Virtual Management and the New Normal: New Perspectives on Hrm and Leadership Since the Covid-19 Pandemic

ISBN-13: 9783031068126 / Angielski / Twarda / 2023

Bergum, Svein

Spis treści

Introduction

Svein Bergum, Associate Professor, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway

Pascale Peters, Full Professor, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, the Netherlands

Tone Vold, Assistant Professor, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway

The overall focus of this book is on how Human Resource Management (HRM) and leadership have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, what organizations can learn from this, and how the new experiences with enhanced distance working and management can be applied in the “New Normal.” The aim of the book is to add new knowledge on remote leadership and organizational practices experienced and learned during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a rapid digitalization of working methods and cooperation, with an increased use of home offices and reduced travel. Those who teleworked before the pandemic did so by choice, or due to a pre-defined structure of the organization, while those who teleworked only during and after the pandemic may have been forced or pressured to do so due to lockdowns and other restrictions. During the Covid-19 pandemic, there were no or only limited possibilities for face-to-face communication for teleworkers, with the use of digital services much higher than before. Therefore, telework was also practised in jobs, among employees and for activities that were not recommended in research before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hence, it is timely to update our previous knowledge, as management and working in times of the Covid-19 pandemic may be different, and perhaps differently perceived compared to previous periods. The proposed book entitled “New Perspectives on Virtual Management and HRM for the New Normal” aims to contribute with updated knowledge on: What has been changed? What has been learned? And what can be adopted for “the New Normal”?

In this introductory chapter, we will give an overview of the history of telework and dispersed working, with an emphasis on some previously reported managerial challenges, changes and solutions for HRM and leaders. We will also touch upon disagreements among researchers. When the topic of telework was launched by Jack Nilles in the mid-1970s the primary focus was on definitions, classifications, advantages and disadvantages, as well as some of the potential effects of telework. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the managerial aspects were mostly related to the development of telework policy and the management of the introduction of telework, focusing on the selection of teleworkers and appropriate jobs. From the mid-1990s, the question of the management of telework after its introduction has also been discussed. During these last couple of decades, negative attitudes of managers were seen as a main barrier to the diffusion of telework. Subsequent studies have shown more positive attitudes, and there is an agreement in the literature that management is critical for telework adoption. Few studies have argued that telework requires new management theories, but rather that skills such as communication, planning, trust, feedback and the use of technology are of particular importance.

There does not seem to be much open debate regarding management at a distance. But when we look at the main conclusions and focus of the studies, we can see that the US studies have been much more focused on administration and control, whereas the European studies have focused more on personnel relations and trust. The US studies have often concluded that management at a distance is very special and different compared to traditional leadership, while European studies generally argue that the differences are not significant.

Most of the reviews on telework ad virtual teams argue for more advanced studies related to theory building. Moreover, alternative methodologies to explorative case studies and small samples should be encouraged. Most authors also argue for the need to embark on longitudinal studies. In this book, we have longitudinal studies, theoretical chapters and data from different countries. With few exceptions, previous studies have argued for general requirements for remote leaders. Covid-19 has forced managers to differentiate their management style in relation to different people and different situations, but how? And technology and digital services have never been used as extensively in previous telework studies as during Covid-19.  Our book will therefore contribute on topics lacking in previous studies, and will also contribute through the unique context of Covid-19 mentioned earlier.

This book starts with a unique preface written by “the father of telecommuting” Jack Nilles. He gives us a valuable journey through the history and evolution of telework, from the 1970s “Telecommunication-Transportation Trade-off” until today’s telework related to Covid-19. The book is divided into three thematic parts. The chapters in the first part of this edited book look at the challenges and opportunities related to hybrid working, focusing on HRM, leadership and employment relations. The second part focuses on trust, cohesion, collaboration and innovation in the context of hybrid working. The third part is about security, safety and work-life intrusion in the context of hybrid working. In total, the book presents 18 chapters, written by researchers from eight countries across the globe.

