Discussion Question week 8

Global Pandemic

Working Remotely

I think the most obvious change in organizations and the workplace is the workplace

itself. If you were to look back ten years ago, I am sure none of us would have thought a lot of

jobs could be done from home. In the past for a traditional office job, people would go to the

office Monday through Friday for 40 hours of work. No one would have dreamed of waking up,

grabbing a cup of coffee from their own kitchen, grabbing their laptop, sitting down on their own

couch and starting their workday. Remote work would have been a dream ten years ago and now

has become a reality for many during the global pandemic and, for some, has become a

Deaf people depend on Video Relay Service (VRS) to make calls. VRS is an interpreter in a call

center that interprets the call to the Deaf person and lets the person who can hear know what the

Deaf person is signing. If that organization had to shut down, they would cut off a vital line of

communication for Deaf people. The Federal Communications Commission governs this service

and because of those outside forces, the companies that provide these services have to take extra

aspects or dynamics into consideration when deciding where and how to continue to provide the

service(s). Having to pivot, like the pandemic, was never considered at length in the past and

unless working remotely was often allows because of a particularly unique situation. A

substantial learning curve in relation to this work shift was having staff utilize technology.

Businesses force staff to learn new skills that they may not have needed ever to use, which also

showed that it could be done as well (Hull et al., 2022).0

Flexibility

Having flexibility is crucial for the workplace currently. Being flexible was highlighted

when the global pandemic began, which makes me think of the natural system and how there is a

framework to follow that can be adjusted as needed (Scott & Davis, 2016). I am sure there were

many rules in these companies or processes that had been followed for years that needed to be

reevaluated because of the global pandemic. Some of these companies may have had a rational

the Federal Communications Commission rules to make sure the Deaf community still had that

vital communication in a world no one recognized was essential. That kind of company would

shift from a rational system to a natural one until how they can figure out how to conduct

interpreting the phone calls and after the world resumes life after a pandemic, they will likely go

back to a rational system. One interesting outcome I read about the staff working remotely made

them become better leaders because they had to have self-leadership when working on their own

(Costantini & Weintraub, 2022). Having leadership skills is a beneficial trait to possess, so the

added benefit of working from home and having to lead themselves at times is excellent. This

skill will be transferable to so many other areas of the employees work and/or personal life.

Organizations being flexible in relation to the location of work can be done and has given some

freedom to the workforce. Possessing this freedom in the workforce, in turn, added to job

satisfaction (McBeath et al., 2020).00

Bible Perspective

When looking at the Bible and God's view on being flexible, it is something he desires

from us. He says we should have our plans but know he may have other plans for us to follow

showing that "The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord shows him what to do" (Proverbs

16:9, New Living Translation). Society and individuals need to be open to the ideas of alternate

also leaders in the workplace, and we want those we are leading to be flexible and follow us

where we lead.0

The way we do work and where has been a significant change in the workforce in the last

few years. This has forced us to be flexible, develop leadership skills, and rely on others to know

what to do and how. Flexibility translates in individuals’ personal lives and their workplace. The

aspects mentioned above are things we need to know how to do and how to show others. In some

ways, we were fortunate that we were able to learn from the global pandemic, even if it was

forced. This radical change in society allowed a greater understanding, especially in the

workplace.

Out of Office

In the past, the typical office job was Monday through Friday, nine to five, 40 hours a

week. Now with email, teleconferencing, smartphones, laptops, and more has drastically changed

the traditional view of a workweek. We don't get the "out of office" bounce back message as

much as we did in the past when sending an email to someone. Currently, we can send files to

others, create and edit documents and team build with others all on our smartphones. Those tools

have blurred the line between work life and clocking out more than ever. We have even started to

feelings in the family life (Eby, 2022). There have been studies looking at the effects of the

blurred lines between work and personal life and they have shown that there are adverse

outcomes to the goals of the family when there are no clear boundaries between work and family

(Hunter et al., 2017). These blurred lines then fosters negative feelings within the family about

the person's work. If we even look at our own family and friends, many of them are attached to

their phones. The trickle-down effect can be catastrophic if the family together does not come up

with and establish boundaries. Not having clear lines has negative consequences in the work

world and the homelife. The effectiveness in the workplace can suffer along with effectiveness at

home (Wepfer et al., 2017). This can have such an impact on so many things in life. When the

boundaries are made, there comes a feeling of order and role expectations. I said that the family

needs to come up with these boundaries because the person that is blurring the line between work

and family may have different expectations, which is why it needs to be a family together to

decide the boundaries, so everyone is on the same page. There is a dilemma for the person

wanting to be productive all the time and also be present when they are home. This has taken an

