DOI: 10.17573/ipar.2016.2-3.06
1.02 Review article
Telework in Public Sector Organizations: The Slovak National Library
Mária Murray Svidroñová
Matej Bel University, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia maria.murraysvidronova@umb.sk
Beáta Mikusová Mericková
Matej Bel University , Banská Bystrica, Slovakia beata.mikusovamerickova@umb.sk
Juraj Nemec
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic juraj.nemec@econ.muni.cz
ABSTRACT
Reforms of government and public administration combined with use of information and communications technologies (ICT) have brought many innovations in public sector, including telework as a form of organizing and performing work out of the employers' premises. This structural change in work organization aims at increasing efficiency and in some cases, economy, too. The authors used qualitative and quantitative approach based on original survey data from own research, including data collected within the LIPSE project. Main findings point out the factors that influence the use of telework in the conditions of Slovakia in a selected public sector organization, e.g. the social, technological and inter-institutional dynamics factors playing a vital role in telework adoption.
Keywords: social innovation, ICT innovation, telework, public library, Slovakia JEL: H11, H83, J45
1 Introduction
Since the raise of the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm (Lane, 2000; Baclija, 2011) but also later, with Public Governance (Peters & Pierre, 1998) or Neo-Weberian state (Drechsler, 2009), growing attention has been paid to public sector innovations, both as a political priority and as a fully-fledged field of study. A vast and well-established literature exists with respect to the determinants and the adoption of social innovation in the public sector.
Murray Svidroñová, M., Mikusová Mericková, B., & Nemec, J. (2016). 121 Telework in Public Sector Organizations: The Slovak National Library.
International Public Administration Review, 74(2-3), 121-137.
Mária Murray Svidroñová, Beáta Mikusová Mericková, Juraj Nemec
Public sector understood as a provider of public services funded with public finance, governed by public administration and decided by public choice, performs according to some authors, worse than private sector (Gore, 2000; Brinkerhoff, 2008). Therefore, the innovations in public sector are very vital. Public sector innovation is defined by Osborne and Brown (2005) as the introduction of new elements into a public service - in the form of new knowledge, a new organization, and/or new management or process skills which represent discontinuity with the past. Yet, little attention is paid to the ICT- driven social innovations within the public sector, i.e. those innovations characterized by a social content and simultaneously driven by ICT, and in particular those that assist human executed processes and thus have an organizational impact. ICT-driven innovation in the public sector is defined by the European Union as the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the creation and implementation of new processes, products, services and methods of delivery which result in significant improvements in the efficiency, effectiveness and quality of public services as well as the wider operations of the public sector. It also refers to the ability of the public sector, as appropriate to its mandate and resources, to become more innovative in the way it operates and by itself support innovation in society.
One such a type of ICT social innovations refers to new media technologies that are focused on the creation of new ways of working (the so-called telework), providing civil servants with instruments to work at home, while making use of the ICT and data infrastructure of their organization. ICT offer new possibilities to public employees to co-create a working environment that is compatible with their work/life balance. This is also important for the attractiveness of public sector as an employer,
The goal of this paper is to identify factors influencing the use of telework in the conditions of Slovakia in a selected public sector organization and as it will be further described in the methodology section. The selected public sector organization is a public library (funded from public sources, providing public services in public interest). Therefore, it is a typical public sector organization, yet some of the public services it provides are not based on a direct communication with clients which enables the library to use telework. In the paper we present relevant drivers and barriers that account for the success or failure of telework use in the Slovak National Library in Slovakia.
2 Telework as an ICT-Driven Innovation
Telework can be described as a form of organizing and/or performing work, using information technology, in the context of an employment contract/ relationship, where work, which could also be performed at the employer's premises, is carried out away from those premises on a regular basis (EFAT, 2002). The Fourth European Working Conditions Survey (2007) provides
122 International Public Administration Review, Vol. 14, No. 2-3/2016
Telework in Public Sector Organizations: The Slovak National Library
a slightly narrower definition, exclusively investigating telework from home, In order to further delimitate the concept, the definition provided by the Eurofound (2010) can be adopted: in order to qualify as a teleworker, the employee must work with a personal computer (PC) away from the employer's premises at least a quarter of the time, This definition is indeed congruent with the EFAT's one, since it includes telework that is done (on average) slightly more than one day a week,
Telework in Slovakia is governed in the Labour Code (§ 52) as follows: the employment relationship of an employee who performs work for an employer at home or at another agreed place, pursuant to conditions agreed in the employment contract, using information technology (hereinafter referred to as 'telework') within the working time arranged by himself/herself, which shall be governed by this Act, with the following deviations:
