Is working at the office all that bad? If so, why do so many people still prefer to work from home after the pandemic? Dr Baidyanath Biswas,Trinity Business School, explores the impact of virtuality on teams, individual well-being and satisfaction, and how management can navigate through this virtual shift.

Is remote work a boon or a bane for employees and their teams? By CoBS Editor Ana Sofia Bello. Related Research: The roles of conflict management and psychological empowerment in virtual teams, Shubhi Gupta, Govind Swaroop Pathak, Baidyanath Biswas, Information Technology & People, Emerald Insight.

The Remote Revolution

COVID-19 has been a catalyst in increasing the number of virtual workplaces worldwide. Employees shifted from the regular 9 to 5 office hours to requesting more and more remote work even after the pandemic ended. These virtual teams and workplaces were seen as survival strategies for companies to be able to adapt to the new preference for working from home.

This dramatic shift to the new norm of virtuality has produced many benefits for companies when cutting costs for offices and other infrastructure. However, with immense changes like this, companies must ask themselves how it affects their employees – whether that may be physical, mental, or psychological effects on the individual and their team dynamics. As such, many companies such as Amazon, Google, and Apple have adapted to this change by using simulation games to conduct team-building exercises in the hope of improving team performance outcomes for their remotely working employees.

The dynamics of a team are essential for companies and the means of maintaining and reinforcing these dynamics such as conflict management and psychological empowerment. These factors especially have come into light as they have been those most notably to diminish during this change. Prof. Baidyanath Biswas of Trinity Business School has explored the issue further and focuses on how virtuality affects the roles of conflict management and psychological empowerment on virtual teams – and whether remote work will become a boon or bane for their workforce.

Beyond the screen

Indeed, the benefits of virtuality mentioned above, such as the lower cost of offices and infrastructure and the high preference for remote work from employees, have pushed more and more companies to switch to a remote workplace. Nevertheless, there seem to be drawbacks that have come to light within the teams working online. The main issues that have arisen due to COVID-19 and this transition to virtuality deal with disconnection, loss of empowerment, and a higher risk of interpersonal conflict among virtual teams.

The substitution of homes or bedrooms for physical offices dedicated to working has caused employees to feel disconnected from the work. 12% of remote workers face distractions when working from home. Furthermore, workers struggle to collaborate efficiently with remote teams, consequently decreasing empowerment.

Another struggle that has arisen is that virtual teams often face challenges such as distrust, interpersonal conflicts, stress, high workloads, and a lack of familiarity among members. In this light, effective conflict management is crucial for the success of virtual teams, with managers having to keep in mind that their employees need forms of encouragement and team-building exercises that keep them feeling motivated and valued in the company or organization.

The role of psychological empowerment and conflict management

Psychological empowerment and conflict management are only two of the many factors that have needed to adapt in this shift to virtual teams. Psychological empowerment is linked to self-efficacy, which arises from team members’ perceptions of being empowered in their roles and responsibilities.

This empowerment influences each employee’s motivation and performance within their team. Regarding conflict in a team, researchers have found that conflict is a crucial interpersonal process that can enhance decision-making within teams by presenting alternative or unexpected outcomes. As such, effective conflict management is a key factor influencing team outcomes, including performance and satisfaction.

Results of the Revolution

As mentioned above, the use of virtuality in recent years has increased dramatically due to COVID-19. Post-pandemic, companies and employees have grown accustomed to this type of working environment and have perceived countless benefits compared to their previous in-person experience. Similarly, Prof. Biswas’s research finds that these effects can be both positive and negative on individuals and their teams.

One of the main concerns of this switch to virtual workplaces has been team performance and environment. Unfortunately, virtuality has been proven by this study to negatively affect team performance which may be due to the high dependency on technology limiting the nonverbal cues of in-person settings. When those gestures and behaviours are limited, then it eventually fosters an environment of communication barriers and interpersonal conflicts.

Fortunately, virtuality does positively influence individuals’ team satisfaction. These virtual teams can bring together individuals from various parts of the world and provide diverse perspectives and experiences to decision-making processes.

However, even though virtuality increases team satisfaction, there is a negative relationship between virtuality and an individual’s satisfaction with life. Many studies have seen that the lack of face-to-face interaction will result in a decreased sense of belonging among team members. Additionally, the dramatic reduction in emotional support and positive feedback has led to decreased motivation and lower subjective well-being. Unfortunately, this aligns with the increase in feelings of loneliness, depression, and anxiety during the pandemic.

The final two impacts relate to psychological empowerment and conflict management. Previous studies have provided conflicting observations, and many have not delved into emerging countries like India regarding these. According to Dr Biswas’s study, both psychological empowerment and conflict management seem to be positively influenced by virtuality.

The increase in psychological empowerment may be from the flexible work schedules for employees in addition to the increased sense of control over their work environment, whether they choose to be at home or in the office.

On the other hand, conflict management in virtual teams has a positive relationship with virtuality possibly due to the more task-oriented structures with greater anonymity for team members. This is consequently seen to reduce tensions and interpersonal conflict. Without the in-person personal relationships and shared space, these relationships tend to be held more professionally.

Insights for management

All in all, findings from this study provide useful takeaways for managers of virtual teams, as they underscore the importance of organizing activities to resolve conflicts – thereby enhancing individual satisfaction and overall team well-being.

What’s more, HR managers can leverage these insights to design more effective solutions for virtual platforms like the metaverse and AR/VR environments, including using video games for team-building exercises such as those now used at Google and Apple.

Organizations can maximise the advantages of their virtual teams by fostering good team behaviours and promoting positive empowerment rather than merely focusing on outcomes. Companies and organizations would be wise to reflect on whether they can pursue the virtual trend and invest in technology to maintain their employee and team performance and well-being – or go back to the old-school way to avoid the negative effects on team performance and individual satisfaction.

Once companies find what suits their workforce best, it will lead to a more sustainable and efficient collaboration within and across organizations.

Useful links:

• Link up with Baidyanath Biswas on LinkedIn
• Read a related article: Millennials: Lessons from lockdown and the future of work
• View the Routledge-CoBS book The Employee and the Post-Pandemic Workplace
• Discover Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin
• Apply for the Trinity MBA.

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