Impact of Covid-19 on BTR: Key Issues and Recommendations

This report discusses the impact of Covid-19 on BTR, including increased operational procedures, high operational costs, decreased employee performance, and improper management. It also highlights key issues faced by the organization, such as communication techniques, technological issues, lack of employee efficiency, and company regulations. The report concludes with recommendations for personalization, technological standards, communication techniques, motivation, and legal guidelines.

Assessment 2

Executive summary
In the given report presentation of various facts regarding operational work produced at
BTR is being highlighted. The provided report will be an inclusion of impacts of Covid-19
caused to chosen organisation along with related issues presented at the operational grounds of
the given company.

Table of Contents
Executive summary..........................................................................................................................2
Part 1................................................................................................................................................4
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................4
Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on organisations ........................................................................4
Key issues present at BTR..........................................................................................................6
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10
Part 2..............................................................................................................................................11
Reflection.......................................................................................................................................11
References .....................................................................................................................................14

Part 1
Introduction
BTR is a housing association that is operating in Bedford with a mission to provide better
housing facilities for the given local community and is also dedicated to provide support to
vulnerable individuals. The given project carry forward of assessment 1 which will form basis of
management at BTR adhering to respective situations of current pandemic i.e. Covid-19 and
various other external as well as internal business environment factors. In the provided report
document impact of Covid-19 pandemic on BTR will be highlighted along with key issues faced
at respective firm during its operational workings. Lastly, in the given report appropriate
recommendations and conclusion is being presented (Ebekozien, Aigbavboa and Ayo-Odifiri,
2021).
Main Body
Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on organisations
The impact of Covid-19 pandemic starting from China had impacted over majority of
countries of the world. This virus has proved to be very dangerous to human health and can
result in possible death within the time period of 3-4 weeks. In the given context of BTR due to
implementation of lockdown in the provided region of UK (Wang, 2021). The given
organisational firm had to react for the given guideline by allotting work from home for their
respective employees working in the operational business. As a result the provided
organisational firm had to dedicate extra efforts in management and also allowing more inflow of
funds as an investment towards ensuring effective operational working at the corporate firm
(Callejas, Abella and Ismajli, 2020).
Globally, governments are being forced to take drastic steps to slow down the
coronavirus spread, which has a significant impact on the economy. On March 23, 2020, the
United Kingdom issued a COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Despite the fact that it appears to
have helped curb the public-health problem, it is having a negative impact on the economy as a
whole. A typical lockdown week in May 2020 is estimated to be down about 30% from February
2020 levels in terms of economic activity (Wan and et. al., 2021). According to the Office of
National Statistics, 23 percent of companies temporarily suspended operations during the
particular period of time, with about 60 percent of enterprises that continued to operate reporting

a decline in sales. As the lockdown limitations are lifted, the economy will begin to recover, but
the speed and pattern of the recovery will be very unpredictable and will vary by sector. There
were various impacts that were caused by Covid-19 in operational working of respective
organisation, this included (Fields, Demirjian and Gholamrezanezhad, 2020);
Increased operational procedures: As the foremost impact of Covid-19 pandemic to
BTR, it resulted in creating additional operational requirements in the said organisational firm.
Such increased procedures in the said firm relates to regulation of business operations using
appropriate situational techniques. For the given context as the operations of given organisation
will be done from home there should be proper techniques organised for enabling effective
communication in the respective organisation. In addition to this, due to added work guidelines
being imposed in the given region it lead to create an additional efforts and invest resources to
perform a specified task in the operational firm (Ai and et. al., 2021).
High operational cost: With the cause of Covid-19 pandemic it also resulted in
increasing cost of operations at BTR. For the reason being due to implementation of lockdown
regulations in the provided region it can hard to acquire labour at desired rates as before and due
to unavailability of required resources in the open market it added to the provided issue of the
given pandemic situation. Moreover, when dealing in open market operations respective working
of firm have to adhere as per new guidelines being imposed in market region that further
contributed to total cost of operations to produce a task in the organisational firm.
Employee performance: Performance of employees working in the organisational firm
have gradually decreased due to Covid-19. This could be due to unfavourable health conditions
of employees which caused difficulties with relation to perform a respective task in the
operational firm. This indirectly created its adverse impact to overall performance of the
organisational firm and had also resulted in declining of overall organisational performance. In
addition to this, there was unseen threat caused in minds of individual employees working in the
operational firm due to the spread of virus (Udupa, Seetharam and Mukhopadhyay, 2020).
Improper management : Instances of unproductive management during work from home
stage of the corporate firm has being derived. It was believed that managing corporate employee
was the toughest stage of management in BTR as there were no personal interaction with
company employees. Under the given situation there were various situation which were needed
to be tackled very carefully as they could give rise in conflicts or disputes in the provided

