MASTER IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (BLENDED)

GSDM7264: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Group Name: SMARTLINK GROUP

STUDENT NAME MATRIX NUMBER

Section : MC-B10
Lecturer’s Name : Dr Sarina binti Mohamad Nor
Submission Due : 19th June 2022
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Chapter Overview

This chapter gives an overview of research about the effectiveness and challenges working

remotely that was experienced by employees at Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus, Selangor,

Malaysia. Challenges of working remotely need to be identified and addressed so that employees'

job performance can be maintained or increased, the same as when they are working from the

office. When the challenges are being identified, only the effectiveness of working remotely can

be accessed. The sub-topic will discuss the background of the study, research problems, research

objectives, and research questions. A theoretical framework and conceptual framework are

explained in this chapter. The most relevant and adequate underpinning theory related can be

found in this chapter to relate with the theory related. In this chapter, the last section will explain

the scope and significance of study and lastly the definition of important terms.

1.2 Background of Study

A cluster of severe pneumonia cases with an unknown aetiology was reported in Wuhan, Hubei

Province, China, in December 2019. Although majority of the initial 41 patients were later

reported to have had no known exposure to the market, the initial cluster was epidemiologically

related to a seafood wholesale market in Wuhan. (Zhu N et al., 2020). On 7 January 2020, a new

strain of coronavirus from the same virus family that causes SARS and Middle East respiratory
syndrome (MERS), as well as the four human coronaviruses associated with the common cold,

was discovered from lower respiratory tract samples of four cases. The WHO classified the

SARS-CoV-2 epidemic a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January

2020, and as of 28 February 2020, more than 80,000 confirmed cases had been reported

worldwide. (WHO Report, 2020).

To combat the viral spread, the Malaysian government took many steps and enacted new rules.

The Malaysian government imposed three types of movement orders at various stages, including

Movement Control Orders, Conditional Movement Control Orders, and Recovery Movement

Control Orders. (Aw et al., 2021). Malaysia reported 1,513,024 COVID-19 cases and 13,713

deaths as of August 20, 2021. (Salim, 2021). This Covid-19 outbreak has an economic impact on

the self-employed, employers, private employees, multinational corporate employees, and

government-affiliated company employees. (Lim, 2020). To carry out their jobs during the

Covid-19 outbreak, government and private management sectors employ work-from-home

policies.

Working from home involves two parties: the employer and the employees. Work from home is

when an employee's house serves as a basis for work rather than going to an office or coming to

work. Work from home is a policy in which employees use information and communication

technologies to accomplish jobs or responsibilities assigned to them by their employers from

home. Numerous firms have adopted this work-from-home strategy to eliminate face-to-face

interaction, while employees are able to carry out their duties without difficulty. Nevertheless,
employees experienced obstacles during the work-from-home policy periods. Work from home,

often known as remote job, is the method through which employees complete work-related tasks

from their homes. Work from home policy refers to a company's set of policies governing how

employees can work remotely, as opposed to physically coming into the office. (Lopez, 2020).

Work from home policies were first introduced to connect working and living space to establish

a natural approach to balance lifestyles and collaborate for the greater benefit.

1.3 Problem Statement

Work from home can bring a lot of challenges to both employers and employees (Nathan et al.,

2021). The reasons why the challenges are highlighted are because it indirectly affects private

employees' effectiveness in carrying out their daily tasks while working from home. Since this is

the first all Malaysians must work remotely due to MCO, there is insufficient case study

regarding the effectiveness and challenges working remotely. Since more people are working

remotely, it can have a negative impact on the productivity of the employees if it is not addressed

properly (Hassan & Raj, 2021). The new norms which are work from home are not same how the

working conditions that employees experience all these whiles. The challenges towards

achieving the effectiveness of working from home are covering in terms of (1) physical, (2)

psychological, (3) technological, (4) financial, and (5) job performance:

1.3.1 Physical Challenges

Most of the employees feel comfortable working from home. Since the working hours are

flexible, they do not experience any physical challenges since they could rest and
continue their work after that (Nathan et al., 2021). But some of the employees may

experience pain such as back pain and dizziness. Taking care of physical health also

means taking care of your well-being. According to Courtney (2021), many people forget

to take a break from their work. Having a proper break such as vacation can increase

employee productivity and efficiency (Hassan & Raj, 2021). Unpleasant habits are also

one of the problems that arise during working remotely among the employees. According

to Hassan and Raj (2021), the chances of the employee has fallen into unhealthy habits

happened when you already lost your regular habit during the work from home period.

