Back to a New Normal: In Search of Stability in an Era of Pandemic Disruption – Insight from Practitioners and Academics

Front Cover
Back to a New Normal
In Search of Stability in an Era of Pandemic Disruption— Insight From Practitioners and Academics
CONTENTS
	Part I: Workforce and Workplace Challenges and Opportunities
		1. Invisible Heroes: The Mission Critical Role of HR During the COVID-19 Pandemic
		2. Supply Chain Under Pandemic Pressure: How to Build a More Resilient Supply Chain
		3. Healthcare and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Caring for Those Who Care for Us
		4. The Pandemic and the Long-Term Unemployed: A Road Map for Job Search Turnaround
		5. Monetizing Compassion: The Case for a New-Age Currency
		6. From Disruption to Connection: How Mindful Conflict Management Builds Bridges During the Pandemic and Beyond
		7. Big Problems, Big Data: The Critical Role of IT During an Era of Pandemic Disruption
		8. Networking Postpandemic Just Got Easier AND Harder
		9. Pandering to Pandemics: Framing Choices for Success— Insight for CEOs
		10. Job Search for the Long-Term Unemployed: A Practical Approach for Practitioners
		11. Business Sustainability During a Pandemic: Practical Steps to Succession Planning
	Part II: Remote Working Challenges and Strategies
		12. How to Thrive While Working From Home
		13. A Whole New Ball Game: Motivating and Managing a Remote Work Force
		14. Measuring Success During a Pandemic: Time Management, Mindfulness, and Staying Positive
	Part III: Remote Learning Challenges and Considerations
		15. Asynchronous and Synchronous Online Learning During a Pandemic
		16. The Mechanics of Remote Learning and Remote Working: A Logistics Perspective
		17. Academic Challenges of Virtual Classes During the Pandemic: Elementary ESL Teacher’s Perspective
		18. Resetting the Norm: Leveraging the Pandemic to Increase Equity in Education
	Back to a New Normal
	In Search of Stability in an Era of Pandemic Disruption— Insight From Practitioners and Academics
		Edited by
		S. Charles Malka Sullivan University
		and
		Robert H. Tiell Psychology Resource Group
			Information Age Publishing, Inc. Charlotte, North Carolina • www.infoagepub.com
			ACKOWLEDGMENTS
			Preface
				REFERENCES
	PART I
		WORKFORCE AND WORKPLACE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
	CHAPTER 1
		Invisible Heroes
			The Mission Critical Role of HR During the COVID-19 Pandemic
				Teresa A. Daniel
			OVERVIEW
			THE IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC ON EMPLOYEES
			THE CHANGING ROLE OF HR DURING THE PANDEMIC
			ACCELERATION OF HR’S EMPLOYEE SUPPORT ROLE
			CHANGING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT WORK
			IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE
			SPECULATION ABOUT OUR POSTPANDEMIC WORLD
			Author’s Note
			References
	CHAPTER 2
		Supply Chains Under Pandemic Pressure
			How to Build a More Resilient Supply Chain
				Lathan Craig Austin
			Introduction
			SEEING THE IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC
			LEARNING HOW TO RESPOND
			ADOPTING RESILIENCE
			Priorities for Realizing Resilience
				Develop a Supply Network That Is Built on Reliability, Trust, and Diversity
				Be Agile in Shifting Logistic Resources Around in Order to Both Respond to and Anticipate Changing Demand
				Make Technology Serve as a Transforming Tool
			References
	CHAPTER 3
		Healthcare and the COVID-19 Pandemic
			Caring for Those Who Care for Us
				Rebecca D. Carpenter
			Setting the Stage
			INTERPERSONAL TURMOIL
			EXAMINING THE ISSUE
			DEFINED RESOURCE ALLOCATION
			TRANSPARENCY AND TRUST
			EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
			SUSTAINING FRONTLINE HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS
			References
	CHAPTER 4
		The Pandemic and the Long-Term Unemployed
			A Road Map for a Job Search Turnaround
				S. Charles Malka and Robert H. Tiell
			THE SCENE: SHOW ME THE NUMBERS
			RESEARCH BITES: WHAT DO WE KNOW?
			A GOVERNMENT HELPING HAND: IS THERE MUCH TO SHARE?
			THE FRAMEWORK: HOW RELEVANT ARE THE ANCHORS?
			PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: ARE THE ANCHORS REAL ROAD MARKERS?
			EPILOGUE: THE LAST WORD?
