Article Review: COVID-19 as a Catalyst for Digital Innovation

Introduction

As the COVID-19 global pandemic continues to affect nations around the world, businesses of all sizes and types have scrambled to identify viable alternatives to their conventional working arrangements. Given the proliferation of innovations in telecommunications in recent years, it is not surprising that one such alternative has been the use of digital workplaces. Although these alternatives are not new, they have become the option of choice for many companies due to the lack of other communications strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical review of Anita Hawser's article published in the June 2020 issue of Global Finance in order to evaluate its credibility and the effectiveness of the arguments she presents. In addition, the paper addresses criticisms or reservations that readers may have about this article and discusses whether this article would be useful in a classroom setting. Finally, a summary of key findings is presented in the conclusion.

Review and Assessment of Credibility

The author of this article is a staff writer for Global Finance who specializes in technology-related trends that affect the workplace. Moreover, Global Finance has been published continuously since its founding in 1987 and has become a trusted source of financial information, which suggests that the content is credible. In addition, the author provides results from a series of first-hand interviews with recognized telecommunications industry leaders in support of her points. On the whole, Hawser makes a credible case for her assertions concerning current and future trends in redesigning and rethinking the traditional workplace.

The author is also effective in the manner in which she presents information, using the same methods that enhance the article's credibility. By drawing on first-person interviews with business leaders in both the public and private sectors, Hawser makes it clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is compelling organizations of all sizes and types to reevaluate their workplace arrangements in order to minimize threats to employees and the public while simultaneously operating as normally as possible. For instance, according to Hawser, "The novel coronavirus has upended global travel, put governments on a quasi-wartime footing, forced economies and businesses into lockdown and caused global supply chains to screech to a halt. The crisis has impacted a vast range of areas: work, health, finance, education and more" (14). This focus was also regarded as highly congruent with a growing body of scholarship investigating these issues due to the exigencies of the ongoing pandemic (Akingbola 2020).

Effectiveness of Arguments and Timeliness

Unlike many business management authorities who continue to research and publish articles about keeping employees motivated in a traditional workplace — analyzing the pros and cons of various management fads in a business-as-usual fashion — Hawser's article is especially timely because it focuses on problems that organizations are facing right now. Indeed, many smaller and even larger organizations have struggled to stay afloat, and the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic remains uncertain. Exacerbating these challenges further has been the haphazard fashion in which local and state authorities have implemented business closures, leaving the future of many business types unclear irrespective of the pandemic's eventual outcome.

Against this backdrop, it is clear that it makes good business sense to try something, even if it proves incorrect, in order to identify what might actually work in the future. In this regard, Hawser cites a professor of strategic foresight at the NYU Stern School of Business and the founder of the Future Today Institute to make the point that, "Workplace conventions and strategic plans are being completely reconsidered. Sudden disruption, especially when it is catastrophic, often acts as a catalyst. Managers are more likely to endorse seemingly risky ideas if they lead to short-term survivability" (15). This emerging "let's try something even if it's wrong" approach was not cost effective for the vast majority of private sector enterprises in the past, but current circumstances have forced organizational leaders to find something — anything — that works for now. As Hawser concludes, "That may explain why, suddenly, innovations that seemed blue-sky thinking are now being greenlit by governments and businesses willing to try anything" (15).

Certainly, there will be volumes written about organizational responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the coming years, and experts will invariably weigh in on why certain strategies worked better than others. However, the present moment demands information and advice that business leaders can apply to their own situations immediately. While the situation facing business leaders is so dynamic that even the most well-informed guidance may become obsolete overnight, Hawser makes a valuable contribution by providing a snapshot of what is taking place now and how current trends can reasonably be expected to affect the workplace of the future.

Overall, this article is highly relevant to the circumstances facing companies of all sizes and types across the country and around the world. For example, during a period when growing numbers of Americans are being forced to work from home, identifying constraints to employee well-being and strategies to avoid "screen time" burnout are timely and valuable concerns (Asarch n.d.; Aguilar n.d.). Of course, these issues are not entirely new, but they have become far more pronounced as tens of millions of Americans have been forced to work remotely — if they are fortunate enough to still have a job.

Conclusion

Given the rapid pace of innovation and change taking place today, the bar for gold-standard business-related articles is going to be raised out of necessity, and industry best practices are being changed on a daily and even hourly basis. As the COVID-19 virus continues to spread throughout communities at an uncontrolled rate, it is reasonable to conclude that the findings emerging from articles such as Hawser's will become dated at a far more rapid pace than in the past. Business analysts like Hawser will have their hands full trying to keep pace with innovations in technology that will continue to reshape the traditional workplace for years to come.

Works Cited

Aguilar. (n.d.). "I Asked My Friends How Social Media is Affecting Their Mental Health and We ALL Need a Screen Break."

Akingbola, Kunle. (2020, Spring). "COVID-19: The Prospects for Nonprofit Human Resource Management." Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research, vol. 11, no. 1, p. 16.

Asarch. (n.d.). "How to Use Zoom While We're Trapped at Home for Online Classes and Meetings."

Hawser, Anita. (2020, June). "Innovation Catalyst: Covid-19 Has Supercharged Digital Innovation as Banks, Financial Services and Many Other Sectors Adopt Workarounds That Are Pushing Them More Rapidly into a Virtual Future." Global Finance, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 14–17.

St. Denis, X. (2020, August). Sociodemographic determinants of occupational risks of exposure to COVID-19 in Canada. Canadian Review of Sociology, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 399–403.