Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur formella ledare beskriver att de har arbetat med att leda och motivera medarbetare vid distansarbete. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats med ett hermeneutistiskt perspektiv där semistrukturerade intervjuer tillämpades som instrument för insamling av data. Urvalet bygger på sex ledare inom den privata sektorn. Resultat tolkades utifrån självbestämmandeteorin och relevanta ledarskapsstilar. Det som framkom av studiens resultat är att distansarbete, som väntat, är en utmaning för ledare. För ett framgångsrikt distansarbete måste ledaren inta en ledarskapsstil som överensstämmer med distansarbetets natur. Resultatet visade att ledare måste skapa struktur avseende flexibilitet, digital kommunikation, samhörighet samt ge rätt förutsättningar i arbetet. Infrias dessa aspekter ger det möjlighet till högre arbetstillfredsställelse och arbetsmotivation hos medarbetarna.

Telework is an emerging trend in the workplace today. According to recent estimates, almost nine million Americans work electronically from home and this number is expected to grow 10% to 20% per year for the next decade. The purpose of this study is to explore the perceived influence of mobile telework on aspects of work life and family life. A group of mobile teleworkers and an equivalent group of nonmobile workers were asked to respond to questions about their work life and family life (N=299). The data were analyzed from four perspectives: (a) comparison of mobile teleworker and nonmobile groups, (b) comparison of mobile teleworker subgroups, (c) perceptions of mobile teleworkers themselves, and (d) thematic content analysis of write-in comments. Results from all four data perspectives pointed to the positive influence of mobile telework on most aspects of work life. The exploratory data suggested that productivity/job effectiveness, morale/organizational commitment, and customer relationships were all perceived to have been positively influenced by mobile telework. This perceived positive influence was particularly pronounced for mobile teleworkers who had a dedicated home office with a door. In contrast, the data pointed to a neutral or negative perceived influence of mobile telework on company relationships, especially camaraderie. Exploratory data about the perceived influence of mobile telework on aspects of family life were also generally positive. However, the strength of this perceived influence was less than the influence reported on aspects of work. Though mobile teleworkers reported much greater flexibility in the timing and location of work, they did not report having an easier time balancing work life and family life. In write-in comments, some mobile teleworkers reported they were thriving because of the flexibility to balance their lives. Others reported they were struggling because flexibility blurred the boundaries between work life and family life. Overall, the perceived influence of mobile telework on home chores/child care, family relationships, and personal factors was somewhat positive, but generally weak. Parents with preschool-aged children reported a more positive influence on these aspects of family life. From this exploratory study it appears that, on the whole, mobile telework can positively influence aspects of both work life and family life. However, there are also potential pitfalls which must be dealt with if a mobile telework program is to be successful. Sound program design and training for employees and leaders are seen as essential and some suggestions are offered. The study of mobile telework is in its infancy, and additional research is needed to understand bow this new work form may influence aspects of the work/family interface.

Till följd av Covid-19 har distansarbetet ökat och med det behovet att undersöka medarbetares självskattade hälsa och upplevda arbetsförhållanden. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att ur ett slutogent perspektiv undersöka arbetsmiljö och hälsa vid distansarbete på en statlig myndighet. En webbaserad enkätstudie genomfördes innehållande en kvantitativ och en valitativ del. Statisktiska beräkningar utfördes i SPSS i form av t-test coh multipel regressionsanalys samt en induktiv tematisk analys. Resultatet visade att distansarbetet haft positiv påverkan på självskattad hälsa och upplevda arbetsförhållanden med vissa signigikanta skillnader mellan verksamhetsområden och mellan kön. Vidare visade resultatet att självskattad hälsa kan förklaras med 20 procent utifrån upplevda arbetsförhållanden. Den tematiska analysen genererade sex huvudteman med vissa underteman av viktiga faktorer vid fortsatt arbete på distans. Dessa var socialt stöd, teknik och friskvård (stödjande arbetsförhållanden), ledarskap, arbetsmiljö samt flexibilitet. Majoriteten av respondenterna önskade arbeta på distans två till tre dagar i veckan i framtiden. Ett främjande av upplevda arbetsförhållanden kan generera i fortsatt ökad hälsa bland medarbetarna. / As a result of Covid-19, teleworking has increased and with it the need to research employees self-rated health and working conditions. The purpose of this study was to examine empolyees self-rated health and perceived working conditions from a salutogenic perspective during teleworking at a government agency. A web-based survey was conducted containing a quantitative and a qualitative part. Statistical calculations were made in SPSS in the form of t-tests and multiple regression analysis and an inductive thematic analysis was made as well. The results showed that telework had a positive impact on self-rated health and preceived working conditions with some significant differences between business areas and between gender. Furthermore, the results showed that self-rated health can be explained by 20 percent based on perceived working conditons. The thematic analysis generated four main themes with certain sub-themes of important factors in continued work at a distance. These were supportive working conditions (social support, technology and wellness), leadershio, work enviroment and flexibility. The majority of respondents wnated to work remotely two to three days a week in the future. A promotion of perceived working conditions can generate continued increased health among empoyees.

