En kvalitativ studie som syftar till att analysera vad som kan skapa bra förutsättningar för ett ledarskap på distans, beskriva vilka utmaningar och möjligheter detta kan medföra och uppmärksamma upplevda skillnader mellan att leda på distans och att leda på plats. Åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes där tidigare forskning om leader-member exchange theory och arbetsrelaterad känsla av sammanhang låg till grund för intervjuguiden. En tematisk analys genomfördes vilken resulterade i fem teman: tydlighet, kommunikation, tillgänglighet, relationer och stöd samt kompetens och effektivitet. De fyra första temana bidrog till att skapa bra förutsättningar för ett ledarskap på distans, utmaningar som framkom var att skapa förutsättningarna. I dessa teman fanns även skillnader mellan typerna av ledarskap. Det femte temat var övergripande och kom att stå för möjligheter med ett ledarskap på distans och anledningar till att det var nödvändigt. Studien visar en komplex bild av ledarskap på distans där alla teman samverkar.

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”.

Introduction: The major changes which are in progress in today’s society affect, among other things, leadership that is exercised at a distance. In order for leaders of personal assistance organizations to be able to adapt their organization to the outside world, learning and leadership are crucial, and it is therefore important to explore how distance leaders in personal assistance perceive their impact on their employees' learning, and how these leaders perceive changes that take place in the organization.  Problem formulation: 1) What are the perceptions of leaders in personal assistance regarding their impact on employees’ learning and development? 2) What are the perceptions of leaders in personal assistance regarding changes which are in progress in the organization?   Aim: The aim of the thesis is to contribute knowledge about how leaders in personal assistance who lead at a distance, create conditions for employees’ learning and development. The purpose is also to contribute knowledge about the leaders’ perceptions of changes in organizations where leadership is exercised at a distance. Method: The study was conducted with a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews with leaders at personal assistance organizations. Theory: The thesis is based on concepts such as distance, learning organization, transformative leadership and change leadership and which are used to interpret and analyze the respondents’ answers and to discuss the results of the study. Results and analysis: The results show that the respondents perceived that distance leadership in personal assistance can affect employees’ learning and development in personal assistance through three important aspects: organizational learning, promoting dialogue and having well-functioning meetings. In the event of changes, the leader has an advisory and supportive role, and the leader must be positive, clear and a role model for his employees. It is important that the leader looks at the whole of the organization and ensures that all employees receive information and are involved in changes in the organization. The parts of the organization must be organized to create a whole and there must be interaction with all parts of the organization.   Discussion: The results of the study and analysis are discussed based on previous research on learning in organizations, transformative leadership and change leadership as well as concept formation, leadership, distance leadership, learning and change processes in organizations. Conclusion: · The leader at a distance affects employees’ learning and development through dialogue and discussion, especially at various meetings. It is especially important to have an open dialogue and an effective discussion in order to reach conclusions on a particular issue. By enabling teamwork, the leader creates opportunities for individual learning, which later leads to collective learning. The most problematic with distance leadership is precisely the physical distance between leaders and employees, as the leaders cannot monitor and give feedback on the employees’ work. Nor can employees receive clear instructions. · Changes must take place when the attempt at change is directed towards the whole, i.e. towards the network of relationship that exists between different parts of the organization. The leader should realize that a change is a long process and undergoes different phases where even these phases require different lengths of time. It is not just an event but a process. Since it is a matter of leadership at a distance, it is especially important that the leader, based on limited insight, gets the employees involved and assesses they need for competence development.

