ClassmateResearchPaperBIT 575 Final Paper Maleeha LatifR

ClassmateResearchPaper/BIT 575 Final Paper Maleeha
Latif.docx
Running head: STANDARDIZATION AND SMALL BATCHES
2
STANDARDIZATION AND SMALL BATCHES 2
The Impact of Standardization and Small Batches on
Performance and Output
Maleeha Latif
BIT 575 – Final Paper
Dr. Andrew Aken
Throughout history, humankind has continuously tried to create
things and innovate with what they had in order to make their
lives easier. The world is constantly evolving, and we have had
exponential increases in technological advancements. To
continue this innovation and improvement, incorporating the
concept of standardization and the process of small batches is
extremely important. In order to allow ease, less waste, less
mistakes, easy maintenance, and faster results, we must allow
newer and better processes to replace our current ones. This
paper will delve into what exactly standardization and small
batches do to tasks and how they impact the performance and

output of projects, professional or academic as mentioned in the
Appendix.
Standardization
Standardization is the process of ensuring that the different
machines or systems one would use to complete a task are
similar in build, concept, and function (Limoncelli et al., 2017).
What standardization does is ensure that commonly performed
tasks are written up as a process and done the exact same way
every time, regardless of who is doing them. These standard
guidelines can make the lives of staff much easier and avoid
confusion and chaos (Brandall, 2018). Common tasks could
include dealing with customer complaints, onboarding new
hires, sending out a supply request, certificate renewal and
other such often repeated work. The IT industry has constantl y
made use of standardization, and which has allowed increased
efficiencies in production and productivity (Lee et al., 2019).
Any work done in an organization that has been done before
should be written down, coded, and recorded so that there are
rules and guidelines in place. This ensures that no matter who
takes on what task, they are able to perform is exactly as
another (Brandall, 2018). It does not even have to be IT or
systems administration based. Standardization can be used in
any situation where it fits. For example, having a standard at
home for doing laundry can help. Light colored clothing and
dark colored clothing are washed separately. That is a standard.
Whether mom, dad, brother, or sister decides to do laundry,
they all could be told this standard that they must maintain.
Similarly, in college, professors and instructors could have their
standards that are set. If the instructions clearly state that you
must submit a one-page, double spaced paper and the instructor
will only count content as a part of the one-page, students
should understand that in order to get a good grade, they need to
meet that standard.
Standardization can decrease the amount of time employees take
during the trial-and-error phase (Brandall, 2018). A set process
that is laid out for everyone means that employees do not need

to figure out the best or fastest way to do a certain task.
Standards are usually set based on the best way to do a task so
quality control becomes less of an issue as well (Brandall,
2018). Basically, standardization makes everyone’s life easier.
It helps employees do their jobs correctly with minimal
mistakes, allows easy maintenance, decreases waste, and
encourages uniformity. Of course, when the organization is
presented with an issue or problem that it has not had
experience with before, standardization cannot work, and the
trial-and-error process must take place. Standardization of IT
processes have been quite common for a while and different
data models and software processes have been created for
organizations to ease into standardization (Laakso & Kiviniemi,
2012).
Impact of Standardization on Performance and Output
One of the main benefits standardizations has is that it clears up
any confusion and clearly lays out how a process should be
performed (Brandall, 2018). There is no need for employees to
test and figure out the best way to do something because a
standard has been created. This increases performance and
output because less time and less waste occur while performing
commonly occurring tasks.
Along with confusion comes the risk of losing quality
(Brandall, 2018). When employees do not know the correct
instructions or processes to use, they try different things. Some
of these things work while others do not. The ones that do not
work, negatively impact quality and produce even more issues
down the road.
Once a process is standardized and the process is understood,
the organization can go forward and standardize other
processes. This creates a benefit to the organization in terms of
time and resources. When an organization is not busy trying to
fix mistakes or avoid quality issues, it can focus on new
problems and innovation (Brandall, 2018). This in turn can
improve employee morale which boosts productivity and output.
When you standardize processes and employees know what they

are doing, they are happier (Brandall, 2018). Often ambiguous
tasks or vague direction can result in employees being frustrated
and not knowing what to do. Standardization helps avoid this
frustration and negative association with tasks at one’s job.
Productivity and output can generally be shown in how
customers are handled. If an organization is productive, it can
usually be seen in how they handle customer complaints,
requests, and questions. Standardization allows organizations to
understand how best common complaints can be handled and it
means that everyone is treated and informed correctly and
uniformly (Brandall, 2018). Being able to understand and
rectify customer complaints is one of the main ways
organizations can prove their commitment to their customers.
Standard procedures, canned replies, and written out guidelines
can help any employee ensure that customers are taken care of.
Small Batches
Small batches are a concept defined as doing work in smaller
chunks in order to avoid mistakes, waste, and time loss
(Limoncelli et al., 2017). For a software development team this
may mean writing small amounts of code and publishing it
rather than spending copious amounts of time on writing a very
lengthy and complicated full software (Kenig, 2020). Working
in small batches can help in performance, morale, work time,
mistake reduction, and easy changes. The small batches concept
can be described as cutting up your work into smaller chunks. If
you choose to do a big project, then you must plan,
conceptualize, and organize your project which takes time and
resources. Then you will have to sit down and write out all the
code and procedures for this big project which could take ages.
Then in the testing phase, figuring out glitches or bugs and
which lines of code they are attributed to take even longer
(Kenig, 2020). Often this process results in going over budget
and over time. Using small batches, however, allows you to
create a smaller, more succinct programs, test any mistakes you
have, easily detect that code that you need to change, and
publish it within a much shorter amount of time. This also

