Remote Work - Redefining the workplace through the lense of change management: A case study on the demands that arise when working remotely in the perspective of employees and managers

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DEGREE PROJECT IN INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT, SECOND CYCLE, 30 CREDITS

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 2021

Remote Work - Redefining the workplace through the lense of change management

A case study on the demands that arise when working remotely in the perspective of employees and managers

VICTOR FREDSTRAND YACOUB HANNA

KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT

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Remote Work -

Redefining the workplace through the lense of change management

A case study on the demands that arise when working remotely in the perspective of employees and managers

by

Victor Fredstrand Yacoub Hanna

Master of Science Thesis TRITA-ITM-EX 2021:237 KTH Industrial Engineering and Management

Industrial Management SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM

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Distansarbete -

Omdefinierar arbetsplatsen genom vinkeln av förändringsledning

En fallstudie om de krav som uppstår vid distansarbete ur medarbetarnas och chefernas perspektiv

av

Victor Fredstrand Yacoub Hanna

Examensarbete TRITA-ITM-EX 2021:237 KTH Industriell teknik och management

Industriell ekonomi och organisation SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM

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Master of Science Thesis TRITA-ITM-EX 2021:237 Remote Work - Redefining the workplace through

the lense of change management

A case study on the demands that arise when working remotely in the perspective of employees and

managers

Victor Fredstrand Yacoub Hanna Approved

2021-06-01

Examiner

Monica Lindgren

Supervisor

Marianne Ekman Rising

Commissioner Contact person

Abstract

There is a digital transformation that is currently occurring in today’s workplace to create a more agile, productive and smart workplace (Ulukan, 2020). The occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated this transformation as employees were forced to shift to working remotely (Schwarz et al., 2020). This shift has revealed a wide range of positive and negative effects on individuals and organizations. Thus, exploring how to integrate remote work properly is paramount for organizations when creating a smart workplace. Change Management includes models that can handle change by considering the two aspects of: the individual and the organizational (Prosci, 2020). Therefore, this thesis explores how organizations can use change management to address the demands arising with the integration of remote work by conducting a qualitative case study in collaboration with a company in the TMT (Technology, Media, Telecommunication) industry. The findings of this thesis demonstrate that a complete shift to remote work will not be sustainable in the long term due to the lack of social interactions which is considered to be essential

according to the empirics provided in this thesis. Also, the findings show that organizations will need to provide more flexibility for varying between remote work and in-office work for the employees in the future. Moreover, managers will need to include workers more in the planning process and be more transparent towards their teams about the changes that will be required to create a smart workplace. Also, managers will need to listen to their teams' expectations on how they want to balance remote work and being at the office.

Keywords: Remote work, Smart workplace, Communication technologies, Digital tools, Change management, Demands.

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Examensarbete TRITA-ITM-EX 2021:237 Distansarbete - Omdefinierar arbetsplatsen

genom vinkeln av förändringsledning En fallstudie om de krav som uppstår vid distansarbete ur medarbetarnas och chefernas

perspektiv

Victor Fredstrand Yacoub Hanna Godkänt

2021-06-01

Examinator Monica Lindgren

Handledare

Marianne Ekman Rising

Uppdragsgivare Kontaktperson

Sammanfattning

Det sker för närvarande en digital omvandling på dagens arbetsplatser som bidrar till att en mer agil, produktiv och smart arbetsplats skapas (Ulukan, 2020). Covid-19 pandemin har påskyndat denna omvandling eftersom anställda tvingades till att arbeta på distans (Schwarz et al., 2020). Denna förändring har uppmärksammat flera positiva och negativa effekter på individer och organisationer. Således är det viktigt för organisationer att utforska hur distansarbete kan integreras på rätt sätt när en smart arbetsplats skapas. Förändringsledning inkluderar modeller som kan hantera förändringar genom att beakta de två aspekterna: individen och organisationen (Prosci, 2020). Därför undersöker denna avhandling hur organisationer kan använda förändringshantering för att tillgodose de krav som uppstår vid integrering av

distansarbete genom att genomföra en kvalitativ fallstudie i samarbete med ett företag inom TMT-branschen (teknik, media, telekommunikation). Resultaten av denna avhandling visar att en fullständig övergång till distansarbete inte kommer att vara hållbar på lång sikt, på grund av bristen på sociala interaktioner som anses vara väsentliga enligt empirin i denna avhandling. Resultaten visar också att

organisationer kommer att behöva erbjuda mer flexibilitet för att variera mellan distansarbete och kontorsarbete för de anställda i framtiden. Dessutom kommer chefer att behöva inkludera anställda mer i planeringsprocessen och vara mer transparenta gentemot sina grupper om de förändringar som krävs för att skapa en smart arbetsplats. Dessutom kommer chefer att behöva lyssna på gruppens

förväntningar på hur de vill balansera distansarbete och att vara på kontoret.

Nyckelord: Distansarbete, Smart arbetsplats, Kommunikationsteknik, Digitala verktyg, Förändringsledning, Krav.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our case company for the opportunity to write our master’s thesis in collaboration with them. Also, we would like to thank our supervisor at our case company for the excellent support and in helping finding the appropriate

interviewees for our study. The employees we have interviewed at our case company have been immensely helpful and without their participation we would not have been able to execute this study. Lastly, we would like to thank our supervisor at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) Marianne Ekman Rising for her support and helpful input through the process of writing this master’s thesis.

Stockholm, May 2021.

Victor Fredstrand and Yacoub Hanna

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1 Introduction

In this section of the thesis the background of the project is first presented which provides a thorough description of the background to the problem. Subsequently, the research problem, research purpose and the research questions are presented to clarify the problem that is faced in the thesis. Lastly, the delimitations of the thesis will be discussed.

1.1 Background

There is a digital transformation that is currently occurring in today’s workplace and thus affecting the work culture. The ongoing digital transformation is enabled by the development of new digital tools and as a result develop a new structure for workplaces that are more agile, productive and smart (Ulukan, 2020). Employees increasingly demand a workplace that is adapted to new technologies and can accommodate their changing lifestyles (Ulukan, 2020).