			Authors’ Note
			References
	CHAPTER 5
		Monetizing Compassion
			The Case for a New-Age Currency
				R. Brayton Bowen
			Prologue
			THE CASE FOR NEW-AGE CURRENCY
			COMPASSION IN ACTION
				Organization Culture
				Ethics and Values
				Diversity and Inclusion
				Compassion as a Currency
				Stewardship
				Leadership
				Corporate Social Responsibility
			Putting it All Together
			References
	CHAPTER 6
		From Disruption to Connection
			How Mindful Conflict Management Builds Bridges During the Pandemic and Beyond
				LaVena Wilkin
			CONSTRUCTING A MINDFULNESS CONSCIOUSNESS
			BEING MINDFUL THAT CONFLICT IS AN OPPORTUNITY
			MINDFULLY BUILDING A PSYCHOLOGICALLY SAFE WORKPLACE
			MAKING CONNECTIONS THROUGH MINDFUL COMMUNICATION
			BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
			Building the Bridge From Disruption to Connection
			MOVING FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE—A BRIEF CASE STUDY
			CONCLUSION
			References
	CHAPTER 7
		Big Problems, Big Data
			The Critical Role of IT During an Era of Pandemic Disruption
				Michael Hart
			OVERVIEW
			BIG DATA SYSTEMS, IOT, AND INFORMATION SECURITY
			DATA VISUALIZATION AND MODELING
			Computer Hardware
			DATA CENTERS
			CLOUD COMPUTING
			MOBILITY
			CYBERSECURITY
			FUTURE IMPLICATIONS OF IT AND PANDEMICS
			REFERENCES
	CHAPTER 8
		Networking Postpandemic Just Got Easier AND Harder
			Clay Morgan
			Introduction
			NETWORKING ONLINE—A NECESSARY SHIFT
			Networking—a New Normal?
			On Successful Networking
				#4: Networking Online Is Here to Stay
				#3: In-Person Networking Will Become a Richer, More Valuable Experience
				#2: Pick the Combination of Networking Events That Will Be Most Beneficial for You
				#1: Be Present Where You Are
			Networking—Opportunities and Benefits
	CHAPTER 9
		Pandering to Pandemics
			Framing Choices for Success— Insights for CEOs
				Lathan Craig Austin
			Introduction
			THE NEW NORMAL
			How Organizations Think
			Constructing New Strategies of Survival
			Management at Work
			BEING NIMBLER AND MORE PRODUCTIVE
			The Price of Failure
			LEARNING TO FRAME CHANGE
			Conclusion
			References
	CHAPTER 10
		Job Search for the Long-term Unemployed
			A Practical Approach for Practitioners
				Robert H. Tiell and S. Charles Malka
			PREVAILING JOB SEARCH PRACTICES ARE INSUFFICIENT
			A NEW DELIVERY MODEL: THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS
			CONSIDERING A FEW GUIDING PRINCIPLES
			THE DELIVERY MODEL’S CONTEXT AND DYNAMICS
			A New Delivery Model: Workshop Sessions
			CONSIDERATION OF MEASURES USED
			ON THE OVERALL IMPACT OF THE DELIVERY MODEL
			A NEW DELIVERY MODEL: LESSONS LEARNED
			Practical Recommendations
			Authors’ Note
			References
	CHAPTER 11
		Business Sustainability During a Pandemic
			Practical Steps to Succession Planning
				Orville Blackman
			WHAT IS SUCCESSION PLANNING AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT?
				Succession Planning as a Strategy
				Measuring Progress
				Selecting the Candidate Pool
				Mentorship Program
				Selecting Mentors and Paring With Mentees
				Conclusion
			REFERENCES
		PART II
			REMOTE WORKING CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES
	CHAPTER 12
		How to Thrive While Working from Home
			Terry Kibiloski
			Set yourself up for Success in Your Home Office Environment
			UNDERSTAND THE BASIC TECHNOLOGY YOU NEED
			KEEP YOU AND YOUR COMPUTER HEALTHY
				Computer Vision Syndrome
				Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
			Position of Head, Not Wrist Action, Causes Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
			PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER
			BASIC TROUBLESHOOTING TECHNIQUES
			DEVELOP NEW SKILLS AND EARN NEW CERTIFICATIONS
			CONTROL YOUR OWN INTERNET IMAGE
			HOW THE INTERNET HAS CHANGED THE HIRING PROCESS
			Thriving While Working From Home Summary
			REFERENCES
	CHAPTER 13
		A Whole New Ball Game
			Motivating and Managing a Remote Workforce
				Helen MacLennan
			WORK ENVIRONMENT
				Sharing Space
				Management Tips
				Security
				Management Tips
				Employment Law
			Work Boundaries
				Management Tips
			ISOLATION
				Communication
				Workplace Culture
				Management Tips
			Insecurity
				Negativity
				Management Tips
			REMOTE WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT SKILLS
				Knowledge
				Flexibility
				Connection
				Empathy
				Transparency
				Communication
			CONCLUSION
			References
	CHAPTER 14
		Measuring Success During a Pandemic
			Time Management, Mindfulness, and Staying Positive
				Kimberly Castle
			Introduction
			TIME MANAGEMENT
				1. Create a workspace that is your own—whether a kitchen table, a spare bedroom, or a large closet. clear it and make it neat and tidy and equipped for work (Forbes, Good Housekeeping, CDC, etc., 2020). A neat and tidy workspace is more productive ...
