Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-dk7s8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-27T14:21:09.963Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Managing physical and virtual work environments during the COVID-19 pandemic: improving employee well-being and achieving mutual gains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2022

Ashly H. Pinnington  and
Oluremi B. Ayoko
Ashly H. Pinnington*
Affiliation:
Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management Department, Nottingham University Business School, Jubilee Campus, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG8 1BB, UK
Oluremi B. Ayoko*
Affiliation:
UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Ashly H. Pinnington, E-mail: ashly.pinnington@nottingham.ac.uk; Oluremi B. Ayoko, E-mail: r.ayoko@business.uq.edu.au
Author for correspondence: Ashly H. Pinnington, E-mail: ashly.pinnington@nottingham.ac.uk; Oluremi B. Ayoko, E-mail: r.ayoko@business.uq.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Contemporary organisations continue to use flexible workspace configurations and increasingly are adopting more automated and intelligent digital systems to organise work. Workspace configurations have various forms and arrangements composed of the physical workspace (such as open-plan office spaces) and virtual workspace (e.g., teleworking). The aim of this Special Issue (SI) is to stimulate inquiry into the role of management, organisation and HRM in promoting mutual gains for employers and employees working in these environments. The essence of mutual gains is that HRM practices lead to greater employee well-being and increased employee performance, the latter being especially important to employers for achieving organisational goals. In ‘managing physical and virtual work environments during the Covid-19 pandemic’, we consider how work is organised in challenging physical and virtual workspace configurations as well as how people engage in activities that are paced and informed by automated and digital technologies. Our aim is to encourage exciting research on the role and implementation of management, organisation and HRM in physical and virtual workspace configurations, stimulate new scholarly discussions on the topic, and increase understanding of the application of new technology systems and tools. A specific objective of this SI is therefore to increase academic knowledge on the opportunities and challenges faced by employees working in different physical and virtual workspace conditions, and consider the consequences for employee well-being (Guest, 2017; Van De Voorde, Paauwe, & Van Veldhoven, 2012).

Keywords

Physical workspacesvirtual workspacesemployee well-beingmutual gainsCOVID-19pandemic

