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Supply Chain Strategies in Virtually Distributed Supply Chain Project Teams During and Post-COVID-19

Authors:

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of employees transitioned into virtually distributed supply chain project team environments for the first time in their careers due to shelter-in-place and social distancing mandates that impacted industries around the world. With project managers implementing processes and procedures remotely to employees fielding calls from home while caring for children, the world entered into an unprecedented time and an unknown unknown. As the pandemic required organizations to implement agile practices, project managers within various industries had to adjust operational processes, while at the same time had to ensure project team needs were addressed. In an effort to mitigate the risk of transitioning back to conventional management approaches, a qualitative survey method was performed in this study to understand the supply chain project team member experiences during this transition period. The results of the survey uncovered that the creation of a supply chain uncertainty management plan, demonstrating the benefits of virtual supply chain project teams, and the continuous integration of collaborative technology tools may contribute positive outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Supply Chain Strategies in Virtually
Distributed Supply Chain Project Teams
During and Post-COVID-19
Justin L. Goldston, PhD, Assistant Professor of Project and Supply Chain Management, Pennsylvania
State University
jlg566@psu.edu
Abstract - Due to the COVID-19
pandemic, a number of employees
transitioned into virtually distributed
supply chain project team environments
for the first time in their careers due to
shelter-in-place and social distancing
mandates that impacted industries
around the world. With project managers
implementing processes and procedures
remotely to employees fielding calls from
home while caring for children, the world
entered into an unprecedented time and
an unknown unknown. As the pandemic
required organizations to implement agile
practices, project managers within
various industries had to adjust
operational processes, while at the same
time had to ensure project team needs
were addressed. In an effort to mitigate
the risk of transitioning back to
conventional management approaches, a
qualitative survey method was performed
in this study to understand supply chain
project team member experiences during
this transition period. The results of the
survey uncovered that the creation of a
supply chain uncertainty management
plan, demonstrating the benefits of virtual
supply chain project teams, and the
continuous integration of collaborative
technology tools may contribute positive
outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords Organizational Change,
Supply Chain Management, Project
Management, Virtual Teams,
Collaboration Tools, Uncertainty
Management Plan, Innovation, COVID-
19, Post-COVID-19
INTRODUCTION
As the number of COVID-19 cases
increased around the world, many project
managers and supply chain team members
entered a time of unprecedented uncertainty.
Because this disruption forced project
managers to become improvisational,
creative, and innovative in their managerial
decision-making, management behaviors
and implementation approaches were
challenged daily. With governments around
the world mandating employees to shelter-
in-place and work from home, individuals
from various industries entered into
environments unfamiliar to them. While
management and leadership play an
important role in alleviating stress and
uncertainty through different
communication streams, strengthening the
knowledge and ‘intelligence’ of project
managers can have a more lasting positive
impact on stakeholders of an organization.
Unfortunately, as it took a pandemic for
some project managers to realize the
importance of an organization’s supply
chain teams to the existence of the
organization itself, these project managers
are taking a closer look at the makeup of the
company. With the shift of work
environments, change is ongoing whether a
project manager is heading a global virtually
distributed supply chain team or leading a
domestic project with a diverse,
multicultural workforce. The reality of this
shift has called for the development of
project managers to enhance his or her
approaches and skills. Managing in an
uncertain business environment involves
understanding how cultural beliefs affect the
behavior and the understanding of
organizational goals throughout an
organization’s diverse workforce to promote
inclusion. In essence, sustaining and
developing people who can successfully
survive a turbulent environment is critical to
an organization’s operations.
As essential workers in industries such as
banking began to move to virtual work
environments, project managers within
industries that primarily operate in face-to-
face environments began evaluating the
option as well for both essential and non-
essential workers. For some project
managers, to understand how to transition to
a virtual environment, they reached out to
organizations and researchers to identify
effective strategies to lead within a virtual
environment. In one study that included
employees distributed around the world
from various industries as the target
population, Goldston [1] found leaders and
project managers that demonstrate emotional
intelligence (EQ) and servant leadership
among virtual workforces experience higher
employee morale and increased
productivity, resulting in increased customer
satisfaction levels. In transferring these
attributes to various industries, project
managers could begin building stronger,
more inclusive current and post-COVID-19
supply chain teams.
