Working from Home - the new Office: Communication and Leadership for a Stay-at-home Workforce

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Working from Home - the new Office:

Communication and Leadership for a Stay-at-Home Workforce

Erik Hagenfeldt

Department of Business Administration Master's Program in Management Bachelor Thesis, 15 Credits, Autumn 2020

Supervisor: Tatbeeq Raza Ullah

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When I started writing this thesis I severely underestimated the challenge I had set for myself. Interviewing middle managers was a daunting task and the sheer volume of data nearly overwhelmed me. As can be seen in the appendix, 7 interviews roughly 20 minutes a piece translates into more than 30 pages of data. It may have been helpful to have worked with a co-author, but I am satisfied with what I was able to achieve, however I did not do it alone. I would like to thank my supervisor Tatbeeq Raza Ullah for aiding me throughout this process. His constructive criticism and guidance were essential for the thesis, without Tatbeeq’s help this study would have been an insurmountable challenge. Furthermore, I must also express my deepest gratitude towards all the respondents of this study. These are successful individuals working for large MNC’s that took the time out of their schedules to answer my questions. I hope that my interpretation of their realities is useful for understanding the changes brought about to communication and leadership as a result of COVID-19. I also hope that all the respondents feel that their perspectives were conveyed correctly and that I as the researcher did not draw any false

conclusions or interpretations.

Thank you,

Erik Hagenfeldt

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Abstract

The objective of this paper is to discover what if any changes have occurred to communication and leadership due to COVID-19. The recent pandemic caused home-office to become the new standard for desk job workers but what if the home- office environment impacted communication and leadership. Seven middle

managers of two large MNC’s based in Germany were interviewed to gain an understanding of the issue at hand. This paper focuses specifically on home-office caused by COVID-19 as all respondents of the study were employees formerly working in an office environment. To understand the implications of communication and leadership at the workplace relevant scientific literature was reviewed. The findings of the interviews were then compared with findings from said literature to develop new insights about communication and leadership at the home-office.

Several changes to communication and leadership were identified from the data collected. Based on the perspectives of middle managers the identified changes appear to have had a negative affect on both communication and leadership. The cause of these negative effects is explained, and speculations are drawn as to how these effects will impact organizations in the long run.

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1. Introductory chapter

This chapter will provide the context of this study and present why the chosen issue is relevant for business and worthy of research. Some background information about

COVID-19 and home-office will be provided a long with developing the research question and stating the purpose of this study.

1.1 The beginning of home-office

The year 2020 began with a pandemic that fundamentally changed the world. Social interactions between people became restricted, restaurants and bars were forced to close, and face masks became commonplace. But what has happened to

organizations as employees are forced to work from home? A study published this year in the Journal of Business Research was aimed at identifying future

implications of COVID-19. The goal was to “capture the current state of research about COVID-19 through a systematic literature review and develop[s] propositions to guide future research.” (Verma & Gustafsson, 2020, p.253) The study presents ten propositions for future research (see Table 2, Verma & Gustafsson, 2020, p.258) and states several implications based on these ten propositions. One such implication is called managerial implications and it describes how transitions in business and society have impacted existing business models facilitating a current need for change. So why are managerial implications important and why do organizations need management? Managerial implications is a way of labeling the issues that relate to management, and effective management is cruicial for any organization.

Management is the method employed by organizations to monitor and control resources and human resources. Management is essential for organizations (Jaques, 1990) because it involves making processes more effective, monitoring

organizational output, communicating inside and outside the organization, and assuming responsibility. The individuals that perform these tasks are called managers and their role is to be a team leader that inspires subordinates and promotes the organizations core values. Managers fulfill this function through communication and leadership skills. But since COVID-19 began managers have no longer been able to interact with their subordinates in an office environment where acts of communication and leadership normally took place, instead they are now working from the home-office.

1.2 Communication and leadership

Because of this transition in business and society, communication and leadership at work has probably changed. To gain further understanding of communication and leadership and why it is important another study was researched. This study was conducted by Fairhurst & Connaughton (2014) and aimed to explore leadership through communication to better understand their relationship. The authors reviewed literature on communication within organizations they found to be most relevant to the study of leadership. The study found that according to the literature

communication and leadership work together through a variety of perspectives the authors called “communicative lenses”, which will be discussed later (Fairhurst &

Connaughton, 2014). Simply put, communication is part of leadership but leadership is more than just communication. A manager will make use of both leadership and

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communication in order to fulfill his/her function. However the changes imposed by COVID-19 may have caused managers to change the way in which they fulfill these functions. This is an example of a managerial implication as discussed by Verma &

Gustafsson (2020) because COVID-19 is the direct cause for the transition in business and society.

1.3 COVID-19 and home-office

The idea of home-office is not a new concept and literature on the subject goes as far back as the 70’s. A study conducted by Tunyaplin, Lunce, & Maniam (1998) was aimed at identifying the benefits of a home-office environment on employees. The findings were that home-office employees benefited from more productivity due to increased comfort, less time wasted commuting, and fewer absences. The

organization also benefited from lower operational costs as office requirements were reduced. (Tunyaplin, Lunce, & Maniam, 1998) This provides us with an

understanding that the idea of home-office is not a new concept brought about by the recent pandemic, instead it is a concept that has existed for a long time but has not become common practice until now. There is however very limited literature about home-office and in particular the effects of home-office on communication and leadership. Although the concept of home-office is quite old it appears to have been viewed as more of a niche solution. This represents a gap in the literature about home-office and at the time of writing this study there were no scientific articles about the negative consequences of home-office on employees. As the article by Verma & Gustafsson (2020) describes COVID-19 has created several new research implications about business and management. Therefore, research on home-office employment is becoming more relevant and future studies will eventually be conducted on home-office employment to understand the new post-pandemic business world. The development of new project management software such as Asana, Teams, Wrike, and BaseCamp that all serve the function of increasing home- office productivity is a great indicator of this change throughout society. The

restrictions caused by COVID-19 have been beneficial for this development as various organizations are forced to implement these new systems. This change represents a very modern and technological approach to business which may become the industry standard in just a few years, thereby warranting more research into the field of home-office.

