Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur mellanchefer kan hantera motstånd inom offentliga organisationer i samband med organisationsförändringar. Studien ämnar vidare undersöka vilka förutsättningar som mellanchefer behöver från ledningen för att hantera medarbetarnas förändringsmotstånd. Frågeställningar: • Hur använder mellanchefer i offentliga organisationer sitt ledarskap för att hantera förändringsmotstånd? • På vilket sätt påverkas mellanchefer i samband med organisationsförändringar i offentliga organisationer? Metod: I studien har en kvalitativ forskningsdesign använts. Sex stycken semi-strukturerade intervjuer har genomförts på två olika statliga myndigheter. Genom teoretiskt tematisk analys har empiri analyserats. Empirin har kodats utefter relevanta begrepp och teorier. Slutsats: Studien har påvisat att kommunikation är viktigt genom hela förändringsprocessen, både gällande att informera om förändringen och dess betydelse, men också för att möjliggöra att en dialog kan föras med medarbetare kring deras upplevelse av förändringen. Studien har även funnit att medarbetarinvolvering och delaktighet är viktigt men att detta behöver motiveras och mellanchefer behöver även informera om vad delaktighet innebär för att medarbetare ska ha rätt förväntningar. Delaktighet, kommunikation och hanteringsverktyg är delar som myndigheter behöver arbeta med på olika nivåer. Detta för att mellanchefer ska kunna ha rätt förutsättningar för att kunna hantera motstånd i förändring. / Purpose: The purpose is to examine how middle managers can manage resistance in state agencies. The purpose is also to examine the conditions middle mangers need to manage employees’ resistance to change. Research questions: • How does middle mangers use their leadership in managing resistance to change in state agencies? • How does organizational change in state agencies affect middle managers? Method: The authors conducted a qualitative method for this study. The authors preformed six semi-structured interviews with middle managers working in two different state agencies. Empirical evidence has been analyzed through theoretical thematic analysis. The empirical data was coded along relevant concepts and theories. Conclusion: The need of communication is very important through the whole change process. Communication in this case includes both giving information about the change but also to give employees the opportunity to express their feelings about the change. It is also important for middle managers to involve employees in the change. The involvement needs to be motivated and middle managers also need to communicate what employees can expect from their involvement. Involvement, communication and strategies for dealing with resistance to change are vital parts that needs to be handled on all levels in the organization.This is important because it will enable the right conditions for middle managers to handle resistance to change.

Tidigare forskning har visat att det finns mellanchefer som anser att deras arbetsrelaterade stress är relaterad till krav från både över- och underordnade (Skagert, Dellve, Eklöf, Ljung, Pousette & Ahlborg, 2004). Syftet med den föreliggande studien var att i en offentlig organisation undersöka om mellanchefers upplevda arbetskrav från över- och underordnade har samband med deras upplevda arbetsrelaterade stressnivå. Följande frågeställning formulerades: I vilken grad kan upplevda arbetskrav från överordnade, underordnade, ålder och antal år som mellanchef predicera grad av upplevd arbetsrelaterad stress. Deltagarna i studien var 63 mellanchefer, varav 52 kvinnor och 11 män. Resultatet visade att upplevda arbetskrav från underordnade var den enda oberoende variabeln som statistiskt signifikant predicerade uplevd arbetsrelaterad stress. Antal år som mellanchef hade en negativ statistiskt signifikant korrelation med upplevd arbetsrelaterad stress. Dessa resultat var delvis i linje med presenterad teori och tidigare forskning. / Previous research has shown that middle managers believe that their work-related stress is connected to the demands from both superiors and subordinates (Skagert, Dellve, Eklöf, Heather, Pousette & Ahlborg, 2004). The aim of the present study was to in a public organization investigate whether the middle managers perceived job demands from superiors and subordinates are related to their perceived work-related stress level. The following research question was formulated: To what extent can the perceived job demands from superiors, subordinates, age and number of years as middle manager predict levels of perceived work-related stress. Participants in the study consisted of 63 middle managers (52 women and 11 men). The results showed that perceived job demands from subordinates were the only independent variable that statistically significantly predicted perceived work-related stress. Number of years as middle manager had a negative statistically significant correlation with perceived work-related stress. These results were partially in line with the presented theory and previous research.

