Reactive remote leadership - In disruptive times.

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Reactive remote leadership -

In disruptive times.

Master’s Thesis 30 credits

Programme: Master’s Programme in

Business and Management

Specialisation: International Business

Department of Business Studies

Uppsala University

Spring Semester of 2021

Date of Submission: 2021-06-02

Bejna Bazancir

Jennie Österberg

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to our supervisor Christine Holmström Lind from the Department of Business Studies at Uppsala University, who has, throughout the process, provided us with constructive feedback and guidance. Further, we would like to thank our fellow students who, through seminars, have provided valuable comments which have contributed to the development of this thesis. Additionally, we would like to acknowledge all the helpful support from Gudrun Baldvinsdottir from the Department of Business Studies at the University of Gothenburg. Last yet not least, we would like to give a special thank you to the participating managers at LeasePlan, whom without, the findings of this thesis would not have been possible. Thank you! Uppsala, 2nd June 2021

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ABSTRACT

The worldwide Covid-19 pandemic caused lockdowns in countries across the globe and forced organizations to conduct remote work solutions, contributing for challenges to arise. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate main challenges related to remote leadership caused by external disruptions. Further, this study has conceptualized remote work conditions and distinguishes between remote leadership derived from proactive changes and reactive changes to create the concept of “proactive remote leadership” and “reactive remote leadership”. A qualitative and exploratory method was applied through semi structured interviews, with nine managers at a global organization named Leaseplan. The empirical findings from the data collection discovered noticeable differences in challenges between the two remote leadership concepts. Main challenges found within reactive remote leadership which had not been highlighted in previous studies focusing on remote leadership were organizational silos, information sharing, transparency, workload, employee wellbeing and motivation. The findings suggest that it is important for both scholars and managers to put context to leadership to find nuanced challenges but also opportunities.

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3.2.3 Secondary data 18 3.3 Data analysis 18 3.3.1 Limitations 19 3.4 Research Ethics 19 4. EMPIRICAL FINDINGS 20 4.1 Operational challenges 21 4.1.1 Technology issues 21 4.1.2 Organizational silos 22 4.1.3 Workload 22 4.1.4 Transparency 23 4.1.5 Information sharing 24 4.2 Relational challenges 24 4.2.1 Communication 24 4.2.2 Misunderstandings 25 4.2.3 Trust 26 4.2.4 Employee well-being 26 4.2.5 Motivation 27 5. DISCUSSION 28

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5.2 Challenges common to proactive and reactive remote leadership 29 5.3 Challenges found in reactive remote leadership 31

6. CONCLUSION 33

6.1 Concluding remarks 33

6.2 Future research 34

7. REFERENCES 36

8. APPENDICES 42

Appendix 1- Interview Guide 42

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1.INTRODUCTION

This chapter will introduce a background to the subject of the thesis, followed by identified problematization of remote leadership. Further, this section will also outline the purpose of conducting a study in the area, followed by the research question and disposition.

1.1 Background

Organizations of today encounter an increasingly complex and dynamic environment (Bell & Kozlowski, 2002). When environmental settings are discussed in a business context, the significant effects on organizations are generally recognized from both a local and global scope. Such settings may refer to political, social, and economic circumstances; ecological factors, such as an outbreak of pandemic disease, could have a considerable impact on organizations (Kourteli, 2000).

At the end of 2019, a new virus was confirmed, namely Covid-19. The virus spread fast from its origin in Wuhan, China. It resulted in a worldwide pandemic, with consequences never experienced in the modern world (Folkhälsomyndigheten, 2020). The spread of the virus subsequently caused lockdowns in countries across the globe, which meant people in many cities were restricted from moving outside their residences. The extent of restriction varied between cities, regions, and countries. Thus, many offices, universities, and schools worldwide were forced to close in exchange for remote solutions (BBC, 2020; Forsberg, 2020). As such, many societies' ways of operating changed drastically. Many argue that in the aftermath of the pandemic, the perspective on how we will work in the future will change (Karlsson, 2020). Evidence points at global organizations being compelled to restructure their operations through limiting workspace and improving information and communication technology (ICT). As a result, organizations have identified cost benefits by limiting the space needed for each full-time employee (FTE), creating an incentive for remote work conditions (Goksör, 2020).

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Slack in the US indicated that 73 percent of the respondents would prefer to implement a hybrid remote office model (Slack, 2020). Global organizations such as Twitter, Shopify, Unilever, and Groupe PSA have informed their employees that they will be able to work from home indefinitely if preferred by the individual (Graham, 2020; McLean, 2020; Jolly, 2021). Factors such as flexibility, work-life balance, and productivity are positive outcomes associated with remote work, which could prompt employees to choose to continue working from home (Turits, 2020).

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, remote work solutions appeared to grow within global organizations. Since 1970 the improvement of technology and continuing globalization of large organizations also required flexibility in terms of employment and geographic location to keep up with competitors (Leonardi, 2021; Ferreira, Pereira, Bianchi & da Silva, 2021). In a study from 2006, 79 of the top 100 employers allowed their employees to work from home at least 20% of the time (Neufeld, Wan & Fang, 2008). However, fewer than 6% of Americans worked primarily from home before 2020 (Leonardi, 2021). Prior to 2020, remote working seemed to be a proactive decision made to serve task and project-oriented activities within organizations to increase flexibility (Neufeld et al., 2008). Thus, indicating that remote work before and after Covid-19 was motivated by contrasting changes.