Bakgrund: Intresset för att nyttja bemanningspersonal har ökat senaste tiden och fler företag har förstått flexibiliteten det finns runt konceptet att hyra in konsulter i sina företag. Ansvaret över de Bakgrunduthyrda konsulterna är konsultchefen som sköter både kontakten med kundföretag men även all administration runt konsulternas anställning. Konsultchefens roll är unik på det sättet att arbetet sker i Syfteen trepartsrelation där krav kommer från två olika håll, både från kundföretaget och konsulten. Eftersom att konsulterna är utstationerade på olika företag sker konsultchefens ledarskap på distans och det krävs Metoden flexibel arbetsroll för att möta alla konsulters behov. Konsulternas prestation sammankopplas med trivseln på företaget och det är därför viktigt att konsultchefen skapar goda relationer med konsulterna. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att beskriva hur konsultchefer arbetar relationsskapande gentemot konsulten på distans. Metod: Igenom studien har ett tolkande perspektiv tillämpats tillsammans med en konstruktionistiskt synsätt. En induktiv forskningsansats följer studien och i linje med detta en kvalitativ forskningsmetod där sju stycken semi-strukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med konsultchefer för att samla in empiri. Efter detta skedde transkribering av intervjuerna och en tematisk analys genomfördes för att sortera och kategorisera insamlad empiri. Den tematiska analysen hjälpte till att hitta framträdande teman som var till hjälp att nå ett resultat. Slutsats: Det finns en del olika infallsvinklar som spelar roll i besvarande av frågeställningen. Trepartsrelationen är relevant på det sättet att kundens bemanningsstrategi samt konsultens anställningstyp spelar roll i vilken typ av relation konsultchefen får till konsulten. Konsultchefens möjlighet att bygga förtroende redan på introduktion samt konsultchefens kommunikationsförmåga och tillgänglighet anses dock övergripande för att öka chanserna att bygga relationer på distans / Background: The interest in using temporary staff has increased recently and more companies have understood the flexibility around the concept of hiring consultants in their companies. Responsible over the consultants is the consulting manager who handles both contact with customer companies and the administration around the consultants' employment. The role of a consulting manager is unique due to that it takes place inside a tripartite relationship where requirements comes from both the client company and the consultants. The consultants are stationed at different companies which means that the consulting managers are using distance leadership and a flexible work role is required. The consultants' performance is linked to the well-being in the company and its therefore important that the consulting manager creates good relationships with the consultants. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to describe how consulting managers create relationships with the consultant at a distance. Method: Throughout the study, an interpretive perspective has been applied together with a constructionist approach. An inductive research are used through the study and in line with this a qualitative research method. To collect empirical data semi-structured interviews was implemented with seven consulting managers. After this, the interviews were transcribed and a thematic analysis was performed to sort and categorize collected empirical data. The thematic analysis assisted to find prominent themes that were helpful in achieving a result. Conclusion: There are a number of different angles that make sense in answering the purpose in this study. The tripartite relationship, which includes the customer's staffing strategy and the consultant's employment type will make sense in how the relationship between the consultant manager consultant will look like. To increase the chances of building relationships at a distance the consultant manager can use the introduction to build a trustful relation and the consultant manger also needs to have an overall availability and be good at communication.

