The worldwide Covid-19 pandemic caused lockdowns in countries across the globe and forced organizations to conduct remote work solutions, contributing for challenges to arise. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate main challenges related to remote leadership caused by external disruptions. Further, this study has conceptualized remote work conditions and distinguishes between remote leadership derived from proactive changes and reactive changes to create the concept of “proactive remote leadership” and “reactive remote leadership”. A qualitative and exploratory method was applied through semi structured interviews, with nine managers at a global organization named Leaseplan. The empirical findings from the data collection discovered noticeable differences in challenges between the two remote leadership concepts. Main challenges found within reactive remote leadership which had not been highlighted in previous studies focusing on remote leadership were organizational silos, information sharing, transparency, workload, employee wellbeing and motivation. The findings suggest that it is important for both scholars and managers to put context to leadership to find nuanced challenges but also opportunities.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Patrick A. Knight / Today the geographic distance between workers is increasing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the distributed work environment by specifically focusing on leader behavior and its impact on subordinate outcomes. This study asked if the traditional core set of leadership behaviors is effective in distributed work environments, and how those behaviors impact employee outcomes such as commitment and satisfaction with supervision. Several fundamental and explored questions included: Do essential management behaviors such as consideration and initiating structure materialize differently in face-to-face versus remote situations, what type of leadership will have the most positive impact on employee's perceptions of satisfaction with supervision and organizational commitment, and does this differ according to the amount of face time between the manager and employee? Correlational data results did not support the hypotheses that face to face interaction scores were positively correlated with affective commitment, or satisfaction with supervision. Face to face interaction was not negatively correlated with continuance commitment. Non-remote employees reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction with supervision than remote employees. There was a significant difference between remote and non remote employees with non remote employees reporting higher levels of career advancement than remote employees. There was a stronger relationship between initiating structure and satisfaction with supervision when spatial distance was high. It appears that spatial distance acted as an enhancer. Two scales, company support for remote management and remote management specific behaviors, were analyzed to obtain preliminary data for future research.