1.4 Role of managers

What role do managers play in all of this? “Managerial hierarchy is and will remain the only way to structure unified working systems with hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of employees” (Jaques, 1990. p.129) In his study Jaques argues that there are two aspects of a managerial hierarchy which support this claim. First the tasks completed by organizations are not just more or less complex but also become more complex as organizations branch out into various categories performing tasks of increasingly varied levels of complexity. Second this also applies to the mental labor required of employees in various positions because their tasks also become more complex and categorized as the organization expands. (Jaques, 1990) Someone needs to assume leadership and responsibility over these various tasks and therefore managers will always be required in organizations. Managers are accountable for their segment of the hierarchy and if all managers ensure their segment is

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performing well the entire organization will perform well. As all organizations which are part of this study are large and very complex the claim made by Jaques (1990) applies to them and thereby justifies the necessity of managers within such organizations. Managerial hierarchies are essentially networks of communication with various levels of authority ergo they are heavily dependent upon

communication and leadership. Without communication and leadership there can be no managerial hierarchy. Therefore, as the restrictions of COVID-19 have inflicted major changes to traditional communication and leadership the effects of these changes must be understood. A group of individuals that may have been affected by these changes are middle managers as they are heavily reliant on information streams (communication) both up and down the hierarchy whilst simultaneously having to act as leaders for their subordinates.

1.5 Middle managers

Middle managers play a specific role in organizations as they are not part of top- level management but work between this level and employees on the operational level. There are many definitions for middle managers but generally they are

classified as being below executive management but above line workers (Arıcıoğlu, Gökce, & Gülnar, 2020). Middle managers must convey information from top-level managers to operational staff whilst also being held accountable for their

subordinates which are expected to perform under the middle managers leadership.

This means that middle managers understand top-level management and the

processes which take place within that environment. Furthermore, middle managers also have operational experience as they work closely with subordinates working at that level. This allows middle managers to add value to both top-level management and lower level employees through their actions and knowledge (Arıcıoğlu, Gökce,

& Gülnar, 2020). As middle managers have now become fully reliant on digital means of communication their capacity for leadership and their ability to fulfill their function may have been affected. Middle managers are now expected to convey executive level commands, listen to operational level recommendations, and act as leaders for their teams using only digital tools. This must have influenced their capacity for communication and leadership and identifying these changes represents the gap in scientific literature this study aims to fill.

1.6 Research Question

According to middle managers how has home-office, caused by COVID-19, affected communication and leadership at work?

1.7 Purpose

The purpose of this study is to develop new insights about communication and leadership by analyzing interviews conducted with managers¹. Based on the

perspectives of managers the study will aim to understand the changes brought about to communication and leadership as a result of COVID-19. The theoretical frame of reference will be developed to act as a baseline for aspects of communication and leadership that are relevant for managers. The data gathered from the interviews will

1 As of now middle managers will simply be referred to as managers in order to simplify the text of this study.

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then be deconstructed and codified to create a model that helps explain the changes brought about to communication and leadership by COVID-19. It is important to note that the study focuses only on home-office caused by COVID-19 and is not relevant for organizations employing home-office prior to the crisis. This is because all research respondents in this study were working in an office environment prior to the crisis and were forced to adopt home-office measures because of the pandemic.

1.8 Context of the study

All research respondents of this study work for organizations located in Germany.

Germany imposed very strict regulations to combat COVID-19 and employers were forced to send employees to the home-office as of March of 2020. It is therefore important to understand what these regulations imposed by COVID-19 were. The first lockdown took place in March of 2020 and citizens were forced to stay home, moving about freely was no longer possible as curfews were enforced. Later, on the second of November year 2020 Germany’s Chancellor issued yet another lockdown.

Although this lockdown was less restrictive than the previous one during March of 2020 it still had serious implications for organizations. This lockdown became even more strict in November and December of 2020. According to the rules all those who are able to work from home must do so and employers should ease the

transition into working from home. Although these are the federal rules in Germany many organizations have chosen to implement home-office restrictions since the initial lockdown in March. This means all research respondents of this study are currently working from home and so are their colleagues and subordinates, so long as they are not considered essential onsite personnel which are exempt from home- office restrictions. Thus, they may or may not have been working from home as of March 2020 or perhaps later. There are other countries which have had similar regulations but another benefit of conducting this study in Germany is that I, the researcher, am fluent in the language and have a good understanding of German culture. This will aid me later on in the study when conducting the interviews as sharing a cultural connection with the respondents will make it easier to

communicate with them.

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2. Theoretical framework

This chapter will begin by discussing communication and leadership as described by literature mostly written before to the pandemic. The relationship between

communication and leadership will then be discussed. This research will act as a theoretical base line of important aspects of communication and leadership prior to COVID-19. By comparing the data to this base line, we may then gain an

understanding of how communication and leadership has changed.

2.1 Focusing on communication

Let us first understand why communication is so important because without communication organizations could not exist. Humans require communication to function and interact within a society and organizations are no exception. Fuchs (2020) claims that communication is what allows humans to form cultures and cultures are what create economies. So, without communication there could be no organization in the first place. (Fuchs, 2020) Humans assign meaning to knowledge through communication and we use communication to convey this knowledge to one another through co-operation. Therefore, without communication societies would not exists as humans would be unable to co-operate thereby making it impossible to have shared goals and aspirations. (Fuchs, 2020) Therefore, the importance of communication for organizations cannot be understated, it is simply a requirement for them to exist. Having understood that there are of course several aspects of communication that are more important for managers in fulfilling their functions.

