Background: Firms need to innovate to remain competitive and innovation requires multiple stakeholders to collaborate to successfully identify new opportunities. When unable to meet an interact, we would like to understand how these stakeholders connect and what other impact on innovation performance should be considered when collaborating remotely.  Objectives: The thesis aims to identify underlying management theory and establish a model which will be used to interview employees of suitable firms. The study will then apply the model and strive to validate whether COVID-19 drives innovation and if it can be successfully performed during personal movement restrictions.  Methodology: This study is exploratory and qualitative with 4 propositions based on theoretical models tested against a selected panel of interviewees.  Results: The analysis surfaces that COVID-19 positively impacted employee commitment, competency and satisfaction while balancing employees working remotely. Both employees and firms found themselves more productive, relying on IT systems for incremental simplification of non-value-added activities. All firms did not however convert this momentum to innovation related performance to date. Overall, employees did find it advantageous being able to balance work and life, while firms enjoyed greater productivity.  Recommendations for future research: The link between greater productivity, staff satisfaction and realization of the same deserves additional attention as the scope of this study did not permit further review on an industry and past innovation performance level.  Keywords: performance, innovation, remote work, covid-19, management, productivity

Purpose - In order to capture the implications of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted in-depth interviews with 8 middle level managers employed at a Large Enterprise based in Sweden.  Problem - The influence of the middle managers on change management initiatives is prominent. We conducted this research regarding remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to understand the managerial perspective on the phenomenon.  Method - We have adopted a qualitative research method and utilized social constructivism for the analysis of the interviews. We applied the theories of change management and dynamic managerial capabilities to the empirical data that we collected through in-depth interviews.  Results - The results of the analysis include the middle management perspective on change management, in our case; the impact of switching to remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research has provided us with their subjective perspective on remote work, as well as related issues regarding organizational changes in general. Conclusion - Finally, we reflect on the perspectives that we gained through the interviews and discuss the limitations of this thesis, as well as further research possibilities.

Yes / With the overnight growth in Working from Home (WFH) owing to the pandemic, organisations and their employees have had to adapt work-related processes and practices quickly with a huge reliance upon technology. Everyday activities such as social interactions with colleagues must therefore be reconsidered. Existing literature emphasises that social interactions, typically conducted in the traditional workplace, are a fundamental feature of social life and shape employees' experience of work. This experience is completely removed for many employees due to the pandemic and, presently, there is a lack of knowledge on how individuals maintain social interactions with colleagues via technology when working from home. Given that a lack of social interaction can lead to social isolation and other negative repercussions, this study aims to contribute to the existing body of literature on remote working by highlighting employees' experiences and practices around social interaction with colleagues. This study takes an interpretivist and qualitative approach utilising the diary-keeping technique to collect data from twenty-nine individuals who had started to work from home on a full-time basis as a result of the pandemic. The study explores how participants conduct social interactions using different technology platforms and how such interactions are embedded in their working lives. The findings highlight the difficulty in maintaining social interactions via technology such as the absence of cues and emotional intelligence, as well as highlighting numerous other factors such as job uncertainty, increased workloads and heavy usage of technology that affect their work lives. The study also highlights that despite the negative experiences relating to working from home, some participants are apprehensive about returning to work in the traditional office place where social interactions may actually be perceived as a distraction. The main contribution of our study is to highlight that a variety of perceptions and feelings of how work has changed via an increased use of digital media while working from home exists and that organisations need to be aware of these differences so that they can be managed in a contextualised manner, thus increasing both the efficiency and effectiveness of working from home.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of remote work on employees’ sense of belonging to the organization they work in. The study explores several aspects of remote work and organizational belonging to understand what lies beneath. To reach saturated findings we conducted a qualitative study. The method that this research applies, follows a grounded theory approach which is operated through a combination of an inductive and abductive method for developing theory. The research applicants were located in the Netherlands and Sweden with the context being given as post-COVID-19, with relation to COVID-19. The study has a total of 10 participants, all who were asked identical interview questions. The questions were designed for employees in organizations to capture their insights and recommendations on the effects of remote work on organizational belonging. Our key findings suggest that communication, managerial support, and organizational initiatives are significant in fostering organizational belonging for employees. The implications touch on managers’ responsibility and highlight their ability to promote unity, collaboration, and work-life balance for employees. The conclusion incorporates the findings to give a concise presentation of the importance of remote work dynamics, the effect of remote work on organizational belonging, and lastly, the participant’s recommendation of approaches to enhance employee sense of organizational belonging. The study contributes to understanding the complexities around remote work and its implications for organizational facility and practice, employee well-being and produced efficiency.