Syftet med denna studie är att skapa en ökad förståelse för konsultchefers uppfattningar om vilka konsekvenser trepartsförhållandet mellan konsult, konsultchef och uppdragsgivare har på det hälsofrämjande ledarskapet. Studien har ett hermeneutiskt förhållningssätt med en abduktiv forskningsansats. Empirin samlades in genom åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med konsultchefer från ett bemanningsföretag. Resultatet av studien visar på svårigheter i trepartsförhållandet på grund av distansledarskapet mellan konsult och konsultchef samt det delade arbetsmiljöansvaret som finns mellan bemanningsföretaget och uppdragsgivaren. Konsultcheferna har svårigheter att avgöra vad som är och inte är arbetsrelaterat. Vidare saknar konsultcheferna organisatoriskt stöd för att utföra hälsofrämjande ledarskap. Slutsatsen är att trepartsförhållandet skapar ett distansledarskap i form av fysisk och psykosocial distans som kan påverka konsultens hälsa. Hälsofrämjande ledarskap i ett trepartsförhållande kräver att konsultchefen delegerar ansvaret för hälsan till konsulten. Detta sker genom att konsultchefen motiverar konsulten till att äta hälsosamt samt ägna sig åt andra hälsofrämjande aktiviteter.  Slutsatsen är även att det finns motstridiga krav i trepartsförhållandet, vilket gör att konsultchefen inte kan arbeta med det hälsofrämjande ledarskap som de vill. Brist på tid och resurser i form av pengar gör att bemanningsföretagets lönsamhet och kundens önskemål prioriteras på bekostnad av konsultens hälsa. Begränsningarna i det hälsofrämjande ledarskapet bygger även på att begreppet hälsa är svårt att mäta med ekonomiska termer. Därav mäts endast konsults hälsa genom sjukfrånvaro. Detta resulterar i att de flesta åtgärder för att främja en konsult hälsa sker genom reaktiva åtgärder när ohälsa redan har uppstått. / The purpose of this study is to create an increased understanding of consultant managers' perceptions about the consequences of the tripartite relationship between consultant, consultant manager and client on the health-promoting leadership. The study has a hermeneutic approach with an abductive research approach. The empirical material was collected through eight semistructured interviews with consulting managers from a staffing company. The result of the study shows difficulties in the tripartite relationship due to the distance leadership between the consultant and the consultant manager and the shared work environment responsibility that exists between the staffing company and the client. The consultants have difficulty in determining what is and what’s not work-related. Furthermore, the consultants lack organizational support for carrying out health-promoting leadership. The conclusion is that the tripartite relationship creates a distance leadership in the form of physical and psychosocial distance that can affect the consultant's health. Health-promoting leadership in a tripartite relationship requires the consultant manager to delegate the responsibility for health to the consultant. This is done by the consultant manager motivating the consultant to eat healthy and engage in other health promotion activities. The conclusion is also that there are conflicting requirements in the tripartite relationship, which means that the consulting manager can’t work with the health-promoting leadership that they want. Lack of time and resources in the form of money means that the staffing agency's profitability and the customer's wishes are prioritized at the expense of the consultant's health. The limitations of the health promotion leadership are also built on the fact that the concept of health is difficult to measure with economic terms. Hence only the consultant's health is measured by sickness absence. As a result, most measures to promote a consultant's health take place through reactive measures when illness has already occurred.

Leading at a distance has emerged concurrently with complex global changes, resulting in the diverse use of technology, virtual teams, and collaboration as a way of solving problems and growing innovative and successful organizations. Little research has been done to explore the perceptions of individuals who lead virtual organizations. In the absence of such research, little is known about effective leadership processes in virtual environments. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to discover an explanatory theory, derived from data, which facilitates an understanding of effective virtual leadership systems and processes. This study used classic grounded theory methodology involving multiple extant data reviews (> 20) and a purposive sampling group of 77 virtual leaders, dispersed globally, who were interviewed using voice-over Internet protocol, phone contacts, and e-mail as data collection methods. The grand tour research question for this study examined issues leaders faced when leading/working virtually and the processes virtual leaders used to resolve the stated issues. Data were analyzed using open coding, sorting, memoing, constant comparative analysis, selective coding, and theoretical sampling. The key finding of this study was a generated theory of seducing engagement, addressing participants' main concern: the process of cultivating success in the virtual worker-learner. Engagement is viewed as a significant variable in successful virtual working, virtual leading, and organizational/company success. The results from this study might be used by global organizations to inform infrastructure and planning for virtual leading; to enhance the knowledge, training, and preparedness of virtual leaders; and to spur further research in a rapidly growing field.

