Business Management Report Sample
This assessment builds on the skills developed in Assessment 3 and requires students to incorporate feedback received on Assessment 3 into this report.
Structure of Assessment 4
1. INTRODUCTION
An overview of the paper.
[The examiner will assess this section to see how well it introduces the paper, and whether it highlights the central argument/findings]
2. MEDIA ARTICLE
Summary of the media article selected.
[The examiner will assess this section to see how well it provides an overview of the central points raised in the media article]
3. JOURNAL ARTICLE
Summary/overview of the journal article selected.
[The examiner will assess this section to see how well it provides an overview of the main findings/contribution of the journal article, as it associates with the media article]
4. DISCUSSION
Discussion of the theory/concept discussed in the lecture and its application to the journal and media article used here, and its use to illustrate and explain and issue or provide a solution.
[This is the most important part of your paper. The examiner will assess this section looking for strong and well-supported arguments.
The examiner will want to see how well you introduce and utilise the 6+ journal articles to create a strong argument to support or solve the issues raised in the media article]
5. CONCLUSION
What valuable findings and discussion have you made using the media article, the journal article and the theory/concept?
[The examiner will assess this section to see how well it summarises the main points that you have raised - through argument - in your paper]
6. REFLECTION
Reflect on your how you have developed your work and your insight based on the feedback that you received from Assessment 3.
[The examiner will assess this section to see how you have reflected on your feedback, and how you have addressed any issues. You may also use this reflection section to reflect on your experiences around the issues and theories discussed in the paper]
7. REFERENCES
You must correctly reference:
(i) The journal article you have selected and used,
(ii) The media article you have selected and used,
(iii) All other sources and materials you have used – at least 6 additional academic journal articles are expected.
This assessment builds on the skills developed in Assessment 3.
Feedback from Assessment 3 must be incorporated into this report.
Solution
Introduction
The contemporary work environment has recently experienced a substantial shift, characterised by the growing prevalence of remote and hybrid work arrangements. With the increasing adoption of flexible work arrangements by various organisations, it is imperative to comprehend the variables that influence the efficacy of remote work. This paper analyses two contemporary articles. University Assignment Help, The first article investigates the influence of employee personality on remote work performance, while the second article delves into the effects of remote work on mental health and online security. By analysing the aforementioned studies, valuable insights can be gleaned regarding the obstacles and possibilities associated with remote work. It is crucial to devise customised solutions to optimise the advantages of this work arrangement. This essay examines the intricate relationship between personality traits, mental health, and cybersecurity within the framework of remote work. It elucidates how organisations can cultivate a work environment that is productive, secure, and sustainable in the digital era.
Media Article
The article How Your Personality Determines If You Can Work Remotely by Tsipursky (2023) posits that variances in personality are a noteworthy catalyst for variances in performance within hybrid work setups. Individual differences in employee personality can impact their efficacy in hybrid or remote work environments, leading to differing levels of job performance. The article says that aligning hybrid work arrangements with pertinent personality traits can enhance employee performance and yield mutually beneficial outcomes for all parties (Tsipursky, 2023). The Big Five personality assessment tool, which evaluates five personality traits, including extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and emotional stability, has been established as a dependable and accurate method for forecasting job performance. Moreover, according to the article, conscientiousness significantly correlates with superior performance in remote work (Tsipursky, 2023).
In contrast, extraversion and emotional stability also have a positive predictive association with performance, albeit to a lesser degree. Individuals exhibiting higher openness to experience demonstrated superior performance during their remote work tenure, albeit to a lesser extent than those exhibiting conscientiousness or extraversion (Tsipursky, 2023). The variable of agreeableness did not exhibit any statistically significant disparities in performance when comparing in-office and remote work environments. In general, remote work has been found to enhance employee productivity to a significant extent. However, managers tend to harbour reservations regarding the remote work hours of their hybrid employees. Organisations have the potential to enhance the efficiency of remote employees by implementing remote work-friendly technology and supporting remote work arrangements.
