<p dir="ltr">This mixed-method grounded theory study developed and tested a new framework for leading geographically dispersed teams. With the dramatic shift to remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders now face new challenges in developing corporate strategies and approaches to leadership without proximity to their teams. However, existing leadership literature has yet to catch up to this new reality.</p><p dir="ltr">Grounded in interviews with business leaders and a quantitative survey of 100 leaders and 100 employees, this study identified communication frequency and trust-building as vital for reducing uncertainty. It also found that promoting employee well-being requires relationship-centered leadership and constructing inclusive cultures. Ultimately, leading at a distance requires adapting leadership development and reevaluating organizational design to focus on alignment, transparency, and culture-building.</p><p dir="ltr">The resulting framework identifies specific leader competencies needed for remote management. It emphasizes the importance of leader visibility, constructive feedback practices, and crisis readiness. The framework highlights new imperatives in meeting design, goal-setting, professional development, and performance management. Finally, it calls for policies that promote work-life balance through comprehensive flexibility.</p><p dir="ltr">This study provides theoretical and practical guidance with hybrid and remote work arrangements likely to persist post-pandemic. It demonstrates the effectiveness of grounded theory methodology in new research contexts. The framework presented lays the foundation for leadership approaches that empower productivity and well-being across distributed teams.</p>

Building a useful and usable website for international users requires more than translating the content of an existing site to other languages. It should be designed in a way to meet the needs of these users. In order to build a usable website, we need to use a methodology that has a focus on usability. One methodology that is considered essential for designing and developing usable systems is “User-Centered System Design” (UCSD). UCSD has the focus on understanding users’ goals and needs, involving them in participatory design, and evaluating the design with them. However, how can we use UCSD while the users are geographically spread out? To address this question I have studied and employed different approaches to perform UCSD remotely. As a case study, I have used these approaches to design a new international website for Uppsala Kommun (Municipality). The results show that it is possible to perform the UCSD remotely. However, special consideration should be taken for finding representative users. Remote UCSD is not a substitute for UCSD. It can be considered as a methodology for situations where users are geographically spread out. It can also be used as a complementary approach to UCSD.

During times of crisis, such as when the world is going through a pandemic. Many companies get affected and need to change their way of working. Our purpose is to study how the abrupt transition to remote work effects different aspects of work and to see whether, and in what ways, the involuntary nature of the current remote work situation changes how remote work is perceived by employees and managers. We choose to do a qualitative study, in order to get a deeper understanding from both employees’ perspective and managers perspective. The managers and employees participating in our interview are from banking, insurance, and staffing agencies. These interviews will be supplemented with secondary sources from news and statistical surveys. By comparing the results from our study with earlier research and recommendations from industry experts, we concluded that organizational members are handling the transition to remote work well despite the ongoing situation. Similar pros and cons of remote work that are present in previous research are also present in our interviews. However, there are some distinct differences as well. Our thesis is intended to help other organizations learn and gain knowledge about how different organizations are managing remote work in a crisis and the challenges that it brings.

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards remote working, an area that was exponentially expanding pre-pandemic. As the working conditions shift, the previous reliance on face-to-face interactions becomes obsolete. Furthermore, the importance of this issue becomes significant as global companies have expressed their interest in adopting a hybrid way of working post-pandemic. Therefore, understanding how to manage and motivate employees while working remotely becomes crucial in order to operate in highly competitive markets successfully.  This study aims to investigate how the experience and motivation of managers and their subordinates have been influenced following the shift to remote work. A qualitative design is employed in this study where literature, theories, and empirical data in the form of semi-structured interviews are utilized. The findings were analyzed according to a thematic analysis approach. Following an abductive approach, the researchers build upon exiting management theories.  The authors identify the different elements that influence experience and motivation in a remote work setting, as follows: Experiential Knowledge, Drivers of Motivation, Organizational Structure, Tasks and Roles, Formal Communication, Informal communication, Productivity, and Flexibility. Derived from the empirical data, a dimension of motivation was integrated into Cook’s (2019) view on Managing Remotely. The results display both hinders and motivators, which could be mitigated and incorporated, respectively, in future remote work strategies.