allows one to easily make changes and pivot when needed.
Manufacturing companies make small batch processing
machinery which have been shown to improve both productivity
and output (Schuh et al., 2019).
Impact of Small Batches on Performance and Output
When applying small batches to projects, it can significantly
improve performance and output. Testing changes or identifying
mistakes/bugs in larger projects takes a lot of time and effort
(Kenig, 2020). However, working in small batches allow
quicker tests, changes, and identifying mistakes which
significantly improve the quality and speed of getting products
out the door. Running tests becomes easier on smaller batches
and can be handled better (Kenig, 2020). Similarly, making
changes to a large project can prove to be extremely time
consuming and frustrating. Making changes to smaller batches
is much less arduous.
Increased amounts of output can also come from small batches.
Customers appreciate something rather than nothing. So,
producing and publishing systems for customers to use
immediately rather than waiting for a large system and
eventually realizing many glitches and bugs is much more
appreciated (Kenig, 2020). Working in smaller batches allows
you to produce quicker and more quality content for your
customers to use.
Working in smaller batches can also be useful if teams are
smaller (Kenig, 2020). Smaller teams can comfortably produce
small batches of work and still maintain quality and standards.
This allows the organization to remit less resources to one
project. Lean startup which encourages immediate feedback is
also a benefit of small batches as it allows immediate testing
and feedback (Kenig, 2020).
Problems
Initially, encouraging the adoption of standardization might be
easier than small batches. Standardization can easily be
implemented by ensuring that certain tasks are performed by the
most experienced workers and then those same workers can be

asked to detail their process, so it is recorded and used by
others. Small batches, however, can be a significant change in
habit. Change intervention is a great way to encourage this
adoption. First, employees can go through the unfreezing stage
where the need to change is explained and taught. Then, change
intervention can occur and small batches can be implemented.
Finally, the refreezing stage can occur, and employees can be
monitored to ensure small batches is being used effectively.
A resistance to change may occur at organizations. Employees
may assume that small batches mean more work in the long run.
They may be hesitant to take on the responsibility of ensuring
that all their work is mistake free and low waste. While that is
not true and in the long run it would be beneficial and better for
morale, these issues may arise. Additionally, experienced
workers may feel pressured to disclose the best way to do tasks
which in turn may give them the idea of internal competition.
While competition is important for innovation, workers should
not feel that they need to hide or suppress their skills. As a
matter of fact, applying standardization will free those workers
up as they will not have to correct mistakes or deal with waste
as much. It allows the organization to explore many different
new ideas and allows workers to push themselves creatively.
Solution
s/Suggestions
When it comes to standardization, a form of job security may
open up experienced workers to sharing their knowledge and
expertise. Allowing them their time and giving them the comfort
they need to share valuable information with others will ease
the process. Educating them on the benefits of spending less

time editing, fixing, and correcting processes will be beneficial.
Managers can explain that with time freed up by employing
standardization, workers can focus on other endeavors and push
their creativity to innovate and take the company further. A
certain comradery and connection to the organization is
important as well. Giving applicable rewards to employees who
help with the standardization process can give them incentive
and motivation but also help them realize that they are a
valuable part of the company, and their input/expertise is
acknowledged and appreciated.
Examples of small batches successfully being used in companies
can help change the minds of those who may be resistant to
change. Explaining the cause and effect of small batches and
how they will not be more work and tougher deadlines but
rather ease the process of producing content would also be a big
help. Knowledge is power and in imparting knowledge,
employees can gain a sense of what small batches are about and
fear the change it brings less.
Incorporating any new process or procedure will have growing
pains in the beginning. Employees and workers will have a hard
time changing the way they do their work, and it will be a lot of
trial and error. However, both standardization and small batches
will eventually become habit and employees will be able to see
the time and resource benefits it can bring. Case studies are also
a great way to explain the potential benefits of these processes.

Additionally, bringing in professionals that understand how to
jumpstart the standardization process or how to incorporate
small batches is a valuable alternative. Sometimes managers are
not equipped with the knowledge to enact change or the
knowledge of the benefits of a certain system. A professional
can help bring credibility and maximization to whatever new
process you want to implement.
Conclusion
In conclusion, small batches and standardization can do
wonders for an organization’s productivity and output.
Incorporating small batches can reduce the work, time,
resources, effort, testing time, and mistakes when producing
content. Small batches can allow developers to push out content
and software to customers quicker with easier changes and fixes
as opposed to customers having to wait long periods of time
before even having access to software. Standardization can help
increase uniformity, reduce mistakes, increase morale, and give
an organization time to focus on other endeavors. Employing
the skills and expertise of workers who know the best method to
perform a task and asking them to record it is very important.
Any other employee in the future doing the same job can use
that information as a guideline and ensure uniformity between
work.
As a whole, both of these concepts can be applied with relative
ease as long as correct education and information is given to

employees. It is important to understand and work with
employees who might feel uncomfortable with certain areas of
change. Also, some problems may arise in the beginning when
implementing small batches and standardization, but these are
simply growing pains and will benefit the organization as a
whole in the long run. The investment into these concepts is
worth any risk that comes with it.
References
Brandall, B. (2018). Why Process Standardization Improves
Quality, Productivity, and Morale. Process.st.
https://www.process.st/process-standardization/
Kenig, E. (2020). Working in small batches is the one single
thing you should care about. Yotpo Engineering.
https://medium.com/yotpoengineering/working-in-small-
batches-is-the-one-single-thing-you-should-care-about-
b1f49cdb5e7
Laakso, M. & Kiviniemi, A. (2012). The IFC Standard – A
Review of History, Development, and Standardization. ITcon,
17. https://www.itcon.org/2012/9
Lee, B. N., Pei, E., & Um, J. (2019). An overview of
information technology standardization activities related to