organisation. This could be due to building up of stress because of problems related to personal
life or could be due disturbance caused due to health issues faced during the pandemic times
(Fitzgerald, 2021).
Therefore, it can be said that there was a significant impact caused by upcoming of
Covid-19 on working of the respective firm. The impact frequency of the impact of high enough
to cause disruption in effective working standards of the chosen company i.e. BTR. Managers at
the firm can ensure effective working of the corporate through properly researching on present
situation of the organisational firm. This might prove to be an effective technique to prevent such
impacts causing key issues for the given corporate. Moreover, in the given case such issues are
in-depth studied and are being analysed for enabling effective measures to overcome such issues
or challenges being highlighted for the given firm.
Key issues present at BTR
There were several issues which were being highlighted in the provided case study
exploring towards returning of employees after work-from-home. Such issues were being taken
into consideration as it could lead to hampering of business performance and could have lead to
causing disputes and conflicts over operational guidelines of the given corporate firm. Most of
the issue were due to impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the given organisational firm. Such issue
not only disrupted on the current or existing performance of the given corporate body but also
disrupted the future growth opportunity for the business firm. Various issues that impacted over
working of BTR included wide thinking approaches and evaluated upon post Covid impact of the
provided business firm. The key issue that were common in the business organisation as post
Covid-19 results (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2020);
Communication techniques: One of the foremost issue that appeared while operating in
BTR during lockdown situation relates to ineffective communication platform through which
important information or data of company was being communicated. This resulted in creating
issues like unproductive working environment and also impacted over effective working
environment in the operational firm. In addition to this, respective aspect also relates to
difficulties that were faced by individuals during the current pandemic times.
Technological issues: There were major issues related to technologies which were being
presented at the said organisational firm. Due to employees living in remote regions they were
experiencing difficulties in regards to internet facilities and thus causing ineffective

communication in the said business organisation. Such technical issue caused in the business
firm created problem related to chances of miss-communication in the provided business firm
which could also lead to wastages of resources in the given business firm. In the given context of
BTR this issue was considered to be major which disrupted effective working of the
organisational firm reflecting on the given situation (Smith-Walter and Snow, 2020).
Lack of efficiency of employees: Another issue that was found common at BTR was of
lack of efficiency of workers which could be due to comfort being developed by working from
home. This comfort could be an inclusion of flexible working hour and difference in working
environment while working at home and on-site. This ultimately resulted in building up of stress
in minds of employees working in the corporate firm over variety of alternative tasks offered to
them. This resulted in causing lack of efficiency in employees over performing a respective task
that was a resultant of development of stressful working environment due to changes that
appeared in recent times (Srinivas, 2021).
Company regulations: There was a significant impact over working policies of the said
organisational firm. It could be due to changes in health attitude of workers and also might be the
resultant of changes in legislation policy being implemented in the said region. Therefore, extra
resources as well as efforts were being dedicated at BTR to redirect its working policies and act
upon significant changes that were present in given operational environment. In addition to this,
research and development department of the given corporate was also being guided to research in
the new market and evaluate upon recent trends of individuals in the present marketplace (Roe
and McCay, 2021).
The above presented issues at BTR created an obligation towards higher authority of the
respective firm to develop effective ways or techniques from which given firm can overcome
variety of issues caused due to current pandemic in the given organisation. From this analysis it
can be said that proper change management techniques can prove to be an effective technique to
overcome several issues related to the situation which is faced by the chosen firm. By adopting
to relevant legislation provided in the said region of business operation will guide better working
of respective firm.
Recommendations
From the above discussion there are certain recommendations which are to be drawn out
and are subjected towards bringing in improvement and increasing productivity of the given

organisational firm. In addition to this, provided points will develop better standards of working
at BTR as per revised plans and strategies. Company managers by following such points can
derive maximum efficiency through various operations being produced by corporate firm in
given marketplace.
Personalisation in organisation: By establishing techniques of effective personalisation
amongst employees and employers in the given organisational firm can overcome issue of
conflicts or disputes being raised in respective firm. Further, it can be said that, through effective
personalisation techniques the given corporate can also keep control on its employee turnover
ratio and also allow managers of the business firm by reacting upon changed business
environment and bring in changes with respect to operational procedures of the corporate
organisation.
Developing technological standards of working: Another element which is
recommended to chosen organisation is that it should bring in necessary update in technologies
which are being used in the operational firm to perform respective business tasks. Through this
approach better ways of working in a corporate firm can be established as, effectiveness of
operations using modern technologies can ensure better growth of the respective firm. In addition
to this, provided organisational firm can gain better competitive advantage because through
taking use of such technologies operational cost can be reduced and company can get better
competitive advantage while operating in a business market.
Communication techniques: The communication techniques can employ with greater
importance for the given firm. In the given context as the working environment is already
disrupted due to spread of virus. Therefore, by deriving effective communication techniques in
the said organisational firm as per evaluating on business situation it can be said that
effectiveness of business operations can be promoted for the given corporate firm. Moreover,
this would enable better operational techniques through avoidance of wastages of resources and
efforts and will display true image of a productive workforce.
Motivation: This element of recommendation section is focused towards deriving
effective techniques of motivation implemented in the given organisational firm. It is being said
that providing motivation in a said firm promotes better efficiency of work being produced in the
corporate firm and enables individual to perform with best productivity that ultimately

