Building a bridge between 'New Ways of Working' and teamwork behavior - University of Twente Student Theses

Building a bridge between 'New Ways of Working' and teamwork behavior

Nijland, Joyce

(2015)


Building a bridge between 'New Ways of Working' and teamwork behavior.

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Abstract:	This research focused on different variables. NWW is a variable which consists of four dimensions: teleworking, flexible working places, flexible working hours and IT usage. In this research, the relationship between the four dimensions of NWW with productivity and organizational commitment was examined. Furthermore, the influence of teamwork behavior via face-to-face- and computer mediated communication (virtual) on these relationships was tested. To test the influences of different variables, a quantitative research was conducted in the form of structured surveys. Surveys were conducted online at twelve Dutch companies (N=347), of which Rabobank Utrecht Operations employees were the biggest group of respondents (N=296). NWW enable workers to work independently of time, place and technology. This makes it likely that co-workers meet each other less at work this changes the way they informally interact with each other and changes the teamwork behavior. The hypothesis of the relationship between NWW and the outcome variables organizational commitment and productivity can be confirmed, but only with very small influences of NWW on productivity (1,4%). Also, the relationship between NWW and organizational commitment can be confirmed with 2,1%. To be able to stimulate the outcome variables of NWW via teamwork behavior, it was found that teamwork behavior positively influences the realization of the benefits of NWW. This does not mean that organizations should immediately implement (components of) NWW to increase employees’ productivity, because it depends on different factors. Besides that, this Master Thesis strengthens the scientific literature with a confirmation of organizational commitment as a positive outcome of implementing (components of ) NWW. However, this does not mean that organizations should directly and only implement (components of) NWW to increase the organizational commitment of its employees. The components flexible workplaces at work, flexible working hours, and IT have proven to contribute to the organizational commitment of employees. This Master Thesis found that teleworking does not significantly contribute to organizational commitment. The hypotheses stated for teamwork behavior as a moderator were all rejected. Despite the rejections of the hypotheses, the teamwork behaviors do have an influence on productivity and organizational commitment. Therefore, this research is not only interesting for organizations but also for their leaders since it is proven that the teamwork behaviors more strongly correlate with organizational commitment or productivity than NWW with these outcome variables.
Item Type:	Essay (Master)
Faculty:	MB: Management and Governance
Subject:	85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:	Business Administration MSc (60644)
Link to this item:	http://purl.utwente.nl/essays/67034
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Building a bridge between 'New Ways of Working' and teamwork behavior - University of Twente Student Theses