additive manufacturing. Progress in Additive Manufacturing,
4(3). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40964-019-00087-5
Limoncelli, T. A., Hogan, C. J., & Chalup, S. R. (2017). The
Practice of System and Network Administration (3rd ed.).
Lumeta Corporation.
Schuh, G., Kelzenberg, C., Wiese, J., & Ochel T. (2019). Data
Structure of the Digital Shadow for Systematic Knowledge
Management Systems in Single and Small Batch Production.
Procedia CIRP, 84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2019.04.210
Appendix
Initial Topic Proposal
This research paper will mention the different impacts that
standardization and the incorporation of small batches has on
organizational performance and output. Standardization or using
generic machines have been known to increase efficiency in
situations where a failure, outage, or addition needs to take
place. Similarly, small batches are shown to reduce the amount
of waste, mistakes, and time it takes for a task to be completed.
I will be delving into these topics by using information I find by
different authors and real-life examples.
Feedback Received
Topic is sufficiently narrow in scope. Topic is on an appropriate

subject.
ClassmateResearchPaper/BIT 575 Research Paper Nabeeha
Latif.docx
How Can a Company’s Reputation Be Impacted by a
Security/Data Breach?
Nabeeha Latif
Minot State University
BIT 575
Dr. Andrew Aken
May 1st, 2022
Running Head: IMPACT OF DATA BREACH1
IMPACT OF DATA BREACH2
How Can a Company’s Reputation Be Impacted by a
Security/Data Breach?
Security breaches are incidents that involve unauthorized access
to a company’s records or data by intruders (What is a security
breach?, 2021). A security breach means the intruders have
gotten through the firewall whereas a data breach is when the
intruders have not only gotten through the system but stolen the
information they wanted to steal (What is a security breach?,
2021). The information that is stolen can be bank detai ls or it
can be information that can be sold for identity theft (What is a

security breach?, 2021). A data breach is anything that exposes
confidential information to an unauthorized user (How data
breaches happen, 2021). A breach can not only be towards
companies but towards individuals as well. For individuals, it
happens when proper controls or stronger passwords are not in
play. This means that the individuals have not done much to
protect themselves. This paper dives into how companies are
affected by breaches and what customers go through as well as
how companies can restore their reputation as mentioned in the
Appendix.
Causes of Data/Security Breaches
Data breaches are not always caused by outside sources but also
by people on the inside. Data breaches can occur through:
· An Accidental Insider: This is when coworker A gives their
login information to coworker B to use without realizing that
coworker B may not have the authorization to see anything else
but given access, they saw it and now that data is considered
breached (How data breaches happen, 2021).
· Malicious insider: This is when someone intentionally and
maliciously uses the information, they have access to. The first
one is unintentional that someone got access when they
shouldn't have. This breach is when someone either intends to
access or abuses the access they already have to take the
information they want (How data breaches happen, 2021).
· Lost or stolen devices: The breach occurs when a laptop,

computer, or hard drive either goes missing or is stolen (How
data breaches happen, 2021).
· Malicious Outside criminals: This is when hackers try to gain
access by attacking someone's or a company's device to gain
control over their information (How data breaches happen,
2021).
Types of Security Breaches
There are different kinds of security breaches:
· Phishing: These attacks are designed to fool you by portraying
to be organizations or causes you trust. Hackers send you an
email using those trusted organizations for you to just cli ck on
it and give them access to your computer and all the information
with it (Kaspersky2).
· Brute force attacks: Hackers try to force their way into an
individual or company's system by trying to crack their
passwords (How data breaches happen, 2021). This takes time
however if your password is not strong then it would not take
long.
· Malware: These attacks occur when proper security controls
are not put in place. This allows hackers to ease in undetected
and steal whatever they want without getting caught and it is
too late by the time you realize there was a breach (How data
breaches happen, 2021). I think it is too late as soon as the
breach occurs.

Impact on Customers
Schaffer (2021) talks about how the LinkedIn breach affected a
lot of users but there was significantly nothing that users could
do about it. She also mentions that since so many people went
through the same thing it helped lower the anxiety of everyone.
Why? because first there is nothing you can do when a breach
occurs and your information is taken through social media, the
only thing to be done is to panic however that panic can be less
when you know other people are going through the same thing.
For example, when you don't know there was an exam in school,
and you walk in to find out about it, and you look at your friend
who is just as confused. Knowing you are not alone helps you
keep calm.
Companies that have been breached; their consumers do live in
constant fear that they will be a victim of identity fraud. These
fears make it harder for people to put in their information as
they trust companies less now. People also believe that this is
happening because companies are not doing their job by keeping
their information safe (Schaffer, 2021).
Post-Breach Impact on Company
Sometimes negative attention can be beneficial. Why? because
for a smaller business, any kind of press or attention is good
whereas for a larger business even the smallest inconvenience
can result in a downfall (Makridis, 2021). When companies
encounter a data or security breach, they are likely going to

have a decline in the amount of profit they are going to receive
(Makridis, 2021). This is because customers will be unwilling to
support a company that has had a security breach. As I
mentioned earlier, because smaller businesses receive attention,
some businesses are unlikely to invest in proper cybersecurity
tools to ensure no breaches (Makridis, 2021).
People end up finding out when a company has been breached.
The word is out and that means the company’s reputation is not
at the same level it once was. This drops the stock prices for
publicly traded companies by five percent (The Impact of Data
Breaches on Reputation & Share Value, 2017). However, if
companies were to self-report themselves and respond
immediately to try the fix the damage then they are likely to
have their stock value back up in about a week (The Impact of
Data Breaches on Reputation & Share Value, 2017). This kind
of response to a data breach shows consumers that companies
are prepared and that they care about their consumers to have
the best possible recovery process at hand. According to
(Makridis, 2021) smaller companies get the press by having a
breach, this does not mean that it is good because for smaller
companies the decline lasts about 90 days since they don’t have
a proper security system in place (The Impact of Data Breaches
on Reputation & Share Value, 2017).
The more money that is allocated to safeguarding the
information of consumers, the less likely you are to be breached