1.2 Problematization

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leaders can enact unreasonable expectations from a group or individual in consequence of trust issues (Parker, Knight & Keller, 2020)

The pandemic has brought significant disruptions followed by challenges in organizations with an indication to be somewhat permanent. As previously mentioned, it is demanding for managers to lead employees when working remotely. In their study, Parker et al (2020) found that 40% of leaders experience low self-confidence in their role when working remotely. Although working remotely is not a new phenomenon, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused disruption and forced organizations to react to changes. Thus, a conceptualized framework will be created for this study to explain how previous experience of working remotely can be seen as a decision making due to proactive changes within an organization. Meaning, proactive remote leadership is followed by a decision made at the management level. In previous studies, virtual team is the used terminology for remote work, which often describes teams working remotely due to a particular project or to fulfill ad-hoc functions (Neufeld et al., 2008). On the contrary, Covid-19 has forced managers to restructure daily operations by moving staff from an office environment to remote setups. This is a change that is reactive to external impacts and will, in this thesis, be called reactive remote leadership. The two various remote leadership concepts are of different nature, and the challenges that leaders have encountered during reactive remote leadership are yet to be discovered. Since previous studies on remote leadership have a clear focus on proactive circumstances, it becomes urgent for organizations to understand what challenges can arise from reactive remote leadership and when a whole organization is primarily working from home.

1.3 Purpose

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the findings of this study will not guide to temporary solutions. Instead, leaders within global organizations can use the findings to navigate long-term transformations and mitigate challenges that arise when the majority of an organization is primarily working from home. To conclude, this research aims to contribute knowledge to remote leadership theories and for managers to recognize the main challenges with reactive remote leadership to stay relevant and effective in a time of changes.

1.4 Research question

The aim of this study will be to put remote leadership in a context of reaction rather than strategy and to answer the following research question:

What are the main challenges with reactive remote leadership?

1.5 Disposition

The disposition of this thesis is shown in figure 1 below. As presented, the thesis will begin with an introduction consisting of a background, problematization, and purpose, followed by the research question. Moreover, a theoretical framework will ensue, with previous research on the subject presented, along with a conceptualization. The methodology used in this thesis is found in the third section, outlining methods used for the data collection and coding. Further, in the fourth section, empirical findings are presented. A discussion of the empirical findings is presented in the fifth section. The final section is a conclusion of the thesis, along with

suggestions for future research.

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2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter aims to present previous studies made in leadership to explain the gap between research and practice further. First, an overview of leadership, in general, will be presented, followed by challenges identified. Secondly, a conceptualized framework of remote leadership will set the context of this thesis. Finally, challenges associated with proactive remote leadership will be outlined.

2.1 Leadership

Leadership plays a vital role in employee performance and how to meet organizational targets, and as of its importance has also been widely studied among researchers. Traditionally, leadership is performed FtF as human interaction has historically prevailed in technology. In addition to the magnitude of studies performed on leadership, there are also several different approaches and styles, traditional and contemporary. As there are different leadership approaches, there are various definitions of the meaning of leadership and management. Broadly, this thesis will apply the perspective of Northouse (2018).

“Leadership is a process where an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. “Northouse, 2018

Leadership can also be further divided into different hierarchical levels of management within an organization, from lower to senior level. Some researchers have indicated that leadership styles may differ across hierarchical levels. Such styles are most commonly directive, consultative, participative, and delegative (Bass, Valenzi, Farrow & Solomon, 1975). According to some research, mid-managers tend to use a more directive style, meaning that managers start with describing a problem, followed by presenting suggestions and conditions. Thereafter, employees decide on how to proceed with solving a problem (Schedlitzki & Edwards, 2017).

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2.1.1 Operational challenges in leadership

Leaders across functions and organizations are met by various challenges. On an operational level, organizational silos are found to be a notion which occurs in many companies and institutions (Forsten-Astikainen, Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, Lämsä, Heilmann & Hyrkäs, 2017). It is characterized by suboptimal decision-making and thinking. Meaning, employees in one department do not interact with other departments regarding important information sharing (Hernandez, 2017).

In contemporary organizations, co-functioning transformations are highlighted by the profoundness of cross-functional activities to achieve agile projects and operations (Hernandez, 2017). Organizational silos often occur when information sharing is transferred mainly from senior management to junior employees (Forsten-Astikainen et al., 2017). Such information can, according to Barua, Ravindran and Whinston (2007), prevent departments from sharing objective goals if there are steep hierarchies within an organization.

Organizational silos are also an effect of non-transparency within an organization, which may derive from department goals not being aligned with each other or the company. Such absence of transparency is argued by Goleman et al (2008) to be non-accidental. Instead, it is systematically built within an organization. When a leader encounters such structure, it can be challenging to govern and mitigate as it is often developed from a more central level of the organization.

2.1.2 Relational challenges in leadership

Researchers on the subject agree on the pivotal role leadership has in motivating employees. Further, it is also evident that employee motivation is eminent with organizational performance (Diskiene, Pauliene & Ramanauskaite, 2019). However, for a leader to consistently manage to motivate a group of employees is an art that can, in many situations, be found challenging. Furthermore, there are many aspects which a leader needs to consider regarding employee motivation. Diskiene et al (2019) also highlight the link between a leader's intellect and employee motivation.

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employees and depends much on their personal situation, which is not always visible to a manager. Moreover, leadership that promotes social exchanges among employees has positively impacted job satisfaction and employee well-being (Baptiste, 2008).

2.2 Remote leadership

Remote work appears to grow within global corporations. The continuing globalization of large corporations also requires flexibility in employment and geographic location to keep up with competitors (Ferreira, Pereira, Bianchi & Da Silva, 2021). When the physical distance is removed between a team and a manager, new challenges and expectations arise for the manager (Antonakis, 2002).

When a leader manages through communication mitigated by technological devices and across geographical distances, it is denominated as remote leadership (Kelloway et al., 2003). Leaders in a remote environment depend on technology-based communication tools, various platforms such as Zoom, Google Hangout, and Microsoft Teams. Such tools allow leaders to communicate and accommodate changes to employees as a result of the physical distance. To successfully ensure that employees stay committed and efficiently working from a distance, remote leaders will also need to be motivational and inspirational (Hackman & Walton, 1986).