a)	provisions on the arrangement of determined weekly working time, continuous daily rest, continuous weekly rest and on stoppage shall not apply to such employee,
b)	in cases of substantive personal obstacles to work, the employee shall not be entitled to wage compensation from the employer, except in case of death of a family member,
c)	the employee shall not be entitled to wage for overtime work, to wage surcharge for a period of work on a public holiday, to wage surcharge for the period of night work and to wage compensation for work in constrained working environments, unless the employee agrees otherwise with the employer,
The Labour Code also deals with the measures on providing hardware and software necessary for the performance of telework by employer, protection for data processed and used in telework or prevention from isolation of teleworkers from other employees,
In Slovakia, the telework was implemented by an amendment of the Labour Code (Act no, 348/2007 of Statuses valid since 1st September 2007), This amendment was done in the effort to harmonise the Slovak labour legislation with the EU legislation, which brought some new elements into the new version of the Labour Code including homework and telework, The use of telework is supported in several documents and strategies, e.g. The National Employment Strategy of the Slovak Republic or the National Reform Programme of the Slovak Republic (especially the fields of Employment and social inclusion), At the local level, there are also initiatives of various NGOs who try to promote telework and increase its popularity among the employers and employees, Still, the method of telework was used in Slovakia by 3,7% of workers in 2011 and by 3,5 % in 2013 (see Table 1), i,e, less than 5% of the EU average,
Mednarodna revija za javno upravo, letnik 14, št. 2-3/2016 123
Mária Murray Svidroñová, Beáta Mikusová Mericková, Juraj Nemec
Table 1: Share of telework on the employment
Rank	Country	Share (%) 2011	Share (%) 2013
1.	Luxemburg	12.2	12.7
2.	Denmark	12.1	11.2
3.	The Netherlands	11.6	13.0
4.	France	11.5	7.5
5.	Austria	11.4	10.8
6.	Belgium	10.1	9.1
7.	Finland	10.0	11.0
8.	Island	8.7	7.8
9.	Ireland	7.2	4.3
10.	Slovenia	6.8	7.3
11.	Portugal	5.9	7.0
12.	Estonia	5.0	6.2
13.	Sweden	4.9	5.5
14.	Poland	4.8	4.1
15.	Switzerland	4.7	4.6
16.	Norway	4.2	5.3
17.	Spain	4.0	4.3
18.	The UK	3.9	3.8
19.	Germany	3.9	3.6
20.	Slovakia	3.7	3.5
21.	Lithuania	3.4	4.1
22.	Czech Republic	3.3	3.5
23.	Malta	3.2	2.1
24.	Italy	3.1	3.3
25.	Hungary	2.9	3.9
26.	Latvia	2.2	2.3
27.	Turkey	2.2	1.5
28.	Cyprus	1.0	1.7
29.	Croatia	0.9	1.0
30.	Bulgaria	0.6	0.5
31.	Romania	0.5	0.3
Source: authors, based on data form Eurostat, 2011 and 2013
Mostly employees in the IT field (programmers, technicians), as well as marketing consultants, purchasing agents, brokers, journalists, financial analysts, accountants etc. work as teleworkers. Some are self-employed, others working for a private company or public administration. Teleworkers based on the employees' classification according to the character of their job description can be divided into two groups: 1) Secretarial and administrative work and 2) managerial and technical work (Matulova et al., 2008).
Telework seeks to increase benefits for the employers - higher productivity, lower staff turnover, growth of employees' work ethics and responsibility for their job performance, greater flexibility of the employer as an organization in response to consumer demands and to changes in the market situation
124 International Public Administration Review, Vol. 14, No. 2-3/2016
Telework in Public Sector Organizations: The Slovak National Library
or in the industry, computerisation of the organization (Sullivan & Lewis, 1998; Lonti & Verma, 2003). Moreover, in some countries, compensation for commuting is enacted by law; in case of telework, a teleworker is not eligible for this compensation, which might result in potential savings,
As for the employees telework can be seen as an opportunity to help disadvantaged groups such as disabled citizens or those who take care of other household members (e.g. parents on maternity leave); or residents of regions with a high unemployment rate (rural areas, suburbs) in order to usefully find a work on the labour market (Hamilton, 2002). The benefits of teleworking for employees in Slovakia are not very evident - unless in the employment of disabled citizens where the social benefit is a social inclusion; for the great majority of teleworkers we can rather meet with a decrease of economic securities: lower salaries than their colleagues - regular workers, lack of other non-financial benefits that employer provides to regular employees, social problems connected with insolation, deterioration of interaction with other colleagues, conflicts between work and family roles, tendency to become a workaholic (Hanzelova, 2005; Matulova et al., 2008).
Benefits from the perspective of the society can be found in reducing traffic congestion and environmental pollution, greater equality of opportunity in the labour market for disabled groups (health disabled citizens, single parents, residents of rural and suburban areas) (Baker, Moon, & Ward, 2006).
From the point of social innovations, the benefits of telework are:
•	Telework can bring increased gender equality in the public and private sphere.
•	Increase of equality of opportunity in the labour market for disadvantaged groups and their social inclusion (disabled, single parents).
•	Reducing of the gap between urban and rural areas, between city centres and suburban areas.
•	Reducing the strain on the environment by relieving the transport system (reducing the number of cars used for commuting).
However, there are also potential threats in creating a so-called 'Autistic Society' - atomization of the society into individuals with problems of mutual communication based on real social relationship which are replaced by virtual relations. Another risk is concerning the IT data security once the work is carried out away from the secured workplace (Booz Allen Hamilton, 2002; Ungurean, 2007).
