Talent Management (TM) is a well-used practice to identify, attract, develop, and retain the most valuable resource in an organisation: talented employees. The concept TM emerged when organisations started to detect increased demands and technological changes in the business market. Additionally, due to the retirement of baby boomers, organisations have started to experience a shortage of talents creating “The War for Talent” (Chambers et al., 1998). However, ethical aspects create a demand for an inclusive approach of TM which includes all employees, as opposed to only focusing on a selected few. Responsible Talent Management (RTM) considers talent to be obtained and developed within the organisation. Employees who experience job satisfaction and commitment are more likely to stay in the organisation (Deery, 2008), whereas work-life balance, employee well-being, leadership, and learning have become important factorsfor increasing job satisfaction and commitment as well as employee retention (Radda et al., 2015: Deery, 2008). Especially due to new challenges associated with the working environment and social relationships in this new remote working context. Researchers express the need for further research regarding RTM as well as the inclusive approach. This thesis, therefore, aims to understand how an organisation work with TM practices to retain talented employees in a remote working context. Based on the scientific issue and the purpose, a qualitative case study was conducted. Eight employees within the HR department were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The analysis of the empirical data identified a great need for genuine social relationships. Regardless of which TM retainment practices used, supporting employees with tools and opportunities to build and nurture social relationships may be an instrumental driver to retain talented employees in a remote working context. / Talent Management är ett välanvänt begrepp för att identifiera, attrahera, utveckla och behålla den mest värdefulla resursen i en organisation: talangfulla medarbetare. Begreppet TM blev uppmärksammat när organisationerna upptäckte ett ökat krav och teknologiska förändringar på marknaden. På grund av att generationen “babyboomers” har börjat gå i pension har organisationer börjat uppleva en brist på talang, vilket har skapat ”The War for Talent” (Chambers et al., 1998). Dock skapar de etiska aspekterna ett krav på ett inkluderande synsätt på TM som inkluderar alla anställda och inte bara fokuserar på ett fåtal utvalda. Begreppet Responsible Talent Management (RTM) anser att talang kan erhållas och utvecklas inom organisationen. Anställda som upplever jobbnöjdhet och engagemang är mer benägna att stanna kvar i organisationen (Deery, 2008), medan balans mellan arbetsliv och privatliv, anställdas välmående, ledarskap och lärande har blivit viktiga faktorer för att öka jobbnöjdhet och engagemang samt att behålla de anställda (Radda et al., 2015: Deery, 2008). Framförallt med tanke på de nya utmaningarna gällande arbetsmiljön och de sociala relationerna i den nya kontexten av distansarbete. Forskare uttrycker ett behov av vidare forskning gällande RTM och det inkluderande synsättet. Syftet med uppsatsen är att förstå hur en organisation arbetar med aktiviteter inom TM för att behålla talangfulla medarbetare i en kontext av distansarbete. Baserat på forskningsproblemet och syftet har en kvalitativ fallstudie utförts. Åtta anställda tillhörande HR-avdelningen har intervjuats genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. I analysen av empirin identifierades ett stort behov av genuina sociala relationer. Oavsett vilka aktiviteter inom TM som organisationen använder för att behålla talanger, så uppfattas organisationens stöd i termer av olika verktyg och möjligheter för att skapa och vårda sociala relationer, vara en stark drivkraft för att behålla talangfull kompetens i en kontext av distansarbete.

