Foundation of Business Management

Assignment 2

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 Executive Summary

Starting with 19th of July, the UK Government recommended the return of employees
back to workplace in a safe way. So, the staff of Bedford Town Residences that worked at home
needs to return to workplace. But the return needs to take in consideration the desire of
employees which surveys showed that 50% of them don’t want to return fully to workplace. In
this situation, it was needed a plan to be developed and implemented for returning to a safe
workplace in a smooth way for not creating more problems than COVID created. Three options
have been considered when addressing the problem of returning back to workplace and hybrid
working model would be the best fit model for the business organizations where portion of
employees will be working in the office and rest of the employees will be working from home.
This hybrid model may help organization to save the valuable money and times of the
organization. Major issues and ways of coming out from the issues of covid-19 have been
discussed in this study.
The best practices from working from home have been transposed to hybrid model such
as the communication platform, the sanitation requirements being applied for the wellbeing of the
employees as it could be seen that workers if they find a safe place to return will enhance the
productivity and reduce the mentally problems appeared in the Covid era.

Contents

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Introduction........................................................................................................................4
Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on organizations..........................................................4
Key issues...........................................................................................................................5
Which working model to follow as covid-19 restrictions have been lifted out.............5
Inefficiency in communication and collaboration..........................................................6
Lack of motivation among the employees.....................................................................6
Physical workplace medication......................................................................................6
Using personal device and internet for office work.......................................................7
Increase of organizational costs.....................................................................................7
Workplace behaviour protocols implementing..............................................................7
Recommendations..............................................................................................................7
Conclusion..........................................................................................................................9
References........................................................................................................................10
Reflective report...............................................................................................................11

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 Introduction

Covid-19 is a number one issue at this current world. This little virus is haunting down
the human kinds. Countries restricted public gatherings and imposed lockdown in different areas
to stop mass spread of this fastest transmitted virus. Employees of different organizations were
working from their homes and recently government has lifted up all the restrictions and business
organizations began to bring back their employees into the workplace.
This report will address what working practices are considered a better version of
themselves, the way these best practices can be implemented back to offices and finally it is
explained how a hybrid model, which means office and remote working, will be implemented
and also enhancing the wellbeing of employees. The hybrid working model will resolve the
desire of management team of Bedford Town Residences by bringing back the employees to
workplace and creating a safe place to work and on the other hand the desire of employees to
preserve the working from home.
The report is addressed to the Management Team, COVID Response Team and for the
remote workers. The team that worked at this report is formed of 5 members divided from Senior
Management, staff that worked remotely and staff that worked frequently on-site. The
information in the report is structured in the following sections: introduction, impact of the
Covid-19 Pandemic on organizations, key issues, recommendations and conclusion.

Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on organizations

Covid-19 is leaving less or more impact on business organizations. Government policies

to curve the spread of coronavirus forced business organization to close their business operations
for a long period of time which cause huge losses for the business organization. Some
organization has to completely close their business operations for example tourism and
hospitality management organizations count big loss due to the travel ban. Since organizations
could not generate revenue, they were struggling to pay salaries to their employeesAcas
organisation (2021). Some organizations forced their employees to work at home which raised
some issues like inefficient communication, employee demotivation, laying employees off for an
uncertain period of time. Covid-19 also increases the costs of operating the business as extra
money has to spend to ensure healthy safety to the employees of the organizations. Covid-19
raised potential health risks and many organizations have lost many of their potential employees.
Many business organizations have lost their potential customers due to the changing behaviours
of the customers amid this covid-19 pandemic. Business organizations are struggling to generate
profit for the organization.
Organizations are experiencing downward growth and they are forced to cut their
employees and thousands of people have become jobless since the covid-19 broke out. Some
business organizations had taken loan to operate their business before covid-19 and amid the
lockdown it was difficult for the business organization to pay back the interest to the bank due to
the postponed of their business for a long period of time. Covid-19 also impacted on the
organizational culture of different organizations. Some organization allows employees working at

