause of the problems in the working mode of the phone some of the tester
employees have given up the use of the telephone. Answering incoming
12 Case Descriptions of Mobile Virtual Work in Practice 281
calls shuts off the other operations – the caller can hear this as a delay
when the call is answered. Some interviewees were bothered by this delay.
The most serious obstacle for work was losing unfinished reports when
answering an incoming call. After ending the call, the work had to be re-
sumed from the beginning. Employees would be keen to continue complet-
ing the report, which they consider a routine, even during a phone call.
And if there are many incoming calls, being able to continue writing the
report during them would be a time-saver.
The employees dream about the possibility to answer their incoming
calls while carrying out a maintenance task without having to stop work-
ing. However, when using for instance the (loud) speaker feature the re-
ceiver of the phone call is disturbed by a strong echo that prohibits the
message from coming or going through.
Using text message services (SMS) requires reasonably good eyesight.
Some interviewees find the service easy to use and say they ”even write
poems”; some hardly ever use the service because of having trouble seeing
the text.
According to both employer and employees the device encompasses

countless other possibilities for developing work and its processes. Both
groups are well disposed for further development steps. The employees in-
terviewed emphasized the process of continuous joint development.
12.4.5 Conclusions
The design and implementation of a new device and software, and a plan
of action succeeded well, although technical problems have also been in-
herent such as losing information. Technical problems seem to be the main
challenge for future developments. Employees are, however, satisfied with
their new tool. The main reason for this is the involvement of servicemen
in the development work. Training to use the system was also emphasized.
The new practice has decreased office visits and time for the core opera-
tions in the maintenance area has increased. There are fewer face-to-face
meetings of employees and supervisors, and the employees have great
autonomy. The relationship between the employer and employees is trust-
ful based on the results of work, and not on monitoring the detailed time
usage of employees. An employee starts his work from home and returns
there after service visits to customers. Co-workers are contacted to get help
and advice via phone. In addition, they meet sporadically on the road in
services stations during lunch and coffee breaks and for chatting and ex-
changing work-related information. In the future, technical deficiencies are
improved, and the use of new tools and practices will be disseminated.
282 Robert M Verburg et al.
12.5 MVW in practice: IT-support for home care in Sweden
A mobile information system for work support in home care organisations,
Permitto Care, was originally developed by Telia, a large Swedish telecom
company. The initial development was carried out in close cooperation
with the home care staff in Nordanstig, a municipality in northern Sweden.
Much effort was needed to make the system support the actual needs of the
personnel. Nordanstig’s community covers an area of 1380 km
P

2
P
and has
10.000 inhabitants, i.e. approximately 7.2 inhabitants/km
P
2
P
. The home care
work is characterized by large distances between the clients, resulting in
much traveling for the personnel. This gives them limited opportunities to
visit the common premises and few possibilities to consult and share
knowledge with other colleagues. It also makes it difficult to perform vari-
ous administrative tasks in the office. Figure 12.2 shows a group of proud
Swedish home care nurses with their mobile devices.
The mobile technical support system was very much appreciated by its
users and received much external attention; it was e.g. nominated for the
“Users price” by UsersAward, Sweden (www.usersaward.se). Other mu-
nicipalities were also very interested in the system and it was implemented
in several other home care services in different communities in Sweden.

Fig. 12.2. A group of home care nurses with their mobile equipment, implemented
in a Nokia Communicator 9210i
12 Case Descriptions of Mobile Virtual Work in Practice 283
This case especially focuses on why a system, that is very efficient and
appreciated in one setting, is not equally well functioning in another set-
ting. We are here interested in analyzing the effects of introducing the
Permitto Care system in a new setting.
12.5.1 Intended use
The mobile IT-system Permitto Care gave its users, the home care nurses,
a tool to improve their internal communication. Through the system they
could easily get in contact with colleagues, ask questions and share their
knowledge. A main objective with the system was to facilitate for the users
to start their working day from home, in order to quicker reach the clients
and carry out the morning visits. The time needed for administration and
planning could be significantly reduced. The mobile system could further
make it possible to access and enter information about the care taker before
and after each home visit. The events and care activities performed could
be instantaneously documented.
12.5.2 The system implemented in another environment
The Permitto Care system is today also used in Hökarängen, a densely
populated suburb in the Stockholm area. At the time of this study, the IT-
system had been used for one and a half years. Results and conclusions of
an interview with representatives from the personnel about their experi-
ences with Permitto Care are here presented.

Group characteristics
In Hökarängen the area to be serviced is relatively small and the home
health care personnel can reach their clients on foot. They visit the homes
of the care taker often three times per day. The home care district is di-
vided into two areas, where each area is daily served by a team of 10-13
active home care nurses. Each day, the nurses visit about 10-15 clients
each. In total, the district serves about 150 clients. The number of person-
nel is slightly reduced on evenings and weekends.
Aspects of mobility
A normal working day starts with a short briefing in the home care organi-
sation’s office, then follows the morning round to the clients, lunch brake,
the afternoon round and finally an informal meeting in the office and a
rounding up of the day. The personnel mostly perform their rounds alone,
but more demanding clients require a coordination allowing help from an
assisting colleague or from the separate home health care team.
284 Robert M Verburg et al.
Communication and collaboration tools
During the home visits, a Nokia Communicator (9210i) running the Per-
mitto Care system is carried along by the personnel. The Permitto Care
system provides its users with possibilities for communication and infor-
mation support needed in the work activities, i.e.:
• Mobile communication with other care givers by text messages and
phone
• Access to individual care plans and detailed information about the cli-
ents
• Reading and writing care notes about individual clients
• Contact information about the clients and their relatives
• Planning and work schedules for the personnel
The interaction with the Permitto Care system is web-based and has two
web interfaces that differ in the layout. The first is for a web browser on a