 

PART 1:        Hybrid working: Challenges and opportunities for HRM, leadership and employment relations

 

1.      Leadership in Hybrid Telework: Challenges and Opportunities

Matti Vartiainen, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Aalto University

Telework, virtual teams and other “new” ways of working have been increasingly studied over the past few decades. Telework is fully or partially carried out at an alternative location, rather than the default place of work with personal electric devices (i.e. telecommunications) used to perform the work. Typically, telework is part of workplace flexibility policies, in which employees are afforded some level of autonomy over when, where and how they work. The Covid-19 pandemic sparked a major shift to “forced” telework, one not characterized by flexibility or individual choice, but by necessity and organizational or governmental requirements. The goal of this paper is to examine what kinds of challenges and opportunities teleworkers in a leadership position perceived during forced telework, and what can be learned from these experiences for the future? We collected a four-wave large data (qualitative and quantitative) search about the reactions to “forced” telework from home immediately after the lockdown, and afterward up to April 2021. Some of the respondents in leadership positions had previous experiences in telework, while some did not. The respondents are from public, private and non-profit organizations. The analysis concentrates on the answers to two open-ended questions: “What has been the most challenging in your work during the Covid-19 (corona) crisis?” and “What has been the most rewarding in your work during the Covid-19 (corona) crisis?” The data has been inductively analysed looking for expressions related to the challenges (and hindrances) and rewards of working from home. Preliminary results show controversial and ambivalent reactions concerning challenges and opportunities of leading telework.

Keywords: leadership issues during Covid-19, flexibility policies, workforce autonomy

 

2.      Organizational Perspectives on the Adoption of Virtual Management

Tor Helge Pedersen, Assoc. Professor, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Lillehammer, Norway

Svein Bergum, Assoc. Professor, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Lillehammer, Norway

Over the past 20-30 years, many public sector organizations have adopted organizational forms that include multi-sited organizational units (MSUs), where leaders and part of their subordinates have their work at various geographical locations. The Covid-19 lockdowns caused a similar trend with an increased use of home offices. Consequently, many leaders today have people working from different geographical locations, with virtual management becoming the possible “normal” practice. The situation before, during and after the pandemic can be understood from theoretical perspectives within organization research. The purpose of this chapter is to present and discuss three organizational perspectives on the adoption of MSUs and virtual management in relation to three periods that can be seen as different contexts: the old normal, the lockdown period and the possible “new normal”. The examples are drawn from Norwegian public organizations. The perspectives build on classic and new contributions within organization research. These perspectives (the technological imperative perspective, the performance gap perspective and the new institutional perspective) emphasize different factors regarding the drivers, adoption and possibilities for institutionalizing new ways of working.

Keywords: virtual management, technological imperative, performance gap, new normal

 

3.      How will telework practices be in enterprise management after Covid 19 in the Latin America Region?

Sonia Boiarov, Advisor to the Ministry of Economics, Argentina

 

The unexpected and rapid advance of the Covid-19 virus caused teleworking to be imposed on many organizations and governments. The aim of this chapter is to enhance our understanding of future telework practices after the Covid pandemic. It is therefore necessary to examine how organizations in Latin American Countries (LAC) have adapted work during the Covid pandemic and what their intention is to keep teleworking as a new way of working in the future. This question is particularly important since telework can bring new and different opportunities to preserve jobs in LAC currently experiencing a deep economic depression, and where thousands of organizations are expected to close down. It can be expected that teleworking practices can enable the mitigation of job losses, and can bring new opportunities for work in the new post-Covid-19 job market. The primary questions to answer in this chapter will be: How can telework contribute to balancing the LAC’s economy and life protection? What are the conditions of telecommunications (such as collaborative tools, education, and new laws) to develop telework in the LAC region in a sustainable way? Which were the best practices to help companies adapt to the possibility of remote work in the LAC region? What organizations in the LAC region were able to survive during the Covid-19 pandemic? How are organizations in the LAC region preparing themselves to come back to the office? To help answer these questions, the study builds on information from different sources, such as data from international organizations (ILO, CEPAL, BID), companies’ experiences published in newspapers, consultancies polls, expert opinions, etc. The chapter concludes by presenting the implications for HRM and leadership.

Keywords: telework practices, remote work possibilities, HRM, leadership

 

4.      Managing Onboarding Remotely

Marcello Russo, Associate Professor, University of Bologna, Italy

 

Gabriele Morandin, Full Professor, University of Bologna, Italy

 

Massimo Bergami, Full Professor, University of Bologna, Italy

 

“Andrea was so excited to start her new job, and she could hardly sleep the night before. She woke up early and arrived at the reception of the company at the exact time she reserved on the app to get her new personal computer and the welcome kit. Then, she went back quickly home to get ready for her first virtual meeting of the day. Andrea’s new job had officially started.”