Technological developments have brought at the forefront the virtual communication in the business world. In our day and age it is difficult to find teams in organizations that do not rely in long distance communication even partially. Leaders bear the responsibility to secure quick and smooth transition of information among the members of their teams as well as to foster an environment that promotes trust and fuels motivation. We conducted this exploratory case study using the abductive approach and the qualitative method. Our aim was to gain a better understanding on how the leaders perceive trust and motivation in a virtual communication setting. Therefore, we send out questionnaires to leaders that volunteered to participate in our study and we adopted the pragmatist philosophy in an attempt to provide valuable insights and practical recommendations to leaders that are managing teams in an electronic environment. The results of our study suggest that leaders perceive the long distance communication mediated through technology to be something positive to the success of their teams as they consider it to actually increase efficiency, provide a more straightforward style of communication that enables their followers to take on more responsibility for the results of their work as well as an increase in productivity.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka ledarskap på distans och urskilja skillnader från traditionellt ledarskap i en svensk storbank. Covid-19 penademin förändrade storbankens förutsättningar och tvingade fram en strukturförändring från kontors baserat arbete till distansarbete. Studien utforskar hur förutsättningar för arbetet hos medarbetare och ledare inom storbanken påverkats. Vidare identifieras risker och utmaningar med virtuellt ledarskap i samband med distansarbete. Frågeställningarna som ligger till grund för studien lyder följande “På vilket sätt har ledarskapets förutsättningar förändrats från arbete på kontor till arbete på distans” samt “Hur kan ledare anpassa sig för att kunna leda medarbetare på distans?” Arbetsmarknaden har utvecklats snabbt och i samband med den digitala utveckling har nya arbetssätt tillkommit. Pandemin påskyndade utvecklingen ytterligare och på grund av restriktioner tvingades organisationer ändra arbetsstruktur för att kunna fortgå. Distansarbetet medförde helt nya förutsättningar samt risker och utmaningar för ledare. Genom att identifiera förutsättningar inom distansarbete samt urskilja skillnader mellan traditionellt ledarskap och virtuellt ledarskap kan man möta risker och utmaningar i distansarbetet. Ledare kan få bättre förutsättningar och en ökad förståelse om hur man leder medarbetare på distans. Det empiriska underlaget har samlats in genom intervjuer och respondenter som legat till grund för dataunderlaget är anställda inom storbanken. Av totalt åtta respondenter har sex stycken rollen som ledare och två medarbetare. Den teoretiska referensramen har legat till grund för vår analys av dataunderlaget. Resultatet indikerar på att ledare behöver strukturera en interaktionsplan med medarbetare som arbetar på distans. En individualisering av sociala utvärderingar kan tillgodose medarbetarens behov efter stöd och motivation. Utöver dessa insatser är det viktigt att ledare implementerar sociala icke arbetsrelaterade aktiviteter för att skapa gemenskap och stärka relationer inom organisationen. / The aim of the study is to examine remote leadership and distinguish differences from traditional leadership in a swedish bank. The pandemic known as covid-19 forced the swedish bank to organizational structure change from office based work to remote work. The study investigates how coworkers and leaders in the swedish bank were affected as their conditions in the bank changed to virtual leadership. Furthermore identifying risks and challenges with virtual leadership in a remote working environment. The issue for the base of this study is “In what way have the conditions for leadership changed fromwork in the office to remote work” and “How can leaders adapt to lead employees remotely?” The labor market has developed rapidly and in connection with digital development, new working methods have been added. The pandemic further accelerated development and due to restrictions, organizations were forced to change their workstructure in order to survive. Remote work brought completely new conditions as well as risks and challenges for leaders. By identifying conditions in remote work and distinguishing differences between traditional leadership and virtual leadership, one can meet risks and challenges. Leaders can get better conditions and an increased understanding of how to lead employees. The empirical data has been collected through interviews and respondents who formed the basis for the study are employees of the Swedish bank. Out of 8 respondents, 6 are employed as managers and 2 employees at the major bank. The theoretical frame of reference has formed the basis for our analysis of the empercial data. The results indicate that leaders need to structure an interaction plan with employees who work remotely. An individualization of social evaluations for employees can satisfy the employee's need for support and motivation. In addition to these efforts, it is important that leaders implement social non-work-related activities to create unity and strengthen relationships within the organization.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected organizations as they have been forced to move their operations from a physical space to a fully remote work environment. This rapid and forced digitalization puts pressure on organizations and their leaders to guide them through these uncertain times. Middle-managers have been seen as a vital link between the top and lower level of the organization, and through utilizing transformational leadership, adaptations to rapid changes might be less disruptive for followers and the organization. However, COVID-19 has resulted in an unprecedented situation which has caught the middle-manager in the middle of turbulent organizational change. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to interpret middle-managers’ adaptation to the forced change from a physical working environment towards a fully remote one from a managerial perspective with the transformational leadership dimension. Method: To address the purpose of this study, a qualitative research design was used, and data was collected through three semi-structured interviews. Conclusion: This study found that three major adaptations were made by middle-managers in response to the forced relocation to remote. These three adaptations influenced three dimensions of transformational leadership who has received increased attention following forced remote which puts pressure on the middle-manager to address these dimensions while adhering to the new contextual circumstances.

When the covid-19 pandemic started, managers were only able to lead their employees through digital communication. During the subsequent telework a completely new research area, in need of new knowledge, was created. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of opportunities and challenges of remote leadership, experienced by managers. This at a time of only digital communication with employees, with no physical meetings or interactions. The study will answer the following two issues, “What factors are important for managers to take into account when applying a leadership style to teleworking employees?” and “Which internal communication functions in the organization have worked better or not according to managers, when remotely managing employees?”. This exploratory study has its theoretical starting point in situational theory, as well as in Richmond, McCroskey and Powell’s six functions in organizational communication. Through semi-structured interviews, empirical data has been collected and then analyzed through coding, thematization and summation. The result of this study indicates that future managers, conducting digital leadership, will need to take each employee's needs and personal situation into account. Managers need to adopt a functioning leadership style, while keeping important factors regarding employees in mind. This in order to successfully lead each teleworking employee through digital communication.

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.

