In today's world, so many people are working from home and using technology to work with others in the workplace. Is working in this setting changing the way businesses might operate in the future?

The work from home environment is indeed changing the manner in which businesses operate in the future. It is also shaping the manner in which business is conducted around the world. The transition to a much more flexible work environment is disrupting not only the labor force but also the benefits organizations provide to entice consumers to work. Essentially, the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed the manner in which labor and business interact with one another (Bailey, 2002).

To begin the Work from home initiative has had a fundamental impact on the office building environment. With individuals working from home, there is less of need to rent large amounts of office space. This is turn has a compounding effect on the financial operations of a business. Here, as business require less space, then tend to not renew their office leases. This in turn saves businesses money in terms of general and administrative expenses. These cost savings can be passed onto employees in higher annual bonuses or to consumers in the form of lower prices. This can fundamentally impact team performance in a number of ways.

For one, less office time leads to less spontaneity within the work environment. The United States has an economy that is predicated heavily on services. To provide quality service, a strong culture is often required. Here, a culture can help show future employees what is acceptable behavior and what behavior will be shunned. By, transitioning to a work from home economy the ability to properly train and problem solve spontaneously is lost. The simply ability to walk to another co-workers desk for example, is lost through a virtual work experience. This can ultimately impact how a company culture is preserved and along with overall job satisfaction. This issue is compounded for jobs that have a heavy focus on intellectual capital. For example technology jobs, Wall Street jobs, and even many customer service jobs are all predicated on having smart and talented individuals. An office environment often helps to facilitate the exchange of information along with enabling a much cohesive work environment. A virtual environment mitigates many of these benefits as employees are less likely to interact with one another. This can have adverse consequences for employees and business overall. Here, as the business relies heavily on intellectual capital, a virtual environment significantly diminished the ability of individuals to leverage it. Likewise, the residual impacts can be very detrimental to the financial operations of the business. In this instance, a lack of innovation, communication, and culture will ultimately wither the competitive position of the firm (Buheji, 2020).

Detect and understand effective team member behaviors

From a team member perspective a virtual environment has both positive and negative elements to it. Here, the positive rely on the ease of communication. Virtual teams, according to research, tend to work longer hours and communicate much more frequently through virtual channel. These channels include leveraging technology such as Zoom, or Microsoft Team to communicate with team members. The appeal of these applications is predicated on their convenience. With a simply click of a button, an individual can communicate via email, video conferencing or chat functions. Each of which provide a seamless alternative to communication which enable efficiencies and productivity gains. This ultimately provide a benefit to the overall organization as it is able to minimize office expenses while also having teams that communicate frequently (Barney, 2020).

As noted above the negative elements pertain...

The primary organizational environmental characteristic that impacts teams is the overall company culture and structure. The environment in which an employee operates is often dictated by leadership, management and business owners. This culture can be toxic or supportive depending on the overall objectives and leadership style of management. Within a virtual setting, these cultural elements can manifest themselves in multiple ways. This can include unrealistic goals or targets. This can also include high stress levels, highly demanding clients and lack of recognition. Even internal workplace politics can impact the overall work environment. This can impact teams by either enhancing or diminishing their overall productivity. For example, high stress levels can ultimately result in high turnover within the organization. With high turnover more responsibility and demands are placed on the remaining employees causing a negative impact on overall job satisfaction. This will ultimately impact the team environment as these frustrations manifest themselves in lower productivity, higher turnover, and less innovation.

When traditional teams of people worked in the office, did they accomplish more or achieve higher ratings than they would if they were working virtually?

The research around productivity within an in office or virtual setting is mixed. Research shoes that those who work virtual tend to work longer hours than those in the office. This is a result of multiple factors including lower commute times, higher convenience, and easier accessibility to work. However, the results are mixed as it relates to productivity. Here a virtual environment tends to have much more distractions that have the potential to lower productivity. Likewise an office setting has a cultural impact on individuals as they see others working diligently within the environment. As a result of these factors the ability to determine if either is more productive or higher rated#8230;