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During the year 2020 the world was struck by the covid-19 pandemic. Due to this, many businesses asked their employees to work from home (Sheehan, 2020) and thus presented organizational leaders with new challenges. Leaders started to operate their teams through virtual communication channels.The purpose of the study is to investigate whether leadership has changed due to working at distance. To investigate this, we have brought forward a model of "optimal distance leadership" based on previous research within the field, including theories regarding leadership and communication. The previous studies tend to focus on the pros and cons of distance leadership. This study intends to review how the leadership has changed in the transition to distance work.The study is based on qualitative semi structured interviews with nuanced descriptions of management leadership. The result of the study shows that the leadership has changed. Leaders adopted a situational leadership, became more solid in their communication and more available than before the pandemic. The change can largely be explained through the model of "optimal distance leadership". / Under år 2020 drabbades världen av coronapandemin. I och med detta bad många företag sina medarbetare att arbeta hemifrån (Sheehan, 2020) och chefers ledarskap utsattes därmed för nya utmaningar. Chefer började leda på distans genom virtuella kommunikationskanaler.Syftet med studien är att undersöka om chefers ledarskap har förändrats på grund av distansarbetet. För att undersöka detta har vi tagit fram en modell om ett ”optimalt distansledarskap” som baseras på tidigare forskning inom ämnet samt teorier om ledarskap och kommunikation. Den tidigare forskningen tenderar fokusera på för- och nackdelar med distansledarskap. Denna studie avser istället att undersöka hur förändringen i ledarskapet ser ut i övergången till distansarbete.Studien baserar sig på kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med nyanserade beskrivningar av förändringen i chefers ledarskap. Resultatet i studien visar att ledarskapet har förändrats. Cheferna har bland annat situationsanpassat sitt ledarskap, blivit tydligare i sin kommunikation och blivit mer tillgängliga än innan pandemin. Förändringen kan i stora delar förklaras utifrån modellen om det ”optimala distansledarskapet”.

This research was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic. In an attempt to bridge a knowledge gap, a phenomenological study was carried out to answer the question “What is shared between people’s experiences of doing home-based telework during the Covid-19 pandemic?”. Four people who were currently working from home participated in the study of which three were women. A method of empirical psychological phenomenology or EPP was used in both research process and analysis. The results were that a digital adjustment had been made and digital communication was used in place of regular social interactions. These interactions were not as satisfactory as regular social interactions. The work was more flexible which lead to blurred boundaries and a greater ability to structure the workday after personal needs. A reduced work motivation and personal impact of Covid-19 was found. Also, there were new insights on the viability of telework and digital solutions going forward. This study contributed to a gap in research by providing insight into what the experience of teleworking during the Covid-19 pandemic may look like, which was an unexplored field.

This study is a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with eight people. The purpose of this study has been to investigate women's mental health during covid-19. The study has the following research questions: Have women in Sweden and Norway experienced that their mental health has been affected by Covid-19? And if so, how has it been affected? Have there been any differences between mental health before and during the pandemic?   The study shows that the respondents have a fairly similar opinion about how mental health was experienced during covid-19, but the answers were a little more different when it came to what was the biggest change during covid-19. None of the respondents stated that they had any mental disorders before the pandemic, but during the pandemic the most important findings were that the respondents could at times experience mental disorders such as loneliness and depression. The result of this study is that there is a difference in the mental health of women before and during the pandemic, but this difference is not large. The only thing that can be concluded is that the interviewees during the pandemic have experienced mental disorders such as loneliness and depression due to the restrictions during the pandemic.

Background The Covid-19 pandemic has been a big influence for everybody since it entered in the spring of 2019. However, no research has been done on how different strategic leadership has influenced the organizational adaptation during this time.   Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role of strategic leadership in organizational adaptation due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The research is based on a single case study that explores Åhléns AB and its subsidiaries Åhléns Outlet and Designtorget.   Method This is a qualitative study that is performed by using a single case study design, where one organization is examined to fulfill the purpose of the study and aim to develop an in-depth understanding of the research subject.   Conclusion Based on the conducted research that has been done, it can be drawn to the conclusion that the transcendent leadership style has influenced organizational adaptation. The organization has become more transparent as well as more flexible as an organization due to the leadership. By combining a task-oriented approach with a relationship-oriented approach such as, a leader can set up greater structured goals and pursue new initiatives in line with external changes.

