Impact of COVID-19 on Agile Scrum amongst Dutch Airlines
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE
Mohamed-Amin Haddadi
10830936
MASTER INFORMATION STUDIES
Information Systems
FACULTY OF SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM
Friday 28 May 2021
1st Examiner 2nd Examiner
ir. Otte-Pieter Banga drs. Toon Abcouwer
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ABSTRACT
The impact of COVID-19 lead to many catastrophic situations in the airline industry. Jobs have been lost, the number of flights decreased to 10%, a large number of employees work structurally from home and the boundaries between work and private life have faded. All airlines, low cost or full service carriers are victim of this recent crisis. Dutch airlines recently committed to an Agile way of working. However, in order to work Agile it is required to work in teams, having several contact moments and organizing several events in order to plan and assign tasks. Since the majority of employees work from home, it is a major challenge for all Dutch airlines to deal with this new way of working and in particular Agile Scrum way of working.
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INTRODUCTION
COVID-19 has caused substantial risks and brought many changes for employees at the workplace and in their practices. It has also posed adverse effects on the economic system of organizations, and on the social and psychological health of individuals [1].
The COVID-19 pandemic around the globe has had a grave impact on the airline industry and its employees.[2]. Flight cancellations, reduced flight operations, travel restrictions, and travel bans all over the world have made it difficult for the airline industry to stay in business [3]. Governments around the globe have serious concerns about the movement of people across their boarders, and as a result thereof, airlines must follow the guidelines developed by their respective governments. Another grave impact of COVID-19 is the that airline industry is such a significant connective component of the global economy that its decrease due to the pandemic has threatened the global economic system [4].
In general, the airline industry is very sensitive towards external factors like an economic crisis or epidemic. The employees in the airline industry are aware of this and realize that the current circumstances are not going to end soon [5]. Some are afraid that such a crises may happen again in the future. This may lead to a dramatic decrease in employees’ loyalty towards the flight industry. Also with the rising costs and decreased profits, the airlines are laying off their staff and going towards downsizing. This is causes distress among employees and they are looking for other jobs with more financial certainty [6].
Further, one of the problems that all airlines face in the in the wake of COVID-19 is creating a stable operating atmosphere in order to sustain process flows, task preparation, task assignment, and incident management [2]. For this reason, like other airlines around the globe, Dutch airlines also implemented a new way of working for all employees that have a so-called ‘crucial profession’ (e.g. shift leaders, operational control center employees and platform operators) [7]. The Dutch government highly recommends all companies to let their employees work from home unless it is a crucial profession. Therefore, several Dutch airlines approach the way of working by using different types of working methods to achieve operational excellence while being flexible and maneuverable (myklm.org, 2020).
The majority of the Agile and Scrum users within Dutch airlines belong to IT services departments (myklm.org). As COVID-19 made its inexorable advance, most IT departments within KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) started enabling employees to work from home, which lead to challenging situations and transformations. Amongst these challenges are the facilitation of shifting desktops, enabling WI-FI and so on. A
large number of employees took their desktops home, but unfortunately, not all the employees were provided with desktops (myklm.org, 2020).
Furthermore, product teams used to organize meetings, stand-ups and sprint planning at the office and now only virtual engagement is possible. Not all IT product teams are used to work from home and face the challenge of large scale technical coordination with colleagues and operational systems. In addition to that, working Agile and Scrum requires a large amount of flexibility and focus based on product delivery and planning.
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RELATED WORK
This section explains the central ideas of the current studies related to the impact of COVID-19 on airline industry and the Agile and Scrum way of working by organizations.
2.1 Impact of COVID-19 crisis on airline
industry
Belobaba et al. [8] stated that the airline industry plays a significant role in the world economy. According to Mustapha [3] the COVID-19 pandemic has cost the industry US$133 billion in revenue. Travel restrictions are one of the measures being taken by the affected countries to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19. However, these measures have severely restricted airlines in their operation and have generally had a wide negative impact on the economy of the airline industry. The airline industry leaders across the globe are moving promptly to protect employees and build resilience, as the impact of the COVID-19 crisis continues to grow. Airline companies are working tirelessly to manage the impact of the COVID-19 [9].
The key areas which have seen the most demand for support is rapid responses, business continuity, strategic initiatives and operating model evolutions. Airline industries are trying to help their clients to look beyond the current pandemic to envision how implications will affect the competitive environment, and more broadly, what society will require over the mid-term and long-term [10].
2.2 Agile
The origin of the term Agile dates back to 2001 [11]. The essence of Agile methods was the ability to embrace change, but also continuous learning, coordination, and communication within the team [12]. Agile ways of working have constantly been disseminated to new industries and businesses [13]. Therefore, Agile Software Development is not only common within private companies but in public organizations as well. According to a study of Swedish government agencies, 87.8% (65 out of 73 responding agencies) reported that their software development is more Agile than plan-driven [14].