Covid-19 has accelerated a practice that multinational companies have regularly used, consisting of onboarding people remotely from different locations, and using virtual meetings to scale up some of the initial phases of the onboarding, likewise with the introductory meetings to learn about the company’s mission, vision and main values. Beyond some advantages, virtual onboarding creates some challenges for the organizations that need to be dealt with, with appropriate interventions, likewise for the problem of social isolation, the creation of trust and the time (longer) needed to favour learning and adjustment to the new positions, without mentioning the recently experienced so-called “Zoom Fatigue”. This chapter aims to review the literature on the primary challenges faced by companies in the organization of remote onboarding processes, and by newcomers in accelerating their integration. In the second part, considering the numerous initiatives that companies have experimented in 2020-21 to cope with Covid-19 pandemic, our goal is to review and illustrate some best practices that companies have used, including social onboarding, gamification, the use of collaborative tasks and tools.

Keywords: digital onboarding, zoom fatigue, learning, best practices, gamification

 

5.      The Employment Relationship Beyond Covid19 – Need for a New Deal? The Role of Virtual and Face-to-Face Leadership Behaviour in Shaping and Upholding Psychological Contracts Post-Covid19

Melanie De Ruiter, Associate Professor, Nyenrode Business University, the Netherlands

 

Rene Schalk, Full Professor, Tilburg University, the Netherlands

 

This chapter aims to discuss how employees experienced the employment relationship and virtual leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic, and how those experiences shape their preferences for the mutual obligations between them and their organization beyond the pandemic. For example, while some employers previously offered employees the opportunity to work from home, during Covid-19, homeworking was enforced. Preliminary research shows that employees’ perceptions of homeworking have become more positive while the pandemic progressed. Yet, now that government regulations are being lifted, some organizations require employees to return to the office, whereas others offer freedom. The question arises as to whether employees experience homeworking as part of a new employment relationship, and what the consequences are when managers require employees to be back in the office. Furthermore, while some employees perceived more autonomy during the pandemic, others perceived to be more controlled by their managers. This begs the question of what role (virtual) leadership behaviour may have played in employee attitudes, emotions and behaviour during the pandemic, and what role it plays in maintaining employment relationships beyond the pandemic. To help answer this question, we view the employment relationship through a psychological contract lens, as this enhances our understanding of the changes in what employees believe is important for organizations to offer them, and what employees offer in return. Moreover, this perspective helps understand how employers, particularly through the (virtual) leadership behaviour of key agents (i.e. managers), play an important role in shaping and upholding the psychological contract post-Covid-19. The chapter presents a framework for future theorizing and research on the content of psychological contracts post-Covid-19, and the role of (virtual) leadership behaviour in shaping and fulfilling those obligations. We additionally consider the role of important contingency factors, including sector, generation and career stage. We conclude the chapter with key takeaways for practice, and discuss potential oversights in our model and how such oversights can be addressed in the future.

Keywords: employment relationship, work from home, psychological contracts, virtual leadership

 

6.      The management of consistency and the integrity of human resources management in telework-approach from organizational justice research

Ikuya Kano, Full Professor, University of Hyogo, Japan

This chapter discusses the integrity and consistency of human resource management systems in telework from the perspective of organizational justice. Previous studies have discussed various conditions under which telework works effectively. These discussions focused on the relationship between duties and working from home. However, with the development of ICT, along with this, the technical environmental conditions surrounding labour have changed; it becomes necessary to consider not only the relationship between duties and telework, but also the relationship between human resource management systems and telework. Regarding tele(home)working in particular, there are two issues related to human resources management. The first is personnel system issues, such as evaluation systems and reward systems. The other is organizational behaviour issues, such as organizational commitment and work engagement. Therefore, in this study we present two contrasting ideal types of telework that ensure organizational justice, and then discuss appropriate human resource management systems in detail for each type. Each type has a high consistency and integrity in the human resources management system. These may be acceptable in theory, but they are often inadequate when it comes to practice. Hence, referring to the above two ideal types, we will introduce the cases of companies that are effectively using telework in Japan and/or also adopt quantitative approach as a preliminary analysis. From the above, this chapter clarifies the practical issues of management in telework.