<p>The possibility to be able to better manage the Swedish public health care has been a focus from way back to the middle of the 20th century. This study focuses on a middle managerial position called Base-unit Executive Officer, which we feel is of great influence to the public health care. Because of the changes to the public health care organisations over a long period of time we find it important and interesting to research a managerial role in the midst of these changes. By going through information containing opinions, attitudes, and other information from employees within a CCDO we will try to enlighten what we feel are informational currents of opinions surrounding the notion of competence, leadership and management. The purpose of our study is to be able to help create an environment of open reflections and new ideas of what sort of competencies are required for the manager role.</p><p>The study is defined by our research problem which give use the following question:</p><p>What room is there for a broader comprehension of what kinds of competencies are desirable and useable in the role as a Base-unit Executive Officer?</p><p>To be able to interpret the primary data of the study a theoretic framework was created in the purpose to function as a tool for continuation of the study. The study was done with the use of hermeneutical paradigm together with a compromise between deductive and inductive approach.</p><p>The primary data of the study was collected with a qualitative method through semi-structured interviews with six employees of whom three were Base-unit Executive Officers. The reason for the use of a qualitative method was that it gives us conditions to gather the opinions, thoughts, values etc. of the respondents.</p><p>By merging the tools of our theoretic framework and the collected data we were able to establish an analysis. We concluded that the analysis consisted of both congruence and discrepancy related to our theoretical framework. The discrepancy showed that there exist a room for a broader comprehension of what kinds of competencies are desirable and useable in the role as a Base-unit Executive Officer. There is room to develop the comprehension of competence in areas such as management and leadership as defined by our theoretical framework.</p><p>Because of our path between deductive and inductive approach the reader should carefully evaluate the truth criteria in the study. Validation in the inductive sense is a tough task for a short and small study such as this one. We do however believe that give our preconditions have reached an acceptable level in the truth criteria. When taken into practical application we have hope that our initial thoughts of enlightment will enable a positive development of the managerial role of the Base-unit Executive Officers.</p>

The possibility to be able to better manage the Swedish public health care has been a focus from way back to the middle of the 20th century. This study focuses on a middle managerial position called Base-unit Executive Officer, which we feel is of great influence to the public health care. Because of the changes to the public health care organisations over a long period of time we find it important and interesting to research a managerial role in the midst of these changes. By going through information containing opinions, attitudes, and other information from employees within a CCDO we will try to enlighten what we feel are informational currents of opinions surrounding the notion of competence, leadership and management. The purpose of our study is to be able to help create an environment of open reflections and new ideas of what sort of competencies are required for the manager role. The study is defined by our research problem which give use the following question: What room is there for a broader comprehension of what kinds of competencies are desirable and useable in the role as a Base-unit Executive Officer? To be able to interpret the primary data of the study a theoretic framework was created in the purpose to function as a tool for continuation of the study. The study was done with the use of hermeneutical paradigm together with a compromise between deductive and inductive approach. The primary data of the study was collected with a qualitative method through semi-structured interviews with six employees of whom three were Base-unit Executive Officers. The reason for the use of a qualitative method was that it gives us conditions to gather the opinions, thoughts, values etc. of the respondents. By merging the tools of our theoretic framework and the collected data we were able to establish an analysis. We concluded that the analysis consisted of both congruence and discrepancy related to our theoretical framework. The discrepancy showed that there exist a room for a broader comprehension of what kinds of competencies are desirable and useable in the role as a Base-unit Executive Officer. There is room to develop the comprehension of competence in areas such as management and leadership as defined by our theoretical framework. Because of our path between deductive and inductive approach the reader should carefully evaluate the truth criteria in the study. Validation in the inductive sense is a tough task for a short and small study such as this one. We do however believe that give our preconditions have reached an acceptable level in the truth criteria. When taken into practical application we have hope that our initial thoughts of enlightment will enable a positive development of the managerial role of the Base-unit Executive Officers.