contributes towards increased organisational productivity working on a specified goal or
objective.
Legal guidelines: Further, the given operational company is recommended to develop
effective standards through which better operational affairs of the corporate firm can be
regulated. Through following such guidelines given company can enable motivated and strong
basis of working under which fulfilment of all the corporate objectives are to be regulated. In
addition to this, the working of the given corporate firm will be protected with legislation of
respective region of operations and will also allow the corporate firm to ensure engaging their
resources and dedicated efforts towards growth of the organisational firm.
Conclusion
From the analysis of above presented information it can be concluded that, managers of
the given corporate firm can use variety of approaches or techniques to overcome challenges and
issues caused due to impact of Covid-19 in the given business firm. For the said document
standards are being developed through which effectiveness of operations of the corporate firm
can be promoted through analysing such impacts caused due to current pandemic. In addition to
this, through critically evaluating on key issues being identified in provided firm better
operational working can be established by developing effective techniques in the organisational
firm. Therefore, provided report evaluated upon creating a good value out of efforts and
resources being invested in the given organisation and establishing effective standards of
working under current pandemic situation.

References
Books and Journals
Ai, Y., Davis, A., Jones, D., Lemeshow, S., Tu, H., He, F., Ru, P., Pan, X., Bohrerova, Z. and
Lee, J., 2021. Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 monitoring as a community-level COVID-19
trend tracker and variants in Ohio, United States. Science of The Total Environment,
p.149757.
Callejas, L.M., Abella, A.D. and Ismajli, F., 2020. Rapid Ethnographic Assessment of Pandemic
Restrictions in Child Welfare: Lessons from Parent and Provider Experiences. Human
Organization, 79(4), pp.304-312.
Ebekozien, A., Aigbavboa, C. and Ayo-Odifiri, S.O., 2021. Root cause of factors enhancing the
spread of coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Nigerian informal urban settlements:
issues and possible solutions. International Planning Studies, pp.1-18.
Fields, B.K., Demirjian, N.L. and Gholamrezanezhad, A., 2020. Coronavirus Disease 2019
(COVID-19) diagnostic technologies: A country-based retrospective on screening and
containment procedures during the first wave of the pandemic. Clinical Imaging.
Fitzgerald, S., 2021. Where Neurologists Are, What Services Are Used, Where More Care Is
Needed. Neurology Today, 21(2), pp.1-24.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2020. Genomic Epidemiology
Data Infrastructure Needs for SARS-CoV-2: Modernizing Pandemic Response
Strategies.
Roe, J. and McCay, L., 2021. Restorative Cities: urban design for mental health and wellbeing.
Bloomsbury Publishing.
Smith-Walter, A. and Snow, D., 2020. Making Budget Decisions in the Shadow of the COVID-
19 Pandemic: The Massachusetts Case. Municipal Finance Journal, 41.
Srinivas, K.P., 2021. Biology, prevention, and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).
In Pandemic Outbreaks in the 21st Century (pp. 25-42). Academic Press.
Udupa, N., Seetharam, R.N. and Mukhopadhyay, C. eds., 2020. COVID-19: A Multidimensional
Response. Manipal Universal Press.
Wan, X., Huang, H., Shang, J., Xie, Z., Jia, R., Lu, G. and Chen, C., 2021. Willingness and
influential factors of parents of 3-6-year-old children to vaccinate their children with the
COVID-19 vaccine in China. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, pp.1-6.
Wang, P., 2021. The Spatial Variability of COVID-19 in Massachusetts: Implications for
Sustainable Development (Doctoral dissertation, Tufts University).