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home but this initiative has changed the mentality of the employees and cohesiveness and
collaboration among the employees have been decreased at a tremendous level. It was difficult
for all of the organizations to supply necessary accessories and utilities for their employees to
work at home which increases the operational costs of the organizations while profit margin has
been declined surprisingly (Fortune magazine, 2021).
Due to the restriction on movement, people are forced to stay home and they prefer buy
products from home which increases extra costs of delivering products to the consumer and
people only prefer to buy necessary products and services and this type of consumer behaviour
affects huge numbers of organizations which do not provide basics products and services. Covid-
19 pandemic has created a new situation with which every organization has to cope with.
Business organizations are bound to bring about some compulsory changes into their
organization such as organizations have to restructure their organization where every employee
can maintain social distance and organization has to spend extra money for buying disinfectants,
sanitizer and other things to ensure health safety to every individual within the organizational
setting. It is difficult for all the organization to establish health etiquette and ensure better team
collaboration as employees have to be conscious about maintaining social distancing from one
another which impacts on the mental settings of the employees and it will take time for the
employees to get accustomed with the new normal situation.

Key issues

Bedford Town Residence has three options after lifting legal restrictions on business
organizations. Number one is bringing about no changes and BTR can keep their employees
working at home, number two is BTR can ask all its employees to come back to the office rather
than working at home and option three could be bringing one third of the employees back to the
office in a week and allowing the rest of the employees working at home. These three options
have raised some issues which have been discussed below.

Which working model to follow as covid-19 restrictions have been lifted out
Mass spread of covid-19 forced business organization to send their employees home and
from where they were working till 19th of July. Now government lifted the restrictions and
organizations began to allow their employees working from the office but now new situation has
been created (Gormsen, 2021). All the employees are not interested in working from the office
and that’s why BTR is facing problem to take an initiative which would be satisfactory for all of
the employees and management of the organization. Three models have been identified which
can be applied in an organization to run the organization.
BTR may bring no change into their organization and employees may work from their
home but this model will not solve some problems such as depression among some employees,
communication problems, problem of collaborative work, excessive costs of utilities and
accessories and some other problems.
Second option organization like BRT can choose is bringing back all the employees into
the office and no more remote working will be available for the employees. This options also
raises some resinous problems such as organization has to count extra money for buying sanitizer

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and for workplace modification. This model will also increase the possibility of infection within
the organization which could be too dangerous for the organization (Gormsen, 2021).
Third option in BTR’s hand is adopting the hybrid model where some employees will
work from home and some will work in the office. This model could solve many problems but it
also raises some other problems such as it will reduce social engagement, may increase
collaboration barriers and it would be challenging for the management to implement this model
as it has to manage employees who will be working at home and employees who will be working
in office.

Inefficiency in communication and collaboration

Before the covid-19 pandemic, employees used to work in office and since all the
employees worked at the same place, it is easier to communicate with each other but covid-19
pandemic changes the work patter and employees were allowed to work from their home but
working from home hampers communication and collaboration within an organization as
employees have to solely rely on devices and network to communicate with each other and all the
employees are not technically efficient to communicate with others which creates a huge problem
to communicate and collaborate effectively and efficiently(Henry, 2020). It is time consuming to
reply the entire message at a time and social bonding is hampered due to working staying far
from each other. Home and office is not same and it is not possible to ensure same working
environment like office at home. At home employees might be distracted by different things and
employees cannot hold attention on the task for a long time. It has been found from the research
that collaboration cannot be ensured among the people who stay separate from each other.

Lack of motivation among the employees

It has been found from the research that employees working at homey can feel lonely
and could lose interest on accomplishing tasks within a time frame. According to the Maslow’s
hierarchy of need theory, people work to meet different types of needs such as physiological
needs, needs for love and belongings, need for esteem and so on. When an employee works from
home, that employee may feel the want of the social needs which could demotivate employees to
work. Bedford Town Residence should bring their employees back to the office otherwise it
would not be possible to motivate the employees and keep the employees engage in working
(Javed, 2021). Through the hybrid model, it could be possible to bring the employees back to the
office and at the same time BTR could make certain portion of employees working from home.
Social interaction is necessary to keep the employees mentally fresh; working from home for a
long period of time could affect the mental health of the employees which ultimately could affect
the quality of work of the employee.