1.3.2. Psychological Challenges

Balancing personal and work life is not easy, especially when working remotely. Some of

the employees feel distracted and it impacts their psychological. Some of the employees

feel sad since they could not communicate with their colleague's face to face (Nathan et

al., 2021). They feel disconnected when they cannot communicate physically, instead they

only communicate via WhatsApp, phone calls etc. Loneliness has also been experienced

by some of the employees. According to Hassan & Raj (2021), most of the people rely on

nonverbal communication. Effective communication is the most common challenge that

was experienced by the employees while working remotely (Hassan & Raj, 2021). The

lack of social interaction makes the employees feel that they are lonely and isolated. When

the psychological challenges are not being addressed early, it will affect mental and

physical well-being. According to Gurchiek (2021), some of the employees have the

struggle to unplug from their work. The employees should know and put the boundaries

between their work and personal life.

Technology disrupts the employees’ work during the implementation of working

remotely (Roe,2020). There are a lot of challenges faced by the employees that must

work from home due to lack of technological equipment. According to Nathan (2021), a

survey done by Nexthink shows that 38 percent of employees have the issues of

connecting to software. Meanwhile 35 percent of employees have difficulties with the

video conferencing apps. A poor internet connection and outdated technology always

caused employee frustration (Hassan & Raj, 2021). Some employees must even find a

place for a better WIFI connection to overcome the problem. According to Skirka (2020),

finding a good place that offers WIFI connection nearby the house is needed in case of

emergency for the internet connection.

1.3.4 Financial Challenges

Most of the employees do not face difficulties working remotely financially. But some of

the employees must spend money to purchase internet data (Nathan et al., 2021).

However, their work performance does not affect even though they face financial

challenges. Covid-19 has altered not only the nature of employees' lives but also

impacting the short-term and long-term of the financial challenges (Sharma, 2020). Some

of the employees even must withdraw their savings from their retirement plan and

investment. According to Quinby et al. (2020), withdrawal from retirement savings and

investment can have a greater impact.

Based on study by Ramos, J.P., & Prasetyp, Y.T. (2020), it can be concluded that

implementation of working remotely has a strong relationship between job performance,

job dissatisfaction, productivity, and stress. It can also be seen that job performance will

increase if job satisfaction is high. According to Staples et al. (2020), efficiency and

effectiveness of employees are the employee's productivity in completing their job and

responsibilities. According to Afrianty et al. (2022), effectiveness is the extent to which

employees can carry out their work and responsibilities within the given time.

1.4 Research Objectives

The objectives of this study are as stated below:

1. To identify the effectiveness and challenges faced by employees in Taylor’s University

Lakeside Campus when they are working remotely.

2. To study the health work-life balance among a private university employee in Selangor.

3. To examine the employee's way of dealing with their physical challenges while working

remotely.

4. To identify any physiological challenges experienced by private university employees

that are working remotely.

5. To investigate the financial challenges faced by the private university employees that

work from home.

Lakeside Campus when they are working remotely.

1.5 Research Questions

Based on the research objectives, the research questions formulated for this study are as follows:

1.5.1 Demographic Section:

Nationality *

 Malaysian

 Non-Malaysian

Gender *

 Female

 Male

Age Group *

 18–26

 27–34

 35–43

 44–51

 52 and above

Household Income Level *

 Below RM1,500

 RM1,500 – RM3,000
  RM3,000 – RM5,000

 RM5,000 – RM10,000

 RM10,000 and above

Marital Status *

 Now married

 Widowed

 Divorced

 Separated

 Never married

Academic Qualification *

 High School Certificate (SPM, UEC)

 Diploma

 Bachelor’s Degree

 Master’s Degree

 PhD / DBA

Period of Working from Home *

 0 – 6 months

 6 – 12 months

 12 – 18 months

 18 – 24 months

 24 months and above

1. What are the effectiveness and challenges of working remotely?

2. Do you consider yourself to have a healthy work-life balance while working

remotely?

1.5.3 Sub-questions:

1. What is the best way to deal with negative health habits?

2. How often do you feel lonely working alone remotely and do you feel any depression

sometime?

3. How do you deal with the internet and your phone distraction and interruption when

you are working remotely?

4. What is the financial difference between working remotely and working in an office?

5. Is there a major difference in your key performance between working remotely and

working in an office? What will he use as a benchmark, a daily activity, or a set of

goals to achieve?

1.6 Theoretical Framework

Studies created, tested, and investigated the element and framework by selecting studies from

among those that were qualified to be included in the research from the reading. From the
perspective of employees, it was intended to contribute to the efficiency of working remotely and

prioritize studies that were as relevant to the review and data collection as feasible based on a

range of grounded theory analysis. Grounded theory is a well-known methodology employed in

many research studies. Qualitative data generation techniques can be used in a grounded theory

study (Chun Tie, Y. et al., 2019).

The information taken from each study about a different university and investigated the

approach, key performance index monitoring, task milestone achievement, and technology

requirements for increasing job efficiency. The goal of this study was to investigate the

challenges that employees who have work remotely experience.