Arguably, remote work in a former context has been an alternative to organizations that strive for the ability to choose ideal employees for a specific position, such as those with previous experience or specific expertise (Bell et al, 2002). A remote team is a group in which members work interdependently without physical, time, or organizational boundaries (DeRosa, Hantula, Kock & D’Arcy, 2004). Therefore, remote teams allow organizations and employees to be more flexible and is a development of organizations expanding geographic dispersion (Pape, 1997; DeRosa et al., 2004). The concept of remote teams began to receive scholarly attention during the 90s when the global market became more competitive, and the need for both expansion and specialized employees grew (Bell & Kozlowski, 2002; DeRosa et al., 2004).

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exist and be stimulated by driving forces such as globalization, possible financial profits, and informatization of industries (Ferreira et al., 2021).

2.2.1 Conceptualization of remote leadership

The context of remote leadership plays a crucial part in this study. As previously mentioned, remote leadership is not a new phenomenon. However, this study aims to conceptualize a framework of remote leadership by setting context, implying that previous studies on remote work apply to teams that benefit from a virtual environment. Either through a project which requires expertise found globally, has a strict time limitation, or a scarcity of resources for organizations to allow global travel. Thus, such remote leadership will occur from proactive changes. On the contrary, this study argues that organizations that have not intentionally chosen to commence remote work conditions instead of being forced due to environmental circumstances might experience different challenges. Going forward, such a phenomenon will be recognized as reactive remote leadership. Figure 2 shows a visualization of this conceptualization. Further, the below section of this chapter will identify challenges derived from remote leadership due to proactive changes, also proactive remote leadership. The challenges derived from remote leadership due to reactive changes, also reactive remote leadership, will be identified in the empirical findings chapter of this thesis.

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In the section below, identified challenges from previous research in remote leadership will be presented. These challenges derive from proactive changes as a common denominator, thus, implying that such transformations have been proactive decisions made by senior management. Also, figure 2 shows how leadership may result in remote leadership through either proactive or reactive changes, followed by potential challenges which may also differ.

2.3 Findings from previous research

This literature review seeks to compile important aspects of remote leadership challenges to this thesis. Further, this section aims to identify and describe previous researchers' findings of key challenges subsequent to remote leadership. Related challenges were identified by themes to streamline the literature, make it more accessible for collecting primary data, and add structure to the thesis. Further, the themes were divided into two categories, operational and relational. Themes belonging to operational challenges emphasize routines and processes rather than individuals and emotions, which are the characteristics found in relational challenges.

2.3.1 Operational challenges in remote leadership

For leaders to manage remote teams successfully, they need to effectively blend people, processes, and technology (Brady & Prentice, 2019). According to Avolio et al (2014) remote leaders can influence their employees greater through serving rather than directing, as it is more suitable for ICT team collaboration. Further, remote leadership plays a crucial part in structuring communication usage and frequencies. If a leader uses a more directive approach, communication among team members will be obscured and hinder team performance (Korzynski, 2013).

Although FtF interaction has been the primary way of communication in human history, ICT has become a vital tool for teams to interact without any restriction to global location and may improve team performance (DeRosa et al., 2004). The importance of technology in remote work conditions is of many aspects. However, the enclosed processes also need to function in order for ICT to sustain team performance. Furthermore, while functioning, ICT can increase team performance, it may also, on the contrary, hinder team performance if the technology fails to meet expected standards.

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issues have been ICT level of standard and user knowledge and performance. Such challenges may hinder team development functions which require both functioning technology, adequate knowledge, and access to users (Graen & Wakabayashi, 1994; Foster & Coovert, 2000).

Additionally, Bell and Kozlowski (2002) found that when a certain technology is applied and used within a particular area of the task, it is crucial that the technology used matches the task at hand. Otherwise, the ineffectiveness of that task may occur, which might also set off a domino effect on the remaining processes. Ineffectiveness can occur if the ICT used does not match the assigned task. In some circumstances, written communication could be misinterpreted and cause mistakes or delays in completing a task.

Theme Definition Source

Technology issues “The virtual team is affected by the match between the tasks and the used communication technology that the team uses. Since the used

communication tool has to be suitable for the tasks.”

“Remote work also presents some management concerns. Organizations may struggle to control technology issues as often times part of what is used is not under their control (workers’ home infrastructure).”

Bell & Kozlowski (2002)

Ferreira, Pereira, Bianchi & da Silva (2021)

Technology access “Communication becomes more challenging due to differences in culture, language and access to technology. Non FtF communication also reduces the verbal, social and status cues.”

DeRosa, Hantula, Kock & D’arcy (2004)

Team development functions

“It is challenging to develop team functions when virtual teams have different values and work differently.”

Graen & Wakabayashi (1994)

Table 1. A summary of operational challenges found in previous research

2.3.2 Relational challenges in remote leadership

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Non-verbal communication comprises every aspect of your body language, including posture, facial expressions, and body gestures. All these features are important in social contexts as it is argued that they convey messages superior to verbal communication. Paraverbal communication refers to messages transmitted during verbal speech with the tone, pitch, and pacing of the voice (Malhotra, Majchrzak & Rosen, 2007). In a business context, this can be useful when a message of importance needs to be conveyed from a leader to an employee, as these social cues reinforce messages. As mentioned, there are various ways of communicating remotely. When putting leadership into a remote context, the non-verbal communication reduces instantly, subsequently causing challenges with reduced communication. Although some social cues might still be conveyed through video calls, FtF interactions are argued to be superior. Meanwhile, paraverbal communication is more accessible in remote leadership as it can also be transmitted during phone calls and video calls. However, written communication such as email and chats is left without using social cues to reinforce messages, which leads to both misunderstanding and negative communication (Davis & Bryant, 2003).

Trust is based on the notion of vulnerability, and as lack of physical observations hinders social cues, the readiness to such exposure may be defected (Avolio & Dodge, 2000; Keyworth & Leidner, 2002). Thus, leaders must become creative when structuring the utilization of team members so that expectations can be observed virtually (Malhotra et al., 2007). If actions are not made explicit, there will be a risk for trust-based issues to arise.