Keywords: evaluation and rewards systems, organizational commitment, work engagement, organizational justice, HRM

 

 

PART 2:        Trust, cohesion, collaboration and innovation in the context of hybrid working

1.      Workplace management and experiences of organizational presence during the Covid-19 pandemic in Norway

Siri Yde Aksnes, Senior Researcher, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway

Anders Underthun, Senior Researcher, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway

Per Bonde Hansen, Researcher, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway

 

The sudden shift towards telework during the Covid-19 pandemic has radically altered the way in which workplaces, workplace relations and employees are managed. Face-to-face relations have been replaced by digital encounters, and managers have been compelled to manoeuvre their relations to employees in new ways. In this chapter, we pay particular attention to how managers at different levels of authority experience various levels of organizational presence in a virtual workspace. While some employees prosper and remain visible to management and colleagues, other employees seem to fade into a kind of organizational periphery in their homes. We find that managerial responses to the disparity of organizational presence vary from little or no response, to highly proactive inclusion measures. The chapter is largely based on 10 focus group interviews, with 3-5 managers in each focus group and a representative survey among employers in Norway.

Keywords: virtual workspaces, leadership, visibility towards management

 

2.      Exploring thin organizational places during the Covid-19 pandemic

Mikael Ring, Associate Professor, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

 

This chapter aims to investigate some of the socio-spatial aspects of thickness and thinness in large Swedish organizations that arise from working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. The conditions for teleworking and working from home changed radically during the pandemic. Working from home during the pandemic comprises several immaterial, social, spatial and identity-based issues that work simultaneously on the individual subjective-, the individual worker- and the organizational levels. The focus of this chapter is on the effects of the ongoing and dramatic increase of geographic movement of work from the workplace to the home, in which both newer technology and traditional methods are used in documentation and organizational processes. The study aims to answer the question: How do organizations and workers cope with places that are temporarily characterized as thin with the conditions during the pandemic, and what they think about the role of teleworking and working from home in the future? The chapter shows that the studied organizations have been able to adjust and develop strategies for coping with long periods of absence from offices, and that thin places can be created with the help of technology. Nonetheless, while earlier studies showed that teleworking kept pace with, or was pulled ahead by, technology, this chapter shows that it is more likely that ongoing developments in the outside world and technology need to coincide with organizational hopes and fears of working from home. Moreover, the chapter shows that the pandemic may have future consequences in terms of how work is organized, for instance, in terms of how large office spaces are needed, and where these offices should be located.

Keywords: telework, working from home, thin places, organizational development

 

3.      Shaping the hybrid collaborating organization

Jeroen van der Velden, Associated Professor, Nyenrode Business University

 

Frank Lekanne Deprez, Senior Lecturer, Nyenrode Business University

 

The Covid-19 measurements have led to an unprecedented level in the adoption of virtual working in almost all business sectors. In this chapter, we will explore the impact of the transformation towards hybrid collaborating organizations expected to continue after the Covid period. As teams had to learn to work together virtually during the pandemic, organizations had to rethink their structures and processes and, within the ecosystem of partners, customers and suppliers, new interaction patterns had to be developed to stay in contact and do business. Where virtual working practices were often being circumvented before the pandemic, there was simply no alternative during this period. Early Covid-19 research has shown that the gained flexibility of remote working, and the associated impact on efficiency and effectiveness on performance, has been experienced so positively that remote working is expected to continue. As such, the pandemic and its measurements have been accelerators for change. However, the main challenge for companies is to develop their future working practices in such a way that efficiency, employee involvement, and innovation capability are fully supported at the team, organizational and ecosystem levels. Our hypothesis is that for each of these aggregation levels, different ways of working (virtual as well as face-to-face) will have to be developed and adopted. This is a multidisciplinary challenge that management, HR, IT, facilities and the workforce jointly need to tackle. We will describe the hybrid collaborating organization from this perspective. We conclude the chapter with dilemmas that management will have to deal with in their transition towards hybrid collaboration.

Keywords: virtual work, hybrid collaborating organizations, virtual working practices, employee involvement, innovation capability, managerial dilemmas

 

4.      How is resilience trust between manager and employee affected by working remotely for an indefinite time period?

Marianne Alvestad Skogseth, HR manager/Master candidate, municipality of Oslo, Norway

 

Svein Bergum, Associate Professor, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway

 

