Understanding how COVID-19 pandemic has influenced team structures

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, many teams and groups have been restructured in a variety of different ways. For example, many medical professionals who are not working on the COVID-19 frontlines have transitioned to telemedicine and are communicating with the rest of their patients’ care teams remotely, engineering teams are building and testing prototypes asynchronously, and professors have shifted to virtual lectures and lab meetings. Additionally, teams are dynamic as projects, patients, and clients often change, presenting unique challenges, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. That is, many teams have dissolved during COVID-19, and new ones have formed, often with some team members never having met each other face to face before. Moreover, nearly every industry has witnessed layoffs, furloughs, and other unfortunate personnel decisions as a result of the economic fallout of the pandemic (Voytko, Reference Voytko2020). Such rampant reductions in personnel have resulted in shifting team dynamics, as workers who were once there simply no longer are, and remaining team members may question the longevity or stability of the team. As a result, in addition to the challenges that virtual teams often face in general, it is also important to take into consideration the unique challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic presents.

How remote work changes team communication and outcomes

Researchers have theorized about and empirically measured the effects of communication modality, specifically face-to-face interaction in comparison with various forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC), on interpersonal dynamics and performance (e.g., Cascio, Reference Cascio2000; Cordery & Soo, Reference Cordery and Soo2008; Driskell etal., Reference Driskell, Radtke and Salas2003; Marlow etal., Reference Marlow, Lacerenza and Salas2017). For example, one of the main concerns regarding the sudden shift to remote work is technology overload (Karr-Wisniewski & Lu, Reference Karr-Wisniewski and Lu2010). Technology overload occurs in three primary ways: information overload (i.e., a greater amount of information is presented than can be processed), communication overload (i.e., others demand excessive communication, causing work interruptions), and system feature overload (i.e., technology is unnecessarily complex; Karr-Wisniewski & Lu, Reference Karr-Wisniewski and Lu2010). Previous research has found that when using virtual interfaces, teams’ communication frequency increases but efficiency decreases (compared with using face-to-face communication; DeSanctis & Monge, Reference DeSanctis and Monge2006). When adjusting to virtual communication, team members may not yet be able to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant communication. As such, there may be a greater amount of unnecessary shared information among new remote teams, resulting in cognitive overload and decreasing performance (Marlow etal., Reference Marlow, Lacerenza and Salas2017).

In addition, media richness theory (Daft & Lengel, Reference Daft and Lengel1986; Walther, Reference Walther, Knapp and Daly2011) suggests that different types of CMC reduce nonverbal cues (e.g., facial expressions, eye contact, body language) to varying degrees. Fewer nonverbal cues are particularly detrimental when teams are completing complex tasks, for which richer media is better (Daft & Lengel, Reference Daft and Lengel1986). Richer virtual media, including video communication such as Zoom or Skype, provides more robust information by facilitating immediate feedback and more interpersonal cues (e.g., vocal inflection, gestures). At the other end of the spectrum, leaner (i.e., less rich) media includes written text communication such as email or instant messaging (Dennis & Kinney, Reference Dennis and Kinney1998 Reference Dennis and Kinney). When teams are initially adapting to remote communication and fewer nonverbal cues, there may be increased potential for miscommunication. For example, team members often demonstrate confirmation or denial via nonverbal gestures, such as a head nod (Kraut etal., Reference Kraut, Lewis and Swezey1982; Yngve, Reference Yngve1970); in virtual meetings, these gestures may be less clear, and in other forms of CMC (e.g., email), they may not be present at all. As a result, it may be more difficult to discern whether messages are received and understood, and team communication processes may be impaired (Cramton, Reference Cramton2001; Gibson & Cohen, Reference Gibson and Cohen2003; Hertel etal., Reference Hertel, Geister and Konradt2005).

In addition to potential miscommunication, new virtual teams often engage in fewer casual conversations and experience more delayed response times among team members, which can negatively affect team trust and cohesion (Driskell etal., Reference Driskell, Radtke and Salas2003; Gibson & Cohen, Reference Gibson and Cohen2003; Greenberg etal., Reference Greenberg, Greenberg and Antonucci2007; Marlow etal., Reference Marlow, Lacerenza and Salas2017). This decreased level of connectedness among virtual teams can negatively affect not only team members’ work engagement but also team cognition and collective efficacy (Cordery & Soo, Reference Cordery and Soo2008; Griffith & Neale, Reference Griffith and Neale2001; Kanawattanachai & Yoo, Reference Kanawattanachai and Yoo2007). Team cognition refers to shared information and knowledge structures among team members, and collective efficacy refers to a team’s beliefs surrounding its capability to perform effectively. Both are strongly related to more effective team processes and performance (DeChurch & Mesmer-Magnus, Reference DeChurch and Mesmer-Magnus2010; Gully etal., Reference Gully, Incalcaterra, Joshi and Beaubien2002). As a result, it is clear that the shift to remote work can pose multiple challenges to new virtual teams; however, there are multiple strategies that team members and managers can use to improve their virtual team experiences.

