eWork and Regional Development: Background

Use of ICT and the digitisation of work

The use of ICT in eWork relocation varies according to the business functions involved and the way the work is organised, and is typically dependent upon the extent to which the work can be standardised (codified) into digital form. The greater the codification of knowledge into digital format, the more likely it is that (Flecker and Kirschenhofer, 2002):

the decentralisation of eWork takes place (ie the work can easily be done in many places)
management by results can be implemented
the transformation of tacit, experiential knowledge into more formalised objective knowledge, documentation and digitisation will be encouraged
a formalisation of work processes will take place which itself could become a trigger for eWork relocation.

Thus, the technical issues which encourage relocation through codification are:

a high degree of digitisation of information and thus electronic access to it
access to information systems and knowledge bases.

The distinction between explicit or codifiable knowledge, on the one hand, and tacit or non-codifiable knowledge on the other can be important in understanding the potential application of ICT. (See knowledge and regional development.) ICT, as a medium of digital communication and manipulation, is often eminently suitable for the successful handling of highly-codified knowledge.

ICT’s success with tacit knowledge is, however, considerably less. Despite constant improvements in the ability of ICT to support intimate communication between individuals and groups (eg through video-conferencing or shared digital workplaces.), it seems unlikely that ICT will ever be able to fully replicate the quality of physically interactive group work when such work relies upon the large amounts of unstructured, intuitive, creative and specialised knowledge necessary for functions like research and development, innovation, consultancy, strategic management and decision-making, ICT can, of course, supplement such work and enrich it (for example via databases, knowledge management systems, expert systems, regular communication with similar knowledge-rich groups in other parts of the world, etc.), but it cannot completely replace it. Neither will ICT be able entirely to replace the cultural and social frameworks of such knowledge-rich work regimes which are just as important as economic factors in ensuring the successful development and exploitation of highly tacit and experiential knowledge (Millard, 2002b).

However, improvements in ICT within a highly codified knowledge context can also lead to the spinning off of activities requiring more tacit knowledge and skills. For example, call centre customers can be provided with increasingly sophisticated ICT-based self-service facilities directly accessing larger amounts of standardised information. This has the potential to reduce existing routine call centre functions and jobs, but in turn gives greater scope for the development and use of higher tacit skills by the call centre operatives who remain. Call centres could thus become more like help desks in the future with fewer staff but more highly paid and less routine jobs. Such call centres/help desks may become re-concentrated into core and urban areas where the necessary skills are more readily available. Further into the future, when ICT assists in codifying and digitising even some of these higher level functions, decentralisation is again likely. In the right conditions, ICT plays an interesting role overall, helping to drive around a virtuous cycle which feeds, in turn, both explicit and tacit knowledge/skill developments (Gillespie, Richardson and Cornford, 2001).

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