The idea of conveying knowledge through communication is a very

important concept as knowledge-sharing activities tend to drive innovation which is vital for an organization if it wishes to remain competitive. Let us therefore assume that knowledge-sharing is a part of communication. Communication and

consequently knowledge-sharing is something that should be encouraged by

managers as indicated by Kim & Lee (2006). The study highlights the importance of formal and informal networks within the organization, or divisions of said

organization, and that these networks should be nurtured in order to improve

communication between employees. Because as employees communicate more, they will also be more likely to engage in knowledge-sharing activities (Kim & Lee, 2006). Part of the study entailed employees being asked to assess their internal and external communication networks related to the firm. Based on these assessments’

managers would be able to improve the conditions for network

maintenance/expansion. Another recommendation made in the study is that older employees on the verge of retyring should be charged with mentoring newer

employees so that existing networks are not lost when older employees retire. (Kim

& Lee, 2006) A communication network is then essentially a small society or culture where participants assign meaning to their knowledge and communicate it to other participants (Fuchs, 2020). This is why formal and informal networks nurture the knowledge-sharing processes that takes place within an organization, and this is a driver of innovation.

Knowledge-sharing is affected by many variables and according to Lauring

& Selmer (2011) language is one such variable. An interesting finding made by this

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study was that the existing theoretical support regarding language diversity and knowledge-sharing concluded that they shared a negative relationship on the group level. However, the study finds that language diversity in a multicultural

organization has a positive association with knowledge-sharing. (Lauring & Selmer, 2011) The reason behind this association is that cultural/linguistic diversity often entails cognitive diversity therefore a multicultural network has a higher chance of beneficial knowledge-sharing. The requirement for such knowledge-sharing to take place is through communication via a common language. Lauring & Selmer (2011) also identified the importance of common language management for a multicultural workforce (English in this case). The findings of the study were that although an official common organizational language was beneficial, the primary focus should be on a common management language as this was associated with an increase in personal knowledge amongst employees. In other words, consistent use of common language management is beneficial for interactions within the organization. (Lauring

& Selmer, 2011) Employees should however be free to engage in whichever language they please within their communication networks.

Communication allows humans to assign meaning to personal knowledge and convey this knowledge to others (knowledge-sharing). Communication then allows for co-operation so that humans can develop communities, cultures, economies, and organizations. (Fuchs, 2020) Within these organizations humans (employees) will then, through the use of communication, develop their own formal and informal networks. These networks create the environment for beneficial knowledge-sharing to take place which fosters creativity and innovation within the organization (Kim & Lee, 2006). Furthermore, in the case of multicultural

organizations a linguistically diverse network creates an improved environment for knowledge-sharing which benefits innovation that in turn benefits the organization.

It is however important to keep in mind that managers should always communicate in one common language within the organization to avoid

misunderstandings/misinterpretations. (Lauring & Selmer, 2011)

2.2 Focusing on leadership

Leaders are important for organizational performance and more often than not people who display valuable leadership qualities will be placed/promoted into managerial positions (let us therefore assume that managers are leaders). Leaders can be categorized into a variety of leadership styles which have different outcomes on subordinates and their performance. A study conducted by de Vries, Bakker- Pieper, & Oostenveld (2010) aimed to explore the relationship between various leadership styles and their effect on communication. The study identifies three leadership styles: human-oriented leadership, charismatic leadership, task-oriented leadership. The conclusion of the study was that both human-oriented and

charismatic leadership were heavily grounded in communication style, whereas task- oriented leadership was less communicative (de Vries, Bakker-Pieper, &

Oostenveld, 2010). Supportiveness played an important role for both human- oriented and charismatic leaders and was found to have a positive effect on subordinate knowledge collecting behavior. Task-oriented leadership in terms of communication on the other hand was focused on precision and assuredness. This leaves subordinates with a lower chance of misunderstanding which may be

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beneficial for highly complex tasks. (de Vries, Bakker-Pieper, & Oostenveld, 2010) One element all leadership styles have in common is communication, regardless of the style it is a fundamental component of leadership. Now that leaders can no longer directly communicate with their employees in an office environment how will this affect their leadership styles and outcomes.

Another important aspect of leadership is physical presence or leadership embodiment as defined by Katalin Illes (2017) in her research paper titled Being Well and Leading Well. Leadership embodiment is built on the principles of Aikido a non-aggressive martial art form which emphasizes the importance of physical

presence and posture. According to the study the way in which one stands or sits has an impact on the way in which one thinks and speaks. (Illes, 2017) Leadership embodiment is a fascinating aspect of leadership and something we can all relate to from our own experiences. We have all dealt with superiors who display different levels of physical presence/posture and a superior with notably good posture and a clear voice demands more attention and respect than a superior slouched over a desk mumbling. The conclusion of the study was that leaders who are trained in

leadership embodiment are better capable of handling stressful situations by remaining calm and collected which reassures their subordinates and thereby increases organizational performance. A leader that panics during a crisis and loses his/her composure will have a negative effect on all subordinates. (Illes, 2017) Leadership embodiment is not just important for leaders and Illes’ (2017) states that anyone would benefit from learning these techniques of self-development. And according to Brendel & Bennett (2016) there are two components of leadership embodiment: mindfulness and somatic exercises, both have slightly different effects on leaders, but both are targeted towards improving the leader’s performance.

Mindfulness and somatic exercises (such as Aikido) are beneficial for leaders in that they allow them to better define who they are and what they stand for.

Mindfulness and somatic exercises deepen the individual’s awareness and creativity, but they do so in different ways. A leader with a high level of mindfulness and a set of ethical morals will be more likely to act upon these morals to make ethical decisions which are beneficial for the organization and the well-being of

subordinates (Brendel & Bennett, 2016). Mindfulness allows leaders to be more open and aware of their surroundings benefiting leadership traits such as patience and understanding. A narrow-minded leader will be less likely to listen to a

subordinate and incorporate what they are saying into their thought process meaning the particular expertise of this subordinate could be lost. A mindful leader however will adopt an alternative mind set which allows them to remain open to divergent perspectives and reject their own limiting perceptions and assumptions. (Brendel &

Bennett, 2016) Think about it this way, a leader who believes that they know what is best in any given situation will automatically have a negative response to alternative solutions presented to them. The leader will assume their solution to be superior because they know what is best and after all it is they who are in the leadership position and not the subordinates. A leader who uses this approach for decision- making will potentially ignore the subordinates expertise, and also in the future subordinates will be less likely to contribute if they feel as though they are being ignored.