Den globala pandemin covid-19 har lett till att organisationer genomför distansarbete, vilket ökar behovet av digital kommunikation. Högskolor i Sverige är en del av organisationerna som har arbetat på distans det senaste året. Ett kommunikationsverktyg som högskoleanställda har är medarbetarwebbplatsen. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur informationsarkitekturen på medarbetarwebbplatsen påverkar anställdas distansarbete. För att göra detta undersöker denna studie Högskolan i Borås medarbetarwebbplats och hur den har påverkat anställdas distansarbete med hjälp av ett teoretiskt ramverk skapad för informationsarkitektur på webbplatser. Studien bygger på data som samlats in från en webbplatsanalys av högskolans webbplats, intervjuer och tänk-högt användartest. Totalt genomfördes tio intervjuer och användartest tillsammans med anställda med olika yrkesroller på Högskolan i Borås. Resultatet visar att högskolans medarbetarwebbplats har de element som efterfrågas i en bra informationsarkitektur, men den uppfyller ändå inte användarnas förväntningar. Det beror på att dessa element inte fungerar som förväntat av användarna. Resultatet visar också att distansarbete har ökat behovet av en funktionell medarbetarwebbplats eftersom fysisk interaktion inte längre är möjlig. Det visar också att eftersom webbplatsens informationsarkitektur gör det svårt att hitta information påverkar webbplatsen anställda på distans som spenderar mer tid än önskat på att söka på webbplatsen. / The global pandemic of covid-19 has led organizations to conduct teleworking, increasing the need of digital communication. Universities in Sweden are part of these organizations that has been teleworking for the past year. One communication tools university employee have is the employee website. This study aims to explore how the information architecture of employee website affects employees’ telework. To do so, this study investigates the employees’ website of Borås university and how it has been affecting employees telework using a theoretical framework created for information architecture on websites. The study draws upon data collected from a website analysis of the university’s website, interviews, and think-aloud user tests. A total of ten interviews and user tests were conducted with employees with different professional roles at Borås university. The results show that the university’s employees’ website does have the elements required in information architecture however, it does not live up to the users’ expectations. That is because these elements, while implemented, do not work as expected by the users. The results also show that teleworking has increased the need of a functional employee website as physical interaction are no longer possible. They also show that, because the information architecture of the website makes it difficult to find information, the website affects teleworkers that spend more time than desired searching on the website.

In unpredictable crises, situations arise where the effects of the crisis do not manifest themselves during or after it is overplayed. The research literature has been limited to studying the context of a combination of an ongoing pandemic and how it affects the trust between coworkers in a virtual work environment, in which they have been compelled to work because of external pressures. As a result of a limitation of the existing research literature, the coworkers affected by the phenomenon need to be able to give their statements where experience and experiences are highlighted to deeply understand how this sudden situation has affected the coworkers' trust. The study aims to describe and understand how coworkers experience trust in compelled forms of work during a crisis. To find out how coworkers experience trust in teleworking, an empirical study in the form of a qualitative case study methodology has been applied. The empirical material consists of ten respondents from two service companies, which have been analyzed in thematic content analysis. The results show that compelled telework has led to certain changes in trust in coworkers and the organization in certain contexts in telework. Virtual trust in its definition proves to be difficult to achieve in these organizations if the coworkers have not worked together physically before. It appears that coworkers place greater emphasis on the factor of integrity than benevolence and ability. Organizations need to understand how different individuals fit a specific form of work, where the character of the personality plays a crucial role in the trust within the virtual teams. Furthermore, the results show that they require more understanding of the studied phenomenon to avoid psychological strains that affect the individual, the organization, and society partly on an individual level, partly for organizational goals, and from a societal perspective.