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the managers’ perspective on leadership in relation to the motivation of the employees by an example of a manning and recruitment agencies. This is implemented by framing of two questions; What kind of leadership can be identified by middle managers to motivate their employees? Which motivation factors are relevant to employees based on the perspective of the managers? To answer the question and identify leadership strategies and motivational factors and the relationship in between, we have conducted eight interviews with persons who hold a middle management position. Through a qualitative investigation we have been able to go into depth and had access to these managers reflections, thoughts and experiences. The study is deductive and based on two theories; Two Factor Theory (Herzberg, 1959) and internal and external motivation (Deci &amp; Ryan, 2000). The study also takes into account previous research on motivation and leadership such as adults' motivation for learning and training (Ahl, 2006), the transformative leadership (Guthenberg, 2011), recognition of motivation (Hansen and Hermansson, 2013), and indications of what creates a good workplace (Lindberg and Vineyard, 2012). We have, using empirical data, developed and identified categories based on two themes, leadership and motivation, to answer our question. Empirical evidence shows that the developed categories commitment and presence, leadership coaching, individual and situational leadership, reward, daily work and corporate culture/relationships go hand in hand and are necessary to achieve good leadership to increase motivation. By this we mean that the involvement and presence, coaching, personalised and situational leadership are central to achieve what we have distinguished to be good leadership. While the reward, the daily work and the corporate culture and the relationships within the organisation are essential parameters to get motivated employees based on the manager's approach. We can also see that these two themes are related and interdependent. Based on empirical data, we perceive that the organisation we studied the good leadership is resulting in better conditions for motivated employees.

Bakgrund: Ur den kritik som sedan 50-talet formulerats mot den byråkratiska “mekaniska” organisationsformen har en utveckling mot mer “organiska” organisationsformer skett. Detta har tillsammans med den tekniska utvecklingen, som under de senaste årtiondena fortskridit, kommit att förändra många verksamheter. Begreppet post-byråkrati har i många sammanhang blivit ett samlingsnamn för dessa nya organisationsformer. Även om organisationer i mångt och mycket framhålls som mer post-byråkratiska, alltså flexibla, nätverkande och decentraliserade, finns det argument för att särskilt mellanchefers arbete och roll inte har förändrats i samma utsträckning och att byråkratin upprätthålls. Det talar för att det förekommer ett glapp mellan föreställning och verklighet. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att beskriva hur ett post-byråkratiskt chefsbeteende gestaltas i organisationer som utger sig för att vara post-byråkratiska. Metod: Studien har genomförts med utgångspunkt i en kvalitativ forskningsansats där semistrukturerade intervjuer och observationer har tillämpats. Detta eftersom syftet var att studera fenomenet på djupet snarare än att producera numerisk data och se samband. Respondenterna utgjordes av sex mellanchefer från två olika organisationer, tre chefer från respektive organisation. Urvalet av organisationerna baserades på ett antal uppställda kriterier. Resultat/slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att ett post-byråkratiskt chefsbeteende gestaltas som en hybrid mellan byråkratiska och post-byråkratiska kännetecken. Denna kombination gör sig synlig i alla studerade områden inom chefsbeteendet, såsom kommunikation, kontroll/styrning, beslutsfattande, ledarskapsstil och det interpersonella. Dock visar studien att beteendet hos de studerade mellancheferna tenderar att vara övervägande post-byråkratiskt. / Background: From the criticisms that have been formulated against the bureaucratic "mechanical" organizational form since the 1950s, there has been a development towards more "organic" forms of organization. This has along with the technological development, which has continued in recent decades, changed many enterprises. The concept of post-bureaucracy has in many contexts become a collective name for these new organizational forms. Although organizations are widely regarded as more post-bureaucratic, for example being flexible, networking and decentralized, there are arguments that the work and role of middle managers has not changed in the same extent and that bureaucracy is maintained. A gap between assumption and reality seems to occur. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe how a post-bureaucratic managerial behavior is embodied in organizations claiming to be post-bureaucratic.Method: The study has been carried out on the basis of a qualitative research approach. Semi-structured interviews and observations have been applied, since the purpose was to study the phenomenon in depth rather than produce numerical data and compare different results with each other. The respondents consisted of six middle managers from two different organizations, three managers from each organization. The selection of organizations was based on a number of criteria. Results/Conclusion: The results of the study show that a post-bureaucratic managerial behavior is regarded as a hybrid between bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic characteristics. This combination is visible in all of the studied areas in managerial behavior, such as communication, control, decision-making, leadership style and the interpersonal. The study shows that the behavior of the studied middle managers tends to be predominantly post-bureaucratic.

Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka på vilket sätt mellanchefer upplever att medarbetarenkäter kan vara ett verktyg för förändring och utveckling med utgångspunkt i kartläggning av den psykosociala arbetsmiljön. Medarbetarenkäter är ett diskuterat ämne som rymmer olika åsikter. Utifrån syftet har tre frågeställningar formulerats: Med fokus på den psykosociala arbetsmiljön, Vad anser mellanchefer är syftet med medarbetarenkäter?, Hur upplever mellanchefer att resultatet av medarbetarenkäterna tas om hand och används i förändringsarbetet? samt Vilken roll får resultatet av medarbetarenkäter i arbetet med att driva förändringsprocesser, enligt mellancheferna? Studien är kvalitativ och har genomförts genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Det empiriska materialet är baserat på intervjuer med sju mellanchefer i omsorgsförvaltningen, där samtliga har minst tre års erfarenhet av att arbeta med medarbetarenkäter som verktyg. Teorier som används är Kurt Lewins förändringsmodell samt Karaseks &amp; Theorells (1990) krav-kontroll-stödmodell. Dessa används för att förstå det empiriska materialet och sätta studien i en vetenskaplig kontext.  Studiens resultat visar att mellanchefer upplever att syftet med medarbetarenkäter är att fånga upp medarbetarnas åsikter, att mäta den psykosociala arbetsmiljön, att fungera som en temperaturmätning och ett komplement till andra verktyg. Vidare beskriver många att syftet uppnås om chefen arbetar med den på rätt sätt, vilket inte alltid görs. Resurser som tid och pengar påverkar och stoppar ofta arbetet med medarbetarenkäterna. Vidare upplever många av respondenterna att hur resultatet av medarbetarenkäterna tas om hand beror på hur de själva, cheferna, kommunicerar ut syftet, resultatet samt hur de får medarbetarna engagerade i processen. Efterarbetet och eget ledarskap har en stor betydelse i respondenternas upplevelse kring hur enkäten faktiskt leder till förändring och utveckling på arbetsplatsen. Det verkar även vara chefen som är den som är ansvarig för att en förändring ska ske även om det är ett samspel med medarbetarna. / The purpose of this study is to investigate the way in which middle managers feel that employee surveys can be a tool for change and development based on the psychosocial work environment. Employee surveys are a discussed topic that contains different opinions. Based on the purpose, three questions have been formulated: With a focus on the psychosocial work environment, what do middle managers think is the purpose of employee surveys?, How do middle managers feel that the results of the employee surveys are taken care of and used in the change work? and What role does the result of employee surveys play in the work of running processes, according to the middle managers? The study is qualitative and has been conducted through semi-structured interviews. The empirical material is based on interviews with seven middle managers in the care administration, all of whom have at least three years' experience of working with employee surveys as a tool. Theories used are Kurt Lewin's change model and Karasek´s &amp; Theorell's requirements-control-support model. These are used to understand the empirical material and put it in a scientific context. The results of the study shows that middle managers feel that the purpose of employee surveys is to capture the employees' opinions, function as a yardstick for the psychosocial work environment, that is, function as a temperature measurement and a complement to other tools. Furthermore, many describe that the purpose is achieved if the manager works with it in the right way, which is not always done. Resources such as time and money often affect and stop the work with the employee surveys. Moreover, many of the respondents experience that how the results of the employee surveys are handled depends on how they, the managers, communicate the purpose, the results and how they get the employees involved in the process. The follow-up work and own leadership are of great importance in the respondents' experience of how the survey actually leads to change and development in the workplace. It also seems to be the manager who is responsible for a change to take place even if it is an interaction with the employees.

