The Case for Continuing In-Person Workshops in a Virtual World

In spring of 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic brought in-person gatherings across the world to a screeching halt. Over the last two years it has become the norm to conduct workshops and meetings sitting in front of a computer screen rather than in a room full of people. Nowadays, things like raising a virtual hand or reminding someone about the mute button seem to be more common than physically shaking a team member's hand or sitting across the table from a client. Whether you are in the camp that believes virtual workshops are the greatest thing since sliced bread, a poor substitute for the real thing, or somewhere in between, it certainly does not seem like they are going away anytime soon. In this paper we discuss the impact on learning and information exchange in general, the value industry, specifically, the role of the facilitator and associated core competencies, and the path forward. We find that while learning and information exchange can be done in a virtual environment, there are obstacles that cause engagement, understanding, and creativity to be hindered. These same obstacles have also impacted the value industry. This has affected teams' ability to fully engage in the workshops, ability to learn and understand a subject better, and the team leader's ability to manage and facilitate workshop teams in the virtual environment. The good news is that most of these limitations are manageable, but it's important for us as an industry to recognize that improving on this takes time and effort. In our opinion, in-person workshops yield the best results by increasing team engagement, allowing for more informal communication, and parallel communication;all this increases both creativity and understanding. Further, they allow for more opportunities for team building which enhances collaboration and the trust built between team members, thus improving the team's collective capability. Virtual workshops can be done, and may be preferable in specific circumstances, but we must change our approach in virtual workshops to overcome these obstacles. We have taken the low hanging fruit in terms of solutions, but it will require more creative solutions if we are going to continue to conduct virtual workshops in the future. © SAVE International 2022 Value Summit Proceedings: Turning Up the Heat on Value. All Rights Reserved.

“You don’t meet anybody when walking from the living room to the kitchen”: informal communication during remote work

Purpose>This study aims to analyze the structures, forms and functions of informal communication in telecommuting settings. Previous research on telecommuting has not considered the influence of telecommuting settings on informal communication, and research on informal communication has mainly focused on face-to-face communication while working in a physical office. This article aims to bring these two research strands together by analyzing the informal communication behavior of employees working from home.Design/methodology/approach>The authors conducted qualitative interviews with 21 employees who were working from home. The participants were recruited using quota sampling and the data were analyzed following the procedure for examining qualitative data proposed by Mayring (2014).Findings>The findings reveal similarities as well as differences between those working in an office and those working from home in terms of informal communication with co-workers: Informal communication fulfills similar functions in both cases, but remote work leads to less informal communication and hinders incidental exposure to other employees. Informal talks need to be planned in advance or strategically initiated. The authors identified five informal communication scenarios in telecommuting settings that partly, but not fully, overlap with scenarios in regular office settings.Originality/value>The present study is one of the first to examine informal communication in telecommuting settings. Previous studies have either excluded the aspect of informal communication or the situation for employees working in telecommuting settings. The results provide new insights into informal communication behavior in remote work.

The impact of informal communication on the quality and productivity of digital collaborative work.

BACKGROUND: Working via databases has become an integral and necessary part of work in businesses. The availability of knowledge and information from any location contributes to better networking and more transparency in companies and enables collaborative work regardless of the location. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020/21, physical distancing and digital work have become imperative for a greater number of people. This, in turn, can severely restrict both formal and informal means of communication, which can lead to rising cognitive job demands and decreasing productivity at work. Against this background, the question of whether and to what extent digital databases are able to guarantee effective task fulfilment without parallel communication has acquired new relevance. OBJECTIVE: The relationship between informal communication via four communication channels and a) the efficiency of work via databases and b) their necessity for the quality of work are investigated. METHODS: Employee surveys are evaluated in the form of cross-sectional data from three medium-sized German companies using econometric regression analyses. RESULTS: A clear relationship is revealed between informal communication and the effectiveness of work via databases as well as their necessity for work quality. The level of this relationship, however, varies depending on the type and purpose of informal communication. CONCLUSION: This article highlights the necessity of informal communication for digital collaborative work and hence has significant implications for business practice.