Managing from the comfort of your own home – a dream come true or an unproductive nightmare? : A single case study exploring how managers’ perceived team productivity has changed during COVID-19

Abstract: This study explores how managers perceive the change in their teams’ productivity, as a result of moving from an office-based workspace to a virtual workspace. In the circumstances of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and its resulting restrictions and recommendations, there has been a mass relocation to working virtually from home. To establish if there has been any perceived change in employee productivity, several different factors such as communication, team unity, and trust were compared during two different time-points, before the start of the pandemic and 16 months into the pandemic. This is a hybrid study that makes use of both quantitative and qualitative properties, by first establishing a base of data through a survey, the initial observations were then explored further and to greater insight by interviewing a sample of the managers who took part in the survey.  The findings of the study suggest that the pandemic reflects an overall negative outcome on team productivity as a result of working virtually. The most affected team factors include communication, conflict resolution, and planning. There are however other effects to factors such as team unity and trust that may bear relational consequences. Ultimately, the findings of the current study indicate a generally negative effect on team productivity.