This dissertation explored how a change in the work/home boundary stemming from a mandatory switch to full-time telework influenced employee well-being. Organizational scholars have called for more investigations into how crisis events impact employees, and the COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity to examine a change in employees' work and home domains as it unfolded. Additionally, as full-time telework becomes a more common way of work, understanding how this once rare work arrangement affects employee well-being holistically is important. Using boundary theory, I hypothesized that a switch to full-time telework would increase the level of integration between employees' work and home domains, and that a greater change in integration level would associate with worse daily well-being outcomes. To explain this association, I turned to recovery theorizing and proposed daily work-related rumination and lack of psychological detachment as linking mechanisms. Additionally, I expected that teleworkers whose current level of integration was closer to their preferred level would experience better well-being. Using multilevel response surface analysis (MRSA), which enabled illustration of these complex associations in a more nuanced manner than is possible via either change scores or moderation analyses, I found that maintaining higher work/home integration both before and after telework co-varied with worse holistic well-being through work-related rumination and lack of psychological detachment. I also found that having higher integration than preferred and even high integration when preferred associated with worse well-being through work-related rumination and lack of psychological detachment. Based on these results, I point to boundary work and its facilitation of segmentation as a potential means of protecting employee well-being in the event of a future crisis that moves work into the home. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation examined the influence of the COVID-19-induced abrupt and mandatory switch to telework on employees' well-being. More understanding is needed regarding how crisis events impact employees, according to organizational scholars, and the COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity to conduct an investigation of change in employees' work situations in real time. As employees experienced change in numerous ways due to the pandemic and stay-at-home orders, I expected that experiencing greater changes in the separation between one's work and home would correlate with well-being impairments. I expected that less separation (i.e., more integration) between work and home would associate with the tendency to ruminate about work during non-work time (work-related rumination) and an inability to detach from work (lack of psychological detachment), which would in turn relate to worse well-being. I also anticipated that employees whose preference in level of work/home integration more closely matched their current situation would enjoy better well-being, potentially due to less work-related rumination and better psychological detachment. Instead, I found that maintaining old habits in how closely integrated employees keep their work and home lives from before to during telework associated with worse well-being. Employees who had more work/home integration pre-telework and maintained more integration during telework showed worse well-being through more work-related rumination and less psychological detachment. Preferring more integration did not appear to protect one's well-being, as those teleworkers who both preferred and enacted more work/home integration had worse well-being through more work-related rumination and less psychological detachment, as did those who had more integration than preferred. Based on these findings, I recommend that in crisis situations and abrupt, mandatory transitions to full-time telework, teleworkers protect their ability to recover from the workday's often strenuous demands by creating separation between work and home. Employees, organizations, and managers can all facilitate boundary work, wherein the teleworker performs actions to create greater separation between work and home, even when fully working from home.

Even before the recent surge in remote work as a result of COVID-19 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020), there has been a growing trend of employees working from home either entirely (i.e., remote) or working from home a couple of days per week (i.e., telecommuting) (Minton-Eversole, 2012). The goal of the current research is to investigate what type of individuals prefer these types of flexible working arrangements. Specifically, how individual autonomy causality orientation (i.e., ACO, the desire to individuals to act based on their internal volitions) interacts with workplace variables (i.e., workplace location and task interdependence) to impact individual’s perceptions of how the job fulfills their needs (i.e., needs supplies fit, NS fit). Further, how will needs supplies fit (i.e., NS fit) impact important behaviors as part of the job search process such as job attraction. To provide a sample that is more representative of a working population, all participants were employed for an average of at least 20 hours a week. In the current study, individuals were randomly assigned to one of six vignettes in a 2 (i.e., high/low task interdependence) x 3 (i.e., traditional office/telecommute/remote) experimental between-subjects design. Data was collected using an online survey via MTurk. Correlational analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were used to assess this model and compare the relationships between autonomy causality orientation, needs supplies fit, and job attraction in relation to the experimental conditions for workplace location and task interdependence. The current study results suggest those scoring low on ACO tend to perceive moderate levels of NS fit regardless of the job environment conditions. Yet those high on ACO may be more likely to perceive NS fit when presented with job environment conditions that allow high interactions with others as part of their work (i.e., high task interdependence) or virtual work environments (i.e., telecommuting and remote). The positive relationship between job attraction and NS fit individual perceptions of having individual needs supplied by may help to attract more applicants.

