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Communication Studies in the Pandemic:

<I>The Turkish Panorama</I>

by Zekiye Tamer Gencer (Volume editor)
©2021 Edited Collection 216 Pages

Summary

The aim of this book is to take a look—in terms of communication—at the pandemic year, in which the normal flow of life was changed to abnormal throughout the world. An analysis has been made from different perspectives on public relations, advertising, cinema, mass media, and even interpersonal communication etc. We also examined the digital innovations that the Covid-19 pandemic brought to our lives and the changing behavior-attitudes associated with the pandemic.
This book aims to provide a picture of what happened in Turkey in terms of communication in the general panorama. It contains important information for communication academics, students, and anyone who is curious about what happened during the pandemic period in the coming years. We hope this book will contribute to the readership.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the editor
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Table of Contents
  • The Determinants of Remote Working Performance during the Covid-19 (Kamil Ahat, Muammer Zerenler, and Zeynep Ergen Işiklar)
  • The Impact of the Covid 19 Pandemic Process on the Purchasing Behavior of Consumers (Murat Toksari)
  • Contagious Diseases and Social Structure: Turkey during the Covid-19 Pandemic (Mustafa Narci and Nebiye Konuk Kandemir)
  • A View Baudrillard’s Hyper-Reality on Covid-19 Tweets (Nevin Arvas)
  • The Brand Heroes of Turkey in the Covid-19 Pandemic Process (Ömer Aydinlioğlu and Amine Feyzanur Aydar)
  • Futurism and Future Scenarios from a Public Relations Perspective (Sefer Darici and Seval Çetinkaya)
  • Dissenting Discourse Against the Global Pandemic Discourse: A Study of the Audience of “ Every Angle” Television Program (Simge Aksu)
  • Nudge Interventions Used in Health Communication during the Covid-19 Pandemic: An Analysis on Public Service Announcement Videos Published by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Turkey (Şükrü Arslan)
  • An Analysis of Covid-19 Pandemic Process in the Context of Digitalization of Mass Communication (Associate Prof. Zekiye Tamer Gencer)
  • About the Authors

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Kamil Ahat, Muammer Zerenler, and Zeynep Ergen Işiklar

The Determinants of Remote Working Performance during the Covid-19

Introduction

The World Health Organization (WHO) labeled the novel Coronavirus outbreak as a global pandemic on March 11 and urged governments around the world to take the issue seriously and implement various stringent measures against the first wave of the public health emergency. One of these measures has been the general isolation across countries, which has been implemented in many countries (ILO, 2020: 1). This extraordinary situation, the new type of coronavirus (Covid-19), has compelled more than 300 million people to work at their homes and attend classes at their homes; and therefore, the concepts of remote working and distance education have entered our lives on a global scale (Saraç, 2020).

The year 2020, in which the global economy and the habits of business life have changed in an unprecedented manner, can be regarded as a year in which experiences that can be seen as one of the most important turning points in the human history are gained.

The International Labour Organization stated that almost 4 out of 10 employees in Europe started working remotely as a result of the governments’ calls to stay at homes. The most significant increase in remote work occurred in the countries most affected by the virus and where remote work had developed well before the global pandemic. Approximately 60 % of employees in Finland worked remotely. More than 50 % of workers in Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark, and around 40 % in Ireland, Austria, Italy and Sweden started working remotely, and 24 % of those who had never worked remotely and 56 % of those who had occasionally worked remotely started working remotely (ILO, 2020: 3).

With the adoption of the understanding of working remotely in a period of such conditions, the term “virtual organization” has emerged as a common phenomenon in the business literature. Virtual organization, which emerged with the innovations that the developments in information technologies brought about to the traditional management thought, can be considered as organizational structures consisting of individuals who work for a common goal but do not work face-to-face and physically together in a common central building.

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Staples (1998) states that virtual organization employees, who have much more independence because they can work within their own work schedules and in their own environment, report that they are at a much higher level of satisfaction compared to traditional workplace employees because they can choose how and when to complete their duties. The 2020 pandemic conditions have brought virtual organization conditions, which were not possible in previous years for those who wanted to work flexibly, remotely or independently, to the fore. Therefore, it can be concluded that if the successful completion of a job does not depend on location, organizations can now easily bring the world at their fingertips.

COVID-19 constraints that fall at the very center of digital transformation agendas such as Community 5.0, Industry 4.0, once again demonstrated the reality of the promise that “Opportunities prefer those who are prepared for them.” Organizations that are prepared to exhibit virtual organization performance in their organizational culture can survive this period and even find new opportunities. Therefore, the “war for talent” brought to the literature by Chambers et al. (1998) continues to transform corporate cultures, and workplace working conditions are arranged in a way that positively supports both physical and psychological health of employees. These regulations aim to provide more benefits, support and initiative to more employees.

