Distansarbete förväntas öka, vilket innebär att framtidens ledare bör kunna leda sina medarbetare på distans. Det finns en stor mängd forskning inom ämnet ledarskap men det är ännu oklart om aktuella ledarskapsteorier även kan appliceras på distansledarskap och det krävs mer forskning kring just ledarskap på distans. Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka egenskaper chefer upplever att de behöver, eller behöver utveckla, för att förbättra sitt ledarskap på distans. Det undersöktes i en kvalitativ studie genom att hålla semistrukturerade intervjuer med mellanchefer på en statlig organisation. Datan analyserades genom induktiv tematisk analys. Resultatet visade att de egenskaper som chefer upplevde behövas är en ömsesidig tillit mellan sig själv och medarbetarna, att man som chef är närvarande och tillgänglig, anpassningsbar och empatisk samt kommunikativ. Egenskaperna, utifrån chefernas olika perspektiv, upplevs hänga ihop. Exempelvis krävs god kommunikation för att vara närvarande och tillgänglig. / Remote work expects to increase, which means that future leaders should be able to lead their employees remotely. There’s a large amount of research on the subject of leadership, but it’s still unclear whether current leadership theories apply to remote leadership and more research is required. The purpose of this study is to investigate which qualities managers feel they need, or need to develop, to improve their remote leadership. It was investigated in a qualitative study by holding semi-structured interviews with managers at a government organization. Data were analyzed through inductive thematic analysis. The results showed that the qualities managers felt were needed are mutual trust between themselves and employees, that as a manager you’re present, available, adaptable, empathetic and communicative. The qualities, based on the managers' different perspectives, are perceived to be connected to each other. For example, good communication is required to be present and available.

Abstract Background: Hybrid work arrangements are today a common feature in many modern business models. As less time is spent at a common office, they constitute a potential threat in terms of reduced social barometers necessary for creativity and serendipity to occur.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how organizations can maintain and nurture creativity in the context of a hybrid workplace, as well as the occurrence of serendipitous encounters.   Method: Semi-structured interviews with seven participants from well-established organizations who are all working under hybrid work arrangement. A qualitative approach was carried out utilizing an inductive approach, followed by a thematic analysis of the primary data.  Conclusion: The findings suggest several significant factors impacting creativity and serendipity in the hybrid workplace. The study concluded the factors simultaneously supportive of both creativity and serendipity to be the most effective areas to pursue in order to surmount the social deficiencies posed by hybrid work. The results further highlight building awareness around the concept of serendipity as a prerequisite to truly leveraging on its potential and mobilizing it to further areas of operation.

There has been a significant shift towards remote work in recent years, and this trend has only accelerated with the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, IT project management in a remote work environment has become an increasingly relevant topic. This study explored the benefits and challenges of managing IT projects remotely and provided strategies and best practices for overcoming them. While there has been some research on remote work and its impact on the different areas of work, there needs to be more literature on the specific implications of remote work on IT projects. This research addressed how IT project managers have responded to the massive increase in remote work by answering the research questions "How has the increase in remote work impacted IT projects? and How have project managers responded to the increase in remote work?". The research questions were answered by conducting an exploratory case study where data was collected from a semi-structured interview with IT project managers. By addressing the research question through qualitative research using thematic analysis in analyzing the data, the researcher provides new insights and contributes to existing studies. Five themes emerged from the data analysis: communication and collaboration, technological proficiency and infrastructure, team performance and cultural awareness, adaptation and flexibility, and leadership and management. The findings of this study will be helpful for organizations transitioning to a remote work environment and IT project managers looking to improve their skills in managing projects remotely.

Vårt examensarbete syftar till att undersöka skillnaderna i ledarskap och social interaktion mellan chefer och medarbetare baserat på om man arbetar hemifrån eller på kontoret. För att hitta det vi sökte formulerade vi en forskningsfråga: Vad har distansarbete för påverkan på ledarskap och den sociala interaktionen mellan chefer och medarbetare? För att hitta svaret på vår fråga genomfördes sex intervjuer, uppdelade mellan tre chefer och tre medarbetare. Resultatet visade att skillnaderna i ledarskap var måttliga för båda parter, där cheferna anpassade sig och agerade mer empatiskt mot sina medarbetare. Den sociala interaktionen minskade under distansarbetet och vissa utmaningar uppstod, såsom isolering och uttråkning.  Nyckelord: Ledarskap, Social interaktion, Distansarbete. / Our thesis aims to discover the difference in leadership and social interaction betweenmanagers and employees based on whether you work from home or at the office. To findwhat we were searching for we formulated a research question: What effect does remotework have on leadership and the social interaction between managers and employees? To findthe answer to our question we conducted six interviews split between three managers andthree employees. The result that we got were that the difference in leadership were moderatefor both parties, managers adapted and acted more empathically towards their employees.The social interaction lowered during remote work and some problems occured which wereisolation and boredom.

