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Dissertation Information for Claire McInerney

NAME:
- Claire McInerney

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- SUNY, Albany (USA) (1998)

ADVISORS:
- Thomas J. Galvin

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Sharon S. Dawes
- William Holstein
- Anthony M. Creswell
- James M. Matarazzo

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Providing data, information, and knowledge to the virtual office: Organizational support for remote workers

Abstract: Telecommuting and other types of remote work are becoming a common work option for knowledge workers. In an information age, where information itself is key to performing work tasks, understanding effective ways to deliver data and information to knowledge workers is important to good management. Now that more employees are working in a virtual environment, whether they have the data, information, and knowledge they need is crucial to the success of the organization. This study investigated how four large international companies deliver information to those who work remotely and use technology to retrieve information.

Corporate managerial staff, information professionals, and telecommuters were the main informants in the research that examined the alignment between managers' perceptions of telecommuters' information needs and the information needs as seen by the telecommuters themselves. The units of analysis were corporations in the eastern region of the United States that had been identified as providing exemplary information services. The corporate library or information center in each of the identified case studies was critical to the research, since library or center staff play an important role as information providers to corporate executives and professional employees. A multimethod approach was employed using interviews, surveys, and an examination of corporate Web sites and printed materials. The theoretical foundation of the study was built on a review of the literature in the history of technology adoption, computer-mediated communication, telecommuting and home-based work, information use, and the management of corporate information services.

The findings showed that managers are providing more data and information electronically. They are also codifying organizational knowledge, making it available through World Wide Web technology. Collaborations between information systems departments and library/information center staffs promise to offer a wider array of information and faster access to it for those who work away from the corporate offices. Despite information professionals' best efforts, however, there are still serious barriers to information access for remote workers. The research report documents innovative practices being used to make information accessible, the barriers to access that still remain, and implications for future research on information delivery to the virtual work environment.

MPACT Scores for Claire McInerney

A = 3
C = 4
A+C = 7
T = 3
G = 1
W = 3
TD = 3
TA = 0
calculated 2014-02-09 18:51:40

Advisors and Advisees Graph