The required competencies for a consultant to deal with a situation of crisis (the COVID-19 pandemic) while working from home

• Autor(a) principal: Almeida, Jéssica Maria Soares de
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/24391
• topic: Competencies; Work from home; Consultor -- Consultant; Pandemic; Crisis management; Health crisis

The purpose of this thesis is to discover which were the required competencies for a consultant to deal with a situation of crisis (COVID-19 pandemic) while working from home. The goal is to understand i) if the consultants were indeed prepared to work from home, due to the short notice of the companies and the government, ii) which were the most important competencies that enabled the consultants to deal better with the situation and iii) the real impact of working from home during the pandemic and the quarantine period. To empirically investigate the above question a qualitative research approach will be used and in order to collect empirical evidence, a total of 18 qualitative interviews have been conducted with consultants from different business areas that worked from home during the pandemic. The results will thereafter be compared to the theoretical framework by utilizing an inductive and deductive approach, in order to, find patterns or relevant information that lead to conclusions. The results suggest that the most relevant competences in the context of working from home during a crisis are: i) interpersonal communication, ii) anxiety and stress management, iii) manage time and iv) e-leadership. These competencies will cause a greater impact on the consultants’ performance, well-being at work and ability to work from home, if adequate training is provided by the companies. Working from home provides in the majority of the cases a better work-life balance, however, this depends on the individual’s personal situation, personality and competencies acquired.