even more dramatic effect with the global pandemic moving many people to work from their

homes. In many homes, there were no lines drawn between work and home. Now, the dining

room has become a home office. People need to be careful that the blurred line does not become

set between life and work is essential. To go along with that, it is also important to establish them

with your family, employees, and customers (Ma et al., 2021). One other area this could be a

transition issue is the single demographic starting out in the workplace and those working at all

hours of the day trying to get ahead. Those individuals may have now started a family, and they

need to shift to a more balanced life, which could be challenging. If balance is not established, it

will become a bigger issue in the future.0

Bible Perspective

When we look to the Bible, there are areas where boundaries are talked about and it talks

about setting them and having them. The Bible states that "He makes peace within your walls.

He fills you with the best grain" (Psalm 147:14, New Living Translation). This is one way to

look at boundaries and how having them is a good thing because of the good that comes from

them. I really like when Matthew says "Let your yes be YES. Let your no be NO. Anything more

than this comes from the devil" (Matthew 5:37, New Living Translation). We can often over

complicate our boundaries by trying to explain away or provide excuses for when we are laying

out boundaries with others. When we decide what our limitations are it is essential that we

ensure that we are standing firm in the boundaries we have set in place. We can also look at

we have established, we can end up losing sight of the goals we have set for ourselves, our

families, our careers and our relationship with God. Additionally, another perspective is

establishing boundaries protect us from others who may not necessarily wish us harm, but have

the potential to derail the boundaries we have set in place. We can keep with the path we want

for our lives when we follow the lines we have made. Furthermore, our lines may also keep those

outsides of our boundaries because we do not want them to interfere with our life goals. It is like

we are establishing our life rules, moto and lines, and if others wish to be a part of it, they need

to respect those boundaries.

References

Costantini, A., & Weintraub, J. (2022). The benefits of being proactive while working remotely:

Leveraging self-leadership and job crafting to achieve higher work engagement and task

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physio.2021.12.0690

Hunter, E. M., Clark, M. A., & Carlson, D. S. (2017). Violating work-family boundaries:

Reactions to interruptions at work and home.0Journal of Management,045(3), 1284–1308.

https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063177022210

Ma, E., Wang, S., Wang, D., Liu, A., & Kim, M. (S. (2021). When work and life boundaries are

blurred—P2P accommodation hosts’ work-life integration and consequences.0International

Journal of Hospitality Management,099, 103074.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.1030740

McBeath, A. G., Plock, S., & Bager‐Charleson, S. (2020). The challenges and experiences of

psychotherapists working remotely during the Coronavirus* pandemic.0Counselling and

Scott, W. R., & Davis, G. F. (2016).0Organizations and organizing rational, natural, and open

system perspectives. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.0

Wepfer, A. G., Allen, T. D., Brauchli, R., Jenny, G. J., & Bauer, G. F. (2017). Work-life

boundaries and well-being: Does work-to-life integration impair well-being through lack of

recovery?0Journal of Business and Psychology,033(6), 727–740.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-017-9520-y0

Response 1

Larissa Moore

Larissa, I enjoyed reading your post. I also touched on technology being how organizations

needs were great. It seems like every day, there is new technology coming out to stay relevant in

the business world. When we even look at ourselves and how many get the new iPhone every

year is crazy. The funny thing is I am one of those people, but I have a loophole, my job gives

me one every year. But businesses have the dilemma of new technology, and do they get in on

the ground floor or wait to see if the tech proves itself.

One thing organizations need to make sure they are doing is staying up to date and

understanding in the world of technology that would be useful in their industry. Knowing how to

implement the right technology at the right time is very important to stay relevant. It can also

provide the best service, product or experience for your consumers. Another thing is how much

of a benefit the convenience of technology can be none one side. On the other side that,

convenience can make work life and home life be blurred. Knowing how to balance that is

important. But also important is learning as much as you can so you can reach out to more

people. That convenience also allows you to connect with people you couldn't before because the

consumers also have the technology to see more things and learn more things. If we adapt to

Communications, Inc. and its application? I know for myself I had to have many doctor's

appointments, even at the start of COVID. I had been recovering from reconstructing surgeries

due to cancer. The medical field could not use the traditional Zoom program/app. They needed to

find a more encrypted program because of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability

Act (Spyropoulos et al., 2020). Before COVID, telemedicine was unheard of in most places. It

was only utilized at 8% in the United States prior to 2020 (Kludacz-Alessandri et al., 2021). For

myself, I was incredibly thankful for them embracing new technology and learning. It allowed

me to stay safe in my own home at the beginning of COVID. We did know really know much