Dr Mathew Donald says managers need to work with staff to get through coronavirus

School of Management and Business sessional lecturer Dr Mathew Donald said as staff returned to normal routines in a post-pandemic world, the landscape would not be as it was before the virus and "old management control structures, procedures and governance" would be ineffective.

He said management flair and skills would be needed to create a sense of team if employees continued to work from home and managers might need to make decisions quickly as information changed, based on less-than-perfect data.

In the case of small business, he said communication was key because they might not meet as often as teams in larger businesses and relationships with suppliers might also change.

"Bigger customers might not get connected as well as they were - while you might have turned up on their doorstep to get sales, that's harder now," he said.

Dr Donald said even with the cost pressure of the current environment it was critical to stay in touch with staff, whether they were working or had been put on hold.

"They are not owners, but no one has the answers in this - they know your business and they'll have great suggestions if you open the door," he said.

"There is a lot of pressure on owners to make the decisions because it's their money but I think that's the wrong way forward - management generally needs to be more inclusive."

Dr Donald said a more entertainment-based approach to sharing information might help inspire employees better than formal group presentations and recent research suggested games could help organisational change and improve morale.

"Some organisations are already trying out synchronised coffee breaks online, some are trialling Trivial Pursuit on relevant business topics and others are using funny personal profile photos in Skype sessions and Zoom meetings," he said.