Analysis framework
| Initial coding with examples from the data . | Name of initial code . | Focused coding (affordances/constraints) . | Theoretical coding (tensions) . |
|---|---|---|---|
| “As for the remote working practices, we have these regular video meetings, such as weekly meetings with the management team.” (Iota_Interviewee 17) | Schedulability | Flexibility (16/33)* | Flexibility–Inflexibility |
| “One good thing is the efficiency … video meetings start with the press of a button and … end on time because there is usually another one about to begin.” (Eta_Interviewee 12) | Time efficiency | ||
| “Flexibility in calendars is gone. … a couple of video meetings went overtime. … this doesn't necessarily improve productivity. Instead, people get tired by the eighth video meeting.” (Eta_Interviewee 12) | Uncontrollability of time | Inflexibility (10/33) | |
| “We have a variety of virtual events, including lunches and coffee breaks with the team. We have had virtual after-work events, virtual team days, and virtual escape rooms.” (Zeta_Interviewee 10) | Attending events | Social connectedness (20/33) | Social connectedness–Social disconnectedness |
| “Trust-building, and how to foster it, requires listening skills and the ability to ask people how they are doing [via video communication]. Building trust within my team [when working in digital environments] and fostering an open environment for discussion are the key themes I want to highlight.” (Omikron_ Interviewee 31) | Building trust | ||
| “In my team, we want to ensure that people get noticed and heard online. Every Wednesday, we have a half-hour virtual coffee break via Microsoft Teams video call. In virtual coffee meetings, we do not talk about work-related things at all, and we have agreed to keep our cameras on.” (Beta_Interviewee 3) | Interconnectivity | ||
| “You (as a leader) have a certain amount of responsibility for the well-being of the people in your team and how they are doing. If you have not seen your team member on camera even once a year, you may start to wonder whether everything is going well.” (Iota_Interviewee 18) | Restricting emotional support | Social disconnectedness (20/33) | |
| “We've observed that many tasks can be accomplished through [audiovisual communication]. However, what seems to suffer is trust-building, whether between individuals or in organizational change situations. In such cases, the limitations of video communication become apparent.” (Xi_Interviewee 28) | Preventing trust-building | ||
| “Before the COVID-19 pandemic …. Teams and their supervisors were in the same office, and we didn't have many remote workers. Each office had its own community, and our culture was based on physical presence. Then, COVID-19 took away what had been our strength.” (Mu_Interviewee 25) | Weakening the sense of community | ||
| “During video meetings, we solely focus on work-related topics, without delving into personal matters or individuals' moods, which represents a significant challenge.” (Beta_Interviewee 3) | Restricting social talk | ||
| “When discussing someone's career or addressing challenging topics, strong emotions often arise. When possible, such conversations should be conducted in person. I prefer to have at least the kick-off meetings face-to-face as it accelerates the process of achieving results.” (Kappa_Interviewee 20) | Restricting nonverbal communication | ||
| “Involving people in video meetings is important. Everyone should have some sort of speaking turn, a presentation, or something similar …. It is one way to approach [engaging people].” (Beta_Interviewee 3) | Involving people | Engagement (20/33) | Engagement–Disengagement |
| “Workshops or brainstorming sessions should ideally be conducted in person to maximize their potential. Even … via video call, with good audio and various collaborative tools available for innovation, there's still a sense of something missing.” (Alpha_Interviewee 2) | Restricting innovation | Disengagement (12/33) | |
| “… people use instant messaging in Teams quite a lot …. it is rude to chat and respond to … instant messages … because it distracts from focusing on the [video] meeting.” (Eta_Interviewee 12) | Distracting concentration | ||
| “… there are quite a few companies where people don't keep their cameras on during video meetings. Because of that, people are even more likely to start doing their own thing and not be mentally present ….” (Delta_Interviewee 6) | Causing social absence | ||
| ”If I look at how internal communication is handled here, we have lots of briefings and all-hands events organized via video in our culture. For instance, the top management team often has open question-and-answer sessions. We also have informal coffee meetings, formal info sessions, and even news broadcasts [all via video]).” (Iota_Interviewee 17) | Informing employees | Sharing formal information (27/33) | Sharing formal information–Concealing informal information |
| “The important thing is information sharing, especially during these remote work times. The role of internal communication is extremely important. We have many briefings for larger groups via video at the company-wide level, and I hold an information session via video for my entire team every other week.” (Delta_Interviewee 6) | Establishing information flow | ||
| “The challenge is that you only receive information that is consciously communicated to you via video. You don't get informal information because you don't have encounters in hallways, cafes, or canteens where information is shared more widely and spontaneously.” (Delta_Interviewee 6) | Restricted informal communication | Concealing informal information (10/33) | |
| “We became equal in the virtual world because previously, some people were in the office and some were not. Now we meet everyone … [on video calls], and it is such a positive thing.” (Zeta_Interviewee 10) | Equalizing employees | Equality (8/33) | Equality–Inequality |
| “Video meetings can be quite unequal. Some individuals tend to dominate the conversation, while others remain quiet. For a leader, it's essential … to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to speak. However, it is challenging to ensure that all necessary comments, perspectives, ideas, and information are shared in the meeting.” (Theta_Interviewee 14) | Amplifying employee communication style differences | Inequality (15/33) | |
| “We've observed a polarization among employees. Those who were already hard workers are now working even more, while those who tended to avoid their responsibilities are doing so even more now.” (Pi_Interviewee 32) | Amplifying employee working style differences |
