Background and Aim: Development and digitalization of contemporary work life means that leadership at a distance becomes commonplace practice in an increasing number of organizations. Which affects leader prerequisites to handle their followers psychosocial work environment. This study´s aim was to explore office workers perceptions of how leadership at a distance affects their psychosocial work environment. Methods: Ten informants (coworkers) from the Swedish Public Employment Service were interviewed using semi-structured questions and their narratives were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Results: The analysis resulted in three salient sub-themes which were Equality, Contraposition, and Losses. These sub-themes resulted in a main theme that expresses how leadership at a distance holds potential for improved psychosocial work conditions. If leaders acknowledge the increased autonomy employees expect from a remote leadership. And cooperate with their employees to compensate for the losses that accompany physical distance. Leadership at a distance also contains risks when the contact between leadership and employee doesn´t compensate for the losses that comes with physical absence. Which can lead to a psychosocial work environment where employees experience alienation, feelings of disregard and a lack of support.  Conclusions: Leadership at a distance seems to create opportunities for employees to experience an improved psychosocial work environment, through a more autonomous everyday work environment. Including an opportunity for peer relation with their manager. With physical distance follows a loss of inter-human contact and fewer possibilities for a manager to perceive their co-workers everyday work environment. Meaning conditions where managers become dependent on their employees in a new way, not only for task performance, but for being able to handle psychosocial work conditions. Even if remote leadership seems compatible with a satisfying psychosocial work environment. The work place needs to make an effort for leaders to be present in new ways that facilitates psychological and functional closeness. In a way that allows managers to provide the freedom employees expect from a distance leadership along with the attention they need. Without letting their own control needs lead to detailed control and increased monitoring which may lead to a negative psychosocial work environment. Examples where leaders, and organizations as a whole, needs to reconsider new ways are: How to achieve availability, managers insight into the everyday work environment, building relationships that facilitate trust, and communicate clear expectations.   Key Words: Leadership at a distance, remote leadership, psychosocial work environment, Swedish Public Employment Service, qualitative content analysis

Pandemin Covid-19 resulterade i en tiofaldig ökning av distansarbete i Sverige under 2020. Detta medförde att många mellanchefer behövde utöva sitt ledarskap i en ny kontext,nämligen på distans. Distansledarskap är ett relativt nytt men redan omfattande forskningsområde. Däremot förhåller sig denna forskning inte till ledarskap som abrupt och oplanerat behöver ställa om till distansledarskap. Dessutom utgår mycket av tidigare ledarskapsforskning från ett ledningsperspektiv och inte mellanchefsperspektiv. Syftet med denna studie mynnade därför ut i att söka förståelse för hur mellanchefens ledarskappåverkats av omställningen till distansarbete. För att uppnå syftet formulerades tre forskningsfrågor: (1.) Hur upplever mellanchefen att ledarskapet gentemot den operativa personalen har utmanats i och med omställningen till distans? (2.) Hur har mellanchefen anpassat sitt ledarskap för att ta hänsyn till utmaningarna som uppstått? (3.) Vilka aspekter är viktiga att beakta för att leda på distans? Studien baseras på en kvalitativ metod innefattande sex semistrukturerade intervjuer. Respondenterna är mellanchefer närmast den operativa personalen som ställt om till distansarbete under 2020. Den framkomna slutsatsen är att samtliga upplevda utmaningar och anpassningar därefter kan relateras till hälsa, relationskapande och kommunikation. Dessa tre aspekter framkom som viktiga för en mellanchef att beakta då de ska ställa om till ett distansledarskap. Denna studie bidrar med djupare förståelse kring hur mellanchefers ledarskap påverkats av den hastiga omställningen till distansledarskap som Covid-19 resulterade i. Detta är användbart för framtida mellanchefer som ska genomföra en liknande distansomställning. / The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a tenfold increase in remote working in Sweden year 2020. This induced that many middle managers had to exercise their leadership in a new context, namely remotely. Remote leadership is a relatively new but already extensive research area. However, this prior research does not account for leadership that abruptly and unplanned must transit to remote leadership. Additionally, most prior leadership research focus primarily on a top management perspective, thus not on a middle management perspective. The purpose of this study therefore culminated in seeking understanding of how middle managers' leadership has been affected due to the transition to telework. To fulfill the purpose, three research questions were constructed:  (1.) How does the middle manager perceive that their leadership towards the operational staff has been challenged due to the transition to remote work? (2.) How has the middle manager adapted its leadership in regard to the challenges? (3.) What aspects are important to consider when leading remotely?  This study is based on a qualitative method and includes six semi-structured interviews. The respondents are all middle managers closest to the operational staff and have transitioned to remote work in 2020. The conclusion that emerged is that all perceived challenges and the leadership adaptions in regard to the challenges can be associated to health, relationship building and communication. These three aspects are important for middle managers to consider when transiting to remote leadership. This study contributes with deeper understanding of how middle managers ́ leadership has been affected by the rapid transition to remote leadership that Covid-19 induced. This is useful for middle managers who make a similar transition to remote work in the future.