The modern society is characterized by an increased implementation of digitalization. With new technological innovations our social lives are increasingly becoming more digitalized. The past two years the pandemic has set the conditions of human interaction, and therefore the pandemic increased digitalization further. Organizations that had the possibility to reconstruct their work towards more digital approaches did so and therefore the social premises of work changed where individuals are working from home to a greater extent. The aim of this essay is to investigate Swedish women and their perception of telework and the digitalization’s effects on social relations/communication between colleagues, and how the individual experiences telework in regards to the increased pace of life. Finally this essay will explore how individuals deal with work-life balance during telework. Previous research has shown that telework has negative effects on informal communication between colleagues, and that teleworking and its demands on autonomy, flexibility and efficiency leads to increased emotions of stress for the individual. Finally, previous research showed difficulties with the managing of the work-life balance during telework, especially for women. This essay is based on qualitative interviews with six women and has shown that teleworking enables them to become more flexible and effective in their life, which has made it easier for them to manage the work-life balance than before. Another result of the essay is that telework has had a negative effect on informal communication between colleagues. / Det moderna samhället karaktäriseras av ökad implementering av digitalisering. Med nya tekniska innovationer blir våra sociala liv alltmer digitaliserade. De senaste två åren har pandemin satt nya förutsättningar för interaktionen mellan människor, och därmed ökat implementeringen av digitalisering ytterligare. Organisationer som haft möjligheten att omstrukturera sitt arbete mot mer digitala lösningar har gjort det och därmed förändrat de sociala aspekterna av arbete - där individer arbetar alltmer hemifrån. Syftet med studien är att undersöka svenska kvinnor och deras upplevelser av distansarbete och digitaliseringens effekter på sociala relationer/kommunikation mellan kollegor, och om distansarbete och digitaliseringen har lett till ett ökande livstempo. Slutligen intresserar sig denna uppsats för kvinnors gränsdragning mellan arbets- och privatliv under distansarbete. Tidigare forskning visar att distansarbete har negativa effekter på informell kommunikation mellan kollegor, att distansarbetets krav på autonomi, flexibilitet och effektivitet lett till ökad upplevelse av stress. Slutligen visar tidigare forskning problematik med work-life balansen under distansarbete, speciellt för kvinnor. Denna studie, som är baserad på kvalitativa intervjuer med sex kvinnor, har resulterat i att distansarbete tillåter dem att vara mer flexibla och effektiva i sitt arbete, vilket underlättat balansen mellan arbets- och privatlivet och lett till att kvinnorna känner sig mindre stressade än vid arbete på plats. Ett ytterligare resultat av uppsatsen är distansarbetets negativa påverkan på informell kommunikation mellan kollegor.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:21:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marilia de Gonzaga Lima e Silva Tose.pdf: 516528 bytes, checksum: a6db7d9076116b3d8cd16359d8a7529c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-04-28 / The aim of the present study is to analyze telework and the subjective organization of the agents involved. Telework is a new form of working, performed from home and using information technology and telecommunications. A qualitative, exploratory and empirical research was done, interviewing twenty-one teleworkers from two enterprises, chosen according to the criterion of accessibility. We started analyzing the changing process from the traditional workplace in an organization s office to the new remote form, focussing mainly on the feelings of the people. We also emphasized the life of the workers at home and the intersubjectivities with their families. The problems resulting from a new space-time dimension, the issue of new roles assumed and the identifications that led to new identities, those aspects were all studied in depth. We still approached the social relationship between the interviewees and their colleagues and managers of the enterprises they work for. The resulting data showed that working at home can lead to improvement in the quality of life (well-being). The worker is freer and has more autonomy to organize him/herself, applying his/her own rhythm