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Somatic exercises, which are physical awareness exercises, are also important for leaders. Practicing somatic exercises allows individuals to intervene with their own neurology by allowing the individual to understand how certain unconscious reactions and habits are reflective of emotions and perceptions (Brendel

& Bennett, 2016). A leader who has a high level of physical awareness will be less likely, for example, to shrug at a subordinate’s idea or look away when a subordinate is actively trying to seek their attention. This makes the subordinate feel more

valuable and increases their willingness to engage with the leader (increased

knowledge-sharing). Through somatic exercises leaders will also be able to identify their own automatic reactions to stress such as tightening of the chest and feeling anxious (Brendel & Bennett, 2016). The leaders thought process at the time might be

“I cannot do this” or “this is too much”. However somatic exercise will allow for the leader to understand that these feelings are caused by stress and can be overcome if the leader can ground and empower themselves to handle the situation (Brendel &

Bennett, 2016). Somatic exercises allow for leaders to better handle stressful situations more and improves their level of confidence.

Communication plays a key role for leaders no matter which leadership style they chose to adopt. The way in which a leader communicates with a subordinate also has an impact on performance, and supportiveness was found to be the most beneficial style of communication for improving subordinate performance (de Vries, Bakker-Pieper, & Oostenveld, 2010). Not only is communication important but also how the manager presents themselves through their physical and mental presence.

This can be defined as leadership embodiment, a two-part ideal comprised of

mindfulness and body control/physical awareness. A manager who acts according to leadership embodiment principles should display physical wellbeing and mental fortitude which will inspire subordinates (Illes, 2017). Mindfulness training will allow leaders to be more accepting of alternative perspectives which will decrease the likelihood of a subordinate’s expertise being ignored. Somatic exercises allow the leader to be more aware of their natural reactions to emotions and thoughts enabling the leader to have better control of their body language. (Brendel &

Bennett, 2016) Combining all stated aspects would create a leader (no matter their leadership style) that communicates clearly, is mentally aware of subordinates and openminded to their ideas, whilst also being physically competent and present. A manager that encompasses all these aspects is someone to look up to and inspires their subordinates to perform better.

2.3 Exploring the relationship

As previously mentioned, the researchers Fairhurst & Connaughton (2014) explore the relationship between communication and leadership. One of the “communicative lenses” or perspectives identified by the authors is called change through reflexivity.

Based on this perspective a manager is responsible for change implementation through the use of communication and leadership. The post-positivist approach to change through reflexivity argues that leaders are the agents of change and the implementation and successful outcome of change depends on the leader’s

communication (Fairhurst & Connaughton, 2014). COVID-19 which caused home- office restrictions represent a major change that needed to be managed and

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implemented for organizations to remain operational. Communication plays the most important role when implementing change as leaders that are responsible for

implementing change must communicate this change to subordinates. Furthermore it has been proven that effective communication has a positive effect on the successful outcome of change (Lewis, 2007). Even though home-office was caused by external factors and is not a new organizational strategy it is still a change which has a significant impact on employees. Lewis (2007) argues about the importance of employees feeling as though they have been heard and for this to occur effective communication channels, not only down the hierarchy but also up, need to exist. An example of this scenario would be an employee that now works from home and lives with his/her family in a small domicile and does not have access to a viable space which is meant to substitute their office space. Such an employee should be able to communicate this issue to the organization and a solution should be found.

Otherwise one may consider the implementation of change to have been

unsuccessful for this employee as they will feel neglected and might no longer be capable of fulfilling their function.

The idea of knowledge-sharing by assigning meaning to knowledge then communicating this meaning relates to the idea that managers are the agents of change as proposed by Fairhurst & Connaughton (2014). Managers have knowledge of the change they are going to implement and must through communication convey this knowledge to employees in order to implement the change. However, this knowledge exchange goes both ways and according to a study conducted by Bourne (2015) the findings showed that leaders should involve employees in the process of change. This would provide employees not only with a chance to provide feedback on the proposed change but also increases the employee’s willingness toward change. One may therefore assume that implementing change is a form of knowledge-sharing which occurs between managers and subordinates. Effective communication is the tool managers can utilize to involve employees in the knowledge-sharing process of implementing change, which will increase the likelihood of a successful outcome.

From the research conducted earlier on leadership it becomes clear that much emphasis has been placed on physical presence and face-to-face interaction. As this is no longer possible in the home-office, how has this affected manager’s and their ability to lead? I predict home-office will have had some negative consequences on communication and leadership and here is why. As previously discussed managers are the agents of change and rely on communication to implement change. Another study conducted by Lewis (2007) found that the two most common channels for employees to receive information was “word of mouth” and “small informal

discussions” both of which are no longer possible. This means a manager’s ability to implement change through communication has been affected by home-office as the two most common channels for conveying information are no longer available.

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3. Methodology and process

This chapter is about the philosophical approach of this study and begins by defining ontological and epistemological perspectives. The research and data collection process will then be presented a long with any concerns about conducting the study. The reliability and validity of the sources used in this study will be discussed and ethical considerations of conducting research will be presented.

3.1 Ontological perspective

This study sets out to identify a manager’s perception of change in his/her capacity for communication and leadership, therefore reality becomes subjective to the perspective of the manager. Viewing reality as a construct created by the individual, based upon their personal interactions with other individuals and their interpretations of the world allows us to define our ontological perspective as social constructionism. Social constructionism as defined by Burr (1995) entails that reality is not derived from the natural world as it really is, but instead individual reality comes from how individuals communicate their

perceptions of the real world to one another. A manager’s perception of reality regarding their capabilities of communication and leadership will therefore be based upon their interactions with colleagues and subordinates. This will create a reality based on how the manager interprets their role as a figure of authority within a social structure.