Background. The pandemic outbreak commenced a large migration of employees from all kinds of industries from previously working in an industrial or office environment to working from home. The remote migration allowed many kinds of work to continue as usual even during a pandemic. A common tool to use when working remotely is a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that allows remote workers to connect to a Local Area Network (LAN) at the company office. Which further grants the remote worker secure access to organizations resources and services. This remote work setup has increased the complexity of the company networks and therefore also magnified the attack surface for cyber threat actors. Objectives. The objective of this thesis involves studying how the VPN security landscape looks like after the pandemic outbreak. Answering questions related to how the attacks on VPNs changed in numbers, which techniques and tactics the adversaries use against VPN security systems and then, for the thesis to “bite itself in the tail”, investigate countermeasures that can further improve the VPN security. Methods. One research method is used in two different fashions to satisfy the objectives. The research method is a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The first SLR involves research on secondary data reports, published by cyber companies, cyber experts, or cyber departments of large IT organizations. The second SLR involves qualitative research by reading research papers related to how VPN security can be improved.  Results. In direct consequence of the remote work migration the number of VPN attacks have increased. The vulnerabilities found in VPN systems have been used extensively where even national cybersecurity organizations have urged companies to patch systems. Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups have leveraged the published vulnerabilities by exploiting unpatched systems and established persistent and defense-evasive access to networks that remote workers connect to with VPNs. To counter these threats and to harden the VPN systems and private networks, there are recommendations involving countermeasures such as enforced Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) and adding multiple defense layers in private networks. Conclusions. This thesis concludes that the covid-19 pandemic outbreak was the root cause to the huge remote work transition which in turn caught 99% of all organizations and home networks off guard when it comes to VPN security for remote workers. This caused huge opportunities for threat actors and state sponsored adversaries which is the main reason for the increased number of cyberattacks post covid-19 outbreak. Cyber adversaries exploited every vulnerability, bug, and misconfiguration they could find by conducting tactics and techniques like phishing, ransomware, exploiting VPN vulnerabilities and performing DDoS-attacks to the best of their abilities. This caused huge damage to organizations, governments, healthcare, and militaries all around the world. In order to increase VPN security for remote workers, small, medium or big organizations, we have developed a new VPN hardening framework.

When Covid-19 arrived, the rapidly accelerating transformation in the commercial sector faced a significant challenge. The circumstances of the pandemic helped to further show that it is possible for many employees to work remotely. The outcome of this transition is now obvious because more people than ever before work remotely or in hybrid arrangements. There has not been immensely much research completed on the remote working environments, which leaves questions to be asked. For example, whether employees are provided with the tools they need to efficiently perform their work? More importantly, is there a risk that people get distanced from their employer and lose their loyalty towards the company? If so, there is a big responsibility to be had as a leader and manager to maintain the employees loyalty and to keep them feeling as an important part of the company. Furthermore, in a remote working environment there is a bigger gap in social interaction between colleagues and towards the company overall, this in turn makes a great risk for forgetting, or missing the brands values, vision and culture. Can that gap lead to employees feeling even more disconnected from their employer?The relevance of managers' presence and their capacity to keep staff motivated when they are working remotely has been emphasized in prior research on the topic. Additionally, it has been discovered that self-leadership plays a crucial role in maintaining motivation and productivity while working remotely. Studies have also shown that working remotely improves job satisfaction, flexibility, and work-life balance, which all lower stress. We observed that the relationship between empowering leadership, self-leadership, and internal branding was absent from earlier study. What we saw missing from previous research is the connection between empowering leadership, self-leadership and internal branding. Therefore, the purpose of our study is to develop a deeper understanding of the influence empowering leadership has on self-leadership and internal branding in remote working environments.To answer this we develop our research question which reads; "How does empowering leadership impact self-leadership and internal branding in remote environments?". We decided to carry out qualitative research in order to be able to respond to our inquiry. Eight employees who work remotely roughly half the time participated in semi-structured interviews.According to the study's findings, employees saw remote work as beneficial, and working from home had no negative effects on their productivity. Remote work produced positive results, for example less stress. Additionally, the study showed how employees attitude and loyalty to the company could be benefitted by granting them more autonomy and control over their work. However, the study also found that the coherence to coworkers was thought to be the most negative aspect of remote work. However, it could potentially be avoided by applying concepts from empowering leadership and internal brandingtheories.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur arbetstagarna vid en statlig organisation i Mellansverige upplevde ledarskap under distansarbete. Åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes och analyserades med en induktiv tematisk analysmetod för att uppnå syftet. Resultatet visade tre huvudteman som representerade respondenternas subjektiva upplevelse av distansledarskap. Enligt respondenterna krävdes en ledare med personlig mognad för att kunna leda på ett önskvärt sätt. Tydlighet i kommunikationen och förmågan att skapa förtroende ansågs också vara avgörande egenskaper, särskilt vid distansarbete för att upprätthålla medarbetarnas välbefinnande. Sammanfattningsvis framkom det att bra kommunikation och förtroende var nyckelfaktorer för att skapa ett positivt ledarskap. En kommunikativ och empatisk ledare inkluderade och engagerade sina anställda, särskilt vid distansarbete. / The purpose of the study was to examine how employees in a state organization in central Sweden experienced leadership during remote work. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis method to achieve the objective. The results revealed three main themes representing the respondents' subjective experience of remote leadership. According tothe respondents, a leader with personal maturity was required to effectively lead. Clarity in communication and the ability to build trust were also considered crucial qualities, especially in remote work, to maintain employee well-being. In summary, effective communication and trust were key factors in creating positive leadership. A communicative and empathetic leader included and engaged their employees, particularly in remote work settings.

