Editor’s note: Mutiu Iyanda, the NAIJ.com partner blogger, explains how flexible workplace will increase company's productivity.
Mutiu is a research and communications professional.
He has a special interest in qualitative and quantitative methods of finding solutions to social and communication issues.
He currently works with Enterprations Limited, a management consulting company, which also provides a platform for working class professionals and aspiring entrepreneurs to own their business.
He could be contacted via: , +2348141374490, +2348062544816 or www.infoprations.blogspot.com.ng, www.enterprations.com
More details in NAIJ.com’s step-by-step guide for guest bloggers.
In today’s tasks distribution and implementation, employees are interested in having say in everything they do and meeting the needs of their families and lifestyles. To resolve this, Igbaria and Tan in 2001 believe that introduction of virtual workplace is imperative so as to “move work to where people are, rather than people to where the work is”.
Available evidence shows that company that embraces VO has the propensity of saving 25% on office space, 25% on telephones and 25% on computers. For instance, between 1991 and 1998, AT & T, an American telecoms company, saved more than $500m due to restructuring of its office space along virtual lines.
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Nigerian companies have a great deal of lesson to learn from the AT & T considering the annual increase of office space rent in business cities such as Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Port Harcourt. In Lagos, office space providers give out space to companies using square meter at rate of N40, 000 ($127).
A company with 10 employees needs 190sqm within average space category and expected to pay over N7 million annually while company which has 50 staff need 743sqm space amounted to over N29 million in business areas such as Lagos Island and Lekki. Average is the second most sought office space category by businesses.
However, businesses with low financial standing have opportunity of choosing economy category which possesses low cost in relation to its features. Within this category, our study reveals that the least square meter is 144 and meant for the companies with 10 employees which cost N5.7 million ($18,095) while 511sqm (N20.4million=$64,762) is the highest.
Companies within financial and manufacturing industries need to go for spacious office option in view of the number of square meter needed for sheltering material resources. Therefore, a company with 50 employees must rent a 975sqm office space which cost N39 million ($123,809).
In 2016, it was reported that Nestlé Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Lafarge Africa all recorded combined profit losses to the tune of N51.86 billion in the first half of the year. Our additional study shows that companies with 10, 30 and 50 employees would save N412, 500 ($1,309), N1, 237,500 ($3,929) and N2, 062,500 ($6,548) respectively on overhead when virtual organisation is adopted.
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The reduction is premised on the companies’ cost of purchasing telephones and computers for the employees. This is based on the average cost of buying functional telephone (N15, 000; $48) and computer (N150, 000; $476) for individual employee to aid conversation and tasks execution.
Flexible workspace, tasks execution, information and solutions provision, and prompt reaction to issues are the non-financial benefits companies’ employees expected to drive from VO adoption. Managers working from place other than the conventional office setting would ease their navigation during tasks execution and attainment.
Other three usefulness of VO are more pertinent to officers, junior personnel than managers. Typically, prompt reaction to issues could be realised when there is technology such as teleconferencing which helps in talking and getting immediate answers on issues.
It is quite explicable that human resource managers would have wider labour market to draw personnel from because new technologies have also give job seekers opportunity of making themselves known to companies using wide-ranging platforms such as Internet. LinkedIn, a professional social network remains distinctive instance.
In 2013, it was reported that over 7 million professionals from Africa were on the platform with Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt accounting for more than 60% users. Though, over 11 million Nigerians are unemployed but many have gained various technological skills needed for effectiveness of VO. When it is adopted, HR Managers have opportunity of recruiting from online talent platforms such as LinkedIn, Monster.com. As observed earlier, these platforms help individuals showcase their skills, availability, and other traits to a wider set of potential employers.
Associated risks and cultural dimensions
From the benefits managers and officers would derive from the adoption, VO has great potential for effective service or product delivery to consumers or clients when it is adopted and harnessed significantly. Nevertheless, there are risks and factors which could make or mar the adoption. Increase cost of technological equipment is the greatest challenge that would impede effective adoption of VO in Nigeria.
