Abstract  Background: Crisis management has become a highly relevant topic by virtue of the COVID- 19 pandemic. As a result, organizations have been forced to implement preventive actions to mitigate its impact. One of these implementations has been the enforced advancements for companies to readjust their businesses remotely. With remote working being a rather seldomly used practice for most organizations, managers are encouraged to enact and adopt quickly for their business to continue.  Purpose: This thesis aims to explore how managers of Swedish manufacturing firms handle organizational crises in a remote-working environment.  Method: This research follows a qualitative research method with an abductive approach. The findings are retrieved from conducted semi-structured interviews with eight managers in two different companies, which is then connected to relevant literature.  Conclusion: Findings show of great importance for managers to focus on communication with their employees. Implications of the crisis are ambiguous. Manufacturing firms in Sweden have experienced increased productivity at the expense of their employee’s well-being. Given that the future point towards increased usage of remote working, it is crucial for managers to focal their business on combining the benefits with the drawbacks and thereby successfully adjust to a digital working environment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has in many ways changed how we live our lives. As a means to decrease the risks, working at a distance is now common for most employees during the pandemic. A problem that has arisen is getting overall information on how employees well-being and productivity has been affected by the new forced work environment. The primary part of this study is to identify the current effects of remote work on employees at an engineering consultancy company, active in the field of consulting engineering, environmental technology and architecture in Sweden through a web-based survey and compare the results to previous studies on the subject of remote work. A secondary objective of this study was to develop a smartphone application with the goal of increasing the physical activity of employees currently working from home. A secondary part of this study was to identify a problem specific to remote work, and to come up with a technical solution to the problem through prototyping, development and testing. The survey's results revealed that Sweco management (where the survey was conducted) provided sufficient resources in order to preserve and enhance the general well-being of its workers who currently work from home, but they struggled to distinguish work and home life, as do many others in similar circumstances. Respondents also reported a higher workload and less physical exercise during the work day. Employees at the company reported higher levels of well-being and productivity than participants in other international studies. Although the company has taken precautions to improve the working conditions of its workers, further research into the subject is encouraged to see whether they stand out in their investment in their employees' well-being or whether they are simply following the pattern set by other businesses in the same sector.

This study aims to examine how the shift from analog to remote work, as a result of digitalization, has affected performance monitoring in organizations and impacted management control systems. Earlier studies within the subject show that a shift results in a reduction in performance monitoring or that classical performance monitoring are replaced with electronic performance monitoring (EPM). In order to examine how performance monitoring changes as a result of the shift and if management control has gotten tighter or looser, this thesis has been based on four semi-structured interviews that were held with managers from three different Swedish organizations. The shift to remote work shows tendencies of a loosening of control in the organizations and to compensate for the loss, managers have implemented different Electronic Performance Monitoring (EPM) systems. The most common EPM systems implemented were video meetings, but other EPM systems were also implemented such as online monitoring. But managers still experience an overall loosening of control as a result of the shift to remote work. Trust seems to be a factor that becomes more important as a result of the shift and seems to have a mitigating effect on the degree of EPM systems the managers choose to implement.

