Human Resource Management Hot Seat

BA 346 – Human Resource Management

Hot Seat Assignment 1 – Virtual Workplace

The main concept of the video is to show the interactions between Angela, a telecommuter, and her manager Ralph. The video shows conversations between the two as they discuss why Angela missed a critical deadline and how things can be fixed. The main problem that is seen immediately is the lack of communication. Ralph claims he emailed Angela about the new deadline, but she insists that she never received the email. Lack of communication is just one disadvantage to telecommuting. Another disadvantage is that Angela claims she is not getting high-stakes claims like other employees. Because of this, she feels as if she is not trusted and treated like she is not good enough. On the other hand, she is allowed to work on her own time at home which would be a large advantage.

On the other end of the spectrum, Ralph is also experiencing advantages and disadvantages of managing a telecommuter. However, it seems as if the disadvantages are a bit more overwhelming. First of all, Ralph also feels the difficulties that come with communication. Because Angela is not getting the emails about the new deadlines, Ralph is also suffering. Since he cannot see her face-to-face, he is not aware of how she is feeling and he cannot monitor her work as well. As a manager, it is Ralph’s job to make sure the right people are doing the right projects. Since Angela is not around, he may not give her the large jobs because it is harder to monitor and check up on her. They are lacking the personal connection. Ralph must be able to put more trust in Angela since she is a telecommuter. One advantage that does come from this is that Ralph has more time to walk around and monitor other employees since he is unable to do so with Angela.

In order to prepare herself for telework, Angela should have had several meetings to make sure she knows what she is doing with each individual project. She also needs to inform...