and the more likely that your consumers will stay loyal and trust
to do business with you (The Impact of Data Breaches on
Reputation & Share Value, 2017).
We all believe what we hear most of the time without doing the
necessary research to ensure if our claims are true or not.
Consumers believe that health care organizations will keep their
information more protected than banks (The Impact of Data
Breaches on Reputation & Share Value, 2017). However,
healthcare organizations account for 34 percent of data breaches
while financial organizations account for 4.8 percent (The
Impact of Data Breaches on Reputation & Share Value, 2017).
That is because financial organizations allocate costs towards
cybersecurity to protect their customers while healthcare
organizations do not (The Impact of Data Breaches on
Reputation & Share Value, 2017).
Companies face reputable damage, financial consequences, and
customer loss when a breach occurs (The Impact of Data
Breaches on Reputation & Share Value, 2017). Employees also
become less productive after a breach when they see that their
company is not held to a higher standard or does not allocate
costs towards ensuring the company’s safety (The Impact of
Data Breaches on Reputation & Share Value, 2017). I know
employees get unproductive because there was a breach at one
of the companies my coworkers used to work for, and it showed
that employees did not want to continue working and switched

jobs. They are now hiring a lot of people for that company. This
shows that even when employees do not want to work then why
would customers trust that business to provide the best possible
service when they sign up.
Prevention of Reputational Damage
According to Taylor (2020), the way companies can prevent
reputational damage depends on how they respond to a breach.
If their response time is quick and they consult experts
immediately to ensure the best possible strategy shows
consumers that the company is working towards making better
protection and taking responsibility for their actions.
The best way to prevent reputational damage is to have the best
offensive strategy ready for an attack (Taylor, 2021). The more
prepared one is for a breach the less likely they are to be
breached. Companies can invest in software that controls and
monitors any suspicious activity (Taylor, 2021). They can also
implement Zero Trust Network Architecture which means the
company trusts no one to have unlimited access for a long
period. This software gives access once the individual is
approved and only for the given amount of time till the work is
done.
As soon as a company finds out they have been breached, they
should alert their employees and customers so they can prepare
or protect themselves (Sheil, 2021). Hiding this information
will only make it worse because if customers find out that their

information was hacked, they will be upset but on top of that,
the company lied about it? that is not a good look for any
organization. The next thing a company should do is figure out
what information was breached and what the hackers got access
to (Sheil, 2021). Once you find out what has happened and fixed
it then it is time to update security protocols to ensure the same
thing never happens again.
A brand's reputation is what makes consumers either fall in love
with it or hate it. This all depends on how the company,
product, or service was marketed. Therefore, when a breach
occurs, it is up to the marketers of the company to give their
input on how best to serve the consumers without losing brand
reputation. Breaches will keep happening but knowing how to
first make your customers feel secure that you are doing
something seems to be the main priority (Whitler & Farris,
2017).
Companies That Faced Breaches
On March 31st, 2020, the hotel chain Marriott disclosed a
security breach that impacted the data of more than 5.2 million
hotel guests who used their company’s loyalty application
(Gupta, 2020). Hackers obtained login credentials of two
accounts of Marriott employees who had access to customer
information regarding the loyalty scheme of the hotel chain.
They used the information to siphon off the data approximately
a month before the breach was discovered. The data accessed in

the breach involved personal details such as names, birthdates,
telephone numbers, travel information, and loyalty program
information. According to Marriot, hackers might have obtained
credentials of their employees either by credential stuffing or
phishing. Previously, the hotel giant announced a data breach in
late 2018 in which up to 500 million guests were impacted.
Although Marriot faced a large-scale breach, they were able to
repair its reputation by incentivizing loyalty, owning its
mistakes, and taking a proactive approach to fixing its
reputation (Wadsworth, 2019). There will always be a risk of a
breach no matter the preparation, which is why companies
should not only invest in cybersecurity but also in reputational
protection.
In 2019, MGM Resorts suffered a massive data breach. The
news of the breach incident started to circulate in February
2020 when hackers leaked the personal details of 10.6 million
hotel guests for free download (Escobar, 2020). But in the later
findings, the number increased by 14 times (nearly 142 million)
than the number recorded in February 2020 (Escobar, 2020).
The personal information published on the hacking forum
included the name, home address, phone number, email address,
and DOB of guests. The leaked files of guests included Justin
Bieber, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and many major government
agency officials.
According to an ad, the hacker was selling the details of

142,479,937 MGM hotel guests for a price of just over $2,900
on the dark web a weekend after (Escobar, 2020). Imagine the
cost MGM had to pay and the PR nightmare they went through
after this. We are taught to evaluate our property, but we can’t
put a price on digital property or customer relationships.
Conclusion
Companies suffer immense financial losses when they
experience a data or security breach (Gwebu et al., 2018). Data
breaches not only cause distress between an organization and
customers but also between the organization and its
stakeholders (Gwebu et al., 2018). Extra money is spent to
ensure that the breach is taken care of and never happens again
and towards maintaining the negative image that has been set.
This image also reflects badly towards the investors. The more
information that is saved online the more likely it is for it to get
hacked. However, when customers give their information to a
business, they trust the company to safeguard it. When a breach
occurs, companies should first inform the parties affected and
take steps to fixing the problem to ensure minimal reputational
damage. There will be negative consequences but nothing that
can not be fixed with the proper strategies involved by
cybersecurity teams and the marketing department.
References