1.7 Conceptual Framework

Studies to created, tested, and investigated the element and framework by selecting studies from

among those that were qualified to be included in the research. From the perspective of

employees, it was intended to contribute to the efficiency of working remotely and prioritize

studies that were as relevant to the review and data collection as feasible based on a range of

grounded theory analysis. Grounded theory is a well-known methodology employed in many

research studies. Qualitative data generation techniques can be used in a grounded theory study

(Chun Tie, Y. et al., 2019).

The information taken from each study about a different university and investigated the

approach, key performance index monitoring, task milestone achievement, and technology
requirements for increasing job efficiency. The goal of this study was to investigate the

challenges that employees who have work remotely experience.

1.8 Underpinning Theory

Work from home can bring a lot of challenges to both employers and employees (Nathan et al.,

2021). Based on the given theory the effectiveness and challenges of working remotely being

measured with the correspondence to have a healthy work-life balance. According to Bick et al.,

(2020) work from home (WFH) practice has been observed that employees can work effectively.

Employees can work effectively if they can overcome the challenges while working remotely.

The concept of work design encompasses the notion of remote work (since working virtually

represents a different “organization” of one's tasks compared to working in the office) and has

been argued to be relevant to other contemporary work changes, such as the current digital era

(e.g., Bélanger et al., 2013; Parker & Grote, 2020; Wang et al., 2020). Therefore, A Work Design

Perspective would be able to address the challenge to both employers and employees while

working remotely.

1.9 Scope of the Study

The study has a very broad scope, especially as Malaysia transitions from a pandemic to an

endemic state with Covid-19. The study's findings can be used by a variety of organizations to

develop successful ways of increasing employee productivity and efficiency. In addition, these

research findings provide useful insight into the challenges that employees face while working

remotely. This can open the way for such parameters to be adjusted and redefined in order to
attain high staff dynamic flexibility. Therefore, the scope of this study is limited to Taylor’s

University Lakeside Campus, Selangor employees and more specifically to those who have

experienced working remotely.

1.10 Significant Study

The study's findings give companies a sense of the advantages of allowing workers to work from

home, which they may use to influence a company's respective decisions. The significance from

policy makers, industry, employers, employees, and literature gaps are concluded as below:

1.10.1 Policy Maker

Guidelines for employers on enforcement, WFH has been come up by the International

Labour Organization to lay out the best possible ways to implement it (Tambou S.M. et

al., 2021). The guidelines cover a few areas such as safety and health of the employees,

technologies, and supplies equipment, WFH setup, compensation for employees and

liability. There is also a way of mitigating the challenges faced by employees to be

handled in a proper manner by employers.

1.10.2 Industry

39% of the business operation is disrupted with the arrangement working remotely. 48%

of the businesses cannot operate properly since WFH (work from home) policies do not
 exist. (Tambou S.M. et al., 2021). Some of the employers started to call back the WFH

when the government lifted the MCO.

1.10.3 Employers

Flexibility, location independence, and reduced commute stress are just a few of the

advantages that the company can benefit from, along with the potential for increased

inclusiveness and, eventually, savings on unneeded expenditures that come with them.

Thus, a more positive work environment was developed, resulting in increased

productivity and performance. The findings of the study will influence the

decision of the employers to allow the employees to work remotely.

1.10.4 Employees

There should be a proper implementation and design of WFH policies implemented by

the companies. Lack in WFH policies has resulted in the inability of the employees to

carry out their work. Flexibility in managing their schedule really helps the employees to

finish the task and improve productivity. However, lack of assessment of the physical

files and documents makes them face some difficulties in executing the job (Tambou

S.M. et al., 2021).

The proper implementation of WFH policies needs to be done. Most of the employees

having difficulties WFH due to lack of WFH policies by the companies. Even though

they have flexibility in terms of working hours, they also need their own personal time. A

work-life balance is important to keep motivation and increase the productivity of the

employees.

1.11 Definition of Important Terms

The important terms that were involved during the study are as follows:

(i) Work from home Working from home, which is also known as teleworking,

is when employees carry out their organizational

responsibilities remotely such as in their homes instead of

the norm of working in the office (Abdullah, N. et al.,

2020). The International Labour Organization (ILO, 2020)

defined WFH in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic as

"a working arrangement in which a worker fulfils his or her

basic job obligations while remaining at home and utilising

information and communications technology."

(ii) Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction is an individual's subjective assessment of

how he or she feels about his or her job and the

company where he or she works (Abuhashesh, M. et

al., 2019).
(iii) Challenges According to igi-global.com website, challenges can be

referred to as Obstacles or problems that one

encounters or faces.

(iv) Effectiveness Effectiveness is the power to produce the desired result

(Magnus Wilson et al., 2018).

1.12 Chapter Summary

Chapter 1 focused on the background of the study and problem statement. Research objective,

research question was described to relate with the study outcome which are the effectiveness and

challenges of working remotely among Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus employees. The

framework will be demonstrated based on the literature review and proposed framework has

been designed.
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