Along with all these developments, the business conditions that take place in the pandemic environment show that the approach of working remotely has the potential to create significant gains for teams and organizations, especially when the communication processes are managed effectively. However, it is clear that not every employee who works remotely will be equally effective. While some people can manage their potentials and performances when they work independently, others cannot cope with this since they perceive the flexibility of remote working conditions as an ambiguity.

Remote Working

In Turkey, the practice of working remotely, which was reflected in the Law of Obligations numbered 6098 under the name of “working at home” with a traditional definition in 2012, was explained in the labor law as “remote working” on 20.05.2016 as a working method that still has certain legal deficits (Özcan, 2018: 266).

The International Labour Organization (2017) defines remote working as the work done outside the employer’s premises using information and communication technologies (ICT) such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop ←8 | 9→computers. In other words, remote working refers to the work done with the help of ICTs and outside of the employer’s premises. Remote working should be done by a voluntary agreement between the employer and the employee. In addition, there are other issues that need to be clarified in determining the workplace (the employee’s home or elsewhere), such as working hours or schedule, communication tools to be used, work to be performed, supervisory mechanisms, and regulations for reporting the work (ILO, 2020: 1).

According to the general definitions accepted in the European Union, remote working is a form of work that employees do in a place away from customers, employers and workplaces, and communication with information technologies is used effectively (Tokol, 2011:1).

Tierney (2018) uses the term “remote working” to refer to people and teams that do not need to appear in a physical location on a regular basis. Regardless whether it is local or global, “remote working” is defined as smart work done by choosing the right place among the options such as home, common social area, or office to do the job. This situation is unexpected for the managers.

However, the change in the technology and lifestyles after COVID-19 makes remote work more widespread, and management and organization approaches are undergoing rapid changes accordingly. When working habits before COVID-19 are evaluated, remote working is considered as a topic of the future, nowadays remote working is today’s topic.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Remote Working

Yu (2010) defines remote working, which is shaped in line with technological developments, as a way of working outside the enterprise. Even if the employees are outside of the enterprise, they work in contact with the enterprise. Working remotely offers the advantages of benefiting from the skills of employees living in remote areas and saving from general expenses such as commuting (Şimşek, 2012: 13).

According to Eurostat 2018, although the number of people working remotely as part-time or full-time has gradually increased over the years, the global pandemic has forced employers to adopt remote working practices because in a situation like the COVID-19 pandemic, the remote working model has been accepted as an important way to ensure business continuity. Remote working offers a more flexible schedule and the freedom to work from an alternative location away from the employer’s premises for employees. However, there may also be very important risks to prevent by anticipating, such as isolation (especially for those who live alone) and loss of contact with colleagues (ILO, 2020: 1).

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Among the fifteen advantages Özcan (2018) identified in terms of remote working conditions, the following first three advantages that participants expressed the most are:

1. The chance for the employee to make his/her own schedule and to plan the day.

2. Working in a quiet, calm, comfortable and desired environment

3. The time to go to the office and coming back from there left to the employee

However, Özcan has determined 26 disadvantages of working remotely. The most emphasized disadvantages are as follows:

1. Inability to be efficient, disciplined and focused as in the office

2. Negative impact on the family

3. Loneliness and asocialization (Özcan, 2018: 267–268).

More company employees prefer to work flexibly due to the freedom that remote working offers. This way of working, recognized in the COVID-19 period, has become a management paradigm. However, apart from its benefits, remote working has some challenges. The Global Talent Trends Report (2019) underlines the following challenges:

Details

Pages
216
Year
2021
ISBN (PDF)
9783631862582
ISBN (ePUB)
9783631862599
ISBN (MOBI)
9783631862605
ISBN (Softcover)
9783631855614
DOI
10.3726/b18737
Language
English
Publication date
2021 (August)
Keywords
Culture Digital Age Literacy Social Network İnformation Age
Published
Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2021. 216 pp., 32 fig. col., 1 fig. b/w, 7 tables.

Biographical notes

Zekiye Tamer Gencer (Volume editor)

Zekiye Tamer Gencer gained her master’s degree and doctorate degree from Selçuk University. In 2010, she was appointed as a lecturer at Cumhuriyet University, Vocational School of Divrig˘i Nuri Demirag˘, and later as an assistant professor at the same university in the Department of Public Relations and Publicity, Faculty of Communication in 2013. She is still working in the same department as associate professor. Her main fields of study are communication, social media, research methods, and public relations. She has published various articles, notifications, and sections in international and national magazines.

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218 pages