This study aims to recognize how virtual teams should be coordinated and led in organizations that operate at multiple sites. To fulfill the purpose of the study, a literature review on previous research on virtual teams was implemented. Further, a qualitative study including interviews with leaders at different levels at Ericsson was conducted to gain empirical data on how leadership in virtual teams works. The interviews were semi-structured with the purpose of not directing the leaders towards only bringing up the challenges that emerged in the literature review but to also bring up new perspectives. The major challenges that virtual teams face, thus challenges that the leaders must somehow address, can be divided into three areas: communication, coordination and location. Concerning communication, it is important that leaders of virtual teams set the means for communications, define ground rules and make sure that the right kind of communication is used for the right purpose. Further, it is important to communicate more often than if the team would have been co-located and actively try to build trust and cohesion within the team by being transparent and honest. To meet face to face with the team members, especially in the beginning when the team is created, is important both for understanding (virtual communication becomes easier afterward) and for the building of trust and cohesion. In the area coordination it is important for the leader to clearly define the roles of each team member and how the roles as well as the team efforts contribute to a larger picture. There is no perfect distribution that is applicable to all virtual teams, each team must find their balance concerning how many team members that should be positioned at each site. In general, to push responsibilities down in the hierarchy is a suitable role structure for virtual teams. The location area includes challenges such as different languages, cultures and collaboration across different time zones. It is important to have an operative language that all team members understand and master. When creating a new team, it is important that the leader or the person creating it, is aware of how cultural differences impact, so that the challenges can be addressed properly, and the benefits of diversity as well as the expanded labor pool, can be utilized. Working across different time zones brings benefits such as more hours of the day can be used, but it also includes challenges, such as limited real-time communication. Thus, the optimal time overlap is difficult to define, but generally, leaders prefer involving fewer time zones and large time overlaps.

SAMMANFATTNING Datum: 2022-06-01 Nivå: Kandidatuppsats i Företagsekonomi, 15 hp Akademi: Akademin för Ekonomi, Samhälle och Teknik, Mälardalens Universitet Författare:       Asaad, Jonathan     (99/07/12)    Haddad, Ribal     (99/03/04)  Kara, Sercan     (99/11/18) Titel: Att leda och motivera på distans Handledare: Rana Mostaghel  Nyckelord: Ledarskap på distans, distansarbete, motivation, digital kommunikation, SDT, McClelland  Forskningsfrågor: FF1) Hur arbetar ledare för att motivera medarbetare på distans? FF2) Hur interagerar och kommunicerar ledare och medarbetare på distans? Syfte: Utifrån tidigare studier kring ledarskapsrollen på distans är det tydligt att övergången till ledarskap på distans kommer med utmaningar. En av dessa utmaningar är kopplad till motivation. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilken påverkan en ledare på distans kan ha på sina medarbetare och hur ledaren kan motivera sina medarbetare. Metod: Studien har utgått från en kvalitativ metod. Empiriinsamlingen har utförts genom sex semistrukturerade intervjuer. Denna studie har utgått från en deduktiv ansats, vilket innebär att relevant litteratur och teori har samlats in för att kunna dra slutsatser om undersökningens frågeställningar. Teorier och primärdata har analyserats genom en tematisk analysmetod, vilken användes för att identifiera mönster och teman. Slutsats: Ledare arbetar med att motivera medarbetare på distans genom att ha deras motivationsfaktorer i åtanke. Genom att skapa samhörighet, intresse, tydligt syfte, kompetens och autonomi, kan ledare lättare öka sina medarbetares motivation på distans. Interaktion och kommunikation hanteras mellan ledare och medarbetare genom rika kommunikationskanaler. Stor vikt läggs av ledarna på rika kommunikationskanaler som exempelvis Zoom och Skype. Dessa kommunikationskanaler tillåter medarbetare och ledare att utnyttja flera av sina sinnen vilket har lett till ökad interaktion och samhörighet. Dock nyttjas inte alla rika kommunikationskanalers funktioner av ledare vilket har lett till att de klassas som fattiga kommunikationskanaler. / ABSTRACT Date: 2022-06-01 Level: Bachelor thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors:       Asaad, Jonathan     (99/07/12)    Haddad, Ribal     (99/03/04)  Kara, Sercan     (99/11/18) Title: To lead and motivate in remote work Supervisor: Rana Mostaghel Keywords: Remote leadership, remote work, motivation, digital communication, SDT, McClelland Research questions: RQ1) How do leaders work towards motivating employees when working remotely? RQ2) How do leaders and employees interact and communicate remotely? Purpose: Based on previous studies on the leadership role in remote work, it is clear that the transition to remote leadership has come with challenges. One of these challenges is linked to motivation. