Adoption of telework by organizations in U.S. and European Community has been rapidly increasing. Compared with these countries, the adoption rate of telework in Japan is still low; however, in recent years, many Japanese organizations have been paying serious attention to telework as an organizational strategic tool. It is critical for these organizations to have an effective telework adoption guideline. In this paper, we have studied ten telework adoption cases in seven major Japanese organizations. Data collected by interview, questionnaire survey, internal document, and observation from ten cases were used to examine an existing telework guideline. As a result, several serious problems in the existing guideline were identified, and three key points toward the development of telework adoption methodology for Japanese organizations were proposed.

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According to the preceded studies on 'telework', impeding elements on taking root of 'telework' into Japanese enterprises are obscure job boundaries, OJT and talent appraisal. These elements are typical characteristics of Japanese employment practices, as well. The purpose of this research is to verify these elements through interviews with some teleworkers, working in Japanese enterprises. The interviews were held with 5 teleworkers between May 1999 and February 2001 and questionnaire focused on purposes, processes and effects of 'telework' in each enterprise. Especially the problems of 'telework', which teleworkers recognize were, attached importance to this investigation. Based on the interviews, 'telework' styles in Japanese enterprises can be divided into self-oriented 'telework' and organization-oriented 'telework'. The demerits of 'telework' are also generalized to means, subjective and organizational elements, which lead a negative feedback on promotion of 'telework'. In conclusion, a possible method to take root of 'telewrok' into Japanese enterprises is indicated.

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Telework centres have been around for over a decade in many parts of the world. During that time, the information technology which first made such centres has changed considerably. This paper examines seven different centres in the United Kingdom to identify any common patterns in their longitudinal development as well as to explore consistent factors of success. A descriptive case-study methodology is applied to create an analytical model for such centres.

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Telework which is a new work style using network technology is spreading as IT advances. It is essential for the enterprises that would introduce telework to take an organizational approach. However, there are always some people who don't want to adopt telework. It is necessary to practice telework as an organization system. This paper mainly handles the difference among three groups about understanding both merits and demerits on telework. The first group consist of people who actually telework, the second group consists of people who want to telework, and the third group consists of people who never want to telework. This paper clears the difference among the three groups and also considers the factors those influence merits and demerits on telework.

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This paper examines some possibilities how practically the latest advanced information technology can be applied to solve urban problems in metropolitan regions. There are two types of urban problem: one problem is caused by the exaggerated concentration of people and urban activities toward a city center, and another problem is such as human needs are so varied that not enough facilities are supplied appropriately by responding the needs. It is said that some of tools of the latest information technology contributes partially to solve the problems, but a big dream of that it solves all of urban problems is still left unrealized.

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This paper analyzes the preceding studies in Japan which argue about telework or telecommuting. Especially after 1995, there is a lively discussion with regards to telework through the Japanese journals. In this paper, we'll extract approximately 130 papers, and refers to the trends and characteristics of those contents. The results show some proposals on a new direction of telework investigation with a view to concerning the insufficient fields of preceding studies in Japan.

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Traditionally, Japanese companies have given various benefits for their employees to support more than their working life, but whole life. Now, the time has come to change, the companies cannot afford to support their teleworkers with those benefits. Researchers and specialists work together to pave the way to make the supporting systems for teleworking in Japanese society.

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