Question
| Formatting instructions: How to format your review essay 1. Provide at least 1” margins, at least 12-point font, and at least 1.15-line spacing. 2. Number all the pages. 3. Length: The maximum length of the essay is 4 pages, excluding references. 4. Use headings. 5. Place references at the end of your review essay. (PROVIDE EXACT EXAMPLES OF FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICES) Structure of your review essay Your review essay should have the following four sections. Use headings for all sections. Below I provide the body of text you should write in each section. 1. Introduction A good introduction encourages readers to read your essay with great interest and prepares them to understand it better. You want to establish common ground, a shared understanding between reader and you about the topic you will write in the following sections. Then, you will concisely introduce what the focused topic is, and how your essay is organized to inform readers. This section is usually a single paragraph. Do NOT place summary in the introduction and conclusion sections. If you do so, the level of achievement will be lowered. 2. Summary Assume that you are giving someone who has never read the article enough detail so that they could have a summary of the article. This section should provide the summary of the following key elements: · Theoretical framework which the author drew on, · Empirical data the authors collected and analyzed, · Key findings based on the empirical data the authors collected and analyzed Your summary should NOT be a mere copy of paragraph or the bulk of quotes from the article. You should provide a concise, comprehensive summary in your own words. In this section, please show me that you really read and comprehended the article at a level where you can cogently cover the most important parts succinctly. 3. Practical implications In this section, you should write how the crux of the article is applied to a managerial view in how managers need to manage virtual employees and the challenges virtual employees face. This section should be concrete enough to layout action plans in the organization. Practical implications should have tight connections with the core of the article. 4. Conclusion You wrap up your review. State overall contributions of the article, theoretically and practically. You should also write what more you would like to know. This section is usually a single paragraph. |
Answer
Bartel OS Isolation Virtual Employees
Contents
Introduction
In today’s digital workplace, managers face a daunting task of managing relationships with virtual workers. Though telework is the preferred mode of work by between 80% and 90% of U.S. employees, it presents important challenges (Kurland & Egan, 2009). First, when employees are physically isolated, they are put in compromised positions because they are not able to interact with and observe their co-workers. Secondly, isolated employees tend to get detached from the organization’s prototypical standards, such as culture, values, and behaviors. Thirdly, loss of respect is likely to occur because the virtual employees’ status is technically reduced. Nonetheless, virtual work is emerging as a dominant trend in American organizations, particularly because it is associated with reduced cost of operation and convenience. Virtual work is also ideal for employees whose positions require them to work from elsewhere. This paper will examine research findings from work by Bartel, Wrzesiewski, and Wiesfield (2011) with regard to the relationship between virtual worker’s level of physical isolation and their perceived status or respect in their organizations. First, it will explore the article’s theoretical framework, methods of data collection, and key findings based on the collected data. In the second part, focus will be on the practical implications of the authors’ findings in real-life managerial contexts. The paper’s conclusion will wrap up the article’s overall theoretical nd practical contribution.
Summary
The article by Bartel, Wrzesiewski, and Wiesfield (2011) seeks to examine the link between virtual employees’ level of physical isolation and the degree of perceived respect they get from organizations. In this context, respect has been conceptualized as the identity-grounded perception of how an employee is valued in an organization as demonstrated through social interactions. Other synonyms that have bee used in the article to refer to virtual work are remote work, telework, distributed work, and telecommuting. The guiding hypothesis in this article is that there is a connection between the degree of physical isolation and teleworkers’ perceived respect. This connection explains why there is low organizational identification among physically isolated telecommuters.
According to Bartel, Wrzesiewski, and Wiesfield (2011), previous work on telework has tended to compare the traditional in-office work with virtual work without considering the attributes of varied nature of locations from which these employees are working. The current study uses two field surveys with an organization and focuses on telework in an organization that has a central office, but where some employees have the option of working remotely or on part-time basis. The study’s theoretical framework is anchored on anecdotal accounts suggesting that remote workers live with fear of having their credibility and standing compromised by the nature of their work arrangements.
The authors conducted semi-structured interviews on 29 employees working in a technology firm and whose work arrangements required them to be physically isolated most of times. Questions focused on employees’ experiences and how they make sense of working remotely, with specific attention on how the virtual work impact on their relationship with the organization. Overall, the study concludes that a larger degree of physical isolation results in lower perceived respect among virtual workers while lowering organizational identification.
Practical Implications
There are numerous takeaways that organizations who deal with remote workers can find from this study. First, having a good understanding of the relationship between employees’ physical isolation and organizational connectedness is important for managers in the increasingly interconnected world. This is because isolation reduces the level of physical contact among workers while creating a sense of detachment (Cascio, 2010). In order to build cohesive workplaces where everybody feels valued, included, and respected, managers should attempt to put in place work arrangements that would ensure that employees spend considerable time in centralized offices. Secondly, managers can enhance their virtual employees’ organizational identification by continually reassuring them and making them aware that they are as accepted and included as their in-office counterparts. With technological innovations allowing new forms of work arrangements, organizations should strive to establish how physical isolation is affecting their employees, their attitudes towards work, workplace interactions, performance, and long-term career outcomes. According to Mulki et al. (2008), employees who feel valued by and connected to their organizations are likely to perform better. Thus, it is imperative for managers to find ways of making their employees to feel respected and confident, whether they are working on-site or remotely.
Conclusion
Ideally, the study by Bartel, Wrzesiewski, and Wiesfield (2011) adds to the existing literature about the amount of time that employees spend in physically isolated work contexts and how this time affects their organizational identification and perceived respect. Such knowledge is important at a time when organizations are undergoing rapid modifications to improve efficiency and flexibility and to keep at pace with technological changes. The findings of the study suggest that where virtue work is a norm, virtual interactions and mentoring relationships can work to promote the feeling of respect among members of an organization.
References
Bartel, C., Wrzesiewski, A. & Wiesfield, B. M. (2011). Knowing Where You Stand: Physical Isolation, Perceived Respect, and Organizational Identification among Virtual Employees; Organization Science, 23(3): 743-757
Cascio, W. F. (2010). Managing a virtual workplace: The Academy of Management Executive, 14(3), 81-90
Kurland, N. B., & Egan, T. D. (2009). Telecommuting: Justice and control in the virtual organization. Organization Science, 10(4), 500-513.
Mulki, J. P., Locander, W. B., Marshall, G. W., Harris, E. G., & Hensel, J. (2008). Workplace isolation, salesperson commitment, and job performance. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 28(1), 67-78.