The Agile methods were originally intended for small, self-managing, and co-located teams [15]. Agile methods of working place an emphasis on team collaboration because it is one of the foundational frameworks. According to research, teams that operate in the same area have greater efficiency, efficacy, and overall superior decision-making [16], [17].
There are several guidelines which will assist in realizing the benefits of remote working. Firstly, Agile leadership which focuses on outcomes, performance, and priorities to ensure internal cohesion, allowing teams to collaborate towards a shared vision. Secondly, Cross-Functional Teams: Autonomous teams of the appropriate scale will create resiliency, making it easier to shift course. Thirdly, Meeting Rhythm Regularity: Implementing a regular cadence for Agile ceremonies allows
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teams to collaborate more effectively as people work from home.Fourthly, Prioritization: Whether teams are focusing on a solution, a program, or a task backlog, it is critical to continuously optimize and ensure valuable progress is prioritized [18].
2.3 Scrum Framework
The Agile Manifesto stresses the importance of self-organizing teams, allowing autonomy and trust in the team’s ability to make wise decisions, solve problems, and deliver results. Allowing autonomy to the team is a major reason for success in Agile development [19]. Research in other industries also confirm that autonomous and empowered teams are more productive, more proactive, have higher levels of team satisfaction, and team commitment [21].
Scrum, the most commonly adopted Agile method was based on studies on high-performance teams by Takeuchi and Nonaka [20]. Their studies suggest that projects using small, cross-functional teams produce the best results[22];[23]. That is why Agile methods advocate self-organizing teams that allowed high levels of autonomy [17]. Agile team members are known to take on informal and spontaneous roles to satisfy various organizing needs of the team and perform balancing acts between freedom and responsibility [17]. This also radically changes the role of the project manager, who must place more trust in the team to make the right decisions [24]. Thereby, project management becomes a question not only for the project manager but instead a joint effort together with the team [24]. The popularity of these methods has spurred their use also in large development projects [25] but Scrum does not cover large-scale organizational aspects, only how to work in single teams. With several teams cooperating, there is not only a need for coordination within the team but between teams, which is called inter-team coordination [15].
Scrum is an iterative and incremental Agile framework originally intended for small, independent software development teams [26]. Software is developed during two- to four-week-long software development iterations, which are called sprints. A sprint starts with sprint planning, which is a collaborative routine to estimate and decide what can be delivered in the sprint and how this work will be achieved. Each day contains a short routine within the team called the Daily Scrum, where each team member presents progress, coordinates work, and solve problems as per their roles [26].
The original Scrum roles were defined in 1993 by Jeff Sutherland and were named Team, Scrum Master, and Product Owner [27]. The team, which should be self-organized and cross-functional, consisting of developers that have the competence and capability of implementing and delivering any requirements imagined for the software. The Scrum Guide [28] stresses the importance of cross-functionality, meaning that specific roles in the team, such as tester or analyst, does not need to be appointed due to the intended cross functionality. In other words: everyone does what is needed to complete the job, and the team decides who does what [28].
2.4 Impact of COVID-19 on the workplace
The way the world works, collaborates, and plays has changed as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic [30]. Majorly, it has yielded four main conclusions: First, a range of communication tools allow virtual collaboration between those working from home, replacing face-to-face interactions. Second, due to the virtual existence of meetings and interactions, Agile work strategies are more difficult to implement. Third,communication methods aren't always up to the task for high-bandwidth or casual communications like brainstorming, side conversations, or hallway conversations. Fourth, in a simulated workplace, creating new teams and onboarding new employees is difficult[29].
According to Wang et al. [31] the current pandemic has a variety of consequences for the workplace: new changes in working practices needed to adapt to the pandemic, such as obligatory homework on unprecedented scales, mostly in virtual settings; economic and social-psychological effects evident since COVID-19, such as job loss and mental illness; and economic and social-psychological effects evident since COVID-19 [31].
As a result of the pandemic's shift in the workplace, the software development community is also struggling with a lot of uncertainty. According to Gorbalenya et al. [32] challenges caused by people with whom the team members live, a lack of exercise facilities, and the fear of the pandemic may all have an effect on the team members' well-being and productivity. COVID-19 is a global pandemic that affects all, but it has a special impact on certain businesses. Small software development companies and startups which lack the resources or maturity to cope with the risks associated with such transition are the ones that suffer the most [32].
2.5 COVID-19 and Agile Scrum
In the face of the global crisis of COVID-19, organizations are forced to become nimble and Agile so that they can respond to market changes quickly. Over the last few years, many organizations have adopted adaptive project management methods like Agile to increase the efficiency of their project management function. Among the different Agile frameworks, Scrum in particular has become extremely popular in most of the organizations [29].