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect a leader working remotely can have on their employees, and how a leader can motivate their employees. Method: A qualitative method has been used for this study. The data collection for empirical data was performed through six semistructured interviews and the approach for this study has been based on a deductive approach. This means that relevant literature and theories have been collected in order to come to conclusions about the research questions. Theories and primary data have been analysed through a thematic analysis method, the method was thereafter used to identify patterns and themes. Conclusion: Leaders mostly work with motivating employees in remote work by focusing on their inner motivation factors. By creating solidarity, interest, a clear purpose, competence and autonomy, leaders can more easily increase their employees' motivation in remote work. Interaction and communication between leaders and employees is done through the use of rich communication channels. Leaders put a lot of weight on rich communication channels, such as Zoom and Skype, since these types of communication channels allow both employees and leaders to utilise more of their senses, which in turn has led to an increase in interaction and solidarity. These functions that rich communication channels offer are however not being fully utilised by leaders, which has led to some of them still being classified as poor communication channels when they don't get fully utilised.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many companies have been forced to make their employees work from home, fully distributed. One of the work aspects affected by this change is meetings. The purpose of this study is to investigate what effects the fully distributed context have on meetings, meeting participants, and meeting leaders. To achieve this purpose, a qualitative single-case study was conducted. The empirical data were gathered from 15 interviews with employees at a large information and communications technology company in Linköping, Sweden. The theoretical framework including the fully distributed context, leadership, motivation, and attitudes, behaviors, and norms is the foundation for the analytical model used to analyze the empirical data. For meetings, it was found that the number of meetings has increased, meetings without fixed end times get longer, meetings need clear agendas and structures, and that meetings are booked in a tighter sequence without room for breaks. Using cameras during meetings increases participation but not if there are many meeting participants or when someone starts sharing their screen. It was found that inter-office meetings work better in the fully distributed context. Discussions are fewer and less lively in fully distributed meetings, but virtual fika1 is a kind of informal meeting that can help employees feel more connected and maintain interpersonal relations. For meeting participants, it was found that the fully distributed context has enabled participants to not be seen during meetings, to multitask more, to go on walks during meetings, and to attend more meetings. Fully distributed meetings offer participants more flexibility in meeting attendance but are also more difficult for participants to stay focused during. The perceived social pressure from the surrounding often determines how participants behave in meetings, for example if participants turn on their cameras or not. For meeting leaders, it was found that, contrary to the literature, meeting participants’ behavior affect the motivation of the meeting leader. Meeting participants' multitasking during meetings is considered positive for productivity but makes meeting leaders feel insecure as participants seem to listen less. Cameras can offer supportive feedback as the meeting leader can see the participants reactions, but it only works in smaller meetings. Fully distributed meetings demand more of meeting leaders who need to work harder to structure the meetings, force discussions, aim questions, and keep participants active. The results implicate that meeting leaders should set agendas for and structure meetings, implement breaks between meetings, and start meetings with some informal conversations. Moreover, meeting leaders should turn on their cameras in smaller meetings without screen sharing and aim questions at specific participants instead of posing open questions. At the end of this report, a number of suggestions for future studies on the topic of fully distributed meetings are proposed. 1Fika is Swedish for taking a break and sharing a cup of coffee or tea with friends or colleagues possibly, but not necessarily, with a little something to eat.

