Digital communication advancements are constantly opening up opportunities for businesses to easily expand and collaborate across borders. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a situation where people have had to work remotely in a virtual setting which forced managers to adapt to a fully remote management approach. This is a single case study investigating how the industrial company Atlas Copco navigated through two global change projects, one executed in a semi-remote setting, and the other executed in a fully remote setting. The remote setting has made it difficult to build trust, and this thesis aims to increase the understanding of trust building in remote global change projects. This is a qualitative, single case study conducted with an abductive research approach. The data has been collected through interviews with representatives from the case company. The empirical findings show that people define trust differently, whether trust is built over time or exists from the start. The various definitions imply that there are consequences if people define trust differently. The thesis also highlights the importance of communication and support activities when building trust and what role the change management team had in this process. Factors affecting trust building are highlighted and mitigating aspects are presented.

An uncertain business environment and increased competition have resulted in change being an inevitable aspect for modern organizations. Therefore, it's important to understand what factors have the most impact on a change project's outcome. Previous research found that as much as 70 percent of change projects do not achieve the desired results. To address this issue, research has been conducted to establish factors that are important to operationalize independent of the change projects characteristics. However, the success rate of change projects is still low and contemporary research suggests how factors that are important to operationalize are influenced by change characteristics. This study examined the relationship between critical success factors and change characteristics through an individual case study of a change project. The method was qualitative and semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees at the case company. The study found that certain critical success factors established by prior research were not considered important for the change project's outcome, while other factors, including the respondents own suggestions, were considered crucial. The study also found that certain phases of the change project were considered more important than others.

Organizations within the healthcare industry are under a constant pressure with a continuousgrowth, resulting in a larger number of patients in need of attention and an increased demandfor healthcare services. The pressure put on the different departments at hospitals challengesthe communication channels within the organization. This in turn prevents the employeesfrom driving change efficiently where a perceived lack of information flow and fragilecommunication is the cause. To facilitate a transition, ICT is acting as a fundamental driverfor a transformation, where emerging technologies are changing the workflow inorganizations. It has contributed with mobile applications to work as solutions to enhancecommunication by improving connectivity and facilitating information flow. Therefore, thepurpose of the report was to investigate how a mobile application could help to enhance theinternal communication in the healthcare sector.For the master thesis, the investigation has been realized by conducting a descriptive casestudy at the infectious disease department. Findings were derived from observations, threeinterviews with representatives from the management and a pilot study consisting of thirteenpeople. The process was to observe existing communication channels, obtain a needs analysisfrom the management regarding improvement factors as well as implement and evaluate amobile application as a new communication channel based on their requirements.From the initial observations and interviews it was possible to identify a gap between themanagement’s information distribution and the employees’ information receiving. This wasaddressed by implementing, testing and evaluating a mobile communication channel in orderto make the information more accessible. It was discovered that by dividing employees intosmaller groups with their own specific purpose, it was possible to direct information andprevent information overload. By establishing a mobile communication channel the workflowat the department could be improved with a facilitation of transmitting information as a result.