| Initial coding with examples from the data . | Name of initial code . | Focused coding (affordances/constraints) . | Theoretical coding (tensions) . |
|---|---|---|---|
| “As for the remote working practices, we have these regular video meetings, such as weekly meetings with the management team.” (Iota_Interviewee 17) | Schedulability | Flexibility (16/33)* | Flexibility–Inflexibility |
| “One good thing is the efficiency … video meetings start with the press of a button and … end on time because there is usually another one about to begin.” (Eta_Interviewee 12) | Time efficiency | ||
| “Flexibility in calendars is gone. … a couple of video meetings went overtime. … this doesn't necessarily improve productivity. Instead, people get tired by the eighth video meeting.” (Eta_Interviewee 12) | Uncontrollability of time | Inflexibility (10/33) | |
| “We have a variety of virtual events, including lunches and coffee breaks with the team. We have had virtual after-work events, virtual team days, and virtual escape rooms.” (Zeta_Interviewee 10) | Attending events | Social connectedness (20/33) | Social connectedness–Social disconnectedness |
| “Trust-building, and how to foster it, requires listening skills and the ability to ask people how they are doing [via video communication]. Building trust within my team [when working in digital environments] and fostering an open environment for discussion are the key themes I want to highlight.” (Omikron_ Interviewee 31) | Building trust | ||
| “In my team, we want to ensure that people get noticed and heard online. Every Wednesday, we have a half-hour virtual coffee break via Microsoft Teams video call. In virtual coffee meetings, we do not talk about work-related things at all, and we have agreed to keep our cameras on.” (Beta_Interviewee 3) | Interconnectivity | ||
| “You (as a leader) have a certain amount of responsibility for the well-being of the people in your team and how they are doing. If you have not seen your team member on camera even once a year, you may start to wonder whether everything is going well.” (Iota_Interviewee 18) | Restricting emotional support | Social disconnectedness (20/33) | |
| “We've observed that many tasks can be accomplished through [audiovisual communication]. However, what seems to suffer is trust-building, whether between individuals or in organizational change situations. In such cases, the limitations of video communication become apparent.” (Xi_Interviewee 28) | Preventing trust-building | ||
| “Before the COVID-19 pandemic …. Teams and their supervisors were in the same office, and we didn't have many remote workers. Each office had its own community, and our culture was based on physical presence. Then, COVID-19 took away what had been our strength.” (Mu_Interviewee 25) | Weakening the sense of community | ||
| “During video meetings, we solely focus on work-related topics, without delving into personal matters or individuals' moods, which represents a significant challenge.” (Beta_Interviewee 3) | Restricting social talk | ||
| “When discussing someone's career or addressing challenging topics, strong emotions often arise. When possible, such conversations should be conducted in person. I prefer to have at least the kick-off meetings face-to-face as it accelerates the process of achieving results.” (Kappa_Interviewee 20) | Restricting nonverbal communication | ||
| “Involving people in video meetings is important. Everyone should have some sort of speaking turn, a presentation, or something similar …. It is one way to approach [engaging people].” (Beta_Interviewee 3) | Involving people | Engagement (20/33) | Engagement–Disengagement |
| “Workshops or brainstorming sessions should ideally be conducted in person to maximize their potential. Even … via video call, with good audio and various collaborative tools available for innovation, there's still a sense of something missing.” (Alpha_Interviewee 2) | Restricting innovation | Disengagement (12/33) | |
| “… people use instant messaging in Teams quite a lot …. it is rude to chat and respond to … instant messages … because it distracts from focusing on the [video] meeting.” (Eta_Interviewee 12) | Distracting concentration | ||
| “… there are quite a few companies where people don't keep their cameras on during video meetings. Because of that, people are even more likely to start doing their own thing and not be mentally present ….” (Delta_Interviewee 6) | Causing social absence | ||
| ”If I look at how internal communication is handled here, we have lots of briefings and all-hands events organized via video in our culture. For instance, the top management team often has open question-and-answer sessions. We also have informal coffee meetings, formal info sessions, and even news broadcasts [all via video]).” (Iota_Interviewee 17) | Informing employees | Sharing formal information (27/33) | Sharing formal information–Concealing informal information |
| “The important thing is information sharing, especially during these remote work times. The role of internal communication is extremely important. We have many briefings for larger groups via video at the company-wide level, and I hold an information session via video for my entire team every other week.” (Delta_Interviewee 6) | Establishing information flow | ||
| “The challenge is that you only receive information that is consciously communicated to you via video. You don't get informal information because you don't have encounters in hallways, cafes, or canteens where information is shared more widely and spontaneously.” (Delta_Interviewee 6) | Restricted informal communication | Concealing informal information (10/33) | |
| “We became equal in the virtual world because previously, some people were in the office and some were not. Now we meet everyone … [on video calls], and it is such a positive thing.” (Zeta_Interviewee 10) | Equalizing employees | Equality (8/33) | Equality–Inequality |
| “Video meetings can be quite unequal. Some individuals tend to dominate the conversation, while others remain quiet. For a leader, it's essential … to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to speak. However, it is challenging to ensure that all necessary comments, perspectives, ideas, and information are shared in the meeting.” (Theta_Interviewee 14) | Amplifying employee communication style differences | Inequality (15/33) | |
| “We've observed a polarization among employees. Those who were already hard workers are now working even more, while those who tended to avoid their responsibilities are doing so even more now.” (Pi_Interviewee 32) | Amplifying employee working style differences |
Note(s): The numbers refer to how many of the 33 top managers mention affordance/constraint in the interview