stationary computer and the other one is for the web browser in the Nokia
Communicator. To reach data in the system the nurses have to log in with
a user name and a password. The interface on the stationary computer con-
tains quite some functionality and is meant for administrative work, while
the mobile interface is designed for the operative work and is less detailed.
System data are up- and downloaded from a server and never stored lo-
cally on the client device for security reasons. Data in the system are sent
over an encrypted data connection.
12.5.3 Performance and outcomes
The system is well received by its users at the home health care service in
Hökarängen, and is considered relatively easy to learn and to operate. The
employees feel appreciated when they are offered a modern IT-system.
Appreciated features in the system are the main documentation function,
“the care taker record”. It makes it easy for the nurses to read and write
notes about the care taker they visit. The record keeping is carried out
much better with the new system compared to before.
The paper work has also been reduced to a great extent. Now everyone
can access information available in the system. By using the system, it is
possible for the home care nurses to reach information about the clients.
While on the move information about medicines, contact information of
their relatives or entry codes to the doors can be easily obtained. Savings
in time have also been achieved since the briefing meetings in the morning
can now be reduced from half an hour to five minutes.
12 Case Descriptions of Mobile Virtual Work in Practice 285
12.5.4 Unanticipated use of the system
The time it takes the system to create the network connection is quite long.
It entails the start of the web browser, to perform the user authorization
and to load the Permitto Care web pages is. To start-up and log into the
system, in order to write a record note for a certain care taker, takes an av-
erage user 2 minutes and 50 seconds.

If one home care nurse visits 15 clients a day, the time waiting for the
system would be 2 5/6 min × 15 = 42,5 minutes per day. If this is true for
the whole home care team of 10 care givers, working 5 days a week
(which is not really true when home health care personnel also works in
evenings and during the week ends), that makes 42,5 × 10 × 5 = 2125 / 60
≈ 35,5 hours per week – almost equal to a full time position!
Just a few days after the personnel at the home health care centre in
Hökarängen had started to use the Permitto Care system, it became clear
that to log into the system after each visit at a care taker took too much
time. The nurses created therefore new routines to use the system. They
now carry out just a few logins into the system during a day; in the begin-
ning of the day, at lunch and at the end of the day, i.e. all occasions when
the users are meeting in the office. Once in the office it is more quiet and
easier to concentrate than when one is on the move. Help and support from
colleges is also within easy reach.
The mobile device, the Nokia Communicator, is still carried along on
the round to the clients but it is seldom used as a computer. As a mobile
phone, however, it is much appreciated and frequently used. Many em-
ployees prefer to use a desktop computer at the premises rather than their
mobile communicator.
The system’s long start up time has the following consequences:
• Users do not write their documentation for each visit at a care taker.
Thereby, the intended effects are lost, e.g. the benefits of a frequently
updated system, of information written into the system while it is still
fresh in the mind, of secure storage of information, and of backup ad-
vantages
• Information that is supposed to be documented during the visit to the
clients is instead remembered or briefly written on paper notes. The in-
formation is entered into the IT-system first when they reach the office.
Some users prefer using the stationary computer for entering the infor-

mation into the system. A stationary computer has much more advan-
tages than a small, mobile one; it is faster, easier to work with (with its
mouse and proper keyboard) and has a bigger screen that provides a bet-
286 Robert M Verburg et al.
ter overview of the system. In this way, the mobile qualities of the Per-
mitto Care system are seldom utilized
• When writing down things to remember, some users prefer to use paper
notes or the note-application in the Nokia Communicator, an application
that is not a part of the Permitto Care system. Both ways are much faster
• In the same way, entry codes to the client’s home are sometimes stored
by the nurses in the phones local note application. In this way the codes
are much faster available when needed
• While on the move nurses prefer to make phone calls back to the man-
ager at the office in order to report important occurrences and get them
entered into the system
12.5.5 Conclusions and lessons learned
The Permitto Care system has, and has been rewarded for, a number of
good qualities, e.g. it is easy to learn, it provides the user with the correct
information and it is well adapted to the needs of the organisation. How-
ever, the system’s long connection time results in unintended use, and a
more or less total loss of intended efficiency. This becomes even clearer
when the system is studied in an environment where long travel distances
and solitary work is less apparent.
The slow network connection gives the users a general experience of the
system as slow and difficult to handle. As shown in this case, this results in
an unexpected way of using the system, caused by their intention to per-
form well. If the users find better, feasible, ways to achieve their goal
without using the system as intended, these ways will be used. In this case
the better way to work was e.g. not to use the system frequently as in-
tended.

