Drake professor Ina Purvanova has published research contradicting the popular belief that virtual work environments decrease productivity, adding credibility to the ever-growing belief that virtual work and learning environments can be extremely beneficial.
Purvanova has been conducting research on the topic since the early 2000s, her inspiration to do so being born from a previous position as a human resource assistant at a local hospital.
“These transcriptionists all worked at home, and I was so shocked to learn that,” said Purvanova. “I’m like, ‘What? People are working from home? How is that even happening, and how can they complete their work without a supervisor nearby?’”
Initially beginning her research on the topic as part of her masters thesis, Purvanova went on to publish countless research articles on the topic.
Her most recent work, titled “The impact of virtuality on team effectiveness in organizational and non-organizational teams: A meta-analysis,” used over 170 global studies to determine whether virtuality would negatively affect team outcomes.
“Long story short, what this meta-analysis found — which is what I expected it would find based on my previous work — is that virtuality at the end of the day doesn’t impact team outcomes,” said Purvanova.
Purvanova went on to explain that while there does not stand any direct correlation between virtuality and productivity, the ability to build relationships in an in-person environment is difficult to achieve virtually.
Due to this, Purvanova does not see undergraduate programs at colleges like Drake moving to a completely virtual environment any time soon.
“I don’t know that we’ll see the undergraduate population move online, and to be honest, I hope we don’t because I think that college is such an important developmental opportunity for young people,” said Purvanova.
Drake students tend to agree, with first year Havyn Fish also pointing out relationship-building as the key reason why she disliked virtual learning over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was extremely difficult to form connections with my teachers and peers when our only interaction was through a screen,” Fish said.
While Purvanova sees issues arising from a relationship-building standpoint in virtual transitions, her findings surrounding productivity in virtual environments cannot be ignored.
“The research has always shown, and continues to show, that productivity of teams and performance of teams does not actually suffer when they go virtual,” said Purvanova.
This conclusion seems to be rising in popularity, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing workplaces to reconsider the norms of doing business.
“Now with this meta-analysis, when you put it all together and look at things like productivity in a team setting, it basically shows what every company learned during the pandemic–virtuality didn’t kill it,” said Purvanova.