Part 2
Reflection
I am glad that I was able to complete the given project in the provided deadline after
completion of given tasks by our mentor. For the given project preparation for the given project
was done through providing of weekly journals i.e. from week 6- week 10. In week 6 which was
the starting course for my given project I was taught with lessons regarding foundations of
business management in which assessment support was the major focus. Throughout the week as
all the learnings of the given course were new it was hard to cope-up with the instructions being
provided by our lecturer. In addition to this there were several situations in which I had to step
out of my comfort zone for completion of the assessment as per provided guidelines and
mentioned deadline. Moving forward to week 7, in which I was provided with detailed guideline
over introduction to various HRM practices in the provided marketplace. The given topic at first
appeared in-general to me but further when I was assisted through technical exploring as well as
practical implementation of the given approach I started building good interest in the provided
topic and looked further to gain more concepts for the same in the next session. Further, in week
8, I was provided with technical information about the best HRM practices with relation to
various issues in technological environment. Moreover, in the given week I gained knowledge
about types of E-business and also was equipped with details regarding rational for studying IS.
In week 9, I got to know about the concept of innovation in business enterprises and by moving
ahead in the session importance of innovation in respect with current business world was also
being discussed. Lastly, approaching towards end of session our mentor discussed some
important points that were to be included in the report project. In addition to this several
academic regulation which relates to guidelines of provided university were also mentioned in
respective session (Dahl, Peltier and Schibrowsky, 2018).
Reflecting to the feedback which was provided by my mentor for the previous project
was also taken into consideration while development of my report project. Some of the
comments were in regard to not using weighted scorecard to present recommendations or
suggestions in relation to business options available. In addition to this, cost and timescale of the
project was also not presented also reflection report was not developed as per brief requirements.
I took all these feedback comments as an effective path towards developing my skills which I

was lagging previously and also promoted positive way of learning and implementing my
knowledge and skill sets when needed (Hwang and et. al., 2018).
During the given course I developed various skills and was also able to polish my given
knowledge while undergoing several study session as provided by out mentors. During the
course of my project I was able to develop my problem solving skill as in the provided project I
encountered with several issues as well as challenges that act as a hindrance towards attainment
of desired objectives of project tasks. Therefore, through undergoing several difficulties and
challenges during the course of the provided project this helped me to develop my problem
solving skill. In addition to this, my communication skills were also being polished during the
course of the given project. As in the provided project there were various instances under which I
had to communicate to various individuals for completion of the given task. This helped me
towards developing effective communication skill as in starting I was little shy to present my
thoughts as well as ideas while in a group. However, after completion of the given project I was
able to develop this skill through which its implementation can assist me while pursuing my
personal life goals and objectives in the present market environment (Cowie, 2018).
Kolb's experience learning theory is considered to be an important approach for adhering
to several interpretation of knowledge and ideas being developed over performing a certain task.
The provided theory relates to four-stage cycle of learning under which evaluation of past
situation is being stated and critically evaluated on the basis of comparing it with current
scenario of an individual. In the given context of the given project various stages of the
respective theory are presented below (Struk and et. al., 2018);
Concrete experience: In the first stage of reflective cycle an impression of new learning
or situation is being experienced by an individual. For the given context, through session that
were provided to me for preparing of the given project I was engaged with new learning
experience and was also explored to knowledge which were needful for developing my project.
In addition to this, when indulging in project tasks I got explored to practical implications of
knowledge being taught previously that also acted as concrete experience for me.
Reflective observation: In the following stage of the given learning cycle this stage
includes observing upon the new experience and interpretation of knowledge gained in the
previous stage. In the given scenario, I used various feedback comments that were highlighted by
my mentor in the course of the project submission supported with guidelines.

Abstract conceptualisation: In the third stage all the learning of concepts and knowledge
gained is being summarised. For the given stage development of new ideas or suitable
modifications being required over a method to perform a given task is being developed. In my
context I did all the possible modifications and also enhanced my workings as per requirements
of given brief.
Active experimentation: In this stage development of innovative ideas and creativity is
being promoted while performing following project tasks in present working environment.
Throughout the stage application of new ideas and concepts in current working standards is
being applied for deriving better value of activities being produced during the course of project.

References
Books and Journals
Dahl, A.J., Peltier, J.W. and Schibrowsky, J.A., 2018. Critical thinking and reflective learning in
the marketing education literature: A historical perspective and future research
needs. Journal of Marketing Education, 40(2), pp.101-116.
Hwang, W.Y., Chen, H.R., Chen, N.S., Lin, L.K. and Chen, J.W., 2018. Learning behavior
analysis of a ubiquitous situated reflective learning system with application to life
science and technology teaching. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 21(2),
pp.137-149.
Cowie, N., 2018. Student transcription for reflective language learning. ELT Journal, 72(4),
pp.435-444.
Struk, S., Sarfati, B., Leymarie, N., Missistrano, A., Alkhashnam, H., Rimareix, F., Kolb, F. and
Honart, J.F., 2018. Robotic-assisted DIEP flap harvest: a feasibility study on cadaveric
model. Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, 71(2), pp.259-261.