A professional user tries to perform a task in a quick and effective way,
without spending energy in preparing the tool for the task. Our conclusions
from this case confirm the notion that professionals will perform their task
even if this is hampered by an IT-system that does not fit the nature of
their work. In this case, a mobile solution was provided to support the
work of home care nurses but the specific nature of the work led to non-
mobile use of the system. The case underlines again the great benefits of
early user involvement for the design and implementation of IT support
tools in organisational context. In order to benefit from mobile solutions a
careful analysis of the context of use proofs to be vital.
12 Case Descriptions of Mobile Virtual Work in Practice 287
12.6 Overall conclusion
On basis of our detailed case analysis we have illustrated the use of mobile
technology for work in different settings across four different countries.
Mobile work is often associated with the nomadic business traveller who
can have access to fancy back offices anywhere on the globe through an
array of lightweight and preferably integrated gadgets. The cases in this
chapter do not focus on this kind of mobile work but highlight the chang-
ing nature of the day-to-day activities of service engineers, home care
nurses, and customs controllers. The work of these employees was already
mobile even before the introduction of tablet PCs, PDAs, and communica-
tors. However, the introduction of mobile solutions has changed the work
of mobile employees tremendously. For instance, in case of the service en-
gineers in both Finland and Italy, employees do not start their working day
by going to the office but start their work when they enter their car and log
on to the central dispatch unit. In case of the custom controllers in The
Netherlands the mobile solution has changed their work day as the mobile
solution enables the execution of more unscheduled work than before. The
introduction of mobile solutions changes the organisation and the in-
volvement of users is therefore of vital importance. The case of the home

care nurses in Sweden is an example of what happens when users are not
properly involved.
On basis of the cases the following benefits of mobile work come for-
ward:
• Employees experience more efficiency due to less travelling from and to
the office
• Employees have much better access to information when outside of the
office and do not depend on phone calls to colleagues in the back office
• Employees experience that they have more possibilities to ask for the
help and advice of other colleagues on the job
The organisation benefits also in terms of more efficiency of the work
processes:
• Data can be stored in the local database directly from the field rather
than through additional data entry in the office
• Clients may be updated better, more easily, and more up to date infor-
mation can be conveyed
• On the move employees can be tracked much easier and unscheduled
work can be allocated much better
288 Robert M Verburg et al.
Overall the cases show a positive picture on the application of mobile
solutions in practice. Employees stress the benefits of their mobile work.
Possible barriers are of course a lack of user involvement as seen in the
case of Sweden, but as long as users are involved mobile virtual work is
perceived as a positive change. Potential barriers or possible downsides,
such as limitations of decision capabilities, a lack of employee autonomy
and stronger propensity for employee control did not feature so much in
the cases above. As these factors proof to have negative impacts on em-
ployee motivation, those remain a point of concern for the deployment of
mobile virtual work in practice.
The four cases described in this chapter show a mere refinement of an

already virtual work process through the use of more able tools. So far,
there are not many examples of companies that have started new activities
on basis of the possibilities that are offered by today’s mobile technolo-
gies. Further research in the area of MVW would enable such companies
to adapt their mobile work practices more carefully. Also, designers of
mobile solutions may benefit from the detailed lists of requirements which
come forward from the growing research into mobile work in practice. In
other words, it is necessary to identify the different enactments of the vari-
ous mobile practices within different cultures and industries in order to
clarify the do’s and don’ts of MVW.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank Andrea Giacobbe and Silvia Massa for their work on the
Siram case and thank the EC-funded MOSAIC-project (FP6-2003-IST-2
004341) and the SALTSA Mobility Group for their ongoing support in this
project.
References
Kumar S, Zahn C (2003) Mobile communications: evolution and impact on busi-
ness operations. Technovation 23(6):515–520
Perrow, C (1967) A framework for the comparative analysis of organizations.
American Sociological Review 32(2):194–208
Lilischkis S (2003) More yo-yos, pendulums and nomads: trends of mobile and
multi-location work in the information society. STAR issue report no. 36, Da-
tabank, Milano
Yin, R (1994) Case study research: design and methods. Sage Publications, Lon-
don
Zilliox D (2002) Get-started guide to m-commerce and mobile technology.
American Management Association, New York
Part 3
Organisational Strategies
13 Knowledge Sharing in Mobile Work

Mariano CorsoP
1
P
, Antonella MartiniP
2
P
, Luisa PellegriniP
2
P
P
1
P
Department of Management Engineering, Polytechnic University of Mi-
lano, Italy
P
2
P
Faculty of Engineering, University of Pisa, Italy
13.1 The KMS challenge in mobile context
Leveraging on people’s knowledge and creativity is a competitive must in
today’s business environment. The intensification of competition, how-
ever, forces companies to adopt new organisational models that seriously
challenge traditional approaches to managing knowledge. Hence, this
chapter answers the need of empirically grounded research to draw impli-
cations of the systems supporting Knowledge Management (KM) within
such new organizational models.
When analyzed in terms of how people are integrated and relate to the
rest of the organisation, many companies are characterized by two trends:
• Mobility and distribution of workforce: nowadays the concept itself of
the workplace is changing. People spend an increasing amount of their

