internal and external forces of organizational change in

Fanny Aronsson | Axelia Huusko | Viktor Wansulin

Internal and External Forces of Organizational Change in Project Management A case study on a collaborative project

FANNY ARONSSON

AXELIA HUUSKO VIKTOR WANSULIN

School of Business, Society & Engineering Course: Thesis in Business Administration Course code: FOA243 15 cr

Supervisor: Inti Lammi Date: 21/1-2021


Acknowledgement We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the people around us who have been very

supportive in completing our goal and making this study possible. First of all, thank you to

Professor Inti Lammi, for your guidance and support during this process, it has been

incredibly appreciated. Second, for all the great reviews and opinions that helped us form

this thesis, we would like to thank our opposition groups. Lastly, a huge thank you to all

the respondents from Swedish Scaleups and all the participating partners; Eskilstuna

Kommun, Inkubera, Linköping Science Park, Uppsala Innovation Center and Västerås

Science Park for participating in our interviews and for taking the time to read, reflect and

address the questions honestly. This thesis would not have been possible without you.

Thank you,

Fanny Aronsson, Axelia Huusko & Viktor Wansulin


Abstract

Date: (21/01/2021)

Level: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration, 15 credits

Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University

Authors: Fanny Aronsson Axelia Huusko Viktor Wansulin (96/07/27) (96/05/24) (98/11/30)

Title: An Examination of Internal and External Forces of Organizational Change in a Project Setting; A case study on a collaborative project

Tutor: Inti Lammi

Keywords: Project management, temporary organizations, internal & external change, organizational change, collaboration & work satisfaction.

RQ: 1 How has the working processes/structure transformed due to internal and external changes?

RQ: 2 How does these changes affect the collaboration and work satisfaction, seeing that such extensive changes, which take place simultaneously or in close connection, can be very demanding?

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to find evidence on how temporary projects change in connection to both internal organizational changes, in terms of change in management, as well as the external force of change of COVID-19. In addition, the thesis will also go into depth on how these changes have affected collaboration and work-satisfaction.

Method: The research is a case study of qualitative nature and ten semi-structured interviews, with five project leaders and five employees in a collaborative project, were conducted to enable interactions between theories and empirical findings. It was decided to obtain a case project in order to investigate how the external force of COVID-19 and the internal force of change in head management has affected the project's work settings, collaboration and the well-being/work satisfaction of the employees. Along with the interviews, the theoretical structure made it possible to perform a thematic analysis.

Conclusion: The changes connected to the working processes and the structure given the forces of internal and external change have altered the way the employees perform and operate in the project. It is concluded that collaboration is of utmost importance and that building trust and relationships have clearly become harder in a virtual work setting, it has affected how the project participants work together towards common objectives. These major changes have also affected the work satisfaction of the project members to different extents.


Table of Contents 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………....1 2. Problematization & Purpose………………………………………………………………………. 3

2.1 Research questions…………………………………………………………………………….. 4 3. Literature Review………………………………………………………………………………….. 5

3.1 Project management………………………………………………………………………….... 5 3.1.1 Projects-As-Practice……………………………………………………………………………...6

3.2 Organizational change…………………………………………………………………………. 8 3.2.1 Forces of change…………………………………………………………………………………..8 3.2.2 Collaboration in changing projects…………………………………………………….. 10 3.2.3 Work satisfaction in changing projects………………………………………………....11

3.3 Theoretical framework……………………………………………………………………….. 12 4. Methodology………………………………………………………………………………………. 15

4.1 Research Design…………………………………………………………………………….... 15 4.2 Setting………………………………………………………………………………………....16 4.3 Data collection………………………………………………………………………………...18

4.3.1 Qualitative interviews………………………………………………………………….. 18 4.3.2 Secondary sources……………………………………………………………………....19

4.5 Data Analysis………………………………………………………………………………….20 4.6 Quality criteria………………………………………………………………………………...21 4.7 Methodological Limitations………………………………………………………………….. 22

5. Empirical Findings………………………………………………………………………………...23 5.1 Employee feelings towards change…………………………………………………………... 23

5.1.1 The internal change……………………………………………………………………..23 5.1.2 The external change……………………………………………………………………. 24

5.2 Absence of social interactions………………………………………………………………... 25 5.3 Striving towards common goals…………………………………………………………….... 27 5.4 Stress in connection to workload……………………………………………………………...28

6. Analysis …………………………………………………………………………………………….30 6.1 Internal and external forces of change affecting processes within a project………………….30 6.2 The importance of structure and the different stages in a project……………………………. 32 6.3 Collaboration and the importance of relationships in a project setting………………………. 33 6.4 Work satisfaction within a changing project…………………………………………………. 36 6.5 Implications…………………………………………………………………………………... 39

7. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………….40 7.1 Limitation…………………………………………………………………………………….. 41 7.2 Future research……………………………………………………………………………….. 42

Reference List………………………………………………………………………………………...43 Appendix


1. Introduction The accompanying section will include a concise outline for the significance of conducting this study, the foundation data, and introduction of topics and theories that will be presented in this thesis.