Kandidatuppsats i Företagsekonomi III, Organisation 15 hp, 2FE78E, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet i Kalmar. VT 2024. Titel: Distansarbete, en förmån eller en fälla för medarbetarnas hälsa. Författare: Johanna Eriksson och Ella Pettersson  Lärosäte: Linnéuniversitetet Ämne: Organisation Handledare: Anna Larsson Examinator: Mikael Lundgren Problemformulering: Vilka friskfaktorer upplever medarbetare är avgörande för ett hållbart distansarbete? Syfte: Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen och bidra med kunskap om vilka friskfaktorer som medarbetare anser vara mest avgörande för att distansarbete ska vara hållbart. Ett hållbart arbetsliv är av stor vikt i och med att alla människor ska klara av att arbeta utan att bli sjuka eller skadade, vilket stärker syftet för en studie likt denna. Metod: Studien följer en abduktiv ansats med en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi som grund. Det empiriska materialet samlades in genom åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer, där det insamlade materialet analyserats, kategoriserats och tolkats. Studien har även använt en tvärsnittsdesign.  Slutsats: Studien visar att kännedomen om begreppet friskfaktorer är begränsad, särskilt på individnivå. Studien har identifierat tre centrala områden för hållbart distansarbete: ergonomi, kommunikation och autonomi, vilka konstruerats till friskfaktorer vid distansarbete. Historiskt sett har fokus legat på att identifiera riskfaktorer i arbetet, men det finns tecken på ett skifte där intresset för friskfaktorer ökar både på organisations- och samhällsnivå. Vidare visar studien att friskfaktorerna bör förstås i symbios med varandra och inte som fristående faktorer. Däremot framgår det att autonomi verkar ha en större betydelse än de andra friskfaktorerna vid distansarbete. / Bachelor thesis Business Administration III, Organization 15 credits, 2FE78E, School of Economics at Linnaeus University of Kalmar. Spring 2024. Titel: Remote work, a benefit or a trap for employees health. Authors: Johanna Eriksson and Ella Pettersson Institution: Linnaeus University Subject: Organization Advisior: Anna Larsson Examiner: Mikael Lundgren  Research questions: Which health-promoting factors do employees perceive as crucial for sustainable remote work? Purpuse: The purpose of this study is to increase understanding and contribute knowledge about which health-promoting factors employees consider most crucial for sustainable remote work. A sustainable working life is of great importance, as everyone should be able to work without becoming ill or injured, which reinforces the purpose of a study like this. Method: The study follows an abductive approach based on a qualitative research strategy. The empirical data was collected through eight semi-structured interviews, where the collected material was analyzed, categorized, and interpreted. The study also employed a cross-sectional design. Conclusion: The study shows that awareness of the concept of health-promoting factors is limited, especially at the individual level. The study has identified three central areas for sustainable remote work: ergonomics, communication, and autonomy, which have been constructed as health-promoting factors in remote work. Historically, the focus has been on identifying risk factors in the workplace, but there are signs of a shift where interest in health-promoting factors is increasing at both organizational and societal levels. Furthermore, the study shows that health-promoting factors should be understood in symbiosis with each other rather than as standalone factors. However, it appears that autonomy has greater significance than the other health-promoting factors in remote work.

The COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to a massive shift to remote work, which proved to be beneficial to employees as it increased flexibility and well-being. Some organizations this post-pandemic are insisting on a return to the office, differing over preferences for work and revealing the absence of studies on how work arrangements impact employee motivation in the long run. This study aims to understand remote work implications from an individual employee's perspective. Gaining insight into employees' perspectives regarding remote work can yield valuable information concerning the possible opportunities and challenges associated with remote work in a post-pandemic era. In our research design, we used a qualitative research approach that incorporated semi-structured interviews. Ten participants in this study were recruited, and all ten participants worked in the financial industry and were between 31 and 65 years of age. The results have shown that early-career employees prefer the skill development and social benefits of working in the office, while mid-career employees prefer the autonomy of remote work. Remote work also comes with challenges, as some employees feel demotivated working at home. Employees resist return-to-office policies to preserve the flexibility and autonomy of remote work, favoring hybrid models. A large proportion of employees would seek other organizations that offer remote work.

