The implementation of “extended” smart working

The different types of smart working

During a recent webinar by ICA (the Italian Association for Informatics and Automatic Calculation), Enzo Rullani theorized three types of smart working that have also been taken up by Harvard Business Review Italia[1].

According to Rullani, it is possible to distinguish between:

• Executive smart working: it consists of a standard managerial remote working activity, not occasional, structured, carried out with limited autonomy and continuous participation. It is possible to believe that such standard activities in the future may be carried out by machines or algorithms, without or with limited human input;
• Adaptive smart working: it is a remote working activity with relative independence for activities that are often demand and tailored, without specific constraints of space and time, with the possibility of participation in the objectives and with continuous learning on the job (some management, commercial or assistance and/or consultancy activities in technical or financial areas may be an example);
• Creative smart working: it implies forms of work having autonomy and involving personal participation, able to face conditions of complexity and continuous innovation, with measurable results, for example, in terms of project and with lifelong learning, including in terms of personal commitment. Typical of this type of work are research and project activities, software development, creative marketing.

These are very diverse forms that, as one can see from their description, respond to heterogeneous needs and for which an equally different evolution over time is expected.

The direction and course of the innovating forces underlying the development of the three theoretical operating modes appear, however, common: it is a progressive, but constant, transformation of telework into smart working.

Digital nomadism

In recent years and, particularly, in recent months, it has been well demonstrated that digital technology and its increasingly more conscious, planned and organized application to working activities have modified the concept and the value of closeness. Being close to clients, relating to suppliers, organising the team’s activities, and interacting within a work group do not require a physical presence any more, without this to significantly prejudice efficiency or operating effectiveness.

The use of new technologies allows a further optimization of time, which is the only rigid, inextensible and non-multipliable factor of production. It is agreed that, without distracting one’s attention, short messages can be sent via chat while on a video conference. This increases closeness and subsequently, in a wider perspective, favours a quicker completion of one’s own and others’ working activities, as well as the achievement of working goals.

This is one of the pillars of the evolution of remote working towards smart working, i.e. being aware that the use of technology does not generate a decrease in interpersonal relations but, on the contrary, it can grant higher promptness, efficiency and effectiveness. In an intentional evolutionary process (i.e. not suffered due to the current serious circumstances), “business processes and behaviours will need to be carefully analysed and re-designed in a digital perspective, reassembling the physical and digital dimension into an innovative combination4”.

Implementation process

As mentioned, a conscious and structured implementation of one of the possible smart working options starts from the identification of the business organizational model and of the interconnections between internal and external functions, as well as from the tracing of relations among the functions covered by employees.

Once such mapping activity is finalized, further difficult phases concern the definition of objectives, which necessarily originate also from the ethical values shared within the organisation, the identification of structural gaps (mainly digital ones, also concerning the safeguard of proper privacy levels) and of the actions needed to close them, the definition of the scope of the actions (which could originally concern the whole workforce), etc. However, it is also important to understand the relevance of a proper training for a correct implementation of such an innovation process.

Sharing targets, first, and developing employees’ awareness, then, are the cornerstones of the implementation process. As it usually happens during organizational changes, the implementation of a cultural change is the most delicate phase, which most of the times determines the success or failure of the project. A new operating mode needs to be learnt, in order to understand its potential and limits, to recognise and manage its criticalities, and to maximise its potentialities.

Diversity & Inclusion

A modernization process aimed to implement the culture of smart working is certainly relevant within the scope of Diversity & Inclusion policies. The use of unified communication and collaboration platforms cancels distance almost totally, maximises closeness and leads (finally) to a reduction of what is perceived as “absence from the workplace”, which on the contrary is a mere adoption of flexible working hours that allow a proper co-management of working and personal life.

A modernization policy in this direction could be key to allow an equal, serene, and effective co-existence of two goals that have always been seen as opposed, i.e.: a desired family realization (and the management of emergencies) and the achievement of professional goals for the whole working life. It is extremely clear, most of all to new generations, that these are actually not conflicting and divergent interests, but they are rather converging towards a more balanced and complete realization of human beings.

Conclusions

The epidemiologic emergency that we are currently facing has allowed us to acknowledge and appreciate the potential of new technologies, in general and, particularly, of sharing and collaboration platforms, acquiring a greater awareness of the impact that these can have on working processes that are too bound to space-time ties, which have now had their day. It can be recurrently noticed that a proper work/life balance is the first driver for choosing an organization, especially for those that have been working for no more than five years.

Therefore, it is now necessary to shift to new organisational models which, besides labour law definitions, lead to a cross-implementation of smart working, as defined in this article. The role of training is crucial in this as in other evolution processes of an organisation, as it is aimed at creating the required cultural change. As known in educational contexts, learning is an important social and national integration mean, a pillar to build a sense of community. It therefore aims not only to develop the individual, but also to help individuals build a common future, a shared experience.