Many popular articles state that trust is perishable. How will it then go with trust when the manager and employee only have digital contact due to the Covid-19 pandemic? Trust-based management presupposes that there is a close relationship between manager and employee. How to maintain this relationship digitally? That was the starting point for this study: How is robust trust affected in an extreme situation with distance management, uncertainty and only the use of digital communication? The pandemic situation has created a unique opportunity to research this. We have never before experienced similar extreme conditions with distance management, which set completely new requirements for managers and employees. This study aims to explore trust in the context of trust-based management and leadership in Oslo municipality. Is there anything to learn from the experiences of leading the entire employee group from a distance for so long? To help investigate this, we explored in particular whether the leaders used communication in a way that resulted in employees' perception of social proximity not being changed significantly. We compared the management and employee perspective, to see whether the intention with trust-based management and leadership was proven in practice. Did the employees' perception of the leader's way of leading reflect what the leaders expressed that they would achieve with their leadership? The main finding was that trust has been maintained through distance management, but that there are differences in the grading of trust that are of interest to explore further. What is new about our research is that there has been virtually no face-to-face communication along the way. Our findings are in line with previous research which confirms that communication changes when it is moved to digital channels. What we can learn about distance management is that it requires more conscious individual follow-up from managers of the employees in the home office for them to feel taken care of. Managers who have been able to see that this was a unique situation that required new ways of communicating, and who have listened to the needs of employees, are the ones who best maintained the relationship of trust. Feedback, knowledge sharing and follow-up calls are more demanding digitally. What gives a good effect is short, frequent individual talks focusing on relationships. Trust continues to be important in the relationship between manager and employee in the future, and in our opinion, the recommended form of management can be renamed trust-based, situational-based distance management.

Keywords: trust-based management, knowledge sharing, distance management, trust sustainment

 

5.      Knowledge Management during an ongoing and long-term crisis

Tone Vold, Assistant Professor, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway

 

Hanne Have, Associate Professor, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway

 

Knowledge Management during an ongoing and long-term crisis has not been widely elaborated. Covid-19 has contributed to a digitalization of communication, and in many cases a distribution of the workforce in organizations. The immediate management and communication in a crisis are generally following a set pattern, as there are procedures that define the actions. In understanding the gravity of a situation, the public will also generally follow up on the predicaments, and abide to any restrictions provided. However, when the crisis enters different stages, more strain subsequently appears. This paper describes how the long-term crisis has unfolded in two organizations, one private and one public. The research has been twofold: We have investigated how the crisis has affected the organizations regarding production and knowledge management issues, and we have asked the respondents to elaborate on their perceptions of “the new normal” – the post-Covid workday. Despite vast differences in how Covid-19 has affected the organizations, our findings are quite similar, with reduced sick leaves, high production, less traveling (including traveling costs) on the upside. On the downside, we found an experience of strain, some degree of detachment from the workplace, communication issues, less knowledge sharing and less personal development. The unanimous view of the post-Covid-19 work future was a flexibility in workplace appearance, less traveling (than pre-Covid-19) and more e-learning in onboarding, both for newcomers and new customers, but with a combination of physical and online meetings among management and staff. In conclusion, the abrupt extensiveness of technology usage has been enabled by the fourth industrial revolution.

Keywords: Knowledge Management, “new normal”, flexibility, organizational change, digital onboarding

 

 

 

 

6.      How changes in distance tension among distributed HR advisors influenced their innovation capability during the Covid-19 pandemic

Svein Bergum, Associate Professor, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway

 

Ole A. Haukåsen, PhD candidate, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway

 

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in studies on tensions in HR. Among the issues raised in these studies are tensions between HR and line managers, as well as tensions with HR advisors. However, there has been a limited focus on the importance of geographical distance and digitization from an HR perspective. This is surprising, as there are often geographical distances in the organizations that have HR partners or advisors, in which these use digital services as an important part of their work. Technology and digitalization are also key elements in HR transformation, in which HR advisors are central. Distance and digitalization have been even more relevant during Covid-19. As HR advisors have moved to home offices, with geographical distance to both colleagues and users, the communication and delivery channel for HR services then takes place largely through digital media and non-personal communication. This chapter will highlight how tensions between distributed HR advisors affect their innovative capability in an abrupt and comprehensive change process in a hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic. The article will feature the concept of innovation towards tension, as this can and will be crucial for learning and knowledge development – which in turn is the most important raw material for innovation. The main research question is: "How is distance tension among geographically dispersed HR advisors in a health trust affected by Covid-19 with an increased use of home offices?" The focus is on distance, tensions, innovation and digitalization. This overall research question is divided into three research questions, in which changes in the perception of distance is the first, changes in tensions the second and changes in innovations because of distance, tension and digitalization being the third: How did Covid-19 influence perceived distances between HR advisors? How is distance tension among HR advisors influenced by Covid-19? How is the innovation capability of HR advisors influenced during Covid-19 by distance, tension and digitalization?