Recommendations for remote communication in teams

First, it is important to select the appropriate communication media (e.g., video, phone, email, instant messaging) based on task type (Beauregard etal., Reference Beauregard, Basile, Canonico and Landers2019). For simple tasks and when faster responses are necessary, instant messaging (e.g., Slack, Skype chat) can reduce interruptions and thereby increase productivity, as it allows users to engage in brief but frequent interactions (Garrett & Danziger, Reference Garrett and Danziger2007). For complex tasks that require greater collaboration and information sharing, however, managers should encourage video-based communication instead of text-based communication, as video is a richer form of media that allows employees to feel more present, satisfied, and engaged at work (Rogelberg, Reference Rogelberg2020; Turetken etal., Reference Turetken, Jain, Quesenberry and Ngwenyama2011).

In addition, when sending messages to the team, both managers and team members should work to be concise, clear, and specific in their wording. This will help garner greater attentional focus but require minimal processing to reduce cognitive load (Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2020). Timelines, roles, and expectations should be clearly outlined to reduce ambiguity and miscommunication. Team managers can also improve trust and compliance in virtual teams by maintaining a positive tone in messages and serving as an example for any behaviors they are requesting of the team (e.g., having their video turned on during virtual meetings, limiting work communications to traditional work hours, demonstrating compassion and understanding toward team members).

Creating effective and engaging virtual meetings is challenging; however, teams can improve the quality of these interactions by implementing techniques from meeting management research. To minimize technology overload and ensure effective use of time, meeting hosts should only send invitations to the appropriate people and clarify the roles of all meeting attendees (i.e., introduce everyone and provide expectations around each person’s responsibilities; Malhotra etal., Reference Malhotra, Majchrzak and Rosen2007). During the meeting, to set norms surrounding virtual interactions and decrease ambiguity, hosts should use attendees’ names and call on them individually (Malhotra etal., Reference Malhotra, Majchrzak and Rosen2007). To improve team cohesion, hosts can set aside time at the beginning of each meeting for more casual conversation and for team members to strengthen interpersonal relationships (Cascio, Reference Cascio2000). Hosts can also improve collaboration by encouraging members to silently brainstorm for several minutes and write their ideas in a working document before discussing as a larger group (Kreamer & Rogelberg, Reference Kreamer and Rogelberg2020). Silent, prolonged deliberation facilitates creativity and participation, encouraging more introverted individuals to engage and creating space for unique perspectives to be discussed (Kreamer & Rogelberg, Reference Kreamer and Rogelberg2020; Stasser & Titus, Reference Stasser and Titus1985). Splitting larger group meetings into smaller “breakout” sessions or polling meeting members for anonymous feedback (using the functionality built into popular video platforms like Zoom) also encourages contributions without the high stakes of a large group setting (Kreamer & Rogelberg, Reference Kreamer and Rogelberg2020). Last, to foster inclusion and engagement, hosts should record the meeting or distribute meeting notes to nonessential personnel and allow them to attend in the future if they choose (Rogelberg, Reference Rogelberg2020).

Creating a successful telework environment may also be a function of effective leadership, as managers must adapt quickly to the challenges that come with virtual teams (e.g., communication issues, decreased engagement, professional isolation; Cascio, Reference Cascio2000; Offstein etal., Reference Offstein, Morwick and Koskinen2010). Team managers should establish high-quality, frequent communication with their team members in addition to offering emotional and instrumental support (Golden etal., Reference Golden, Veiga and Dino2008). Managers should ask for what their employees may need to help facilitate their work (e.g., equipment/technology, social support) and encourage them to ask questions and clarify any potential misunderstandings that may have come up from virtual communication. In addition, many employees are also likely dealing with shifts in their lives outside of work due to the pandemic (e.g., full-time care for other family members), so managers should provide employees with flexibility and discretion over their telework. For example, employees should be able to schedule their work hours around the needs of their children. This increased autonomy enables employees to respond to job and life demands more effectively while continuing to meet work-related goals (Harpaz, Reference Harpaz2002).