The pandemic is not only a crisis itself but has created multiple crises for the vulnerable population as well. Worldwide, they encountered multiple challenges to assistance and protection, but due to the pandemic, their needs might have increased. As the number of refugees, migrants, and asylum-seeker is rising, all the health risks and the challenges that this group is exposed to, demonstrates the need for increased support, protection, and assistance. This scoping review aims to investigate if the arisen challenges faced by vulnerable children and their families have exacerbated in the context of COVID-19, in the published research literature. In this scoping review, information was collected on multiple databases between January and February 2021. Seven empirical studies were analysed in order to examine which are the new challenges that have arisen due to COVID-19 and explore if they worsened in this context. Seven areas emerged due to the pandemic: hygiene measures, food insecurity, child labour, child marriage, freedom of movement, access to education, access to services and sources of information, while five areas have worsened: economic, psychological, violence, discrimination and overcrowding. The findings are showing that COVID-19’s disease burden is higher in vulnerable contexts, due to the living conditions, high risks jobs, and poor access to services. The outcomes of these challenges are likely to be long-standing, as they breached into the processes and structures of the family system Although efforts to control the virus’s spread remain critical, the negative effects on vulnerables, must be addressed and identified to avoid the risk of more challenges getting exacerbated, and reduce the parental stress that will lead to the well-being of the future generations. Limitations, practical implications and future research are discussed.

Covid-19-pandemin har resulterat i en påskyndad och plötslig implementering av digitala verktyg och distansarbete, något som för många verksamheter inneburit stora förändringar. Uppsatsen utgår från en kvalitativ metod där semistrukturerade intervjuer har utförts på sju gruppchefer inom en svensk myndighet. Syftet med denna studie var att få en fördjupad förståelse för chefers upplevelser av att leda en oplanerad förändringsprocess. För att uppfylla syftet formulerades forskningsfrågorna; ”hur beskriver intervjupersonerna omställningen till distansarbete?”, ”hur kan intervjupersonernas upplevelser förstås i enlighet med begreppen kommunikation, information och delaktighet?” och ”vilka möjligheter respektive utmaningar kan identifieras i den genomförda omställningen?”. Vidare analyserades det insamlade materialet med grund i tidigare forskning och teorier inom ämnena organisationsförändring, kommunikation, information och delaktighet.  Resultatet visar att den plötsliga omställningen till distansarbete som konsekvens av Covid-19-pandemin har inneburit stora förändringar för många av verksamhetens funktioner. Det påvisasatt kommunikation, information och delaktighet är faktorer som anses vara av stor vikt under tider som denna, präglade av kriser och förändring. Det implementerade distansarbetet tycks även ha resulterat i en närmare relation mellan chefer och medarbetare, då dessa fått mer sändningstid tillsammans. Slutligen framkommer det att distansarbetet uppskattas av intervjupersonerna och är något som kan komma att bli en fråga i huruvida verksamheten anses vara en attraktiv arbetsplats eller inte i framtiden.