Background: The traditionally homogeneous work environment, historically associated with physical locations such as offices and buildings, has undergone significant changes in recent years. This change has been driven by technological innovation, cultural development and external challenges, an accelerator in this process was the global spread of covid-19, which radicalized the traditional way of working. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create a deeper understanding of how leadership has been affected in step with work environment changes. A delimitation has been made towards an explicit work environment, the hybrid environment.  Methodology: Through a combination of literature review and qualitative data collection methods such as interviews, has this study investigated how leadership practices have changed and adapted to the hybrid work environment in symbiosis with what challenges and adaptations, have developed.  Result: The results show that leaders must now be more empathetic, communicative, and consultative than before. They also need to possess a combination of emotional and technical skills to effectively navigate the complexity that the combined work environment entails. In addition, the importance of being able to manage and understand team dynamics and the emotional needs of individuals has become more prominent. Conclusion: Today's leaders, which are operating in hybrid work environments, face the challenging task of balancing technical competence along with human dynamics. To be effective, these leaders must be agile, forward-thinking and tech savvy. Success lies in their ability to combine innovative methods with a deep understanding of human interaction, which is critical to their effectiveness in this rapidly changing work environment.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a major shift towards remote work and its practices are predicted as here to stay. It entails many challenges since both the physical and psychosocial working conditions vastly differ from an office-setting, posing a threat for employee well-being. Leaders have the ability to control employee well-being through activities and their leadership style, emphasizing the importance of exploring the topic from a leader’s perspective.  Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore employee well-being in a remote work setting from a leader perspective, including the leadership activities used to manage it and how leaders adapt their leadership to the remote setting.  Method: The primary data is collected from ten in-depth, semi-structured interviews with leaders in both public and private organizations. The data have been analyzed and interpreted using an explorative approach and inductive thematic analysis.  Conclusions: This study adds multiple aspects within the common theoretical themes of the social context, communication, work-life balance and stress identified as affecting employee well-being remotely. Moreover, it expands the knowledge of leader activities used to enhance employee well-being remotely such as providing opportunities for social interactions. Lastly, the study suggests leaders to balance remote work’s demand for employee independence by providing job resources such as support and adapt their leadership not only to the employee readiness, but also the expectations set on them, their own readiness and the remote situation.

Arbetet syftar till att ge läsaren en djupare förståelse om vilka utmaningar som tillkommer för en ledare vid distansarbete. Viruset Covid-19 skakade om världen i slutet av 2019 och ställde många företag inför nya utmaningar, bland annat distansarbete. Oförutsedda situationer ställer ledarskapet på prov varpå uppsatsen har sin utgångspunkt ur den rådande Corona pandemin. Åtta personer som erhållit en chefs/beslutsfattarroll har deltagit i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer och det empiriska materialet har samlats in i form av en kvalitativ metod. Utifrån empirin har forskarna försökt hitta likartade drag för att kunna dra paralleller mellan utsagorna och det teoretiska materialet. Analysen av det empiriska materialet och det teoretiska underlaget resulterade i en förståelse om vilka utmaningar som ledarna behövt anpassa sig till samt hur de har hanterat den nya verkligheten, att leda på distans. Ett transformativt ledarskap har visat sig vara gynnsamt samt en ökad och tydlig kommunikation hos ledarna. Gemenskap har varit den mest betydelsefulla faktorn i att bibehålla organisationskulturen och den största utmaningen för ledarna har varit att hantera den psykiska hälsan hos de anställda. En ökad och förtydligad kommunikation, tillit och gemenskap har varit tre huvudteman i ett framgångsrikt distansledarskap. / The work aims to give the reader a deeper understanding of the challenges that arise for a leader in remote work. Covid-19 shocked the world at the end of 2019 and presented many companies with new challenges, including remote work. Unforeseen situations put the leadership to the test, and this essay is therefore based on the current Corona pandemic. Eight people who have been given a manager / decision-making role have participated in the form of semi-structured interviews and the empirical material has been collected in the form of a qualitative method. Based on the empirical data, the authors have tried to find similar features in order to be able to draw parallels between the statements and the theoretical material. The analysis of the empirical material and the theoretical basis resulted in an understanding of what challenges the leaders had to adapt to and how they have handled the new reality, to lead at a distance. A transformative leadership has proven to be beneficial as well as an increased and clarified communication among the leaders. Community has been the most important factor in maintaining the organizational culture and the biggest challenge for leaders has been managing the mental health of employees. Increased and clarified communication, trust and community have been three main themes in a successful distance leadership.