Twenty-third International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic accelerated the speed of change in the workplace. Overnight, several individuals shifted from co-location in an office to hybrid or remote work. The pandemic also expedited and intensified the need to address persistent leadership and management concerns, including digital transformation, remote management, leading through fast change, anxiety, and uncertainty. Nonetheless, many leaders have failed to address the problems left behind by the epidemic (How to Be a High-Performing Leader in a Hybrid Workplace, n.d.). In a fundamental work devoted to comprehending what constitutes a human need, Maslow reiterates similar descriptors in his explanation of belongingness as the human need to be accepted, acknowledged, respected, and appreciated by a community of other individuals (Levett-Jones et al., 2007). This study investigates the lived experiences of dispersed hybrid team members in order to find leadership best practices that improve team performance and retention through an increased individual’s sense of belonging.