Banksektorn är en av samhällets viktigaste funktioner och har genomsyrats av strukturella förändringar under åren som förklaras tvingat organisationerna att genomgå inre omställningar. Exempel på dessa förändringar är ny teknik och IT-utvecklingen som på senare år influerat branschen. Banksektorn som många andra branscher har drabbats av en kris i form av coronapandemin vilket innebär yttre påfrestningar. Krissituationen är intressant att studera för att skapa en förståelse för hur ledarskapet hos chefer inom banksektorn har fått hantera de yttre effekterna som coronapandemin medfört. I detta arbete är därför syftet att få en förståelse för hur chefer inom den svenska banksektorn upplever ledarskapet under coronapandemin. Arbetet riktas in på att skapa en förklaring för hur ledarskapet utövats och anpassats under krissituationen. Ledarskapsperspektiv som anses relevanta för den aktuella krissituationen används för att tolka upplevelserna. I studien används en kvalitativ undersökning i form av intervjustudier. Studiens data kommer från semistrukturerade intervjuer där respondenterna utgörs av bankchefer. Teorin kommer att beskriva tidigare forskning kring ämnet ledarskap samt perspektiv på ledarskap som berörs. Det redogörs för egenskaper som utlyser respektive ledarskapsteori. I empirin presenteras respondenternas upplevelse kring ledarskapet samt upplevelsen av ledarskapet under coronapandemin. Krisledning upplevts tillämpats i organisationer för att leda organisationen genom krisen. Det visar vidare på att den krissituation som uppstod medförde förändringar för organisationen och för ledningen, vilket visas genom en digital omställning. Vilket kan ha bidragit till att tillämpningen av distansledarskap och digitalt ledarskap ökat. Omställningen till ett digitalt arbetssätt har medfört att chefernas ledarskap har inkluderats mer av egenskaper som flexibilitet, individanpassning, kommunikation och coaching under pandemin. En slutsats är också att ledarskapet utifrån chefernas upplevelse har haft inslag av olika inriktningar inom ledarskapet som kan förstås genom olika ledarskapsperspektiv . / The banking sector is one of society's most important functions and has been permeated by structural changes over the years that are declared to have forced organizations to undergo internal changes. Examples of these changes are new technology and IT development that has influenced the industry in recent years. Like many other industries, the banking sector has been affected by a crisis in the form of the corona pandemic, which also means that the industry has been affected by external pressures. The crisis is described as interesting to study to create an understanding of how the leadership of managers in the banking sector had to deal with the external effects that the corona pandemic has brought. In this work, the aim is to understand how managers in the Swedish banking sector experience leadership during the corona pandemic and the leadership during the crisis. The study has focused on creating an explanation for how leadership has been adapted in a crisis. Leadership perspectives that are considered relevant to the current crisis are used to interpret the experience. In the thesis, a qualitative survey was carried out in the form of interview studies. The data is based on semi-structured interviews where the respondents are bank managers. The theory should describe previous research about leadership and perspective on leadership. For the theories presented, it is described as characteristics that proclaim respectively. The empirical presents the respondents' experience leadership and leadership experience during the corona pandemic. Crisis management has been used in the organization to lead the organization through the crisis. Furthermore, it shows that the crisis led to changes for organizations and the management, which shows by a digital change. The digital transformation may have contributed to the application of remote leadership and digital leadership. The change to a digital way of working that has taken place in leadership means that leadership has been included more in characteristics such as flexibility, individual adaptation, communication, and coaching extent during the pandemic. A conclusion is also that leadership based on the managers' experience has been influenced by specific leadership orientations that can be understood through a leadership perspective.