The interest in developing smart workplaces has increased a lot among organizations in recent years but very little has been done (Attaran & Kirkland, 2019). However, this changed with the occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic. During April 2020 it was estimated that around a third of the global population was in quarantine lockdown to minimize the spread of the Covid-19 virus (Kaplan, Frias and Mcfall-Johnsen, 2020). As a result, employees were forced to shift to working remotely where communication technologies such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Skype have been used (Schwarz et al., 2020). This shift towards communicating through digital communication tools has put more demands on users in terms of technological literacy to be able to use them. Another aspect is that it is expected that users can sit

undisturbed for example in their homes when communicating verbally through e.g. Teams and Zoom which is yet another obstacle. This shift has affected many organizations’ structure as well as the work culture as it happened unexpectedly and many employees had no previous experience of remote working (George, 2020).

The shift to remote work and the increased usage of communication technologies have revealed a wide range of positive and negative effects for organizations and individuals.

Considering the impacts on individuals, this shift has lowered the barriers for participating in events and meetings by making them inclusive rather than exclusive. Also, it has contributed to cost reductions and time saving for employees. Employees do not need to be at the office which saves them commuting costs and time (Schwarz et al., 2020). Furthermore, it has been acknowledged by researchers that remote work can increase productivity and provide a better work-life balance (Bloom et al., 2013, Choudhury et al., 2019). On the other hand, there are some downsides of this shift as well. Remote work makes it more difficult to engage in informal discussions which can impact group dynamics. As a result, employees can begin to start feeling lonely and isolated (Eriksson & Petrosian, 2020). Also, there have been cases where employees’ stress levels increased due to inability to leave work when the workday ends. Moreover, another issue that has arisen is new employees' inability to integrate in

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organizations’ culture due to the lack of social interactions at work (Eriksson & Petrosian, 2020).

When acknowledging how the shift to remote work has impacted organizations, it has had several implications. The shift has created a substantial change in the nature of work and enhanced the importance of implementing new communication technologies in today’s workplaces (Carroll & Conboy, 2020). Covid-19 has forced organizations into using such technologies despite the fact that many organizations were not familiar with them beforehand.

As organizations did not have time to reflect or prepare for practices on how to introduce and integrate these technologies, some organizations have started to implement new information technology (IT) systems, while other organizations were forced to change their business model (Leidner, 2020). Due to the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic will not cease to exist in the short-term, organizations need to comprehend the importance of adopting practices that are driven by technology to be able to adapt to this new state which is considered to form the new normal (Carroll & Conboy, 2020).

Remote work has existed long before the Covid pandemic, but the occurrence of the pandemic has forced the shift to remote working and thereby accelerated the digital transformation of today’s workplaces (Eriksson & Petrosian, 2020). This has implied a substantial change in the way employees used to work (Eriksson & Petrosian, 2020). However, it is not likely that the use of remote work will disappear after the pandemic considering the benefits it can bring and the advanced technology it uses (Eriksson & Petrosian, 2020). Today’s workplaces need to evolve to smart workplaces that are technologically advanced and agile in order to adapt to this transformation (Ulukan, 2020). Therefore, integrating remote work into today’s

workplace is paramount for organizations (Eriksson & Petrosian, 2020).

There are several cultural and organizational challenges that will arise as a result of integrating remote work into today’s workplaces. An example is the discrepancy between generations that can imply different knowledge and expertise of new technologies. This may create doubts and concerns among employees regarding the upcoming change (Ulukan, 2020).

Additionally, this change will impact the way employees collaborate and as a result may need to develop new skills to cope with this challenge. Moreover, organizations will be forced to consider alternative workplace infrastructure which implies adopting new IT systems to ensure full efficiency of remote work (Carroll et al., 2020). To cope with the challenges linked to cultural and organizational aspects that remote work can bring, change management has to be considered (Ulukan, 2020). Change Management includes tools and processes that can handle change by considering the two aspects of: the individual and the organizational (Prosci, 2020). Integrating remote work into today’s workplaces will imply an organizational change that needs to be understood and integrated within all departments to ensure efficient outcomes (Prosci, 2020). Therefore, implementing Change Management tools is essential for organizations to ensure an efficient integration of remote work.

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1.2 Research Problem

Previous initiatives that have been done by organizations within the field of adopting remote work were very limited before the Covid pandemic (Choudhury, 2019). However, the forced shift towards remote working that has occurred in association with the pandemic is an

extraordinary situation (Carroll et al., 2020). Before the Covid-19 outbreak there was a digital transformation that was slowly occurring related to digitalizing the workplace but it was difficult to bring through change as there was a general reluctance. However, because of the Covid pandemic, rapid change was forced upon organizations to implement digital tools and thus shift to remote work. As remote work has been adopted on a large scale since the outbreak of the pandemic, it has become a part of the new normal (Carroll et al., 2020). This has created a need for organizations to explore how to integrate remote work to create a smart workplace and what impacts it can have on organizations and individuals. Previous research that has been done within remote work has mainly focused on individual aspects in terms of productivity, flexibility and social sustainability (Olson, 1983, Jansen Perry et al., 2018, Choudhury, 2019, Brynjolfsson et al., 2020). However, research that focuses on

organizational aspects of remote work such as: how organizations can face challenges arising with the integration of remote work has been limited (Carroll & Conboy, 2020, Leidner, 2020). Thus, there is a research gap on how to integrate remote work within organizations and how it impacts organizations. Therefore, one focus area of this thesis will be on the demands that the integration of remote work will put on organizations. Another problem that arises is linked to the need of change management to assure that this rapid digital transformation works properly now and in the future. In order to effectively manage this transformation, implementing change management tools are paramount to ensure that the transformation towards a smart workplace has a positive impact on employees well-being as well as their performance and engagement in daily activities (Ulukan, 2020). Nearly 75 % of

transformations are unsuccessful in enhancing business performance both short- and long- term (Schwartz, 2018). Therefore, using a change management framework will allow for organizations to have a considerably higher success rate of implementing changes like new digital technologies and remote work into their operations.

Thus, the research problem of this thesis is that there is a need for organizations to explore how to face demands arising from the integration of remote work to create a smart workplace and what impacts it can have on organizations and individuals. This enhances the importance of change management to ensure an efficient integration and thereby help organizations in the transformation towards a smart workplace.

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1.3 Research Purpose and Research Questions

The purpose of this thesis is to use change management to help organizations with the integration of remote work and thereby the shift towards smart workplaces.

In order to fulfill the research purpose, the following research questions will be investigated:

• How can change management models help organizations in analyzing demands that arise when creating a smart workplace?