Escobar, M. C. (2020). MGM Data Breach 14x Higher than
Initially Thought. Hospitality Technology.
https://hospitalitytech.com/mgm-data-breach-14x-higher-
initially-
thought#:%7E:text=In%20February%202020%2C%20HT%20rep
orted,its%20cloud%20servers%20was%20hacked.
Gupta, D. (2020). Marriott Data Breach 2020: 5.2 Million Guest
Records Were Stolen. Loginradius.
https://www.loginradius.com/blog/identity/marriott-data-breach-
2020/
Gwebu, K. L., Wang, J., & Wang, L. (2018). The role of
corporate reputation and crisis response strategies in Data
Breach Management. Journal of Management Information
Systems, 35(2), 683–714.
https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2018.1451962
How Data Breaches Happen. (2021). Kaspersky.
https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/data-
breach
The Impact of Data Breaches on Reputation & Share Value.
(2017). Centrify.
https://www.centrify.com/media/4772757/ponemon_data_breach
_impact_study_uk.pdf
Makridis, C. A. (2021). Corrigendum to: do data breaches
damage reputation? Evidence from 45 companies between 2002
and 2018. Journal of Cybersecurity, 7(1).

https://doi.org/10.1093/cybsec/tyab022
Schaffer, P. (2021). Data Breaches’ Impact on Consumers.
InsuranceThoughtLeadership.Com.
https://www.insurancethoughtleadership.com/cyber/data-
breaches-impact-consumers
Sheil, J. (2021). What Should A Company Do After a Data
Breach? Electric. https://www.electric.ai/blog/what-should-a-
company-do-after-a-data-breach
Taylor, T. (2020). How Cyber Attacks & Data Breaches Damage
Reputation. SecureLink.
https://www.securelink.com/blog/reputation-risks-how-
cyberattacks-affect-consumer-perception/
Wadsworth, S. (2019). Counting the reputational cost of data
breach – Marriott’s global data disaster. Igniyte.
https://www.igniyte.co.uk/blog/counting-reputational-cost-data-
breach-marriotts-global-data-disaster/
What is a security breach? (2021). Kaspersky.
https://usa.kaspersky.com/resource-center/threats/what-is-a-
security-breach
Whitler, K. A., & Farris, P. W. (2017). The Impact of Cyber
Attacks On Brand Image. Journal of Advertising Research,
57(1), 3–9. https://doi.org/10.2501/jar-2017-005
Appendix

Initial Topic Proposal
How can a company’s reputation be impacted by a security
breach?
I will talk about how customers view the organization impacted
and how the company tries to restore their image. How their
revenue is impacted and how the world of social media makes it
possible for everyone to find out and make it worse. I will also
talk about how companies try and restore their reputation or if
they even can at certain times.
Feedback Received
It would be even better if you can cite specific case studies
regarding how organizations' reputations have suffered
subsequent to a breach (Target, Mariott, etc.) Topic is
sufficiently narrow in scope. Topic is on an appropriate subject.
ClassmateResearchPaper/BIT-575 Research Paper_Caleb
Steinborn.docx
1
COVID’S IMPACT ON BURNOUT IN WFH SYSTEM
ADMINS

Research Paper
Covid’s Impact on Burnout in WFH System Admins
Caleb Steinborn
BIT-575: Business Network Systems Management
Andrew Aken
May 1st, 2022
How do you get someone to do what you want? Sometimes you
ask nicely. Sometimes you bribe or cajole them. Other times,
you trade with them. That trade could be time, advice,
bartering, or renumeration - a.k.a., paying them. This last
option is very popular, and the entire business world is built

around it. A company's owners want to accomplish something,
but they need help to make their dream a reality, so they hire
people to do the job for them, and some of the most important
employees are the system administrators. System administrators
are the backbone of any corporate organization since nearly
every aspect of business is conducted digitally these days and
requires hardware, software, infrastructure, and a support
system in order to conduct business without disruption. This is
one reason why the recent Covid pandemic threw the business
world into a tailspin, and suddenly the entire workforce was no
longer in the office but working from home (WFH) for days,
weeks, and months on end while the world was on lockdown.
This affected business professionals in different ways across a
wide spectrum of emotions, but specifically within the system
administrator sphere there were two noteworthy categories of
reactions. For some, the WFH transition was rejuvenating, and
resulted in peaks of performance unlike any time before. For
others, the WFH dynamic led to chronic burnout and
exhaustion. This begs the question: why did some system
administrators find WFH refreshing during the pandemic while
others suffered severe burnout?
In order to answer this question we must first start at the
beginning. The first factor for any productive employee is also
the simplest - it is the happiness of the worker. Employers
learned over the decades that unhappy people do not work well,

no matter how hard you try to make them work. Unhappy people
do only what is absolutely demanded from them and nothing
more, and in many cases would even subtly sabotage or
otherwise hinder their employer's goals. A recent Gallup poll
has estimated that the average cost of disengaged or unhappy
employees equates to approximately $300 billion in lost
productivity per year. (Amabile & Kramer, 2011) Happy
employees, on the other hand, are more likely to have new ideas
and feel a greater sense of fulfillment. Simply by feeling happy
at work breeds an environment of positivity that spreads
infectiously. These happy employees share their passion with
others while looking out for their employer's best interests, and
regularly end up finding some new and innovative way to raise
the standard of work even higher.
Since employers know that happy employees work better, the
best company's go out of their way to make sure the employee
feels taken care of, have their needs met, and provide rewards
and other incentives to retain these folks and keep them
motivated. (Itri et. al, 2018) However, despite knowing this,
most companies still don't quite get it. The conventional
wisdom passed down to us says that pressure enhances
performance, and this pressure is not uncommon. One way that
companies inadvertently apply pressure is by not having enough
folks to accomplish the volume of work that is demanded. Most
companies tend to keep their headcount to a minimum, which