				2. Start the day early, as a normal workday, treating our home office professionally helps productivity (Goldman, 2021).
				3. Take scheduled breaks. According to MacArthur (2020), clocking more hours is easy to do because working from home means work is always calling.
				4. Get good at setting and managing boundaries. Remember, there is a work team and a home team when working from home and sharing living space with spouses, children, pets, or roommates. This means that discussions about work times must be met with a...
				5. Be your own empowered spokesperson. Keep in touch with coworkers and let them know what you are working on and your progress; in other words, toot your own horn! Since working from home does not foster communication and kinship with a company, a l...
			Burnout
			MINDFULNESS DURING A CRISIS
			POSITIVITY DURING TIMES OF CRISIS
				1. Happy people take better care of themselves—it makes sense that when we are more happy than sad, we make positive choices.
				2. Happy people choose healthy behaviors, like exercising, eating well, and getting good sleep—it makes sense to promote continued positive feelings.
				1. Play your favorite inspirational music; this offers us warmth and often reminds us of a hopeful or happy time.
				2. As with mindfulness, practice gratitude; look at a negative event as a path to something better.
				3. Schedule time to grieve or worry; try not to feel that way outside of the ten minutes allotted daily.
				4. Visualize your positive role model; imagine matching that positivity.
				5. Visualize the end goal; think of setbacks as growth opportunities.
				6. Speak positively; giving voice to negativity negates our way to positivity.
				7. Be kind; treat others as we wish to be treated.
				8. Be organized; neatness helps us organize our thoughts.
				9. SMILE; Smiles are contagious, and they have the power to transform our outlook (Goldman, 2021). Masks have made it more difficult to discern another’s smile. However, smiles can also be inferred through our eye contact, voice tone, and body lang...
			SUCCESS
				1. Build resilience and mental toughness.
				2. When you fall, get up again.
				3. Ask for help.
				4. Look for the good.
				5. Ask who is a shining light during difficult times? And hang out with them!
			Conclusion
			REFERENCES
		PART III
			REMOTE LEARNING CHALLENGES AND CONSIDERATIONS
	CHAPTER 15
		Asynchronous and Synchronous Online Learning During a Pandemic
			Anthony A. Piña
			ONLINE AS A CONTINGENCY FOR CAMPUS CLOSURES
			Higher Ed Institutions Not Well Prepared for a Pandemic
			EMERGENCY REMOTE TEACHING
			ONE UNIVERSITY’S RESPONSE
			Lesson Learned From Past Crises
				1. Create the delivery framework:
				2. Triage priorities and ledgering:
				3. Staffing and support:
				4. Cooperate, collaborate, communicate:
			Asynchronous Online Instructor Engagement
				1. Posting a brief biography to allow students to get to know the instructor better. While text-based announcements are still dominant, faculty are increasingly taking advantage of introductory videos that bring students into their office, homes or h...
				2. Posting course announcements at least weekly. Gaudet (2016) suggested that instructors can use course announcements to maximize their presence by allowing themselves to be creative and personal—while still being professional—by using anecdotes...
				3. Logging into and monitoring the online course on a daily basis. This allows instructors to monitor student progress, check for student questions and messages, and to quickly identify technical issues with the course. It is also a tangible indicato...
				4. Piña and Bohn (2016) found that responding to student inquiries was considered to be the most important indicator of online instructor quality and engagement (tied with instructor feedback below). Having an instructor respond within 1 day of the ...
				5. Providing helpful feedback to student assignments. This was also seen as a critical indicator of quality and engagement. Feedback is most helpful when it is timely and includes constructive guidance and explicit expectations (Getzlaf et al., 2009)...
				6. Moderating and participating in discussion boards. Many instructors mistakenly believe that online discussion boards are to be used exclusively for student-to-student interaction. Instructors’ active participation in online class discussions are...
				7. Grading assignments in a timely manner. Grading and feedback tend to be the most time-consuming tasks for the online instructor; however, students often require the feedback from prior assignments to allow them to properly improve and prepare for ...
			SYNCHRONOUS ONLINE INSTRUCTOR ENGAGEMENT
				1. Prerecord lectures, demonstrations, and presentations. Instructors can best utilize their live synchronous videoconference time for activities that require students’ active participation, such as question- and-answer sessions, one-on-one feedbac...
