Covid-19, Work Disruption, Cost Increases And The Imperative Of Cost Management Strategies In Organizations: A Conceptual Synthesis

The world is in turmoil as COVID-19 disrupts every segment of society. Both developed and developing countries are at the receiving end of the impact though in disproportionate levels. Organizations, be it private or public, have had their activities negatively impacted resulting in either full closure or temporary suspension of organizational activities, employees were asked to stay at home, thus, affected demand and supply of goods and services. The existing scenario is the motivation of the study. The objectives is to highlight the extent of disruption to office work, value chain and cost increases in the era of COVID-19 and how organizations can adopt cost management strategies. The study adopted descriptive research design. It applied the literature review methodology whereby existing web-based reports of professionals and businesses were reviewed to obtain secondary information for the analysis. Taylor’s scientific approach and the theory of governmentalism provided the underpinning theoretical basis while disruptive theory and resource theory provided the analytical framework. Based on information extracted from the existing literature, the study found that COVID-19 was devastating with disruption to physical office work environment and caused many organizations to incur unexpected costs arising from value chain disruption. The study recommends the use of remote working technology and deployment of cost management strategies. There is also an urgent need for automation of business processes, procedures and activities. The outcome provided a practical discourse for analysis of the early and ongoing effect of COVID-19 on organizations and has practical implication on organization strategic decision-making concerning office work environment adaptation, employees’ public health and safety concerns against capital expenditure incurred in a pandemic period. In conclusion, the pandemic altered many organizations’ office work environment. The lockdowns and physical distancing measures introduced made it more difficult to maintain the usual office design and existing work relationship amongst employees.