Purpose - In order to capture the implications of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted in-depth interviews with 8 middle level managers employed at a Large Enterprise based in Sweden.  Problem - The influence of the middle managers on change management initiatives is prominent. We conducted this research regarding remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to understand the managerial perspective on the phenomenon.  Method - We have adopted a qualitative research method and utilized social constructivism for the analysis of the interviews. We applied the theories of change management and dynamic managerial capabilities to the empirical data that we collected through in-depth interviews.  Results - The results of the analysis include the middle management perspective on change management, in our case; the impact of switching to remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research has provided us with their subjective perspective on remote work, as well as related issues regarding organizational changes in general. Conclusion - Finally, we reflect on the perspectives that we gained through the interviews and discuss the limitations of this thesis, as well as further research possibilities.

Yes / With the overnight growth in Working from Home (WFH) owing to the pandemic, organisations and their employees have had to adapt work-related processes and practices quickly with a huge reliance upon technology. Everyday activities such as social interactions with colleagues must therefore be reconsidered. Existing literature emphasises that social interactions, typically conducted in the traditional workplace, are a fundamental feature of social life and shape employees' experience of work. This experience is completely removed for many employees due to the pandemic and, presently, there is a lack of knowledge on how individuals maintain social interactions with colleagues via technology when working from home. Given that a lack of social interaction can lead to social isolation and other negative repercussions, this study aims to contribute to the existing body of literature on remote working by highlighting employees' experiences and practices around social interaction with colleagues. This study takes an interpretivist and qualitative approach utilising the diary-keeping technique to collect data from twenty-nine individuals who had started to work from home on a full-time basis as a result of the pandemic. The study explores how participants conduct social interactions using different technology platforms and how such interactions are embedded in their working lives. The findings highlight the difficulty in maintaining social interactions via technology such as the absence of cues and emotional intelligence, as well as highlighting numerous other factors such as job uncertainty, increased workloads and heavy usage of technology that affect their work lives. The study also highlights that despite the negative experiences relating to working from home, some participants are apprehensive about returning to work in the traditional office place where social interactions may actually be perceived as a distraction. The main contribution of our study is to highlight that a variety of perceptions and feelings of how work has changed via an increased use of digital media while working from home exists and that organisations need to be aware of these differences so that they can be managed in a contextualised manner, thus increasing both the efficiency and effectiveness of working from home.

Remote work was already an ongoing trend amongst software developers, but the sudden and unexpected occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic made it normal due to the obligations for many people to stay and work from home.  To go from the safeness of the work office with an always-working Internet connection and colleagues around to exchange ideas with, to working from home can be a big change from one day to another. Without a good structure or adjustment from the organization, this would lead to a decrease in good work results, communication issues and difficulty for managers to keep track of what is done and by whom. To facilitate this, commonly used methods are the Agile Methodologies. Beck et al. (2001) make it significant in the 12 principles of Agile that the most efficient and effective method of conveying information is by face-to-face conversation for the best results. Investigating the work that was done face-to-face previous to the pandemic but is now done remotely from home within agile teams is therefore of much relevance today. This thesis was intended to investigate and learn how the use of agile methodologies has facilitated the sudden transition to remote work from home and affected the aspects of communication and work results within an agile development team. The study was conducted using the qualitative method with interviews consisting of seven open-response and two closed-response questions with respondents in agile teams from a software development company in Sweden. The analysis was made thematically in relation to Bridge’s Transition Model, and in relation to previous research. The study identified three themes to answer the research question based on the theoretical framework; The Change, Communication and Work Results. The results of the study show that the use of Agile Methodologies indeed has simplified the sudden transition to remote work from home, which was called The Change, as many of the agile practices already were done online previous to the pandemic. The study has also concluded that the use of Agile Methodologies has positively affected the aspects of communication and work