Building trust when working remotely is complex and can be one of the hardest challenges to achieve from a leader's perspective. Building trust is hard to create in remote environments simply because human beings build trust through social cues combined with daily interactions. When trust issues arise within a team, it rapidly affects other task-related aspects, such as communication. Crucial for building trust in a remote environment is to gain team reliability, meaning employees sense that they can impact and rely on each other (Brady & Prentice, 2019).

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leader's message due to losses in social cues, the relationship between leaders and employees is affected negatively. This also affects a leader's ability to influence employees, which can cause further legitimacy issues (Kelley & Kelloway, 2012)

Theme Definition Source

Communication “Team members tend to have communication issues, and tend to make more inaccuracies, when they are using computer-mediated

communications.”

“The effect of the leadership performance is negatively affected by the geographic distance between the leader and the follower, since working on distance creates limitations, for interpersonal communication between the follower and leader.”

Foster & Coovert (2000)

Podsakoff (1984)

Misunderstandings “Misunderstandings are more likely to occur over emails as it is not as easy to convey problem solving or complex and emotional messages.”

“As a result, virtual team communication through computer mediated communication systems (CMCS) may appear out of context and without focus resulting in lost meanings, distortion, and misinterpretation of information”

Davis & Bryant (2003)

Kayworth, Leidner & Mora-tavarez (2002)

Trust “In virtual teams, trust is an important factor that is usually underrated, since leaders working remotely consider that building trust remotely is one of the harder challenges. “

“In virtual teams, trust is often based on action rather than goodwill. “

“The lack of social context may hinder the way of building trust.”

“Trust is defined as the willingness to be vulnerable and can be considered a factor which makes a team greater than the sum of its parts. It becomes challenging in remote leadership as direct supervision is not feasible.”

Brady & Prentice (2019)

Malhotra, Majchrzak & Rosen (2007)

Kayworth & Leidner (2002)

Avolio & Dodge (2001)

Legitimacy “Leader legitimacy may be reduced, as well as social context cues which affects perceived power and influence”

Kelley & Kelloway (2012)

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2.4 Conclusion of theoretical framework

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3. METHODOLOGY

The following section gives an outline of the thesis research process. First, a description of the research design will be given, followed by the research strategy, sample selection, and data collection. Finally, the limitations and ethics of the research will be presented.

3.1 Research Design

This study aims to investigate challenges with reactive remote leadership. For this, a qualitative and exploratory research design was chosen. A qualitative approach is often preferred when pursuing understandings for processes, observations, and concepts (Bryman & Bell, 2019). For this reason, it was decided that such an approach would be applicable when collecting primary data for the study through interviews. To seek further understanding of the challenges, this study will be conducted through exploratory research. Such design can be helpful when assessing a phenomenon in a new light or for further insights (Saunders et al., 2009). As previously mentioned, this study acknowledges that remote leadership is a widely discussed subject, particularly in terms of challenges. However, the aim is to conceptualize and distinguish between remote leadership in a reactive environment from a proactive environment. Further, exploratory research allows room for flexibility and adaptation without the deficiency of direction (Saunders et al., 2009).

3.1.1 Research Strategy

An abductive approach has been applied to the study. During the process of writing, the strategy was to successively move back and forth between theory and findings from the primary data collection. This strategy allowed a gradual understanding to grow (Bryman & Bell, 2019). Further, categories and thematization have been applied to the literature findings, which has created a structure for the thesis, yet leaving a window open to new findings by the open-ended questions in the interview guide.

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they may provide little basis for generalization. However, Yin also argues for case studies to be generalizable on theoretical propositions rather than empirical populations or universes, which in this case is the conceptualization of remote leadership.

The choice of a case-based study as a research strategy was mainly formed upon three decisions. Firstly, the notion of studying contemporary events rather than historical, as remote leadership is a current subject of an issue amongst organizations. Secondly, by interviewing respondents from the same organizations, the outcome would be more applicable to theoretical propositions. Meaning, one can assume that the work conditions remain the same for all respondents. Lastly, the case approach reduces the risks of collecting diluted information (Yin, 1994).

3.1.2 Sample selection

3.1.2.1 Case selection

The choice of company for this case-based study was made by applying purposive sampling technique, as such technique is suggested to be propitious when there is a limited number, for this occasion, a single case-based study (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2009). The main criteria were that the company had to meet the study's objectives and be accessible for the duration of the study. Moreover, the objective of this study is to identify leadership challenges within a global organization that has substantially been affected by the current pandemic. Most critical was to find a company that was available throughout the research period, thus Leaseplan was selected as a case company.

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The selection of respondents is of great importance for the data collected to contribute relevant findings to the study (Bryman & Bell, 2019). Therefore, a set of criteria were established before sourcing respondents. First, an email was sent out to all of the company’s HR Directors within the Nordic countries, requesting them to suggest suitable managers given the set criteria found below. These candidates were already notified and had agreed to participate in an interview before scheduling a virtual meeting through Microsoft Teams as it was the platform used within the company. The criteria for the respondents to meet in order to be able to participate in the study were:

1. The first criteria were that the respondent held a mid-manager role within a LP country. Because operational and relational challenges are the main focus of the thesis.

2. Having a minimum of four employees reporting directly to them. This criterion was set as a minimum to ensure that the manager occupied a leadership role.

3. Having their whole team exposed to remote work since March 2020. As some countries and departments within LP had more access to the office due to the nature of their work.

The respondents selected worked in different departments within the organization and different country subsidiaries within the Nordics, such as Finland, Denmark, and Sweden.