Background Following the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing (a purposeful physical gap between individuals) was adopted as a sound preventative approach, necessitating remote working. Information Computer Technologies enables, to a large extent, employees to operate practically anywhere and at any time. This shift in working mode from proximity to remote has resulted in a significant and abrupt shift in how businesses operate. Furthermore, teleworking was inevitable, but the pandemic has made it mandatory. International NonGovernmental Organizations were among the organizations that have shifted partially or totally to remote work within their local teams. These organizations have a key, but not visited, role in the societies and have partnerships with business organizations. Yet, they are forgotten about researching the remote work phenomena evolved by the pandemic. Aim Our research aims to shed light on the elements of the remote work in the INGOs, including enablers and inhibitors of this phenomenon concerning INGOs management and leadership, as well as the opportunities and the challenges created as a result of it.  Methodology A phenomenological study to compose the expressions of the INGOs managers in working totally remotely in response to COVID/19. This study is conducted using an exploratory qualitative approach by interviewing five managers of Norwegian INGOs  Findings The research exposes areas in managing remote work, such as age in employees' isolation in virtual teams. The INGOs managers have very human-centered perspectives on managing work remotely. The deep human perspective is driven by the vision and goals of INGOs of helping people. The inputs of the INGOs leaders focused on the importance of trust, social relations, freedom, and the well-being of employees.  Contribution From a more helicopter view, the research is an inspiration for learning from INGOs in relation to research in remote work. Up to our research capacity, this research is the first to explore the phenomena of remote work in INGOs in general and certainly in Norway. Practically. Our research might encourage INGO managers to recognize the need to acknowledge the unique characteristics of remote work. Ultimately, the research might help them identify capacitybuilding training for managers and emerging leaders to lead their teams better and include remote work requirements in the proposals for the donors. The organization plans to assign funds for this purpose.  Limitations Cultural limitations as the study were conducted in one country. Limitations related to the data collection as the sample size is small and covers the managers' perception only. Not to mention the age of the managers, which should have an impact on their perspectives. As well as the superficial knowledge and consideration of management issues and remote leadership in INGOs led to difficulty in getting their perceptions. The limitations related to qualitative research and online interviews.

Previous research has highlighted key taxonomic factors that have been found to influence human performance on vigilance tasks. However, previous literature has focused on research conducted in laboratory settings but has not examined vigilance tasks in remote environments. The present dissertation addresses this gap in the literature by examining human performance on a remote vigilance task, as well as workload and stress associated with the task. Qualitative data were collected to further understand the environment and distractions that participants experienced. Across three experiments, 372 participants were asked to complete a vigilance task and answer surveys pertaining to stress, workload, and ambient distractions. Experiment one manipulated the taxonomic factors of event rate and signal discrimination. Next, experiment two manipulated the taxonomic factors of event rate and source complexity. Finally, experiment three manipulated the taxonomic factors of event rate and task type. Across all three experiments, results identified significant differences in performance for the low and high event rate conditions, which are consistent with previous findings. Furthermore, signal discrimination type, source complexity, and task type (i.e., sensory vs. cognitive) resulted in significant differences between groups on measures of performance. All three experiments reported changes in perceived stress and increases in perceived workload. Ambient distractions, when they occurred, did impact performance, but only for experiment two. Overall, this study provides further support for several facets of the vigilance taxonomy and attempts to understand the impact of remote environments and ambient distractions on vigilance performance. Thus, these findings are advancing our understanding of the vigilance taxonomy and how environmental effects may influence human performance.

Distansarbete är något som blivit allt mer förekommande på många företag. Covid-19 har varit en stor bidragande faktor till att nya lösningar varit nödvändiga i och med att medarbetare inte längre fick vistas fysiskt på sin arbetsplats. Tidigare studier har visat att distansarbete kommer med en rad svårigheter. Sociala sammanhang är grundläggande för skapandet av individens sociala identitet på arbetsplatsen. När arbetet sker på distans går dessa sammanhang och interaktioner med kollegor förlorade i stor utsträckning. Syftet med följande studie var därför att undersöka hur medarbetare på ett kontor upplever och hanterar de möjligheter och begränsningar som distansarbete kan medföra i relation till upprätthållande av deras sociala identitet på arbetsplatsen. Vidare ämnar studien undersöka vilka eventuella strategier som tillämpas i samma avseende.  Vid insamlingen av det empiriska materialet genomfördes kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta personer som arbetar på ett företag där arbetet till stor del sker på distans. För att förstå det fenomen som studerats och för att analysera resultatet i relation till frågeställningarna har Tajfel och Turners teori om social identitet tillämpats. Resultatet visade att det fanns både upplevda för- och nackdelar med distansarbete. När det kom till upprätthållande av social identitet på arbetsplatsen framkom resultat som pekade på att den sociala isoleringen var ett stort problem. Centrala resultat som framkom var att känslan av tillhörighet, förmågan att samarbeta samt det kollektiva lärandet drabbades till följd av de utmaningar som distansarbetet fört med sig. Dock framkom det att informanterna upplevde att det finns förbättringspotential i hur arbetet bedrivs och vilka strategier som tillämpas för att upprätthålla den sociala identiteten.