With articles and studies highlighting the
negative impacts of the pandemic, there may
be potential opportunities that were
uncovered during this time. As project
managers of organizations had to be
innovative and flexible to meet internal and
external demands, a number of approaches
and processes can be integrated into current
state and future state processes that may be
transferrable across different industries.
With this immediate shift in project
management, project execution, and
monitoring, a research study was conducted
among a group of supply chain project team
members that had to move from a traditional
face-to-face environment to a virtual
environment. The objective of this study
was to understand the supply chain project
team members’ perceptions as to processes
and procedures that went well, approaches
that may need to be improved upon, as well
as opportunities uncovered with the shift in
how teams communicate and meet internal
and external objectives.
METHODOLOGY
After performing an analysis of a range of
qualitative approaches, a qualitative survey
method was used for this study. The target
population for this study was supply chain
project team members of organizations
around the world that worked in face-to-
face office environments before
transitioning to virtual environments due to
the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. The data
collection instrument in this study consisted
of an online survey, and the survey was
administered through SurveyMonkey.com,
a secure online survey provider. The survey
contained three open-ended questions
related to supply chain project team
members’ experiences during the pandemic:
1) After moving to a virtual
environment, what were some of the
challenges you encountered in your project?
2) What approaches were successfully
implemented after moving to a virtual
project environment?
3) What approaches not previously
implemented in your project(s) should be
integrated due to the pandemic?
SURVEY RESULTS
The goal of this study was to identify
positive outcomes from the pandemic for
virtually distributed supply chain teams
around the world. Using the open-ended
survey questions outlined in the previous
section, data from 89 respondents were
collected, and a thematic analysis was
performed to categorize and sort the
participants’ responses. The results of the
analysis are as follows:
A. Survey Question 1: After moving to a
virtual environment, what were some of the
challenges you encountered in your project?
After analyzing the data as to the project
challenges faced when transitioning to a
virtual environment, users noted that
communication and collaboration were
drawbacks during the initial weeks of the
switch to a virtual environment. Although a
few respondents stated the communication
increased with time as leaders of
organizations held town hall meetings to
communicate the current state of the
industry and the organization, others noted
they felt the virtual environment might
negatively impact project quality. With the
immediate change in work environments,
there may be resistance among supply chain
project team members. With the risks
identified by team members in the survey,
leaders and project managers can develop
innovative ways to increase the
collaboration and inclusion of virtually
distributed supply chain project teams.
B. Survey Question 2: What approaches
were successfully implemented after moving
to a virtual project environment?
With project managers and supply chain
team members increasing their reliance on
technology to operate in the new
environment, the consensus in the survey
was that the collaboration tools introduced
into projects were effective in continuing to
deliver to proposed plans. With tools such as
Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams
deployed for the first time in some
environments, survey respondents noted
these tools broke down silos within the
organization and organically created cross-
functional teams and quality circles
throughout the organization. Lozano [2]
found that collaboration breaks down
knowledge barriers in an organizational
environment and can demolish silo
mentalities by fostering sustainability
through the commitment to positive social
change. In one example, one respondent
indicated that since they worked on the
operational side of the project, moving to a
virtual environment allowed the functional
team to work with the technical team,
harnessing creativity not previously realized
on the project.
C. Survey Question 3: What approaches
not previously implemented in your
project(s) should be integrated due to the
pandemic?
As this unprecedented time introduced
increased project complexities, the
respondents of the survey identified project
risk of being a primary concern within
projects across a number of different
industries. In the survey responses,
mitigation strategies such as business
continuity plans, risk mitigation plans,
disaster recovery plans, and contingency
plans were noted as approaches that were
implemented during the pandemic. With the
various strategies identified, although it was
not explicitly mentioned, a supply chain
uncertainty management plan may be a
strategy that could potentially encompass
the majority of approaches noted by the
respondents.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Although a number of approaches could be
implemented within a virtual environment,
in reviewing the survey responses, combined
with empirical experience managing projects
within virtual environments, the following
recommendations that could lead to positive
outcomes from the pandemic:
A. Recommendation 1: Demonstrate the
Benefits of Virtually Distributed Supply
Chain Project Teams
As project managers in industries such as
professional services traditionally operate in
virtual environments, the pandemic created
new work environments for project
managers and employees in other industries.