• What demands are there on organizations in facing the challenges that arise with adopting remote working technologies?

1.4 Delimitations

This thesis is conducted in collaboration with a company from the TMT (Technology, Media and Telecommunications) industry. Thus, the empirics are limited to this specific company which implies that the outcomes of this thesis cannot be generalized for companies within other industries. However, the thesis may provide guidelines that other companies can follow.

Also, when it comes to change management, it was determined to focus on three specific frameworks that were assessed to be most relevant for this thesis due to reasons that will be described in the Theoretical Frameworks section.

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2 Theoretical Context

This section will present an introduction to the central areas of literature including remote work, communication technologies and smart workplace. These areas will be discussed and will act as an introduction to the theory later on. The purpose of this section is to provide an overview of the key words which are discussed in this thesis.

2.1 Remote Work

Remote work is defined as organizational work that is executed outside of the traditional boundaries of organizations in terms of time and space. Technology allows for workers to perform their work outside of the physical office by using computers and communication aid (Olson, 1983). The ability to work remotely has been possible for many decades but has increased a lot in recent years both due to advances in technology facilitating the transition and also due to the fact that many workers find it convenient. Certain occupations such as within health care and construction do not allow for remote work as it requires physical work and this dilemma can give rise to inequalities in the labor market (Brynjolfsson et al., 2020).

In an article by Choudhury et al (2019) it is stated that in 2017 about 43 % of the workforce in the US had spent some time remote working and in 2018 about 5.2 % of employees were exclusively working from home. Furthermore, it is described that workers value the possibility of working from home and on average an employee was willing to accept a decrease in their salary by 8 % to have the choice of working remotely. On the other hand, it has been observed that managers worry about their employees being less effective and perhaps mixing their personal life with work (Choudhury et al 2019). There are both benefits and drawbacks of working from home for workers. Employees that have the ability to work remotely are more satisfied which may result in lower turnover for the organization in the long-term. Also, it has been observed that workers perform better and work harder when working remotely while simultaneously managing their work hours better. However, there exists drawbacks from working remotely such as a fading line between work- and private life and less social interactions (Schwarz et al., 2020).

A study done by (Jansen Perry et al., 2018) found that emotional stability affects how well a person can cope with remote working and thus avoid becoming strained. Workers with high emotional stability and high autonomy appear to be least susceptible to strain in contrast to those with lower emotional stability and high autonomy which are more prone to strain.

Moreover, the study suggests that some workers would experience more benefits from working remotely while others may suffer from drawbacks such as strain by working

remotely too often (Jansen Perry et al., 2018). The Covid pandemic has forced many workers to work from home leading to effects that have been both positive and negative. As the transition to remote work occurred so drastically and failing to prepare neither organization nor employees for it, many struggle with working remotely for long periods of time.

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2.2 Communication Technologies

In the last decade there has been an exponential and ongoing digital transformation that has changed our society and thus the way people interact and work on a daily basis. As a result, many communication technologies have emerged which are now utilized in many aspects of businesses and at workplaces (vom Brocke, Becker, & De Marco, 2016). For example,

communication technologies replace traditional seminars with so-called webinars using video- streaming applications e.g. Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Although video-

conferencing tools have existed for a long time they have evolved and increased rapidly in use due to the Covid pandemic which have forced large parts of the workforce to communicate and interact digitally (Schwarz et al., 2020). Moreover, this enormous increase in the use of communication technologies has put an increased demand on the capabilities of these tools.

It is important to consider the benefits and areas of improvements of these digital

communication technologies. Digital interactions can increase knowledge sharing and worker productivity while decreasing time spent on commuting and permitting more diverse

workplaces such as working from home. Remote working can also save and streamline organizational resources and thus cut costs. On the other hand, digital tools may raise

concerns on data security and bring difficulties in replicating social interactions like informal discussions and forming professional and personal relationships (Meske & Junglas, 2020) . Another obstacle is that employees may create weaker personal links between each other and make it harder to create a strong company culture, especially portraying it to newly hired employees, which can impact an organization negatively in the long-term. Moreover, there is a need for further development of todays’ communication technologies to meet the demand of organizations. Possible suggestions to the aforementioned issues include creating virtual party rooms where colleagues can interact more informally and to implement features within the applications that allow for more social interaction. Therefore, there is a need for more

innovation within digital tools in order to enhance for instance data security and the aspect of social interaction to close the gap between working from home and being in-office (Schwarz et al., 2020).

2.3 Smart Workplace

An agile, digital and activity based workplace are three essential components that will shape a smart workplace (Bell & Joroff, 2001). The agile workplace is defined as “A workplace that is constantly transforming, adjusting and responding to organizational learning” (Bell & Joroff, 2001). This implies continuous improvements in processes and ways of doing work as well as work environment (Bell & Joroff, 2001). There are various factors linked to human factors that create the need for an agile workplace such as new lifestyle trends and behavioral differences between generations. During the last two decades, there have been many researches focusing on how to adapt the workplaces to the needs of generations. A part of these researchers have focused on millennials as it has been estimated that they will constitute

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50% of the workforce by 2020 (PWC, 2011). This factor has made some organizations prioritize millennials more than other generations when it comes to adapting workplaces. On the other hand, research within agile workplaces has enhanced the importance of considering the needs of all generations when creating an agile workplace (Haynes, 2011).

Due to factors such as: digitalization and development of wireless communication

technologies, the term digital workplace has evolved. The term defines a work place as “A set of tools that are transforming towards a digital environment” (Deloitte, 2014). The purpose of a digital workplace is to utilize the use of new technologies such as the internet of things and video communication technologies to create a more flexible and productive workplace environment. The combination of the digital and agile workplace’s characteristics will shape the smart workplace (Ulukan, 2020).

The concept of activity-based workplace (ABW) implies that an office should provide flexibility to enable employees perform activities within the workplace in a range of settings that best fit the task being executed (Property Council of Australia, 2013). In order to create an ABW, mobility in terms of wireless technology and mobile devices is required. Thus, creating an ABW often implies large investment in IT (Malm & Strömäck, 2015). As the physical environment in an ABW depends on the type of task carried out, it is usually divided into three different zones that include tailored needs necessary to complete the tasks. These three zones are: Quiet, middle and active. The quiet zone is for tasks such as reading and writing that require focus and concentration, and thereby disturbance is prohibited in this zone. The middle zone aims to empower knowledge sharing between departments by allowing communication and overhearing activities. These activities have a nature that reflects an open plan office. The active zone is devoted for meetings, both virtual and physical ones. These three zones can be organized in several ways and there is no one right way as different organizations have different needs. As a result, these zones can overlap, interconnect or be separated in a strict manner (Malm & Strömäck, 2015).

