Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how change processes created under abrupt conditions are experienced and how they function, by studying the change process from an employee perspective, with connection to sensemaking. Theoretical framework: The theories in this study are based partly on previous research of organizational change, where we bring up factors for success and failure on different levels and partly on crisis management that gives an understanding of changes created under abrupt and unplanned circumstances. Also, previous research on e-learning and distance examination is used to gain an understanding of the organizational changes which this study is based on. The three theoretical foundations of this study are regarded though a sensemaking perspective which is recurring throughout the whole study. Method: The thesis is a qualitative case study which take an interactive approach. The result is collected throughout 8 semi-structured interviews from employees who worked during the time of the change. The result is processed and analyzed through transcription, thematization and coding. Result: The result of the thesis shows how the respondents experienced and perceived the change from a past, present and future perspective, where the factors that influenced the experience are described together with the problems and difficulties that emerged. Conclusion: The teachers perceived the change as positive and successful so far. It was perceived as sudden and intense but though a great understanding, empathy, community and humility towards the change, the situation and each other, they managed the situation beyond expectation. The main conclusion is that the factors that have influenced the employees' experience were the attitude towards change, their feelings and understanding of the situation as well as shared opinions and past experience. It is through these factors that the respondents saw the change as feasible and meaningful. Conclusions about the difficulties that arose were to design materials digitally and that there was a perceived lack of interaction between teachers and students. Implementation was also perceived to have a high learning speed to learn the technique and the increased workload was perceived as a difficulty. / Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur förändringsprocesser skapade under oplanerade förhållanden upplevs och fungerar, genom att studera förändringsprocessen ur ett medarbetarperspektiv, med koppling till sensemaking (meningsskapande). Teoretiskt perspektiv: Teorierna i denna studie grundar sig dels från tidigare forskning kring förändringsarbete, där faktorer för framgång och misslyckande på olika nivåer beskrivs och dels kring förändringsarbete under kris som ger en förståelse för förändringar som sker under oplanerade och plötsliga omständigheter. Även tidigare forskning kring e-lärande och distansundervisning ingår i den teoretiska referensramen för att få en förståelse för det förändringsarbete som studien bygger på. De tre teoretiska grunderna i denna studie behandlas sedan ur ett sensemaking perspektiv som är genomgående i hela studien. Metod: Studien är en kvalitativ fallstudie med en interaktiv ansats. Empirin är insamlad genom 8 semistrukturerade intervjuer från medarbetare som arbetat under tiden för förändringen. Empirin är bearbetad och analyserad genom transkribering, tematisering och kodning. Empiri: Empirin i studien redovisar hur respondenterna upplevde och uppfattade förändringen ur ett dåtids-, nutids- och framtidsperspektiv där de faktorer som påverkade upplevelsen beskrivs tillsammans med de problem och svårigheter som dök upp. Slutsats: Generellt sett uppfattade lärarna förändringen som positiv och hittills lyckad. Förändringen upplevdes som plötslig och intensiv men att de genom en stor förståelse, empati, gemenskap och ödmjukhet inför både förändringen, situationen och varandra klarat av situationen över förväntan. Den huvudsakliga slutsatsen är att de faktorer som har påverkat medarbetarnas upplevelse var inställningen till förändring, deras känslor och förståelse kring situationen samt delade meningar och tidigare erfarenhet. Det är genom dessa faktorer som respondenterna sett förändringen som genomförbar och meningsfull. Slutsatser kring svårigheterna som uppstod var att utforma material digitalt och att en upplevd avsaknad av interaktion mellan lärare och studenter upplevdes. Implementeringen upplevdes även ha en brant inlärningskurva att lära sig tekniken och den ökade arbetsbelastningen upplevdes som en svårighet.