Physical workplace medication

BTR has to modify its workplace in aim to keep its employee safe at the same time
getting things done by the employees. BTR has to maintain the government rules and regulations
to ensure employee safety that’s why it has to modify its workplace. Most of the business
organizations have to modify their workplace to ensure employee safety and workplace
modification could impact on effective communication among the employees.

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 Using personal device and internet for office work
After lifting restrictions on the organizations, organizations are trying to bring their
employees back to the office but large number of employees is not interested in doing office yet
as the risk of being infected has not been reduced at that level so employees are not eager to come
back to the office but employees who are working at home facing difficulties as they have to use
personal devices for office work and this create a huge problem for the employees to
communication

Increase of organizational costs

Return to the office after restriction will increase the cost of the organization as
organization has to spend extra cost for modification of the office, medication of the
communication system, purchasing computer and other accessories, costs of utilities. On the basis
of the model followed by the organization, cost will vary (Linda, 2021).

Workplace behaviour protocols implementing

After the restrictions, organizations have to impose new protocols for the safety of the
employees which could a challenge for the management of BTR and it will also increase the
operating cost of the organization. It will be challenging for the organizations to impose all the
rules and regulations imposed by the government to avoid spreading of covid-19.

Recommendations

In order to have a better communication between employees, a communication platform

should be acquired. This platform needs to be adapted for employees that work at offices but also
for those with remote working. As an employee spends 1 or 2 hours just reading the emails, then
to transmit the messages to other colleagues, it is time consuming and those hours should be
transposed in working hours to make the work efficient and more valuable for the leaders.
The second recommendation will be to prepare a safe place for people to return at work.
As workers are afraid of a returning to a place where they don’t have a certitude that is safe from
them to work and live, they might be negative to returning back to offices. And the management
team doesn’t need the problem to arise and to not have workers to do the job. As there are
recommendation on how the businesses to should act in front of covid 19 from UK government,
the only activity is to respect them and there all the actions that need to be done to have a safe
and happy place to work for not giving to employees’ other reason to feel unsafe.
Third recommendation is that BTR should make hybrid model of bringing back the
employees into the workplace because all of the employees of BTR are not willing to work in the
office. BTR may bring 33% of their employees back to the office e and it may give 66% of the
employees the opportunity to work from home in a week thus organization may increase the
employee engagement and collaboration and all the employees will get the chance to work from
as well as work in the office. There are several advantages of adopting hybrid working model
first of all the employees are getting the chance of working from home and working in the office,
secondly organization only need to provide necessary office accessories and devices only for the
33% employees. This model will also save the cost of sanitization and it will need less workplace

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modification as 33% employees can easily maintain social distance and can communicate with
the existing communication system. This model will resolve some basic problems which must be
followed such as it might not be possible for all the organization to modify their workplace for
maintaining social distance. When employees began to work in the office and socialize with each
other, it will circulate motivation among all the employees within the organization. Adopting the
hybrid model of work after the covid-19 restriction, organization will be able to provide social
needs to the employees might keep the employees mentally satisfied.
It would be difficult to impose covid-19 rules and regulations on each individual
employees of the organization if all the employees come into the office but when little portion of
the employees will come into the office; it will be easier for the management team to impose
covid-19 etiquette rules and regulations. If BRT choose the hybrid model, it would be bit more
difficult for the management team of BTR as BTR has to manage two offices at a time one is
offline office and another is online office as one third of the employees will be working in office
and rest of the employees will be working from their home. Management team has to response
through the online and in the offline platform and it would be really difficult for them to manage
the employees. To overcome this problem, management team could be divided into two groups
where one group will be dealing with the employees working from home and another group will
be dealing with the employees working in offline office.
Collaboration among the employees could be increased through ensuring adequate
safety measures to the employees so that employees cannot hesitate to collaborate with each
other. Necessary safety materials such as sanitizer, disinfectant, face masks must be made
available so that mutual trust is strengthened.