3.2 Data Collection

3.2.1 Primary Data

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3.2.2 Operationalization of the interview process

For the semi-structured interviews, an interview guide was used, which can be found in the appendices section (Appendix 1). The interview guide was designed to collect sufficient information for the research question to be answered, along with secondary data. Further, an interview guide allows consistency, to some extent, when meeting with the respondents. Once the respondents had accepted a time and date, a meeting was scheduled on Microsoft Teams. The interviews were conducted through audio or video calls for two main reasons. Firstly, the discrepancy of location as the respondents often were located in another country. Secondly, Bryman & Bell (2019) argue for numerous advantages with audio or video calls compared to FtF interviews. Sometimes, FtF interviews allow respondents to modify their opinion by an interviewer’s characteristics, such as ethnicity or class. Presumably, there is also a risk of respondents giving an answer believed to please an interviewer. As shown in Table 3, the respondents could choose whether they preferred to have the camera on or off during the interview for their comfort and convenience.

Respondent Location Interview type Duration Date

Manager 1 Finland Video call 27 min 2021-04-15

Manager 2 Finland Video call 21 min 2021-04-15

Manager 3 Sweden Video call 23 min 2021-04-15

Manager 5 Sweden Audio call 21 min 2021-04-15

Manager 6 Denmark Video call 22 min 2021-04-15

Manager 8 Sweden Audio call 20 min 2021-04-19

Manager 9 Denmark Audio call 18 min 2021-04-19

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3.2.3 Secondary data

The main focus has been to collect primary data for this study, yet there is also limited use of secondary data. The definition of secondary data is that it has been collected from a primary resource (Bryman & Bell, 2019). The secondary data of this thesis was collected from the case organization LP. The data covers information collected from LP website to use the organization's data to describe the nature of their business as well as relevant numbers to add scope.

3.3 Data analysis

According to Bryman & Bell (2019) it is imperative when conducting qualitative research to audio record the interviews, followed by a written transcription of the recorded interviews. Thus, analyzing data by capturing the respondents' own words becomes superior to taking notes during an interview which should be avoided since there is a possible risk of losing specific phrases and used language. Further, a recording of an interview also allows listening afterward and making sure that answers were understood correctly (Bryman & Bell, 2019). Thus, the mentioned process was conducted in the collection of data. Also, all interviews were recorded with full consensus from the respondents before the interviews, with confidentiality and anonymity assurance. Individuals react differently to anonymity in terms of how they respond to interview questions. Therefore, all respondents would be anonymous to eliminate such risks (Bryman & Bell, 2019).

Once all the interviews were kept, the transcription process followed. For this, a transcription program was used, named Otter.ai. The function of the program was to automate the process, thus increasing efficiency. The audio recordings were downloaded into the program, which then generated a written transcription. However, the output of the transcriptions was not flawless, as some pronunciations made it difficult for the program to detect the correct word. Therefore, a manual correction was crucial to ensure that the final transcriptions were correct. This was done by listening through the audio recordings while reading the automated transcriptions.

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recognized as an operational or a relational challenge (Appendix 2 and 3). This procedure ensured that aggregated concepts relevant to the research purpose were identified and highlighted by applying a systematic approach (Gioia et al., 2013).

3.3.1 Limitations

A common criticism of qualitative research methods is the difficulties in replicating the studies. First, as it might be problematic to generalize the results of a study on a population. Also, the possibility of full transparency not being applicable throughout the study. Commonly, it is argued that such issues derive as qualitative studies tend to be unstructured and that the authors are the main instrument for data collection (Bryman & Bell, 2019). Thus, this study was conducted with the consciousness of common critique, adding transparency of the data collection through a coding table, allowing a possibility to replicate the study. However, as a case study aims not to generalize to an entire population, it can instead be useful for theoretical generalizations (Bryman & Bell, 2019).

3.4 Research Ethics

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4. EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

In the following section, the empirical findings are presented. The findings are divided into two categories, relational and operational challenges, and will be presented together with quotes from the interviews.

The outcome of the interviews with the managers at LP were challenges divided into themes derived from data coding of the transcriptions. Below, figure 3 gives an overview of the findings with area a being identified challenges from previous literature, yet not found in this case study, and area ab showing identified challenges found in previous literature and confirmed through the primary data collection of this study. Finally, area b presents findings that were not highlighted in previous literature research. Overall, the findings presented showed that the team managers shared the same challenges regardless of geographic location.

In the following sections of this chapter, the findings in areas ab and b will be presented within the categories found in the theory chapter, organizational and relational. Figure 3 below also gives a visual presentation of these findings.

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4.1 Operational challenges

4.1.1 Technology issues

On an operational level, many of the challenges of remote leadership derive from technology. From the literature review of proactive remote leadership, technology was highlighted as a big challenge (Ferreira et al., 2021). However, the nature of these challenges was generated from the spread of technology and the lack of knowledge existing within organizations. The fact that technology is an important aspect of remote work is perhaps evident regardless of proactive or reactive changes. However, the source and impact of technology issues can vary greatly. In previous research, Bell & Kozlowski (2002) mentioned the importance of technology matching the work task. If not, it can create issues such as inefficiency. Instead, technology issues in reactive remote leadership were found to be related to factors beyond the organization, leadership, or the individual.

The findings of this thesis show that there are still issues regarding technology within organizations. However, the respondents highlighted that many of the employees were born in an era of established technology, meaning that the knowledge was beyond sufficient as well as the spread. Also, the older generations were capable of using ICT, although they expressed a preference for the traditional style. Overall, the majority of managers agreed that user knowledge among employees was sufficient.

Manager five reported that even with well-developed ICT platforms and user knowledge, some prerequisites for functioning technology depended on factors within individual home settings, such as Wi-Fi connection. Subsequently decreasing the effective time of meetings, if not working correctly. Although the infrastructure of internet services has improved over the years, so have the expectations. Also, the ICT used today is more complicated, which means it requires higher WI-FI capacity.