Journal Article
The article Loneliness, life satisfaction, problematic internet use and security behaviours: re-examining the Relationships when Working from home during COVID-19 by Deutrom et al. (2021) examines the heightened incidence of cybercrimes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, which experienced a surge of 400%, thereby designating COVID-19 as the most significant cybersecurity peril to date. The most prevalent form of a data breach was email phishing attacks, focusing on the healthcare and financial sectors. The article highlights the potential detrimental impact on public health due to attacks on healthcare and the sale of counterfeit personal protective equipment. Such actions may create a misleading sense of safety while enabling the spread of the virus, thereby endangering numerous lives (Deutrom et al. 2021). The severe financial ramifications are also evident. Europol has reported an increase in incidents of child sexual exploitation. The article emphasises that many scams employ social engineering tactics and concentrate on the human element, aiming to exploit users' online security practices (Deutrom et al. 2021). The article delves into the trend of remote work in the context of the pandemic, highlighting the obstacles associated with utilising technology for communication and collaboration with colleagues, the absence of social interaction, heightened levels of stress and burnout, and challenges in achieving a satisfactory work-life balance (Deutrom et al. 2021). Finally, the article examines the adverse effects on mental health that individuals have encountered during the lockdown period, primarily attributable to social isolation. Research findings indicate that there has been an average increase of 8.1% in mental health concerns in the United Kingdom since the onset of the pandemic, primarily attributed to the effects of social isolation.
Discussion
Tsipursky (2023) investigates the influence of different employee personalities on the efficiency of remote and hybrid work arrangements. This individual has also assisted entities in the establishment of hybrid work structures. This instrument evaluates a person's extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and emotional stability. Extraversion refers to a person's tendency to be outgoing and agreeable. Conscientiousness was shown to have a solid connection with increased work productivity in remote work, as indicated by the author's research, which was done in the context of the Big Five personality traits. It was discovered that the disparity in performance between workers with high conscientiousness and those with low conscientiousness was much bigger in the setting of remote work as compared to the environment of a regular office setting. Compared to working in a conventional office environment, individuals with high levels of extraversion tend to demonstrate lower levels of performance when they are given the opportunity to accomplish their jobs from the comfort of their homes. According to the research findings, having a steady emotional state and being open to new experiences are important predictors of improved performance in environments outside of the workplace. Openness to experience promoted better adaptation to hybrid work modes, but emotional stability needed stronger levels of emotional self-regulation on the part of the individual.
Even though much empirical data suggests that employees are substantially more productive when they work remotely, managers continue to have a sceptical attitude towards remote workers. Personality differences might explain that certain workers may perform less efficiently while working remotely, even though their positions and home office arrangements are equivalent. This is the conclusion that can be derived from the article.
Deutrom et al. (2021) found differences in how workers saw and adjusted to their new work environments while working remotely. Certain workers experienced significantly heightened levels of stress and feelings of isolation and burnout. The results above point to the fact that the effectiveness of hybrid work arrangements depends on various circumstances, such as the specific characteristics of the workforce members.
Moreover, according to Kramer and Kramer (2020), the COVID-19 pandemic is anticipated to influence how work, and jobs are seen substantially. This is projected to result in adjustments in the supply and demand of various job kinds and alterations in the importance attributed to different professions. The authors hypothesise that the experimentation with remote work might lead to shifts in occupational perspectives and an increase in the degree to which the labour market is segmented.
The research that was carried out by Xiao and colleagues (2021) focused on investigating the physical and mental health of persons who used office workstations at home while doing their jobs. The author's research revealed that a reduction in general welfare was linked to several factors. These factors include physical activity, dietary habits, interaction with colleagues, the presence of children at home, interruptions during work, a modified work schedule, the arrangement of the workstation, and contentment with indoor environmental conditions. The findings of this study may be helpful to businesses in understanding how to improve the provision of a positive experience for their employees when they are allowed to work from home.
Galanti et al. (2021) did research to evaluate the impact of several variables on the levels of productivity, work engagement, and stress levels of workers working from home. These factors included family-work conflict, social isolation, distracting surroundings, job autonomy, and self-leadership. The research findings showed that self-leadership and autonomy positively link with family-work conflict and social isolation. Still, productivity and work engagement were shown to have a negative association with these two factors. According to the findings of the study that was carried out, there is a negative association between family-work conflict and social isolation with the stress that is experienced when working from home. On the other hand, autonomy and self-leadership were not shown to have any meaningful influence on the amount of stress experienced.