Det är allt vanligare att organisationer och dess processer genomgår en digital transformation föratt uppnå konkurrensfördelar. Organisationer letar ofta efter effektivare sätt att utföra processer.För att effektivisera processer kan digitala verktyg som Robotic Process Automation (RPA)användas. RPA har under de senaste fem åren blivit populärt bland organisationer då RPA oftastger en snabb return on investment (ROI). Vid ett strukturerat införande av RPA i organisationerkrävs ett förändringsarbete då det kan uppstå utmaningar som behöver hanteras. Befintliglitteratur inom RPA-området beskriver olika typer av metoder och utmaningar vid införande avRPA, men lite är känt om hur utmaningar och förändringar påverkar RPA-införandet och när deförekommer. Studiens syfte är därför att identifiera vilka utmaningar som uppkommit vidinförandet och när de förekommer. Studiens frågeställning lyder: Vilka utmaningar iförändringsarbetet finns det vid införande av RPA? Studien visar att utmaningar som uppkommer bör hanteras i tid för att inte påverka senareaktiviteter i RPA-införandet. Studiens slutsats är att det finns många olika typer av utmaningarsom en organisation ställs inför i förändringsarbetet när de för in RPA. Studiens resultat påidentifierade utmaningar är motstånd i organisationen, förändringsledning,processbeskrivningar, utveckling av RPA och övervakning av RPA. Det bidrag som studien tillförtill forskningsområdet är när utmaningar vid ett RPA-införande kan förekomma och hur derelaterar till varandra under RPA-införandet. / It’s common that organizations and their processes goes through a digital transformation toachieve competitive advantages. Organizations are often looking for more efficient ways ofexecuting their processes. To achieve efficiency in organizations, digital tools like RoboticProcess Automation (RPA) could be used. During the past five years RPA has become popularamong organizations due to a fast return on investments (ROI). When in a structured wayimplementing RPA in organizations, change management should be applied to handle potentialchallenges. Existing literature within the RPA field explains different types of models andholistic challenges when transitioning to RPA, however, little is known about how these changesare affecting the RPA-implementation and when they occur. Consequently, the purpose of thisstudy is to identify what challenges organizations have met during the implementation and whenthe challenges occurred. The question of the study is: What challenges in the change process isthere when implementing RPA? The study shows the importance of managing the challenges that arise initially to prevent futureissues in the RPA-project. The conclusion is that there are many different types of challenges thatan organization will encounter in change management when implementing RPA. The result of thestudy identified following challenges, organizational resistance, change management, processdescription, development of RPA and monitoring of RPA. The contribution of the study to theresearch area is when challenges during a RPA-implementation can occur and how challengesrelate to each other during the RPA-implementation.

Managers of public libraries have been presented with a new set of challenges in the day-to-day operations of public libraries. These include their ability to serve as change agents as they manage the use of continuing online distance learning (CODL) for staff. This online tool may provide staff opportunities for on-the-job learning, yet for managers and managerial staff little is known about how the tool impacts their role in light of the changes. This research investigates the perceptions of 103 Northeast Texas Library System managers and managerial staff about their role as a change agent in the use of CODL using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to determine the outcome. Administrators from urban, suburban, and rural public libraries were surveyed using a General Training Climate Scale to explore three constructs: extent of the manager role, manager role, and use of CODL. Data analysis was performed using exploratory and confirmatory analysis to support the theoretical model. An altered model was tested and confirmed through model fit indices.

This diploma thesis deals with the role, position and profession development of quality managers in the social service of personal assistance. It describes the emergence of this role in the context of the development of legislation in the Czech Republic and its changes after the entry into force of Act No. 108/2006 Coll. on social services, which regulates their provision. It reveals the importance of the quality manager's role in the personal assistance service from the point of view of its directors, social and management staff and quality managers, in context with the requirements for its fulfilment. Based on interviews with participants, the research identifies the role of the quality manager as a "quality teacher", a "motivator" and a "protector". The author also briefly deals with the stories of quality managers and their experience from methodological practice. Furthermore, the research shows the possibilities of grasping the quality manager's position in the organization, the preconditions for its fulfilment and aspects of the organization's culture, which have an influence on the fulfilment on the role of quality manager. Based on the research, the author further identifies problems which the participants face practice, namely: setting the position of the quality manager, introducing...