Distracted, frazzled, anxious, terrified, pressured, impatient, restless, angry, tired, and overwhelmed are the words people are using to describe their state of mind in current circumstances. As the effects of COVID-19 ripple through the world we know, the levels of stress people are experiencing are reaching new heights [33]. Covid-19 brought with it an unprecedented number of employees that have lost their jobs. With such upheaval, it’s not surprising that people question the certainty of their employment or personal safety [34].
The benefits of personal contact and open team spaces with participants seated close together are emphasized in the values and concepts of Agile working. This makes it easier to deliver outcomes that are tailored to the needs of the consumer and lowers the risk of disappointment due to misunderstandings. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, most businesses reduced the working hours and also allowed workers to work from home. Online meetings have taken the place of face-to-face contact. Although several workers were already acquainted with online resources for remote communication, others were hesitant to use them in the past. The immediate necessity to use such tools in order to engage in business at all opened them up to people who may not have used them under normal circumstances. According Schmidtner et al. [34] the effect of the pandemic on Agile working in the post-COVID-19 world has significantly changed the way of working.
2.6 Pyramid of Maslow hierarchy of needs
Hierarchy of Needs is a theory proposed by Maslow
Abraham in 1943. It explains the development of human personality with reference to the need’s gratification. Maslow’s
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(1943) theory defines five stages of needs: physiologicalneeds like food or health, safety needs like financial or personal security, social needs like friends and relationships, esteem needs like prestige or recognition, and finally self-actualization needs like achieving one’s potential. These stages form a hierarchy, requiring the lower stages to be satisfied before needs on a higher stage can be addressed [35]. Further, Maslow noted that satisfaction on each level provides an individual new energy and focus of attention. However, diversity of human emotions cannot be ignored [36];[37].
2.7 Hierarchy of Needs Theory and Agile
Scrum
Mapping Agile Scrum’s “motivated individuals” to this model, this motivation can be linked to social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs. The team should be motivated to create customer value, applying technical excellence and good design [38]. To succeed, a Scrum team includes key members and non-core team members who are appreciated or modified. A central theory of Scrum, the idea of self-organization teams allows team members to be self-motivated, to collaborate and to commit entirely to the accomplishment of project objectives [38].
As a leader of team, the Scrum Master must consider where each team member stands in relation to the pyramid. This insight helps to decide the best way to motivate each individual. Furthermore, everyone moves up and down the ranks of the need’s hierarchy across their lives, either because of their own determination and actions to climb up the hierarchy, or because of forces outside their influence that drive them down. Publicly addressing a person’s failure counters esteem needs as well as social needs. Fearing for your job counters your safety needs[39].
The Scrum Master's aim is to partner with team members to help them improve their expertise and experience as they progress up the need’s hierarchy. As a result of this assistance, a team of people who are inspired are strong donors to the initiative and the enterprise as a whole [40]. So if you fear for your job, no accomplishment would have a motivating effect. Fear in a work environment usually acts as de-motivator for esteem needs, social needs or safety needs, making it impossible to satisfy any self-actualization needs [39].
2.8 Theoretical
model:
Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs
The year prior to the Pandemic, many of KLM employees were feeling secure in their basic needs and happily working on their psychological needs. Then COVID-19 knocked everyone down the pyramid, reshuffling priorities for all. It is important to point out that the application of Maslow's theory to the airline situation makes a basic, but implicit assumption, namely that individuals necessarily believe that they can satisfy their needs both at their work and through their work [7]. The airline can serve the physiological needs of its employees by providing them stable employment which will sustain them towards their basic needs. The airline industry can enhance the self-esteem of their employees by protecting their jobs. It will boost the confidence and self-esteem of its employees by letting them participate in key decision at operational level [6]. The leading airline company also learned that to raise the performance level of their employees in the challenging situation of COVID-19, it is the time for personal growth and identify potential of their employees. This will be self-realization for the employees [3] [41].
However, there was a lack of psychical needs due to jet lag and social needs can be limited during long-distance flights. For flight attendants, job recognition was missed. Moreover the staff of airline companies is not satisfied due to COVID-19. Because of the uncertain times, job security for flight attendants is in danger. To sum up, the flight attendants for low-cost and carrier airlines were highly motivated before COVID-19 and this flipped completely as the negative effects of COVID-19 on the industry became apparent [42].