Psykoterapeuterna i denna studie gick från att träffa sina patienter på en mottagning, till att distansarbeta online i Mars 2020. Förändringen var såväl påtvingad som plötslig och innebar ett nytt sätt att arbeta, vilket förde med sig utmaningar såväl som lärande. Denna flermetodsstudie som bygger på en enkät, följd av fem semi-strukturerade intervjuer och har haft för avsikt att undersöka dels hur deltagarna uppfattade och hanterade förändringen, dels vilket informellt lärande den resulterade i. Vidare har den även haft som syfte att undersöka om distansarbetet påverkat eventuella implicita psykologiska kontrakt mellan patienter, psykoterapeuter och arbetsgivare. Det insamlade materialet har sammanställts och resultatet har presenterats i relation till tidigare forskning, samt analyserats med hjälp av Michael Erauts typologi av olika typer av informellt lärande. Studien visar att trots initialt motstånd har merparten av deltagarna, på egen hand, funnit sätt att anpassa eller utveckla sitt tidigare arbetssätt till det nya formatet. Sociala kontakter har spelat en viktig roll för att bearbeta förändringen och nyfikenhet inför det nya har visat sig vara en positiv komponent medan upplevd isolering har varit negativ. Vidare framkommer att det sociala respektive psykologiska kontraktet till såväl arbetsgivare som patient har påverkats av förändringen, om än inte alltid på liknande sätt. / Psychotherapists in this study went from seeing clients face to face to working online, remotely from one week to another in March 2020. The change was obligatory as well as sudden and the new way of working brought challenges, but also learning. This mixed method study has through a survey, followed by five semi structured interviews, attempted to learn more about the participants attitudes to the change, how they handled the new situation and the informal learning that took place as a result of it. Furthermore, the study also looks at the effect that working remotely has had on any potential implicit psychological contracts between client, psychotherapist and employer. The result of the study was first presented in relation to previous research, then analysed with the help of Michael Eraut’s Typology of Informal Learning. The study shows that the majority of the participants have in spite of initial resistance, independently found ways of adapting their way of working, or develop it, to suit the new situation. Social contacts have played an important role in processing the change and curiosity has been a positive component whereas perceived isolation has been detrimental. The social and psychological contract to employer as well as client is found to have been affected by the change, though not in similar ways.

This thesis explores the role of social media in communal coping. Specifically, it explores the role of Twitter in the communal coping with stressors affecting a global population due to the COVID-19 pandemic disease, with the purpose of answering the main research question: How is Twitter being used as a platform for online coping with the common stressor of involuntary teleworking from home during a pandemic? Through a mixed methods analysis of Twitter content collected from two weeks in April 2020, this thesis examines how Tweeters are connecting with each other through the hashtag #workfromhome in order to cope with stressors involved with working remotely from their homes. Using sensitized concepts from theoretical frameworks and prior studies of coping, a hermeneutic approach to social science was adopted in the research. Qualitative and quantitative content analysis was performed in several rounds of iterative process coding. The results of this thesis suggest that in the context of COVID-19 Tweeting is itself part of the coping process. Further, online coping strategies can first and foremost be recognized as communal. In answer to the main research question, Twitter is being used as a platform for communal coping orientation, communication about the stressor, and cooperative action. With the changing nature of work and the ongoing uncertainty concerning the long-term implications of COVID-19, the direction of this thesis and its findings may assist organizations and stakeholders alike in understanding the impact of involuntary remote work on individuals. Lastly, the findings open up new opportunities for research within the field of studying online coping efforts.

Research question: How do employees perceive how managerial coordination impacts their job satisfaction?  Purpose: The main purpose in this study is to explore the effects of managerial coordination on employee job satisfaction on Information technology (IT) companies in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic. The inclusion and need of remote working and digitalisation encouraged the need to have more coordination within the companies for better job satisfaction. Therefore, this study aims to shed light on how employees are feeling/felt about the level of coordination they receive through the lenses of their job satisfaction. Method: Quantitative methods of data analysis were used in the research, and the data was analysed using SPSS to identify the correlations between the two variables in the study. Conclusion: This study was undertaken because of the researchers’ interest in determining the impacts of the level of perceived managerial coordination on employees’ job satisfaction. It was based on the employees’ perceptions of the level of coordination they received during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the authors of this study provide insight into the impacts of perceived managerial coordination on employee job satisfaction. According to the findings, employees were most satisfied with their jobs. Most job dissatisfaction was found in the areas of salary and promotions.  Organisations should implement an equitable system of promotions and offer competitive and livable wages in their organisation to address these areas of dissatisfaction.