Byggbranschen lever idag med epitetet att vara konservativ med en låg produktivitet, vilket delvis beror på den långsamma digitala utvecklingen i branschen. Digitalisering möjliggör för verksamheter att effektiviseras och en del av digitaliseringen av byggbranschen är byggnadsinformationsmodellering, BIM. BIM har visat sig förbättra utförande och samarbeten i byggnadsprojekt men förutsätter organisationsförändringar då arbetsroller och kunskap är viktiga parametrar när BIM implementeras i ett projekt. Implementeringsarbete är dock komplext i teknikstyrda processer och kräver ett ledarskap med kompetens samt genomtänkta strategier.  Föreliggande studie syftar till att öka förståelsen för hur förändringsledning påverkar användandet av digitala verktyg i renoveringsprojekt och belysa eventuella faktorer som påverkar användandet. Studien utgick från teorierna Diffusion of innovation och Kotters åttastegsmodell för förändringsledning. Genom en fallstudie vid tre renoveringsprojekt har implementeringen av digitala verktyg studerats. I studien har 14 semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med digital coach, BIM-koordinator, projektens produktionsledning och projektchefer. Studien identifierar att förändringsarbete tar tid och att användningen av digitala verktyg i en första fas främst styrs av intresse. När det finns ett motstånd mot förändring visar det sig vara viktigt med tydliga strategier och att det finns en förändringsvision som kan övertyga och motivera medarbetare. För att medarbetarna ska få stöd i användningen genom hela implementeringsprocessen krävs ett nära ledarskap, med en struktur som möjliggör kontinuerliga uppföljningar och utvärderingar av det digitala verktyget. Genom studiens resultat och tidigare forskning inom fältet konkluderades slutligen vikten av genomtänkta strategier, tydligt ledarskap och en öppen kommunikation inom organisationen för att ändra befintliga arbetssätt. / The construction industry today lives with the epithet to be conservative with low productivity, which is partly due to the slow digital development in the industry. Digitalization opens for opportunities to streamline operations and one part of the digitalization of the construction industry is Building Information Modeling, BIM. BIM has been shown to improve performance and cooperation in construction projects but it requires organizational changes, both in terms of new roles and knowledge. Furthermore, the implementation process is complex in technology-driven processes and requires leadership with clear strategies. This study aims to increase the understanding of how change management affects the use of digital tools in renovation projects as well as highlighting the factors that influence the usage. The study was based on the theories Diffusion of Innovation and Kotter's 8-step model for change management. Through a case study on three renovation projects, the implementation of digital tools has been studied. In the study, 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted with a digital coach, BIM coordinator, project management teams and project managers. Factors identified were that change takes time and in a first phase it is primarily the self-interest that governs the use. If there exist resistance to change, it appears to be important with clear strategies and a change vision to convince and motivate the employees. In order for employees to get support in their use throughout the implementation process, close leadership is required, together with an organization structure that enables continuous follows-ups and evaluations of the digital tool. Finally, the results of the study and previous research in the field concluded the importance of thoughtful strategies, clear leadership, and open communication within the organization to change existing working methods.

Migrating from IT legacy systems to Cloud Computing, is a complex task for an organization to undertake since changes of both technical end organizational aspects are required to take advantage of all capabilities that Public Cloud offer. A limited number of studies have been conducted exploring the organizational perspective of the migration process to Public Cloud for larger organization, which are bounded to their IT legacy. This thesis aims to contribute with knowledge to this gap by addressing the following purpose: investigate how the migration to Public Cloud affects an organization with large IT legacy. Anchored in a case study at an incumbent enterprise, the thesis bridges literature on Cloud Computing, organizational change management and organizational aspects of the migration process. Findings from empirics indicate that the case company is experiencing multiple layers of complexity of change management such as: change management, culture, internal processes, IT legacy and security, are essential to be managed to successfully migrate to Public Cloud. These findings suggest that the challenges are constraining the migration towards Public Cloud and especially the development of the IT environment, and therefore inhibit the essential value-creation processes. Another challenge is the generalized view of security being a great risk which further inhibits the evolvement and process towards Public Cloud. The thesis presents that although the migration to Public Cloud is primarily of technical concern, the migration process is also a major organizational change management process with large challenges that needs to be considered for a successful migration. Hence, the thesis contributes to better understanding of how an organization with substantial IT legacy can prepare for the emerging changes of a potential technology shift. / Att migrera från ett IT arv med förlegade IT system till molnbaserad datahantering är en komplex uppgift för en organisation eftersom stora förändringar krävs för att utnyttja alla möjligheter som publika molntjänster erbjuder. Ett begränsat antal studier har genomförts som undersöker migrationsprocessens till publikt moln från ett organisationsperspektiv, för större organisation som är begränsad till föråldrad IT infrastruktur. Detta examensarbete syftar till att bidra med kunskap till detta gap genom att uppfylla följande syfte: undersöka hur övergångsprocessen till publikt moln påverkar en organisation med stort IT arv. Förankrat i en fallstudie hos ett etablerat företag, förenar uppsatsen litteratur om molnbaserad datahantering, organisationsförändringshantering och organisatoriska aspekter av migrationsprocessen. Resultat från studien på företaget visar flera lager av komplexitet i förändringshantering som till exempel: förändringsledning, kultur, interna processer, IT arv och säkerhet, vilka är viktiga områden att kunna hantera för en framgångsrik migrering till Public Cloud. Detta resultat tyder på att dessa utmaningar begränsar migrationen mot publika moln och utvecklingen av IT miljön som hämmar de väsentliga värdeskapande affärsprocesserna. En annan utmaning är att den allmänna uppfattningen om säkerhet utgör en stor risk som ytterligare hämmar utvecklingen och processen mot publika moln. Examensarbetet presenterar, att trots övergångsprocessen mot publikt moln är av tekniskt intresse, är migrationsprocessen en viktig organisationsförändringsprocess med stora utmaningar som måste beaktas för en lyckad transformation. Med detta bidrar avhandlingen till bättre förståelse för hur organisationer med betydande IT arv kan förbereda sig för de framväxande förändringarna av ett potentiellt tekniskt skift.

