In this study I aim to examine how flexible work conditions affect gendered norms in the workplace and in the family constellations, and through this knowledge contribute to how organizations can increase their awareness about gendered norms. The theoretical framwork is based off West and Zimmermans theory Doing Gender, with compliments from Joan Acker andthe theory of inequality regimes. The study is based of 7 semi-structured interviews with women who have flexible working conditions evolving their ability to control time, space and implimentation in thei work.  The results show that flexible work conditions can have a catalyzing effect on gendered practices in organizations. This is presented by the way the women in this study chooses to use the time they "save" buy flexible working conditions, which is mainly used for family affairs and childcare. Also by the way women express guilt towards family and work when they can´t meet the avaliability demands from the private sphere and the work sphere. Although the women in this study does not experience external expectations to take more responsibility around the home and children, it is still expressed buy them as "natural" since they have more time. This shows that the doing of gender is present in these actions. It is not based on rational divisions between men and women but rather the socially constructed idea of women being more suited for domestic work. Organizations contribute to the doing of gender by being unaware of how these norms can be reproduced through flexible working conditions. Organizations keep feeding the norm of the ideal worker which functions as a gendered process. It´s important for organizations to increase their awareness of this phenomenon in order to create structures which will promote flexible working conditions as something for everyone and not only women. I believe this study can contribute to that awareness and help organizations to start reflecting on the doing of gender in their workplace.

One of the most common office designs is the traditional office. As the technology has developed, it has enabled a new office design to evolve, the activity-based office. The activity-based office is more flexible and the employees get greater freedom in terms of being able to decide where, when and how they want to perform their tasks. As the employees work largely independently and take own responsibility for their tasks, the leader has reduced control compared to the traditional office. To get a well-functioning activity-based workplace, trust must be created between the leader and employees as this is a presumption for good business relationships. The purpose of the study is to get a deeper understanding of how trust is created between a leader and the employees in the activity-based workplace. Trust is something that is created mutually, and our study is based on three trustbuilding qualities, ability, benevolece and integrity. To collect the empirical data two semistructured interviews with Skanska and Vasakronan were performed. The conclusion of our study is that trust in an activity-based workplace is created by the factors; Presence, independence and own responsibility, communication, responsiveness, attention, caring, openness and honesty, competence and respect. Trust does not differ at a traditional office compared to an activity-based, but trust gets a different meaning depending on which office design that is utilized. / Ett traditionellt kontor är en av de vanligaste kontorsutformningarna, där medarbetarna har en fast sittplats och kan utföra sina uppgifter koncentrerat. I takt med att teknologin utvecklats har nya kontorsutformningar växt fram. En av dessa kontorsutformningarna är det aktivitetsbaserade kontoret som är mer flexibelt och öppet än det traditionella kontoret. De anställda har inga fasta sittplatser utan väljer sittplats utifrån vilka uppgifter de har för dagen, det gör således att individerna har en stor frihet att bestämma var, när och hur de ska utföra sitt arbete. I och med denna frihet blir det svårare för ledaren att få samma kontroll och ledaren måste istället förlita sig på att medarbetarna utför sina uppgifter på ett korrekt sätt. Det aktivitetsbaserade arbetssättet innebär således att medarbetarna måste ta ett stort eget ansvar och kunna arbeta självständigt. Syftet med studien är att få fördjupad förståelse för hur förtroende skapas mellan ledare och medarbetare på en aktivitetsbaserad arbetsplats. Förtroende är något som skapas ömsesidigt och definieras som ett attribut för ett förhållande mellan två utbytespartners. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten för hur detta förtroende skapas baseras på begreppen välvilja, integritet och förmåga. Välvilja handlar om lojalitet, att som medarbetare och ledare hjälpa varandra men också visa omtanke. För att kunna göra detta krävs det en närvaro från ledaren och detta underlättas på den aktivitetsbaserade arbetsplatsen då ledaren sitter ute bland medarbetarna. Integritet och andra sidan handlar om att en person gör det som den har sagt att den ska göra. På det aktivitetsbaserade kontoret betyder det att ledaren förväntar sig att medarbetarna utför sina arbetsuppgifter på ett korrekt sätt trots att ledaren har minskad kontroll. Den sista faktorn förmåga behandlar i vilken utsträckning en part uppfattas ha den kompetens som gör det möjligt för personen att ha inflytande inom ett visst område. Ledaren måste förvänta och förlita sig på att medarbetaren har den kompetens som krävs för att utföra sina uppgifter självständigt. Till vår studie har vi haft semistrukturerade intervjuer med två företag, Skanska och Vasakronan. Skanska är ett byggföretag som utvecklar, bygger och underhåller fysiska levnadsmiljöer. Vasakronan är inom fastighetsbranschen och äger, förvaltar och utvecklar kontor och butiksfastigheter. Slutsatsen av vår studie är att förtroende på en aktivitetsbaserad arbetsplats skapas genom närvaro, självständighet och eget ansvar, kommunikation, lyhördhet, uppmärksamhet, omtanke, öppenhet och ärlighet, kompetens och respekt. Förtroendet skiljer sig inte på ett traditionellt jämfört med ett aktivitetsbaserat men förtroendet får en annan innebörd beroende på vilken kontorsutformning som används.