Authority as described by Holzman (1968) depends not only on the personality of a leader but also on orientational and situational aspects of the institution or social structure.

An institution will use reality creation through rules and communication to provide its members with a view of reality that benefits the institution. Members of this social

structure will shape their reality around these concepts allowing for hierarchies to become a part of their reality.

“Occupational groups, roles, and specialist work communities insulate their participants from outsiders in a variety of ways: by providing them with orientation and a particular knowledge construct, and by exerting control on them.” (Serge, 2016, p.98)

This allows institutions to create an insulated common view of reality in which managers play the role of a figure of authority. It is important to keep in mind that the managers who are part of this study are subject to this insulated reality and therefore their reality is drastically different to someone outside of the organization. However, I still believe that their personal interpretations of how they perceive communication and leadership within their reality is relevant to answering the research-question. As a researcher I do not share the managers view of reality which may be beneficial in that I have a more objective perspective. However, it may also be detrimental as I may not be able to grasp their conceptualizations and views due to the different nature of our realities.

This is why the social constructionist approach is best suited for this study as the way in which we understand the world is not based on objective observation but instead social processes and interactions between people (Burr, 1995).

3.2 Epistemological perspective

Keeping in line with the ontological perspective of social constructionism the

epistemological approach of this study needs to be subjectivist in nature. An objectivist approach to this study would not work as there is no scientific approach being conducted in order to discover universal truths about changes caused by home-office. Instead opinions presented in the form of verbal interviews will develop meaning to the

individual’s perception of reality. (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2019) These meanings can then be generalized in order to make assumptions about the managers perceived effect of home-office on communication and leadership. Social constructionism proposes that

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humans have unique internal behaviors which depend on their surroundings and other individuals. The purpose of subjectivist research is to uncover the meaning of these behaviors, which cannot be quantified through scientific methods as these behaviors are dependent on individual perceptions of reality and not universal truths. (Lee & Jones, 2015)

As described by Burrell & Morgan (1987) there are four paradigms of organizational analysis: Radical humanist, Radical structuralist, Interpretive, and

Functionalist. The paradigm which is best suited for this study (an organizational analysis) is that of interpretive. The interpretive paradigm assumes that management theories result from social and political processes. “Organizations are seen to be cultures rather than

‘black boxes’ whose inputs and outputs can be controlled with the help of scientific methods.” (Kelemen & Rumens, 2008, p.23) Communication and leadership are concepts that are not quantifiable through scientific measures and cannot be tested through

scientific methods, instead they are products of society and culture. This is why the interpretivist paradigm is best suited for this analysis as organizations must be regarded as cultures in order to gain a sound understanding of communication and leadership within the organization based on the perspective of the manager.

To summarize in this study I assume a social constructionist world view, in which reality is based uppon the individual and their perceptions and interactions with others.

The research conducted in this study will be subjectivist in nature adhering to the interpretivist paradigm of organizational analysis. This means knowledge in the form of communication and leadership will be based on the individuals (managers) perception of these concepts. Communication and leadership are both products of human interaction and their meaning depends uppon the individuals interpretation of reality. This reality is based on the individual and is different for each research respondent, therefore any insights developed through this study will be generalizations of various interpretations of reality.

Hopefully these insights can be used to understand the changes caused by home-office on communication and leadership and answer the research question.

3.3 Research process

There are two primary approaches of scientific research: Deductive, and Inductive. A deductive study begins by hypothesising a theory of outcome for a given study, data is then collected and the theory is tested and altered to correspond with the findings of the study. An inductive study gathers detailed data about a certain subject then based on these findings attempts to draw generalizations in order to develop new theory. (Woiceshyn &

Daellenbach, 2018) Based on this brief description of deductive and inductive research the method which best adheres to this studies ontological and epistemological persepective is inductive. The goal of the research is to understand manager’s opinions about changes to communication and leadership as a result of the restrictions imposed by COVID-19. Based on these interviews I will generalize the findings in an attempt to develop new insights about communication and leadership within the home-office.

Let us have a look at the research-question to better understand the overall research process of this study. According to middle managers how has home-office, caused by COVID-19, affected communication and leadership at work? The overall subject being investigated is communication and leadership following the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic caused many changes to the business world, but the primary difference is the recommendation, and in some cases legal obligation, to work from home. As an inductive study the primary focus is on thick description as defined by Lee & Jones (2015). Thick description relates to research and how subjective research is meant to understand specific contextual, spatial, and cultural

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factors. The best way to achieve such an understanding is through unguided

interviews where respondents are free to share their opinions and perspectives. The data will then be deconstructed and codified to develop a data structure

encompassing these perspectives. The data structure will then be used to create a model that depicts the changes to communication and leadership which have occurred as a result of COVID-19. Once the changes have been identified I will be able to speculate as to how these changes may affect organizations in the future.

There are however limitations to an inductive study, these include: Not collecting data close enough to the phenomenon, Creating a description of the data rather than theory, Harboring preconceptions about the theory before it can be developed (Shepherd & Sutcliffe, 2011). Regarding proximity to the phenomenon in question, changes to communication and leadership caused by home-office, I believe managers working in these conditions (enforced by law as the study is conducted in Germany) to be sufficient. The issue of collecting data not close enough to the phenomenon is that I (the researcher) might focus on specific aspects of the data which does not account for the phenomenon in its entirety (Shepherd & Sutcliffe, 2011). The result of this would be insights which do not accurately represent the phenomenon being researched. A more conclusive study for gaining knowledge about home-office management would entail interviewing members at all levels of an organization however this is not possible due to limitations of both resources and time. Keeping these limitations in mind my personal assumption is that middle managers are the ideal data sample for a wholesome view of the organization because as previously stated middle managers have access to executive and

operational level employees. Therefore, middle managers should be able to comment on communication and leadership at all organizational levels.

