A leadership perspective on drivers of team performance during mandatory telework in the UAE

Abstract

Traditionally, telework – also referred to as Work-from-home (WFH) - is a voluntary work agreement between an employee and their line manager to partially work outside the usual office location. The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 forced companies around the world into ”lock-downs”, applying mandatory and full-time telework. These “telework” models differed substantially from traditional conceptualizations of telework: The arrangements were not voluntary but rather imposed and furthermore, the extent of teleworking practices increased from partial to full-time. Traditional telework knowledge is unable to explain phenomena under these new conditions. Companies lack guidance on how to cope best with a crisis situation where mandatory and full extent telework adoption becomes obligatory. Mandatory telework has rarely been conceptualized in literature. The study’s aim is to address this gap in knowledge by investigating drivers of successful adoptions of mandatory telework from a leadership perspective. Team performance is justified as success measure in the study. Mandatory telework remains a relevant topic even after the pandemic is over: The findings of the study could be applied to other crisis scenarios where mandatory telework must be adopted, for example violent conflicts due to increasing geopolitical instability as well as increasing natural disasters due to global warming like floods and hurricanes. A mixed methods approach with triangulation design is adopted. The study is conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for four reasons: First, although there is a vibrant academic community in the UAE, not many studies have examined telework in this region. Second, the UAE are a regional technology hub with highest ICT (information and communication technology) standards like broadband penetration and speed. Telework use and ICT are known to be correlated. Third, the UAE managed the crisis exceptionally well, both in economic as well as in public health terms, which makes this region a case to learn from. Fourth, the researcher is based in the UAE, therefore gaining access to leaders is feasible. The population of the study are leaders in the UAE who “normally” work with their teams in traditional office environments. Two research questions are asked: 1. What are drivers of team performance during mandatory telework – from a UAE leaders’ perspective? 2. How do UAE leaders overcome challenges when having to implement mandatory telework? Through systematic review of key literature, the study identifies key concepts for potential drivers: Boundary management, media-rich collaboration technology, trust and shared leadership. Research hypotheses are developed, assuming relationships between the drivers and team performance with trust as a moderator. Findings from quantitative and qualitative parts are triangulated. The study found that boundary management, media-richness in communication and shared leadership are drivers of team performance in a mandatory telework environment. The role of trust as a moderator or mediator was inconclusive in the study. Particular challenges related to mandatory telework were identified: mental health and workflow inefficiency. The study contributes to theory by extending boundary theory, media-richness theory and shared leadership theory into the new application “mandatory telework”. In literature, these theories had been applied to other contexts like traditional telework or virtual teams but not to mandatory telework. Developing practical guidance for companies from the findings of the study represents the contribution to practice.