				2. Create a detailed agenda and share it with students. An agenda helps to keep instructors and students on task, reduces wasted or irrelevant time, and helps to assure that all intended topics are addressed.
				3. Make transitions explicit. In the absence of physical transitions of moving into groups or coming back together, instructors can provide transitional pauses between different learning activities or discussion topics. This allows students to a few ...
				4. Just as with on-campus, classes, synchronous instructional sessions should include taking regular breaks (e.g., 5 minutes for every 30 minutes of instruction) to provide students with the opportunity to get up, stretch, or use the restroom. Breaks...
				5. Provide active learning opportunities. In addition to instruct-to- student interaction, synchronous class sessions should times where students engage in peer-to-peer interaction. These activities may include peer-taught class segments, minicase st...
				6. Be more flexible on attendance requirements. If students have connectivity issues or other circumstances that cause them to miss a synchronous session, plan for a research assignment or another alternative to the live assignment. Sessions can also...
			RESOURCES FOR ASYNCHRONOUS AND SYNCHRONOUS ONLINE TEACHING
				1. Communicating with Students:
				2. Delivering Content Online:
				3. Ensuring Accessibility:
				4. Meaningful Discussions:
				5. Online Tests and Assessments:
			Conclusion
			References
	CHAPTER 16
		The Mechanics of Remote Working and Remote Learning
			A Logistics Perspective
				Tom Javarinis
			Remote Working in Perilous Times
			KEEP YOUR WORK LIFE AND HOME LIFE SEPARATE
			ESTABLISH A ROUTINE
			CREATE A SENSE OF COMMUNITY
			COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY ARE KEY
			Be Kind to Yourself
				Remote Learning in Perilous Times
			NOTES
	CHAPTER 17
		Academic Challenges of Virtual Classes During the Pandemic
			An Elementary ESL Teacher’s Perspective
				Joanne Rodriguez Addarich
			Introduction
			A NEW COURSE IN TEACHING/LEARNING PROCESSES
			The Importance of Self-Care
			ENGAGING TO LEARN AND LEARNING TO ENGAGE
			Teachers’ Opinions About the Impact of the Pandemic in Their Classrooms
				Ms. P.M. (Kindergarten Teacher From a Kentucky Public Elementary School)
					1. What kind of impact has the pandemic had on your relationship with your students?
					2. Have you seen a difference in academic achievement and performance among your students receiving virtual classes as opposed to in-person classes?
					3. As a teacher, what is your general opinion concerning virtual classes?
					4. Describe your experience with synchronous and asynchronous classes in terms of students’ participation and engagement.
					5. Have communication with your students’ parents been different while using virtual classes modality compared to in-person modality? Please explain your answer.
				Ms. M.A.H. (Kindergarten Teacher’s Assistant From a Kentucky Public Elementary School)
					1. How would you describe your experience with virtual classes?
					2. What is your general opinion concerning virtual classes? Pros:
					Cons:
				Mr. M.F. (Social Studies/Special Education Teacher From a New York Public Elementary School)
					1. How would you describe your experience with virtual classes during the pandemic?
				Ms. J.R (ESL Teacher at a Public Elementary School in Kentucky)
			Conclusion
			Author’s note
			References
	CHAPTER 18
		Resetting the Norm
			Leveraging the Pandemics to Increase Equity in Education
				J. Claudette Howard
			Introduction
			Navigating the Transition to Online Learning
			BRIDGING THE GAPS
				1. Prioritize teacher efficacy. One of the blessings of the pandemic has been the ability to spend more time with teachers. Collective teacher efficacy is the highest yield instructional strategy for student acceleration (Hattie & Zierer, 2018). Havi...
				2. Celebrate and collaborate with your team. When you are a new principal, you have a new team. Even if the team has been established and was working together before your arrival at a school, the team changes with a new leader. I did not have all of ...
				The school closure forced me to celebrate my staff in writing and verbally and it established a positive culture for our school. It also gave people the opportunity to get to know me and to recognize that my passion for racial equity and social justi...
				1. Partner with parents. Shortly after being hired, I received information about the current family involvement at our school. It was disappointing to find out that in previous years, the school and the parents had a contentious relationship and that...
				2. Systems are vital. With an in-person school, it is easy to get caught up in a reaction loop. You start something and then all of these other things keep popping up. Folks can run down to your office or catch you in the hall and get you off and run...
				3. Make your resources work for you. Managing financial and human capital are some of the most underrated skills that school leaders must have. In our district, schools had to manage teacher absences internally. Being required to play Tetris with our...
			References
		Epilogue
			S. Charles Malka and R. H. Tiell
		About the Contributors
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