means that employees need to work harder or be more creative
in order to keep their heads above water. (Hyacinth, 2020)
The practice for businesses to limit their headcount leads to an
interesting quandary where most employers seem to have
productivity and efficiency confused. To most managers, as
long as you are "butts in seats" working for your eight hours a
day you must be being "productive." (George et. al, 2021)
Nothing could be further from the truth. An system
administrator could be a "good employee" and work their full
eight hour shift without any complaining, but they could be
spending all of that time going through their emails and writing
gold-plated documentation that no one will ever read. It doesn't
matter how "productive" or "efficient" an system administrator
is at processing their emails if they never deliver any value to
their employer or their customers. This then leads to the
dilemma of employees who need to look busy in order to be
recognized, gain promotions, climb the corporate ladder, etc., vs
the employees who simply want to take pride in their work.
If delivering value is what is truly important, then the system
administrator needs to feel that they have the freedom to do
their job, which many employees do not feel. Instead, the
constant pressures of needing to get more and more done with
less and less support leads to an unhealthy lifestyle that results
in various degrees of burnout. Such burnout is common in those
who shoulder heavy workload, and especially if they have to

work long hours without sufficient breaks. This is exacerbated
in those who feel like they have little control over their work.
(Putra et. al, 2021) The burden leads to a sense of helplessness.
This lack of time then translates into less time spent in healthy
activities, such spending time with friends and family or
participating in sports and hobbies, which furthers the cycle
until the work-life balance is dangerously skewed. All of these
factors combined result in excessive stress, fatigue, insomnia,
sadness, anger or irritability, and often times alcohol or other
substance misuse. (Mayo Clinic, 2021) If delivering value is
what is important, then burnout is anti-value.
Since value deliver is what earns the company money, and
happy employees do better work, the optimal balance will be
finding employees who are motivated to do a good job without
allowing themselves to feel overwhelmed. system administrators
who strike this balance have found an environment that supports
their intrinsic motivation to do good work, and that motivation
is built around three factors: the feelings of autonomy, mastery
and purpose. (Pink, 2010)
When knowledge workers such as system administrator's work
in an environment that supports their autonomy, they have the
freedom to be creative, to explore what is possible, and to
"make mistakes and get messy" as Miss Frizzle so eloquently
put it. This freedom is necessary for innovation, because the
road that leads to success is laced with failures - each building

upon each other as learnings progress towards ever deeper
understanding, and ever richer discoveries. Mastery is a part of
this journey where the knowledge worker is ever striving to
better master themselves and their environment while they bend
their ambitious goals to their will. Doing work poorly not only
does not appeal to a knowledge worker, but it sucks the joy out
of their lives. And lastly purpose is key. There must be meaning
behind the effort. The goal must be worth achieving and the
prize worth winning. The combination of these factors is what
inspires knowledge workers like system administrator's to be
the best that they can be, and to go above and beyond for the
employers who gift them with this opportunity to do good work
that they can take pride in. This is the environment that breed
success, and this is also an underlying reason for the disparate
results in WFH performance for system administrators
throughout the Covid pandemic.
Before Covid most system administrators worked in person,
interacting with their teams face to face (although the
quintessential "movie-hacker-esk" figures were still often more
isolated than not due to the nature of their work). While help
desk was often still over the phone and sometimes provided
with screen sharing services, most system administrator tasks
were performed on company property in the presence of fellow
employees. Work hours were most often strictly observed and
any tardiness or early departures were publicly noticed.

Commute time would depend on traffic, and rush hour traffic
would be the times of day when most employees were entering
or exiting their office locations. Due to the travel time, or
physical location of the office, it could be difficult for system
administrator's to eat from their home supplies without ordering
food out at cafe's or fast food, or working out over their lunch
breaks due to the amount of time it would take to leave the
office to go to the gym, change, workout, shower, and return to
the office before meetings or the need to clock back in. This
was the norm for the past several decades, and Covid upended
all of this.
There was global upheaval when the Covid pandemic struck and
quarantine mandates were enacted in ever continent on the
planet. Abruptly system administrators were no longer seeing
their coworkers in person. They were no longer commuting, and
they were constrained to their living quarters along with any
immediate family members. The dining room table, couch,
kitchen island or bedroom bean bag became their new place of
working, and this space often needed to be shared with any
working age adults or children in school as their learning
likewise switched to being remote. (Cserháti, 2021) This rapid
transition caught most people unprepared, and required them to
pivot faster than they ever had before in their lives. Business
leadership and their IT teams needed to enable 100% remote
connectivity for 100% of their employees yesterday, and system

administrator's suddenly needed to operate without their desks,
monitors and peripherals and instead work solely from their
work laptops. However, there was a silver lining to this
transitional time of turbulence -- it bred creativity.
Abruptly the old working conditions were gone, and with them
went the traditional ways of working. (Kumar, 2020) 9am to
5pm working shifts were suddenly unsupervised. Commuting in
traffic was no longer a thing, and the employees found
themselves with the opportunity to seize something they did not
expect -- control. With no one watching their every move and
instead seeing only the quantity and quality of work being
delivered, various freedoms revealed themselves. Employees
could now sleep in a bit longer if they wished or take lunch at a
more convenient time - or for two or three times as long if they
wished. As long they showed up for the meetings they were
required to attend, responded to messages and emails in a timely
manner, and delivered their work on time at the expected
quality without the necessity for a higher level of rework than
previously, the remote worker was now in control of their day
for the first time in their professional lives! (Bick, 2021)
This newfound freedom was not entirely free, however. Since
commuting to the office was a thing of the past, people started
working at the time they would normally commute, which
pushed meetings earlier in the morning. Remote group call
applications like Zoom (or their competitors like Webex,

