The Good, the Bad and the Blend: The Strategic Role of the “Middle Leadership” in Work-Family/Life Dynamics during Remote Working

Abstract

The ongoing epidemiological crisis has suddenly steered us towards a new futuristic work scenario in which most service sector employees work remotely, which could be a permanent reality for most service sector employees. This paper focuses on the strategic role that leadership could play in the radical change process that is taking place in work environments. Particular attention was paid to the role of ‘middle managers’ who perform an important function as a link between the strategic vision of top management and the workforce. In addition, special attention was paid to gender differences in work-life dynamics, which are particularly relevant in countries with traditional cultural identities. As this is a conceptual contribution, the most recent studies on this specific role of middle managers have been taken into account and embedded in the current scenario. Therefore, the main contribution in terms of originality was that the current review aimed to leverage such a legacy of knowledge and create a system of evidence-based practical implications for effectively supporting change in organizational culture through the identification of the most appropriate middle management leadership models for remote working that could prevent and/or limit any psychosocial risks (e.g., workaholism and technostress) and longer-term outcomes such as sustainable work-life interface.

Investigating the Role of Remote Working on Employees’ Performance and Well-Being: An Evidence-Based Systematic Review

“…Organizations will likely differ in the amount of autonomy and resources they can invest in promoting a strategic implementation of teleworking, depending on whether they are public or private, profit or non-profit, small, medium, or big. These dimensions will impact even middle managers' roles and influence employees [57]. The same considerations can be made on the organizational sector.…”

Return to Work during the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Study on the Role of Job Demands, Job Resources, and Personal Resources upon the Administrative Staff of Italian Public Universities

“…Among these, social support, which can be defined as the employee’s belief that help can be available from others in demanding conditions [ 38 ], has been investigated as one of the most powerful sources of wellbeing and mental health able to reduce uncertainties during unpredictable time of crisis. Therefore, it should have a further critical role, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when employees are under additional and atypical stress and are even more socially isolated [ 39 , 40 ]. In line with these arguments, recent studies have contended that among smart workers, both supervisor and co-worker support helped employees reduce emotional exhaustion by lessening perceived uncertainties and organizational crisis communication during the COVID-19 lockdown [ 41 , 42 , 43 ].…”

Stop (to Work) and Go (to Recover) During Mandatory Work From Home: A Three-Wave Study

“…The research findings suggest practical implications in several areas. First, the ability of supervisors to provide support, even in the context of remote work mediated by information and communication technologies, is particularly important today (Spagnoli et al, 2021). Models of “digital leadership” or “leadership 4.0” are described in the literature (Trenerry et al, 2021), which can serve as a reference for the institutional and self-directed training of new generations of managers.…”

“…With reference to WFH, key position papers in the field of organizational studies emphasized the importance of paying special attention to the role of leadership, both in an emergency situation and in the upcoming “new normal” scenario (Kniffin et al, 2020; Rudolph et al, 2020; Sinclair et al, 2020; Spagnoli et al, 2021). Some empirical evidence has highlighted the beneficial role of positive leadership (Lamprinou et al, 2021) but also the detrimental effects of abusive/intrusive, toxic, or destructive leadership behaviors (Dolce et al, 2020; Magnavita et al, 2021), and identified the role of the supervisor as a key variable in the dynamics of remote working.…”