Covid-19 affected the world's population when the pandemic became a global problem at the start of 2020. The effects of the pandemic placed demands on various countries and their inhabitants. But also on organizations in sundries sectors. Globally, and specifically on the Swedish labor market, the effects of covid-19 have contributed to increased use of technology to enable continued work, elsewhere than physically on site. This has created opportunities but also challenges for managers to motivate subordinates and get them to work towards the organization's set goals. Self-leadership is thus a concept that is important to understand and handle in the current situation, as it can lead to increased motivation and performance of individuals. Previously published research points out how leaders can work to promote self-leadership. e.g. by adapting individuals' characteristics and commitment to the nature of the task. How self-leadership is promoted in the Swedish labor market, under digital conditions in remote work, is however still unclear. We know, from previously published research, that self-leadership, clear goals, motivation, and self-efficacy all have an influence on each other. They further serve as a prerequisite for organizational performance and goal fulfillment. But there is no answer as to how this can be promoted under current digital conditions. Swedish companies are moreover at the forefront when it comes to innovation development and the shift to digital resources, as a result of the pandemic. But there is no explanation for the connection between self-leadership and its new challenges with digital work, nor on the Swedish labor market. The intention of this study is therefore to fill the research gap with a qualitative and empirical study on Swedish medium and large-sized companies, where the effects of covid-19 proved to be extensive. The goal is moreover to answer the question and explain how Swedish medium-sized and large organizations manage self-leadership under presented conditions. This issue includes both leaders and employees, and the study groups have thus both been included in the study to create a holistic understanding of how self-leadership is handled in the above-mentioned contexts. The results, based on five employees, and four leaders in various sectors and organizations,  show that enabling recurring opportunities for social interactions, support and to convey a transparent culture with clear goals is necessary to manage self-leadership in remote environments. Having a thorough opportunity for support in the organization and creating opportunities for social interactions is something that this study has significantly contributed to the research. This is because these phenomena have not previously been presented of any particular importance, nor have they been promoted as necessary for the management of self-leadership in a remote context. In this study, however, it has been shown to be extremely necessary, from the point of view of both managers and employees. This, to enable self-leadership, increase motivation and self-efficacy in the Swedish labor market, which positively can affect individual- and organizational performance and goal fulfillment.

Bakgrund: Den pandemi som drabbade världen under 2020 tvingade många organisationer att ställa om till arbete på distans. Denna typ av plötslig omställning skapar många olika utmaningar, två av dessa är hur en säljkår skall styras samt hur själva försäljningsarbetet behöver anpassas. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att öka förståelsen för hur Covid-19 pandemin påverkade säljprocessen och säljstyrningen i B2B säljkårer samt vilka lärdomar som kan dras från detta. Metod: Studien utgår från den kritiska realismen och har ett abduktivt angreppssätt. Vidare använder studien sig av en kvalitativ metod där fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer har utförts med individer som arbetar med B2B försäljning. Studien är designad som en tvärsnittsstudie där fokus ligger på att hitta mönster och samband mellan de olika fallföretagen. Val av respondenter skedde genom ett målstyrt urval från författarnas professionella nätverk där krav utformades för att säkerställa att relevanta företag ställde upp. Slutsats: Studien mynnar ut i att hur säljkårer förändrar sig beror till stor det på vilken typ av försäljning som bedrivs samt vilka externa och interna faktorer som finns. Samtliga fallföretag genomförde någon form av förändring i styrningen, för att öka mätbarheten eller tydligheten i arbetet. Den sociala styrningen påverkades negativt och är en mycket viktig aspekt i styrningen av en säljkår som behöver hanteras när arbete sker på distans. Digitala möten fungerar bra för de flesta företag och kommer troligtvis vara något de fortsätter med i framtiden, i alla fall till en viss grad. Vid komplex försäljning fungerade digitala möten inte alltid lika bra på grund av den höga grad av tillit som krävs för sådana affärer / Background: During 2020 the world was struck by a pandemic, forcing many organizations to switch to remote work. A sudden change like this creates many different challenges, two of these are how a salesforce should be managed and how the sales-process should be adapted to this new scenario.  Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of how Covid-19 affected the sales process and sales management control systems in B2B salesforces and what lessons can be drawn from this. Method: This study is based on critical-realism and has an abductive approach. Furthermore, the study uses a qualitative method for which four semi-structured interviews were executed with individuals working with B2B sales. The design of the study is cross-sectional were the focus lies on discovering patterns and connections between the different case-companies. The participants of the study were chosen from the authors professional networks where requirements were formed to make sure the participants were relevant.  Conclusion: The study shows that how salesforces change is largely dependent on what kind of sales they are performing and what internal and external factors are present. All investigated companies went through some type of change to increase the measurability or clarity of the work. Social control was affected in a negative way, it turns out that this is a very important aspect of sales management that needs to be addressed for a salesforce working remotely. Digital meetings worked well for most companies and will most likely be something they will be doing in the future, at least to some extent. However, during very complex sales, digital meetings did not work as well because of the high grade of trust required in that type of business.