results in an agile team, as it was found that forms of communication became more creative as they occurred more frequently while working from home, and it ultimately led to more valuable end-results. / Distansarbete var redan en pågående trend bland mjukvaruutvecklare, men den plötsliga och oväntade förekomsten av COVID-19-pandemin gjorde det normalt på grund av restriktionerna för många människor att arbeta hemifrån. Att gå från arbetskontorets säkerhet med en alltid fungerande internetuppkoppling och kollegor runt om för att diskutera idéer med, till att arbeta hemifrån kan vara en stor förändring från en dag till en annan. Utan en bra struktur eller anpassning från organisationen skulle detta leda till en minskning av goda arbetsresultat, dålig kommunikation och svårigheter för chefer att hålla reda på vad som görs och av vem. Vanliga metoder att använda för att underlätta detta är de agila metoderna. Beck et al. (2001) gör det tydligt i de 12 principerna för Agile att den mest effektiva metoden för att förmedla information i ett projekt är genom konversationer face to face, för bästa resultat. Att undersöka det arbete som innan pandemin gjordes face to face men nu görs på distans hemifrån inom agila team är därför av stor relevans idag. Denna studie var avsedd att undersöka och få kunskap om hur användningen av agila metoder har underlättat den plötsliga övergången till distansarbete hemifrån och påverkat aspekterna av kommunikation och arbetsresultat inom ett agilt utvecklingsteam. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av den kvalitativa metoden med intervjuer bestående av sju öppna frågor och två slutna svarfrågor med respondenter i agila team från ett mjukvaruutvecklingsföretag i Sverige. Analysen gjordes tematiskt i förhållande till Bridge’s Transition Model och i förhållande till tidigare forskning. Studien identifierade tre teman för att besvara forskningsfrågan utifrån det teoretiska ramverket; The Change, Communication och Work Results. Resultaten av studien visar att användningen av agila metoder har förenklat den plötsliga övergången till distansarbete hemifrån, eftersom många av de agila aktiviteterna redan gjordes online före pandemin. Studien har också dragit slutsatsen att användningen av agila metoder har påverkat aspekterna kommunikation och arbetsresultat positivt i ett agilt team, eftersom det visade sig att kommunikationsformer blev mer kreativa eftersom kommunikationen blev mer frekvent inträffande när de arbetade hemifrån, och det ledde slutligen till mer värdefulla slutresultat i projekt.

I ett ständigt föränderligt samhälle krävs det att organisationer arbetar för att upplevas attraktiva då det kan leda till konkurrenskraft på marknaden. Covid-19 ställer nya krav på arbetsgivaren som i vissa fall fått införa distansarbete för anställda.  Studien syftar till att beskriva anställdas upplevelser av distansarbete under covid-19 och hur fortsatt distansarbete efter covid-19 är en faktor som de anställda upplever påverkar organisationens attraktivitet. Två forskningsfrågor utvecklas:  1. Vad har anställda för upplevelser av distansarbete under covid-19?2. På vilket sätt är distansarbete efter covid-19 en faktor som anställda upplever påverkar  organisationens attraktivitet?  Tolkningsperspektivet präglar studiens syfte och tillvägagångssätt. Studien genomförs fallspecifikt i en global organisation och en induktiv ansats genomsyrar studien då syftet är utforskande. Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär där semistrukturerade intervjuer använts för insamling av empiri. Vidare används en tematisk analys som metodansats. I Forskningsfråga 1 utvecklas temana: Work life balance, Information, kommunikation och interaktion samt Effekten av distansarbetet. Forskningsfråga 2 består av temana: Flexibilitet efter covid-19 och Flexibilitetens indikationer. Förankring med tidigare forskning skapar en större förståelse för empirin. Slutsatsen är att upplevelserna av distansarbete under covid-19 i det specifika fallet varierar och är individuella. Det framkommer att flexibelt distansarbete efter covid-19 ökar organisationens attraktivitet eftersom det signalera på andra attraktiva faktorer däremot krävs vissa förutsättningar från organisationens sida. / In a constantly changing society, there is a demand for organizations to be seen as attractive as they may develop competitiveness on the market. Due to covid-19 newly formed demands are being established for the employer to follow such as working remotely.  The purpose of the study is to describe the employee's experiences of remote work during covid-19 and how organizations will be perceived as attractive by the employees when offering remote work post covid-19. Two research questions have been conducted:  What are the employee's experiences with remote work? In what way do remote work post covid-19 influence the attractiveness of the organization? Interpretivism is conducted as the paradigm of the study to further carve the purpose and approach. The study is developed through a single case study in a global organization with an inductive approach that permeates the investigation of the purpose. The study is qualitative where semi-structured interviews are used as a collection of empirics. Furthermore, a thematic analysis is used. In the first research question the following themes are developed: Work-life balance, Information, Communication and Interaction and The Effect of Remote work. The themes developed through the second research question follow: Flexibility after covid-19 and the Indications of Flexibility. The previous research creates a greater understanding of empirics. The conclusion reveals that the perception of remote work during covid-19 in the specific case varies and is individualistic. Flexibility in remote work post covid-19 emerges as increasing the attractiveness of the organization. This serves as an indication of other attractive elements however some conditions are required.