The main theme of this thesis is the impact of the sudden transition on service delivery caused by the COVID 19 pandemic on social workers and career practitioners in related fields. Like most professional careers that the sudden takeover of the virus has obstructed, the field of social work has been one ofthe professions that the global pandemic has negatively impacted because of its heavy reliance on face-to-face interactions. By employing research methods, challenges faced while working remotely by the social workers were identified, and a main design concepts was proposed in supporting the work of the social workers.

<p>As more organizations adopt varying work arrangements (e.g., remote, in-person work), it is increasingly important to understand factors that associate with employee’s job satisfaction under different work contexts. Previous studies, based almost entirely on in-person work contexts, have mixed findings on whether certain personality traits relate to job satisfaction. The current meta-analysis investigates the potential moderating role of work context on the relation between personality and job satisfaction. Specifically, I examine how personality traits are associated with job satisfaction differently under remote and in-person work contexts. I first compiled an integrated definition of remote work and identified the unique characteristics that contrast remote from in-person work contexts. Drawing from interactionist theories, I then highlighted how the characteristics of work context could moderate the relation between the Big Five personality traits and job satisfaction. I conducted a meta-analysis, quantitatively summarizing findings from 246 studies (<em>N</em> = 260,492). Results suggested that all five Big Five personality traits are significantly related to job satisfaction, however work context did not moderate the relation. Overall, findings from the current study suggest that the personality-job satisfaction relation is statistically significant and robust across contextual differences.</p>

Arbete hemifrån är inget nytt koncept men under covid-19 pandemin har distansarbete ökat i hög utsträckning under en relativt kort tidsperiod och blivit normaliserat till ett vardagligt arbetssätt. Det finns fördelar med distansarbete, exempelvis arbetsro och mindre resor, men det existerar även utmaningar. Kommunikation på distans har upplevts som en utmaning för många chefer och organisationer. Men hur påverkar egentligen distansarbete verksamhetsstyrningen med hänsyn till utmaningarna med kommunikation? Det har påvisats att det vid distansarbete existerar mindre utrymme för informell kommunion i organisationerna och kan påstås leda till verksamhetsstyrningskonsekvenser. Syftet med studien är att förstå hur informell kommunikation påverkas vid distansarbete och vad detta kan få för konsekvens för verksamhetsstyrningen. Med hjälp av 15 semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer med chefer eller personer med liknande ansvar, påvisar studien att minskning av informell kommunikation försämrar information, relationer, distraktion och motivation inom verksamheter. Studien lyfter även fram tre faktorer som påverkar att informell kommunikation minskar. Det existerar en risk att relationsbanden som binder samman verksamheten splittras när utrymmet för social interaktion genom informell kommunikation försämrats. Detta kan påverka förutsättningarna för hur chefer kan styra medarbetare till gemensamt uppsatta mål och strategier när den informella kommunikationen blir försämrad vid distansarbete. / Work from home is not a new concept but during covid-19 pandemic has remote work widely been increased in a relatively short period of time and been normalized as a common way of working. There are benefits with remote work, for example for most a quiet place to work and less work travels, but there are also some challenges. However, communication at a distance has been experienced as a challenge for many managers and organizations. But how does remote work affect management control regarding the challenges with communication? It has been suggested that remote work give less room for informal communication to occur in organizations and that it can be argued that it may lead to management control consequences. The purpose of the study is to understand how informal communication at remote work and what the consequences of this will be for the management control. The study, with 15 semi-structured qualitative interviewers with managers or individuals with similar responsibilities, indicates that a decrease of informal communication decreases information, relations, distraction, and motivation within organizations. The study highlights three factors that contribute to the decrease of the informal communication. There is a risk that the bond of relations that hold the organization together loosens when social interaction through informal communication decreases. These conclusions may be argued to affect the prerequisites for managers within an organization to manage the personnel towards common goals and strategies when informal communication decreases during remote work.