Remote work was already an ongoing trend amongst software developers, but the sudden and unexpected occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic made it normal due to the obligations for many people to stay and work from home.  To go from the safeness of the work office with an always-working Internet connection and colleagues around to exchange ideas with, to working from home can be a big change from one day to another. Without a good structure or adjustment from the organization, this would lead to a decrease in good work results, communication issues and difficulty for managers to keep track of what is done and by whom. To facilitate this, commonly used methods are the Agile Methodologies. Beck et al. (2001) make it significant in the 12 principles of Agile that the most efficient and effective method of conveying information is by face-to-face conversation for the best results. Investigating the work that was done face-to-face previous to the pandemic but is now done remotely from home within agile teams is therefore of much relevance today. This thesis was intended to investigate and learn how the use of agile methodologies has facilitated the sudden transition to remote work from home and affected the aspects of communication and work results within an agile development team. The study was conducted using the qualitative method with interviews consisting of seven open-response and two closed-response questions with respondents in agile teams from a software development company in Sweden. The analysis was made thematically in relation to Bridge’s Transition Model, and in relation to previous research. The study identified three themes to answer the research question based on the theoretical framework; The Change, Communication and Work Results. The results of the study show that the use of Agile Methodologies indeed has simplified the sudden transition to remote work from home, which was called The Change, as many of the agile practices already were done online previous to the pandemic. The study has also concluded that the use of Agile Methodologies has positively affected the aspects of communication and work results in an agile team, as it was found that forms of communication became more creative as they occurred more frequently while working from home, and it ultimately led to more valuable end-results. / Distansarbete var redan en pågående trend bland mjukvaruutvecklare, men den plötsliga och oväntade förekomsten av COVID-19-pandemin gjorde det normalt på grund av restriktionerna för många människor att arbeta hemifrån. Att gå från arbetskontorets säkerhet med en alltid fungerande internetuppkoppling och kollegor runt om för att diskutera idéer med, till att arbeta hemifrån kan vara en stor förändring från en dag till en annan. Utan en bra struktur eller anpassning från organisationen skulle detta leda till en minskning av goda arbetsresultat, dålig kommunikation och svårigheter för chefer att hålla reda på vad som görs och av vem. Vanliga metoder att använda för att underlätta detta är de agila metoderna. Beck et al. (2001) gör det tydligt i de 12 principerna för Agile att den mest effektiva metoden för att förmedla information i ett projekt är genom konversationer face to face, för bästa resultat. Att undersöka det arbete som innan pandemin gjordes face to face men nu görs på distans hemifrån inom agila team är därför av stor relevans idag. Denna studie var avsedd att undersöka och få kunskap om hur användningen av agila metoder har underlättat den plötsliga övergången till distansarbete hemifrån och påverkat aspekterna av kommunikation och arbetsresultat inom ett agilt utvecklingsteam. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av den kvalitativa metoden med intervjuer bestående av sju öppna frågor och två slutna svarfrågor med respondenter i agila team från ett mjukvaruutvecklingsföretag i Sverige. Analysen gjordes tematiskt i förhållande till Bridge’s Transition Model och i förhållande till tidigare forskning. Studien identifierade tre teman för att besvara forskningsfrågan utifrån det teoretiska ramverket; The Change, Communication och Work Results. Resultaten av studien visar att användningen av agila metoder har förenklat den plötsliga övergången till distansarbete hemifrån, eftersom många av de agila aktiviteterna redan gjordes online före pandemin. Studien har också dragit slutsatsen att användningen av agila metoder har påverkat aspekterna kommunikation och arbetsresultat positivt i ett agilt team, eftersom det visade sig att kommunikationsformer blev mer kreativa eftersom kommunikationen blev mer frekvent inträffande när de arbetade hemifrån, och det ledde slutligen till mer värdefulla slutresultat i projekt.