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This could be hinged on the fact that many technologies for business automation are still expensive. Workstation is one of such expensive equipment. However, Nigerian companies would have to explore new technologies developed and currently in use in advanced economies for making groups and teams truly virtual.
Nigeria business environment is structured along the principle of team work. Hardly could one perceive individualism whenever a need exists to solve organisational issues or carrying out certain tasks. We observe that workplace in Nigerian business cities increasingly requires employee to work in teams and collaborating across companies. Despite the feeling of declining team work benefits, reliability on co-workers in different functional areas has positive impacts on team cohesion and the sense of indispensability of personal contributions to the team.
Nonexistence of physical interaction would be the critical risk junior personnel will experience when VO is adopted. This is as a result of the Nigerian working class professionals’ unflinching social engagements with people of difference races and countries. To resolve this risk, clustering of employees using geographic proximity to the workstation could be a best strategy. It would provide shared social settings and allow employees to learn others’ expectations and to identify with their team.
Negligible trust is bound to occur, most importantly when there is specific time, day and week to finish certain tasks and concerned staff failed to turn in the output. To minimize the risk, experts have suggested opinion-based and fact-based trust analysis techniques.
Strict adherence to fact-based is more emphasised because it is objective rather than subjective, associated with opinion-based approach. Fact-based approach is essential in establishing trust relationships among virtual team members particularly in medium and large scale businesses.
Beyond these two approaches, trust negotiations has also been enunciated as best means of determining and verifying with a relatively small number of messages the properties, the history and, if needed, the reputation of VO's employees.
There would be a lot of activities for workers while working remotely, home related stress could not be ruled out. It would be impossible for employees to discipline themselves from interfering in home’s duties expected to perform or which masculinity/femininity cultural element assigned to them.
Technology instability would be a risky factor from the officers’ perspective. We observed that officers arrived at this due to poor business related technological infrastructure in Nigeria. Collaborative technology and infrastructure sharing remain best solution to the challenge. For instance, managers need to actively manage the deployment of new collaborative technology by focusing on specific characteristics of work groups.
Make and Mar factors
Working remotely would not allow junior employees to disagree with their line managers on issues. This is in line with the possibility of the managers making assertive decisions when they form interpersonal relationship. Working a far distance, junior employees are likely to find it difficult in arguing their positions on certain issues with superior employees.
Both managers and officers would doubt prompt promotion if their employers promise it. The uncertainty would be enormous because of less or absence of institutions that could help them to avoid the hesitation. Lack of face to face interaction is another key uncertainty capable of marring the effectiveness of VO. This is possible to be a common factor for both managers and officers.
Distraction from home activities and family issues would mar VO implementation in Nigeria. This is premised on the fact that Nigerians do not play with family affairs and home activities. A typical family is structured along culture which clearly defines gender roles. Both managers and officers we surveyed articulated this element.
Improved skills and knowledge, less nervous, proper utilization of skills and competencies, recognition, good physical working condition and stay up two to five years with their (managers and officers) are the make elements. Decision making in a Nigeria’s virtual organisation structure adopting company requires the use of intuition and striving for consensus, and consultative decision making style.
The mar elements encompasses ease of using personal time, personalised challenge, absolute freedom on resolving work-related problems and, decisive and assertive in decision making are the critical elements that would impede VO’s efficacy. Managers mostly like decisive and assertive decision making while managers in Information and Communication Technologies industry are most likely to be decisive and assertive in decision making and total freedom on solving work-related problems largely.
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Commitment towards company’s goals attainment, cooperation and collaboration with other employees is a key factor for success of VO in Nigeria. This shows that, despite the individualism as dominant dimension, employees would work towards their companies’ strategic and tactical objectives realization.
Where virtual organisation is appropriate
Businesses in sales, marketing, project management, software development and consulting stand to gain substantially from the VO adoption. They are serviced and knowledge-oriented businesses. To truly achieve knowledge-based economy by 2020, which is about three years now, Nigerian companies should start carrying out all their activities (production, marketing, finance, human resources, research and development, public relations) in a virtual environment.
Adopting VO remains best approach for moving from resource-based economy to knowledge-based one. At the same time, taking jobs to where competent hands are.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of NAIJ.com.
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