Todays digitized society have open up for new types of office arrangements and possibilities of working from home in a higher extend. This thesis is based on the flexible working culture that is increasing, which means more personal responsibility regarding ergonomic and environment conditions as well as artifacts needed for a well equipped workplace outside the traditional office. Furniture dealers are having a new approach as open office hubs and home office environment are increasing with new needs. This project contains of a small investigation of which artifacts are needed and wanted from a customer perspective in the home environment due to these new behaviors.  This thesis will as well show the outcome and process of one product in a collection of 5 stationary objects. The name of the project is as well the name of the collection. This project consists of two main objectives, customer orientation and product development.

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of working women when they announce their pregnancies, take maternity leave, transition back to work, and utilize flexible work policies. Using a qualitative methodology, transcripts of in-depth interviews were analyzed utilizing a life history approach. Key findings of the study are that women perceive more negative responses to the announcement of their pregnancies than positive ones. In terms of maternity and parental leave policies, all the participants had access to these benefits. Women found issues with financial adequacy, administration, and duration of these policies. Mothers found that financial support from the Canadian government was inadequate to allow them to take the full duration of the 52-week maternity and parental leave for which they were eligible. In addition, employer “top-up” payments were limited and administrative details of maternity leave were often not discussed fully with pregnant workers. When women returned to work, they found that workplaces did not offer resources such as a phased-in return to work or personnel to help them re-engage with their prior work projects. Women discussed the challenges of managing their dual roles of worker and mother and found that managers and coworkers put them in a mommy mould which lessened the quality of their assignments. New mothers found that they had difficultly juggling their work and home responsibilities, finding time for themselves, and receiving increased domestic support from their spouses. While some workplaces offered women flexible workplace policies, not all mothers chose to access them as they found these policies often negatively impacted their career progression. Other issues were a lack of flexible workplace policy transparency, inconsistent manager support, and difficulty maintaining a flexible schedule. Findings have major implications for an improved response from managers upon pregnancy announcement, improved dialogue among employers about increasing “top up” maternity leave pay to new mothers, developing a formal transition plan for new mothers returning to the workplace, and expanding the use of flexible workplace policies.

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of working women when they announce their pregnancies, take maternity leave, transition back to work, and utilize flexible work policies. Using a qualitative methodology, transcripts of in-depth interviews were analyzed utilizing a life history approach. Key findings of the study are that women perceive more negative responses to the announcement of their pregnancies than positive ones. In terms of maternity and parental leave policies, all the participants had access to these benefits. Women found issues with financial adequacy, administration, and duration of these policies. Mothers found that financial support from the Canadian government was inadequate to allow them to take the full duration of the 52-week maternity and parental leave for which they were eligible. In addition, employer “top-up” payments were limited and administrative details of maternity leave were often not discussed fully with pregnant workers. When women returned to work, they found that workplaces did not offer resources such as a phased-in return to work or personnel to help them re-engage with their prior work projects. Women discussed the challenges of managing their dual roles of worker and mother and found that managers and coworkers put them in a mommy mould which lessened the quality of their assignments. New mothers found that they had difficultly juggling their work and home responsibilities, finding time for themselves, and receiving increased domestic support from their spouses. While some workplaces offered women flexible workplace policies, not all mothers chose to access them as they found these policies often negatively impacted their career progression. Other issues were a lack of flexible workplace policy transparency, inconsistent manager support, and difficulty maintaining a flexible schedule. Findings have major implications for an improved response from managers upon pregnancy announcement, improved dialogue among employers about increasing “top up” maternity leave pay to new mothers, developing a formal transition plan for new mothers returning to the workplace, and expanding the use of flexible workplace policies.