Telework as an ICT-driven innovation is influenced by several factors that act as drivers and barriers for this type of innovation. Based on a literature review, these factors can be divided to factors of outer context and factors of inner context.
Mednarodna revija za javno upravo, letnik 14, št. 2-3/2016 125
Mária Murray Svidroñová, Beáta Mikusová Mericková, Juraj Nemec
Factors of outer context include:
•	Inter-institutional dynamics: the presence of similar entities within the same context emerges as one of the most crucial determinant in adopting ICT- driven social innovations in ways of isomorphism or mimicking (Pollitt & Bouckaert, 2011; Walker, Schotanus, Bakker, & Harland, 2011).
•	Economic factors: a positive association seems to exist between the wealth of the community involved and the adoption/diffusion of ICT-driven social innovation (Ahn, 2011; Bhatti, Olsen, & Holm Pedersen, 2011).
•	Social factors: population's education seems one of the most important social determinant (Reddick & Norris, 2013; de Guzman & Jones, 2012), together with citizens' cultural well-being (Rodríguez Domínguez, García Sánchez, & Gallego Álvarez, 2011).
•	Political factors: several political factors emerge as influential, For example, the degree of political competition, the degree of decentralization, and the parliamentary/governmental stability are relevant drivers (Ahn, 2011; Rodríguez Domínguez et al., 2011). While political support can foster innovation, political divergences and adversity can instead act as barriers (Walker et al., 2011),
•	Demographic factors: the size of the innovation context expressed in terms of number of inhabitants as a key demographic factor: the larger the population, the more likely the adoption and diffusion (Moon, 2002; de Guzman & Jones, 2012).
•	Technological factors: infrastructural capacity and ICT readiness in general are critical in e-government implementation (Cucciniello, 2014).
Factors of inner context consist of the following:
•	Organizational factors: slack resources within the organization are one of the most mentioned factors in driving innovation. This implies the possibility of allocating a share of resources such as information, time, finances, technologies and skills to innovative activities (Moon, 2002; Ahn, 2011; Bhatti et al., 2011). Also management characteristics play a crucial role: such factors encompass knowledge management and organizational learning (Walker et al., 2011) and managerial leadership and support (Bekkers & Homburg, 2005): a proper leadership style can be supportive through the clear definition of goals, strategies, risks and incentives (Voorberg, Tummers, & Bekkers, 2014) and the attention paid to adaptation processes (Osborne & Brown, 2005). Organizational culture also represents a significant antecedent: within public organizations, a consolidated culture of risk aversion is often an important barrier to the adoption (Albury, 2005).
126 International Public Administration Review, Vol. 14, No. 2-3/2016
Telework in Public Sector Organizations: The Slovak National Library
•	Individual factors: first, employees' perceptions seem to play a major role in shaping the possibilities of innovation, such as the ease of use, the relative advantage and the perceived usefulness (Ahn, 2011). In the specific case of telework, the perspective of increasing productivity and improving the work/life balance are powerful drivers (e.g. Hamilton, 2002). With respect to employees' characteristics, public officials' autonomy and willingness to participate are important drivers (Lonti & Verma, 2003), while managers' and leaders' personal characteristics - such as their education, their age, their attitude towards technology etc. - can differently impact the adoption (de Guzman & Jones, 2012), Perhaps not surprisingly, professionalism and skills of public personnel are positively influential (Bhatti et al., 2011) and their scarcity can thus jeopardize the adoption and diffusion. The issue of professionalism is connected to individual ICT readiness, such as the employees' ICT skills and capabilities (e.g. Moon, 2002; Manoharan, 2013).
•	Technological factors: the intrinsic features of innovation fit squarely with the technological factors that favour or hinder the diffusion of innovation. Such ICTs determinants regard their compatibility and adaptability (Ahn, 2011), complexity and accessibility, security and reliability (Manoharan, 2013). Furthermore, the organization as a whole can display variable degrees of readiness as well: for example, the technological readiness of an organization is signalled by the existence of an IT department or the number of computers and the Internet/ Intranet availability (Reddick & Norris, 2013).
Those factors have been analysed as to whether they foster or hinder the telework adoption in a public sector organization in Slovakia.
3 Research 3.1 Methods
The goal of this paper is to identify factors influencing the use of telework in the conditions of Slovakia in a selected public sector organization. In the paper we present relevant drivers and barriers accounting for the success or failure of telework use in the Slovak National Library in Slovakia. This organization was chosen as one of a very few public organizations at national level that uses telework and was willing to cooperate in the research. It also fulfils the following criteria:
•	if the total number of employees who work for the agency is less than or equal to 50, at least 3 of them have to be teleworkers; if the total number of employees who work for the agency is more than 50, at least 5 of them have to be teleworkers,
Mednarodna revija za javno upravo, letnik 14, št. 2-3/2016 127
Mária Murray Svidroñová, Beáta Mikusová Mericková, Juraj Nemec
•	teleworkers have to be provided by the public agency with instruments for working from home, while making use of ICT and data infrastructure of their organization,
•	telework activities can be performed also at the employer's premises, but they are instead carried out away from those premises on a regular basis.