Figure 1: Theoretical Model: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Keeping in mind the above explained literature, it is stated that the current pandemic has a variety of consequences for the airline industry and its employees. Employees are concerned about their job security, safety and personal protection. The impact of the pandemic on Agile work in the post-COVID-19 environment has greatly altered the way things are done. Organizations are forced to become nimble and Agile so that they can respond to market changes quickly. Agile methods of working place an emphasis on team collaboration because it is one of the foundational frameworks. As the effect of the COVID-19 crisis grows, airline industry leaders around the world are acting quickly to secure jobs and create resilience. Airlines are working hard to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. In the framework of Maslow’s theory on Agile Scrum in airline industry, "motivated employees" can be attributed to social needs, confidence needs, and self-actualization needs. The team should be inspired to add value to the consumer by using technological innovation and good architecture. A Scrum team must include key players as well as non-core team members who are appreciated or changed in order to achieve the collective goal. The concept of self-organization teams and a fundamental Scrum philosophy encourages team members to be self-motivated, cooperate, and contribute fully to the achievement of project goals in the challenging situation of COVID-19.
2.9 Research- and sub-questions
Taking all the issues mentioned in the introduction into account, the author of this thesis suggests the following research question: To what extent does the COVID-19 crisis have an
impact on the Agile Scrum way of working within the Dutch airlines industry?
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) is the biggest of all the Dutch airlines with more than 37 thousand employees, more than 350 aircraft and flying to more than 150 destinations. The choice
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to focus on KLM as a research subject is based on the fact thatKLM is the biggest one out of all Dutch airlines and therefore seems the most representative for the challenges this research aims to investigate.
Furthermore, we started a preliminary investigation in order to create a framed scope and focus during the research. The preliminary investigation is done by interviewing one software engineer and one product manager. The choice of the software engineer is based on the operational activities, developing, programming and participating in a Scrum team. The choice of the product manager is based on the focus on tactical and strategical activities such as prioritization of epics and features. The results of the interviews gave a sufficient insight of what emotional and social impact appeared during Agile Scrum way of working from home. In both cases, the informants reported that team members are gaining physical weight due to a lack of exercise and general physical daily movement. Less social contact with colleagues results into more lonely moments and due to the loneliness of team members not all the team members are active during meetings leading into an awareness of lack of planning and miscommunication. Another result, that adds to the previous observation, is that only a minority of team members participates actively during Scrum related meetings (e.g. daily stand-up, ‘are we on track’ meetings, sprint planning and retrospectives).
Taken together, these results suggest that there are various differences between working Scrum from home or from the office. Therefore, we assume that these are the aforementioned factors of the new way of working Scrum. The author is going to identify changes of working Agile Scrum shifting from the office to their homes. In order to answer the research question, the following sub-questions aim to frame and scope the research:
1. What is the influence in changes of social and emotional aspects on the Agile Scrum productivity regarding KLM?
2. How does KLM react to these changes in order to support its employees?
3. From scientifically perspective, what can we conclude from all the results regarding Agile Scrum within the new way of working?
The sub-questions to the research question mainly focus on the Agile Scrum way of working from home within KLM. However, the research will make mention of what other airlines and companies can learn from these insights and what it would mean for the future.
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METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the author explains how he aims to answer the research question and its sub-questions. In order to understand the impact of COVID-19 on a specific way of working it is important to know that method of research. First, the Agile Scrum way of working will be explained. In order to do this, the author will study relevant literature. Further, the author will create a theoretical model containing questions that will be asked during interview. So far there is no literature available regarding impact of COVID-19 within an Agile Scrum environment. Therefore, literature will be used based on the impact of COVID-19 on the regular way of people working at the office (specifically airlines).
Secondly, the author will conduct interviews with employees of KLM working in Scrum teams. Since Scrum consists of three type of rolls, the author will interview all types of rolls. The interviews shall be held in effort to understand if
the experience and views of the participants either support or contradict the information found in the literature.
Thirdly, the author will focus on observations within KLM in order to create a triangulation model. This model will contain an approach based on interviews, observations and a literature study. The aim of this approach is to increase the reliability of the research. The observations will be conducted using a theoretical model with several attributes (specified later in the text) to focus on during the observations. Furthermore, this is used in order prevent to draw conclusions on the basis of a single moment. Instead, this approach allows observations to be put in a broader perspective and with that also an increase of the reliability of this research.
Finally, in order to elaborate on the methodology for this research, the different subjects have been divided into 4 parts: research relationships, site- and participant’s selection, data collection, and data analysis. According to Joseph A. Maxwell in his book “Qualitative research design” the mentioned method may be called: an interactive approach[43].
3.1 Research relationships
A large amount of information regarding the Agile way of working within the airline industry will be gathered from interviews with stakeholders from different departments and Scrum teams. Their answers and experiences, because of their significant strategic positions within the company will have a relevant role, within the research to know the impact of Covid-19 on the Scrum ecosystem within the KLM.
3.2 Site- and participants selection
In order to select the necessary employees, several people will be selected from different departments but only active employees within Scrum teams. Moreover, all Scrum teams contain of three different roles and one key-figure within the department. These are:
Product Owner / product manager Scrum Master
Developer, Engineer
Directors of involved department (key role)
It is desirable that these employees would work on different levels (e.g. developers or Scrum masters), having different working experiences in terms of years at KLM and that there is a balance between male and female employees. The expectations are due to a healthy mix of employees within KLM. Nevertheless, we will observe and shortly interview other ‘not’ Scrum working teams in order to compare the findings.