This thesis seeks to understand how informal awareness, the presence and availability information of coworkers, can be provided in remote contexts through technology. Based on a workplace study, it was discovered that informal communication is an important part of work and is inadequately supported by current technology. Through research, it was suggested that information on presence and availability is that which facilitates informal communication. In order to design for this situation, this thesis features six interactive peripheral display prototypes which seek to provide informal awareness in an unobtrusive and effortless way to geographically distributed coworkers. Going beyond monitors, these prototypes seek to utilize natural human sensory-motor capabilities to ease perception and interaction. The results suggest such devices are appropriate at mediating awareness and have the potential to facilitate informal communication.

Arbetsmarknaden har påtagligt förändrats under den pågående covid-19-pandemin och en stor andel av den yrkesverksamma befolkningen har börjat arbeta hemifrån. Övervägande del av den svenska yrkesverksamma befolkningen vill se en hybridlösning av distansarbete efter pandemin. Därav väcktes intresset att undersöka vilka möjligheter och utmaningar arbetsgivare ser med en sådan lösning. Syftet med studien var att undersöka chefers inställning till fortsatt distansarbete i framtiden. Frågeställningar i studien var hur chefer upplever att leda på distans samt vilka möjligheter och utmaningar chefer ser med distansarbete i framtiden. I denna kvalitativa studie genomfördes semistrukturerade intervjuer med tio chefer inom olika branscher. Intervjuerna analyserades med hjälp av tematisk analys. Resultaten visar att synen på distansarbete har förändrats och att cheferna är positivt inställda till en hybridlösning i framtiden. Hur hybridlösningen helst ska vara utformad beror på faktorer som arbetsuppgifternas art, organisationens och medarbetenas behov samtförutsättningar. / The labor market has gone through changes during the ongoing covid-19 pandemic and a large amount of the working population has started work on remote from their homes. The majority of the Swedish working population wishes a hybrid solution of remote work after the pandemic. This aroused interest in examining what opportunities and challenges employers see with such a solution. The aim with this study was to investigate managers preferences about further remote work in the future. Questions at issue were how managers perceive management on remote and which possibilities and challenges they experience with remote work in the future. This qualitative study comprised semi-structured interviews with ten managers within different sectors. The interviews were analyzed by thematic analysis. The result shows that the perception of remote work has changed, and the managers are positive about a hybrid version in the future. How the design of the hybrid version should be composed depend on several factors as the nature of the task, the organizations’ and employees’ needs and conditions.

Denna kandidatrapport behandlar resultatet av ett kandidatarbete i kursen TDDD96:Kandidatprojekt i programvarutvekling som ges av Linköpings universitet. Projektet heter TestCoverage Visualizer (TCV) och beställdes av Saab Aeronautics. Uppdraget handlade omatt skapa ett visualiseringsverktyg för resultaten av deras testfiler.Projektet genomfördes av åtta studenter under våren 2021. Gruppen använde sig avScrum vid utvecklingen och utvecklade i språken JavaScript och Python. Projektet resulterade i en webbapplikation med en backend och frontend samt en tillhörande parser sommed hjälp av reguljära uttryck kan parsa testfiler och sparade dem i databasen. Resultatenvisades grafiskt på frontend:en med hjälp av mätare och grafer.I kandidatrapporten inkluderades även individuella bidrag skrivna av respektive projektmedlem som fördjupar sig i något ämne eller område som har något med projektet attgöra.

The study evaluated if gamification could facilitate remote work with delimitations in digital remote meetings through a serious game. The serious game was developed based on previous research, and a conducted pre-study mainly examined remote work experience. It was investigated through exploratory research whether specific game elements could be more rewarding for remote meetings and as a parameter in combination with personality. The game was tested on a team of six persons who worked at the same company. These were exposed to four stages: comprising survey, playing the serious game, and group discussion. The main study indicated that game maps with prioritization marks and avatars had the most significant positive impact, while most negligible were scoring and competition. Discovery from the main study revealed concerns towards using and adapting gamification into a business context. Therefore, future studies are needed to create guidelines for the extended development of serious games when implemented in a serious context.