There are several benefits that organizations can gain when creating a smart workplace.

Improved productivity, decreased stress levels and increased satisfaction among employees are examples of benefits (Pentland, 2009). Also, organizations will be able to optimize office spaces which in its turn can reduce costs and footprint. Thus, a smart workplace can

contribute to a positive impact on sustainability (Ulukan, 2020). On the other hand, there is a disparity between the transforming pace of the workplace and the workforce. People can not change at the same pace as technology within the workplace due to differences in age,

knowledge and skills to be able to use new technologies (Fry, 2018). This disparity creates an obstacle in the way of the transformation towards a smart workplace.

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3. Theoretical Framework

In this section, a description of the core theoretical frameworks will be explained. The core frameworks are: Technology acceptance model, Mckinsey 7S model, Prosci ADKAR model and The road to commitment.

3.1 Technology Acceptance Model

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by Davis (1989) is one of the most important models for how users come to accept technology and information systems. The aim of this model is to predict the acceptability of a tool and recognize what potential adjustments that have to be made in order for the tool or program to be accepted by users. TAM suggests that there are two factors that influence the acceptability behavior of technology: perceived ease of use (E) and perceived usefulness (U). The first factor is characterized as the degree to which a person believes that their performance will be enhanced by the use of a system or technology.

The second factor, perceived ease of use, relates to how effortless a person believes it is to use a system (Davis, 1989). Furthermore, TAM proposes that the use of technology is decided by Behavioral Intention to Use (BI) which is determined both by an individual’s attitude toward using a system (A) and perceived usefulness (U). Using regression with relative weights to estimate BI yields BI=A+U. The TAM and how its factors are interconnected is shown in figure 1.

Figure 1. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989, p985).

It is important to achieve an information technology acceptance in order to allow for further digitalization in the workplace. However, even though TAM is a widely applicable

framework it may need to be adjusted to additional factors that could arise in the research and analysis part of the thesis. Such factors may include social situations that may influence the results of the model or security and privacy related issues that may play a role in accepting new digital communication technologies. After adjustments are made to TAM it is assessed to be both a useful and applicable framework. Therefore, the Technology Acceptance Model is essential for studying the user acceptance of technology which will be a crucial aspect in this thesis for understanding the user perspective in the occurring digital transformation. Other models have been considered such as: Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) which states that a person's behavior is determined by the intention to perform a

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behavior. Although this model is also valid in this context, we have assessed that TAM is more appropriate and applicable in this thesis as it considers technology as a main point in the model.

Moreover, TAM does not encompass social aspects, culture, people and organizations,

therefore this thesis will also incorporate multiple change management frameworks that focus on the aforementioned perspectives. Hence, the change management frameworks will

complement and strengthen TAM as it provides a more holistic view.

3.2 Change Management

There are several definitions for the term Change Management. Prosci (2019) describes Change Management as: “The process, tools and techniques to manage the people's side of change to achieve a required business outcome”. Project Management Institute (PMI) defines Change Management as “A comprehensive, cyclic, and structured approach for transitioning individuals, groups, and organizations from a current state to a future state with intended business benefits” (PMI, 2013b). The difference between these two definitions is that the Project Management Institute’s definition provides a broader overview of Change Management than Prosci’s. The latter definition focuses only on the people's side of a change while the PMI’s definition covers the three aspects of: Individuals, groups and organizations.

Therefore, the definition that will apply in this thesis is the PMI’s definition as it provides a holistic view of Change Management.

In the stage of deciding between relevant change management models the following models were considered: McKinsey 7s Model (Waterman, Peters, & Phillips, 1980), Prosci ADKAR Model (Hiatt, 2006), The Road to Commitment (Loup & Koller, 2005), Lewin’s change management model (Burnes & Cooke, 2013) and Kotter’s change model (Kotter, 1996). To determine these models' applicability for this thesis, a comparison was conducted between these model’s applicational circumstances. According to (Galli, 2019), Kotter's model focuses mostly on senior management aspects, the Lewin’s model focuses on the reduction of

resistance among employees and the ADKAR model focuses on the people's side of change in an organization as a whole. On the other hand, The Road to Commitment focuses on the people's side of a change and provides leaders with an action plan on how to engage employees in new change initiatives. Thus, the model covers the aspects: Individual and groups (Loup & Koller, 2005). Moreover, McKinsey 7s Model focuses on the organizational aspect as a whole (Waterman, Peters, & Phillips, 1980). This thesis aims to cover the aspects of: individual, group and organization as these aspects are assessed to complement TAM and thus provide a more complete overall framework. Lewin's model was excluded as this thesis would focus on both managerial and employees’ perspectives and not only senior

management(Galli, 2019). The Kotter’s model was excluded as well as the Road to

commitment model provides a broader overview on how to deal with resistance and it includes the phase of compliance which is missed in Kotter’s (Galli, 2019). Therefore, it was assessed that the models: McKinsey 7s Model (Waterman, Peters, & Phillips, 1980), Prosci ADKAR

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Model (Hiatt, 2006), The Road to Commitment (Loup & Koller, 2005) are most suitable for this thesis.

3.2.1 McKinsey 7s Model

The McKinsey 7S model was first introduced in the 1980s by two consultants at McKinsey &

company, named Tom Peters and Robert Waterman. The model is today one of the most common and long-established change management models. It consists of seven factors, each called a lever, which all start with the letter “S” namely: structure, strategy, systems, style, staff , skills, and superordinate goals (Waterman, Peters, & Phillips, 1980). Each component is given equal weight and importance in the change process. The interconnections of all levers are shown in figure 2. Waterman et al. (1980) describes that it is difficult to make significant progress in one of these areas without progressing in the others.

Figure 2: A view of an organization using the McKinsey 7s model (Waterman et al., 1980) 1. Strategy: It is the change management plan in response to changes in its external

environment. Strategy is the way an organization seeks to improve its competitive advantage and position.

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2. Structure: This component allows for dividing tasks and thus creating coordination and integration mechanisms.