Since the 1970s, remote work had been considered as a niche approach to work. However, that changed in 2020 with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote work became a necessity for most organizations amid a worldwide crisis. Post-COVID-19, remote work is expected to remain a dominant work form for many organizations, as various studies have shown. Naturally, questions arise regarding the effects of this emerging post-office work environment. Objectives: This thesis work aims to investigate the effects of remote work on the relationship between organizational culture and innovation in the technology sector. Methodology: A quantitative approach is followed in this study. Data collection is done using a 26-item questionnaire. Eight hypotheses are tested using a theoretical model developed based on existing literature. Four of the hypotheses test the direct relationship between organizational culture and innovation. The hypotheses theorized that developmental, group, hierarchical and rational cultural traits positively affect innovation. These were derived from previous literature and are used to benchmark the validity of the theoretical model. The other four hypotheses are novel and test how remote work moderates the relationship between developmental, group, hierarchical and rational cultural traits and innovation. The theoretical model is measured and analyzed using structural equation modelling techniques with PLS-SEM. Results: Two of the four hypotheses on the direct relationship between organizational cultural traits (i.e., developmental and group) and innovation were supported. This result is as expected; and is in line with previous literature where the hypotheses were derived from. Hence, the result provides confidence in the validity of the theoretical model. The other two hypotheses testing the direct relationships (i.e., hierarchical and rational cultural traits verses innovation) were not supported by the results. This can be partially explained by prior studies and the fact that this study focused on a specific industrial sector i.e., technology. The remaining four hypotheses on the moderating effect of remote work on organizational culture and innovation were also not supported. Conclusions: In this study, developmental and group cultural traits were shown to positively affect innovation in the technology sector. Meanwhile, hierarchical and rational cultural traits did not. Also, remote work was not found to moderate the relation between organizational culture and innovation in the technology sector. Theoretical implication: This thesis work makes a novel contribution to research by studying the interplay among the triad of remote work, organizational culture and innovation. Moreover, the results in this study contribute to the existing body of research which show that developmental and group cultural traits positively affect innovation. Industrial implications: The results in this study imply that remote work does not affect the relationship between organizational culture and innovation. These results assure managers that they can continue to fully extract the benefits of remote work without affecting the underlying culture of the organization and curbing the innovation potential of their teams. Recommendations for future research: Future research may consider using more established methods of measuring remote work in relation to this study. Also, the research design can be more streamlined e.g., by focusing on a specific industry, country and innovation type.

Bakgrund: Tillit och styrning är två viktiga komponenter för en chef i att leda och styra medarbetare. Till följd av covid-19 pandemin tvingades arbeten i kontorsmiljö att ställa om till arbete i ett påtvingat distansläge. Tidigare forskning om distansarbete och samspelet mellan tillit och styrning finns från början av covid-19 pandemin, men utvecklingen av situationen i ett påtvingat distansläge under en längre tid har inte studerats. Därav är det intressant att genomföra en studie om fenomenet samspelet mellan tillit och styrning vid ett påtvingat distansläge.  Syfte: Syftet med studien är att skapa förståelse för samspelet mellan tillit och styrning i en situation präglad av påtvingat distansarbete ur ett chefsperspektiv. Metod: Denna studie antar en kvalitativ intervjustudiedesign, en abduktiv forskningsansats samt ett tolkande forskningsperspektiv. Det empiriska materialet är insamlat via sju semistrukturerade intervjuer från sju respondenter från tre olika företag.  Slutsats: Resultaten från studien visar att samspelet mellan tillit och styrning är viktigt vid distansarbete. En större tillit från chefer till deras medarbetare har utvecklats under distansarbetets gång, och även styrningen har ändrats för att chefer ska kunna följa upp arbetet i den mån de vill. Samspelet mellan tillit och styrning kan beskrivas som att de är både komplement och substitut till varandra. / Background: Trust and management control are two important components for a manager when managing employees. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, work previously executed in an office environment, now was forced to be executed remotely. Previous studies regarding both remote work and the interplay between trust and management control exist from the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, but a study regarding when the situation has evolved over an extended period of time does not exist. Therefore, it is of interest to conduct a study regarding the phenomenon of the interplay between trust and management control in a situation of forced remote work. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to create an understanding of the interplay between trust and management control in a situation of forced remote work.  Method: This study is a qualitative interview study that uses an abductive approach and an interpretative perspective. The empirical material is gathered through seven semi-structured interviews from respondents in three different companies. Conclusion: The results of the study shows that the interplay between trust and management control is important during remote work. A bigger trust towards employees during the remote work time period has been formed by the managers, and the management control methods have changed so the managers can check up on their employees' work at the level they want. The interplay between trust and management control can be described as they both are a complement and a substitute to each other.

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