In Slovakia telework which fulfils the abovementioned criteria has been adopted only in the National Library,
The methodology of the paper is fully consistent with the methodology of the LIPSE research project1, One part of the LIPSE research was dedicated to the identification of drivers and barriers that play a role in expanding ICT-driven innovations in the public sector in six countries (France, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and Spain), The research was built on 30 interviews (5 interviews * 1 case * 6 countries = 30 interviews in total), conducted earlier in 2015, For this article we chose to analyse a case in Slovakia, We used both qualitative and quantitative methods, e.g. document analysis to develop a theoretical framework that addresses the role of expanding diffusion and adoption of ICT innovations and to develop a qualitative analysis of possible drivers and barriers of expanding; interviews with stakeholders and experts involved in the innovation practices.
We have followed a survey protocol conducted by the LIPSE research leader. The protocol contained both open (inductive) and closed (deductive) questions, We tried to interview all types of involved stakeholders, Regarding the outcomes, we have analysed to what extent telework has been beneficial and what are the main drivers and barriers to telework use, by comparing the interview results for different stakeholders:
•	head of the IT department,
•	teleworker on managerial position,
•	representative from the top management,
•	HR manager,
•	teleworker.
3.2 Results
Slovak National Library is a budgetary organization established by Ministry of Culture, It is a modern scientific, cultural, informational and educational institution that serves all citizens of Slovakia and users from abroad. It collects and archives books and literary-museum artefacts and makes these collections available to public. It coordinates the development of the Library system
1 LIPSE or Learning from Innovation in Public Sector Environments is a research project supported by the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union under the contract No 320090 to identify drivers and barriers to successful social innovation in the public sector in 11 EU countries and 7 policy sectors, running from February 2013 to July 2016,
128 International Public Administration Review, Vol. 14, No. 2-3/2016
Telework in Public Sector Organizations: The Slovak National Library
of the Slovak Republic. It is a leading institution providing its own library and information services as well as intermediates services of partner libraries home and abroad. It has 357 employees.
The aim of the launching of telework in the Library was to introduce new procedures arising from internal incentive. There was no external/political pressure. Law no. 552/2003 Coll. on work in the public interest does not oblige nor forbid telework for public servants. The Library with seat in the town of Martin wanted to employ an expert who lived in Bratislava (approx. 230 km distance between Martin and Bratislava), so they used the possibility of telework. It was implemented in 2010. The library started with one teleworker at first, in 2011 there were 3 teleworkers, currently (2015) it employs 7 employees on telework.
The Library considers itself to be a pioneer: 'Our organisation was among the first who implemented telework despite the fact that it is not very common to use telework in public organizations. Motivation for introducing telework in the library stemmed from our internal needs, there was no external pressure. It is rather rare in public sector environments to see such autonomously adopted telework, according to a bottom-up dynamic' (words of a representative from the top management).
The words of one of the respondents 'We are not aware that there are any other libraries that use telework (as a national coordinator for library system in Slovakia we believe we would know if any other library would use it). Public sector is quite conservative in the use of telework, the standard ways of employment prevails. Anyway, we believe that use of telework is not suitable to every public sector organization, only to some specific organizations who can justify the need for teleworkers. We think that if telework was spread too wide, the citizens might get the feeling it is a waste of public finance (they might not get the grasp of somebody working from home and to be paid with public finance). Which might be due to a specific nature of Slovaks.'
Based on the analysis of the interviews, we can sum up the following determinants and barriers of telework adoption in the Library (Table 2).
Only two factors from the outer context have had a neutral role in the process of telework adoption, i.e. legislative and political factors. Although legislation can be a barrier in many innovations, this was not the case as the law does not oblige nor forbid the use of telework and it is only up to top management whether it introduce it or not. Public administration is governed by politicians but the Library is not a typical public administration body, this is not the case where politicians or political cycles would influence a hiring policy and type of employees in the Library.
Mednarodna revija za javno upravo, letnik 14, št. 2-3/2016 129
Mária Murray Svidroñová, Beáta Mikusová Mericková, Juraj Nemec
Table 2: Determinants and barriers of telework adoption in the Slovak National Library
	Factor	Role	Specific factors emerged as
Determinants and barriers of the outer context	Inter-institutional dynamics	positive	imitating from private sector
	Legislative factors	neutral	-
	Political factors	neutral	-
	Social factors	positive	need-based demands
	Economic factors	positive	1.	budget savings ( indirectly budget constraints that led to savings on operating costs) 2.	increase in efficiency
	Demographic factors	positive	availability of qualified workforce from other regions
	Technological factors	positive	ICT development and innovation
Determinants and barriers of the inner context	Organizational factors	positive	attitude of the top management
	Individual factors	positive	1.	IT literacy 2.	individual characteristics of teleworkers 3.	flexible working hours in the organization
	Technological factors	positive	ICT readiness, IT security
Source: authors, 2015
3.3 Discussion
The first impulse for telework implementation was based on social factors - the need of organization for specific employees and lack of that qualified workforce in the region. Need-based demand is clear from a response: 'On the one hand, there was our need for qualified employee, on the other hand there was a need of those people to find a job without the necessity of migration for this job. Telework seemed as a very suitable solution that satisfied needs on both sides.' This is also proved by demographic factor as the Library employs several teleworkers who live in different regions, further than 200 km from the seat of the organization. Influence of this factor is explained by the HR manager: 'There are some regions that are more attractive for living than the others, telework naturally eliminates the problem of unwillingness to migrate, qualified workforce is available from all regions of Slovakia without need to move.'