This paper investigates the contribution of enterprise modeling to the emergence and sustainability of the firm’s competitive advantage using the theoretical model developed by Chandra S. Mishra (2017). Agility, alertness, knowledge integration and business model mechanisms have been identified as the main sources of competitive advantage. Four semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts and senior enterprise modeling consultants with diverse national and international experiences, based on which a qualitative content analysis was done. The study shows that enterprise modeling has an enhancing effect on corporate agility stimulating collaboration and effective communication among organizational members as well as enabling the company to exploit turbulence in the business environment through systematizing and facilitating change management. Enterprise models were also found to be effective for strengthening the firm’s structural capital through stimulating constant problematization of the business model, streamlining the organizational processes and increasing alertness about the procedural inefficiencies and automation potential. However, the understandability of the business model is found to be increased through enterprise modeling at the expense of reducing tacitness. Therefore, more research is needed to confirm the influence of enterprise modeling on the firm’s isolating mechanisms to investigate to what extent enterprise models should be considered as company secrets.

Stockholms läns landsting är en demokratiskt styrd organisation där en av huvuduppgifterna är att länets invånare får tillgång till en väl fungerande kollektivtrafik. Trafikförvaltningen i Stockholm ansvarar för att utveckla och förvalta kollektivtrafiken. Ett mål är att öka resandet med kollektivtrafiken och samtidigt uppnå miljömål. En ren, hel och lagom varm buss ökar kundnöjdheten och främjar dessutom arbetsmiljön för bussföraren. Idag är det vanligaste sättet att parkera våra bussar utomhus längs så kallade bussvärmeramper. Tekniken har genom åren förändrats i bussen men det har inte skett i samverkan med bussvärmerampen. Arbetsmiljön vid förarplatsen kräver enligt ett regeringsbeslut temperaturen 5 °C vid förararstolen och tillufttemperaturen 10 °C vid defrostermunstycket, vilket då är det minsta kravet när bussen ska tas i bruk vid arbetspassets början. Bussar som parkeras utomhus kräver stora mängder energi för att klara de krav som finns för bussförarens arbetsmiljö och om vi istället parkerar bussarna inomhus så kan vi spara pengar och uppnå organisationens miljömål på vägen. Syfte med examensarbetet är att undersöka hur snabbt det går att räkna hem en investering genom att bygga hall istället för bussvärmeramp. Arbetet belyser bussens parkering och arbetsmiljön för bussföraren och de fördelar och nackdelar som finns om vi istället parkerar våra bussar inomhus i hall. För att öka intresset för att förändra behöver vi lära oss mer om förutsättningarna i bussdepåerna och en investering kan hjälpa trafikförvaltningen i Stockholm att minska energianvändningen, öka kundnöjdheten, förbättra arbetsmiljön för bussföraren och skydda våra bussar mot väder och vind. / Stockholm County Council is a democratically controlled organization, one of their main responsibilities is that people has access to a well-functioning public transport. Trafikförvaltningen of Stockholm is responsible for developing and taking care of the public transport. One aim is to increase traveling by public transport while achieving environmental objectives. A bus that is clean, without any dents of fault and temperately warm will increase customer satisfaction and promote working as a bus driver. The most common way to park our buses today is outside lined up along the heating ramps. The technology in the bus has been developed over the years but the heat ramps haven’t been developed as much. The working environment the driver requires, according to a government decision, is temperature 5 °C at the driver's seat and supply air temperature 10 °C at the defroster jets these are the minimum requirements for the bus when it takes into service at the beginning of a shift. Buses parked outdoors require a large amount of energy to meet the requirements of the bus driver's working environment. If we instead park buses indoors we can save money and achieve environmental objectives. The aim of this master thesis is to investigate pay-back time for the investment of parking buses indoors instead of parking buses outdoors on heating ramp. The work highlights the bus parking condition and the working environment for the bus driver the advantages and disadvantages if we park our buses indoors in halls instead of outdoors. We need to learn more about the conditions in the bus depots to increase interest of change. An investment can help the organization achieve environmental goals, reduce energy consumption, improve the working environment for the bus driver, increase customer satisfaction and protect our buses from bad weather and become independent of the outdoor temperature.

