The Impacts of Remote Working Business Models (Article Critique Sample)

The Impacts of Remote Working Business Models
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic in its wake came as an unprecedented emergency as it affected the way of life at the very basic levels. The pandemic impacted how business was conducted, and some of the strategies adopted have had a lasting effect on business organizations, specifically on matters of teamwork, leadership style, and organizational culture. This research analyses the impact of remote work heightened by the pandemic. The research shows that remote working business models have both negative and positive impacts on teamwork, motivation, and culture. It similarly discusses how the pandemic has impacted the leadership styles employed by organizations in management, with a shift from traditional leadership and an increased focus on transformational and situational leadership styles to adopt remote working business models and realize productivity.
A literature review
Impact on teamwork
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a lasting effect on how organizations conduct their business (Flores 2019). The pandemic required minimal contact, which necessitated the need to work remotely to accomplish tasks by the organization. The remote working phenomenon was previously not highly practiced as most organizations favor physical work (Oz & Crooks, 2020). According to Yang et al. (2021), this can be premised on the fact that human beings are social beings that require interaction, and physical contact is the best way to realize this. Therefore, the COVID-19 pandemic threatened teamwork, the organization's culture, and leadership styles. Several research studies have been conducted on the impact of the pandemic on how organizations work ever since the onset of the pandemic. According to Flores (2019), a study in late 2020 revealed that remote workers are more productive than individuals who work from their offices. However, research further revealed that remote working harms communication and teamwork as the nuances of collaboration are not fully captured. Microsoft conducted a large survey of its employees to assess the impact of remote working on teamwork and collaboration.
According to (Virtanen 2020), working remotely can demonstrate short-term results but has long-term effects on teamwork and collaboration. This is because physical contacts are in interactions, and working from home fails to capture this, causing workers to become more distant, affecting collaboration. Office communications, ranging from the formal board meetings to the subtle unofficial coffee break or water break chats, are essential in fostering collaboration and teamwork. Virtanen (2020) further explains that working remotely slowly kills teamwork and collaboration between workers. This has prompted the need to find ways to foster communication and teamwork in an environment where physical interactions are completely limited.
Impact on the organization’s culture
Organizational culture is arguably the most fundamental aspect of an organization. The organization's culture dictates the operations, experiences, productivity, perception, and behavior at various levels. According to Raghuram (2021), one of the downsides of the remote working business model is its impact on its culture (Howard-Grenville 2020). Culture is fostered better through the experiences and interactions of the different levels of the organization. Therefore, working remotely impedes creation and solidification of an organization's culture (Staples, 2001). More proactive measures have to be taken to build and foster an organization's culture in a remote working business model. For instance, an organization like Google heavily relies on its culture for its success, as posited by (Howard-Grenville 2020). According to Howard-Grenville (2020), companies have experienced difficulty maintaining their culture remotely. The organizational culture is focused on creating positive working experiences and environments that foster creativity and innovation, which are critical to the organization's success. This has been fundamentally impacted by remote working, a phenomenon that the organization's management agrees with.
Impact on leadership styles.
As the pandemic has impacted core business factors, the onus falls on the organization's leadership to rise to the occasion. The pandemic forced organizations to restructure abruptly within a very short period, and therefore, the success of organizations was heavily placed on the organizational style to be adopted. The pandemic has created a natural setting for observing and analyzing how leaders realize employee motivation through their leadership style. Leaders are faced with the difficulty of change and transformation with little help from their culture, which is also impacted by remote working.
Research by French and international employees focused on remote leadership behaviors that would realize employee-employer relations, efficiency, and productivity. The study focused on various roles and behaviors, such as directors, mentors, facilitators, and innovators, Jawadi et al. (2013). The study concluded that social roles have the greatest impact on employee-leader relations. Jawadi et al. (2013) concluded that rational pursuit of goals and human relations significantly influenced the relationship between employees and leaders. These are the characteristics of transformational and situational leadership.
Transformational leadership and situational leadership have been seen as the leadership styles that stand out due to remote working. Long et al. (2014) define a transformational leadership style as one where the leadership is focused on the individuals and not the organization and where the workers and the organization support each other. It is the process by which the leader works with employees beyond their immediate goals to identify necessary changes and create a culture. Incorporating situational leadership with transformational leadership has proven fundamental for remote working business models (Francisco 2020). This is because situational leadership is when a management style is adopted to address unique situations to meet the needs of the team members or team. Therefore, remote working has affected leadership styles adopted by organizations with remote work models, as demonstrated by the pandemic. Situational leadership will see that management approaches best fit the situation, while transformational leadership will be critical in enhancing culture, motivation, and teamwork.
As a result, studies based on the changes in working conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic show that the remote working business model harms teamwork and motivation. This can be attributed to the significance of interactions and social contacts in team building, coordination, and motivation. Similarly, remote working business models harm an organization's culture, resulting in the need for proactive measures to create and maintain an organization's culture. This can be demonstrated by the challenges experienced by Google in maintaining its culture that is focused on creating favorable working experiences that have become increasingly difficult to control as workers work remotely. Similarly, traditional forms of leadership have further been illustrated to be ineffective in contemporary, versatile working environments. The use of transformational and situational leadership has been key in developing remote working business models.
Methodology
Several research methodologies are used by researchers depending on intended results and various other factors. This research applies the secondary data analysis or archival study approach, semi-structured interviews, and the observation methodology. The Archival Study uses existing data to achieve the goal of the new study. In essence, it entails the use of secondary data when researching. The use of secondary data carries both pros and cons. The disadvantages may be mitigated if the research interrogates the research methodology of the source and reports honestly about it. According to Johnston (2017), secondary data analysis or archival studies is essential because the secondary data is readily available and, therefore, less time-consuming and cost-effective. It is equally important in reducing research duplication. Several researchers have researched the pandemic's impact on teamwork, an organization's culture, and leadership styles through various means, such as interviews and surveys. Therefore, the researcher does not have to collect the data as another individual already has under the archival method. Using such information for research is referred to as secondary data analysis or archival study.
The major limitation of the archival study is that it is subject to selective deposit and bias. Selective deposit is when the primary data record may be subject to bias where the recorded information is selectively recorded (Johnston 2017). Therefore, research relying on selective deposits may be incomprehensive. However, these limitations may be mitigated by analyzing the research methodology of the primary sources and honestly reporting on them. In this way, one may identify the bias in the primary data. The use of secondary data analysis or archival study for this study is premised on the availability of several research and interviews conducted