Syfte: Idag har det blivit allt mer vanligt att verksamheter använder sig av aktivitetsbaserade kontor, så kallade ABW-kontor. En anledning till detta är att kontorsformen är mer yteffektiv då den oftast är utformad för ett färre antal medarbetare än vad verksamheten har anställda. Problemet med många av dagens aktivitetsbaserade kontor är att utformningen inte är rätt anpassad till verksamhetens behov. Detta grundar sig i att det finns en kommunikationsbrist i utformningsprocessen vilket medför att arkitekten inte får den information om verksamheten som behövs. Målet med arbetet har varit att komma fram till ett hjälpmedel som kan undvika kommunikationsbristen för att i framtiden ge arkitekter ett bättre underlag för att utforma ABW-kontor. Metod: Studien har bestått av en kvalitativ undersökning där fallstudier, intervjuer och dokumentgranskning använts. Studiens största datainsamling består av semistrukturerade intervjuer med arkitekt och personer som arbetat hos de tre verksamheterna under utformningsprocessen. Utöver detta utfördes en dokumentgranskning av planlösningarna hos verksamheterna. Dessa datainsamlingsmetoder kunde därefter analyseras och generera svar på studiens frågeställningar. Resultat: Undersökningen visade att det funnits en kommunikationsbrist i samtliga utformningsprocesser hos de tre verksamheterna. En av verksamheterna hade använt sig mer av medarbetarna i utformningsprocessen vilket kan kopplas till att de anställda var nöjda med kontoret. Från intervjuerna framgick det vad i kontorets utformning som var viktigt för att kontoret skulle bli så anpassat till verksamhetens behov som möjligt. Utifrån den här informationen skapades en checklista för arkitekt, beställare och anställda. Checklistan kan användas i utformningsprocessen för att få ett bra underlag till att anpassa kontorets utformning till verksamhetens behov. Konsekvenser: En slutsats av den här studien är att alla ABW-kontor inte är anpassade efter verksamhetens behov. Under utformningsprocessen involveras inte alla medarbetarna tillräckligt mycket vilket har visat sig vara nödvändigt för ett fungerande resultat. För att ge en arkitekt möjlighet att utforma ett aktivitetsbaserat kontor så bra som möjligt behövs information från medarbetarna som förklarar deras arbetssätt och behov. En rekommendation utifrån resultatet är att göra checklistan digitaliserad så att större företag kan använda sig av den också. Begränsningar: Studien har avgränsats till att undersöka tre verksamheter med olika typer av organisationer, ekonomi, IT och marknadsföring. Antalet intervjuer på de olika verksamheterna har även avgränsats till att intervjua personer som endast varit med under bytet till ABW-kontor. Den resulterande checklistan är lämpad att användas i små företag eftersom checklistan är i pappersform. För stor insamling av checklistor kan minska effektiviteten i utformningsprocessen. Metodvalen är anpassade för studiens omfattning men arbetet hade stärkts om intervjuer även utförts med arkitekter som utformat de valda ABW-kontoren. Nyckelord: ABW, Aktivitetsbaserat kontor, Kommunikationsverktyg, Utformningsprocess. / Purpose: Nowadays it is more common to use activity based work offices, known as ABW-offices. One of the reasons why it is getting more popular is because of the space efficiency. ABW-offices are often designed for less people than number of employees. The problem with many of today’s activity based work offices is that it is not suitable for every type of work environment and its needs. The reason is lack of communication during the design process. That can lead into less information about the working environment for the architect. The goal with the case study has been to produce a userfriendly communication tool so the architect has a better base to start the design process. Method: The study is a qualitative survey with case studies, interviews and document analysis. The largest data collection has been semi structured interviews with architect and employees. The document analysis is based on the layouts of the different work offices. These data collection methods could thereafter be analyzed and generate answers to the questions of the case study. Findings: The study showed that there has been a lack of communication during the design process in every ABW-office. One of the three offices involved the employees during the design process, and the employees seemed to be happy with how the office turned out. The interviews gave information about what factors that can be most important to make the ABW-office as suitable as possible for the work office. After analyzing the empiricism a checklist was created for architect, client and employees. The checklist can be used during the design process to fill the client and the employees need to make a suitable working environment. Implications: A conclusion of this study is that all ABW-offices are not suitable enough for the work office. All the employees did not get fully involved during the design process which, after research, are the best way to get the ultimate result. Therefore, the architect needs to get as much information as possible from the employees to make a good and suitable layout for plan views. A recommendation is to improve the checklist and make it digitized so bigger companies can use the checklist too. Limitations: The study has been delimited to make a research about three different companies with different types of organizations, economy, IT and marketing. People that has been interviewed have all been a part of the exchange to an ABW-office. The checklist is mostly suitable for smaller companies to use since the checklist is in shape of paper. Too many checklist can lead to a less effective designprocess. The methods are chosen in consideration to time and extent of the study. The study would have strengthen if more interviews with for instance the responsible architects of the chosen ABW-offices were made. Keywords: ABW, Activity based work office, Communication tool, Design process.

Change is a constant factor in today's society and an important factor in the success of organizations. As a result, it is highly important that organizations learn to manage change in order to stay competitive and keep up with the rapidly changing market conditions. Change Management has therefore been a highly emphasized area within Business Administration. As new trends arise on the global market, it is important for organizations to be able to adapt. One of these trends is the implementation of the Activity-Based Flexible Office (A-FO). An Activity-Based Flexible Office consists of different areas with closed, half-open or open zones. The areas are created in order to match employee needs and the requirements of each work activity that needs to be conducted. As a result, no one is assigned a personal workstation, instead the employees move between different areas depending on what type of work activity they need to accomplish. Even though Change Management has been thoroughly investigated and A-FOs have been researched to some extent, no previous research has been found regarding the change process of implementing an A-FO. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate the difference in managers’ and employees’ perceptions regarding the change process towards an A-FO. As a result, a deeper understanding of change management as well as of the effects of the A-FO will be provided from the viewpoints of managers and employees. This leads to the research questions: “How does the perception of the change process concerning activity-based flexible offices differ between managers and employees? What do managers and employees perceive as essential factors of the change process and A-FO implementation and how do these perceptions differ?”. The Theoretical Framework mainly consist of previous research models and theories regarding change management literature, work environment and activity-based flexible offices as well as employee satisfaction. Communication has also been chosen as an important factor as it has been stated to be vital in both change management and within the A-FO. Furthermore, in order to fulfil the purpose of the thesis and answer the research questions, the chosen research method for this study is qualitative with an exploratory research design and an inductive approach. Therefore, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven respondents from a department at Skellefteå municipality who were chosen based on a combination of a purposive and snowball sampling method. After the interviews were transcribed, the empirical findings were analyzed and presented by using a thematic analysis. The findings show that when conducting an A-FO change process, managers’ and employees’ perceptions often differ. Managers often focus on the practical aspects of a change, while employees emphasized on “soft values”. Employees were also more skeptical towards the change in the beginning, compared to managers, and seemed more aware of possible disturbances in the A-FO. Furthermore, both managers and employees were highly satisfied with the change process and the implementation of the A-FO, but emphasized on different factors resulting in increased satisfaction. To conclude, since managers’ and employees’ perception regarding the A-FO change process often differ, but can also coincide, it is important to take both aspects into consideration when conducting this type of change. By involving everyone in the change process, it is more likely to be successful.