Denna uppsats handlar om ledarskap och hur ledarskap bedrivs på distans. Studien fokuserar på det ledarskap som sker i bemanningsbranschen där konsultchefen leder bemanningskonsulter på distans. I det ledarskap som utövas finns även en påverkan utav en tredje part som går att finna i det kundföretag som hyr in konsulterna.  Syftet med uppsatsen är att öka förståelsen för det ledarskap som uppkommer och utövas i bemanningsbranschen och att identifiera de problem som kan uppstå när ledarskapet sker på distans. Vi jämför också distansledarskapet med ett traditionellt ledarskap för att förstå på vilket sätt de skiljer sig i ledarskapets utövande. Slutligen är vårt syfte att få en inblick i hur ett distansledarskap i bemanningsbranschen påverkas när det även är en tredje part involverad. / This thesis is about leadership and how leadership is practiced when managers have a distance to their followers.  The study is focused on the leadership practiced in the staffing industry where a consultant manager leads consultants without a physical presence. The leadership is influenced by a third part that can be found in the customer company that hire the consultants. The aim of this thesis is to gain understanding of the leadership that exists in the staffing industry. The purpose is also to identify the issues that may arise when the leadership is influenced by distance. We also compare distance leadership with traditional leadership to understand in what way they differ from each other. At last, our purpose is to get an overview about how distance leadership works in the staffing industry when a third part is involved.

Bakgrund: Digitaliseringen har medfört betydande förändringar de senaste decennierna för hur kommunikation sker inom organisationer. Digitala kommunikationsmedier medför att organisationens medlemmar inte längre begränsas av att fysiskt närvara på arbetsplatsen. En central komponent till organisationers och arbetslags framgång är chefens ledarskap som nu kan genomföras på distans, något som benämns distansledarskap. Distansledarskap är präglat av teoretisk negativitet i form av exempelvis lägre prestationer och mindre berikande kommunikation samtidigt som otaliga svenska chefer bedriver distansledarskap. Likväl påvisar medarbetarskap att chefens roll är oumbärlig för medarbetarnas engagemang och meningsfullhet vilket ytterligare är en komponent att bevaka i relationen mellan medarbetaren och distansledaren. Chefer måste därför möjliggöra engagemang och meningsfullhet trots de hinder som distansen medför.   Syfte: Studiens syfte är att beskriva och analysera hur chefens distansledarskap kan främja medarbetarnas engagemang och meningsfullhet?   Metod: Syftet med studien är att beskriva och analysera individers upplevelser och därför har kvalitativ undersökningsmetod använts. I relation till vår teoretiska referensram har åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts. Majoriteten av studiens respondenter innehar en chefsposition men har sin primära ledarskapsstimulans på distans.   Slutsatser: Engagemang och meningsfullhet hos medarbetare påverkas i synnerhet av bemyndigande och kontroll från chefen. Om chefen kontrollerar och inte bemyndigar medarbetaren att genomföra arbetsuppgifterna påverkas engagemang och meningsfullhet negativt. För att ytterligare kompensera för hindren som distansledarskap medför bör chefer lära känna medarbetarna, ge mer feedback, stöttning och uppmärksamhet. Chefen bör genom fysisk interaktion lära känna medarbetarna för att påskynda förtroendeingivande processen mellan medarbetare och chef. Efter initial fysisk interaktion kan chefen distansera sig och därav inte fysiskt närvara på arbetsplatsen, om så inte är nödvändigt, istället bör chefen vara tillgänglig via digitala medier. / Background: Digitization has led to significant changes over the past few decades for communication in organizations. Digital communication resources mean that organizational members are no longer restricted by being physically present at the workplace. A key component of the success of organizations and work teams is the leadership that can now be implemented at a distance, called remote leadership. Remote leadership is characterized by theoretical negativity while countless Swedish managers conduct remote leadership. Nevertheless, followership show that the role of the manager is indispensable for the employees' commitment and meaningfulness, which is another component to consider in the relationship between the employee and the remote leader. Managers therefore need to enable commitment and meaning despite the obstacles that the distance causes.   Purpose: The purpose of the study is to describe and analyze how the manager's remote leadership can promote employee involvement and meaningfulness?   Method: Since the purpose of the study is to describe and analyze individual experiences, a qualitative survey methodology has been used. In relation to our theoretical reference framework eight semi-structured interviews have been conducted. The majority of the respondents hold a senior position but have their primary leadership stimulus at a distance.   Conclusion: Commitment and meaningfulness among employees are particularly affected by the authorization and control of the manager. If the manager controls the employees and gives little authorization, commitment and meaningfulness are negatively affected. In order to further compensate for the obstacles caused by remote leadership, managers should get to know the employees, provide feedback, support and attention. The manager should, through physical interaction, get to know the employees to accelerate the thrust-inducing process between the employee and the manager. After initial physical interaction, the manager should distance themselves and therefore not physically attend the workplace, unless necessary, instead, the manager should be constantly available through digital media.