Background: Research in digital transformation has previously focused on understanding top management and operational roles but the role of middle management has rarely been examined. This despite several studies showing that the middle manager has a central role in change processes. A few studies have shed light on how the middle manager influence and contribute to digital transformation, however, there are few empirical studies that examine how the middle manager works to drive change in digital transformation. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create a deeper understanding about middle management’s role in digital transformation.  Methodology: This is a qualitative case study of a company in household services. It is based on five semi-structured interviews and a literature review. The study has adopted an abductive approach. Conclusion: The study shows that the middle manager acts as a connecting link between management and operational level. The results show that middle managers drive change in digital transformation by identifying problems and business opportunities, initiating change, interpreting and translating management language for employees, promoting and raising ideas from the operational activities and following up and modifying change processes to achieve better results. They have the opportunity to do this because of their intermediate position in the organization. / Bakgrund: Forskningen inom digital transformation har tidigare fokuserat på att förstå lednings- och operativa roller, men till stor grad negligerat mellanchefsperspektivet. Detta trots att flera studier belyst att mellanchefen har en central roll i förändringsarbete. Ett fåtal studier har undersökt hur mellanchefen influerar och bidrar till digital transformation. Däremot finns det få empiriska studier som undersöker hur mellanchefen faktiskt arbetar för att driva förändring inom digital transformation. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att skapa djupare förståelse för mellanchefens roll i digital transformation. Genomförande: Detta är en kvalitativ fallstudie av ett företag inom hushållsnära tjänster. Den utgår från fem semistrukturerade intervjuer samt en litteratur genomgång. Studien har antagit en abduktiv ansats. Slutsats: Studien visar att mellanchefen fungerar som en förbindelselänk mellan ledning och operativ nivå. Resultaten visar att mellanchefer driver förändring i digital transformation genom att identifiera problem och affärsmöjligheter, initiera förändring, tolka och översätta ledningens språk för medarbetare, främja och lyfta idéer från den operativa verksamheten och följer upp och modifierar förändringsprocesser för att uppnå bättre resultat. De har möjligheten att göra detta på grund av deras mellanliggande position i organisationen.