Keywords: tensions, digitization, HR, distance issues

 

 

7.      Leadership in hybrid workplaces. A win-win for work-life balance and innovation?

 

Robin Edelbroek, PhD candidate, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, the Netherlands

 

Martine Coun, Assistant Professor, Open Universiteit of the Netherlands, the Netherlands

 

Pascale Peters, Full Professor, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, the Netherlands

 

Rob Blomme, Full Professor, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, the Netherlands

 

Telework is known to have both positive and negative outcomes for organizations and employees. On the one hand, employees may experience more autonomy and flexibility, which also allows them to have a better work-life balance. On the other hand, employees may experience social isolation, potentially affecting collaborative workplace innovation. Many organizations across the globe are preparing to adopt a more flexible way of working after Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. Even so, this raises the following question: What can we learn from employees’ experiences while working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic about how to manage the future with a more hybrid workforce? More specifically, how can leadership be enacted, such that both a work-life balance and innovative work behaviour will be fostered? Building on the mutual gain perspective (Peccei & Van De Voorde, 2019) and leadership and telework literature, this study aims to contribute to the debate on hybrid working by analysing to what extent empowering and directive leadership relate to both employees’ work-life balance and innovative work-behaviour, and to what extent these relationships are mediated by shared leadership? We expect empowering leadership to have a positive relationship with both employees’ well-being and innovation directly, and via shared leadership. We also expect that directive leadership has a negative relationship with both employees’ well-being and innovation directly and indirectly, and via shared leadership. These hypotheses are tested employing multiple group PLS-SEM on a longitudinal sample of 250 employees in public and private organizations with substantial homeworking hours during the Covid-19 pandemic. We conclude by discussing the results and their implications for future research and management practice.

Keywords: telework, autonomy, flexibility, hybrid working, shared leadership, innovation

 

PART 3          Security and safety and work-life intrusion in the context of hybrid working

 

1.      Security issues at the time of the pandemic

Reima Suomi, Full Professor, University of Turku, Finland

 

Brita Somerkoski, Senior Researcher, Adjunct Professor, University of Turku, Finland

 

The chapter presents a framework to understand new security issues in distance work. We will focus on three areas of security threats. The first is that of data security and privacy. From almost any angle studied, the work environment at home is more prone to data privacy and security risks than work on an employer’s premises. Devices might be less protected, as well as telecommunication lines. Devices might be used more in a mixed mode between business and privacy issues. The control of physical access to data, devices and telecommunication infrastructure is next to impossible to build properly in a telework setting. The second security risk area is that of physical safety. Different types of typical work accidents, different from those happening in regular work environments, could occur. Ergonomics is often compromised, in addition to the quality of working devices. Because of a lack of special arrangements for safety, and the constant interplay between private and business issues, human’s concentration is limited, thereby possibly leading in the worst case to larger catastrophes, such as fires or water damage. In the case of the simultaneous task of taking care of children the risk is further accelerated. The third area of security risk is that of mental well-being. The feeling of isolation, and the lack of personal immediate support in the case of problems, are crucial in distance work arrangements. The control of total working time and the separation of working and free time has become challenged. Productivity measurement might get more difficult, and even when real productivity is untouched or even improved, workers may feel a lack of self-efficacy in their work. A special issue that demands the attention of management is that of communication with other members of the working community. For all three security issues, a review of literature has been conducted, a framework of the most visible risks has been formulated and methods to control and manage the risks are proposed.

Keywords: security risk, data security, privacy, ergonomics, isolation  

 

2.      "Covid-19 “passports” and the safe return to work: Recommendations for HR professionals on how to navigate this new responsibility". 