working time outside the physical boundaries of their company, often in
mobility and interacting with customers or people from partner organi-
zations (Laubacher and Malone 2003). Also when working inside the
company, people often change positions and work in multi-disciplinary
virtual teams. As a consequence, individuals have fewer and fewer op-
portunities for face to face interaction with their colleagues and can
hardly rely on their own experience
• Turnover and loose contractual links: provisional nature of employ-
ment, loose forms of contractual links to the company and high level of
turnover (Drucker 2002), while in many cases considered competitive
needs, make people’s stay with organizations temporary and partial,
thus creating barriers to the sharing of knowledge and expertise among
individuals
These two factors converge in what we call “Mobile Virtual Work”
(MVW). MVW is done by different people in ever changing situations
who need to collaborate and to be connected to shared resources in order to
292 Mariano Corso, Antonella Martini and Luisa Pellegrini
achieve their common goals. Being a “mobile virtual” (MV) worker is in
many cases a necessity rather than a choice that requires personal qualities
such as independence and entrepreneurship that were far less fundamental
in traditional organizations. As far as professional growth and access to
knowledge is concerned, MV workers cannot simply trust their company
HR development policies, but have to care, in first person, about creating
growth opportunities and building a network of relations that, in many
cases, transcend the boundaries of the company.
Nowadays, MV workers represent an increasingly more relevant share
of the total workforce (Drucker 2002; Laubacher and Malone 2003). Tradi-
tional management systems are not adequate, simply because they were
not designed to answer their needs. Many management systems should be
reviewed including rewarding training, and carrier paths, but the real es-

sence of the change is probably related to Knowledge Management: when
dealing with MV workers, KM becomes a fundamental need rather than a
wish, for two reasons:
• MV workers knowledge and experience are becoming a fundamental as-
set for the company: only with a proper management of this knowledge,
in both tacit and explicit forms, the company can, at least partly, appro-
priate this knowledge
• A proper Knowledge Management System (KMS) can:
− reconnect MV workers to the professional and social network of
the company, preventing loss of knowledge
− provide them with opportunities for interaction and learning, thus
supporting their job and their professional growth, long term em-
ployability, ultimately improving job satisfaction and attractive-
ness
When dealing with this issue, the biggest opportunities, but at the same
time the biggest competitive challenges, are represented today by the
availability of new ICT-enabled services, and in particular web applica-
tions and mobile Value Added Services. At a rapidly decreasing cost, these
technologies are making it possible to overcome geographical, time and
organizational barriers to communication and knowledge transfer in dis-
persed networks.
Theory on how to successfully implement new ICTs to manage knowl-
edge for MV workers, however, is still in its infancy, and only anecdotal
evidence about best practices is available today. The challenge for man-
agement theory is therefore clear: to provide empirically grounded and ac-
tionable knowledge for companies to design and implement new ICT en-
abled KM Systems able to extend the boundaries of their knowledge
13 Knowledge Sharing in Mobile Work 293
creation to their MV workers. Based on comparison among three case
studies, the chapter is a first attempt to draw implications on KMS re-

quirements in mobile contexts.
The issue of managing knowledge of a dispersed workforce has already
been covered in economics and management literature mainly in connec-
tion with the problems of preserving intellectual capital and competence
from loss and spill over (Minkler 1993; Tsoukas 1996; Becker 2001;
Cramton 2001; Maskell 2001).
For example, Minkler (1993) focuses on firms that tried to assess the
importance of their dispersed knowledge; he emphasizes that some organ-
izational innovations – employee participation, organization in cooperative
teams, just-in-time stock management systems, forms of labour protection
– are solutions that stem from firms’ awareness of the dispersion of their
knowledge assets.
The dispersion of knowledge exists in all organizations. However, in
traditional companies workers interact within the organizational physical
boundaries, thus facilitating exchanges. In fact, the level of knowledge
dispersion has progressively increased over the past few years, exceeding
previous boundaries. Various factors contribute to this trend: internaliza-
tion of markets, companies are more widespread within areas and product
and service customization. In many cases, these factors induce firms to de-
crease the physical distance that separates them from their custom-
ers/suppliers, having some employees temporarily located in the custom-
ers’/suppliers’ offices. In this context, the main problem is to create a
technological and social infrastructure that allows knowledge and informa-
tion transfer.
Different authors have pointed out that there are many relevant organ-
izational and managerial effects resulting from the level of knowledge dis-
persion. Becker (2001) indicates three factors as the cause of organiza-
tional problems: large numbers, asymmetries and uncertainty. He also
identifies some strategies allowing a better use of dispersed knowledge:
• substitute knowledge with providing access to knowledge (individuals

have to remember where it can be found), the recovery takes place only
when it is necessary
• provide users with the capability of completing incomplete knowledge
• design institutions with appropriate coordination mechanisms
• decompose organizational units into smaller ones
• increase the information available to the decision-maker
Focusing on knowledge workers, Cramton (1997; 2001; 2002) identifies
the problems that can occur when MV people communicate and collabo-
294 Mariano Corso, Antonella Martini and Luisa Pellegrini
rate: 1) failures to communicate and retain contextual information regard-
ing different members; 2) interference between unevenly distributed in-
formation and team-level collaboration, 3) differences in evaluating the
relevance of information, 4) differences in speed of access to information
and 5) difficulties in interpreting the meaning of silence/lack of communi-
cation. The main problems that may arise are: i) the propensity to ascribe
peoples’ behaviour or results to members instead of to the situation, ii) the
decrease in learning capacity, iii) the incapacity to reach other members’
expectations, and the damage of interpersonal reliance.
Many authors have analysed and proposed possible solutions to facili-
tate cooperation between mobile or geographically scattered workers or
virtual teams (Cramton 1997; 2001; Furst et al. 1999; Duarte and Snyder
1999; Lipnack and Stamps 1997).
Two aspects contribute to an effective management of distributed
knowledge: an efficient communication/interaction structure (Cohen and
Levinthal 1990) and a focused human resources management system
(Tsoukas 1996).
Communication can be enabled by creating information channels, which
are parts of the social capital and can have a technological or an organiza-
tional nature (Nahapiet and Ghoshal 1998; Gupta and Govindarajan 2000).
The introduction of job rotation is an example of an organizational solu-