3.3 Data collection
The data needed in order to provide answers on the sub questions and research question will be collected during interviews with the chosen employees. The interviews will consist of only open questions. These questions will be based on social contact, productivity, user experiences, physical- and mental environment. After all interviews are held, the author will use the collected data and document it by means of Atlas TI. In order to determine the questions used during interviews, initial interviews will be conducted with different employees currently working within Agile Scrum teams. Their experiences with the current situation will give a clear understanding of the underlying needs.
Furthermore, the author will use a prepared list with the following attributes in order to create a well-structured observation:
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Date and time Team
Team members Number of meetings Findings during observations Reaction of team members
3.4 Data analysis
To facilitate and organize data analysis memos shall be done during the interviews, before coding. All the interviews will also be recorded. All the interviews will be send back to the respondent in order to validate the created answers. This increases the validity of the report.
Furthermore, all the data collected during the observations will be analyzed and clustered. Moreover, the data will also be compared with the data of the interviews. The author will combine the answers with the observations this will support the answer for the sub- and research question(s).
3.5 Risk assessment
The researcher made a thorough risk assessment. The researcher cannot find random Scrum related meetings to join and perform the observations. Meetings were also virtual and the researcher’s request to join a meeting cannot always be entertained fully. Therefore, there was a chance of biasness and objectivity being In in some meeting and being Out of others. Because of refusal to join any Scrum meeting, the researcher could not conduct observations. Researcher managed the risk by proactively react and contact other teams within KLM not only the ones he already knew.
Furthermore, since the researcher works fulltime (40 hours a week) it was challenging to plan observations and interviews with employees. To minimize this risk, the researcher anticipated and planned all interviews as early as possible.
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DATA ANALYSIS:
4.1 Analysis of the Data from Interviews
We have conducted 7 interviews, and with that we have achieved a level of saturation as an increase of conduction of interviews did not yield to new findings.Table 1 : Characteristics/Categorization of the Respondents: Respondent
Number
Function / position Team
1 Agile Coach N/A
2 Product Owner Scrum Team
3 IT-specialist IT
4 Product Owner Scrum Team
5 Product Owner Scrum Team
6 Chief Information Officer
IT-Department
7 IT-specialist Scrum Team
4.2 Interviewing
Techniques
and
Questions:
The interview schedule consisted of 10 open ended questions. This interview schedule has been developed through the careful literature review. This schedule has been discussed with some experienced professionals in the field as well to make it reliable and valid. The respondents were asked to fully express their point of views without any apprehensions. They
were assured that their identity will be kept confidential and all the data will only be used for research purpose only.
Following questions have been asked:
1) What are the five (four also possible) main changes you experiences during working at home within an Agile Scrum team?
2) How do the five main changes influence your (for managers: your employees) team productivity? 3) What is your insight amongst other Agile Scrum
teams you are working with?
4) Do you notice emotional and social changes amongst your team members (explain your answer) and are these changes motivational needs?
5) What is your manager doing in order to support you or your team? (for managers: what are you doing to support your team)?
6) Do you express your appreciation towards team members and how do you deal with development within your team, explain your answer?
7) Can KLM (or your department therein) have an influence on dealing with the changed work circumstances and why or how?
8) What are the measures that KLM already has taken? 9) What can KLM do in order to enhance the support of
the teams?
10) What do you think the future of the Agile Scrum teams will look like based on current circumstances and developments, with an emphasis on productivity? A careful data analysis is crucial for reaching a scientifically reliable conclusion. It is an extremely sensitive issue to first transcribe the interview data and then to draw valid and accurate themes out of that data. There are many important schemes given by various scholars. Among them one of the best techniques of thematic analysis, given by Braun and Clarke (2006). This is a widely used technique for thematic analysis.
Figure 2: Thematic Analysis by Brau and Clarke The figure above explains what the necessary steps are that are given by Braun and Clarke. These steps involve 1) familiarization of the data, 2) initial coding, 3) generating themes, 4) ensuring the validity and reliability of the themes, 5)
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afterwards defining and naming themes, and 6) finallyinterpreting and reporting the themes. In this way, thematic analysis can be conducted.
The same strategy has been adopted in this research analysis. Therefore, the used themes have been deducted from the thematic analysis of all the interviews. We have developed these by following the above model. These were recurrent in nature and after careful analysis I have developed them. As per the rule any personal opinion which is shared by any single respondent which others or a majority of the sample did not hold or shared, got less weightage while all other themes or ideas which were supported and strongly believed in by all the respondents emerged as a strong theme and hence forth categorized and treated significantly. These are categories are explained in the next paragraph.