3. Systems: All formal and informal procedures that allow for completing everyday tasks and therefore supporting the strategy and structure.

4. Style: This category refers to what way change is adopted and also the behavior of leaders which affects the overall cultural feeling of the workforce.

5. Staff: The human resources management process of developing leaders, recruiting new hires and thus the overall working capabilities of the employees.

6. Skills: An organization's key distinctive competencies referring to the skills of the workforce.

7. Superordinate goals: It relates to the fundamental shared values around which an organization is built and works off.

The McKinsey 7s model takes a holistic view and is beneficial when organizations plan to make a large-scale change since it starts at the top of the chain. It requires leaders to comprehensively examine all parts of an organization that can result in both positive and negative outcomes of a large change and transition. Although this model is relatively old it is not obsolete and thus assessed to be applicable and important to integrate multiple

perspectives into this thesis. It is also valuable to use in order to determine the new strategic decisions an organization has to take due to increased remote work and to use as support for changes that will be made. However, in the case where leaders know precisely what they want to do and if the changes are incremental the McKinsey model is not the most appropriate. In that case, the Prosci ADKAR model is a more applicable model that focuses on the individual perspective which will therefore be discussed next.

3.2.2 Prosci ADKAR Model

The Prosci ADKAR model is a framework that focuses on understanding change at an individual level. Hiatt (2006) describes that in order to create successful change within an organization it is necessary to assist the change of one person, ie. an employee on an individual level. Consequently, this framework is used to display how business and organizations can increase their probability of successfully achieving change (Hiatt, 2006).

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The ADKAR model is divided into five elements, which all need to be fulfilled to create change successfully. In figure 3, the five elements are shown:

Figure 3: The ADKAR model Awareness

The first element in the ADKAR model is awareness, which allows for an understanding that there is a need for change. This objective is fulfilled when an individual realizes what the change entails, why it is necessary and what the risks are if the change is not implemented.

Hiatt (2006) refers to a study in 2005 of 411 companies going through change, which showed that the most common reason for resisting change was due to lack of awareness of why a change was made. There are five vital factors in the ADKAR model for building awareness for change which are listed below.

The first factor is about an individual's view of the current state, which can influence how likely a person is willing to adopt change or to ignore reasons for changing status quo. The second factor reflects over an individual’s cognitive style and how they embody new

information and if they evaluate the need of change. The third factor relates to the credibility of the sender which means that if the awareness message is perceived as credible by

individuals it can influence their willingness to accept the message and be positive to change.

The fourth factor regards the circulation of misinformation or rumors. If rumors start to circulate it can create a barrier for creating awareness due to the spread of misinformation, which can lead individuals to not believe their managers. The fifth factor relates to building awareness that the need of change is more abundant if there exists external and observable drivers in comparison to only internal drivers (Hiatt, 2006).

Desire

The second element in the ADKAR model is desire and it depicts the catalyst and the choice to agree to and be a part of change. Different from awareness building where there are steps of how to create awareness for the need of change, desire is more difficult to create as it is not as easy to influence. For example, managers in the workplace can create new routines,

implement new technology or change the structure of the organization but they cannot force their employees to take part in these changes. The ADKAR model states that there are four underlying factors that creates the desire to change

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The first factor is about what the change implies and what is in it for each individual if the change is established. The second factor for desiring change is how the organization and the surroundings that are changing are perceived by the individual. The third factor relates to an individual’s personal situation, which can be very different from person to person and

therefore a large factor in their desire to change. The fourth factor relates to what motivates a person and their expectations of being successful and realizing the change. All these factors will contribute to a person’s desire to agree to and participate in change (Hiatt, 2006).

Knowledge

The third element in the model is knowledge and it regards how to implement change. If an individual has the awareness for the need of change and the desire to support and take a part of the change, then knowledge is the next step for creating change. There are four factors in the ADKAR model that influence the achievement of the knowledge element.

The first factor relates to the current knowledge base of a person which means that if an individual has a knowledge gap it will impact the success for those persons. The second factor is how capable a person is to obtain additional knowledge and there are disparities in how quickly people learn new processes or programs. The third factor which impacts knowledge is the amount of available resources such as education and training that exists. The fourth factor is the access to necessary knowledge which may be required for further progression.

Knowledge is essential in order to create change both for the individual and the organization (Hiatt, 2006).

Ability

The fourth element in the ADKAR model is ability, which is the capability to actually implement the change and attain the desired performance level. Knowledge is often not enough in practice to implement change since the ability to do so is equally important, which is why the abilities of individuals is an element that also has to be checked. There are five factors that influence a person's ability to change, according to the model.

Those five factors are: psychological blocks, physical abilities, intellectual capabilities, amount of available time to improve necessary skills, and the amount of accessible resources to assist the development of new abilities.

Improving the ability to change is vital and can be done by for example direct involvement of managers, performance monitoring and real-life practice, which are yet another building block to eventually realize change (Hiatt, 2006).

Reinforcement

The last and fifth element in the model is reinforcement, which relates to the actions that strengthens change within a person. There are four factors that influences reinforcement to maintain change:

The first factor is the degree to which reinforcement generates value for an individual affected by a change. The second factor is about association of strengthening with actual

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achievements, such as rewards and recognition. The third factor is feedback, which entails the absence of adverse implications for desired behavior. The fourth factor relates to

accountability schemes to strengthen and reinforce change. Some strategies may be celebrations and celebrations to sustain a change and create reinforcement. Recognition, rewards, employee feedback, and performance measurement systems and systems for accountability may also be in place to sustain change (Hiatt, 2006).

The ADKAR model can facilitate the understanding of how willing the employees in an organization are to change, and therefore allow an analysis of the current state which is important to the analysis of empirics in the thesis (Hiatt, 2006). Another reason that this framework was chosen is that it can be helpful for employees to look at and recognize why they have difficulties with a specific aspect of change (Hiatt, 2006). The strength of this framework is that it is not merely theoretical but also practical which means it can be applied directly (Hiatt, 2006). Moreover, it will be vital to analyze where on the ADKAR model that the organization has to put the most effort in realizing change among employees (Hiatt, 2006).

In a study by Veiga (2018), the ADKAR model has been used to build a change management approach that can be implemented in an information security culture. The model provided an analysis on the type of change needed and the type of information that needs to be collected (Veiga, 2018). Also, the study highlighted the importance of including ADKAR as it focuses on people when implementing a new change within an organization and a change would fail without the support of people (Veiga, 2018). This aspect is essential for this thesis, as

integrating remote work will imply a change that will be implemented within the participating organization and will demand support from employees’ in order to succeed (Hiatt, 2006).

