To stay competitive in today’s business environments companies have to adapt to the fast-changing business conditions. Hereby change management plays an important role; companies and consultants often apply certain change models to plan and implement change projects. The two change models by John Kotter, published in 1996 and 2014 are one of the most famous and most often applied ones. Within this thesis, the authors developed a modified change management model where they developed Kotter’s ideas further and enlarged them with new perspectives that were not included before. Resistance to change is considered in the new approach from a positive perspective, which means that it is seen as an opportunity instead of being an obstacle. Besides that, the modified change model includes several leadership aspects that were neglected in Kotter’s change models. New leadership aspects are reflection, a concrete leadership style, sensemaking, as well as the different leadership characters between female and male leader. Out of these new insights, the authors developed a modified change model, which allows to plan and manage the change project better than before.

Background: To keep up with competitors and the ever-changing business environment, organizations constantly adapt and adjust their strategies. Strategic organizational change is the implementation of change to increase corporate performance and find new competitive advantages. Studies are showing how the majority of change processes fail. This high failure rate is dependent on several different factors. However, one factor which seems to be one of the most common is resistance to strategic organizational change. Resistance is often looked through a negative lens by the management, which can negatively affect the whole change process. Purpose: The primary purpose of this study is to increase the knowledge about resistance to strategic organizational change and explore the field of change management to yield valuable insights to managers' quest to implement change successfully. Research Question: How can understanding the source of resistance be used beneficially by management to improve the managerial decision-making and, therefore, increase the success rate of change implementation? Methodology: A qualitative research method with semi-structured interviews has been adopted. Conclusion: If resistance is not only seen as an obstacle but instead analysed thoroughly by the management it could contribute to an organizational discussion which potentially could improve the quality of the management decision-making and, thus, improve the success rate of strategic organizational change implementation.v

Anställdas motstånd mot interna förändringsprojekt är ett stort hinder som kan påverka framgången hos en förändringssatsning i en organisation (Zwick 2002). Med detta i åtanke kan organisationsansvariga vara intresserade av att lära mer om motstånd mot förändring i interna förändringsprojekt. Utifrån syftet har en preciserad frågeställning utformats: På vilket sätt hanterar projektledare motstånd i interna förändringsprojekt? Därtill har vi inkluderat en delfråga som lyder: Vilka specifika verktyg använder projektledare för att bearbeta eventuellt motstånd? Syftet med att besvara forskningsfrågan ligger i att öka medvetenheten om motstånd i interna förändringsprojekt, samt belysa vilka särskilda verktyg projektledarna använder för att hantera motstånd i interna förändringsprojekt. Vi har valt att utgå från Kotters åttastegsmodell, vilken är en förändringsmodell som beskriver hur man lyckas med förändringsprocesser. Studien är utförd med en kvalitativ metod i form av semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Intervjuerna är utförda i ett landsting och en statlig organisation med totalt sex respondenter. Respondenterna består av projektledare som varit, eller är, verksamma i ett internt förändringsprojekt. Analysen visar att det finns olika sätt att hantera motstånd. Vi har identifierat ett specifikt verktyg, systemiskt möte, som är särskilt anpassat för att hantera motstånd i interna förändringsprojekt. Utöver detta har respondenterna använt traditionella projektledningsverktyg såsom t.ex. intressentanalys och riskanalys samt givit många värdefulla exempel på hur det går att hantera motstånd i interna förändringsprojekt utan specifika verktyg. Studien avgränsar sig till att gälla projektledarens perspektiv och interna förändringsprojekt. Andra typer av projekt som t.ex. produktutvecklings-, marknadsförings-, kundorder-, evenemangsprojekt omfattas inte av denna studie. Vi har valt att även begränsa studien till verksamheter inom offentlig sektor.

This thesis aims to offer practical guidance for organisational change to successfully implement the Digital Product Passport (DPP). Additionally, it aims to identify specific AI-Nudges that can foster the DPP implementation. The DPP, as proposed by the European Commission, is a unified tool designed to capture and store comprehensive product lifecycle data. It should promote sustainability and circularity in products by ensuring traceability, transparency, and accountability across the entire supply chain. Despite its potential, successful implementation of the DPP requires organisational change and overcoming a significant challenge: the Knowing-Doing Gap. This means that knowledge is not translated into action. A qualitative research approach was used with semi-structured interviews with behavioural economics, AI and organisational change experts and thematic analysis. The findings revealed that while many organisations are aware of the DPP, fewer have progressed to actual implementation. The analysis supported the existence of the Knowing-Doing Gap, highlighting barriers such as resource constraints, abstract goals, and insufficient technological infrastructure. To overcome these barriers, Kotter’s 8-Step Model of Change was contextualised, offering actionable steps for organisations, including interdisciplinary collaboration, stakeholder engagement, data management, and establishing new norms. Additionally, the study exemplified specific AI-Nudges that can support the implementation of the DPP. These included a Reminder-Tracking AI-Nudge for the project team and employees, a Data Usage AI-Nudge for project teams, an Decision-Making AI-Nudge for purchasing departments, and a Recommendation AI-Nudge for consumers. As a result, this study provided a theoretical framework and process model for the DPP implementation.

Two different focus groups in primary schools in Uganda participated in this study to investigate critical aspects of usability comparing two different educational mobile applications. The first group was already familiar with both applications, while the second group had no previous experiences of the applications. Furthermore, interviews were performed with a head teacher as well as two CEOs and founders of two start ups developing educational mobile applications for children, in order to investigate challenges with implementation of mobile learning in schools in Uganda. The results showed that one of the applications was not fully compatible with the devices used by the target group and that swiping was perceived less natural than clicking. Regarding organizational factors of implementation in schools, financial limitations and insufficient computer literacy among employees were revealed as critical obstacles. Moreover, improvements of the method used during the user tests with children in foreign contexts are discussed. / I denna studie deltog två fokusgrupper med barn från två olika grundskolor i Uganda för att undersöka kritiska aspekter gällande användarvänlighet genom att jämföra två mobilapplikationer som används i utbildningssammanhang. Den första gruppen var redan bekant med båda applikationerna, medan den andra gruppen var obekant med applikationerna. Vidare undersöktes utmaningar med implementation av mobile learning i grundskolor i Uganda genom intervjuer med en rektor från en ugandiansk grundskola samt två VDs tillika grundare från två ugandianska edTech-start-ups. Resultaten visade att en av applikationerna inte var fullständigt kompatibel med de enheter som användes av målgruppen i Uganda samt att "swipea" uppfattades mindre naturligt än att klicka. Gällande organisatoriska faktorer av implementering i skolorna visades finansiella begränsningar och anställdas otillräckliga datakunskap vara kritiska hinder. Utöver resultaten som ämnar svara på de definierade frågeställningarna diskuteras förbättringar av metoden som användes för användartesterna, i syfte att ge riktlinjer till framtida projekt i liknande sammanhang.