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 Conclusion

Covid-19 impacts on every sphere of life and business organizations are the mostly
affected. Covid-19 is forcing organization to change its organizational culture and it strongly acts
as a barrier of communication and communication. UK government lifted the restrictions from
the organizations and organizations can back their employees to the office but the risk of Covid-
19 infection has not been eliminated that’s why it poses a serious risk for the organization to get
their employees back in the office. Three models of office can be applied by different
organizations and it has found that hybrid model of working would be most effective for the
organizations to get their employees back to the office.
To accomplish the objectives of the report, studies, surveys or analyses were considered
to deliver the best course of action taking in the considerations the desire of the stakeholders: first
to bring back to offices in a non-invasive way the staff of Bedford Town Residences that worked
at home during the COVID period and the workplace to be a safe place to do their job.
After this report, we can see that some improvements have been made for the better
future of the company, such as: new communication platform acquired for making the delayed
reading emails hours into valuable time, the sanitization measures were done greatly to preserve
the healthy of the workers as no one of them got sick and finally the hybrid model of working
being considered the best action to call after the covid 19 era.
Based on the studies and report’s findings, it is recommended to implement a hybrid
working model option with 1/3 of total employees working one week each for maintaining
continuity at work and the other 2/3 working remotely. In the actual context of government
regulations, the only impediment in realizing this plan is to get sick all of those that work
physically at office but with the rules applied by the COVID team response this is highly unlikely
to happen.

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 References

1. Acas organisation (2021), New study reveals half of employers expect more
flexible working requests from staff after the pandemic is over. Available at:
https://www.acas.org.uk/new-study-reveals-half-of-employers-expect-more-flexible-working-
after-pandemic [Accessed: 28 august 2021].
2. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2021), Coronavirus (COVID-
19) Returning to the workplace guide. Available at:
https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/coronavirus/faqs/returning-to-workplace#gref [Accessed: 29
august2021].
3. Christakis, A.2021. Responsible Design, Implementation and Use of Information
and Communication Technology.
4. Fortune magazine (2021), Office workers to bosses: I’ll quit if I have to go full-
time back to the office. Available at: https://fortune.com/2021/07/26/office-workers-to-bosses-
quit-if-full-time-back-in-office/ [Accessed: 30 august 2021].
5. Gormsen, A.2021. The Impact of the Covid‐19 Pandemic on Firms ... . [online]
Available at: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7675467/> [Accessed: 30 august
2021].
6. Henry, C.2020. The Effects of Coronavirus on Businesses - Market Business ....
[online] Available at: https://marketbusinessnews.com/the-effects-of-coronavirus-on-businesses/
262030/ [Accessed: 02 september 2021].
7. https://fortune.com/2021/07/26/office-workers-to-bosses-quit-if-full-time-back-in-
office/ (Accessed: 01 September 2021).
8. https://www.acas.org.uk/new-study-reveals-half-of-employers-expect-more-
flexible-working-after-pandemic (Accessed: 03 August 2021).
9. Javed, A.2021. Business Impacts of COVID-19 (and How They’ll Affect the ....
[online] Available at: https://online.wharton.upenn.edu/blog/how-coronavirus-will-affect-the-
future/ [Accessed: 03 september 2021].
10. Linda, L.2021. This is the impact of the Coronavirus on business | World ....
[online] Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/02/why-is-coronavirus-a-global-
business-risk/ [Accessed: 04 september 2021].
11. McDonald, J., McGee, J. and Barnes, R., 2021. Research handbook on climate
change, oceans and coasts.
12. Sadun, K and Raffaella, S.2021. The Effect of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
on Business Intelligence.

