The world of employment has been going through sudden and extensive changes due to COVID-19 creating new challenges to leaders around the globe – luckily there are hope and opportunities to be found. COVID-19 pandemic started to affect the globe at the end of 2019 and has continued to do so well in to summer of 2022. Pandemic has left its mark on the world but also inspired us to develop coping mechanisms to strive through challenges – One of them was and is the rapid development of e-leadership strategies and telework practices that have been accelerated due to vast masses of employees transferring to telework. Looking for the positive experiences in e-leadership In my master’s thesis I focused on the experience differences of managers and employees regarding e-leadership and telework practices. My goal was to find out the aspects of which managers and employees experienced differently in e-leadership setting to enlighten and bring forward the most important things for the employee satisfaction. The data for the research was collected by using a questionnaire that presented the participants similar questions that were worded differently based on whether the participant had earlier answered to a question that asked them to determine their managerial status. This way I was able to gain the perspectives of both managers and employees on the same topic. All participants worked as officials in a company that operates in telemarketing, face-to-face sales, and staff leasing. Results from the research show that managers availability to employees in telework is a crucial aspect of the perceived e-leadership experience. Another interesting finding was that employee’s own communication frequency towards their manager had positive affect to their own satisfaction, but managers contact frequency towards employees did not yield a statistically significant correlation towards employee satisfaction. E-leadership and communication From the research result I can conclude that communication is one of the key aspects of well executed e-leadership. As leadership still is an influence process it needs to be well maintained and therefore leaders need to consider the way they communicate more carefully compared to traditional face-to-face leadership. One of the key aspects of any relationship is trust and this comes awfully apparent in e-leadership where traditional leadership in shared physical spaces is not possible. What makes this communication so important to e-leadership is the fact that communications between manager and employee could be the employees only real contact to the organization that they have. E-training that aims to give individuals the required skill in various subjects is proven to aid employees to have a more positive e-leadership experience. Finally My thesis was able to prove a concretely that manager availability and communication between manager and employee are key factors in successful e-leadership in terms on employee satisfaction. I hope to have inspired the reader to think e-leadership more as dialogue between the two groups and shift their research focus efforts more into studying employee experiences to gain a deeper insight into the phenomena. Jere Kokko Lapin Yliopisto, Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta Kirjoitus perustuu hallintotieteen, erityisesti johtamisen psykologian pro gradu -tutkielmaan Experience differences, and biases between managers and employees in telework and e-leadership. Tutkielman ohjasi Ville Pietiläinen. Kirjallisuutta: Avolio, B. J., Kahai, S., & Dodge, G. E. (2000). E-Leadership: Implications for theory, research and practice. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(4), pp. 615-668. Contreras, F., Baykal, E., & Abid, G. (2020). E-leadership and Teleworking in Times of COVID-19 and Beyond: What We Know and Where Do We Go. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.590271 Politis, J. (2014). The Effect of e-Leadership on Onrganisational Trust and Commitment of Virtual Teams. European Conference on Management, Leadership & Governance (pp. 254-261). Kidmore End: Academic Conferences International Limited. Savolainen, T. (2013). Trust Building in e-Leadership - Important Skill for Technology Mediated Management in the 21st Cenrty. In V. Ribiere, & L. Worasinchai (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Management, Leadership and Governance (pp. 288-296). The Institute for Knowledge and Innovation South-East Asia Bankok University. Wolor, C. W., Solikhah, S., Fidhyallah, N. F., & Lestari, D. P. (2020). Effectiveness of E-Training, E-Leadership, and Work Life Balance on Employee Performance During COVID-19. Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 7(10), pp. 443-150. Kuva: Pixabay
Comments are closed.
|
Yhteisillä tulillaLapin yliopiston yhteiskuntatieteellisen tiedekunnan tutkimusyhteisön blogi. Categories |
Yhteisillä tulilla | Yhteisillä tulilla |