GoToMeeting, or Microsoft Teams) were integrated for the
majority of companies early on and resulted in a lot of meetings
with the front-facing camera on. Employees now had to share
their camera so that the rest of the team could see their faces
and "be assured" that they were not goofing off. Additionally,
since meetings were regularly scheduled in 30-minute blocks
and everyone was equally accessible, death-by-meetings nearly
became a reality for many poor souls who found themselves
scheduled in back-to-back meetings not only for their entire
workday, but often for an additional hour or two before and
after their previous 9am to 5pm start and end times. Add the
fact that for many system administrators their workplace had to
be shared with loud, distractible, and often stir-crazy school
aged children, this was a recipe for disaster. (Putra et. al, 2021)
The health concerns from these working conditions quickly
became evident, even separate from the chronic anxiety the
globe was experiencing throughout 2020. Since everyone was
fully accessible during work hours and did not physically leave,
employees continued to have the same accessibility throughout
their evenings. This further blurred the lines between work and
home, and resulted in many system administrators feeling
trapped by their work and unable to escape or turn their brains
off. Staring as screens also resulted in two common health
problems -- eye strain and physical pain from working for days
on end in non-ergonomic positions. Between these various

negative conditions, WFH brought in many significant
challenges that were not present in their traditional work
environments. (Subramaniam, 2021)
These sharply negative problems were not unnoticed, however.
Most companies quickly adjusted their expectations on
employees and took measures to make sure employees were
disconnecting from work, were spending time with family, and
were not being not suffering continuous back to back meetings.
With these changes the system administrators working from
home were given freedom in how they choose to work, and how
that control was exercised ultimately determined whether that
specific individual ended up experiencing chronic burnout or a
never before experienced level of rejuvenation at work.
Despite the health concerns, it quickly became apparent that the
move to work from home did not diminish work quality or
performance. Instead, for many performance increased.
According to a recent study, 56% of survey respondents said
that "working from home had been permanently transformative
in a positive way," and 70% said that being able to work from
home gave them more freedom and creativity in how they
performed their jobs. (George et. al, 2021) Only 24% said that
their work-life balance did not improve, which seems to
correspond to the stat that only 25% of WFH workers did not
have other housemates to share their lives with, while 52% of
respondents had children under 12yrs old at home.

For the system admins the choice of their happiness or
discomfort became theirs, but some factors of their
environments were noteworthy in contributing towards success
in those who found WFH to be rejuvenating. These "WFH
requirements" are effectively summed up by crafting the
working environment in such as way that that enables the
worker to healthily engage with work in the most effective ways
possible while minimizing or eliminating the unhealthy aspects
and establishing hard boundaries between home life and work
life. Some of these factors include designing a functional
workspace with ergonomic furniture (such as a standing desk,
an ergonomic chair, and monitor raised to eye level), a reliable
high speed internet connection, a workable schedule that
promotes self-care (such as appropriate fueling of brain-
supportive foods and regular exercise such as at-home-
calisthenics), the ability to connect with others frequently after
work (whether that be in person or virtually, such as playing
online games), and a means to work out conflicts and
distractions with kids, pets, or other potential distractions.
(Mikus & Grant-Smith, 2021)
The system admins who were successfully able to implement
these WFH requirements found the transition to be a breath of
fresh air that enabled them to be more creative and innovative
in how they engaged with their work tasks while taking even
better care of themselves than ever before. The system admins

who suffered the most were those who could not (or did not)
implement these changes, which were especially compounded if
they did not have a separate working space or had small
children in their immediate working vicinity. Those employees,
they did not gain a feeling of control, but instead lost more than
they already had. This is the key factor that set apart those who
felt rejuvenated by the WFH environment vs those who did not.
It was their control. Their freedom. Their ability to either sculpt
their world to their will, or be sculpted by it. (Villanueva, 2021)
Covid was a driver of digital transformation in many ways, and
the permanent shift towards an interconnected world and the
ability to successfully work from anywhere will be two of the
most lasting changes brought on by the pandemic for system
administrators.
References
Amabile, T., & Kramer, S. (2011). Do happier people work
harder. New York Times, 4(7), 32-
45.http://www.brjonesphd.com/uploads/1/6/9/4/16946150/the_sc
ience_of_what_motivates_people.pdf
Cserháti, I. (2021, January 1). "business is unusual" – remote
work after covid-19. Corvinus. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
http://unipub.lib.uni-corvinus.hu/5929/