With the opportunity to communicate with
coworkers from different locations and parts
of the world, individuals that worked in this
environment for an extended period of time
found this collaboration fostered innovation
and creativity by pooling a larger number of
subject-matter professionals [3]. By
presenting this finding, along with similar
studies, project managers and leaders of
organizations could demonstrate how the
new environment could create professional
growth and advancement opportunities for
supply chain team members and other
employees within the organization.
Although it has been identified that leading
and operating in a virtual environment is
more complex than leading in a face-to-face
environment, there have been many tools
and traits project managers can employ to be
effective leaders in this type of environment
[4]. Two critical success factors in building
and leading virtually distributed supply
chain project teams are communication and
trust [5]. In discussing trust in virtual
environments, trust is the connective tissue
that binds strong virtual teams together. As
many believe technology may be the
primary tool in leading supply chain projects
in virtual environments, communication and
trust maintain the synergy among the supply
chain project team. In addition to
communication and trust, additional
competencies such as knowledge sharing
and collaboration are also essential in this
virtual setting.
For organizations that had to move supply
chain project team members into a virtual
environment, project managers also had to
create new knowledge-sharing cultures. The
building, managing, and sharing of
knowledge should be a primary objective for
organizations, regardless of it is in a virtual
or face-to-face environment. Given those
working in virtual environments pose
different obstacles than individuals working
in face-to-face settings, knowledge sharing
can also be viewed as a critical success
factor in virtual environments. To counter
the various obstacles which may arise,
knowledge sharing both internally and
externally will enhance the visibility and
collaboration among geographically
dispersed employees and clients. With many
organizations practicing continuous
improvement operationally, these
organizations must also practice ongoing
collaboration to strengthen the trust aspect
further.
In established virtual environments, team
members that worked in virtually were 24%
more likely to feel happy and more
productive, resulting in a 25% reduction in
turnover than team members that work in
face-to-face environments [6]. As a project
team member’s resistance to change may
stem from people factor resistance,
technology resistance, power resistance, or
fear of the unknown, project managers
should continue to communicate the benefits
of operating within a virtual environment
[7]. With new virtual environments allowing
traditional face-to-face project team
members to eliminate commute times and
spend more time with their families, further
research may be required to understand if
operating and collaborating in the new,
virtual environment may further reduce
turnover rates for organizations.
B. Recommendation 2: The Continued
Integration of Collaborative Technology
Tools
With the increase in virtually distributed
supply chain project teams, traditional
project management and leadership practices
are transforming. In an approach identified
as virtual leadership, technological
experiences play a significant role in
establishing virtually distributed supply
chain project teams [8]. Effective virtual
project managers must be engaged in the
technological interaction of their project
team members, and at the same time, display
transformational leadership and
transactional leadership competencies in a
virtual environment. Project managers are
instruments of transformation exerted
through the project team members to bring
about change in governance and
productivity [9]. As the pandemic changed
the business landscape from the aspect of
project environments, strategic business
partner relationships, and the reliance on
technology, project managers must align the
organization’s operations and processes to
those changes.
Although conventional, face-to-face
leadership approaches such as
transformational leadership and
transactional leadership are essential in
managing supply chain projects in a virtual
environment, another method that could be
integrated into virtual environments is
shared leadership. Iorio and Taylor [10]
pointed out that younger professionals are
vital to virtually distributed project teams
and that a shared leadership model may be
developed to combine the technological
experiences of younger professionals with
the practical experiences of more senior
project team members. This approach of
pairing a younger employee as the mentor
with a tenured team member as the mentee
could transition into a reverse mentoring
opportunity [11]. Because Baby Boomers
and Generation Xers are often intimidated
by technology, pairing these groups with
technologically savvy Millennials increases
collaboration and cohesiveness within a new
virtual project environment.
In addition to technological experiences,
continuous training and education of
collaboration tools are also necessary for
project managers operating in a virtual
environment. In providing oversight of the
organization’s collaborative digital
transformation, project managers could
assign change managers to these
transformation efforts. To implement a
successful organizational change initiative
focused on increasing the organization’s
internal and external collaboration efforts,
the organization’s leadership team should
introduce the project during an all-hands or
company meeting. In this meeting, leaders
of the organization should address the
following questions:
1) Where is the organization going?
2) How will the organization get there?
3) What is the role of each employee in
the project?
