Leadership and the effects of remote work : A case study of a Nordic insurance company
Abstract: Digitalization and technological development have created an opportunity to modernize traditional office-based workplaces. The Covid-19 pandemic became a breaking point when forcing companies to work remotely, which led to them being organizationally unprepared. Although several aspects of organizations were affected by this shift, this study focuses on leadership where the aspects of communication, self-leadership, coaching and control are examined. The first aim of this study is to address how leadership within organizations has been affected by this forced transition. The second aim is to provide guidelines on how to lead effectively when working remotely and reduce the negative effects. A qualitative exploratory study with a multi-method research design is done to fulfill the aim and answer the research questions. The study uses a Nordic insurance company as a case company. The qualitative research consists of semi-structured interviews with leaders and followers from the case company as well as leaders from benchmarked companies. The results are supported with quantitative research consisting of a survey towards the case company. The findings show that all examined aspects are affected, where the difficulties in digital communication become the foundation to the majority of negative effects and necessary changes. Leaders within the case company adapt to these changes differently depending on their leadership style, type of lead team and awareness of the effects. It is concluded that leaders have to devote more time to their followers when leading remotely to fulfill the needs of their followers.
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