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At a time when technology is more advanced than ever, artificial intelligence and machine learning are transforming industries and workplaces now exist in a virtual world, it’s no surprise that job design is changing rapidly.
Many routine manual activities have become automated, while more cognitive and social activities are enhanced by the new technologies and tools that are becoming part of daily working life.
Thus, in many different industries there has been a growing shift from static hierarchical structures to networked organizations with virtual teams brought together for specific projects and outcomes. As the need for staff to perform routine manual tasks decreases, job design is evolving to focus on collaborative work that can be completed remotely. Along with a growing trend in innovation outsourcing, where companies use outside parties to support idea generation or development strategies, staff are able to refocus on teamwork, strategy and continuous improvement.
The impact of COVID-19 on the workplace
Over millions of years of evolution, humans have evolved to rely on face-to-face interactions as the most effective form of communication. Prior to COVID-19, with less demand for remote work tools, desktop media failed to understand these evolutionary factors, making online meetings unnatural with documentation being passed back and forth between colleagues over an extended period of time. .
According to HH Clark and SE Brennan, the more natural an interface is, the more likely it is to be used and the better the collaborative understanding. Unnatural meetings, such as those using traditional videoconferencing tools, go against the evolution of the human mind and as such require more cognitive effort. A recent Actus poll also found that one-third of workers have suffered from lockdown lethargy since switching to remote work.
With many parts of the world still blocked and international travel remaining a distant reality, it is critical for companies to use virtual meeting media that simulate face-to-face interactions, rather than simply showing faces on a screen.
Job design in a virtual world
Virtual meeting media is a crucial component of the evolution of work design in a remote world, enabling teams to work together with a new generation of complexity. In our current, largely virtual business world, asynchronous collaboration tools aren’t enough to reach the level of communication needed to move projects forward at the speed needed to avoid downtime or additional costs.
Traditional desktop collaboration tools like MS Teams and Zoom have proved sufficient in this unprecedented time, but employees are often frustrated, stressed and exhausted by the limitations of asynchronous tools. There is now an urgent need for tools that enable virtual meetings to create an office environment where employees can work on complex tasks, have better team alignment and a more productive workflow. Business leaders must adapt to the remote work revolution and invest in technology that allows employees to thrive.
Helping to simulate a panel discussion – rather than simply showing faces on a screen that is slow, stiff and often unproductive – virtual meeting media are becoming more and more available. Their effect is to create a very large cognitive bandwidth, close to that achieved by face-to-face encounters with artifacts, which is especially important in these unprecedented times and beyond. Combining people’s interaction and enabling thinking in an environment designed to recreate a natural encounter will create a virtual space to work on complex tasks synchronously, allowing for better team alignment and improved productivity.
Networked organizations with virtual teams
As we move closer to a post-pandemic world, our new normal will increasingly rely on networked organizations with virtual teams spread across the globe. These blocks have shown that businesses can’t just function, but still thrive in a remote environment, allowing business leaders to leverage a significantly larger talent pool.
Using effective virtual means of meeting, these global teams can still work productively together as if they were face to face. In a remote world, seamless communication is key and will cement the shift from traditional and routine work style to a more dynamic and agile workforce.
About the author
Jocelyn Lomer is managing director of nuVa Enterprises. nuVa Enterprises is run by a close-knit team of experts who are passionate about what they do and want to improve the quality and understanding of collaboration around the world. If you see nuVa, you will immediately see that it is not only cutting edge, but also the very collaborative environment you have been looking for since touchscreens became a reality.
Featured Image: Kateryna
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