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted all of society, and businesses are faced by having to close or adapt to the new regulations and laws by pursuing digital transformation. As companies are transitioning to remote work, leaders are now met with the obstacle of taking in-person, face-to-face leadership and putting it through digital transformation. Due to all these unforeseen changes employee motivation is at risk as employees are working remotely in isolation with leaders adopting new leadership styles.    Purpose: This research aims to investigate the change in leadership styles resulting from remote work and investigate if it has affected employee motivation.   Method: This research is an exploratory qualitative study conducted, focusing on multiple cases where semi-structured, and in-depth interviews were held with nine participants from three companies, with one leader and two employees from each company. A thematic analysis was used to investigate the primary data. Conclusion: The empirical findings and the analysis provide two areas that have been found during this conducted research: 1) Leaders realized that instead of focusing on performances-oriented approaches with heavy monitoring and supervision, it was more important to tend to human-centric care and being more open and nurturing to alleviate stress for employees. 2) Employee motivation has generally been negatively impacted due to employees and leaders experiencing communication difficulties, loneliness, lack of support and easily accessible distractions. With a few exceptions of employees coping better with a more balanced supervision and higher level of isolation acceptance.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka om och isåfall hur upplevelsen av matbutiker har förändrats hos föräldrar under covid-19 pandemin. Studiens frågeställningar är följande Hur ser föräldrarnas upplevelse av matbutiker ut? Finns det processer som har förändrat upplevelsen för föräldrar till matbutiker och isåfall vilka? Studien har tagit utgångspunkt i teorierna den socio rumsliga dialektiker, individnivån av den sociala nivå indelningen i samhället och även den kulturgeografiska förklaringen till varför människor konsumerar. De metoderna som använts i studien är kvantitativ enkätstudie och kvalitativ intervjustudie. Denna metod av datainsamling för att kunna besvara studiens syfte och frågeställningar. I resultatet presenteras i diagram, tabeller, citat, korsdiagram under olika teman utifrån respondenternas svar. Resultaten har presenterats på detta sätt för att hjälpa läsaren att se de resultat som studien ger. Avslutningsvis har slutsatserna i studien varit att en del föräldrar har upplevt en förändring i matbutiker och andra inte har inte upplevt det. Det har även visats att de processer som förändrats föräldrars upplevelse bygger på de sociorumsliga dialektiker och den individnivån som finns i samhället. / The purpose of this essay was to investigate if and how the experience of grocery stores has changed for parents during the covid-19 pandemic. The study's main questions are as followsWhat does parents' experience of grocery stores look like?Are there processes that have changed the experience for parents of grocery stores and if so, which ones?The study has been based on the theories of the socio-spatial dialects, the individual level of the social levels in society and also the cultural-geographical explanation of why people consume. The methods used in the study are quantitative questionnaire study and qualitative interview study. This method of data collection was chosen to be able to answer the study'spurpose and questions. The results are presented in diagrams, tables, quotes, cross-diagramsunder different themes based on the respondents' answers. The results have been presented in this way to help the reader see the results of the study. The conclusions of the study have been that some parents have experienced a change in grocery stores while others have not experienced that. It has also been shown that the processes that have changed parents' experience are based on the socio-spatial dialects and the individual level that exists insociety.

Biodiversity loss caused by human activities is considered to be one of the greatest challenges to the stability of our planet. Protected areas emerged as a solution to this challenge, but they are not always successful due to the exclusion and displacement of local communities that live in proximity to the protected area, especially in low income countries. The Maasai Mara conservancy model presents an opportunity to mitigate these problems by increasing wildlife habitat and simultaneously improving the livelihoods of surrounding Maasai communities. However, the model is threatened by the Covid-19 pandemic which has suspended the international tourism on which the conservancies rely. In order to understand how the model can potentially increase its resilience to future global shocks, I interviewed stakeholders about their experiences within the model, during the pandemic and relating to past global shocks. Using the concept of environmentality, I sought to evaluate the structure of the model, its historical roots and the governance tools which enable its function. Some already existing issues were emphasised by the impact of the pandemic, while new opportunities for evolution were also unearthed. The most prominent theme arising from these conversations was that of equity - between tourism partners and landowners, relating to the rights of women and to the place of Maasai youth in the future of the model. The colonial history of wildlife conservation also created discussions around the exclusion of local tourists and the underlying biases that may exist. Finally, I attempt to understand how the governance enacted within the conservancy model creates different kinds of environmental subjects. Although previous discussions on environmental governance have assumed that regulation is successful, I illustrate here that power is not unidirectional because resistance and negotiation by the governed population is common. By interrogating the different layers of environmentality and how they interplay, I trace the creation new environmental subjectivities in those who are involved in the conservation of wildlife in the Maasai Mara.