With the unprecedented shift of the accounting field to an online workspace during the Covid-19 pandemic, managers must find ways to communicate and engage with team members to optimize workflow and ensure continued efficiency and productivity. Our blog will explore organizational methods that managers may use to ensure effective communication in a virtual setting.

Akkirman, A.D. and Harris, D.L. (2005), Organizational communication satisfaction in the virtual workplace, Journal of Management Development, 24(5), 397-409. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710510598427

While this article is approximately 15 years old, I believe it can still benefit in forming the foundation of our blog. It focuses on what organizations can do to aid the transition of an in-person workforce to a virtual setting. It delves into the human satisfaction of employees in regards to communication with management, coworkers, and individualism of the employee in regards to obtaining personal feedback. Communication is an important facet of an organization that can directly impact the employee’s behavior, negative or positive depending on the management’s implementation of such methods. This article looks into how to keep employees engaged and continue pursuing excellence in their work following their new presence in the virtual workspace.

Cockrell, S. R., & Meyer, D. (2012). The Role Of The Management Accountant In Total Quality Management. Franklin Business & Law Journal, 2012(4), 1–18.

While this article focuses on the position of management accountants, I believe it provides good information on how to enhance operational behaviors between management and employees such as accountants. It also delves into mistakes management can make from an organizational viewpoint that can negatively impact its employees. While it does not deal with a virtual environment, I believe the information can translate adequately on the route to establishing a proper management presence within an online presence that is able to support its employees.

Hunsaker, P., Hunsaker, J. (2008). Virtual Teams: A Leader’s Guide. Team Performance Management, 14(½), 86-101. doi: 10.1108/13527590810860221

This article discusses the importance of effective leadership in virtual teams and provides guidelines for how to achieve this. The authors outline the two primary leadership functions of virtual team leaders, performance management and team development, and delve into various strategies for how managers can facilitate these two goals. This article will be extremely relevant for our blog when we discuss the methods that managers can use to effectively manage virtual teams, as well as when we discuss the challenges of virtual teams and how managers can overcome them. Although this article is twelve years old now, it provides valuable information on the nature of virtual teams and management practice. One major limitation is that this article does not take into account recently developed technologies that have aided in virtual communication, which we will definitely want to cover in our blog.

Melé, D., Rosanas, J., & Fontrodona, J. (2017). Ethics in Finance and Accounting: Editorial Introduction. Journal of Business Ethics, 140(4), 609–613. doi: https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/10.1007/s10551-016-3328-y

While businesses adjust to the online work environment in the midst of a global pandemic, this article provides many resourceful methods in regards to improving ethics throughout the organization. Accounting in particular requires ample amounts of personal integrity, along with the devoted commitment to justice, and proper reporting. This article also reflects on how management can measure the response and integration of these newly regulated policies, which will ideally lead to a decrease in negligent reporting and an increase in employee obligation to the overall success of the company. The research conducted in this article also works toward shifting the mindset of ethics within the work environment by directing the general conception of rules and dominance to a structure of values, virtues and principles. This approach not only increases employee response, but improves their willingness to conform. 

Morley, S., Cormican, K., & Folan, P. (2015). An Analysis of Virtual Team Characteristics: A Model for Virtual Project Managers. Journal of Technology Management & Innovation, 10(1), 188-203. doi: https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-27242015000100014

This article examines various factors that are critical to virtual team success and identifies strategies that virtual team leaders can use to maximize productivity and efficiency within teams. Researchers conducted a thorough literature review and surveyed members of virtual teams at a multinational medical device manufacturing company to provide recommendations for organizations and managers of virtual teams. Although this article focuses heavily on organizational level factors, it also touches on managerial and team level factors that can be implemented to improve virtual team success, which will be useful for our blog when discussing the key skills that managers must possess to successfully lead a virtual team. It will also provide useful information on methods that managers can utilize to improve functioning of their teams, including reinforcing project objectives, establishing conflict resolution procedures, and delivering team evaluations. The limitations of this article are that the conclusions were made in the context of a medical device manufacturing company. Virtual accounting teams may have unique needs that are not specifically addressed in this article.

Windeler, Jaime B., et al. (2017). Getting Away from Them All: Managing Exhaustion from Social Interaction with Telework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(7), (977-995), doi:10.1002/job.2176.

This study focuses on how the social aspects of working remotely impact productivity and job satisfaction. The authors tested their hypotheses using the IT department of a financial services firm, having a representative sample of employees in the department switch to remote work 1 or two days per week for 4 months. The study concluded employees working remotely are more productive when working individually, but remote work does have drawbacks when attempting to interact with coworkers and managers. 

Created by Kenna Larsen, Parker Leland, Matthew Schoen, Conner Maneval, and Mark Renner