For all business organizations, there comes a time when a change must take place within their eco-system. It consumes a great deal of thought and planning to ensure that the right decision is made as it could alter the entire course of their business for a number of years to come. This change may appear in the form of a brilliant CEO reaching the age of retirement, or an unsuccessful Managing Director being asked to leave before fulfilling the term of her contract. Regardless of the cause, a transition must occur in which a suitable successor is chosen and put into place while minimizing costs, satisfying stakeholders, ensuring that the successor has been adequately prepared for their new position, and minimizing work place gossip, among other things. It is also important to understand how the nature of the business, as well as its financial standing, effects such a transition. Engineering and management principles come together in this study to ensure that organizations going through such a change are on the right course. As the problem of transitional management is not one of concrete values and contains many ambiguous concepts, one way to tackle the problem is by utilizing various industrial engineering methodologies that allow these companies to systematically begin preparing for such a change. By default, organizational strategy has to change, technology is continually being renewed and it becomes very hard for the same leader to constantly implement new and innovative developments. Organizations today have a very poor understanding of where they currently stand and as a result the cause for a company's lack of profitability is often overlooked with time and money being wasted in an attempt to fix something that is not broken. To be able to look at the bigger picture of an organization and from there begin to close in on the main problems causing a negative impact, the Matrix of Change is used and takes in many factors to layout an accurate representation of the direction in which an organization should be headed and how it can continue to grow and remain successful. The Theory of Constraints on the other hand is used here as a step-by-step guide allowing companies to be better organized during times of change. And System Dynamics modeling is where these companies can begin to simulate and solve the dilemma of transitional management using causal loop diagrams and stock and flow diagrams. Through such tools a framework can begin to be developed, one that is valued by corporations and continually reviewed. Several case studies, simulation modeling, and a panel of experts were used in order to demonstrate and validate this framework.

This study is based on the critical pragmatism, which means that there is a conflict between at least two parts, in this case, the decision-makers and special needs teachers. The starting point of conflict is the implementation work of goal-oriented assessment, where the decision-makers has taken the decision that the Danish school shall implement goal-oriented assessment. The purpose of this study is to examine the six special teachers and school leaders experience and what motivates those in the implementation of goal oriented education. In order to examine the respondents' perception four individual interviews and a group interview was made. The interviews have been based on an open interview guide. Based on the critical pragmatism, the study focused on the concepts of power and deliberative communication. Power concepts is based on how decision makers used the power to decide that the goal-oriented assessment concept should be implemented. The deliberative communication based on this study examines respondents' experience gives the decision-makers the opportunity to take part of the response and use it in the development of goal-oriented assessment. The result of the study's empirical study, analysis, and discussion indicates that the majority of respondents are in favour of goal-oriented assessment, but that the implementation work has not focused on the special school. Teachers in special school needs time to implement and to break down goals in order to be able to create a customized targeted instruction for students with disabilities. Teachers in special school need education that focus on the special school’s development. One solution would be to create forums where special schools meet to develop the individual schools, classes and students. In order to justify teachers with postgraduate diploma in special needs training, it is important to begin in their practical work, by listening to and developing the change process together, which I interpret as deliberative communication. This study is important for decision makers so that they continue to work for changes and a positive development for goal-oriented assessment in the Danish special schools.