4) How will the workforce be positively
impacted by the project?
This approach will provide transparency to
the project, and will also show leadership
buy-in and commitment to the project. By
coupling these learning techniques with
technological experiences, project managers
will position themselves to become effective
leaders in this growing virtual environment
Post-COVID-19.
C. Recommendation 3: Develop,
Implement, and Monitor a Supply Chain
Uncertainty Management Plan
Project managers, teams, and stakeholders
often combine project risk and project
uncertainty. Aucoin [12] noted that while
project risk is a future state event that can
have an impact on achieving project goals if
it occurs, uncertainty is the current state
reality, and that the management of the two
concepts should be handled separately. With
uncertainty being characterized as an
unknown unknown, coupled with the fact
that uncertainty is outside of the scope of
project risk management, project managers
should consider creating a supply chain
uncertainty management plan independent
of a project risk management plan [13]. As
the return to face-to-face environments and
customer sites remain unclear, an
uncertainty management plan can be created
and continuously monitored until
organizations reach the post-COVID-19
phase of the pandemic.
Managing uncertainty encompasses two
dimensions: dynamism and complexity [14].
Pre-COVID-19, dynamism was one of the
main characteristics in agile-based projects
where teams adapted project schedules to
specific trends that exist in a particular
industry. If project managers incorporate
COVID-19 as an enterprise environmental
factor, rigid project structures may require
more fluidity. With research on hybrid
project management methods emerging in
recent years, by incorporating an uncertainty
management plan, hybrid approaches could
be introduced in some virtual project
environments to adjust to uncertain
complexities and project challenges. In one
example of integrating a hybrid project
management method, by introducing the
agile approach of daily standup meetings
into a waterfall project environment, this
small adjustment could increase the
collaboration and inclusion of supply chain
project team members in a virtual
environment.
As previously mentioned, when considering
project complexity, virtually distributed
supply chain project teams encounter more
complexities than face-to-face environments
[4]. Because internal and external
requirements could potentially lack precise
definition in a virtual environment,
integrating some of the collaboration tools
noted as a recommendation in the previous
section could also be considered when
developing an uncertainty management plan.
Although supply chain project teams may
work face-to-face internally, the pandemic
also impacted client-facing engagements.
Aside from using tools such as Zoom for
client steering committee calls, some large-
scale, high-visibility, high-touch supply
chain projects require onsite interaction with
clients. Through the use of innovative,
creative decision-making, project managers
can provide access to documents for clients
to become more proactive to project
changes. Additionally, as enterprise resource
planning (ERP) applications offer the ability
to utilize collaboration tools that are easily
configurable and intuitive, these tools can be
integrated into an organization’s uncertainty
management plan, potentially reducing
future state supply chain risks in a post-
COVID-19 era.
CONCLUSION
With the shift to virtual work environments,
project managers that traditionally operated
in a face-to-face environment had to develop
new competencies to effectively lead and
influence supply chain project team
members. Through continuous
communication, collaboration, and training,
project managers can continue to build the
team’s mental models. Several studies have
found that constant learning changes mental
models and behaviors, as well as harnesses
project team collaboration and
communication [1]. Shared visions between
project managers and supply chain project
teams are also critical to effective
engagement and inclusion. Given these
visions must require buy-in from all parts of
an organizational system, project managers
must keep the team in mind for strategic
plans to be successful, regardless of the
project timeline. By demonstrating project
team collaboration, engagement, and
inclusion, project managers can empower
and influence team members and alleviate
the fear of functioning in a virtual
environment, potentially resulting in a
reduction in project risk and uncertainty and
a higher probability for project success.
The results of this study are vital to the
fields of supply chain management, project
management, and organizational change
management as the findings build on the
body of knowledge for both disciplines.
Regardless of the size of the organization,
project managers, team members, and
leaders of organizations were negatively
impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic of
2020. Internal and external supply chain
stakeholders within all industries can benefit
from this study to applying the new
knowledge from this study within their
organizations during times of change.
Supply chain and project management
practitioners can benefit from this study’s
findings by applying the approaches
outlined in large- and small-scale projects to
mitigate risk and supply chain uncertainty
during these engagements.
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[2] R. Lozano, “Creativity and
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[3] S. Bacq, W. Geoghegan, M. Josefy,
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