A project can be defined in multiple ways, it could be considered an agency for change or a

way to organize resources (Cleland & King, 1983; Andersen et al., 1987; Hornstein, 2015;

Turner & Müller, 2003). In addition, it can also be considered as a temporary organization

(Cleland & Kerzner, 1985; Turner & Müller, 2003; Marchi & Sarcina, 2011). What makes the

temporary organization unique among other organizations is that it is time bound and in this

setting it is also created to achieve specific objectives (Marchi & Sarcina, 2011; Hornstein,

2015).

Many organizations use projects as a part of their structure where they act as the mother

company (Asad Mir & Pinnington, 2014), however, there are also projects which are actually

created to be a temporary organization. An example could be EU-funded, temporary growth

projects. These kinds of temporary organizations have specified objectives such as stimulation

of growth in regards to different companies as well as the economy of the host country

(Marchi & Sarcina, 2011). A project like this could be very loosely structured and

collaboration plays a key role in order for the project to achieve its objectives.

What would happen if the environment surrounding these temporary organizations, as well as

the internal structure changed drastically?

Late December 2019 marked the start of what would later become a widespread and deadly

pandemic called COVID-19 (WHO, 2020). The effects of the virus have of course been on

many different levels; personal, business, societal but also on a national level. One of the most

common restrictions that has been executed throughout the globe is a phenomenon called

social distancing, this is also one of the restrictions that have severe effects on the economy

(Maharaj & Kleczkowski, 2012) and how work is executed.

COVD-19 is an unpredictable external factor that has had a large effect on many companies,

organizations and projects. Such an extensive external factor could often result in a lot of

internal changes such as furloughs, employees being terminated, change in leadership and

staff, as well as reorganizations of the structure and processes (Shin, 1977). However, these

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kinds of internal changes could happen even without the threat of a pandemic or any other

external factor causing changes in the internal environment.

What is interesting to investigate is how COVID-19, which is an external source for change,

has affected the concept of working in projects, while at the same time there is a large internal

change of switching project management.

Organizations all over the world are increasingly implementing project management as a tool

in order to increase its efficiency (Asad Mir & Pinnington, 2014; Hornstein, 2015). This is not

only a normal occurrence within the business administration field, but it can be found in the

majority of today's industries and sectors. By transferring the task from the business unit, to

project teams who are: operating with a limited budget, are unique and temporary, the task

can be accomplished in an efficient way (Hornstein, 2015). Project teams are constantly

adapting to changes in terms of environment and needs (Deeprose, 2002). The dynamic

environment that projects are facing today can affect the project by increased threat, a

negative impact, or by increased opportunity, a positive impact (Anderson & Merna, 2003).

COVID-19 has forced companies to adapt to a changing environment in a short amount of

time (Seidl & Whittington, 2020).

In addition to these extensive changes it would also be interesting to investigate how they

have affected the collaboration between and within the parties involved in a project/temporary

organization. As has been concluded by previous researchers such as Hällgren and Söderholm

(2011), extensive changes within organizations can often lead to uncertainty, stress and other

negative feelings. Therefore, an examination of the effects on work satisfaction is also of high

relevance.

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2. Problematization & Purpose In this section, the problematization, purpose and research questions will be presented.

Many project organizations have quite a loose structure. They are temporary, meaning that

they only exist for a limited time, for example three years as in this case and during this time

they interact with many different parties. The project depends on interrelations with

stakeholders and they need to participate and be involved, which ultimately means that they

do a lot of networking (Marchi & Sarcina, 2011). To be able to function as a project

organization like this, there is a need for flexibility and adaptability (Jalali Sohi, 2018;

Thompson, 2003; Turner & Müller, 2003; Marchi & Sarcina, 2011).

Within all kinds of businesses, such as organizations or projects there are sometimes a need

for change of leadership. This could be because of objectives not being met, disorganization,

staff withdrawals, lack of strategic focus, large financial losses or even bullying to name a few

(Boddy, 2017; Lehn & Zhao, 2006). When a change like this occurs, the new leader could

implement drastic and very different ways of working for the employees or change nothing at

all. However, research supports that usually, if the new leader is an external hire, entirely new

to the organization, they will want to make more changes, whereas if they were hired within

the organization they would follow previous strategies and actions (Westphal & Fredickson,

2001). A change like this is what has occurred in the temporary, project-based organization

that is the focus of investigation for this thesis. In December 2019, they had a change of head

management.