Tanya Bondarouk, Full Professor, University of Twente, the Netherlands

 

Claudia Pagliar, Assistant Professor, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

 

Aizhan Tursunbayeva, Assistant Professor, University of Twente, the Netherlands

 

Quickly and reliably verifying vaccination or immunity test results is a critical part of convoluted programmes that aim to win the battle against Covid-19. Technology and surveillance systems are projected to have an integral role in helping to address this challenge. Indeed, governments and private organizations are creating digital documents referred to as “vaccine” or “immunity” passports that may be developed as add-ins by major providers of information systems for the recording, storing or reporting of data in Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) or electronic Human Resource Management systems (e-HRM). This, and vaccine (or test) certificates, also place new duties on HR professionals, thus stretching their pre-existent roles to rigorously “police” this, which could create new pressure on HR departments who suddenly become (co) responsible for organizational vaccination campaign programmes, as well as new types of HRIS/e-HRM to support these, and the need to understand how to treat those “new” to this type of HR data. This is especially relevant in light of the accumulating public debate around digital vaccine passports, and employment rights, privacy and ethical issues. To help HR professionals navigate these complex debates, this chapter discusses HR professionals’ perspectives and perceptions on the ethical and performance considerations of digital vaccine passports, the new HRIS/e-HRM functionality to support these, and/or relevant data to be collected and stored within organizations. The data are collected from social media (i.e. Twitter), and will be analysed using a critical discourse analysis approach. To help facilitate our data analysis and discussion, we draw on the theories of ethical HRM and People Analytics, also considering broader frameworks for responsible innovation. The recommendations provided could assist HR managers in facilitating employees’ safe return to work, while navigating this complex issue and minimizing any potential negative impact on employees’ safety, well-being, performance or engagement. Moreover, it can inform software vendors on the user needs for such HRIS/e-HRM functionality, and policymakers on the aspects to consider in the requirements for organizational compliance with digital vaccination passport regulations/strategies.

Keywords: vaccine passports, e-HRM, HRIS, employment rights, ethical HRM

 

3.      Blurred Boundaries and Creeping Control: “Technology Management” as New Normal Work

Ariane Ollier Malaterre, Full Professor, ESG School of Management, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Canada

 

Covid-19 has heightened the need for employees and managers to actively manage technology, and its implications at work and outside of work. The pandemic revealed and accelerated two trends that are now fully part of the “new normal” of work. First, the blurring of the boundaries between work and life has become very salient with the normalization of work from home, its extended hours and its frequent video conferences. Second, the quantification of organizational control, which was already developing with algorithmic management, has reached a new level with the growth of electronic surveillance of employees through “boss-ware.” In this chapter, I argue that “technology management” is now an integral part of employees’ and managers’ work. More specifically, they devise and adapt rules and behaviours around: a) connectivity (e.g. when and where they are connected to work), b) self-presentation (e.g. disclosures on video conferences, social media and other online spaces), and c) privacy issues (e.g. what information on employees the employees/managers consider appropriate to share/collect). I identify constant connectivity, colliding worlds and quantified control as deeply-rooted challenges that must be addressed by employees, managers and policymakers if we are to build a new normal sustainable workplace.

Keywords: “new normal”, work from home, electronic surveillance of employees, “technology management”, privacy

 

 

4.      Sustainable leadership and work-nonwork boundary management in a changing world of work: Implications for the post-pandemic “new normal”

Christin Mellner, Associate Professor, Stockholm University, Sweden

 

In 2020, everyday life changed dramatically for many Swedish workers as a result of the Public Health Agency’s recommendations on telework (work from home using ICT) to help reduce the spread of Covid-19; telework increased by 400%. Many of those who began teleworking did so without or with only a limited experience. Scholars have previously examined the impact of teleworking on various domains of work and personal life, hence showing that teleworking can affect work-life balance either positively or negatively, and often creates blurred boundaries between work and personal life, and is not only related to increased work autonomy and job satisfaction, but also to longer working hours, work intensification and increased stress. Although the conditions of teleworking during Covid-19 are not comparable to those seen under normal circumstances, the number of employees who will continue teleworking after the pandemic will likely increase. Thus, there is a need for knowledge on the implications of this “new normal” with regard to sustainable leadership and work-nonwork boundary management for work-life balance and health. This chapter presents findings based on 22 semi-structured interviews with organizational managers within both the public and private sector in Sweden. The focus is on their subjective experiences and perceptions of leading employees at a distance (telework), including its benefits/drawbacks and facilitators/barriers, as well as the work/non-work boundary management strategies used to support both their own and their employees’ work-life balance and health. A thematic analysis identified four over-arching themes revolving around: attitudes toward telework, balancing employee freedom and responsibility in telework, organizational and individual facilitators/barriers for employee- and leadership sustainability and value-based leadership for sustainable organizational success.

