TO WORK AT  DISTANCE: THE MODERN WORKPLACE : A qualitative study of a distributed team and their communication via ICT tools

The overall development of the digitalization of workplaces has led to an increase in telework. Additionally, the recent Covid-19 pandemic along with following societal lockdowns and social distancing rules has led to a significant escalation of teleworking since workers had to relocate from their offices to their homes. However, this study examines a team working distributed even before the start of the pandemic, and who will continue working remotely following the pandemic. The team is distributed throughout the Nordic, with respondents located within Sweden. The purpose of this study is to investigate an organization's use of information and communication technology (ICT) to handle telework. Furthermore, the study aims to make visible how the organization handles aspects of teleworking and the challenges posed by ICT, as well as to develop suggestions for improvements to support the organization. As well as investigate whether the Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on the organization's work processes during teleworking. For this study, a qualitative research method was applied, and individual experiences were gathered through interviews. The data was examined and analyzed in light of recent research and literature relating to the subject. The study finds that the respondents do not face any major challenges with working remotely and they have a good communication tone and trust in each other. The organization also provides their employees with technical support, IT-equipment, education, and other support to manage teleworking. Furthermore, the study concludes that the team leader has his own strategies for promoting teleworking cohesion within the team. The Covid-19 pandemic did not cause major changes in circumstances for the team due to their experience of teleworking. Lastly, the study presents the organization with suggestions for improvement regarding the studied areas related to previous research. We hope that our findings will assist the organization and others in order to provide the best working conditions for their employees