The Impact of Off-Site Shifts on the Relationship Between Employees and Their Managers

Off-site Work and Team Bonding

Off-site work has made it difficult for team bonding that was common at the face-to-face shift. The employees and their managers are not meeting every day, and the working relationship is poor (Canas and Sondak 2013, p.33). This essay will analyse the off-site shift and its impact on the relationship between employees and their managers as well as amongst themselves.

Problem with Team Members

In the case study, Craig is having a problem with two of his team members who work off-site. Each of them is complaining to be mishandled by the other. It was evident that Penny and Allison are not getting along well and it is affecting their performance and that of the team. Whereas Craig their manager seem not to understand the main issues among them, these two, Penny and Allison have a problem coping with each other’s behaviour and personality.

Mistakes by Craig as a Manager

The mistake Craig failed to get the team together and solve their problem focusing on the cause of everything. Besides, there were no daily of the periodic meeting of manager and the employees as required. Face-to-face shift usually involves several conferences and team building, which help prevent such kind of situations (Greenberg 2014,p.12). This team mostly relied on emails, which cannot give the true picture of everything happening between Allison and Craig. Another mistake Craig did as a manager is not to separate the two by transferring one of them from the team to another place. However, the situation is mostly caused by lack of bond in the team that could have enhanced teamwork (Ferrazzi 2014, p.122).

Remedies for the Situation

To remedy the situation, Craig needs to apply several options. First, there is a need for the team to have a regular meeting. This will help bring the team together and also Craig will be able to observe and establish the cause the problem in the team. The regular meeting will also ensure that little issues from everyday work are sorted out before they develop to worse situations like the current issues between Penny and Allison. Secondly, as the manager, Craig need to call an urgent meeting with Allison and Penny and let each of them explain what they think is the cause of their problem as well as suggestions on how to deal with it to permanently solve it. Also, there is a need to have regular team bonding where the manager, Craig and the team involving Penny and Allison, goes out for games or some team building exercise.

Conflict in the Off-site Team

The conflict evident in the off-site team is due to lack of togetherness in the team or no working as one team. The members work as competitors trying to outdo each other in the market instead of working towards a common goal. Also, the conflict is caused by lack of proper job description. Penny and Allison do not have a clear job description, and one feels they are equal whereas the other believes she is high in the rank. Maggie as the head of human resource should step in to help solve the problem. First, the role for Allison and Penny as well as their rank in the hierarchy should be well defined to them by the human resource department. Also, where the members of the team are finding it difficult to work together, the human resource department should move one of them out of the team and give her a separate role in another team (Hoch and Kozlowski 2014, p.390).

Craig’s Approach as a Manager

Craig as the manager needed to have a meeting with them both instead of holding a conversation with each of them separately via email. This is one of the major reasons why the team is growing apart and not working together as expected of them. Craig has also given the team too much freedom in terms of working on their own and accessing Craig with issues. A little bit strictness would make them develop common ground for working together and avoid the petty issues affecting them.

Ineffectiveness of the Off-site Team

The off-site team is ineffective because of lack of teamwork or togetherness. Manager, Craig has left the team to work on their own and only communicates with them via email. This has made the team members treat one another as a stranger (Purvanova 2014, p. 2). Poor communication process and channel that characterise off-site shift is another cause of its ineffectiveness. The team rarely communicates face to face with their manager and supervisor but via email. It is not easy for the manager to detect any problem among the team members because they are not meeting regularly. Lack of such meeting makes the team ineffective in that there is no time to sit down and discuss the issues facing them and forge ahead as one team (Saafein and Shaykhian 2014, p.459). Also, little supervision from their manager means that they would do what they want and how they want it because no authoritative figure around them would stop them. Such freedom usually leads to aloofness. The respect between the team members would not be there as well that respect to their managers. In general, the team manages itself, and no one gives it a direction and control.

Making the Team More Effective

To make the team more effective, there is the need for the human resource manager to assess the cause of the problem and address it promptly (Lilian 2014, p.1260). Allison and Penny have had issues amongst themselves for a long time, and it is affecting their working together as a team. To make the team run smoothly, there is a need to change one of them from the team and look for compatible people that can work together. Also, team building is one of the most important events in a workplace. Unfortunately, the off-site shift does not have actions which affect the cohesiveness of the team. It is therefore important for the manager Craig to organise such events occasionally to have the team together to share some skills, talents, and knowledge which will help them to work together for a common purpose.

Conclusion

In conclusion, off-site shift usually faces the problem of ineffectiveness because there few meetings and activities that can help make the team more cohesive. This can be solved by the team opting to have regular meetings even through teleconference. The case of Allison and Penny can be settled by removing one from the team and also adopting proper communication channels among the team as well as organizing events that would bring them together such as team building activities.

References

Canas, K. and Sondak, H., 2013. Opportunities and challenges of workplace diversity. Pearson

Greenberg, J., 2014. Behavior in Organizations: Global Edition. Pearson Higher Ed.

Ferrazzi, K., 2014. Getting virtual teams right. Harvard Business Review, 92(12), pp.120-123.

Hoch, J.E. and Kozlowski, S.W., 2014. Leading virtual teams: Hierarchical leadership, structural supports, and shared team leadership. Journal of applied psychology, 99(3), p.390.

Lilian, S. C. (2014). Virtual teams: Opportunities and challenges for e-leaders. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 110, 1251-1261.

Purvanova, R.K., 2014. Face-to-face versus virtual teams: What have we really learned?. The Psychologist-Manager Journal, 17(1), p.2.

Saafein, O. and Shaykhian, G.A., 2014. Factors affecting virtual team performance in telecommunication support environment. Telematics and Informatics, 31(3), pp.459-462.