Background: Remote work has in recent years been adapted by many organizations and are described to challenge the traditional managerial role. Simultaneously, generation Z are taking an increasingly large part of the labor market and bring new behaviors to organizations and managers. The combination of a remote working environment with a new generation workforce implies for a changing management situation, something a manager needs to consider. However, there is insufficient research that puts these aspects in relation to each other and recognize this changing management situation. Moreover, this thesis has a focus on motivation and loyalty due to the recognition of potential challenges for a manager within these areas.  Purpose: The practical situation generated by generation Z and remote work is not sufficiently dealt with in literature. It has failed to provide knowledge concerning how managers in a remote working environment manage their generation Z employees. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to increase the understanding of the changing management situation that is created by generation Z that works remotely.  Method: A qualitative research design has been applied to fulfill the purpose of this thesis and has been guided by an abductive approach. 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted and a thematic analysis has been utilized to interpret and analyze the empirical material. Conclusion: This thesis found four main challenges that can arise in this changing management situation which are interaction with the employees, creating and maintaining relationships, stimulating individualism and personal development, but also to convey the feeling of being significant and balancing freedom with oversight. It also presents practices managers can use to face these challenges which are to find suitable ways to interact, prioritize social activities and strengthen connection to the company brand, nurture personal growth, providing recognition and autonomy. Additionally, the changing management situation is complex where several different parts are intertwined and affect each other. It was also found that as a manager, leadership qualities with a transformational leadership style is to be preferred when approaching this changing management situation.

Bakgrund: Under de senaste åren har världen genomgått stora förändringar vad gäller utvecklingen av teknologin samt möjlighet till distansarbete. En faktor till detta är bland annat spridningen av viruset Covid-19 som i sin tur står till grund för coronapandemin samt dess restriktioner viruset bidrog med. Samtliga organisationer påverkades på ett eller annat sätt av viruset och dess medföljande pandemi, däribland banker. Trots en återgång efter coronapandemin har en del organisationer valt att bibehålla en form av distansarbete, bland annat organisationer såsom banksektorn. Genom tillämpning av distansarbete samt implementering av nya teknologier i samband med digitala utvecklingen påverkas chefer i den mån att deras kommunikationsflöde mellan sig och sina medarbetare förändras. Faktorer till kommunikation som förändras i och med distansarbete innefattar bland annat att gå miste om kroppsspråk samt förbindelsen mellan chef och medarbetare.  Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att studera hur den digitaliseringens utveckling samt distansarbetet i samband Covid-19 pandemin har påverkat kommunikationsflödet mellan chefen och medarbetarna inom bank. Metod: Den metod som är vald för studien är kvalitativ metod vilket genomförs genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Slutsats: Gentemot andra branscher hanterar bankbranschen samhällets betalningssystem och kapital vilket innebär att det krävs mer försiktighet vid implementering av nya teknologier för banker. Detta resulterar i att det tar längre tid för bankorganisationer att tillämpa ny teknologi och digitala plattformar i jämförelse med andra branscher. Studien visar på att chefer och medarbetare upplever att kommunikationsflödet inte är densamma som för några år sedan. De nya tillvägagångssätten för kommunikation innefattar skapandet av möjlighet för digitala videomöten internt samt externt, snabb och effektivt tillvägagångssätt för utskick av information. De mest förekommande utmaningarna vid distansarbete innefattar att chefen får större ansvar till att vara mer tydlig och noggrann vid utskick av information till sina medarbetare, detta för att minska risken för feltolkningar. Utöver detta skapar distansarbete svårigheter för chefer att hålla koll på medarbetares mående. Detta eftersom det är svårare att se hur en medarbetare som jobbar på distans mår i jämförelse med när de arbetar på plats.