The inspiration came from the inter-institutional dynamics factor, as one of the respondents said: 'We were inspired by some private companies who use telework, one of our teleworkers used to work also as a teleworker in private company before he started to work for us. He got the habits and system for telework which helped to create and improve the system of teleworking for other employees in our organization.'
The use of telework has proven to be useful not only from the social point of view, but also from the economic factors side, this impact is seen in savings on operating costs (no need to pay a rent for premises) and increased efficiency
130 International Public Administration Review, Vol. 14, No. 2-3/2016
Telework in Public Sector Organizations: The Slovak National Library
due to the efficient use of time (no need to travel to work). The adoption of telework was facilitated thanks to technological factors such widespread use of tablets and smartphones (ICT development and innovation),
About the inner side factors, it can be said that the attitude of the top management played a vital role in whole process, in words of a respondent: 'There was an internal will and positive attitude of top management that facilitated the implementation of telework, without this will it would have been impossible to introduce telework in the organization.'
Also important were individual factors. These were defined by the respondents as IT literacy (employees who want to be teleworkers need to know how to work with modern ICT). Individual characteristics of teleworkers (teleworkers should be able to organize their work and meet the deadlines, need to have some system/routine which can be quite difficult when working from home, therefore strong will and sense of order are necessary) and flexible working hours in the organization (if there are flexible working hours in the organization it can ease the process of telework implementation as other employees are already used to some other working regimes not just the fixed working hours).
Technological factors such as ICT readiness and IT security emerged because telework requires a certain level of IT equipment and defining of internal systems, IT security and IT support, which was fulfilled in the case of the Slovak National Library with sufficient IT equipment (computers, laptops, tablets) and the Internet/Intranet availability.
4 Conclusions
Based on our analysis we can state that due to a suitable and sufficient IT equipment, telework is really efficient in the Library. The most important factors beside the IT readiness/equipment, are support from the management and establishing a system for setting the rules of tasks delegating and their checking (individual factors).
Telework has brought time efficiency and also increased creativity of employees (not mentioned in the above analysis but this statement appeared several times in the interviews). Telework is perceived by employees as a benefit to them, they do not have to commute nor have to migrate for the purpose of getting a job.
Telework must be in compliance with the needs of the Library, not every position is suitable for telework. Library is about personal contact and services to the readers in first place, which cannot be done by telework and therefore the number of teleworkers cannot be much increased, although it has its benefits.
Mednarodna revija za javno upravo, letnik 14, št. 2-3/2016 131
Mária Murray Svidroñová, Beáta Mikusová Mericková, Juraj Nemec
The Slovak National Library is a public sector organization, however, it provides some services that do not require direct contact with customers so it was easier for them to adopt telework as a change for work organization. Other public organizations of similar character (e.g. museums, operas or even schools) might be inspired by this example with proven benefits of telework. Further research should be focused on telework in different types of public sector organizations, which is rather scarce.
Maria Murray Svidronova, PhD is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Economics at the Department of Public Economy and Regional Development, Faculty of Economics, Matej Bel University, Slovakia. She does both teaching and research activities with focus on non-profit and non-governmental organizations (their management and financing), public services and social innovations. Some of the latest projects she participated include FP7 (LIPSE) and HORIZON 2020 (SOLIDUS). She is author of more than 40 publications and scientific papers. She also works parttime as a project manager and lector in several educational NGOs in Slovakia.
Prof. Beata Mikusova Merickova, PhD is an Associate Professor in Public Sector Economics and Public Services at the Department of Public Economy and Regional Development, Faculty of Economics, Matej Bel University, Slovakia. Her research is focused on implementation of market tools to the system of public services and alternative public service delivery. The most significant contribution of her research includes outlining the recommendations and guidelines in the area of legislative, institutional, economic and organizational requirements of successful implementation of different forms of public and private sector partnerships in provision of public services within the concept of NPM in conditions of developing countries.
Prof. Juraj Nemec, CSc is a Professor of public finance and public management at the Faculty of Economics and Administration, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic and at the Faculty of Economics, Matej Bel University Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. He has published as author, co-author or editor more than 400 books and articles. He is editor in chief of the NISPAcee Journal in Public Administration and Public Policy, serves as the vice-president of IRSPM and of the Board of Management of IASIA and is the member of the European Accreditation Committee for Public Administration.
132 International Public Administration Review, Vol. 14, No. 2-3/2016
Telework in Public Sector Organizations: The Slovak National Library
References
Ahn, M. J. (2011). Adoption of E-Communication Applications in U.S.
Municipalities: The Role of Political Environment, Bureaucratic Structure, and the Nature of Applications. The American Review of Public Administration 41(4), 428-452. DOI: 10.1 177/0275074010377654
Albury, D. (2005). Fostering Innovation in Public Services. Public Money & Management, 25(1), 51-56.
