Remote work – divided by space, united by team culture

Abstract

Team communication and cohesion, the feeling of belonging together, are central requirements to successfully perform as a part of a larger organization. During the challenging times of working from home due to COVID-19 it has become increasingly difficult to maintain conventional teamwork practices. This highlights the team manager’s role and abilities to adapt to changing environments. In this study, a project to improve communication and cohesion within an international consumer engagement team in a company providing outsourcing services was executed and analyzed. These improvements were hypothesized to enable the team to better reach the set targets.

Practical implementation of the thesis project was carried out using a survey concerning a team cohesion project that had been implemented previously. The survey was delivered via an anonymized electronic form. The agents’ personal development discussions had become a monthly habit to look forward to and the agents were very interested in their own performance. Based on the survey results this is partly due to the cohesion project. The agents are also slowly understanding the fact that “the bubble”, their limited connectivity space, prevents them from reaching their full capabilities and that this can be at least partly remedied by the improved team communications facilities. Measurable improvements in performance are still inconclusive but the daily operations have started to run more smoothly as the team has begun their journey towards proper function and success.