Also, analyzing data with the help of the five aspects of ADKAR was essential in deciding what strategy the participating organization needs to implement to succeed with the change (Veiga, 2018). This is an important aspect for this thesis as well, as a strategy for the participating organization will be defined in the McKinsey 7s model. Thus, the ADKAR model will help provide complementary aspects to the McKinsey 7s model. A weakness that has been identified is that it does not allow for a deep understanding for a specific field since it is often used to be applied quickly. Therefore, other frameworks that allow for deeper understanding are used to complement the ADKAR model in this thesis.

3.2.3 The Road to Commitment

The Road to Commitment model is defined as “The phases that individuals go through as they encounter organizational change” (Loup & Koller, 2005). The purpose of this model is to help leadership within organizations understand the side of organizational change that involves people (Loup & Koller, 2005). The model describes a journey that individuals go through that has Awareness and understanding as starting points and full commitment as an ending point. It enhances the fact that to be committed to an organizational change,

employees have to be engaged in their heads, hearts and hands (Loup et al., 2005). The Road to commitment consists of three phases as illustrated in figure 4:

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1. Expanding Awareness and understanding 2. Evoking Belief

3. Building Commitment

As shown in figure 4, the model shows two paths that a change can take. The upper path describes the process of implementing change successfully while the lower path describes failure of implementing change due to Resistance and Compliance from the people side of change (Loup et al., 2005). Also, the model acknowledges the importance of following the three stages rather than moving from Awareness/Understanding to Commitment to eliminate risks for failure. Moreover, including people by having them participate in planning and other actions involved with the change can help to conquer Resistance and Compliance and thereby return to the Road of Commitment (Loup et al., 2005).

Figure 4: The Road to Commitment (Loup et al., 2005)

Expanding Awareness and Understanding

As this phase represents the first phase, the aim is that the majority of individuals within an organization grasp the need for change. Thus, it is essential that the need for change addresses the following points:

●Reasons behind the change and why it is necessary

●The expected outcomes of the change

●The required actions to make the change happen

●Arguments that can motivate the “What’s in it for me”.

●Details that make this attempt to change unique from previous ones

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It is common that the questions of “Why” and “What” arise during this phase due to

individuals’ desire to build their own understanding of the change. Therefore, it is paramount that the leaders responsible for change are prepared to address such questions. Also, leaders need to be patient as they may experience repeated questions from different individuals in the organization. Moreover, leaders need to comprehend that they will not be able to answer all questions since this is the first phase. Thus, leaders need to be open with people about the fact that some answers will not be known during this phase and that a collaboration from people may be needed to get an answer (Loup et al., 2005).

There are several initiatives that can be used to expand understanding about a change. One initiative is to use the expected outcomes of the change when discussing questions related to the need for change. Another initiative can be reducing the time for leadership presentations to give more room for people to ask understanding questions. This can help people figure out what they need to know about the change. Additionally, leaders need to become better at listening to cynics as they are the ones that usually show doubts and concerns that other individuals can feel but do not show (Loup et al., 2005).

Evoking Belief

The aim of this phase is to create a belief among the majority of individuals in an organization regarding the following points:

●The change will have a positive impact on the organization

●The change will have a positive impact on individuals, the ”What’s in it for me”

aspect will be covered

●The organization have the capabilities needed to succeed with the attempt to change

During this phase, individuals who do not believe in one or more of these points tend to end up at the lower path of the model with resistance or compliance. Thus, these individuals will lose the ability to commit to the change as individuals will only put effort if they believe in the change. Failure during this phase is usually where the majority of change efforts lose track (Loup et al., 2005).

In order to avoid failure in this phase, there is a need to consider the following: Leaders need to have an open-mind when listening to mistakes of previous change efforts and concerns and doubts about the ongoing change effort. Also, Leaders should not take questions or

discussions personally and always remember that it is about the journey and people involved and not about the leader. Moreover, Leaders need to create forums that increase individuals’

engagement in actions included in the change effort. This will enable individuals to experience their beliefs with each other (Loup et al., 2005).

Building Commitment

The aim of this phase is that employees who have managed to go through the previous two phases start taking the actions needed to complete the change effort. At this phase, the

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employees are independent and not taking commands by leaders. Thus, employees begin to launch commitment actions (Loup et al., 2005). Additionally, it is common that people start asking themselves questions such as: “How do I change my work in order to contribute?”,

“What help, support, training will I need in order to succeed?” (Loup et al., 2005). The leadership within the organization will therefore need to be prepared to address such questions (Loup et al., 2005).

There are several actions that leaders can take to strengthen the participation of employees to commit. Firstly, create cross-functional teams to plan and execute actions to make the change happen. Secondly, reward the people who are contributing to the change effort. Thirdly, explain that failure contributes to excellent learning opportunities and is included in all change efforts (Loup et al., 2005).

Resistance and Compliance

Resistance and Compliance usually occur in the first two phases of the Road to Commitment model. All change efforts tend to include resistance, as employees try to come up with reasons why the change is a bad idea and will fail. Thus, employees are resistant to change. There is a thin line in the ability to distinguish resistance from trying to build a belief as employees tend to ask themselves the same type of questions in both phases. Therefore, resistance can be a part of the way to commitment (Loup et al., 2005).

Compliance is considered to be the commitment’s enemy as it implies applying the least possible requirements in the change effort. Also, during compliance, employees are moving longer from believing in the change. Therefore, compliance is more critical to the change effort than resistance (Loup et al., 2005).