The writers have examined how leaders relate to leadership at a distance and throughrelationships with their employees create a sense of coherence. Leaders refer to people whocurrently work in a leading role such as employer, manager or who have tasks whereleadership is a central part. The study was conducted using a qualitative method where eightleaders were respondents. The empirics collected through the interviews were later analyzedwith a qualitative data analysis where the empirics were categorized and then compared withthe other empirics. The empiric was then presented in the form of quotes from the respondents.The subsequent step was that the empirics were analyzed with previous research on LMX,KASAM, the employees' mood and performance. Furthermore, the quotations were alsoanalyzed with the help of the theoretical framework that consisted of the leadership theories,LMX and KASAM. The results showed that leaders experience that it is difficult to relate toleadership at a distance and this is partly due to the lack of body language and other signalsthat can be perceived in physical presence. The study's conclusion shows that the leader hasneeded to use more communication to satisfy the sense of coherence in the relationship withthe employees. / Skribenterna har undersökt hur ledare förhåller sig till ledarskap på distans och genomrelationer till sina medarbetare skapar känslan av sammanhang. Ledare avser personer som idagsläget arbetar i en ledande roll så som arbetsgivare, chef eller som har arbetsuppgifter därledarskap är en central del. Studien genomfördes med en kvalitativ metod där åtta ledare harvarit respondenter. Empirin som samlades in genom intervjuerna analyserades sedermera meden kvalitativ dataanalys där empirin kategoriserades och därefter jämfördes med den övrigaempirin. Empirin presenterades sedan i form av citat från respondenterna. Efterföljande stegvar att empirin analyserades med tidigare forskning om LMX, KASAM, medarbetarnasmående och prestationer. Vidare analyserades även citaten med hjälp av det teoretiskaramverket som utgjordes av ledarskapsteorierna, LMX och KASAM. Resultatet visade på attledare upplever att det är svårt att förhålla sig till ledarskap på distans och att detta bland annatberor på avsaknaden av kroppsspråk och andra signaler som kan uppfattas i fysisk närvaro.Studiens slutsats visar på att ledaren har behövt använda sig mer av kommunikation för atttillgodose känslan av sammanhang i relationen till medarbetarna.

Background: Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the associated restrictions and recommendations has forced a transition into a more digital and virtual environment. Thus, businesses have faced numerous challenges regarding both leading and working at a distance. Leading to an increased need for digital skills and new ways of working, as has been advocated by successful international consulting firms. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop the research about distance leadership, leadership in virtual and digital contexts, and leadership in crisis. Thus, the aim was to investigate and compare team leadership, such as it was before the recommendation and restrictions caused by COVID-19, with the present. Research question: How has the forced digital transformation affected the team leadership from the perspective of both leaders and employees? Methodology: A case study was conducted in which semi-structured interviews, a collection of background information and data from an internal personnel survey was used to gather in-depth information. Conclusion: The results from the case study indicated three main challenges: internal communication, the need for combined and adaptable leadership, and the observed outcomes from the relation-oriented and task-oriented behaviors.