“…theorists often stop with a description of the phenomenon, simply listing variables or constructs.” (Shepherd & Sutcliffe, 2011, p.364) This statement is important to inductive research as the data collected in this study is descriptive in nature meaning it will be important to keep in mind that I am trying to develop new insights. Simply describing the changes in communication and leadership which have occurd due to home-office is not sufficient. Let us assume the data shows that all managers feel as though their capacity for leadership has been hampered because of home-office. Stating that home-office has had a negative impact on leadership would be a description of this issue and cannot be considered an insight as it does not account for how or why. It will be important to keep this in mind when developing new insights about communication and leadership later on.

Shepherd & Sutcliffe (2011) state that a true bottom-up inductive approach requires collecting the data with no consideration of constructing a theory

(alternitavely developing insights). They also state that this is impossible to achieve in its purest form. The reason for this is that I as a researcher naturally have

suspicions and assumptions regarding how I will develop my theory as I am collecting and conducting research. The recommendation for inductive research proposed by Shepherd & Sutcliffe (2011) is that researchers should, before gathering data, create a research-question and specify relevant constructs so as not to be

overwhelmed by the data. In essence this is what I have done and the specified

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relevant constructs for developing insights are presented in the theoretical framework which I will use to create a description of my data. As previously mentioned it is important to then go beyond this description and develop insights that not only describe the data but also explain it.

3.4 Data collection process

As this study is qualitative opinions and perceptions may be regarded as data and the only way of gathering this type of data is through interviews where respondents can freely express themselves. The role of subjectivist interviews is that they allow for greater depth and mutual understanding (Silverman, 2004). The data being gathered relies upon the research respondent’s ability to present a narrative describing their perception of reality. Whereas a positivist interview would strive to control

interactive components which occur during dialogue, a subjectivist interview should have no such controls. Emotional and unaltered responses represent the most

accurate depiction of the research respondent’s individual interpretation of reality.

However, the interviews cannot be conducted without any guidelines as the purpose of the interviews is to answer the research-question. So, of the three interview types:

unstructured, semi-structured, and structured. Semi-structured is the most

appropriate approach for the purpose of this study. Because: Unstructured interviews have no guidelines and function more like dialogues between the researcher and the respondent. Although unstructured interviews provide the most accurate

representation of the respondent’s individual reality it is difficult to gain information about the social constructs under investigation. Structured interviews have detailed questions and rigid guidelines which are meant to provide accurate answers to the phenomenon being researched. There is however little to no room for spontaneous interactions which deprive structured interview respondents from communicating their interpretation of reality. Semi-structured interviews contain some questions which act more as a guide for the dialogue in order to make sure that the

phenomenon being investigated is answered by the respondent. Semi-structured interviews also allow for the respondent to change topic and answer in a more natural way, although not to the extent of unstructured interviews. Semi-structured interviews are therefore the most appropriate approach for this study as they will allow for the phenomenon in question to be answered whilst also providing an insight to the individual reality of the manager.

“All we sociologists have are stories. Some come from other people, some come from us, some from our interactions with others. What matters is to understand how and where the stories are produced, which sort of stories they are, and how we can put them to honest and intelligent use in theorizing about social life.”

(Silverman, 2004, p.138)

In essence, the respondent is creating a story with me, the researcher, in order to comment on communication and leadership regarding home-office management.

Meaning my individual reality will impact the respondents attempt at

communicating their reality to me. This is unavoidable in any form of interview that seeks to find answers related to social constructs as communication is the only method to convey such ideas. Assuming an interview is a cocreated narrative it cannot be regarded as a reflection of the respondent’s knowledge but instead it is an

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interpretation of this knowledge produced by both parties (Briggs, 1986). The recommendation of sociologists in order to reduce the impact of alternative realities on an interview’s outcome is for the interviewer and respondent to have similar realities. My reality is that I have never worked as a manager of any kind, however studying business has given me some insights into the world of management. This will be a limitation of the study, but culturally my reality may be similar to that of the respondents. As this study is conducted in Germany, the country which I have lived in my entire life, I believe this to be an important similarity in realities. Even if the respondent is not a German citizen they still live in Germany and are affected by German culture. This allows for at least some overlap in our realities allowing for better mutual understanding (Briggs, 1986). There are of course many more

differences in realities between a manager and I, however I find these two to be the most noteworthy.

The method through which research respondents were selected is snowball sampling. I reached out to two managers’ in different organizations and they connected me to their colleagues within their respective organizations. The only requirement being that the respondent is a middle manager working in Germany fulfilling a similar role and position as the initial two respondents.

3.4.1 Exploratory interview

Prior to conducting the actual interviews for the study, I conducted one face-to-face exploratory interview with one of the respondents. This exploratory interview was not recorded as it was conducted in a noisy environment with an expedited process meaning the respondent was not given sufficient time to fully answer each question.

The purpose of this interview was to test my interview guide and determine if the results of the interview where useful for theorizing about home-office management.

An immediate realization upon conducting this interview was the importance of technology for home-office workers. Almost every question I asked was answered with a mention of technology and its role in the home-office to some extent. This led to the inclusion of a technology-based question but as the focus of this study is leadership and communication, technology should not become the primary focus of the interviews. One thing that is certain however is that without technology home- office would never have been possible.

It became clear that the questions were yielding interesting results and I was satisfied with the interview guide after minor editing. One concern I had after the exploratory interview was how long each interview would be. It was clear from the respondent that he could speak much longer and more in depth about each question however, I did not want the results to become too lengthy and broad as it might diffuse the overall meaning of the respondents answers. Furthermore, it became apparent that the respondent shifted from the question being asked into answering other questions of the guide naturally as he was discussing home-office and

communication and leadership. This will be important to keep in mind for the actual interviews later and I may need to interrupt the respondents to make sure they are on track. It appears, at least from the exploratory interview, that home-office is

something a manager can ramble on about for quite some time. Probably because it has become a hot topic in their day to day lives.