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:44:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Aline de Campos Goncalves Patini.pdf: 833893 bytes, checksum: 8c0b09589fe6d28a1c8336d92667d80b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-19 / This research tried to understand what the managers challanges of remote workers are. Today, the organizations are in an environment where global transformations occur with great speed due to the industrial revolutions, and especially the technological advances. Such transformations bring several changes to the work, which adhering the flexibility brings alternatives as: home office, the shared centers, the satellite centers, autonomous or outsourced employees etc. In this situation it s possible to find managers who need to work with remote employees. Considering the management processes, such as the selection and training, control of goals achieving, performance appraisal, motivation and plans for title and salary, this scenario brings many challenges to the managers. The base of a relationship between managers and employees is the communication, that is vital to the manager evaluate the employees performance, provide feedback and to outline strategies for professional development of both, himself and the teleworkers. Although the remote working presents great challenges, and that somehow can result in problems for workers, such as reducing workers' rights won during the twentieth century, it also offers benefits to the workers, managers and also for organizations. For the organization, may be the reduction of infrastructure cost, or increased penetration into international markets, allowing greater control and knowledge of local culture. Managers can work through the remote, have a more mature team with more knowledge about the activities carried on, able to self-manage and identify priorities. In your turn, remote workers expand knowledge, improve their skills and their quality of life. Finally, remote working can bring challenges, but also benefits for the organizations, managers, workers and society in general / Esta pesquisa buscou entender quais os desafios encontrados pelos gestores de trabalhadores remotos. Atualmente, as organizações estão inseridas em um ambiente onde as transformações globais acontecem com grande velocidade em decorrência das Revoluções Industriais e principalmente dos avanços tecnológicos. Tais transformações trazem diversas mudanças para o trabalho, que aderindo à flexibilização desse novo cenário tem apresentado alternativas como: o trabalho em domicílio, os centros compartilhados, os centros satélites, os trabalhadores autônomos ou terceirizados etc. Nessas novas modalidades de trabalho podem-se encontrar gestores que precisam realizar suas atividades no processo de gestão de pessoas de maneira remota. Sob o aspecto dos processos de gestão, tais como o de seleção e treinamento, o controle de atingimento das metas, avaliação de desempenho, motivação e planos de cargos e salários, esse cenário traz diversos desafios aos gestores. A comunicação é a base da construção de um relacionamento entre funcionário e gerente, é fundamental para que o gestor possa avaliar o desempenho, dar feedbacks e até traçar estratégias para o desenvolvimento profissional tanto de si mesmo como dos trabalhadores que estão sob sua responsabilidade. Ainda que o trabalho remoto apresente grandes desafios, e que de certa forma possa resultar em problemas aos trabalhadores, como por exemplo, a redução dos direitos trabalhistas conquistados ao longo do século XX, ele também oferecem vantagens aos próprios trabalhadores, gestores e até para as organizações. Para as organização pode haver a redução de custo com infraestrutura, ou maior penetrabilidade em mercados internacionais, permitindo maior domínio e conhecimento sobre a cultura do local. Os gestores conseguem por meio do trabalho remoto contar com uma equipe mais madura, com maior conhecimento sobre as atividades exercidas, capazes de se autogerenciar e de identificar prioridades. Já os trabalhadores remotos ampliam o conhecimento, melhoram sua qualificação e sua qualidade de vida. Enfim, o trabalho remoto pode trazer desafios, mas também benefícios às organizações, aos gestores, aos trabalhadores e a sociedade de um modo geral

La investigación enfoca su objetivo principal en identificar los elementos gráficos del diseño ambiental que intervienen en la productividad aplicada al trabajo remoto. Por lo tanto, se propuso la hipótesis de que los elementos gráficos del diseño ambiental que intervienen en la productividad aplicada al trabajo remoto son el color, la iluminación y los materiales y herramientas visuales. Se llevó a cabo un estudio de tipo transversal descriptivo en el que se analizaron espacios laborales en el hogar impuestos por el contexto de la pandemia. Entre los principales hallazgos se identificó que la mayoría de los espacios examinados son áreas compartidas del hogar. Por lo tanto, existe cierta limitación en la optimización de la aplicación de los elementos gráficos que conforman el diseño ambiental. Sin embargo, aquellos espacios que están determinados para esta actividad tienen mayor flexibilidad para personalizar su espacio, agregar herramientas visuales y la oportunidad de integrar elementos del diseño ambiental. Así, se concluyó que en el marco de la emergencia sanitaria existe dificultad para proyectar un espacio de trabajo en el hogar. Sin embargo, se confirma que los elementos gráficos del diseño ambiental que intervienen en la productividad aplicada al trabajo remoto son el color, la iluminación y los materiales y herramientas visuales, ya que estos deben estar consignados en favor de la optimización de la experiencia de trabajo. / The research focuses its main objective on identifying the graphic elements of environmental design that intervene in productivity applied to remote work. Therefore, it was hypothesized that the graphic elements of environmental design that intervene in productivity applied to remote work are color, lighting, and visual materials and tools. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in which work spaces in the home imposed by the context of the pandemic were analyzed. Among the main findings, it was identified that the majority of the examined spaces are shared areas of the home. Therefore, there is a certain limitation in optimizing the application of the graphic elements that make up the environmental design. However, those spaces that are determined for this activity have greater flexibility to personalize their space, add visual tools and the opportunity to integrate elements of environmental design. Therefore, it was concluded that in the framework of the health emergency there is difficulty in projecting a workspace at home. However, it is confirmed that the graphic elements of the environmental design that intervene in productivity applied to remote work are color, lighting, and visual materials and tools, since these must be consigned in favor of optimizing the work experience. / Trabajo de investigación

El presente trabajo de investigación permitirá estudiar, analizar y explorar sobre la eficacia del trabajo remoto en el sistema judicial peruano, puntualmente en el Segundo Juzgado de Paz Letrado Laboral de la zona 01 de Lima Este. A partir de esta experiencia buscaremos encontrar las mejores prácticas y presentarlas para su potencial replica en otros módulos de justicia a fin de modernizar la tramitación de los procesos judiciales. A partir de la información de los colaboradores del juzgado se ha podido analizar las ventajas y desventajas del trabajo remoto. El contexto en el que se desarrolló este trabajo fue durante la declaración de pandemia pronunciada por la OMS, hecho que originó la dación de una serie de normas a fin de crear el marco legal que permita el desarrollo de las labores judiciales y sobre todo que éstas no se suspendan. Se propone que el trabajo remoto permanezca en el ámbito judicial, aunque se supere la pandemia. Dado que si bien, no hay la data suficiente aún para afirmar categóricamente sobre las ventajas, hay indicios de beneficios para el sistema, porque al haberse modificado algunos procesos se han hecho más modernos y eficientes y han reducido tiempos. Cabe resaltar que el trabajo remoto se encuentra alineado y es muy importante como medio para la transformación y digitalización del servicio judicial en el país. / This research will allow us to study, analyze and explore the effectiveness of remote work in the Peruvian judicial system, specifically in the Second Labour Court of the Peace in zone 01 of East Lima. Based on this experience we will seek to find the best practices and present them for potential replication in other justice modules in order to modernize the processing of judicial processes. From the information of the court collaborators we have been able to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of remote work. The context in which this work was developed was during the declaration of the pandemic by the WHO, which led to the creation of a series of norms to create the legal framework that allows the development of judicial work and, above all, to ensure that it is not suspended. It is proposed that the remote work remain in the judicial field, even if the pandemic is overcome. Although there is not enough data yet to categorically affirm the advantages, there are indications of benefits for the system, because as some processes have been modified they have become more modern and efficient and have reduced time. It should be noted that remote work is aligned and is very important as a mean for the transformation and digitalization of the judicial service in the country. / Trabajo de investigación

Due to the pandemic, along with the growth of current technology, working remotely is becoming more feasible. As a result digital nomadism has become a viable alternative as a career. The emerging literature on digital nomadism focuses mainly on lifestyle descriptions, with less attention given to potentially understand digital nomads and their needs (Wang et al. 2018). In this research the author will apply uses and gratification theory to describe the gratifications that motivates digital nomads and their means of communication combined with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to determine if the needs of digital nomads have changed during the course of the pandemic. The aim of this thesis is to provide terminological and philosophical insights on the idea of digital nomads and their future.   Since the start of the pandemic the discussions whether remote work is the future has been fluctuating to say the least. Big companies have introduced a “work from anywhere” model meaning that their employees will have the possibility to choose if they want to be remote after the pandemic (CNBC, 2021). Prior to this, digital nomads were already fully remote. This could be the ideal time and subject to study to gain further understanding if the digital nomad phenomenon has changed. Moreover, if there has been an increase or decrease in interest regarding a remote future while aiming to understand the future remote workforce.