4.3 Findings and Interpretation of the
findings after the interviews:
We extracted some of the important themes after following due process. These themes are discussed in detail as under.
COVID-19 shows how we as employees and employers are vulnerable. Since many companies worldwide will restructure or disappear due to the pandemic, the retraining or dislocation of workers is probable and the cost of these measures is immense, economic, socio-psychological and health costs. Some groups, for example, depending on their age, race, ethnicity, gender or personality, have a greater impact as a result of the pandemic.
Understanding how these changes are unfolding abruptly, it is important for practitioners to determine paths to address the needs of vulnerable categories of employees with new interventions. For example in our scenario will it work for employees to keep on working in their present job if their basic needs are not fully met? Will they find enough motivation to keep working? Workers who are living alone may have virtual needs and routines that are very different from those who live with family members. Following are the major findings of these interviews.
4.3.1 Challenges Faced by Management
Management is the most important stakeholder which has been discovered in the interviews. Management’s concern holds crucial importance in it. The role of managers/employers in deciding organizational outcomes that have a broad impact on employees at all levels is especially clear in the midst of a crisis, and it is certainly critical in fundamental ways.
As the state of affairs revolves around management and their concerns, they cannot be left unheard. Interviewees voiced their concerns and explained what the issues are which management is facing while dealing with Agile Scrum teams during COVID-19. Management faced serious crisis in managing their teams and to keep them integrated and intact. The respondents shared following issues in the interviews.
All the interviewees claimed that knowledge sharing among employees remains most difficult. As working with virtual teams and remote meetings it was the most difficult to develop a shared understanding of any said task or assignment. People do not share the same understanding which creates a lot
of problems for project creation. Keeping people informed and up to date is the greatest issue which managers face. It was not because they are working in remote setting rather the lack of office environment, proper tooling, and domestic problems at home, disturbance created by family members etc. are leading reason for this communication gap.
Although we note that there is a lack of wealth in virtual communications, a more adverse risk for on-line communications is that misinterpretations – without non-verbal signs – are likely to exacerbate employees' concerns regarding their interpersonal rejection.
The other important issue which management has faced is Refinements. “Refinements are tough.”, as one of the respondents shared. Once management is finalizing particular details and refining a said project or a task it takes a lot of time to refine and finally finish a project or task.
It was problematic for the management to keep its team motivated. Management has to come up with online gaming, virtual meet ups, and online reward systems to keep their employees motivated.
Working virtually with Agile Scrum teams, it has increased the cost for the organization. The cost for managing teams, providing all the employees with necessary tools has increased the cost for the organizations.
4.3.2 Employees’ Concerns:
4.3.2.1 Economic Impacts:
Financial hardship can be devastating, triggering a downward spiral of adversity that can affect the entire family. Companies are letting go of their employees and employees are waiting in suspense whether or not they will keep or lose their jobs. Respondents share that as someone from their family becomes unemployed, they have the additional financial burden to carry.
Some also hinted at the reduced salaries. In the wake of COVID-19 companies with downsizing also reduced their salaries, which also increased the financial pressure on families. This financial burden and challenging economic position increases the pressure on families and induces worries and depression among people.
Employees and their family members also worry that they might fall ill with the virus as people who are ill or infected unknowingly could be present at the office increasing the chances of spreading the virus to their co-workers.
4.3.2.2 Social Distancing
Respondents were of the view that they miss
gatherings at the office. They miss their friend and co-workers.
The togetherness which they enjoy in face to face meetings at the office, are no longer there in the situation where everyone is forced to work from home. This has made them depressed and anxious.
4.3.2.3 Social and Psychological Health
Because of the abovementioned, employees are experiencing psychological issues. They are feeling unhappy, dejected and low. This condition remains really problematic. “We lack motivation while working remotely as we are
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physically apart, we don’t feel others presence so we get a little down while working at home. Physical closeness really keeps us motivated and energetic.” One of the respondents’ shares this is
low tone.
For instance handshakes are an important social activity as they represent a physical acknowledgement of someone’s presence in a room. It is a social activity that we know is no longer practicable. In this context, both Work from Home requirements and plans to de-densify workplaces in order to support physical distance had some kind of side effects on individuals' mental and physical health.
Loneliness is a psychologically painful emotion that comes from the subjective feeling of persons. It is experienced when surroundings or contact with others do not meet their intimate and social needs properly or causes a loss of social ties. So, for the respondents, current circumstances can only be described as a sad situation.
Some of the respondents shared that they need to take mental health sessions just because of working remotely. As they have to work from a same setting for quite long. Not being able to travel to change environments or share meals with co-workers added up to their frustration.
4.3.2.4 Time for socializing
Employees were not having any time for socializing as they were not being able to meet up. Above mentioned themes and sub themes are therefore really linked.