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 Reflective report

Throughout the module, I have learnt new business management things and I have
experienced numbers of problems for which i have identified areas which need to be developed
and increased level of understanding.
Since English is not my native language, It is was bit difficult for me to communicate in
written form, though listen and speaking is a little bit easier than communicating in written form.
I have developed my writing skills from online resources and reading and writing on different
topics. I found it difficult to choose appropriate word for expressing specific feelings and I used
to make grammatical mistakes which were later developed using grammar tools. I have not
developed my communication skills so much better as I expected and these skills need to be
developed through reading and writing a lot on different topics. I have to find my mistakes
regularly and try to avoid them in next tasks (JNL Week 8, (27.08.2021) and one of the best tools
is the feedback which the teacher gave me in weekly journals as I consider that all problems need
the help of others to be overrun, sometimes with examples of behaviour from others and
sometimes with concrete actions to be taken in considerations.
I used to feel nervousness while dealing with difficult tasks and I could not always think
critically. I have learnt how to read and write critically on different topics using bloom taxonomy
and I’ve got help from my classmates who helped me to learn their culture and I have built up a
strong network which help me to discuss about issues of the class and helped me to solve
problems. At the beginning, it was bit introvert and could not want to close to others but
gradually, I have come to know that learning with friends of different cultural background is
funny and effective (JNL Week 8, (27.08.2021).
Computer literacy is an important skill which is useful in formal communication. At the
beginning, I could not use different tools of Microsoft word to accomplish my assignment. I felt
the need of drawing tables, diagrams to share my thought in the document. I began to learn use of
different tools of Microsoft word on YouTube and tried to implement on my own eventually, I
have learnt how to draw table, charts, diagrams and I have learnt how to type quickly placing my
hand on the keyboard correctly (JNL Week 6, (14.08.2021). Though I have learnt some computer
skills but I have identified my weaknesses in ICT skills and I have to develop my ICT skills with
the help of my classmates, colleagues and with the help of online resources. I have decided that I
will attend on a computer course where I have learnt all about Microsoft office applications and
these skills will make my academic and professional life easier (JNL Week 7, (19.08.2021).
The word entrepreneurship was in my mind and when I came across the definition of
entrepreneurship, I have understood quit easily but when I came across different types of
entrepreneurial ventures I go confused and it was difficult for me to find distinctions among the
typologies (JNL Week 7, (19.08.2021). It is difficult for me to understand all the things discussed
by my teacher as English is not my first language and I found it difficult to stay focus and catch
all the important points. Though I have not caught all the points from my teachers and teacher
helped me to understand the basics of entrepreneurship then I have strengthened my
understanding on this topic through learning from the online resources and discussing with my

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classmates and friends. I have come to realised that I have to learn more on this topic as this topic
is necessary for understanding the cores of different types of entrepreneurial ventures.
PowerPoint is an essential tool which helps us to communicate with the audiences in a
smart and easier way. Since I had not enough skills on computer, I was ignorant how to use
Microsoft PowerPoint to give a presentation on a specific topic. When I came in contact with
PowerPoint, I can only open the programme and can write something on the slide. I did not know
how to make slide show, how to add animation with the text, image and diagrams, how to change
background image, how to attach audio and video files with the slides. I have learnt all these
things from the class and I took the help of YouTube where there are lots of free resources which
were really helpful for me to learn all the necessary things in Microsoft PowerPoint. I have to
develop my ICT skills such as skill on Microsoft Excel, access and I need to develop my
communication skills using ICT skills (JNL Week 9, (3.09.2021).
We were taught on how to prepare academic writing, reading and taught how to present
an idea, topic through power point presentation. I have learnt some basic on how to collect
information, make critical analyse and evaluate on the basis of collected information. I have
come to know that the effective way of learning something is to experience or getting concrete
experience than reflecting those experiences on practical life and learning from the mistakes. I
have learnt some basic skills on computer, business and communication and I have to use the
basics of these learning to acquire deep knowledge and I have to be efficient in using computer so
that I can use the computer and internet for increasing my knowledge and using the computer
skills, I can better communicate with others through formal and informal communication.
For my future learning, I come across a plan to improve my communication – verbal and
written, ICT, problem solving and working with others skills. I designed a plan for the next 8
weeks in which I established these concrete actions:
 30 minutes per day in which I communicate verbally with my colleagues at work
in which I explain what I do in the university units for helping my future.
 30 minutes per day in which I make a transcript after a YouTube video.
 the above transcript will be done in Microsoft Word
 4 activities with my roommates and 4 activities with my co-workers to resolve
some team building problem that I seen on https://www.outbackteambuilding.com/blog/team-
building-problem-solving-activities/ .
 in each Friday I will make a PowerPoint presentation in which will be presented
the main activities done in that week.

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