tion, while intranet and corporate portals are technological tools facilitat-
ing the interaction among experts.
Many authors have focused their attention on the impact of KMS on
performances (Haanes and Lowendhal 1997; Petrash 1996; Roos et al.
1997; Schiuma and Marr 2001; Sveiby 1997). The impact on performances
is strongly related to the approach adopted in the KMS (Davenport and
Prusak 1998; Wiig 1997) and to the direct impacts on organizational be-
haviours in terms of knowledge creation, transfer and capitalization.
A fundamental assumption that is common to recent literature is that
coordination and decision making do not require knowledge centralization,
but rather should provide the access to knowledge (Nonaka 1990). Simple
access to knowledge still requires users to have both competency and ca-
pacity for understanding, assimilating and using retrieved knowledge. In
addition, users should also be able to correct possible mistakes (Collins
and Kusch 1998), adapt knowledge to the specific problem and complete
possible gaps (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995).
More recently, the concept of communities of practice emerged as a key
issue. Communities of practice consist of people with a joint interest, mu-
tual engagement and a shared repertoire; they develop spontaneously out-
side the formal organization, can span organizational boundaries, create
and are based on relationships (Wenger and Snyder 2000). The concept of
13 Knowledge Sharing in Mobile Work 295
community of practice has a strong potential when applied in the context
of companies having MV workers: by facilitating interaction within com-
munities, a company may reconnect its MV workers to its social and cog-
nitive system. However, literature on development and management of
communities of practice is still based on a few anecdotal contributions
based on best practices.
Overall current literature seems to focus on the problem of coping with
knowledge dispersion, rather than on the phenomenon of managing MV

workers’ dispersion: in particular, there is a lack of empirical research re-
garding its diffusion, characteristics and effects on Knowledge Manage-
ment Systems.
The chapter is organized as follows: in the next paragraph a framework
is introduced and the methodology for this research is described. Then re-
sults are presented and analyzed; limitation of this study and plan for fur-
ther research are finally discussed.
13.2 Research framework and methodology
This contribution is based on the evidence from an empirical research pro-
ject which started in 2002 (Corso et al. 2004) and aimed at exploring the
issue of Knowledge Management in companies characterized by Mobile
Virtual Work. Our aim is to answer the following research questions:
RQ1. Relevance and characteristics of MVW
1. What is the relevance of MVW in Italian companies?
2. What are the characteristics of MVW in Italy?
RQ2. What are the emerging approaches companies use to manage
knowledge and their effects on performance in different MVW set-
tings?
Funded by the Italian Ministry of Research, the project involved re-
searchers from four universities and started with the development of six
case studies that were used to explore the field and develop a framework
for further explanatory research.
The lack of research and especially the lack of empirically grounded
analyses on MVW in Italy meant that the investigation had to be divided
into three major phases (Fig. 13.1):
•
T1st research stepT. We conducted six explorative cases – not reported
here - in order to identify the relevant variables of the phenomenon.
296 Mariano Corso, Antonella Martini and Luisa Pellegrini
Such variables have been used to build the research protocol for the sur-

vey.
•
T2nd research stepT. We developed a two-step survey. The first – phone
survey – measured how relevant mobile work is in Italy (RQ1), while
the second – paper/electronic survey – analyzes the MV workers’ activi-
ties and the KM tools used in the firms, which declared to have Mobile
workers (RQ2). The phone survey was based on a database of 1504
large and medium sized companies. Sampling was based on 2002 AIDA
database (Bureau van Dijk): we were interested in large and medium
sized enterprises in manufacturing industries. Out of the 1504 compa-
nies contacted 899 answered the survey (59.8% response rate), a sample
that represents a 36% of the overall relevant population
T
1
T. For the second
step, the survey sample was made up of the people who declared to have
Mobile workers in the first step.
Explorative case studies
Variable selection
MVW diffusion and
characteristics
KM Systems
Explicative case studies
1P
s
t
P
research step
(2002-2003)
RQ1

Relevance and characteristics
of MVW in Italy
2
P
n
d
P
research step
(2003)
3
P
r
d
P
research step
(2004)
RQ2
KM approaches and effects
on
p
erformance
1
P
s
t
P
step survey
2P
n
d