Corona-pandemin har inneburit ett paradigmskifte när det gäller distansarbete. Många företag ser över hur de ska organisera arbetet och fördelningen mellan kontor eller distansarbete. Denna studie undersöker kvaliteten i samspelet mellan chef och medarbetare, arbetstillfredsställelse, rapporterad arbetsprestation samt mental hälsa bland 291 tjänstemän inom sex olika branscher i den privata sektorn i Sverige efter ett års distansarbete. Resultatet av denna studie visar att det inte finns något samband mellan andel hemarbete och kvalitet i samspel med chef, arbetstillfredsställelse, rapporterad arbetsprestation eller mental hälsa hos medarbetarna. Däremot finns det ett tydligt positivt samband mellan hur nöjd en medarbetare är med att arbeta på distans, oavsett hur mycket, och kvalitet i samspel med chef, arbetstillfredsställelse, rapporterad arbetsprestation och mental hälsa. Resultatet är i linje med tidigare forskning som har visat positivt samband mellan högkvalitativt samspel med chef och arbetstillfredsställelse, rapporterad arbetsprestation och mental hälsa hos medarbetarna. Denna studie stödjer att dessa samband gäller även vid distansarbete. / The Corona pandemic has meant a tremendous change when it comes to remote work. Most companies evaluate how to organize work in regards of working from office or remotely. This study has examined the quality of the relationship between leader and follower (LMX), job satisfaction, work performance and level of mental health among 291 white collar employees from six different lines of business in the private sector in Sweden after one year of remote work. The results show no correlation between amount of remote work and quality of LMX, job satisfaction, work performance nor mental health among the employees. However, significant correlations are found between how satisfied the employees are with working remotely, regardless of how much they work remote, and the quality of LMX, job satisfaction, work performance and their mental health. The results from this study are in line with earlier research showing that there are significant correlations between high quality LMX and high levels of job satisfaction, work performance and mental health among the employees. The results support that these correlations are also valid for remote workers.

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.

Seminal works on leadership, including those in librarianship define a traditional model of interaction between leaders and followers without reference to the information technology-driven environment. In addition, remote leadership indicates a different model from the traditional model, one that is focused on the interaction of leaders and their staff through digital technology. Although leaders still use face-to-face interaction, due to varied work schedules or job responsibilities, they also recognize the need to lead employees remotely. Leadership studies in library literature have not addressed how library leaders use information technology to lead employees remotely, nor have these studies addressed remote leadership and remote employees, except for some articles on telecommuting. As a result, this research was conducted to address this gap, providing an exploratory foundation of emergent patterns of remote leadership with its associated leadership dimensions rooted in personality traits, behaviors, and skills. Quantitative and qualitative data were obtained from a small sample size of academic and public-library leaders in the United States who participated in a Web-based survey designed specifically for this study, limiting generalizations. Factor analysis was the principal methodology used to obtain findings. Its composite factor scores were also used in the t-test and chi-square analyses. This study identifies some emergent patterns of remote leadership in the library and information-science field, exploring whether library leaders use information technology to be effective remote leaders in a technology-driven environment, and whether existing leadership attributes could be identified as part of the remote-leadership model. Because this study's findings indicated that library leaders are not quite the traditional leader but are not fully integrated into remote leadership, it becomes apparent that they would function with a blend of both face-to-face and electronic interactions, due to the nature of library work. Additionally, this research revealed underlying issues and challenges faced by library leaders as they transition from a traditional-leadership model to a blended model of face-to-face and remote leadership. Future research could include increasing the sample size and response rate to conduct factor analysis properly, and conducting longitudinal studies.