The importance of work in a physical setting is undeniable. This working style helps people to clear ambiguities about work or personal communication. It also allows for socializing as a way to relaxation and consolation. So not being able to do so has cast a huge impact on peoples’ wellbeing.
The loss of social connections – for those who were forced to work remotely – is a less visible effect of COVID-19; however, we know from research that high-quality social interactions – including informal chats among coworkers – are critical for mental and physical health.
The intersection of remote work and a global crisis raises questions about how emotions like anxiety and stress can best be communicated and regulated in the unique setting of virtually connected work, where social and emotional cues are limited.
To maintain employees’ sanity remained one of the biggest challenges for the management too.
4.3.2.5 User Engagement
As employees are working remotely, they do not have any interaction with the users of their projects or apps. It creates some problem as well. If they do not know the level of users’ intelligence or common sense they might not be able to develop a system that might be able to meet the demands of the end users. So while working remotely, this issue got immense consideration. Achieving customer satisfaction is really problematic as meeting the demands of varying customers makes it really tough to achieve any standardization and ultimately efficiency.
4.3.3 Team Productivity
One of the important learnings of these interviews is that team productivity is a reoccurring topic, reflected in this thesis’
problem statement. The researcher’s concern was that the impact that COVID-19 has cast on the working of Agile Scrum teams working in the aviation industry in the Dutch airlines. Some respondents believe that team productivity decreased in this scenario of working from home. It was really challenging to meet the desired level of efficiency.
One of the respondents phrased this challenge as the following: “virtual teams lack the communication richness of face to face teams and traditional teamwork issues such as conflict and coordination can turn violent in virtual teams.”
Respondents believed that they have truly experienced a lack of efficiency which has also been reported in many previous researches such as that individual performance shows paucity of the creative benefits that can flow from frequent face-to-face interactions while working remotely. So team productivity has been reduced considerably and managers adopted various techniques to enhance team productivity.
4.3.4 Techniques adopted by Management
Respondents informed the researcher that the following techniques have been adopted by the management for managing the COVID-19 crisis and for improving our productivity.
For maintaining their employees’ health, management tried to provide immediate tangible resources such as (e.g., homework, transmission prevention), employee support programs and access for counseling, treatment, and training, and psychological resources such as feedback, support, or inspiration via video calls in regular contact with their employees. Management maintained an excellent pass of online
rewards and appraisal for the employees so they keep them motivated.
Management organized online, virtual meet ups and online gaming competition to refresh their employees. Frequent video calls were ensured.
They ensured that information was transmitted and shared completely among all the employees and no one should be left unattended in it. Although management faced a terrible time in ensuring information availability and the same level of understanding by all the employees, but they success nonetheless.
4.3.5 Future:
The researcher, here, collected all the ideas which respondents have shared about what their future looks like in their view point. What do they think about the future of Agile Scrum teams?
Respondents believed that the companies will go for a
hybrid way of working in which some people will work from
office and some people will stay at home.
One of the thoughts which respondents have shared is that if a management wants to keep their employees working, they may have to change their behavior to accommodate needs of their employees. More authoritarian or bossy leaders may face different challenges than participatory and empathic team leaders in motivating their employees in virtual environments, necessitating different training and development needs.
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Human Resource professionals must also developnew skills in performance management and dealing with Agile Scrum teams working remotely workforces. The ambiguities and uncertainties in COVID-19 required organizations to take action to protect employees' health and well-being by providing online counseling and therapy.
Another respondent focused on the issue of how assessment and appraisal systems will work in relation to the leader-subordinate activities to consider in the wake of COVID-19. Without the ability to directly monitor subordinates as office settings allow, for example, there may be a shift to results-focused assessment, which prior research has shown to be generally effective. Working remotely, on the other hand, may limit subordinates' opportunities to receive feedback from leaders over longer periods of time, and prior research indicates that a lack of learning opportunities is associated with lower organizational commitment and a higher risk of turnover.
The development of structural support to alleviate conflicts, align teams, and promote adequate and thorough information processing is critical for managing virtual teams proficiently. Previous studies, for example, have shown the need to formalize team processes, explain team priorities, and implement systemic solutions to facilitate psychologically healthy discussions, especially in virtual teams.
Finally, we need smarter and safer ways of working together to further reap the benefits of global cooperation.
4.4 Observations
The researcher also conducted some Naturalistic Observations as well and found many key understandings of how things are working in researcher’s research setting. These are as following
Employees are joining meetings late.
They are the least motivated to attend these online meetings.