“The problem is without technology, as if it's not working, it is useless. So, for example, if your Wi-Fi is down, or if your Microsoft Teams does not work, the team does not work. Someone might have a super Wi-Fi, someone might have a very old solution, so that we cannot use the camera function. Things like that always happen“ Manager 5

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4.1.2 Organizational silos

When discussing the communications within their teams, most managers mentioned that they had experienced a closer connection within the teams due to increased meetings and virtual activities, which helped grow the team spirit. However, not sitting in the same office facilities as the other departments had, according to the managers, increased organizational silos. According to one manager, the lack of insight into what was going on in the various departments was one reason for the silos to appear.

Further, the lack of connectivity between the teams had negative effects on communication and transparency, meaning it became difficult for managers to get an overview of the situation, although they had identified the issue. Another manager explained why these silos were challenging to manage, which was that silos had already existed to some extent before working remotely. Thus, becoming even more difficult to manage for the department managers when working from home as the source for silos became apparent.

The impact of organizational silos was negative on communication and caused friction, subsequently resulting in decreasing collaboration between the departments and the overall operations in the organization. Hence, cross-functional activities within the organization were also affected, which is an important element to organizational performance.

“I can see a lot of friction and a lot of negative communication between departments in the company, because of misunderstandings, because some people don't know exactly what the other person does and doesn't pretend it does, that person does not understand what they're trying to tell you.” Manager 5

4.1.3 Workload

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“And then we tried to manage what is priority? What is less urgent for now? So, at that point, it was sort of ad-hoc managing, but we had meetings and constant working.” Manager 2

Managers highlighted that some of the employees had experienced a significant increase in workload due to remote work, which became hard to monitor. The reason for increasing workload varied more within departments rather than countries. However, the primary source was more frequent meetings and adaptations to the new workflows. Another manager also highlighted that their own workload had increased due to both managerial and team meetings increasing, as an effect of trying to handle the changes of remote work. There was also an indication of workload increasing during the transition from working in an office to remote work in the findings. Further, the workload was affected when ineffective meetings and normalizing scheduling of back-to-back meetings, especially for the managers and the employees. Since managers and employees did not have to transfer between meeting locations, the time needed between meetings was blurred out. In combination with that, more meetings were needed due to the detected crisis.

4.1.4 Transparency

The main used ICT platform within LP is Microsoft Teams and was introduced at the beginning of March 2020 and replaced the Skype platform, which was previously used. The Microsoft Teams platform enabled virtual meetings across all LP countries. However, there was some irregular usage of the video function during meetings which could hinder the transparency. For instance, if an individual had both the mute function on and the video camera off, it was impossible to know whether they were paying attention during a meeting or presentation. Managers acknowledge that it could be due to the internet capabilities or that there were possibly other distractions at home. It was usually the same employees who were uncomfortable using the camera in meetings, which further confirmed the concerns among the managers.

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“I know other managers have the same challenge, but we need to promote the video function, so people feel comfortable putting the video on. So then it becomes as equal to an ordinary meeting as possible, if it's just a call, you don't really see the other people's reaction” Manager

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4.1.5 Information sharing

Although most process descriptions are stored in shared files that employees can access from their computers, managers reported that there were still challenges with information sharing between the departments. Mainly these issues were detected in conjunction with the silos and loss of efficiency regarding cross-functional activities. However, it was also mentioned that onboarding of new employees became tricky as all relevant information was not stored in share files and that there was intangible information which became difficult to share with new employees through introduction meetings and process descriptions compared to previously when the employee would have shadowed an experienced employee if working from the office.

“So I think in terms of educating new FTE of course, there's quite a disadvantage, you need to work from home from day one. And that's too much pressure to put on the shoulders of a new employee.” Manager 6

Meanwhile, the effect of not having spontaneous meetings in lunch or coffee rooms created a loss in informal information flow. Thus, remote working conditions created a need for an increase of information sharing with virtual meetings, as it is an important aspect of cross-functional activities (Barua et al., 2007). The used platforms and technology tools made it possible for others to see when another employee had a gap in their schedule and can book meetings in these gaps. This has forced managers to do their daily work tasks after working hours which affected the workload.

4.2 Relational challenges

4.2.1 Communication

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could be an increase of inaccuracies to the team performance linked to a decrease of FtF interaction. Such issues can, in other words, be described as a lack of social cues, which was also found to be challenging in remote leadership in reactive changes.

Further, previous researchers found that communication context is important for emotional messages and to remain focused. Thus, written communication might alternate the perception of a message (Davis & Bryant, 2003; Kayworth et al., 2002). This was also consistent in the results of this study, as managers mentioned the importance of using video cameras during meetings and emphasizing how written messages can be read differently by individuals.

“I think that there has been a major change in the type of leadership, that is at the moment, also how to communicate with employees, I think it is very important. When things can be interpreted in so many different ways. If you work remotely, you don't see the body language, you don't see the small comments to see if it's this person joking or not or so you really need to clarify” Manager 3

4.2.2 Misunderstandings

A reason for misunderstandings in remote work conditions is that the communication channels are narrowed down in terms of whom employees chose to contact. One manager reported that when office space was shared, it was easier for employees to walk over to another employee to discuss a particular matter. However, during remote work, they were more inclined to take matters through their manager, which caused messages to get lost and misunderstandings to increase.

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“Misunderstandings sometimes occur because the other person doesn't have a camera on, and you cannot see his or her reaction. But I think that it's mainly about wording. Especially if you are writing, people read things in a different way.“ Manager 2

4.2.3 Trust

With a low level of transparency, trust became a challenge for the managers at LP. This was expressed because the managers did not know what their employees were doing during work hours and trusted that they were doing their jobs. Although the interviews showed a variation among departments, this could be linked to the seniority of the employees. Also, for some departments, the nature of work made it easier for the managers to detect the activity. Trust was also found in proactive remote leadership. However, it was from a different perspective and dimension, where it was discussed how to trust the person you worked with and create a new relationship (Malhotra et al, 2007). Again, it is applicable that many managers were aware of the possibilities of other distractions in a home environment, which was a concern. Malhotra et al. (2007) explained that trust is action-based in remote work, as results are easier to monitor than goodwill. The importance of structure has also been crucial for remote monitoring, which many managers in reactive remote leadership were found not to be prepared for.