The Road to Commitment model has implications on Change Management projects as it provides leaders with a better understanding on the people's side of change (Loup et al., 2005). It is common that managers may spend several months on developing a strategy on how to implement a new change within an organization (Loup et al., 2005). However, managers do not tend to include employees during this planning phase and choose to involve them in the implementation phase directly where managers usually hold short meetings to explain how to implement the change (Loup et al., 2005). As a result, change efforts tend to fail in building real commitment among employees (Loup et al., 2005). Also, Loup (2005) provided a case where a CEO of a company that was an auto supplier implemented the road to commitment. The model helped the CEO in understanding that management needs to shift the focus from building an understanding about the vision of the company to establish

commitment among employees on how to fulfill the vision (Loup et al., 2005). Thus, the model disclosed to management aspects and obstacles that people go through when implementing a change (Loup et al., 2005). Moreover, in order to understand an

organization’s vision and what change needs to be done in an organization, it is essential for managers to spend time on how to establish commitment among employees to make the change happen. Thus, the model is essential to the thesis as it helps build an analysis of the empirics on how managers can facilitate commitment among employees which is a key aspect to ensure that Change Management projects succeed (Loup et al., 2005). Additionally, this

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thesis will capture a change that will be implemented on an organizational level and impact a large number of employees. This enhances the importance of having a model like The Road to Commitment that provides managers with an action plan on how to avoid failure in

implementing it (Loup et al., 2005).

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4 Methodology

This chapter will present the research design, data collection, data analysis, research quality and ethics. An exploratory case study was conducted due to the wide scope of investigation of the research area. The aim is to meticulously describe each step of how the data has been collected. Moreover, since the exploratory approach was used the most suitable research method was semi-structured interviews for data collection. Lastly, the collected empirical data was then coded and divided into different themes.

4.1 Research Design

In this thesis the research design is of an exploratory nature with focus on an interpretivist approach since qualitative methods are primarily used. The interpretivist approach is not used to test theory or to replicate research. It was used to interpret data and consequently attain a profound understanding of the field of study that the thesis covers (Shah et al., 2006). This research process will result in inductively building theory which means that theory is constructed after the data collection is complete. Therefore, the inductive approach was believed to be most applicable to this thesis since it provides understanding to the

understudied area of integrating remote working into organizations with the help of change management.

The research process mainly consisted of two types of data: namely data from primary sources obtained from conducted semi-structured interviews combined with secondary sources consisting of academic literature and articles. Firstly, a systematic literature review was performed in order to gain knowledge of the field of: Remote Work, Communication Technology, Smart Workplace and Change Management. Thereafter, semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed in order to gain a deeper understanding of the problem (Blomkvist & Hallin, 2015).

The justification for using a qualitative approach is due to the exploratory nature of this thesis.

By incorporating and collecting primary source information there will be more empirical data to analyze which will increase the rigor of the thesis (Gibbert, Ruigrok & Wicki 2008). To obtain comprehensive knowledge within the field of this thesis a case study has been executed from which the theory will mainly be built upon (Eisenhardt, 1989). Since this thesis is highly related to people, culture and change, the qualitative approach is relevant to obtain depth and to be able to ask follow up questions which cannot be achieved through quantitative methods such as surveys. Furthermore, qualitative data in forms of semi-structured interviews was an appropriate path since a lot of the data has been interpretations of what informants felt and believed. Also, the interview questions varied depending on the position of the interviewee and as the study progresses which allowed for more nuanced data.

4.2 Data Collection

As this thesis has an exploratory nature that is based on a qualitative approach, data was

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The interviews were conducted digitally by using Microsoft Teams in which the informants were contacted in advance through email conversations to decide on time slots suitable to conduct the interviews. Microsoft Teams was chosen as it was already used to a large extent within the organization and the informants were familiar with it. Three interviews were booked at the time before proceeding to additional interviews. The reason for that was to give informants more flexibility in deciding on suitable time slots and to provide more time to analyze and transcribe each interview. To ensure the validity of the research, it was

determined that interviews to be conducted would be semi-structured (Saunders et al., 2016).

That implied that the interview questions would be formed to be open as shown in Appendix to contribute with more in-depth insights from the selected informants which in turn could yield valuable observations. Also, the outcomes of this data collection method could change the trajectory of the research (Blomkvist & Hallin, 2015; Eisenhardt, 1989). Additionally, secondary sources in terms of academic literature and articles were used to gain relevant knowledge of the fields of remote work and change management to identify research gaps that this thesis could fill.

The secondary sources such as academic articles, reports and other literature were mainly found through the trustworthy databases of: Web of Knowledge and Scopus. The keywords that were used to find literature were largely a combination of the following: Remote work, Smart workplace, Communication technologies, digital tools, Change management, demands, pandemic and Covid-19. The time when literature was published was an important aspect to the theory included in the theoretical context as the subject of remote work became a lot more relevant with the occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, the studies included were from recent years to ensure that they are relevant to the subject. However, an exception to include an older study from 1983 in the literature was made to give an overview on the history of remote work.

Furthermore, to assure the quality of the collected data, the ethical guidelines described by the Swedish Research Council (2017) have been applied when conducting interviews. Also, to ensure reliability, the informants were asked to give permission regarding taking notes and having their interviews recorded on Microsoft Teams. The purpose of recording was to ensure including all aspects when the interviews were transcribed in the next stage. The collected data in terms of recordings and notes has been stored safely in locked documents to avoid risks that can include abuse of usage of data and personal information provided by informants (Yin, 1994).

The number of interviews conducted was ten. The interview phase was divided into several stages where each stage included an average of three interviews. The purpose of this decision was to compile results from each stage. The interview questions used were mainly the same.

However, some questions were adjusted to adapt to the different roles of the informants. An example was when interviewing software engineers where the focus was more on gaining data on the technologies used during remote work. This helped in forming more accurate questions that could be used as guidelines to steer informants into the studied field. Despite the fact that the same questions were used in several interviews, each interview included different follow-

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up questions that generated additional output as the informants had different roles and lived in different countries as illustrated in Table 1. Thus, interviews were developed in various ways.

In the stage of choosing informants, it was decided to have a variation among informants in terms of country, department and position. The purpose of this decision was to gain a broader overview and generate international insights which is essential for this thesis as Covid

restrictions and the adoption of remote varies by country. A coordination with the contact person at the company was done during meetings at Microsoft Teams to determine which informants were suitable to contact. After the coordination, it was decided to contact six informants that hold a manager position and four informants with no manager position. The chosen departments were: Sales, human resources, IT and software engineering. Two of the informants lived in other countries than Sweden. An overview of the informants is shown in Table 1.

