Dual role of leadership in ‘Janus-faced’ telework from home

No Thumbnail Available

Access rights

openAccess
acceptedVersion

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

A3 Kirjan tai muun kokoomateoksen osa

Date

2023-02

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

20

Series

Abstract

The ‘forced’ telework from home during the pandemic changed the practices, routines, and especially the working contexts of many employees in a leadership position as leaders themselves became teleworkers in addition to those they were expected to lead. This chapter looks at the challenges and resources of working from home (WFH)—and their ambivalences—among teleworkers and teleworking leaders during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey data was collected immediately after the lockdown. From this data, two subsets were filtered. First, the responses of teleworkers (N = 228) and, second, of teleworking leaders (N = 195) were identified and analysed in regard to the ‘the most challenging’ and ‘the most rewarding’ issues when working from home. The study shows that telework from home is ‘Janus-faced’: telework is simultaneously challenging and rewarding in several respects. In addition, teleworking leaders have a dual role, as they must both adapt to working at home as teleworkers themselves and to being leaders of homeworkers. The findings can be used for designing, organizing, performing, and leading hybrid work in the future. In this evolving ‘new normal,’ leaders need to adapt to their dual role, learn new leadership competencies, and encourage their employees to lead themselves.

Description

Keywords

Other note

Citation

Vartiainen, M A 2023, Dual role of leadership in ‘Janus-faced’ telework from home . in S Bergum, P Peters & T Vold (eds), Virtual Management and the New Normal : New Perspectives on HRM and Leadership since the COVID-19 Pandemic . Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 269-289 . https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06813-3_14