Reference no: EM133395852
Background Information:
Arguably, Information Technology (IT) has created new types of work. According to a report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, IT employment in the US was at an all-time high of 11.5 million jobs in 2019. According to Pearlson, et al., (2019)1, new types of jobs have included Data Scientists (aka Data Miners), Social Media Managers, Communications Managers, among others. In addition, IT has enabled new ways of doing traditional work as well as supporting new ways of managing people at work. As a result, much work can now be done anywhere, anytime, giving rise to the phenomenon of Telecommuting or Teleworking, defined as working from home or even from a coffee shop. In essence, these mobile workers can work from anywhere, often even while traveling. IT has also enabled virtual teams that include remote workers as well as those in their offices, perhaps scattered geographically. According to these authors, remote work is now entrenched in the e-commerce space, specifically because people desire the flexibility that comes with it. They analyzed a poll of 11,300 employees in 22 different countries in 2019, which reported that 1 in 6 people telecommute (i.e., 17%). When employees in 13 of these 22 countries were asked if they need to be in the office to be productive, an overall of 39% said "yes". Further analyses of responses in the study showed that specific countries differed in the "yes" (i.e., if they need to be in the office to be productive) votes as follows: 7% in India, 56% in Japan, and 57% in Germany.
The Survey - The Case of India at 7%:
Based on the 2019 survey above, write a brief (2-5 pages) rationale on possible explanations for India's greater inclination towards telecommuting, relative to other countries, specifically Japan and Germany, in the context of the following factors:
1) National culture (comparing India's culture to that of any other two countries)
2) National work culture (comparing India's work culture to that of any other two countries)
3) Infrastructure (comparing India's infrastructure to that of any other two countries)
4) Work norms (comparing India's work norms to those of any other two countries)
5) Other phenomena (comparing these other phenomena for India against those of any other two countries)