I ett ständigt föränderligt samhälle krävs det att organisationer arbetar för att upplevas attraktiva då det kan leda till konkurrenskraft på marknaden. Covid-19 ställer nya krav på arbetsgivaren som i vissa fall fått införa distansarbete för anställda.  Studien syftar till att beskriva anställdas upplevelser av distansarbete under covid-19 och hur fortsatt distansarbete efter covid-19 är en faktor som de anställda upplever påverkar organisationens attraktivitet. Två forskningsfrågor utvecklas:  1. Vad har anställda för upplevelser av distansarbete under covid-19?2. På vilket sätt är distansarbete efter covid-19 en faktor som anställda upplever påverkar  organisationens attraktivitet?  Tolkningsperspektivet präglar studiens syfte och tillvägagångssätt. Studien genomförs fallspecifikt i en global organisation och en induktiv ansats genomsyrar studien då syftet är utforskande. Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär där semistrukturerade intervjuer använts för insamling av empiri. Vidare används en tematisk analys som metodansats. I Forskningsfråga 1 utvecklas temana: Work life balance, Information, kommunikation och interaktion samt Effekten av distansarbetet. Forskningsfråga 2 består av temana: Flexibilitet efter covid-19 och Flexibilitetens indikationer. Förankring med tidigare forskning skapar en större förståelse för empirin. Slutsatsen är att upplevelserna av distansarbete under covid-19 i det specifika fallet varierar och är individuella. Det framkommer att flexibelt distansarbete efter covid-19 ökar organisationens attraktivitet eftersom det signalera på andra attraktiva faktorer däremot krävs vissa förutsättningar från organisationens sida. / In a constantly changing society, there is a demand for organizations to be seen as attractive as they may develop competitiveness on the market. Due to covid-19 newly formed demands are being established for the employer to follow such as working remotely.  The purpose of the study is to describe the employee's experiences of remote work during covid-19 and how organizations will be perceived as attractive by the employees when offering remote work post covid-19. Two research questions have been conducted:  What are the employee's experiences with remote work? In what way do remote work post covid-19 influence the attractiveness of the organization? Interpretivism is conducted as the paradigm of the study to further carve the purpose and approach. The study is developed through a single case study in a global organization with an inductive approach that permeates the investigation of the purpose. The study is qualitative where semi-structured interviews are used as a collection of empirics. Furthermore, a thematic analysis is used. In the first research question the following themes are developed: Work-life balance, Information, Communication and Interaction and The Effect of Remote work. The themes developed through the second research question follow: Flexibility after covid-19 and the Indications of Flexibility. The previous research creates a greater understanding of empirics. The conclusion reveals that the perception of remote work during covid-19 in the specific case varies and is individualistic. Flexibility in remote work post covid-19 emerges as increasing the attractiveness of the organization. This serves as an indication of other attractive elements however some conditions are required.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:44:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Aline de Campos Goncalves Patini.pdf: 833893 bytes, checksum: 8c0b09589fe6d28a1c8336d92667d80b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-19 / This research tried to understand what the managers challanges of remote workers are. Today, the organizations are in an environment where global transformations occur with great speed due to the industrial revolutions, and especially the technological advances. Such transformations bring several changes to the work, which adhering the flexibility brings alternatives as: home office, the shared centers, the satellite centers, autonomous or outsourced employees etc. In this situation it s possible to find managers who need to work with remote employees. Considering the management processes, such as the selection and training, control of goals achieving, performance appraisal, motivation and plans for title and salary, this scenario brings many challenges to the managers. The base of a relationship between managers and employees is the communication, that is vital to the manager evaluate the employees performance, provide feedback and to outline strategies for professional development of both, himself and the teleworkers. Although the remote working presents great challenges, and that somehow can result in problems for workers, such as reducing workers' rights won during the twentieth century, it also offers benefits to the workers, managers and also for organizations. For the organization, may be the reduction of infrastructure cost, or increased penetration into international markets, allowing greater control and knowledge of local culture. Managers can work through the remote, have a more mature team with more knowledge about the activities carried on, able