“Now I have to really trust that they are performing what they say they do and take their job seriously. So that has been one major challenge.” Manager 3

Trust does not only affect the employee, but it is also in the structure of the organization. Tools for measuring activity are also particularly important to evaluate the performance of employees. This study showed that it differed between the departments, some felt that they had tools good enough to measure, which itself naturally affects the degree of trust, and other departments did not have the right tools to be able to measure.

4.2.4 Employee well-being

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Another concern regarding employee well-being was how employees dealt with the isolation they suffered during the pandemic, some more than others depending on their living situation. Some could be affected negatively due to living on their own and not physically being able to meet anyone. Others might find it challenging to find space to focus on if sharing a living space. As previously mentioned, it was difficult for managers to assess the workload. Therefore many managers were worried about their employees and their well-being. Employees with family and young children experienced an increase in wellbeing and quality of life since they saved a lot of time, not having to travel back and forth to the office. However, employees who were living on their own were missing physical contact with other individuals and daily routines.

“I need to talk to my team every day, I need to see that they're doing well, that they're not overstressed that they can handle on the challenges that they are not being impacted negatively “ Manager 5

4.2.5 Motivation

When one is found to be in a situation not of own choice, one’s motivation might diminish. It was found to be challenging for the managers to encourage an employee to stay motivated during such conditions. Managers also found that employees needed extra support to keep them motivated, as many of the employees lacked previous experience of remote work conditions and were not prepared for the changes and the challenges they had met over the last year. As previously mentioned, it was difficult for managers to assess the workload. Therefore, many managers were worried about their employees and their well-being. Several employees felt overworked, which affected their motivation. The result indicates that it was a recurring challenge for managers to express concern for their employees. They missed the ability to see them in real life since you could hide behind the camera and the virtual environment. It was hard for managers to know how their employees were feeling and doing, and their meetings with cameras were short ones; it was even harder with the employees who did not use the camera function. The managers did also have an understanding of the difficulty of staying motivated behind a screen.

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5. DISCUSSION

The following chapter presents a discussion of the previously presented challenges of proactive remote leadership and the empirical findings of reactive remote leadership.

In the theoretical framework chapter of this thesis, challenges derived from leadership were presented. As mentioned, studies on leadership cover a wide variety of concepts and theories. Conceptualizing remote leadership is crucial for this thesis as it provides an understanding of why reactive remote leadership, as experienced by many organizations during the Covid-19 pandemic, differs from proactive remote leadership. Only once such understanding is established, the quest to answer the main challenges of reactive remote leadership can be possible. The empirical findings presented results from challenges found by the interviews and which could apply to reactive remote leadership. With previously identified challenges from proactive remote leadership in the theory section, the three challenge categories from figure 2 were given content. In the below sections of this chapter, these three categories will be discussed. It started with the challenges found in proactive remote leadership yet were not mentioned in the findings of reactive remote leadership—followed by the challenges that were mutual in both proactive and reactive remote leadership. Finally, challenges found in reactive remote leadership yet were not highlighted in previous research on proactive remote leadership will be discussed.

5.1 Challenges not found in reactive remote leadership

In figure 3, in the previous chapter, the area labeled with an a outlines challenges found in previous literature but not confirmed by the managers interviewed in this study. This does not exclude those challenges from occurring within reactive remote leadership, although managers did not commonly highlight them.

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As the data collection for reactive remote leadership in this thesis occurred only a year after the transformation from an FtF interaction, it could explain why such challenges were not profound in this thesis. Also, many of the managers interviewed in the data collection of this thesis referred to the first months being a time of adaptation and focusing on setting new processes to align with remote work to maintain the same level of efficiency as before Covid-19. Thus, it would be interesting to see how this question would be answered by managers when given a larger timespan to evaluate. Another reason for this not being the main challenge is as most employees were described as tech-savvy by the managers, meaning that working through technology platforms does not hinder their cooperation nor development.

The legitimacy of a leader was also not detected as the main challenge in this study. Since the data collection was done through interviews with the managers, it might be a difficult question for them to answer and be sure that the managers could be self-critical under such circumstances. Moreover, the length of the interviews might have made it difficult to depict the question correctly to the managers. However, as previous studies indicated that it could be difficult to lead and influence employees if there is a lack of legitimacy for the leader. It is also important to mention that the managers interviewed in many of the cases already had an established relationship with the employees within their team. As such, there was now a need to re-establish themselves as leaders, compared to proactive remote environment wherein many of the cases, the virtual team functions are formed for project purposes; thus, the team is often formed in conjunction with changing to a remote environment or it is a sub-function of an organization meaning that each newly hired manager or employee will have to establish themselves (DeRosa et al., 2004).

5.2 Challenges common to proactive and reactive remote leadership

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proactive or reactive remote environment, which also indicates the importance of FtF communication.

Another frequent challenge within proactive remote leadership was misunderstandings. Davis and Bryan (2003) stressed the likelihood of misunderstanding through emails, arguing that it was not an ultimate tool to use when trying to solve difficult tasks or convey emotional messages. Data from this thesis confirmed this, and managers were recommending their employees to communicate through audio calls so that the context of the message would not disappear. As misunderstandings proved to be constant in both proactive and reactive environments, it truly highlights the importance of communication, also that it is an intangible challenge that makes it difficult for it to be mitigated on an organizational level. Instead, it was evident that a leader’s capability to detect communication challenges also played an important part in finding a solution; interestingly, the solution was often to minimize processes and go back to the basics of human interaction.