P
step survey
•
T3rd research stepT. On the basis of the survey results, we conducted three
explicative case studies in order to explore the cause and effect links
among the prominent variables in depth.
Fig. 13.1. Research methodology
T
1
T According to Mediobanca estimation of 2,500 large and medium sized compa-
nies operating in Italy.
13 Knowledge Sharing in Mobile Work 297
The Investigation framework (Fig. 13.2) was developed starting from
the analysis of management literature and available results of previous re-
search projects. Six exploratory cases were conducted to identify the key
variables that appear to be relevant to understand the phenomenon.
KMS
Sharing
Generation
Reuse
Assimilation
MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS
ICT
ORGANIZATIONAL MECHANISMS
INTRA & INTER FIRM
PERFORMANCES
- Profitability
- Customer satisfaction
- Worker satisfaction

Capitalisation
Transfer
MVW PROFILES
Activities
Fig. 13.2. TThe investigation framework
Following a contingent approach, the investigation framework assumes
that performances are influenced by KMS, and that KMS effectiveness in
terms of the ability to produce good performance depends on the internal
coherence among choices (internal consistency) and on the adequacy with
the contingent characteristics (Profiles) of MVW (external consistency).
Each group of variables has been analysed and described, based on the
results of exploratory studies. For MV worker we referred to the worker
who:
• is contractually linked to the firm and can be subjected to control by the
firm and/or coordination
• mainly works outside the firm. Employees who are permanently as-
signed work outside the firm (such as, in some cases, the sales agents)
and workers who, though having their own site in the firm, mainly work
outside the firm (for example consultants and maintenance people)
MVW characteristics were analysed in terms of the type of activity that
MV do, e.g. sales, maintenance, consulting.
We adopted the definition of KM and KMS by Corso et al. (2004):
Knowledge Management is about creating an environment that en-
courages people to learn and share knowledge by aligning goals, in-
tegrating bits and pieces of information within and across organiza-
tional boundaries, and producing new knowledge that is usable and
useful to the organisation
298 Mariano Corso, Antonella Martini and Luisa Pellegrini
The Knowledge Management System is the intended or emerging
configuration of technical, organizational and managerial choices

(KMS) with which the company influences people’s behaviour in all
phases of the knowledge lifecycle, including the acquisition, transfer
and sharing, capitalisation and reuse of knowledge. KMS support-
ing knowledge processes (and their management, for that matter)
therefore exist in, and must be designed to fit the internal and exter-
nal context of the organisation
Finally, performances were analyzed in terms of:
• business performance (effects on costs and revenues, innovation)
• customer satisfaction (perceived quality of the product/service and over-
all satisfaction)
• worker satisfaction (quality of working life and professional growth)
13.3 Field research results
13.3.1 Mapping the MW phenomenon: the survey results
Research question 1: relevance and characteristics of MVW
Within the 899 firms which answered the survey, 410 stated that they have
MV workers (45.6%) and provided information about the characteristics of
these people and their activities. Three main Profiles of MV workers
emerged:
• In 47% of the firms the most relevant group of MV workers are mem-
bers of the sales force. In many cases these people, beside commercial
competency, also need technical competency regarding products and are
engaged in some form of customer service
• In 35% of the companies MV workers are mainly technicians, such as
maintenance people or installers. Besides technical knowledge, in many
cases, they also require complementary commercial competency
• In the remaining 18% of firms MV workers are managers: researchers,
plant directors, inspectors or people responsible for affiliated units
13 Knowledge Sharing in Mobile Work 299
Research question 2: KM approaches
This group of 410 companies was then contacted for the second step of the

survey, through a questionnaireT
2
T. Eighty three companies answered with
usable questionnaire data which accounts for a response rate of 20.2%.
In order to identify the emerging approaches used by companies to
manage MVW knowledge, we used cluster analysis
T
3
T.
The most up-to-date literature as well as the explorative case studies
provide evidence that the main problems connected with Knowledge Man-
agement for MVW are the following (Table 13.1):
• knowledge transfer
− retrieval of knowledge from organizational knowledge storage
banks,
Ti. training on the job, ii. in case of problems, workers ii.1
use manuals, ii.2 contact experts, ii.3 use customer/supplier re-
cords, ii.4 use project database
T
− feedback from MV workers to update knowledge domains, (shar-
ing of knowledge, reports)
• planning and controlling MVW activities
− MVW activity planning (autonomous vs. hierarchical planning)
− MVW activity control (reports, performance measurement, results
measurement)
These aspects were used to characterize four emerging Knowledge
Management approaches (Table 13.1):
• Products/services innovation orientation. Tasks are partially repetitive:
retrieval of knowledge is important and frequent, and hence supported
by all the investigated tools. In particular, manuals and project databases

allow recovery of explicit knowledge, while expert networks support the
recovery of tacit knowledge. Feedback is important for updating knowl-
T
2
T The person in charge of answering the questions had the possibility of selecting
the modality of transmission of the paper questionnaire between ordinary mail,
e-mail or fax. Two-round reminders were organized in order to increase the re-
turns
T
3
T In order to identify the most appropriate number of clusters, a series of hierarchi-
cal clusters were created. Because of the high number of isolated cases, four
clusters were used to allow for differentiating behaviours and to provide a rea-
sonable number of clusters. In the case where a lower number of clusters is
chosen, most firms appear to be grouped together in only one cluster, while the
other clusters are small and non- homogeneous. In the case where more than
four clusters are chosen, smaller clusters are split, while bigger clusters, which
are relatively homogeneous, are not influenced.
300 Mariano Corso, Antonella Martini and Luisa Pellegrini
edge capital and achieved with reports. Workers are partially autono-
mous; therefore the adoption of a control and an incentive system,
mostly based on performance measures and reports, is important.
• Process standardization orientation. Processes are easy to be analyzed
and tasks repetitive. Therefore, retrieval of knowledge is not frequent
and training is mainly on the job. New problems or exceptions are not
frequent, but when they occur, MV workers examine manuals or contact
experts; capitalization and sharing of knowledge generated when the
rare exceptions take place, is strongly encouraged (reports). Activities
are planned by the company and results can be easily controlled by
means of reports.