to self-manage and identify priorities. In your turn, remote workers expand knowledge, improve their skills and their quality of life. Finally, remote working can bring challenges, but also benefits for the organizations, managers, workers and society in general / Esta pesquisa buscou entender quais os desafios encontrados pelos gestores de trabalhadores remotos. Atualmente, as organizações estão inseridas em um ambiente onde as transformações globais acontecem com grande velocidade em decorrência das Revoluções Industriais e principalmente dos avanços tecnológicos. Tais transformações trazem diversas mudanças para o trabalho, que aderindo à flexibilização desse novo cenário tem apresentado alternativas como: o trabalho em domicílio, os centros compartilhados, os centros satélites, os trabalhadores autônomos ou terceirizados etc. Nessas novas modalidades de trabalho podem-se encontrar gestores que precisam realizar suas atividades no processo de gestão de pessoas de maneira remota. Sob o aspecto dos processos de gestão, tais como o de seleção e treinamento, o controle de atingimento das metas, avaliação de desempenho, motivação e planos de cargos e salários, esse cenário traz diversos desafios aos gestores. A comunicação é a base da construção de um relacionamento entre funcionário e gerente, é fundamental para que o gestor possa avaliar o desempenho, dar feedbacks e até traçar estratégias para o desenvolvimento profissional tanto de si mesmo como dos trabalhadores que estão sob sua responsabilidade. Ainda que o trabalho remoto apresente grandes desafios, e que de certa forma possa resultar em problemas aos trabalhadores, como por exemplo, a redução dos direitos trabalhistas conquistados ao longo do século XX, ele também oferecem vantagens aos próprios trabalhadores, gestores e até para as organizações. Para as organização pode haver a redução de custo com infraestrutura, ou maior penetrabilidade em mercados internacionais, permitindo maior domínio e conhecimento sobre a cultura do local. Os gestores conseguem por meio do trabalho remoto contar com uma equipe mais madura, com maior conhecimento sobre as atividades exercidas, capazes de se autogerenciar e de identificar prioridades. Já os trabalhadores remotos ampliam o conhecimento, melhoram sua qualificação e sua qualidade de vida. Enfim, o trabalho remoto pode trazer desafios, mas também benefícios às organizações, aos gestores, aos trabalhadores e a sociedade de um modo geral

La investigación enfoca su objetivo principal en identificar los elementos gráficos del diseño ambiental que intervienen en la productividad aplicada al trabajo remoto. Por lo tanto, se propuso la hipótesis de que los elementos gráficos del diseño ambiental que intervienen en la productividad aplicada al trabajo remoto son el color, la iluminación y los materiales y herramientas visuales. Se llevó a cabo un estudio de tipo transversal descriptivo en el que se analizaron espacios laborales en el hogar impuestos por el contexto de la pandemia. Entre los principales hallazgos se identificó que la mayoría de los espacios examinados son áreas compartidas del hogar. Por lo tanto, existe cierta limitación en la optimización de la aplicación de los elementos gráficos que conforman el diseño ambiental. Sin embargo, aquellos espacios que están determinados para esta actividad tienen mayor flexibilidad para personalizar su espacio, agregar herramientas visuales y la oportunidad de integrar elementos del diseño ambiental. Así, se concluyó que en el marco de la emergencia sanitaria existe dificultad para proyectar un espacio de trabajo en el hogar. Sin embargo, se confirma que los elementos gráficos del diseño ambiental que intervienen en la productividad aplicada al trabajo remoto son el color, la iluminación y los materiales y herramientas visuales, ya que estos deben estar consignados en favor de la optimización de la experiencia de trabajo. / The research focuses its main objective on identifying the graphic elements of environmental design that intervene in productivity applied to remote work. Therefore, it was hypothesized that the graphic elements of environmental design that intervene in productivity applied to remote work are color, lighting, and visual materials and tools. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in which work spaces in the home imposed by the context of the pandemic were analyzed. Among the main findings, it was identified that the majority of the examined spaces are shared areas of the home. Therefore, there is a certain limitation in optimizing the application of the graphic elements that make up the environmental design. However, those spaces that are determined for this activity have greater flexibility to personalize their space, add visual tools and the opportunity to integrate elements of environmental design. Therefore, it was concluded that in the framework of the health emergency there is difficulty in projecting a workspace at home. However, it is confirmed that the graphic elements of the environmental design that intervene in productivity applied to remote work are color, lighting, and visual materials and tools, since these must be consigned in favor of optimizing the work experience. / Trabajo de investigación