Successful Supply Chain Management (SCM) depends on how well an organization performs internal and external communications with trading partners, executes the logistics component, and understands/monitors related costs of conducting its business. The use of information technology (IT) is considered a prerequisite for the effective control of today's complex supply chains. Increased communication technology has redefined how businesses work together, raised customer expectations, and placed new demands on supply chain performance. IT components with proven and rapid return-on-investment are favored to support critical supply chain processes such as leaner manufacturing processes, consumer-driven supply chains, and customer responsiveness. The use of IT in the digital era has become critical and it is treated as a major competitive tool for success. Complex and comprehensive IT infrastructures support the firm's communications network, databases, and operating systems. Information technology facilitates the creation of value. However, the creation of value is defined by the different groups of stakeholders. Therefore, stakeholders must be integrated into this process of change management that uses IT as the enabler. Supply chains are due to change when higher levels of performance and/or adaptation are required as mandated by changes in the business structure and/or benchmarking and/or regulations. One of the major problems for any supply chain executive is to understand and manage these changes. These changes usually require the implementation of an IT project. Therefore, the successful design, execution, and completion of these IT projects are important for the supply chain. SCM is now a strategic function addressed at the highest levels of the organization in concert with multiple stakeholders on both the supplier and customer side of the table. The aim of this dissertation is to develop a value mapping framework involving stakeholders to improve supply chain performance when implementing IT projects. The framework has components that help define the supply chain, measure the size of the issues, identify necessary changes in the metrics to improve performance, measure the organizational consequences of these changes, and develop and follow a plan to implement IT projects to achieve the new goals of performance. Through this new framework, these IT projects will be able to bring the supply chain from a current state "As is" to a future state "To be"; capturing the existing and desired states of the proposed changes which are aligned with the objectives and goals of the organization. Therefore, the IT project can be designed, executed, and completed. One unique component of this framework is the inclusion of the stakeholders at different stages. This framework identifies the group of stakeholders to be taken into consideration in order to define the future "To be" state. In addition, the framework identifies the value creation of the "To be" system as seen by the stakeholders.