• Performance control orientation. MV workers independently manage
their non-repetitive activities. The retrieval mainly involves knowledge
and information about customers and suppliers, which is useful to ana-
lyse the specific problem and to develop a customised solution and ex-
perts are the main source. For the characteristics of tasks, the company
cannot fully plan MVW activities. Therefore, incentives are based on
individual results. In these contexts, Knowledge Management is mainly
focused on control by individual performance measures, but also sup-
ports informal networks.
• Knowledge sharing orientation. Context and problems are variable and
the company cannot hierarchically plan MVW activities and use KMS
in order to control MV workers and measure their results. Knowledge is
mainly tacit: it cannot be memorized in manuals or other physical sup-
ports, because tasks are not repetitive, training on the job is not really
useful. Experience is the most important requirement for MV workers,
and for this reason expert networks are a fundamental resource in solv-
ing complex problems. The tacit form of knowledge inhibits adoption of
formal incentive schemes for sharing of knowledge. Sharing is achieved
in informal networks: systems are very important for identifying the
right person to contact. Companies use their broad knowledge and cus-
tomer and supplier records to analyze a specific problem and to develop
a customised solution.
13 Knowledge Sharing in Mobile Work 301
Table 13.1. Emergent KM approach in MVW
KM APPROACHES ORIENTED TO
PROBLEMS
PRODUCTS /
SERVICES
INNOVATION
PROCESSES

STANDARDIZATION
PERFORMANCE
CONTROL
KNOWLEDGE
SHARING
Knowledge
retrieval in
case of ex-
ceptions
Exceptions are fre-
quent: workers fre-
quently use manu-
als, experts and
records
Workers rarely face
new problems. In
these rare cases, they
use manuals, experts
and project databases
Information concern-
ing customers and
suppliers is usually
not useful
New problems
are very frequent.
Because of the
nature of both
knowledge and
activities, work-
ers get knowl-

edge from ex-
perts. Customer
and supplier re-
cords are also
useful to analyze
specific problems
Knowledge is
complex and tacit
knowledge and is
capitalized by ex-
perts. Customers
and suppliers re-
cords are important
for customising so-
lutions
Feedback
for the com-
pany
Reports are used
for creating an or-
ganizational mem-
ory about custom-
ers and suppliers,
rather than for con-
trolling purposes.
This memory is
useful for adapting
solutions to cus-
tomer specifica-
tions

Reports are useful
for both control and
identification of new
problems and updat-
ing manuals and da-
tabases when MVW
faces the rare excep-
tions
Tacit form of
knowledge and
the lack of task
repetitiveness do
not allow the
creation of a
company mem-
ory. Knowledge
resides in indi-
viduals
Knowledge is
shared spontane-
ously through in-
formal networks of
experts. Reports al-
low the identifica-
tion of experts
Activity
planning
As activities are
only partly repeti-
tive, MVW tasks

are only partly
planned by the
company in a hier-
archical way
Activities are repeti-
tive so tasks are
planned by the com-
pany
As activities are
not repetitive,
companies can-
not plan tasks of
MV workers
who, indeed, are
autonomous
MV workers are
partially autono-
mous
Activity con-
trol
The control of par-
tially autonomous
workers is
achieved with per-
formance measures
and reports
Tasks are hierarchi-
cally planned; there-
fore control can be
achieved using only

reports
Result measures
check only group ac-
tivities and perform-
ance measures are
not defined
Individual per-
formance meas-
ures are used to
control MV
workers
MV workers are
not controlled, al-
though the submit-
ting of reports is
required
302 Mariano Corso, Antonella Martini and Luisa Pellegrini
In order to understand whether the specific MVW profiles drive the se-
lection of the KM approaches, an association analysis was carried out (Ta-
ble 13.2).
Table 13.2. MVW profiles and KM approaches
KM APPROACHES ORIENTED TO
PRODUCTS /
SERVICES
CUSTOMISA
TION
PROCESSES
STANDARDIZATION
PERFORMANCE
CONTROL

SHARING TOTAL
Sales force
19
48233
Technicians 6
11
-421
Manager 1 2
5
311
MVW
PROFILES
Total
26 17 13 9 65
The analysis points out that:
• sales forces mainly use KM oriented to product/service innovation
• most technicians adopt KM oriented to process standardization
• managers are mainly associated with KM oriented to performance con-
trol
Based on these results, we can formulate the following hypothesis:
In order to completely understand the survey results (Hypothesis 1),
three explicative case studies were analyzed. The specific aims were to:
THyp. 1: There is a relation between the characteristics of
the task performed by MV workers, TTand the charac-
teristics of the Knowledge Management System.
• underpin better the results of Table 13.1, trying to understand the asso-
ciation between the different MVW profiles and the four KM ap-
proaches (Table 13.2)
• explore the impact of different KM approaches on performance, and in
particular on worker satisfaction