Baclija, I. (2011). Local Management and New Public Management. International Public Administration Review, 9(4), 117-135.
Baker, P., Moon, N. W., & Ward, A. C. (2006). Virtual exclusion and telework: Barriers and opportunities of technocentric workplace accommodation policy. Work, 27(4), 421-430.
Bekkers, V. J., & Homburg, V. (Eds.). (2005). The Information Ecology of
E-Government: E-Government as Institutional and Technological Innovation in Public Administration. IOS Press.
Bhatti, Y., Olsen, A. L., & Holm Pedersen, L. (2011). Administrative Professionals and the Diffusion of Innovations: The Case of Citizen Service Centres. Public Administration, 89(2), 577-594. DOI: 10.1111/¡.1467-9299.2010.01882.x
Booz Allen Hamilton. (2002). International e-Economy Benchmarking: The World's Most Effective Policies for the e-Economy. London: Booz | Allen | Hamilton.
Brinkerhoff, D.W. (2008). The State and International Development
Management: Shifting Tides, Changing Boundaries, and Future Directions. Public Administration Review, 68(6), 985-1001. DOI: 10.1111/¡.1540-6210.2008.00948.x
Cucciniello, M., et al. 2014. Determinants and Barriers of Adoption, Diffusion and Upscaling of ICT-driven Social Innovation in the Public Sector: A Systematic Review (LIPSE Project - Working Paper No. 6). Available at http://www.lipse. org/userfHes/uploads/LIPSE WP5 WprkingPaper6 FINAL afterproof.pdf
de Guzman, M. C., & Jones, M. A. (2012). E-Policing: Environmental and
Organizational Correlates of Website Features and Characteristics Among Large Police Departments in the United States of America. International Journal of Electronic Government Research (IJEGR), 8(1), 64-82. DOI: 10.4018/¡egr.2012010104
Drechsler, W. (2009). The rise and demise of the New Public Management: Lessons and opportunities for South East Europe. International Public Administration Review, 7(3), 7-27.
Eurofound. (2010). Telework in the European Union. Retrieved 1. 3. 2016, from http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/eurwork/comparative-information/telework-in-the-european-union
EFAT - European Framework Agreement on Telework. (2002). Retrieved 4. 3. 2016, from http://www.ueapme.com/docs/joint position/Telework%20 agreement.pdf
Gore, C. G. (2000). The Rise and Fall of the Washington Consensus as a Paradigm for Developing Countries. World Development, 28(5), 789-804. DOI: 10.1016/S0305-750X(99)00160-6
Hamilton, E. (2002). Bringing Work Home: Advantages and Challenges of Telecommuting. Center for Work & Family.
Hanzelová et al. (2005). Atypical Employment in Slovakia: Past and Recent Trends. Rodina a Práca, (3).
Mednarodna revija za javno upravo, letnik 14, št. 2-3/2016 133
Mária Murray Svidroñová, Beáta Mikusová Mericková, Juraj Nemec
Lane, J. E. (2000). New Public Management. US: Taylor & Francis.
Lonti, Z., & Verma, A. (2003). The Determinants of Flexibility and Innovation in the Government Workplace: Recent Evidence from Canada. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 13(3), 283-309. DOI: 10.1093/jopart/mug025
Manoharan, A. (2013). A Study of the Determinants of County E-Government in the United States. American Review of Public Administration, 43(2), 159-178. DOI: 10.1 177/0275074012437876 Matulová et al. (2008). Prehíbenie systému riadenia rizikovych faktorov práce.
Bratislava: Institút pre vyskum práce a rodiny. Moon, M. J. (2002). The Evolution of E-Government among Municipalities: Rhetoric or Reality? Public Administration Review, 62(4), 424-433. DOI: 10.1 1 1 1/0033-3352.00196
Osborne, S. P., & Brown, K. (2005). Managing Change and Innovation in Public
Service Organizations. Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9780203391 129 Peters, B. G., & Pierre, J. (1998). Governance Without Government? Rethinking Public Administration. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 8(2), 223-243. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jpart.a024379
Pollitt, C., & Bouckaert, G. (2011). Public Management Reform: A comparative analysis - New Public Management, Governance, and the Neo-Weberian State. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reddick, C. G., & Norris, D. F. (2013). Social media adoption at the American grass roots: Web 2.0 or 1.5? Government Information Quarterly, 30(4), 498-507. 10.1016/j.giq.2013.05.01 1
Rodríguez Domínguez, L., García Sánchez, I. M., & Gallego Álvarez, I. (2011). Determining Factors of E-government Development: A Worldwide National Approach. International Public Management Journal, 14(2), 218-248. DOI: 10.1080/10967494.201 1.597152
Sullivan, C., & Lewis, S. (1998). Homebased telework and family: Space, territory and the work family boundary. Paper presented to the British Psychology Society, London Conference, 15/16 December 1998. The Fourth European Working Conditions Survey. (2007). Retrieved
1. 3. 2016, from http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/defauit/fiies/ef files/ pubdocs/2006/98/en/2/ef0698en.pdf
