Browsing by Author "Blomstrand, Matilda"

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Borta bra men hemma bäst, eller? En fallstudie om hur ledarskap, engagemang och motivation förändrats under distansarbete
(2021-11-24) Bjärkling, Lovisa; Blomstrand, Matilda; University of Gothenburg/Department of Business Administration; Göteborgs universitet/Företagsekonomiska institutionen
In March 2020, Covid-19 reached Swedish borders, and the spread went from small to large inonly a few weeks. In April the same year, a large part of Swedish workforce was asked to work from home. Under this year, businesses have been forced to adapt to new flexible working methods, both when it comes to technology and the requirements of new leadership. The purpose of this study has been to examine how human resources managers and employees have experienced the transition to remote work. The study has too examined how managers and employees believe we will work after the corona pandemic. The study aimed to give firm recommendations to businesses of how they can use organizational theory to their advantage, in the transition to more flexible working methods. The empirical material is collected by qualitative interviews with twelve people from three different companies. As a complement to the interviews, former studies and organizational theories have been used to create a relevant frame of references. The conclusion of the study was that both managers and employees have experienced a change in motivation, and that the most apparent lack during the pandemic was social interaction. People miss each other and the ability to communicate live, and it has been a real challenge to create similar fields online. The leader has a great significance when work is remote based and a need for strong distance leadership has increased. The study has proved that people have individual needs, and get motivated by different things, which increases the importance of an observant and engaged leader even more. The relationship between colleagues and managers has also proved to be of great importance for the engagement when working from home, as colleagues have become our digital workplace. Finally, the study has shown that the change to the new way of working has created a strong will to work flexibly in the future, half the week at home, and half the week at the office. There is no desire to return to 100% office hours and office landscapes after the corona pandemic.
Decoding Decision-Making: Comparative Insights from Differently Structured Organizations
(2023-06-29) Blomstrand, Matilda; Zakrison, Olivia; University of Gothenburg/Graduate School; Göteborgs universitet/Graduate School
The world is constantly changing and for organizations to stay competitive in a dynamic environment, they need to practice efficient decision-making. Previous research distinguishes decision-making as a continuum between centralized and decentralized, the former as common in hierarchical structures and the latter a characteristic of a flat structure. However, the traditional hierarchical organizational structure has been argued to become inefficient in today’s society due to its inability to adapt to the surrounding environment. Instead, organizations move towards a more flat structure with fewer managerial levels and a higher autonomy for the employees. Studies have shown that different organizational structures have an impact on decision-making and to investigate the level of impact, a comparative approach on two case organizations was conducted, one hierarchical and one flat. Data has been collected through 20 interviews with employees at several levels of the organizations. The study reveals large differences in how decision-making unfolds in practice and in line with previous research, the hierarchical organization exercises rather centralized decision-making, and the flat organization rather decentralized decision-making. However, the findings show that the decision-making structure depends on the character of the decision and that the appropriate structure for an organization depends on the environment in which the business operates. In addition, the findings illustrate that trust is an essential factor and that decision-making has an impact on employee involvement, which in turn has an impact on motivation.