Information

Type
Introduction
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 27 , Special Issue 6: Physical and virtual work environments during COVID-19 , November 2021 , pp. 993 - 1002
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abraham, M., Niessen, C., Schnabel, C., Lorek, K., Grimm, V., Möslein, K., & Wrede, M. (2019). Electronic monitoring at work: The role of attitudes, functions, and perceived control for the acceptance of tracking technologies. Human Resource Management Journal, 29(4), 657–675.Google Scholar
Aronsson, G., & Göransson, S. (1999). Permanent employment but not in a preferred occupation: Psychological and medical aspects, research implications. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 4(2), 152–163.Google Scholar
Ashkanasy, N. M., Ayoko, O. B., & Jehn, K. A. (2014). Understanding the physical environment of work and employee behavior: An affective events perspective. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(8), 1169–1184.Google Scholar
Ayoko, O. B., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2020a). The physical environment of office work: Future open plan offices. Australian Journal of Management, 45(3), 488–506.Google Scholar
Ayoko, O. B., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (Eds) (2020b) Organizational behavior and the physical environment. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ayoko, O. B., Ashkanasy, N. M., & Jehn, K. A. (2014). ‘Approaches to the study of employees’ territoriality, conflict, emotions and well-being. In Ayoko, Oluremi B., Ashkanasy, Neal M. & Jehn, Karen A. (Eds.), Handbook of conflict management research (pp. 363–381), Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. doi: 10.4337/9781781006948.00033Google Scholar
Ayoko, O. B., & Härtel, C. E. J. (2003). The role of space as both a conflict trigger and a conflict control mechanism in culturally heterogeneous workgroups. Applied Psychology: An international review, 52, 383–412.Google Scholar
Becker, F., & Sims, W. (2001). Offices that work. International Workplace Studies Program. New York: Cornell University, pp. 129–149.Google Scholar
Bondarouk, T., & Brewster, C. (2016). Conceptualising the future of HRM and technology research. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(21), 2652–2671.Google Scholar
Brown, G., Lawrence, T. B., & Robinson, S. L. (2005). Territoriality in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 30(3), 577–594.Google Scholar
Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (2011). Diagnosing and changing organisational culture. Based on the competing values framework (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Derks, D., & Bakker, A. B. (2010). The impact of e-mail communication on organizational life. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 4(1), article 4. Retrieved from https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/4233.Google Scholar
Edwards, M., Charlwood, A., Guenole, N., & Marler, J. (2019). Call for papers, special issue – HR/people analytics and human resource management. Human Resource Management Journal.Google Scholar
Elsbach, K. D. (2004). Interpreting workplace identities: The role of office décor. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 25(1), 99–128.Google Scholar
Elsbach, K. D., & Pratt, M. G. (2007). The physical environment in organizations. The Academy of Management Annals, 1(1), 181–224.Google Scholar
Guest, D. E. (1987). Human resource management and industrial relations. Journal of Management Studies, 24(5), 503–521.Google Scholar
Guest, D. E. (2017). Human resource management and employee well-being: Towards a new analytic framework. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(1), 22–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heikkurinen, P., Clegg, S. R., Pinnington, A. H., Nicolopoulou, K., & Alcaraz, J. M. (2021). Managing the anthropocene: Relational agency and power to respect planetary boundaries. Organization & Environment, 34(2), 267–286.Google Scholar
Jo, H., Aryee, S., Hsiung, H-H., & Guest, D. (2020). Fostering mutual gains: Explaining the influence of high-performance work systems and leadership on psychological health and service performance. Human Resource Management Journal, 30(2), 198–225.Google Scholar
Johns, G. (2006). The essential impact of context on organisational behavior. The Academy of Management Review, 31, 386–408.Google Scholar
Johns, G. (2010). Some unintended consequences of job design. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31, 361–369.Google Scholar
Kamoche, K., & Maguire, K. (2011). Pit sense: Appropriation of practice-based knowledge in a UK coalmine’. Human Relations, 64(5), 725–744.Google Scholar
Kim, J., & de Dear, R. (2013). Workspace satisfaction: The privacy-communication trade-off in open-plan offices. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 36, 18–26.Google Scholar
Monaghan, N., & Ayoko, O. B. (2019). Open-plan office, employees’ enactment, interpretations and reactions to territoriality. International Journal of Manpower, 40(2), 228–245.Google Scholar
Ogbonnaya, C. (2019). Exploring possible trade-offs between organisational performance and employee well-being: The role of teamwork practices. Human Resource Management Journal, 29(3), 451–468.Google Scholar
Ogbonnaya, C., & Messersmith, J. (2019). Employee performance, well-being, and differential effects of human resource management subdimensions: Mutual gains or conflicting outcomes? Human Resource Management Journal, 29(3), 509–526.Google Scholar
Peccei, D., & Van de Voorde, K. (2019). Human resource management–well-being–performance research revisited: Past, present, and future. Human Resource Management Journal, 29(4), 539–563.Google Scholar
Redman, T., Hamilton, P., Malloch, H., & Kleymann, B. (2011). Working here makes me sick! The consequences of sick building syndrome. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(1), 14–27.Google Scholar
Regoeczi, W. C. (2003). When context matters: A multilevel analysis of household and neighborhood crowding on aggression and withdrawal. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 23(4), 457–470.Google Scholar
Toker, U., & Gray, D. O. (2008). Innovation spaces: Workspace planning and innovation in U.S. University research centers. Research Policy, 37, 309–329.Google Scholar
UN- Policy Brief on Covid- 19 (2020) https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2020/08/sg_policy_brief_covid-19_and_education_august_2020.pdf- web visited on the 29th of Dec, 2021.Google Scholar
Van De Voorde, K., Paauwe, J., & Van Veldhoven, M. (2012). Employee well-being and the HRM–organizational performance relationship: A review of quantitative studies. International Journal of Management Reviews, 14, 391–407.Google Scholar
Zweig, D., & Scott, K. (2007). When unfairness matters most: Supervisory violations of electronic monitoring practices. Human Resource Management Journal, 17(3), 227–247.Google Scholar