How the rapid digital work from home transition has affected management : A case study at an R&D department at Husqvarna AB

Abstract Background: With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, working from home has become one of the new implementations within organizations and businesses. The ability to work from home gives individuals the freedom to work from any location they want. Also, the fact that it is financially beneficial for organizations and businesses since they can reduce office expenses. However, working from home brings new challenges that influence the way of working and managing. These challenges can be for example communication breakdown, trust, and lack of collaboration among employees. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate and see what changes have been implemented by the management at Husqvarna AB to adapt to this digital transition. Also, see how the employees have been affected by this drastic digital transition. This research findings will contribute to potential improvements when it comes to digital management and organizational structure in a digital environment. Method: The interpretivism paradigm is applied to this research together with an inductive approach. The research is based on a single case study at Husqvarna AB where primary data was acquired through six in-depth interviews with the semi-structured question approach. The participants we interviewed consisted of two engineers, one certification coordinator and three managers. Furthermore, the thematic analysis approach was applied when analyzing the data in order to draw applicable conclusions. Results: The empirical findings shows that the main change that have been implemented by the management to adapt to this digital transition is the increase of meetings. Further, the outcome of this has led to some employees being used more inefficiently, the time they spend in these meetings could be spent more efficiently. When it comes to how the employees have been affected by this transition and perform their daily tasks, there is relations towards the self-efficacy theory