Due to COVID-19, the environment surrounding the project-based organization has changed

drastically and new, unforeseen changes could occur at any moment because of the

uncertainty of the pandemic and how it is handled. What this implies is that, during an

extensive change such as exchanging the head leader, a strategic decision, the project is also

hit by an unforeseen external force such as COVID-19, which provides a new set of

challenges as well as further changes within the organization.

While there has been a lot of research conducted on project-based and temporary

organizations, as well as investigations on these organizations in connection to the

environment they are operating in (Engwall, 2003). There has not been any previous research

on how such a temporary, project-based organization handles an internal change such as a

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shift in leadership while at the same time they have to handle an external crisis causing further

changes, such as COVID-19. What working processes have been changed, how, or if they

have been changed at all, how the collaborations between different partners in the project

handles these changes or how people feel regarding them. Therefore, there is considered a gap

in the research, seeing that there is no previous research covering this area.

The purpose of this research is to collect data and investigate how temporary projects change

in connection to both internal organizational changes in terms of change in head leadership as

well as the external force of change, being COVID-19. If there are any behavioral adaptations

in order to cope with the situation of the pandemic and how the project and its participants

have been affected. This research can be used to understand the different situations that can

occur due to organizational change, caused by internal and external factors simultaneously or

in close connection. Since operational practices are all about continuity, a quick change can

interrupt the flow of working activity. Researchers have previously focused more on slowly

natural evolutionary change rather than a fast-changing environment, like a pandemic (Seidl

& Whittington, 2020).

Regarding further purposes, this thesis could also be used as a reference for managing

collaborative projects with a loose based structure undergoing multiple changes

simultaneously. To see the importance of collaboration where depending on each other in

order to reach a common objective is key. However, it is important to note that it is a case

study and may therefore be very specific.

2.1 Research questions

Based on the introduction and problematization, two research questions have been formed.

- How has the working processes/structure transformed due to internal and external

changes?

- How do these changes affect the collaboration and work satisfaction, seeing that such

extensive changes, which take place simultaneously or in close connection, can be

very demanding?

4


3. Literature Review In this chapter, the already existing knowledge about projects, change, collaboration and work satisfaction will be presented. The concepts presented are selected to provide support for this research and will be discussed in later chapters.

3.1 Project management To be able to understand the setting of this thesis it is important to get a general grasp of what

projects actually are and how they work.

Projects can come in different shapes or forms and can be used for several different areas.

Packendorff and Lindgren (2014) discusses the concept of projectification from two

perspectives, narrow and broad. They state that “the notion of projectification has emerged as

projects have become a common form of work organisation in all sectors of the economy

during recent decades”. The narrow point of view is the idea of projects as an organizational

solution to certain types of tasks for handling complex and nonroutine tasks, or that a project

can be seen as a temporary organization that is task oriented. The broader perspective is

discussed as “projectification as cultural and discursive processes”. Where you look at the

process of projectification not only in a work setting, meaning that the individual organizes

activities like projects in a daily life situation since daily situations can be seen as temporary,

unique, limited et cetera, just like a project. They also conclude that projects have become a

more and more popular way to structure the work, both within organizations but also as stand

alone.

Previous project research has concluded that projects could for example be engineering

projects that usually need large teams and collaboration is of the utmost importance (Turner,

2009; Simon et al., 2012). There are also smaller projects, for example construction at work,

maintenance, research, development or even product launches. It could also be as common as

moving houses or going on a vacation (Turner, 2009). The lifetime of projects differ

depending on the type of project, a project can be active between two weeks up to five years

or even longer as an example. Clearly there is room for interpretation when it comes to the

term project and what it means.

As stated in the introduction, several different researchers have had their take on the definition

of projects (Cleland & King, 1983; Andersen et al., 1987). Turner and Müller (2003) provides

5


a clear definition in their work: “A project is a temporary organization to which resources

are assigned to undertake a unique, novel and transient endeavour managing the inherent

uncertainty and need for integration in order to deliver beneficial objectives of change.”

What this definition states is that a project in fact is a temporary organization, meaning that it

is time-bound and has an end. Different types of resources are put into the temporary

organization to handle this unique and new endeavor, with all its entailing uncertainties, to

reach beneficial objectives already set out.

In Skulmoski and Hartman’s 2010 study, they investigate the different competencies that can

be identified in the various stages in a project. Because of the different stages, different tasks

need to be completed. The stages investigated are; the initial phase, the planning phase, the

implementation phase and the close-out phase. Their study shows that depending on which

phase the project is in, there is increased workload in certain areas. For example, team

building in the initial phase as well as writing and quality checking in the close-out phase.

