The Faculty of Business invites members of the campus community – students, faculty and staff – to attend a virtual research presentation by Dr. Scott Cassidy for a tenure-track position of assistant professor of management position, with a focus on human resource management (HRM). 

Candidate Bio:

Dr. Scott Cassidy holds a PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of Guelph, as well as a diploma in Information Technology from Conestoga College. Scott’s line of organizational research is informed by this dual background in psychology and technology and primarily investigates ways to build effective virtual team communication patterns using a variety of different technologies in order to foster effective virtual teams. Scott also has ancillary research interests in team mental models, best practices in employee selection, and research pertaining to credentialing and to the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Outside of his academic work, Scott has a wide-ranging background in organizational consulting and psychometrics. This includes three years working with government agencies to develop effective employee selection and structured interview techniques; seven years of leadership coaching and strategic business communications experience in the Canadian agricultural industry; and three years consulting on the assessment programs for several pan-Canadian credentialing and educational bodies.

Presentation Title:  Lost in Transmission: The Role of Communications Media in Developing High-Trust, High-Performance Remote Employee Teams

Abstract:

In the roughly two years since the COVID-19 virus resulted in the declaration of a global pandemic, the Canadian workforce has seen an unprecedented shift towards remote working arrangements, mediated by information and communications technologies. Although advances in these technologies have allowed workers to connect and collaborate across time and space to an extent that has never been possible before, remote work teams themselves present a challenge to organizations. Namely, as employee conversations increasingly move from the water cooler to the web, we risk losing many of the nuances that help us understand and meaningfully connect with our co-workers in the first place. And in doing so, we may ultimately harm our ability to work together effectively.

Dr. Scott Cassidy argues that remote (or virtual) work teams, if poorly structured, can foster greater uncertainty, lower trust, and maladaptive approaches to task completion. To explore this idea, he will discuss some of his mixed-methods research on simulated military rescue teams operating across different forms of electronic communications media.

In this presentation, he will discuss the major takeaways from this line of work; its future HRM applications to both globalized workforces and regional islands research; and the role that organizational scholars can serve in helping managers navigate what has rapidly become one of the most dramatic shifts to the global workforce in decades.

The presentation will take place on April 22 from 1:00–2:00 pm (Atlantic Time) via the following Zoom link:  

https://upei.zoom.us/j/69744346758?pwd=c3R2MVN6VWNybTFYajBsWWRxK3ZLUT09

Meeting ID: 697 4434 6758

Passcode: 130329

For further information, please contact Shelly Kavanagh at businessfac@upei.ca.