Keywords: telework, work autonomy, job satisfaction, work/non-work boundary, employee- and leadership sustainability, value-based leadership

 

 

 

 

 

5.      Perceived Lockdown Intensity, Work-Family Conflict and Work Engagement: The importance of Family Supportive Supervisor Behaviour during the Covid-19 crisis

 

Marloes van Engen, Associate Professor, Radboud University, the Netherlands

 

Pascale Peters, Full Professor, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, the Netherlands

 

Frederike van de Water, Student Business Administration, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, the Netherlands

 

This quantitative employee study (N= 206) focused on the relationship between perceived lockdown intensity and work engagement, the mediating role of work-family conflict (work-family and family-work conflict) and the moderating role of family supportive supervisor behaviour during the times of Covid-19. Building on insights from Organizational Behaviour (Job-Demands Resources Model), HRM (AMO theory) and management (telework and social isolation) literature, our mediation moderation model showed that perceived lockdown intensity is directly related to work engagement and to work-family conflict, and that work-family conflict was not a mediator. In fact, the work-to-family conflict dimension was found to have a positive relationship with work engagement. Furthermore, family supportive supervisor behaviour in the time of Covid-19 was not a moderator, but instead was found to have reduced the potential to directly affect work-life conflict and work engagement. This implies that informal leadership styles control workers, but also support them in combining work and family in the time of Covid-19, which can sustain work engagement. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for future research and management practice.

Keywords: work-family conflict, HRM, telework, social isolation, informal leadership

 

Epilogue: Some implications for future research

Svein Bergum, Associate Professor, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway

Pascale Peters, Full Professor, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, the Netherlands

Tone Vold, Assistant Professor, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway

In the last chapter of this book, we will summarize the main findings from the previous chapters and take a look at the future of Virtual Management. In addition, a literature review will be presented with updated knowledge on relevant experiences from the most recent stages of Covid-19 and beyond. We will also present the implications for future research: What are the research challenges and relevant research questions for the future? Do we need new theories for Virtual Management beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, or is Virtual Management just a modification of management principles used before the pandemic? And what are the implications for leadership practice?

O autorze

Svein Bergum is an Associate Professor in organisation and management at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (HINN), Faculty of Economics and Social Science. He has been a visiting academic at the New York University Interactive Telecommunications Program and has been the leader of research projects financed by the Norwegian and Swedish Research Council on remote leadership and the role of middle managers in digital transformation.

Pascale Peters is Full Professor in Strategic Human Resource Management at Nyenrode Business Universiteit in the Netherlands. She is a member of the editorial board of Tijdschrift voor Arbeidsvraagstukken and involved in Holland Management Review. She publishes on topics including the contemporary and sustainable organization of work, sustainable HRM, work-life balance, and boundary management.

Tone Vold is an Assistant Professor at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (HINN), Faculty of Economics and Social Science. Her research is in crisis management studies, as well as music production pedagogics, games-based learning, knowledge management, information technology in higher education and learning, and e-learning.

Blurb

This book examines how Human Resource Management, organisations, leadership and people have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, what organizations can learn from this, and how these new experiences could be applied in the ‘New Normal’.

This book brings together the new knowledge that exists around remote leadership and organizational practices, relative to pre COVID-19 studies, and the experiences learned during the pandemic. Key discussion themes focus on the role of distance in organisations, HRM and leadership, the sustainability aspects involved, innovations and knowledge development achieved, the role of digitalisation and new requirements and possibilities for management post COVID-19.

This book is relevant for academics, students and practitioners in the fields of Management, Leadership, Human Resource Management, Sustainability, Innovation, Organisational Psychology, Digital Transformation, Change Management and Crisis Management.

Svein Bergum is an Associate Professor in organisation and management at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (HINN), Faculty of Economics and Social Science. He has been a visiting academic at the New York University Interactive Telecommunications Program and has been the leader of research projects financed by the Norwegian and Swedish Research Council on remote leadership and the role of middle managers in digital transformation.

Pascale Peters is Full Professor in Strategic Human Resource Management at Nyenrode Business Universiteit in the Netherlands. She is a member of the editorial board of Tijdschrift voor Arbeidsvraagstukken and involved in Holland Management Review. She publishes on topics including the contemporary and sustainable organization of work, sustainable HRM, work-life balance, and boundary management.

Tone Vold is an Assistant Professor at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (HINN), Faculty of Economics and Social Science. Her research is in crisis management studies, as well as music production pedagogics, games-based learning, knowledge management, information technology in higher education and learning, and e-learning.