Communication and misunderstanding also affect trust, according to research (Keyworth et al., 2002). However, when discussing trust as a challenge from previous studies, it was described as trust within a team that impacted collaboration (Malhotra et al., 2007). In this thesis, managers often described trust as their capability of trusting their team that they were performing what they said they were. Nonetheless, findings from previous studies become relevant and applicable to reactive remote leadership since the idea of creating, retaining, or rebuilding trust remains the same. Accordingly, the managers reported them being conscious that the factors that had altered their capabilities of trust were external, which added new dimensions to the concept, and that it was their responsibility to regain the trust regardless of the direction.

An interesting aspect of the challenges in both proactive and reactive remote leadership is that one challenge could have different meanings and aspects depending on the origin. Although the concept remained the same, the context of reactive or proactive changed the effects. Consequently, such challenges deliver a new meaning to the concept and might need new ways of mitigating.

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5.3 Challenges found in reactive remote leadership

Challenges found in the empirical findings but not in previous studies on remote leadership are challenges familiar to some of the traditional leadership concepts. However, it is interesting to look at why such challenges were profound in reactive remote leadership and not proactive remote leadership. In contrast to previous literature, this study chose to research a company where an entire global organization was forced to transform from working in a shared office to a remote work solution. This led to going from daily interaction with nearest colleagues and colleagues an employee would not necessarily have daily communication with, yet still interacted with shared spaces such as lunch and coffee rooms to only communicate through technology devices.

Overall, the empirical finding showed that there were many issues highlighted in operational challenges which were not found in previous studies. Further, one could argue that such challenges are prominent in the results of this study as an entire organization became virtual without any preparedness. As mentioned above, most of these originated from failed communication between the various departments. The combination of communication issues and lack of transparency directly impacted other issues such as information sharing and, ultimately, organizational silos.

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organizational structure might also be a reason for the increase of silos since it has decreased cooperation between the departments.

Findings in this thesis also gave some indication that silos already existed within the organization. It is perhaps difficult to conclude that silos were a result of a reactive remote work environment. However, it was also clear that the negative effect of silos grew during the pandemic. The feeling of us against them within the organization may have developed due to the challenges that occurred from the change of working in a shared office to working remotely. Challenges such as communication have created frustration and negative experiences and probably increased the organizational silos. Silos and communication issues are also connected with relational challenges and can be seen as a bridge between operational and relational challenges.

Further, the workload was not found as a crucial challenge in previous studies on remote leadership. A reason for this could be as proactive remote work often relies on a project or an execution plan on how processes should advance and how information should be shared. While working in a reactive remote work condition, the situation required a high degree of adaptation and an agile approach. Meanwhile, results also found that the amount of workload varied between departments and functions. Initially, sales reduced drastically as a reaction to Covid-19, which decreased the workload within the commercial department. On the contrary, other departments saw an increase in their workloads due to changes in processes and transformations. Also, as email and chat conversations increased, efficiency slowed down as it is proved that oral communication is four times faster than written communication (DeRosa et al., 2004). It was sudden in a reactive remote working environment, meaning that there was now time to adapt to the new processes.

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6. CONCLUSION

The final section presents a conclusion of the research, findings and includes a proposal for future research.

6.1 Concluding remarks

The purpose of this thesis was to advance insights on the main challenges of reactive remote leadership, a concept which was created for this thesis and as an aftermath of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic left few organizations unconcerned, and although some might have been more prepared than others, leaders and employees across were naturally affected. To answer the research question: What are the main challenges of reactive remote

leadership? Profound observations were collected from managers within a chosen organization.

Further, the findings of this study will contribute to an understanding of the importance of putting leadership into context and the contrasts of remote leadership. With such awareness in mind, leaders can oversee the various challenges that might occur. The challenges met in reactive remote leadership also demonstrate the importance of change management. Although Covid-19 took many organizations by surprise, it is a reminder that uncertainty is the only certainty.

The findings indeed explained differences in challenges of proactive remote leadership and reactive remote leadership. Although the challenges found in reactive remote leadership might not have been enlightened to the concept of leadership, the results indicated that there were sufficient differences between the remote leadership concepts, proactive and reactive. New findings within operational challenges were silos, transparency, workload, and information sharing, which are concepts found in traditional leadership, yet not highlighted in previous studies on remote leadership. In relational challenges, well-being and motivation were found as highlighted challenges, again showing the importance of putting context to leadership in order to find more targeted dimensions.

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stronger as a result of sharing the feeling “we are in this together”. However, such a feeling was not successful in permeating the entire organization, and if the future is virtual organizations, it will be crucial for organizations to handle such challenges on a larger scale successfully. Another aspect that needs to be kept in mind when considering reactive remote leadership is that most employees, including the managers, had not chosen to conduct remote work; regardless of their opinion, they were left without a choice. Thus, managerial implications derived from this thesis are to understand how the context of leadership affects employees and that the effect also depends on the individual. Further, impacts from reactive remote leadership, as in the case of Covid-19, show a transition from crisis management to long-term change management.

While this thesis's focus was to highlight the challenges of reactive remote leadership, many positive aspects were also found. Having the time to settle, the majority of employees enjoyed the benefits that came along with not having to be in an office. Those employees with families gave them greater work-life balance and saving time not having to commute to work. To conclude, the main challenges found in reactive remote leadership can be compiled into two important aspects. Firstly, a virtual organization is the new black, making it crucial for leaders to implement strong communication channels and embrace ICT platforms. Secondly, leaders need to be attentive to how capable employees are working from home both on a performance and well-being aspect.

6.2 Future research

As many global organizations have announced that they will continue to allow employees to work from home full time with a hybrid solution, there are no doubts that remote leadership will gain an increase of scholarly attention. The concept of reactive remote leadership will perhaps diminish as remote leadership becomes the new common, yet the insights on how a whole organization needs to adapt to remote leadership might become even more relevant. In other words, virtual teams might become virtual organizations.

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