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Based on the understandings of communication and leadership gained through my research and the exploratory interview the following interview guide was developed:

• What is your overall opinion of home-office?

• Did(do) you encourage and engage in communication (both formal and informal) amongst your subordinates and colleagues?

• What was(is) the most common way you communicated information to subordinates prior to the crisis?

• What was the transition from office to home-office like and how did you aid subordinates through this change? Were there any issues which needed to be resolved?

• Would you say your leadership style has changed? If so in what way?

• Has the lack of physical interaction with your subordinates and colleagues impacted your ability to embody the position of a leader?

• Has the way in which you deal with stressful situations changed because of home-office?

• To what extent can you now rely upon your subordinates during stressful situations?

• Are there any other significant aspects of home-office you would like to mention?

• What is the most important technology (hardware or software) for home-office in your opinion? And is there anything you would like to improve upon?

The purpose of these questions is to gain a broad understanding of how

communication and leadership has changed according to the perspective of the interview respondent. Various aspects of communication and leadership were considered to ensure the phenomenon that is being investigated will be investigated in a thorough manner. The final question regarding technology was meant to gain an understanding of the role technology plays in the home-office and what the potential limitations of technology are.

3.4.2 Interviews

Respondent Nr. Interview set-up Organization Duration

1 Face-to-face A 27:56

2 Face-to-face B 14:18

3 (pt.1) Video conference B 13:16

3 (pt.2) Video conference B 03:58

4 Video conference B 28:03

5 Video conference B 25:33

6 Video conference A 26:37

7 Video conference A 19:09

8 n/a B n/a

Table 1, list of interviews

Table 1 represents the people interviewed as part of this study a long with the duration of each interview and the interview set-up. It was difficult to find willing participants for face-to-face meetings given the current pandemic so instead video conferencing was the most used method. Although face-to-face interviews allow for better mutual communication video conferencing is the second-best thing and is why every interview was conducted either face-to-face or via videoconference. Phone call interviews lack the personal connection that arises when you can see who you are talking to which is why that method was avoided. In total the email asking

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respondents to participate (see p. X in the appendix) in the study was sent to 8 people (3 from organization A and 5 from organization B) and only 1 person failed to respond. Interview nr.3 is split into two parts (pt.1 and pt.2) because during the interview there were technical issues which meant that the interview needed to be interrupted and later resumed.

All interviews were conducted using the same interview guide (see p. X in the appendix) whilst also being semi-structured, so no two interviews had the exact same questions and answers. The focus of the interviews was to have a conversation about home-office management and how the respondent has perceived eventual changes, and not an interrogation about communication and leadership within home- office. All interviews were conducted in English however this was not the first language for the majority of the respondents so minor edits were made to the transcriptions presented in the appendix following page 50. Great care was taken when editing the transcriptions to make sure that the meaning the respondent was trying to convey was not altered in anyway. Furthermore, it was a significant benefit when conducting these interviews to be fluent in German as most of the respondents were German so certain words have been translated from German to English.

Interviews were scheduled before hand via email and prior to recording all respondents were asked if they had any questions or concerns regarding the interview. All respondents were aware of the fact that they were being recorded in order to adhere to the ethical considerations of conducting research. The first

question in the interview guide was intended primarily to get the conversation going and understand the respondent’s overall perception of home-office. The remaining questions were more focused towards providing information that could be used to answer the research-question. During the interviews, some spontaneous questions were asked if I felt the respondent was willing to provide more information

regarding a certain subject. There were times where the respondent and I would stray slightly from the topic at hand, but I still feel that all results of the interviews are relevant for trying to generate new insights about home-office management.

3.4.3 Recording and transcription

All interviews where recorded and later transcribed with the help of oTranscribe, a free internet software which functions as a tool for transcribing audio recordings.

The transcripts are presented in the appendix and are almost exact word for word transcriptions of the interviews. There were certain parts of the interviews which were left out of the transcripts for example repetitions of certain words and “um’s”

and “ah’s”.

3.4.4 Ethical considerations when conducting interviews

All interview respondents were sent the same email which can be seen in the appendix on page 44. The sampling method as previously mentioned was snowball sampling, so the initial two respondents provided the email addresses of further respondents however the initial two respondents were also sent the same email to ensure all participants received the same information. In the email it states that all respondents and their respective organizations will remain anonymous. Thus, it became my responsibility to redact any mentions of the respondent’s names or their

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respective organizations from the interview transcripts. All respondents were aware that the interviews would be recorded prior to conducting the interview, and all respondents were fully aware of the intended use of the interviews. The respondents were also given the choice of receiving a copy of their completed interview

transcript and the full thesis prior to publication.

3.5 Preconceptions about the research topic

A preconception I had from the very beginning about the research conducted as part of this study was that home-office would be seriously detrimental to leadership and communication. It is important to acknowledge this preconception especially when conducting the interviews as I am co-creating a narrative based on the respondent’s perceptions of reality. Therefore, I had to make sure that during the interviews my comments and questions were as neutral as possible so as not to influence the respondent’s response.

The reason for this preconception is probably because I have experienced a similar situation to home-office which I did not enjoy. In the spring term of 2020, I was still completing courses at university and due to COVID-19 they were all conducted digitally. This meant that we no longer had lectures and the overall social aspect of university disappeared. The main issue I had with this was not the course work itself but the group work which was a necessary component of each course. It was very difficult to work with people I had not met earlier through purely digital means. We were expected to work together for just one month and develop a piece of work that we could all be proud of, most of the time this was not the case. This is something that becomes much more achievable if we can work together physically as a group because getting to know someone through a screen is just not the same as interacting with them in real life. So, I believe it is this negative experience that formed my preconception around the fact that communication and leadership had suffered because of home-office. Simply because I myself had experienced communication and leadership suffer because of “home-studying”.