Code Interviewee Role Country Time

(min)

Date

Informant 1 Manager Director of IT Operations and Support

Sweden 35 21-02-22

Informant 2 Manager People and Culture Director Sweden 60 21-02-23 Informant 3 Manager Global Facility Manager Sweden 57 21-02-26 Informant 4 Manager People and Culture Director USA 40 21-03-17 Informant 5 Employee Corporate Development Sweden 45 21-03-11

Informant 6 Manager VP of Sales Sweden 60 21-03-12

Informant 7 Manager CEO of an acquired company

Belgium 35 21-03-19

Informant 8 Employee Software Engineer Sweden 30 21-04-08

Informant 9 Employee Software Engineer Sweden 40 21-04-09

Informant 10

Employee DevOps Engineer Sweden 40 21-04-12

Table 1: Information regarding interviews and interviewees

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4.3 Data analysis

In order to accomplish relevant outcomes and ensure the fulfillment of the thesis purpose, analyzing the qualitative data provided by interviews was essential. This is acknowledged by Brekhus et al. and Dey (2005; 1993) as well. The authors disclosed the important role that qualitative data has on the investigated field. In the process of analyzing qualitative data, interviews were audio recorded after getting informants’ approval. Also, notes were taken during interviews to increase the ability of memorizing highlights and important insights. The Swedish Research Council’s ethical principles (2017) were used during this process.

Moreover, the generated qualitative data was first divided into two categories: Managerial and Employees’ perspective to reflect over the type of position that the informants. Secondly, the data provided by interviews was divided into the sub-categories shown in Table 2.

Thirdly, the sub-categories were grouped into various themes.

After completing the coding of the qualitative data from primary sources and storing it safely, the stage of qualitative analysis began. The thematic analysis method was chosen to conduct the analysis. The method provides flexibility as it categorizes data in a clear manner that can help identify patterns that could be blurry to see otherwise (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Parallel writing in terms of taking notes was applied where authors conducted thematic analysis separately to ensure having collaborative writing strategy (Uppvall et al., 2017). Thus, the risk for biases was minimised which in turn increased the validity of the analysis (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007). Lastly, as Denny Gioia (2018) recommends, main themes have been identified to provide better understanding of the qualitative analysis. In the stage of

identifying main themes, two categories were established at first: Managerial and Employee perspective which both consisted of the main themes and reflected the type of position the informants had. Secondly, the data provided by interviews was divided into the sub-categories shown in Table 2. The choice of sub-categories was based on factors such as: frequency of occurrence and acknowledgements about central insights by informants. Thirdly, the sub- categories that shared common links were grouped together to shape a theme as shown in Table 2. This process helped in interpreting the data correctly and yielded a better

understanding of the data. As a result, six main themes were identified as illustrated in Table 2. Moreover, the choice of the main themes’ topics were based on the central areas that were covered in the interview transcripts. Also, as mentioned previously in the data collection chapter, the qualitative data provided by informants was continuously compiled with the literature to further increase the validity (Biernacki and Waldorf, 1981).

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Sub-categories Themes

Agility, The physical workplace, technology

Smart Workplace

Preparedness, Opportunities, Initiatives to utilize remote work

Remote Work

Willingness to change, Work culture, Acquisitions

Change

Social aspects, Non-social aspects

Challenges

sFuture of remote work, The need of physical workplace

Future

Leadership, Social needs Demands

Table 2: Sub-categories and Main themes

Hence, main themes were identified to organize the qualitative data and thus enabled authors to proceed with the analysis and draw conclusions.

4.4 Research quality

The quality of the research conducted in this thesis will consider certain criterias derived from Shah et al (2006) and Gibbert et al (2008) in order to achieve a credible qualitative research process. The aforementioned authors’ works will improve with the rigourness of the case study. The criterias to ensure trustworthiness are: Internal validity, External validity, Reliability and Objectivity.

Internal validity refers to the relationship between variables and results and is prominent during the analysis phase. There are two measures that enhance internal validity which will be focused on: a clearly formulated research framework and pattern matching (Shah et al., 2006;

Gibbert et al., 2008). A clearly formulated framework has been focused on achieving in the

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beginning of this thesis which includes many perspectives of theory within the field.

Furthermore, in order to increase the internal validity of the data collected during the interview-phase all the interviews were recorded and coded and consequently divided and categorized into themes. This allowed for detailed and careful analysis of each interview which resulted in the detection of patterns and thus comparing them with established or predicted patterns in previous studies (Gibbert et al., 2008). Another aspect is that we had a contact person at our case company that has helped us to come in contact with relevant interview persons. Thereafter, we contacted these persons and in case they did not respond or if we had more questions we could always communicate that to our contact person. This increased internal validity as it led to contacting relevant interviewees as well as it shows our process transparently.

External validity is defined as how well a study’s findings can be generalized and transferred to other comparable cases. By studying these criterias it can improve the external validity of the method since it reflects how well the yielded results can be used in other scenarios (Shah et al., 2006). Moreover, Gibbert et al (2008) states that to ensure external validity the

researcher should present clear evidence in how the study went from initial research questions to final conclusions in order to allow readers to reconstruct the study. Also, it is also stated that researchers should view the same phenomenons by adopting different angles such as using different data collection methods and different sources (Gibbert et al., 2008) . The aforementioned actions have been adopted in this thesis in order to fulfill the criteria of

external validity by using semi-structured interviews where open-ended questions as shown in the Appendix followed by follow-up questions that were asked. This helped provide freedom to informants in terms of expressing their opinions without bias from the interviewers.

Reliability refers to the ability of other researchers reaching the same insights and results if they were to replicate the same steps again. This means that there should not be random errors that prohibit achieving the same results. Replication and transparency are two key words related to reliability. In this thesis, transparency was ensured by careful coding of the semi- structured interviews and by clearly describing every research procedure executed. The coding process consisted of first taking notes during each interview and to ensure not losing any important insights, second notes were taken by listening to the recordings immediately after each session. Sub-categories and themes were conducted as described in the data analysis section in the next stage of coding. Replication was accomplished by clearly stating all the necessary steps taken in the method section regarding how the interviews were conducted, how the choice of informants and how the coding of interviews has been done (Gibbert et al., 2008).

Objectivity refers to the explicit separation of 1st order and 2nd order findings in the thesis.

1st order findings relate to the results yielded from the conducted semi-structured interviews and the 2nd order findings are results yielded from literature, which are separate from each other. However, by showing the data-to-theory connections and thus the linkage between the 1st order codes in the data structure and 2nd order concepts found in literature objectivity is

Remote Work - Redefining the workplace through the lense of change management: A case study on the demands that arise when working remotely in the perspective of employees and managers