Till följd av den pandemi som covid-19 orsakade ställde många arbetsplatser om till distansarbete på grund av de råd och rekommendationer om hemarbete. Nu, i en tid efter pandemin, alternerar många mellan arbete hemifrån och på arbetsplatsen, så kallat hybridarbete. Detta ställer nya krav på arbetstagare, men framför allt på chefer. Syftet med denna studie är således att få en fördjupad förståelse för chefers upplevelser av att leda arbetstagare på den hybrida arbetsplatsen. För att uppfylla syftet bearbetades följande forskningsfrågor fram; ”hur ser cheferna på hybridledarskap jämfört med ledarskap enbart på distans och enbart på plats?” och ”hur upplever cheferna ledarskapsprocessen kopplat till den sociala arbetsmiljön?”. Studien har en kvalitativ forskningsansats och sju semistrukturerade intervjuer har tillämpats som insamlingsmetod. Det insamlade materialet har analyserats utifrån det teoretiska ramverket som består av situationsanpassat ledarskap, tillitsbaserad styrning och ledning samt social arbetsmiljö.  Resultatet visar att cheferna inom de två studerade organisationerna upplever att det är enkelt att leda arbetstagarna på den hybrida arbetsplatsen. Det framkommer att detta tycks bero på att de är vana vid att leda enbart på distans och att det har lett till en ökad tillit som är till fördel under det rådande hybridarbetet. Vidare tycks även hybridarbetet möjliggöra bättre individanpassning, där cheferna kan erbjuda en högre grad av flexibilitet än någonsin tidigare. Resultatet påvisar också att den fysiska arbetsplatsen är av stor betydelse för den sociala arbetsmiljön samt att det finns några utmaningar med hybridledarskapet som bör uppmärksammas.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka ledarskap på distans och urskilja skillnader från traditionellt ledarskap i en svensk storbank. Covid-19 penademin förändrade storbankens förutsättningar och tvingade fram en strukturförändring från kontors baserat arbete till distansarbete. Studien utforskar hur förutsättningar för arbetet hos medarbetare och ledare inom storbanken påverkats. Vidare identifieras risker och utmaningar med virtuellt ledarskap i samband med distansarbete. Frågeställningarna som ligger till grund för studien lyder följande “På vilket sätt har ledarskapets förutsättningar förändrats från arbete på kontor till arbete på distans” samt “Hur kan ledare anpassa sig för att kunna leda medarbetare på distans?” Arbetsmarknaden har utvecklats snabbt och i samband med den digitala utveckling har nya arbetssätt tillkommit. Pandemin påskyndade utvecklingen ytterligare och på grund av restriktioner tvingades organisationer ändra arbetsstruktur för att kunna fortgå. Distansarbetet medförde helt nya förutsättningar samt risker och utmaningar för ledare. Genom att identifiera förutsättningar inom distansarbete samt urskilja skillnader mellan traditionellt ledarskap och virtuellt ledarskap kan man möta risker och utmaningar i distansarbetet. Ledare kan få bättre förutsättningar och en ökad förståelse om hur man leder medarbetare på distans. Det empiriska underlaget har samlats in genom intervjuer och respondenter som legat till grund för dataunderlaget är anställda inom storbanken. Av totalt åtta respondenter har sex stycken rollen som ledare och två medarbetare. Den teoretiska referensramen har legat till grund för vår analys av dataunderlaget. Resultatet indikerar på att ledare behöver strukturera en interaktionsplan med medarbetare som arbetar på distans. En individualisering av sociala utvärderingar kan tillgodose medarbetarens behov efter stöd och motivation. Utöver dessa insatser är det viktigt att ledare implementerar sociala icke arbetsrelaterade aktiviteter för att skapa gemenskap och stärka relationer inom organisationen. / The aim of the study is to examine remote leadership and distinguish differences from traditional leadership in a swedish bank. The pandemic known as covid-19 forced the swedish bank to organizational structure change from office based work to remote work. The study investigates how coworkers and leaders in the swedish bank were affected as their conditions in the bank changed to virtual leadership. Furthermore identifying risks and challenges with virtual leadership in a remote working environment. The issue for the base of this study is “In what way have the conditions for leadership changed fromwork in the office to remote work” and “How can leaders adapt to lead employees remotely?” The labor market has developed rapidly and in connection with digital development, new working methods have been added. The pandemic further accelerated development and due to restrictions, organizations were forced to change their workstructure in order to survive. Remote work brought completely new conditions as well as risks and challenges for leaders. By identifying conditions in remote work and distinguishing differences between traditional leadership and virtual leadership, one can meet risks and challenges. Leaders can get better conditions and an increased understanding of how to lead employees. The empirical data has been collected through interviews and respondents who formed the basis for the study are employees of the Swedish bank. Out of 8 respondents, 6 are employed as managers and 2 employees at the major bank. The theoretical frame of reference has formed the basis for our analysis of the empercial data. The results indicate that leaders need to structure an interaction plan with employees who work remotely. An individualization of social evaluations for employees can satisfy the employee's need for support and motivation. In addition to these efforts, it is important that leaders implement social non-work-related activities to create unity and strengthen relationships within the organization.