Detta examensarbete har utförts på uppdrag av Posten Scanning AB, ett helägt dotterbolag till Postnord-koncernen, tillsammans med sina systerbolag, Data Scanning A/S i Danmark och Data Scanning Finland AB. Företaget arbetar med scanning, datafångst och dokumenthanteringstjänster. Posten Scanning använde sedan 2013 av ett kundärendehanteringssystem, Customer Information System (CIS), för all hantering av ärenden som berör kunder och/eller intern utveckling. Efter ca 1,5 år som företaget har använt sig av CIS 1.0 önskas nu ett underlag för planering av version 2.0 av CIS. För att kunna planera för CIS 2.0 behövde uppdragsgivaren att undersöka, sammanställa och prioritera de nya krav som olika intressenter ställer på systemet. Utvärderingen har fokuserat på de interna och externa kundernas krav och kända förändringsbehov. Målet var att utifrån utvärderingsresultatet ta fram ett beslutsunderlag i form av en sammanställd, prioriterad och tidsestimerad kravspecifikation som även kan utgöra ett underlag för ett utvecklingsprojekt. Den relativa betydelsen av behoven avgjordes med hjälp av metoden om översättning av kundernas behov till verkställande kravspecifikationer som grundade specifikationen för förändringsarbetet. Resultatet av arbetet visade att kundärendehanteringssystemets kravlistor kunde prioriteras baserad på vad CIS användes mest till och samt efter hur ofta förändringar upprepades av olika användargrupper. / This thesis has been carried out on behalf of Posten Scanning AB, a wholly owned subsidiary of PostNord Group, together with its sister companies, Data Scanning A/S in Denmark and Data Scanning Finland AB. The company works with scanning, data capture and document management services. Posten Scanning has been since 2013 using a client case management system, Customer Information System (CIS) for handling all matters pertaining to customers and/or internal development from 2013. After about 1.5 years that the company has used the CIS 1.0, they wish to develop a gathered basis for planning the version 2.0 of the CIS. In order to plan for the CIS 2.0, they wanted to investigate, compile and prioritize the new requirements imposed by various stakeholders in the system. The evaluation has focused on internal and external customer requirements regarding usage of CIS and known need for changes in the system. The goal has been based on evaluation findings to develop a decision support in the form of a compiled, prioritized and time estimated requirements specification that can also serve as a basis for a development project. The relative importance of the needs was determined using the method of translation of customer needs for managing requirements document based specification for change. The results of this project showed that customer case management system requirements lists could be prioritized based on what CIS were mostly used to and how often changes were repeated by various user groups.

