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Workplace Location and ICTs Substituting Travel

Workplace Location and ICTs Substituting Travel
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Author(s): Greger Henriksson (The Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)and Minna Räsänen (The Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
Copyright: 2010
Pages: 21
Source title: Organizational Communication and Sustainable Development: ICTs for Mobility
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Anette Hallin (Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)and Tina Karrbom-Gustavsson (Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-822-2.ch012

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Abstract

This chapter is based on the assumption that keeping the number and length of business and commuting trips at reasonable levels could contribute to reaching targets of environmental sustainability. The authors highlight a couple of options for reducing or avoiding business trips and commuting through workplace location or improved use of communications. They present case studies concerning travel and communications, carried out by using diaries and interviews. They also present relevant literature on social practices and sustainability goals in relation to use of ICT. The aim is to shed light on variation in the use of travel and communications on an individual level in work life. The case studies illustrate that such variation is mainly due to the concrete practices involved in execution of professional duties and roles. Duties that involve a clearly defined end result or product being delivered regularly by the member of staff are correlated to clearly defined needs for communications. Less clearly defined end results of the work duties seem to make it harder for the individual to plan and perform communication and travel in a more energy saving way. The difference in professional duties can thus be expressed in terms of clarity and maturity. Another factor that affect who can replace travel with ICTs is relations of power, e.g., when a purchaser dictates the terms for a subcontractor concerning how and where to “deliver” his working time, service or product. The importance of clarity, maturity and power aspects means that professional practices need to be studied at a detailed level to find out who could substitute ICTs for travel and how this could be done.

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