While COVID-19 abruptly disrupted normal work routines, it also accelerated previously underway trends involving the migration of work to online or virtual environments. When examining research on practices such as Work From Home (WFH) prior to the pandemic, one key difference is that WFH was previously often responsive to employee preferences, but COVID-19 forced many in. They are frustrated with working from home because of many issues like:
o Non suitable working environment at home.
o Lack of facilities at home. o Domestic problems.
o Interruption by other family members. Employees want to switch to office mode as soon as
possible.
Knowledge sharing is a serious issue which employees are facing.
Employees are not able to enjoy a social life which has given rise to a lot of frustration.
These are some of the early first hand / naturalistic/ participatory observations and the research study will link
these observations to the interview findings and to the literature as well.
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Conclusion
The Covid-19 pandemic surprised the world, forcing companies to quickly change their ways of working. The researcher’s concern was how COVID-19 has impacted the motivation of the employees working in Agile Scrum teams in the airline industry. The topic was in itself novel as there had not been much research on it or much discussion in this particular field with a very specialized kind of team working in this sector.
COVID-19 has significantly increased the pace of change associated with working outside of co-located offices. Organizations are more likely to implement virtual work practices as cost savings from operational improvements become apparent. Virtual work practices are likely to spread as organizations realize the cost savings associated with structuring labor with fewer full-time workers and more contractors linked technologically and probably with less office space, given the health risks associated with conventional open-plan offices. The difficulties for individuals employed in this manner are obvious: more of us would need to learn to work in ways that are radically different from how previous generations worked. COVID-19 shows how insecure we are in this regard as employees and employers.
Generally many firms will be restructured or vanish as a result of the pandemic, employees will be retrained or laid off, and the economic, social-psychological, and health costs of these activities are likely to be immense. Indeed, the impact of the pandemic will be felt more intensely by some groups of workers than others, depending on their age, race and ethnicity, gender, or personality, for example.
The researcher, during the course of the interviews, observed and listened to the list of all the various changes. The researcher is of the view that it is hard for Agile Scrum teams to manage in the scenario of work from home. Work from home has altogether changed the working style of the teams. It has added to confusion and uncertainty both at employees and employer’s side.
The researcher is of the view that indeed Maslow’s theory of motivation rightly fits here. When researcher found that Agile Scrum teams are complaining that their needs are not being fully met. We see a change in their satisfaction and generally, in their productivity as their needs are not fully met that aligns with the pyramid model of the Hierarchy of Needs. It frustrates people in reaching their full potentials. Employees remain unsatisfied, confused and doubtless ultimately not showing full potentials.
Understanding how these sudden changes arise is important for professionals charting new ways forward to meet the needs of marginalized employee groups (e.g., with new interventions). Employees, who live alone, for example, can have somewhat different virtual working requirements and schedules than those who live with family members. Furthermore, less participative and empathic team leaders can face different challenges motivating their workers in virtual environments than more authoritarian or bossy team leaders, necessitating different training and development criteria. These can be some future insights which can be adopted for better working of the Agile Scrum teams.
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Finally, when interacting with remote workers, humanresource experts must create new performance monitoring and appointing procedures. In conclusion, when interacting with remote workers, human resource practitioners must implement new performance management and appraisal programmers, while occupational health personnel must be qualified to recognize mental health problems in remote workers – and to offer online advice and therapy.
Figure 3: Theory Conclusion
There are many testing problems as well. Given that “extreme events” often provide windows into recognizing and understanding dynamics that are relevant but not always apparent under normal circumstances, our foreshadowing of questions that appear likely to become important should be applicable beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. We don't know what long-term effects social isolation and physical distancing protocols can have on workers. How will it affect employee satisfaction and productivity? The study has almost exclusively focused on people who want to engage in WFH, but mandatory and mass WFH is an entirely different story.
We do know that infectious diseases have been a common feature of human evolution, affecting our physiology, behavior, and culture in surprising yet predictable ways. As we now live and work in internationally interdependent populations, infectious disease risks such as COVID-19 must be recognized as part of the work landscape. We must find better and safer ways to cooperate if we are to continue reaping the rewards of global cooperation.
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Reflection
In this research process, I learned that this pandemic has changed the whole world. It has brought changes at micro and macro level in society. It has changed every possible aspect of human life.
Present thesis is also explaining how Covid-19 has changed the airline industry. By doing this research I came to know how this pandemic has brought psycho social havoc in human lives who are working in airline industry. I realized the serious effects it has cast upon human life.
I concluded that if these pandemics are recurrent in nature they can, at any given time, virtually stop the pace of human
development. This can be disastrous for the interactive global human societies that the world knows today.
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Future Work
Insufficient research has been conducted and literature has been collected until now about the pandemic and its effects. Future work must be focused on what could be the better ways of working which can reduce economic, social psychological loss for societies. It means that we need to focus on inventing ways by which we can cope or mitigate the effects of similar pandemics. We have to invent in ways by which we can save human societies from psychosocial and economic loss. Future research should be based on these central questions.
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