En kvalitativ studie om förändringarna i den sociala arbetsmiljön under hemarbetet på grund av coronapandemin, utifrån ett medarbetarperspektiv.   Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur den sociala arbetsmiljön har förändrats vid arbete hemifrån genom att lyssna på medarbetarnas hittills insamlade upplevelser om hemarbete under coronapandemin. Syftet besvaras med följande frågeställningar: 1. Hur har den sociala arbetsmiljön sett annorlunda ut under hemarbetet jämfört med arbete på arbetsplatsen enligt intervjupersonerna? 2. Vilka faktorer påverkar intervjupersonernas upplevelser om hemarbete enligt resultaten från intervjuerna, och på vilket sätt? Empirin består av tidigare forskning kring den sociala arbetsmiljön, och speciellt kring faktorer som har visats att påverka den sociala arbetsmiljön. De faktorerna som har valts ut att tillämpas i den här studien på grund av dess relevans är motivation, arbetsgruppen, kommunikation och socialt stöd. Återkommande forskare kring dessa ämnen är Heide, Rubenowitz, Lennéer Axelson och Thylefors. Datan samlades in genom fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem intervjupersoner från fem olika organisationer. De utvalda intervjupersonerna är medarbetare som jobbar vanligtvis i en kontorsmiljö, men har på grund av coronapandemin jobbat hemifrån i minst två månader på heltid under år 2020. Alla intervjuer hölls på distans på grund av att det var det enda alternativet med tanke på den rådande pandemin. Datan analyserades utifrån en kategorisering som grundade sig på de fyra relevanta teoretiska faktorerna som kan påverka den sociala arbetsmiljön: motivation, arbetsgruppen, kommunikation och socialt stöd. Författarna bytte intervjumaterialet efter transkriberingen så att den andra författaren fick göra analysen för att inte omedvetet påverka resultatet utifrån känslorna som vi fick i intervjuerna eftersom endast språket skulle analyseras. Studieresultaten visade att hemarbetet kan göras till en mer trivsam upplevelse för medarbetare genom att ordna regelbundna socialt distanserade tillfällen för audio-kontakt i arbetsgruppen, och genom att uppmuntra medarbetare till att tänka igenom deras egen kontorslösning vid hemarbete. Andra sätt att öka trivseln i hemarbete för medarbetare är att skapa tydliga online-rutiner för distanserad kommunikation inom organisationen, samt uppmuntra och stötta medarbetare i positivt tänkande. / This is the final assignment for a Bachelor's Degree in Leadership and Organization at Malmö University. The aim of this study is, through qualitative interviews with associates from different organizations, to examine the changes in the social work environment while working from home during the corona pandemic. The aim will be answered with the following research questions:    1. How do the interviewees describe the changes in the social work environment during work from home?   2. Which factors seem to affect the interviewees’ experiences of working from home, and in what ways do they affect their experiences of working from home?    The theoretical background consists of factors that have been detected to affect the social work environment in earlier studies considering the social work environment. The factors that have been chosen to be applied in this study are inner motivation, workgroup, communication and received social support. Researchers that are recurring in this study are Heide, Rubenowitz, Lennéer Axelson and Thylefors. The data was collected by five semi-structured interviews with five individuals from five different professions. All interviewees are associates (not leaders) and have been working from home due to the corona pandemic for at least two months full-time during 2020.  Data analysis was grounded on the four relevant theoretical factors that have in previous studies seen to affect the social work environment: motivation, workgroup, communication and received social support. Only the language was analyzed, and the writers did therefore switch the collected interview material after the transcript, to ensure that unconscious experiences from the interviews would not affect the analysis and therefore the results of the study. The results of the study indicated that making working from home a more positive experience for the associates can be done by focusing on organizing regular social distanced opportunities for audiocontact between the work group, and by encouraging associates to reflect on their own office set-ups during work from home. Other ways to make working from home a more positive experience for associates is creating online routines for distanced communication within the organization, as well as encouraging and supporting the associates in positive thinking.

Denna kandidatrapport är skriven av åtta studenter i kursen Kandidatprojekt i mjukvaruutveckling, TDDD96, vid Linköpings universitet under våren 2020. Kandidatrapporten inkluderar en sammanfattning av det arbete som utförts i projektet. Till projektet tillhörde ett uppdrag på beställning av Digitala resursenheten vid Linköpings universitet. Uppdraget var att skapa en webbapplikation där examinatorer och handledare för kurser vid Linköpings universitet på ett enkelt och intuitivt sätt kan beställa mjukvara till sina respektive kurser. Projektgruppen jobbade agilt och byggde projektet i Python samt JavaScript. Applikationen nådde alla mål satta tillsammans mellan kunden och projektgruppen och resulterade i en fungerande produkt som kunde utökas och modifieras enligt kundens behov. Till kandidatrapporten inkluderas även individuella bidrag skrivna av vardera gruppmedlem som djupdykt inom ett specifikt ämne eller område.