The study conducted by Bellmann and Hubler (2019) examines the effects of remote work on job satisfaction and work-life balance among employees in Germany. The research indicates that remote work arrangements do not significantly influence employees' job satisfaction levels. However, it does reveal that working from home adversely affects the equilibrium between work and personal life. Research suggests that the adverse effects are more pronounced in cases where the asymmetry is work-related instead of being driven by personal interests. According to the research, implementing rigorous contractual arrangements for remote work does not result in a poorer work-life balance compared to non-obligatory pledges.
Kawakubo and Arata (2021) conducted a study investigating the correlation between residential surroundings, personality traits, and work productivity in Japan's remote work context. According to the research, the overall productivity of employees increased during the work-from-home period. However, specific productivity components, such as knowledge processing and creation, experienced a decline. This study underscores the significance of enhancing the residential setting to enhance productivity while working from home. Additionally, it posits that personality traits, namely neuroticism, openness, perseverance, and passion, affect productivity while working from home.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that organizations need to create a productive and inclusive environment to overcome the obstacles encountered in remote working. The two media articles were reviewed in the above paper, in which it was discovered that remote working resulted in better productivity levels. Covid-19 brought a different scenario of working from home, which was the highlight of the second article that revealed the problematic parts of working from home with increase privacy and confidentiality issues. The paper examined both benefits and risks involved in remote work, and organizations need to come up with creative solutions to make the most of the opportunities and minimize risk.
Reflection
Upon reviewing the feedback provided for Assignment 3, I experienced a range of emotions. From one perspective, I was content to learn that my written work was characterised by a high degree of readability and comprehensibility. Conversely, I experienced a sense of dissatisfaction upon learning that the material was overly streamlined. Upon reflection, it became apparent that my attention had been disproportionately directed towards summarising the article while neglecting to engage in a thorough and analytical evaluation of the said article. The feedback received highlights the possibility of identifying areas of critique within the AI-generated article, despite their apparent flawlessness. I could have potentially identified excessive employment of cohesion devices such as "another" and "finally," which may have contributed to a rigid tone in the written work. Moreover, I could have pointed out that the writer should have provided a more comprehensive list of sources, as their citations were limited to ChatGPT.
Additionally, the feedback underscored the significance of incorporating at least two scholarly articles in every critique. My responses were limited to a single source, indicating a lack of comprehensive comprehension of the subject matter. In general, the feedback gave me significant insights into enhancing my writing and research competencies. Upon reflection, it has become apparent that a more discerning methodology is required when evaluating any article. To this end, it is imperative to incorporate a multifaceted array of sources to bolster one's arguments. Additionally, I must prioritise the style and tone of my written work, guaranteeing that it is unambiguous, succinct, and captivating.
References
Bellmann, L. and Hübler, O., 2021. Working from home, job satisfaction and work–life balance–robust or heterogeneous links?. International Journal of Manpower, 42(3), pp.424-441.
Galanti, T., Guidetti, G., Mazzei, E., Zappalà, S. and Toscano, F., 2021. Work from home during the COVID-19 outbreak: The impact on employees’ remote work productivity, engagement, and stress. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 63(7), p.e426.
Kawakubo, S. and Arata, S., 2022. Study on residential environment and workers’ personality traits on productivity while working from home. Building and Environment, 212, p.108787.
Kramer, A. and Kramer, K.Z., 2020. The potential impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on occupational status, work from home, and occupational mobility. Journal of vocational behavior, 119, p.103442.
Tsipursky, G. (2023) How your personality determines if you can work remotely, Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/intentional-insights/202302/how-your-personality-determines-if-you-can-work-remotely (Accessed: April 13, 2023).
Xiao, Y., Becerik-Gerber, B., Lucas, G. and Roll, S.C., 2021. Impacts of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental well-being of office workstation users. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 63(3), p.181.