In light of the global shift to remote work that was prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic - the relevance and use of Electronic Performance Monitoring (EPM) significantly escalated across all sectors. However, the most recent comprehensive literature review on the topic by Ravid et al. (2020) pointed out significant gaps in how EPM is perceived by knowledge-based employees. In line with those defined gaps, we raised two research questions, regarding what the perceptions of knowledge-based workers are towards the implementation and dissemination of EPM techniques, and whether the workplace context (home/office) has an effect on knowledge-based worker’s perceptions towards it. In this paper, we take a critical approach relying on a theory-based typology of EPM characteristics and build on the organizational control theory by elaborating on the technology-mediated control concept. We follow the constructivist grounded theory approach developed by Charmaz (2008) and the data was collected via 20 semi-structured interviews. The key findings of this research showed similarities as well as differences in how knowledge-based employees perceive EPM in contrast to other types of workforce. While overall the perceptions on EPM are negative, they can to some extent be alleviated by introducing a justifiable purpose, being transparent, allowing control over monitoring, and setting clear limits. Moreover, we provided insights into the perceptions of knowledge-based workers in response to EPM within the context of working from home. In such a context, knowledge-based workers show more resistance to EPM techniques and higher expectations of privacy, transparency, and appropriate data handling. Lastly, the authors provided avenues for further research including cross-cultural perspective, access to data, and ethicality and legality of EPM.

Som konsekvens av COVID-19 så tvingades organisationer runtom världen att ställa om till distansarbete för att minska smittspridningen. Omställningen genomfördes i hög fart och i denna kontext så har vi utfört en kvalitativ studie hos en fallorganisation för att undersöka hur distansarbetet påverkat deras upplevda effektivitet genom att intervjua medarbetare på en storbank i Sverige. För studien har vi genomfört tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med kunskapsarbetare som jobbat med kunder på distans. Vår studie handlar om de här kunskapsarbetarnas upplevda effektivitet och utifrån svaren vi fått så identifierar vi faktorer som påverkat deras effektivitet som inkluderar bland annat: hemmiljön, organisationens stöd, intern och extern kommunikation, livssituation och kundrelationer. Analys genomfördes i form av en innehållsanalys av transkriptionerna från intervjuerna. Vi har kommit fram till att organisationen kan ha en positiv inverkan på kunskapsarbetarnas upplevda effektivitet vid distansarbete om rätt åtgärder tas, däribland har vi identifierat att det är viktigt att stödja sina medarbetare och att hjälpa dem att ordna en god arbetsmiljö när de distansarbetar för att kunna arbeta med hög upplevd effektivitet. / As a consequence of the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus organizations around the world have had to work remotely to reduce the spread of the virus. The change to working from home was made quickly and in this context we have conducted a qualitative study at an organization to investigate how remote work has changed the perceived efficiency of the knowledge workers at the organization. To gather answers to our research questions we have carried out ten semi-structured interviews with knowledge workers that have had to change to working remotely. All of them worked directly with customers. The interview material was analyzed by content analysis of the transcribed data. Our study centers around their perceived efficiency and the answers we have gathered surround factors such as: home environment, support from the organization, internal and external communication, family and customer relations. We have come to the conclusion that the organization and its actions can have a major positive impact on knowledge workers perceived efficiency during remote work. We have identified actions to take to enable efficiency such as: providing support for the employees and helping them create a good office environment at home.

In this thesis we aim to answer how the pandemic of Covid-19 served as a trigger for organizational digital transformation, as understanding this phenomenon and the implications of it could provide valuable knowledge regarding digital transformation. To answer this question, we applied semi-structured interviews at an IT-consultancies firm in northern Sweden. Drawing upon extent research from Wessel et al. (2021), Vial (2019) and Holmström (2021) to define digital transformation and explore its dimensions. Through our rigorous case study, we explore the implications of the pandemic for these dimensions. We found that the pandemic triggered organizational digital transformation, and that the way we view digital transformation needs more research, in a context where it is externally triggered. Whereas we found some proof for the tendencies we present, more research needs to be done to confirm our findings and highlight if these changes are rigid or temporary.