Pandemin Covid-19 resulterade i en tiofaldig ökning av distansarbete i Sverige under 2020. Detta medförde att många mellanchefer behövde utöva sitt ledarskap i en ny kontext,nämligen på distans. Distansledarskap är ett relativt nytt men redan omfattande forskningsområde. Däremot förhåller sig denna forskning inte till ledarskap som abrupt och oplanerat behöver ställa om till distansledarskap. Dessutom utgår mycket av tidigare ledarskapsforskning från ett ledningsperspektiv och inte mellanchefsperspektiv. Syftet med denna studie mynnade därför ut i att söka förståelse för hur mellanchefens ledarskappåverkats av omställningen till distansarbete. För att uppnå syftet formulerades tre forskningsfrågor: (1.) Hur upplever mellanchefen att ledarskapet gentemot den operativa personalen har utmanats i och med omställningen till distans? (2.) Hur har mellanchefen anpassat sitt ledarskap för att ta hänsyn till utmaningarna som uppstått? (3.) Vilka aspekter är viktiga att beakta för att leda på distans? Studien baseras på en kvalitativ metod innefattande sex semistrukturerade intervjuer. Respondenterna är mellanchefer närmast den operativa personalen som ställt om till distansarbete under 2020. Den framkomna slutsatsen är att samtliga upplevda utmaningar och anpassningar därefter kan relateras till hälsa, relationskapande och kommunikation. Dessa tre aspekter framkom som viktiga för en mellanchef att beakta då de ska ställa om till ett distansledarskap. Denna studie bidrar med djupare förståelse kring hur mellanchefers ledarskap påverkats av den hastiga omställningen till distansledarskap som Covid-19 resulterade i. Detta är användbart för framtida mellanchefer som ska genomföra en liknande distansomställning. / The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a tenfold increase in remote working in Sweden year 2020. This induced that many middle managers had to exercise their leadership in a new context, namely remotely. Remote leadership is a relatively new but already extensive research area. However, this prior research does not account for leadership that abruptly and unplanned must transit to remote leadership. Additionally, most prior leadership research focus primarily on a top management perspective, thus not on a middle management perspective. The purpose of this study therefore culminated in seeking understanding of how middle managers' leadership has been affected due to the transition to telework. To fulfill the purpose, three research questions were constructed:  (1.) How does the middle manager perceive that their leadership towards the operational staff has been challenged due to the transition to remote work? (2.) How has the middle manager adapted its leadership in regard to the challenges? (3.) What aspects are important to consider when leading remotely?  This study is based on a qualitative method and includes six semi-structured interviews. The respondents are all middle managers closest to the operational staff and have transitioned to remote work in 2020. The conclusion that emerged is that all perceived challenges and the leadership adaptions in regard to the challenges can be associated to health, relationship building and communication. These three aspects are important for middle managers to consider when transiting to remote leadership. This study contributes with deeper understanding of how middle managers ́ leadership has been affected by the rapid transition to remote leadership that Covid-19 induced. This is useful for middle managers who make a similar transition to remote work in the future.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka och analysera mellanchefers upplevelse kring press i sin arbetsroll- från såväl ledning som medarbetare. Studien besvarar två frågeställningar; (1) Hur upplever mellanchefer den press som ställs på dem från ledning samt medarbetare? (2) Hur kan mellanchefer hantera den upplevda pressen från ledning samt medarbetare? Den kvalitativa studiens syfte har besvarats genom sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med mellanchefer från olika branscher samt olika städer inom Sveriges gränser. Det empiriska materialet har tematiserats och analyserats med hjälp av tidigare forskning inom området, samt Job-demands resources modellen (JD-R). Resultatet visar att arbetsrollen mellanchef är mycket komplex och innebär mer jobb än vad som står i arbetsbeskrivningen, då det “osynliga” arbetet är av stor karaktär. Det finns ett enormt behov av stöd som främjar arbetet och låter mellanchefer hantera pressen, vilket inte erbjuds om inte individen ber om det. Andra kollegor och mellanchefer omkring sig som finns till hand för diskussion och “bollplank” underlättar också arbetssituationen. / The study aims to examine and analyze middle managers' experience of pressure in their work role - from both management and employees. The study answers two questions; (1) How do middle managers experience the pressure placed on them from management and employees? (2) How can middle managers handle the perceived pressure from management and employees? The purpose of the qualitative study has been answered through six semi-structured interviews with middle managers from different industries and different cities within Swedish borders. The empirical material has been thematized and analyzed with the help of previous research in the field, as well as the Job-demands resources model (JD-R). The results show that the work role of middle manager is very complex and involves more work than what is stated in the job description, as the “invisible” work is of a great nature. There is a huge need for support that promotes the work and allows middle managers to handle the press, which is not offered unless the individual asks for it. Other colleagues and middle managers around him who are on hand for discussion and sounding boards also facilitate the work situation.