Bakgrund: När covid-19 plötsligt drabbade världen förändrades arbetssätt och branscher fundamentalt då distansarbete blev en påtvingad arbetsform. Uppmärksammande fördelar med arbetsformen medför en förväntan att distansarbete ska bli varaktig i den postpandemiska eran. Emellertid påträffades svårigheter att vidhålla en överenstämmelse mellan företagsintressen och medarbetarintressen avseende distansarbete. Följaktligen introduceras en hybrid arbetsform som kombinerar kontors- och distansarbete efter det påtvingade distansarbetet hävts. Företag utsättas för komplexa förändringar vid applikationen av en hybrid arbetsform, vilket förorsakar att det föreligger väsentliga ställningstagande inom chefers verksamhetsstyrning som måste beaktas för att kunna hantera övergången till en hybrid arbetsform. Således finns det anledning att öka förståelsen för chefers verksamhetsstyrning i angiven kontext. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att ur ett styrningsperspektiv bidra med ökad förståelse för förändringsarbete genom verksamhetsstyrning vid arbetsplatser som efter påtvingat distansarbete tillämpat en hybrid arbetsform. Metod: Med utgångspunkt i det tolkande perspektivet har studien antagit en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi med en abduktiv ansats. Empiriskt material har insamlats genom en intervjustudie som konstruerats av tolv intervjuer med chefer från fem olika företag. Slutsats: Vid förändring av arbetsarrangemang framgår det att chefer tillämpat handlingsstyrning i avsikt att förverkliga kombinationen av arbetsutförande i kontorsmiljö och distansarbete. I avsikt att övervinna och bemöta upplevt motstånd från medarbetare att samverka i arbetsformen har resultatstyrning, i förbindelse till icke-finansiella incitament nyttjats, samt kulturstyrning i form av medarbetarrelationer och justering av fysiska arrangemang. Det framgår att chefer inte brukat personalstyrning i form av utbildning eller resursfördelning för att säkerställa att medarbetare innehar rätt kompetens att arbeta i rådande arbetsform. Avslutningsvis synliggör studien att upplevd bristande företagskultur till följd av covid-19 ligger till grund för justering av fysiska arrangemang, tillförsel av formella och informella sociala sammankomster, tillämpning av handlingsstyrning och incitamentsystem. / Background: When COVID-19 suddenly hit the world, work methods and industries were changed fundamentally as remote work became a forced work form. The perceived benefits of this work form led to an expectation that remote work will be long-lasting in the post- pandemic era. However, difficulties are observed in maintaining an alignment between company and employee interests regarding remote work. Consequently, a hybrid work form, combining office and remote work, is introduced after the enforced remote work has been lifted. Enterprises are exposed to complex changes because of the application of a hybrid work arrangement, causing significant managerial decisions that need to be considered to effectively manage the transition to a hybrid work form. Thus, there is reason to increase the understanding of managers' governance in the given context. Purpose: The purpose of the study is, from a governance perspective, to contribute to increased understanding of change management through management control systems at workplaces that have applied a hybrid work form after forced remote work. Method: Based on the interpretive perspective, the study has taken a qualitative research strategy with an abductive approach. Empirical material has been collected via an interview study composed of twelve interviews with managers from five different companies. Conclusion: When changing work arrangement, it appears that managers have applied action control to realize the combination of work performance in an office environment and remote work. To overcome and respond to the perceived resistance of employees to engage in the work form, result control in connection with non-financial incentives has been used, as well as cultural control in the form of employee relations and adjustment of physical arrangements. It appears that managers have not used personnel controls in the form of training or resource allocation to ensure that employees have the right skills to work in the current work form. Finally, the study reveals that perceived lack of corporate culture because of COVID-19, is the basis for the adjustment of physical arrangements, provision of formal and informal social gatherings, application of action management and incentive systems.

This study sought to determine the feasibility of introducing bamboo as a raw material to supplement the dwindling stock of traditional timber species for Ghana's forest products industry. First, the CEOs of the leading exporters of tertiary and panel products in the industry were canvassed to assess the current situation. Using descriptive statistics, it was discovered that the companies studied consume logs 12% in excess of the annual allowable timber harvest for the whole industry. There has been a drop in raw material availability and a 30% increase in raw material costs in the past five years. Harvest of lesser-used species in place of traditional species has also increased. Smaller companies have lost customers and are more restrained in raw material procurement. Next, barriers to the adoption of bamboo as a raw material perceived by the CEOs and institutional heads were identified. The major barriers perceived by CEOs include lack of information (e.g., on bamboo plantation management, products, processing, machines and markets) and lack of capital for investment. Institutions lack adequate information about bamboo technology and policy; they have research needs, (e.g., training, funding, laboratory equipment) and collaboration from all stakeholders. Institutions have done little to promote bamboo. Smaller companies were found to be more innovative in product development than larger companies. Companies located in the Ashanti region show higher propensity to engage in process innovation and product development. Companies appear to be receptive to initiatives that encourage bamboo adoption. In the current situation, few companies are willing to adopt bamboo but most companies are ready to adopt in the future if the existing barriers are mitigated. In the current situation, it is difficult for the industry to adopt bamboo until the government officially specifies roles for institutions and other stakeholders to make a compelling case for bamboo. Suggestions made for policymaking and change management include strategies for the creation of awareness, desire and knowledge for bamboo. Others include providing resources to enhance the ability of companies and institutions to adopt or promote bamboo, and reinforcing the change from timber to bamboo. / Ph. D.