Remote leadership implications for middle management : A case study on the transition from the office to remote

Abstract: The covid-19 crisis accelerated the remote work trend and led to a new landscape in business. This sudden shift posed unique challenges for managers and middle managers in particular. Forcing them to adapt their leadership styles and lead their teams remotely. This paper explores the challenges for middle managers imposed by remote work and what is required of them to address them. This is done through a case study on a company's accounting department that has managed to transition to remote successfully. The research takes an inductive, qualitative approach using semi-structural interviews with three middle managers as a data collection method. The challenges are grouped into the themes of communication, team building, trust, technology, management of change, and social aspects. The study concludes that even though some challenges for the middle managers were present in all areas, their teams were well suited for a shift to remote. This was mainly due to low task interdependence, and high self-leadership. Social challenges required regular attention, even though the daily operations worked smoothly.