13.3.2 Cause and effect links: three explicative case studies
In order to analyze the two aspects mentioned above, Perrow’s model of
technology and structure (1967) was used (Corso et al. 2005). It highlights
two key dimensions in order to describe a task: the existence (or other-
13 Knowledge Sharing in Mobile Work 303
wise) of well-established techniques for performing tasks i.e. task analyz-
ability, and the degree of variety in the tasks encountered; number of ex-
ceptions. The two dimensions are commonly, and collectively, referred to
as task uncertainty. Where established techniques for handling tasks do not
exist i.e. low analyzability, or where substantial variety or novelty in the
tasks encountered exists i.e. high number of exceptions, Perrow describes
the task setting as “non-routine”. Conversely, when tasks are analyzable
with few exceptions, the task setting is “routine”. Perrow proceeds to de-
scribe the structural arrangements necessary to achieve effective control
and coordination for the different task environments faced by an organiza-
tion.
Figure 13.3 presents a diagrammatic representation of Perrow’s frame-
work. Tasks in Cell 1 are repetitive and familiar i.e. few exceptions, with
known routines for handling them (high analyzability). Perrow also argued
that organizations facing such tasks would be able to rely on procedure
guides, operating manuals, job codification and rigid lines of reporting and
accountability for controlling employee behaviour.
In contrast, Cell 3 represents the “non-routine” situation, and it is here
that Perrow expects that formal, bureaucratic controls will not be effective
for controlling performance. Tasks cannot be “programmed” and thus be-
haviour cannot be controlled by implementing procedures which pre-
specify desired actions or by monitoring individual actions through the use
of supervisors. The remaining two situations depicted in Figure 15.3 (Cells
2 and 4) involve task settings where it is more difficult to predict which
forms of control will prove most effective. Tasks may have little variety,

yet exhibit uncertainty in the transformation process (Cell 2); others may
have little uncertainty but a great deal of variety (Cell 4). They are in the
middle of the routine/non-routine continuum, but they are not the same.
Considering Cell 2, tasks here are low in variety suggesting the potential
suitability of behaviour controls i.e. fine glassware. However, notwith-
standing the lack of variety of tasks, little has been learned about the proc-
ess by which inputs are transformed into outputs; programs for performing
these tasks have not been established i.e. analyzability is low. It is, there-
fore, not possible to develop a set of manuals, guides or procedures, which
can be drawn upon during task execution.
In Cell 4, much variety is encountered in tasks, but notwithstanding this
variation, input-output relations can be readily specified, i.e. made-to-order
machine, civil engineering. This enables the development and implementa-
tion of programmed controls, such as procedure guides and operating
manuals, and/or the use of superior authority to ensure that behaviour is in
accordance with what is known to achieve desired results.
304 Mariano Corso, Antonella Martini and Luisa Pellegrini
Fig. 13.3. Perrow model of technology and structure
Based on this classification and on existing literature on Knowledge
Management, we can formulate more specific hypotheses about the char-
acteristics of the Knowledge Management System that can better suit each
specific situation.
We can use Perrow’s model to classify the activities of the three main
kinds of MV workers that emerged from the survey: managers, sales force
and technicians.
The consulting process is characterized by low repetitiveness of activi-
ties, absence of standardized procedures and practices and unavailability of
a clear body of knowledge, which can guide the work. According to Per-
row’s model the consultancy task represents the “non-routine” situation
(Cell 3).

The sales task, on the other hand, in terms of the Perrow’s model is
characterized by little uncertainty but a great deal of variety.
Finally, if compared to the other tasks, the activities of field force tech-
nicians can be regarded as “routine” situations, characterized by little task
variety and a clear view of input-output relations in task execution.
Table 13.3. Case settings
A B C
Industry
Consultancy Telecommunication Multi-utilities
Core product
E- solutions
GSM communication
system
Energy distribution
and selling
Investigated
process
Project management Sales Maintenance
13 Knowledge Sharing in Mobile Work 305
Fig. 13.4. Case position in Perrow model
In order to test and refine the research hypothesis three case studies have
been developed:
• Case A is an Italian system integrator that recently developed a KMS to
support its dispersed managers
• Case B is a Telecom Operator that developed a KMS supporting its indi-
rect sales personnel
• Case C is a multi-utility, which produces, distributes and sells thermal
and electric energy, manages the public lighting system, the traffic lights
and the thermal and electrical systems
Table 13.3 compares the characteristics of the three case companies,

while Figure 13.4 summarises the characteristics of their MV workers’ ac-
tivities in terms of the Perrow’s model.
Data collection and analysis
Case studies were conducted in late 2003 and early 2004. During the site
visit, impressions and informal observations were recorded too. Data were
collected through semi-structured interviews with individual respondents
and observations.
An interview guide and an open-ended questionnaire were used to con-
duct two-hour semi-structured interviews. The interview guide had four
sections. The first part referred to general information about the firm; the
second was focused on MVW profiles; the third investigated the KM tools
and the fourth worker satisfaction about the KMS. Worker satisfaction was
operationalized by means of a five point Likert scale, ranging from very
low (=1) to very high (=5).