Trusting Telework in the Federal Government

Authors

Courtney Brown, University of Phoenix Online
Pearl R. Smith PhD, University of Phoenix OnlineFollow
Nancy Arduengo, University of Phoenix Online
Martha Taylor, University of Phoenix Online

Abstract

Despite an Executive Office mandate to permit federal workers to telework, federal managers still deny employees this benefit. Several factors have been attributed to their aversion, including lack of trust. Findings from a hermeneutic phenomenological study exploring the lived experiences and perceptions of 12 federal government managers who prohibit their employees from teleworking (Brown, 2013) was analyzed to identify themes related to trust. Of the eight themes Brown identified, five focused on lack of trust. This paper discusses those five trust-related themes and recommends success factors for enabling leaders’ trust of telework are discussed.

Keywords

Telework, Trust, Federal Government, Telecommuting

Author Bio(s)

Courtney Brown is a senior security specialist and project manager. He specializes in providing information technology services to federal agencies.

Pearl Smith is an independent consultant and trainer specializing in leadership development. She has held staff and leadership positions within the federal government. She currently serves as associate faculty with University of Phoenix. Correspondence regarding this article can also be addressed directly to: Pearl Smith at, pearl@pearlofwisdom.org.

Nancy Arduengo is a senior organization development consultant at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. She also has worked as a federal government contractor. She currently serves as associate faculty with University of Phoenix.

Martha Taylor is a retired educator who currently works as an education consultant. She also serves as associate faculty with University of Phoenix.

Publication Date

1-18-2016

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2466

Recommended APA Citation

Brown, C., Smith, P. R., Arduengo, N., & Taylor, M. (2016). Trusting Telework in the Federal Government. The Qualitative Report, 21(1), 87-101. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2466