to professional tasks. The use of a domestic workplace, however, requires an adaptation of the intersubjectivities. It is necessary to find a balance between the different scenes the working and the family one- coexisting in the same space. In this study, it can be observed that teleworkers achieve the above demands. There seem to be gains in the family relationships, due to the fact that workers are more available for domestic routines without neglecting either professional commitment or involvement. It was still noticed and analyzed some rather uneasy feeling caused by the (physical) distance to the entrepreneurial environment. There are losses in the relationship with colleagues and the employing organization, which can jeopardize the career development and become a suffering. According to the way the teleworkers adapt themselves to the new working relationships, the suffering can grow into a pathology or otherwise, become creative / O presente estudo teve por objetivo pesquisar uma nova forma de trabalho, denominada teletrabalho. Nela, os trabalhadores exercem suas funções no âmbito doméstico, utilizando-se da informática e de equipamentos de telecomunicações. O objetivo específico foi analisar essa prática e a organização subjetiva dos agentes envolvidos. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa empírica, exploratória e qualitativa, através da qual se obteve depoimentos de vinte e um teletrabalhadores de duas empresas, escolhidas pelo critério de acessibilidade. Foi primeiramente analisado o processo de mudança da forma tradicional de trabalhar, no escritório das organizações, para a forma remota, principalmente no que diz respeito aos sentimentos dos sujeitos. Também mereceu destaque a vida do teletrabalhador no espaço doméstico e suas intersubjetividades com a família, tendo sido aprofundados os problemas resultantes de uma nova dimensão espaço-temporal, a questão dos papéis assumidos e as identificações que levaram a novas identidades. Foram ainda abordadas as relações sociais dos depoentes com seus colegas e gestores das empresas. Os resultados mostraram que trabalhar em casa pode levar a uma melhor qualidade de vida (well-being), tendo o trabalhador maior liberdade e autonomia para se organizar, imprimindo um ritmo próprio ao tempo que dedica às atividades profissionais. Porém, o uso do espaço doméstico exige uma acomodação das intersubjetividades, sendo necessária a busca de equilíbrio entre diferentes cenários - do trabalho e da família que passam a conviver no mesmo espaço. Neste estudo, pôde-se observar que tudo isso vem sendo conseguido pelos teletrabalhadores. Parece haver, de fato, um ganho nos relacionamentos familiares, pela maior disponibilidade para o cotidiano doméstico, sem perda de envolvimento e compromisso profissional. Foi ainda observado e analisado um certo mal estar causado pela distância física do ambiente empresarial. Há uma perda no relacionamento com colegas e com a organização, o que pode comprometer o desenvolvimento da carreira e levar a um sofrimento. Dependendo da forma como esses trabalhadores se apropriam dessa nova relação de trabalho, esse sofrimento pode se tornar patogênico ou, ao contrário, criativo

This study explores Working from Home (WFH) as a model of work in a public organisation in London, which operates in the clinical-trials sector. It argues that WFH is used as a strategy that offers benefits both to the organisation and its employees. WFH is offered to all Clinical Research Associates (CRAs) who work as monitors of the whole process of a clinical trial. Based on a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews of 29 CRAs, managers and administrative staff and secondary data, this single-case study focuses on five topics that are part of the CRAs’ everyday life. These are work-life balance (WLB), cost reduction, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) factor, the performance of the CRAs and the management of remote workers. In particular, the study identified that WFH had a positive effect on CRAs’ WLB. Moreover, it argues that WFH may offer significant assistance to organisational budgets and may reduce personal expenses. It found that existing ICT could cover all employees’ technological needs and reduce the requirement of managers to keep them physically present at a centralised workplace. Additionally, this thesis also identified that WFH improved CRAs’ performance, whilst it also highlighted that results-oriented management was the main managerial approach towards employees who work from a distance. The key contribution of the thesis is the examination of the CRA occupation through a contemporary perspective on the WFH phenomenon.