The Labour Code (Act no. 348/2007 of Statuses valid since 1st September 2007). Ungurean, M. (2007). Economical, Social and Psychological Barriers in
Application of Teleworking in Romania. Journal of Applied Computer Science & Mathematics, 1(1). Available at http://jacs.usv.ro/view/?pid=1 8 Voorberg W., Tummers, L., & Bekkers, V. (2014). A Systematic Review of Co-Creation and Co-Production: Embarking on the social innovation journey. Public Management Review, 17(9), 1333-1357. DOI: 10.1080/14719037.2014.930505 Walker, H., Schotanus, F., Bakker, E., & Harland, C. (2013). Collaborative Procurement: A Relational View of Buyer-Buyer Relationships. Public Administration Review, 73(4), 588-598. DOI: 10.1111/puar.12048
134 International Public Administration Review, Vol. 14, No. 2-3/2016
Telework in Public Sector Organizations: The Slovak National Library
povzetek
1.02 Pregledni znanstveni članek
Delo na daljavo v organizacijah v javnem sektorju: Slovaška narodna knjižnica
Reforme vlade in javnih uprav v povezavi z uporabo informacijskih in komunikacijskih tehnologij (IKT) so prinesle številne inovacije vjavnem sektorju, Inovacija v javnem sektorju je opredeljena kot uvedba novih elementov v javno storitev - v obliki novega znanja, nove organizacije in/ali novih sposobnosti upravljanja ali postopkov, ki predstavljajo prekinitev s preteklim delovanjem, Kljub temu je le malo pozornosti posvečene družbenim inovacijam na podlagi IKT v javnem sektorju, tj. inovacijam, ki jih označuje družbena vsebina in jih hkrati narekujejo IKT, zlasti pa tistim, ki podpirajo postopke, ki jih izvajajo ljudje in imajo torej organizacijski učinek,
Primer take inovacije je delo na daljavo kot oblika organiziranja in opravljanja dela zunaj prostorov delodajalca, Delo na daljavo lahko opišemo kot obliko organiziranja in/ali opravljanja dela z uporabo informacijske tehnologije v okviru pogodbe o zaposlitvi/delovnega razmerja, pri kateri se delo, ki bi se lahko opravilo tudi v prostorih delodajalca, redno opravlja zunaj teh prostorov, Ta strukturna sprememba organizacije dela je namenjena povečanju učinkovitosti, v nekaterih primerih pa tudi ekonomičnosti,
Namen tega prispevka je bil ugotoviti, kateri dejavniki vplivajo na uporabo dela na daljavo na Slovaškem v izbrani organizaciji v javnem sektorju, V prispevku predstavljamo pomembna gonila in ovire, ki so odgovorni za uspeh ali neuspeh uporabe dela na daljavo v Slovaški narodni knjižnici. Organizacija je bila izbrana kot ena od redkih javnih organizacij na nacionalni ravni, ki uporablja delo na daljavo, bila je pripravljena sodelovati v raziskavi in ustreza naslednjim merilom:
•	če ima agencija skupno 50 ali manj zaposlenih, morajo najmanj trije od njih delati na daljavo; če ima agencija skupno več kot 50 zaposlenih, mora najmanj pet od njih delati na daljavo;
•	delavcem na daljavo mora javna agencija zagotoviti orodja za delo od doma, pri tem pa delavci uporabljajo IKT in podatkovno infrastrukturo svoje organizacije;
•	dejavnosti, ki se opravljajo na daljavo, bi se lahko opravile tudi v prostorih delodajalca, vendar se redno opravljajo drugje,
Uporabili smo kvalitativni in kvantitativni pristop na podlagi izvirnih podatkov, pridobljenih v lastnih raziskavah, vključno s podatki, zbranimi v okviru projekta LIPSE (Učenje iz inovacij v okoljih javnega sektorja). Sledili smo anketnemu postopku, ki ga je uporabil vodja raziskave LIPSE, Postopek je obsegal tako
Mednarodna revija za javno upravo, letnik 14, št. 2-3/2016 135
Mária Murray Svidroñová, Beáta Mikusová Mericková, Juraj Nemec
odprta (induktivna) kot zaprta (deduktivna) vprašanja; intervjuje smo poskusili opraviti z vsemi vrstami vključenih deležnikov. Kar zadeva rezultate, smo analizirali, v kakšnem obsegu je bilo delo na daljavo koristno ter katera so glavna gonila in ovire pri uporabi takega dela. Primerjali smo rezultate intervjujev z različnimi deležniki:
•	vodjo oddelka za informacijsko tehnologijo,
•	delavcem na daljavo na vodstvenem položaju,
•	predstavnikom najvišjega vodstva,
•	vodjo kadrovskega oddelka,
•	delavcem na daljavo,
Slovaška narodna knjižnica je proračunska organizacija, ki jo je ustanovilo ministrstvo za kulturo. Ta sodobna znanstvena, kulturna, informacijska in izobraževalna ustanova izpolnjuje potrebe vseh slovaških državljanov in uporabnikov iz tujine. Knjižnica zbira in arhivira knjige in literarnozgodovinske artefakte ter skrbi, da so njene zbirke dostopne javnosti. Usklajuje razvoj knjižničnega sistema Slovaške. Gre za vodilno ustanovo, ki zagotavlja lastne knjižnične in informacijske storitve pa tudi posredniške storitve za partnerske knjižnice na Slovaškem in v tujini. Zaposluje 357 ljudi. Cilj uvedbe dela na daljavo v knjižnici je bil uvesti nove postopke, ki izhajajo iz notranjega okolja. Prva spodbuda za izvajanje dela na daljavo je temeljila na družbenih dejavnikih - potrebi organizacije po določenih delavcih in pomanjkanju delovne sile z ustreznimi kvalifikacijami v regiji.