George, T. J., Atwater, L. E., Maneethai, D., & Madera, J. M.
(2021, July 23). Supporting the productivity and wellbeing of
Remote Workers: Lessons from covid-19. Organizational
Dynamics. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0090261621
000449
Hyacinth, B. (2020, June 2). A bad job with a good boss is
better than a good job with a bad boss. Thrive. Retrieved April
22, 2022, from https://thriveglobal.com/stories/a-bad-job-with-
a-good-boss-is-better-than-a-good-job-with-a-bad-boss/
Itri, J. N., Bruno, M. A., Lalwani, N., Munden, R. F., &
Tappouni, R. (2018, October 30). The incentive dilemma:
Intrinsic Motivation and workplace performance. Journal of the
American College of Radiology. Retrieved April 29, 2022, from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1546144
018311475
Kumar, D. S. (2020). Employee’s Percieved Benefits and
Drawbacks from “Work From Home” During Covid-19.
PalArch's Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology, 17(6),
2943-2957.
https://mail.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/download/1239/128
3
Mayo Clinic, S. (2021, June 5). Know the signs of Job Burnout.
Mayo Clinic. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-

depth/burnout/art-
20046642#:~:text=Job%20burnout%20risk%20factors&text
=You%20have%20a%20heavy%20workload,no%20control%20o
ver%20your%20work
Mikus, J., Rieger, J., & Grant-Smith, D. (2021, January 1).
Eudaemonic design to achieve well-being at work, wherever
that may be. IGI Global. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from
https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/eudaemonic-design-to-
achieve-well-being-at-work-wherever-that-may-be/295282
Pink, D. (2021, March 22). Motivation - pink (three elements of
intrinsic motivation). tutor2u. Retrieved April 29, 2022, from
https://www.tutor2u.net/business/reference/motivation-pink-
three-elements-of-intrinsic-motivation
Putra, W. T. G., Hakim, A. L., & Kartasudjana, T. (2021).
Working virtually, exhausting in reality: Virtual cause of
burnout in the age of a pandemic. In Dynamics of Industrial
Revolution 4.0: Digital Technology Transformatio n and
Cultural Evolution (pp. 119-124).
Routledge.https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.126
57/50303/9781000441017.pdf?sequence=1#page=134
Subramaniam, R., Singh, S. P., Padmanabhan, P., Gulyás, B.,
Palakkeel, P., & Sreedharan, R. (2021). Positive and Negative
Impacts of COVID-19 in Digital Transformation. Sustainability,
13(16), 9470. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9470

Villanueva, L. L. (2021) Post Covid-19: Towards Human
Leadership and New Work Modalities.
https://nbr.nust.edu.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/NBR-20-
0019-Lorna-Liliana-Vilanueva-Vol-22-final.pdf
Appendix
Proposed Topic:
During the Covid WFH mandate two trends arose for SA’s and
other remote knowledge workers. Some found the WFH
dynamics to be the most refreshing change and saw a significant
peak in the happiness and performance of these individuals.
Others however suffered extreme burnout. Since employees are
the power behind any company it is important to understand
what caused these polar opposite results for SA's, and to glean
what learnings we can about how to maximize the effectiveness
and happiness of SA’s while preventing burnout.
At the end of the day any company's primary objective is to
make money and be successful. By extension, the company
should be ensuring that they are doing everything possible to set
their employees up for success so that they can be as effective
as possible. Ironically, most company's get this wrong and treat
their employees based on workplace practices from prior
decades that have not aged well with the digital age. The Covid
pandemic and the mandated work from home - WFH (and
following work from anywhere - WFA) brought this into sharp

focus when the world had to rapidly adjust to the new pandemic
paradigm or go out of business. This paper will explore the
various WFA dynamics brought on by the pandemic that make
SA’s happy and effective (or conversely, miserable and
ineffective) at their jobs, such as the operating environment,
working hours, home/life balance and boundaries, and how
individuals successfully achieve a sustainable state of flow
rather than descending into chronic burnout.
Feedback:
Topic is sufficiently narrow in scope. Topic is on an appropriate
subject.
ClassmateResearchPaper/ConnResearchPaper.docx
Running head: CUSTOMER SERVICE IN ONLINE
CURRICULAR DESIGN
1
CUSTOMER SERVICE IN ONLINE CURRICULAR DESIGN
4
Customer Service in Online Curricular Design
Linda D. Conn

BIT 575, Dr. Andrew Aken
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore customer service in the
field of online curricular design. My aim is to take what we
know now as nine steps and see how it works, and if there are
any ways it can be improved upon.
Customer Service in Online Curricular Design
Connections can be made in so many ways in our lives.
Connection can lead to collaboration, and collaboration can lead
to discovery, change, and implementation of new ideas. As
someone who has worked in customer service for most of my
life, I have noticed the connection between technology customer
service and teaching. Different technology customers have
different styles of preferences in taking in information. Some
technology customers are in a hurry or perhaps don’t like
technology, and would like the service representative to just
implement the change or fix the technology issue for them.
Others technology customers may want to learn how to
complete the task themselves. Perhaps there is a third customer
who would have some balance between the two methods. Those
who would like to learn the technology are the technology

customers who we may think of as lifelong learners.
In a way, we aren’t just performing customer service, but we are
teaching these technology customers to become self-sufficient.
We are enabling them to have autonomy in their own practice
(in the case of this research paper, online curriculum design).
I’m not the first person to link customer service and curriculum.
In fact, the University of Maryland Library has created a
curriculum on customer service for their employees, taking on
the “challenging task of creating a customer service training
curriculum for all staff” (Ippoliti, 2014, p. 178)
I’ve recently started a new career as an Online Instructional
Designer as of April 1st , 2021. In this role, I will be servi cing
faculty in the design, testing, and running of their courses. I
have thought about a couple research methods that would lead
me to findings corresponding to customer service and learning
in online curricular design. Autocriticism (Uhrmacher et al.,
2017) is a methodology in which one attempts to notice nuances
within one’s educational context in order improve educational
conditions and render new understandings that add to the larger
conversation about curriculum and teaching. Using this method,
I would use the nine different steps (including, “Greeting,
Problem classification, Problem statement, Problem
verification,

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