Keynote Speaker

Managing the New Normal: Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategies for Managing Remote and Hybrid Work

Ahuja Manju Manju Ahuja
Professor of Information Systems and Technology Management
School of Business, University of New South Wales

We are living in an era of remote and hybrid work, even as many companies want their employees to return to work. This shift in work practices has had significant impacts on both organizations and employees. Remote work offers many advantages, including cost effectiveness for companies, and much flexibility for workers.

However, with great flexibility comes great responsibility. Managers can find it challenging to monitor work productivity, foster collaboration and communication flows, and find it difficult to maintain data security. Employees can experience isolation and face challenges related to time management, work-life balance, and connectivity. Some say that remote work can lead to higher productivity, others are not so sure. Further, there are questions about whether remote work is detrimental for innovation and creativity.

Is remote work a passing phase or is it here to stay? How might companies manage the workforce in this new normal? What strategies can attract workers back to office? I will discuss the opportunities, challenges, solutions, and strategies related to remote work. Specifically, I will present research related to enhancing communication and collaboration, employee well-being and support, productivity, performance management, technology infrastructure, and security.

Biographical Sketch

Manju Ahuja is Professor of Information Systems and Technology Management, School of Business, University of New South Wales. She also holds the Frazier Family Chair of Information Systems at the College of Business, University of Louisville, Kentucky (on leave). She has previously held faculty positions at the Kelley School of Business (Indiana University), Florida State University, and Pennsylvania State University. Manju studies issues related to Future of Work, work-life balance, AI fairness, IT-enabled collaborations, digital innovation and entrepreneurship, and digital transformation.

Her publications have appeared in journals such as MIS Quarterly, Management Science, Information Systems Research, Journal of MIS, Journal of AIS, Organization Science, Journal of Management, European Journal of Information Systems, and many other outlets. Manju has been ranked among the top 50 researchers in the field of Information Systems worldwide by a variety of sources. She appears on the Stanford University’s list of top 2% scientists in the world.

Manju is Vice-President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Association of Information Systems. She has served as Senior Editor at Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, and the Journal of AIS. Manju has held visiting scholar appointments at premier institutions across the world. She has received four National Science Foundation grants totaling over $2,000,000 for her research on IT workforce issues.

Manju is a Fellow of the Association of Information Systems and the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from Academy of Management. In 2022, she was selected for the University of Louisville’s Presidential Distinguished Faculty Award for Research in social sciences. In 2023, she was honored with the Enterprising Women Award by Louisville Business First.

Her research has been covered Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, Times of India, London School of Economics Business Review, INSEAD Knowledge, Strategy+Business, Computerworld, and others.