Glavne ugotovitve poudarjajo dejavnike, ki vplivajo na uporabo dela na daljavo v izbrani organizaciji javnega sektorja na Slovaškem, npr. dejavnike družbene, tehnološke in medinstitucionalne dinamike, ki so imeli bistveno vlogo pri uvedbi dela na daljavo. V postopku uvedbe dela na daljavo sta imela nevtralno vlogo le dva dejavnika iz zunanjega okvira, in sicer zakonodajni in politični dejavnik. Zakonodaja lahko pri mnogih inovacijah pomeni oviro, vendar v tem primeru ni bilo tako, saj zakon ne zapoveduje ali prepoveduje uporabe dela na daljavo, tako da je njegova uvedba odvisna le od najvišjega vodstva. Javno upravo urejajo politiki, vendar knjižnica ni tipičen organ javne uprave, tako da ne gre za primer, pri katerem bi politiki ali politični krogi vplivali na politiko zaposlovanja in vrste delavcev knjižnice.
Uporaba dela na daljavo se je izkazala za uporabno ne le z vidika družbenih zahtev, ampak tudi z vidika gospodarskih dejavnikov. Njen vpliv je viden v prihrankih pri stroških obratovanja (ni treba plačevati najemnine za prostore) in povečani učinkovitosti zaradi učinkovite porabe časa (ni treba potovati na delo). Uvedbo dela na daljavo so omogočili tehnološki dejavniki, kot je obsežna uporaba tablic in pametnih telefonov (razvoj in inovacije na področju IKT).
Ko gre za notranje dejavnike, lahko trdimo, da je imel v postopku bistveno vlogo odnos najvišjega vodstva.
136 International Public Administration Review, Vol. 14, No. 2-3/2016
Telework in Public Sector Organizations: The Slovak National Library
Pomembni so bili tudi drugi, posamezni dejavniki. Te so sodelujoči opredelili kot računalniško pismenost (delavci, ki želijo delati na daljavo, morajo znati uporabljati sodobne IKT), osebne lastnosti delavcev na daljavo (delavci na daljavo si morajo znati organizirati delo in izpolnjevati roke, potrebujejo sistem ali rutino, kar je lahko pri delu od doma precej težko, zato morajo imeti trdno voljo in občutek za red) in gibljiv delovni čas v organizaciji (če organizacija uporablja gibljiv delovni čas, lahko to olajša postopek uvedbe dela na daljavo, saj so drugi delavci že navajeni na drugačne delovne režime, ne le na določen delovni čas).
Pojavili so se tehnološki dejavniki, kot sta pripravljenost na uporabo IKT in informacijska varnost, ker sta za delo na daljavo potrebna računalniška oprema na določeni ravni ter opredelitev notranjih sistemov, informacijske varnosti in informacijske podpore. Slovaška narodna knjižnica je te potrebe izpolnjevala z ustrezno računalniško opremo (računalniki, prenosniki, tablice) in dostopnostjo intraneta/interneta,
Na podlagi naše analize lahko trdimo, da je zaradi ustrezne in zadostne računalniške opreme v primeru knjižnice delo na daljavo zares učinkovito, Najpomembnejša dejavnika poleg pripravljenosti na uporabo IT in ustrezne računalniške opreme sta podpora vodstva in vzpostavitev sistema za opredelitev pravil za dodeljevanje nalog in njihovo preverjanje (posamezni dejavniki),
Zaradi dela na daljavo je čas učinkoviteje porabljen, povečala pa se je tudi ustvarjalnost delavcev. Ti delo na daljavo vidijo kot prednost, saj jim ni treba potovati na delo ali se preseliti, da bi dobili zaposlitev,
Delo na daljavo mora biti skladno s potrebami knjižnice; zanj ni primerno vsako delovno mesto. Pri knjižnici gre najprej za osebni stik in storitve za bralce, česar ni mogoče opraviti z delom na daljavo, zato števila delavcev na daljavo ni mogoče povečati z večjimi ukrepi, čeprav ima tako delo svoje prednosti.
Slovaška narodna knjižica je organizacija javnega sektorja, vendar zagotavlja nekatere storitve, ki ne zahtevajo neposrednega stika s strankami, zato je bila uvedba dela na daljavo zanjo lažja, kot bi bila taka sprememba za delovno organizacijo. Ta primer z dokazanimi koristmi dela na daljavo bi lahko spodbudil tudi druge javne organizacije podobnega značaja (npr. muzeje, opere ali celo šole).
Mednarodna revija za javno upravo, letnik 14, št. 2-3/2016 137