This page includes some information about my doctorate effort, which I have successfully completed in April 2004. Have a look at some pictures of that event!

My topic is the use of information technology and information systems in the workplace. More specifically, I have looked at teleworking (also known as telecommuting or eWork) both in general theoretical terms and in particular, in the case of Romania. The thesis is entitled Characteristics of Information Technology Supported Work Systems: The human factor and teleworking's impact, in the context of the virtualization of work processes. My coordinator was Prof. Dr. Gheorghe Gh. Ionescu.

The topic happily reconciles two of my interests, one being information technology and the other my training as an economist. It also leads on to connect to a third area of academic interest in technologically-influenced development issues.

As part of the research programme, I took time to carry out some of my theoretical research by returning to the UK. The summer of 1999 spent over at the University of Derby were extremely useful in getting me on track. I was able to achieve this with the help of my friends John and Lynne Williams, as well as with the support of Professors Gowland and Chaffey.

Before moving on to writing the final thesis, Romanian PhD students must write three papers related to the chosen topic. My titles were:

1. Characteristics of distance work systems (teleworking): The use of information and communication technologies in individual distance work;
2. Characteristics of work in virtual teams: The use of information and communication technologies by teams working with spacetime separation;
3. Characteristics of virtual organizations: The impact of information and communication technologies on organizations.

The thesis looks at the issue of teleworking in a systemic perspective, as illustrated in the figure to the right. There are four main avenues that I took into consideration, called "logics" (this term sounds better in Romanian and is inspired from the French literature on the subject; I thank Mr. Bitsa for introducing me to them and to other concepts which made life and work easier):

• The Economic Logic,

• The Managerial Logic,

• The Technological Logic, and

• The Social Logic.

In order to add a Romanian dimension to the final work, I gathered information related to Romania on this topic. This included various secondary sources as well as data obtained via an online questionnaire and personal interviews administered to Romanian organizations who use teleworking. As expected, Romanian organizations' use of teleworking is limited; the factors which constitute enablers for the implementation of teleworking exhibit extraordinary levels of growth. Government policy aimed at driving the country towards a knowledge economy in a European sense is also very well designed and implemented.

The theoretical conclusions as well as the concrete results obtained form the final thesis which I will publish later this year (in Romanian), preferably in electronic format. You can check back here soon and get more info!

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