Telecommuters Working Remotely in Interdependent Virtual Teams: The Lines Between Work and Home

Abstract

The lack of understanding about the process by which individuals subjectively experience remote work in virtual teams led to a phenomenological study drawing data from 10 interviews with telecommuters, who worked remotely more than 80% of the time. Using in-depth, semi-structured interviews, study findings contribute to the literature on Virtual Human Resource Development (VHRD) with five aspects of working remotely in virtual teams: (1) Telecommuters perceive time as an elastic, boundless aspect of how they work; (2) Telecommuters perceive increased effectiveness as a result of their work arrangements; (3) Individual initiative mediates the challenges of the social and emotional experience of telecommuting; (4) The social and emotional experience of telecommuting in virtual teams is impacted by the perception of others; and (5) The emotional experience of presence is enhanced by informal interactions. The article concludes with implications for VHRD scholars and practitioners in the post-COVID-19 workplace.

Leading from face-to-face to virtual: leaders' experiences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal during the pandemic.

“…There are many definitions of a virtual team, as many researchers have conceptualised this concept differently. However, the widely accepted definition of a virtual team, synonymous with a remote team, is a group of people who work together from different geographical locations (national, regional or continental) to achieve a shared goal (Michaud & Conceição, 2023). Miles and Snow (1986) pioneered the idea of a virtual team as a transformative form of networking.…”

“…A virtual team is a group of people that leverages communication technology to overcome constraints such as space, time, and organisational boundaries towards achieving shared goals (Michaud and Conceição, 2023). The advancement in information and communication technologies and increasing globalisation have contributed to the proliferation of global virtual teams (Liu, 2022).…”

“…This chapter presents a review of the literature on virtual work and leadership from various perspectives. Virtual work, telework, and remote work are synonyms used interchangeably for work arrangements where employees work away from an organisation's main site and engage via information communication technologies(Michaud & Conceição, 2023). For the study, the literature on teleworks, remote work and virtual work facilitated by technology were considered and referred to as virtual work.…”