Managerial Challenges with Employee Engagement in a Virtual Environment
As COVID-19’s pandemic has pushed teams to move into virtual environments to continue their work, it has simultaneously highlighted weak areas in managerial skills as new challenges are brought to the foreground. Now more than ever, it is critical to examine a manager’s place in a team and how they can best maintain employee engagement, excellence, and communication through virtual means.
Sources
(OB) Carroll, N., & Conboy, K. (2020, July 14). Normalising the “new normal”: Changing tech-driven work practices under pandemic time pressure. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401220310252
In this article, Carroll discusses the innovation that online learning has brought to the workplace. This article examines the changing structure of the business world and social norms as we further navigate the remote workplace. This article talks about IT and the central role that it plays during Covid-19. The author breaks down normalising process theory (NPT) and highlights the specific skills needed to be successful during remote working. The article is valuable to our blog because it shows the changes in the structure of the business world and the future implications it may have in years to come.
(OB)Gibson, C. B., Huang, L., Kirkman, B. L., & Shapiro, D. L. (2014). Where Global and Virtual Meet: The Value of Examining the Intersection of These Elements in Twenty-First-Century Teams. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 217–244. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091240
This article discusses the importance of furthering research on teams that are international and meet virtually as they have a growing presence in today’s corporate world. The writers highlight some of the specific communication challenges for these teams as they are often highly diverse and lack face-to-face interaction, and they also discuss potential strengths of teams that are constructed this way and how to maximize the virtual context of their communication. We can use this source in our blog to discuss the challenges of managing virtual teams as well as potential solutions for managing for diversity in virtual teams.
(OB) Newman, S., & Ford, R. (2020, October 31). Five Steps to Leading Your Team in the Virtual COVID-19 Workplace. Retrieved January 25, 2021, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0090261620300541
The authors use data from surveys with 2,865 employees to compile a list of 5 steps that managers can take to help ensure that their employees are able to stay motivated and assist them in navigating the challenges that have occurred in the COVID-19 workplace. This source will benefit our blog as it will help us with discussing methods that managers can take to help motivate their employees, as well as steps they can take in future virtual work environments.
Lockwood, N. (2010). Successfully transitioning to a virtual organization: Challenges, impact and technology. SHRM Research Quarterly. Alexandria: VA.
With the fast-paced advancement of technology, the world is slowly transitioning into a virtual organization. It allows people from around the world to connect like we’ve never done before. However, with this comes obstacles and challenges we are not used to. This article highlights these challenges and how we can effectively overcome these obstacles while avoiding ineffective strategies. They emphasize the importance of successful leadership styles as well as virtual team building to best engage their employees. In our current and unprecedented times with the coronavirus pandemic, these means of virtual management becomes more important than ever. The strategies mentioned in this article allows employers to keep their employees engaged and motivated through unexpected and difficult times by creating a virtual organization that focuses on strengthening the employer-employee relation.
(OB) Staples, D., Hulland, J., & Higgins, C. (2006). Self-Efficacy theory explanation for the
management of remote workers in Virtual Organizations. Retrieved February 02, 2021,
from https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/3/4/JCMC342/4584417
This article focuses on what is called the Self-Efficacy Theory. The basic idea of this theory is that by improving the self-efficacy of employees, managers can ensure their teams can continue working diligently and effectively, even while remote. Through their research, the authors found that self-efficacy is strongly linked to performance and motivation and, by maximizing it, managers can reap greater benefits from their virtual environment. Some theories for increasing employee’s self-efficacy are increasing their training (in their position and with technology), utilize remote management models, reduce employee anxiety, and offer assistance in providing the environment necessary for work. This article offers many different solutions to problems relevant to managers in online environments, which we will address in our blog.
Madison Emry
Lisa Lee
Hannah Meister
Anthony Tulloch
Jack Thornton