Research Question: How has technology-assisted leadership changed what it means to lead in Accounting during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Advanced technology and the push for a virtual workforce in the past few years have created a new set of challenges for accounting leaders and employees. Relying on a variety of research we explore possible solutions and leadership styles to unite a socially distanced working community.
Kuknor, S., & Bhattacharya, S. (n.d.). Organizational Inclusion and leadership in times of global crisis. Research Online. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://ro.uow.edu.au/aabfj/vol15/iss1/7/
The authors of this article explain how one can learn to be a manager that understands inclusivity and diversity and how that is crucial in our business world today. When managers are able to foster inclusivity in their employees, they create a workplace that has a happier workforce and feels comfortable. Similarly, managers have been able to use diversity to improve a company’s overall performance. Many new styles of leadership have emerged during the pandemic, including thought leadership and crisis communication. In times of crisis like the pandemic, it is important for managers to continue to see the importance of inclusion and diversity. Managers that use organizational inclusion and inclusive leadership can have their employee’s show organizational citizenship behavior and organizational based self-esteem. These are two very important behaviors in the business world. When employees have these traits, it leads to a workplace that is welcoming, self-sufficient, and thriving.
Andreassen, R.-I. (2020, July 27). Digital Technology and changing roles: A management accountant’s dream or nightmare? – journal of management control. SpringerLink. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00187-020-00303-2#article-info
The authors discuss the influence of digital technologies on the roles of management accountants. They emphasize a shift towards narrower roles at a divisional level and expanding roles at a group level, and describe how digital technology encourages specialization, competition, changes in decision making, and a shift in roles.
At a group level, technology pushes management accountant’s roles to expand from ‘bean counting’ to decision making and the assistance of decision makers. In the case of InsuranceCo, the case study observed, management accountants have moved to business-oriented roles. They make use of technical knowledge to assist decision-making at the top of the organization.
The number of management accountants has decreased over time. This is attributed to the ability of decision makers to access data themselves, without passing through the accountant. It is also a part of a trend at the divisional level where tasks have become more specialized. Data goes up the chain, is analyzed, and decisions are made without input from the divisions. This trend has also cut the number of management accountants, with accountants put outside of decision making having left the company for more interesting roles.
Bartsch, S., Weber, E., Büttgen, M., & Huber, A. (2020). Leadership matters in crisis-induced digital transformation: How to lead service employees effectively during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Service Management, 32(1), 71–85. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://doi.org/10.1108/josm-05-2020-0160
The authors of this publication discussed the effectiveness of task (MLB) versus relation-oriented leadership (ELB) behaviors on service employees whose work lives shifted to being virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study showed that both leadership behaviors are necessary when leading a virtual team during such a crisis. While task-oriented behaviors decrease worker independence, it creates a focus on coordinating tasks and clear expectations which proved helpful as employees’ lives were thrown into uncertainty. In contrast, relation-oriented behaviors had a positive effect on both affective and behavioral processes, such as individual work and team cohesion. Having more autonomy helped employees’ stress level decrease as their new pandemic home lives, health, etc. were already causing high stress levels. Overall, it appears that leaders need to find the right balance of both leadership behaviors to create the most effective leadership style within a virtual work environment during a crisis.
Kroon, N., Alves, M. do C., & Martins, I. (2021, June 23). The impacts of emerging technologies on accountants’ role and skills: Connecting to open innovation-A systematic literature review. MDPI. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://www.mdpi.com/2199-8531/7/3/163/htm
The authors of this article consider the impacts today’s new technology has had on accountants, specifically, the effects it has had on their roles. The new technology has caused managers to have to rethink everything and caused a new dependence on open innovation. Accountants have created new structures for dealing with the challenges they will be faced with over the next coming years as technology grows and they are forced to adapt. The article also discusses how in graduate accounting programs, it is required that students and faculty are able to master current, as well as, emerging technologies for future accountants. It is even mentioned there will be a need for an updated accounting program to prepare people for the new roles. The authors go over the extensive research that has been done and what technologies are being studied most. The major technologies that research has been focused on are big data analysis, blockchain technology, and artificial intelligence. The implications of the new technology, which our topic is focused on, is the dark side of innovation and how it “simultaneously destroys and creates tasks/jobs”. The authors note how technology will shift the role of an accountant and even cause less of a need for them. The authors then express the great need for more research on this topic to solidify our understanding of accountants of the future.
Alexander, A. (2021). The ongoing evolution of bookkeeping. New York; Accounting Today.com.
The author of this article discusses the considerable change of roles for bookkeepers due to the continuing advancements of technology and the impacts of COVID-19. The pandemic has affected the economy extremely during this time, and not only did it change the way bookkeeping was viewed but also transformed the system by fueling the shift of the bookkeeper from the back office to the front line. According to a survey done by Bill.com, “2020 State of Bookkeeping Practices Survey’‘, over 80% expected growth in bookkeeping services through 2022. During the pandemic, accountants were flushed with work because there was no shortage of businesses needing financial help during this time. While the pandemic did have a big part in the changes to bookkeeping, the advancements of technology had already started before covid-19 even hit. The technical innovations of companies such as Botkeeper who automates bookkeeping tasks through a blend of dedicated machine learning, AI and human assistance have completely changed the game because less time is spent on processing things manually which enables more time for higher level client advisory services.
Created equally by Spencer Walker, Jade Harding, Grace Carlson, Danielle Audet, and Desirea Garcia