La gestión de almacén y compras en las pymes peruanas con producción a pedido presentan dificultades a diferencia de las grandes empresas, así, se tiene personal poco calificado, falta de financiamiento, pequeños tamaños de stock, procesos no definidos, ineficiente comunicación entre áreas y baja prioridad por parte de los proveedores. Por ello, no se puede aplicar los modelos de gestión de las grandes empresas. En adición, los modelos hallados, respecto a la gestión de compras y almacén, no se acoplan a las necesidades de una pyme textil con producción a pedidos, ya que emplean conceptos complejos especializados en gestión, herramientas y/o sistemas de información cuya implementación resulta en un presupuesto elevado, no asequible. En este trabajo se propone un modelo gestión de compras-almacén (MGCA) orientado a las pymes de producción a pedido para reducir la frecuencia de compras innecesarias que ocasiona sobrestock y prevenir roturas de stock. Este contempla procesos simples y flexibles, una guía de implementación e indicadores que puedan ayudar a la gestión; a su vez, se basan en los pilares del ISO 9001, JIT, gestión del cambio y sistemas de información. Un estudio de caso en una pyme textil peruana muestra que el modelo propuesto es fácil de implementar y que mejora la calidad de los materiales en un 37.50 %, el abastecimiento oportuno en 62.50 % respecto a los proveedores, la rotación de inventarios incrementó en 55.61 %, el cumplimiento de despachos internos en 28.77 % respecto a producción, los pedidos conformes recepcionados en 30.14 % y el clima organizacional aumentó en 22.77 %. / Warehouse management and purchases in Peruvian SMEs with production to order present difficulties unlike big companies, such as low-skilled personnel, lack of financing, small stock sizes, undefined processes, inefficient communication between areas and low priority for part of the vendors. For this reason, the management models of big companies cannot be applied. In addition, the models found regarding purchasing and warehouse management do not fit the needs of a textile SME with production to order, since they use complex concepts specialized in management, tools and / or information systems whose implementation results in a high budget, not affordable. This thesis proposes a purchasing-warehouse management model (MGCA) aimed at production-to-order SMEs to reduce the frequency of unnecessary purchases that cause overstock and prevent stock outs. This includes simple and flexible processes, an implementation guide and indicators that can help management; in turn, they are based on the pillars of ISO 9001, JIT, change management and information systems. A case study in a Peruvian textile SME shows that the proposed model is easy to implement and that it improves the quality of materials by 37.50%, timely supply by 62.50% compared to suppliers, and inventory turnover increased by 55.61% , the fulfillment of internal dispatches in 28.77% with respect to production, the conforming orders received in 30.14% and the organizational climate increased in 22.77%. / Tesis

Abstract Background:  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic a series of regulations and recommendations were imposed. This resulted in firms transitioning their co-located teams into virtual teams in an effort to slow down and prevent the spread of COVID-19. This research focuses on the individual team member’s experience of the transition. The transition is a digital transformation and organizational change and its effects on the individual team member is being studied.  Purpose:  The purpose of this research study is to explore how individual team members experience the transition from a co-located team into a virtual team. Trust, communication and social interactions are previously known challenges for virtual teams. Therefore, we strive to explore how these aspects have been affected by the transition and how the individual team member has experienced it.  Method:  This study follows a qualitative research design and the method of choice is semi-structured interviews that have been carried out in a virtual environment due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Eleven interviewees have contributed to the empirical study. The main findings are presented in chapter 4 and analyzed against existing literature in chapter 5, to finally be concluded in chapter 6.  Conclusion:  Trust has previously been listed as a major challenge for virtual teams. However, our empirical findings have not identified trust as a major challenge and therefore contradict this. Communication has changed and the biggest two contributors to this is that the communication is digital and that body language becomes less effective in a virtual setting as compared to face-to-face communication. However, communication has not been a major issue during the transition but rather a complication. Social interactions were identified as the aspect affecting the team members the hardest since they had become non-existent except for in the virtual environment in many cases. A high level of digital maturity and the teams previously being co-located is seen to have made the transitions easier in terms of trust and communication. Furthermore, team members struggle to find their work life balance and often work more hours.

Masters thesis based on extensive research on different forms of supervision organizations in seven organizations providing social services to prevent, try to define this type of supervision and generalize some of his characters. Data on supervision in the organization was obtained by questionnaire survey and interviews with managers of the organization. As part of the research was further investigated by questionnaire survey of participating organizations, culture and searched for possible relationship between the implementation the supervision organization and levels of organizational culture. Empirical and theoretical part of this thesis is directed to the final discussion on supervision in the organization as an instrument of management development and change in organizations. KEY WORDS supervision organizations, culture of organization, reflection organization culture, development and chase management, strategic management, project management, couching, tools in phases changes