3.6 Theoretical research

Although there are some books and textbooks referenced in this study, they were referenced because of their relevance to the research at hand and I believe they serve that purpose well. All other sources included in this study were taken from scientific data bases, and each source was also peer-reviewed. Scientific peer-reviewed articles were used in order to increase the credibility of this study. All sources were chosen with care and the findings of each study was reflected upon to ensure its inclusion in this study would provide theoretical relevance and support. The keywords utilized when researching for this study included: Management, Communication,

Leadership, Middle manager, Decision making, Teamwork, Technology, Individual, Interaction, Home-office, Digital media, and more.

Information regarding the project management software previously

mentioned (Asana, Teams, Trello, Wrike, and BaseCamp) was provided by one of the research respondents who is a manager and had great professional interest in each software. At the time of the interview the manager was not using any of the mentioned software but the organization he worked for was in the process of

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choosing and implementing one of these software’s. So, the manager had been researching them extensively as his opinion was part of this implementation process within the organization. This provided a brief insight into the importance of

technology for home-office management and the future role of such software within the field. It is quite fascinating that people from all around the world can today work together on the same project in order to achieve one goal no matter where they are.

The only requirement is a computer of some kind (PC, phone, or tablet) and an internet connection.

3.7 Data analysis and structure

The theoretical chapter acts as a baseline for understanding communication and leadership as used by managers before COVID-19. The data gathered as part of this study will be deconstructed and codified into a data structure. Inspiration for this type of qualitative data analysis was taken from another study conducted by Smith (see Smith, 2014, Figure 1 Data Structure, p.1602). The purpose of the data structure is to be able to create a model to describe the findings made in this study. The model will act as a visual aid for answering the research question.

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4. Data analysis and structure

This chapter will deconstruct and codify the data into second-order themes and overarching concepts. How the transcripts were codified can be seen in the appendix on page 45. Using the codified data three tables will be developed which summarize the findings of the interviews, these tables will later be used to develop the model.

4.1 The data structure

The data structure below is representative of the data collected on communication and leadership. The data was broken into first-order categories, second-order themes, and overarching concepts. The two primary overarching concepts are communication and leadership. Technology had to be added because it was impossible to conduct the interviews without having the respondents mention technology and its role related to home-office in some regard. The second-order themes represent the themes that were discussed to an extent in every interview and these themes are what comprise the

overarching concepts. First-order categories refer to the opinions or examples provided by the respondents when discussing a subject concerning one of the second-order themes. The data structure will be comprised of three tables, one for each overarching concept, along with a descriptive text summarizing each table and the corresponding data.

4.2 Data structure for communication

First-order categories Second-order

themes

Overarching concepts

• Informal communication is almost gone from the workplace.

• All communication now takes place via formal

communication networks.

• Creativity has suffered due to the loss of informal

communication networks.

Formal and informal networks

Communication

• Email, chat rooms, and

video/audio conferences are the remaining knowledge-sharing methods.

• Some claim this has made meetings more efficient but less social.

• Overall, the quality of

communication has decreased however the frequency has increased.

Knowledge- sharing method

• Technology issues at the beginning of home-office were quickly resolved.

• Employees were separated and forbidden from interacting to prevent everyone from getting sick at the same time.

• Managers were forced to rapidly transition into digital communication.

Implementing change

Table 1, Communication data structure

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Table 1, Communication data structure represents the data gathered concerning communication, so either the respondent’s answers to questions specifically about communication or other mentions of communication that occurred during the interviews. Let us begin by analyzing the first second-order theme of

communication: formal and informal networks. What became clear from the respondents was that all communication had shifted to formal communication networks. Informal communication networks are either gone or seriously diminished and the effect this has had on the organization is that creativity, motivation, and fun have all suffered. As stated by respondent nr.5

“

I always said the most creative part of our company is the cafeteria. The best ideas creatively I ever had came from there and this creative process is somehow missing.” What this means is that as employees can no longer interact socially through informal communication networks their propensity to exchange ideas and knowledge has decreased which is why creativity is lacking. Furthermore, the removal of informal communication networks will obviously have an effect on motivation and fun for employees as they are no longer able to interact freely as they did prior to the pandemic. Although the managers are able to fulfill their functions within the organization through formal communication networks, informal networks still have an advantage in certain communication aspects as respondent nr.4 said “…if the door is open that means you are invited and you can have a 5 minute conversation that can save you 2 hours of work.” Clearly informal communication networks have a roll to play at the office and their removal has had a negative impact on organizations.

The second second-order theme of communication is knowledge-sharing method which refers to the actual method of communication being employed by the managers and those they work with. The methods of communication that are

employed within an organization are: face-to-face, email, video/audio conferences, phone calls, and chat rooms. These methods can be categorized as face-to-face interaction and interaction that cakes place through technology. COVID-19 has by implication removed face-to-face interaction from the workplace meaning all communication must now occur through technology. Communication through technology is very varied and can take on various forms as discussed earlier (email, video/audio conferences, phone calls, chat rooms). Interestingly, all managers stated that their preferred method of communication was an audio and video conference because it most closely resembles face-to-face interaction. Some managers even claimed that meetings have become more efficient as a result of them being

conducted through technology. “…it was pure Teams calls. In the beginning with no video then with video, and if you are used to that I think this worked fine. And more efficient because you are lacking the “bla bla” around the physical meeting.” (nr.3) This statement reflects the idea that communicating through technology is more efficient and direct, but it is lacking the social aspect of communication. This relates to the loss informal communication networks and some managers believe this has a serious effect on the quality of communication. “I think the bottom line is with the best communication in the world, you are not getting the same kind of impact as when you are meeting face-to-face.” (nr.4) To summarize, communication through technology is perhaps a more effective way of communicating but it is a form of

Working from Home - the new Office: Communication and Leadership for a Stay-at-home Workforce

Working from Home - the new Office:

Communication and Leadership for a Stay-at-Home Workforce

Table of Contents

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