The Hybrid Virtual / Traditional Office Work Environment: Business Processes and Task Uncertainty

Joan Woodward, a principal contributor to the development of the Contingency Theory, argued that an organization’s methods are determined by the class of ‘core technologies’ that characterize its work.  Woodward’s approach was unique in that she included process in the dichotomy of nonroutine and routine for identifying changes to processes; and the effects, if any, on controlling and productivity.  American sociologist James D. Thompson’s perspective is that dealing with uncertainty is a fundamental problem best dealt with by the boundary spanning units; thereby, allowing organizations to protect their core technologies.  The purpose of this article is to review and apply existing research by Joan Woodward and James D. Thompson to the current hybrid virtual / traditional office work environment.  The objective is to identify task uncertainty, if any, created by changes to nonroutine and routine business processes in the hybrid virtual / traditional work environment.  Then, the challenge is to determine if revisions are required at the organizational level; e.g. organizational design and structure.  The objective is significant in that the hybrid virtual / traditional office work environment has been increasing steadily; with a marked increase, due to the pandemic during the latter part of 2019 and the year 2020.     

Keywords:  hybrid virtual / traditional work environment; nonroutine and routine work; core technologies; controlling; productivity; boundary spanning units; task uncertainty.