As has been stated previously, regarding the term temporary organizations, different

definitions of the term “project” presented temporary organizations as one of them, therefore,

it means that temporary organizations could also be defined as projects (Turner & Müller,

2003). What previous literature has concluded is that temporary organizations have greater

adaptability and changeability capacity, and that these temporary organizations can be

evaluated by taking into account the essence of the objectives, length of the project, working

group or team characteristics, as well as the variety of leadership and organizational styles

(Marchi & Sarcina, 2011). For the purpose of this thesis, the term project will be considered

interchangeable with the term temporary organization.

Further, as has been touched upon previously, project literature also includes the term

processes. Literature regarding processes studies how things develop over time and why

things develop the way they do (Van de Ven & Huber, 1990, Langley, 1999) which also ties

into the changeability of projects and temporary organizations. When it comes to processes in

a project setting it is beneficial to define the activities and task that generates the process.

Clarification of roles, reporting relations and responsibilities are beneficial to define, when

doing that it is easier to understand the process as a whole, which can increase the chances of

project success (Abdomerovic and Blakemore, 2002).

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3.1.1 Projects-As-Practice A further project approach presented by Hällgren and Söderholm, was published in 2011 and

called projects-as-practice. Within their research they present two different views of projects,

the first one is more traditional with a focus on best practice, organizational form, leadership

styles, tools and models. Whereas the second one has a focus on processes which include

change, social processes and development of the organization (Hällgren & Söderholm, 2011).

According to their research, projects are seen as the sum of the different actions of the people

involved within it, with an emphasis on how the people involved act, as well as the structure

of their work. What is concluded within their research is that both the process approach as

well as the traditional approach are lacking in regards to explaining “the situated activities of

human beings”. This is where the projects-as-practice approach comes in. In addition to

Hällgren and Söderholm (2011), other researchers such as Whittington (2006), Jarzabkowski

& Spee (2009) have also had their take on the practice approach and concluded that this

approach has a focus on the activities and practices of human beings in a social context and

that it is divided into three parts. These three parts are praxis, practice and practitioners.

Praxis is the work that gets the job done, there is no specific plan followed, but rather the

tools and methods known, are utilized to reach the end goal. The work needed could for

instance be meetings, briefings, presentations and simple talk between employees (Mezias et

al., 200; Whittington, 2006). Practices are drawn upon values, operational procedures,

cultures, norms, policies and rules when executing the project (Hällgren & Söderholm, 2011;

Mezias et al., 2001; Jarzabkowski & Spee, 2009; Whittington, 2006). It is routinized behavior

which includes know-how of different tools and methods to actually finish the job. Practice is

the explanation of why people within the project act a certain way (Whittington, 2006;

Hällgren & Wilson, 2008). In addition, based on previous and new experiences new practices

can be developed (Hällgren & Söderholm 2011). Practitioners are the people who execute the

praxis and practices, this includes anyone involved with developing, executing or finalizing

the project (Whittington, 2006).

Hällgren and Söderholm (2011) also suggest that projects-as-practice look into the smaller,

more mundane activities performed by practitioners that make up their usual workdays. That

their research gives an understanding of those smaller details that are usually forgotten about

or deemed too insignificant to bother with. This approach paves the way for practitioners to

understand why they do certain activities “to get the job done” as well as allows them to

understand why changes are perceived in a certain way. 7


What all of these theories of project management, projects as practice and processes have in

common is change, hence the following section on organizational change.

3.2 Organizational change

Regarding organizational change, Kurt Lewin is considered by many researchers to be a well

known and respected researcher of the subject. Lewin’s model of change consists of three

steps and is considered by many scholars as the classical perspective and approach for

handling change (Cummings et al., 2016). However, some scholars have widely criticized

Lewin’s model as it can be recognized as oversimplified, meaning that the model lacks depth

and perspectives of the change process. Other scholars argue that change should be viewed as

constant processes within an organization (Burnes, 2004). According to researchers,

organizational change is a complex phenomenon that is often associated with failure due to

the complexity of the environment the change is occurring in (Jacobs et al., 2013; Roland

Gareis, 2010; Lehmann, 2010), however, it is necessary in order for businesses to adapt and

flourish in the fast-changing business environment. Also, in order to remain relevant,

organizational change is inevitable and impossible to disregard (Singh & Shoura, 2006).

Lehmann (2010) enlightened the importance and usefulness of communication during periods

of change. Emphasizing that communication is the start of the change as well as it can be used

as an effective tool in preparing the people involved to decrease the feelings of insecurity.

Organizational change is the actions taken in order to alternate a specific component of the

organization, such as restructuring of the organization as well as altering its internal processes

(Nery Vanessa de Fátima et al., 2019).

3.2.1 Forces of change According to Bryson et al. (1993) strategic decision-making is made to optimize operations, it

is a critical factor for successfully operating projects, also referred to as planned change. A

strategic decision can be defined as an important decision in terms of the resources

committed, actions taken or precedents set (Eisenhardt et al., 1992). Common contextual

factors for strategic decision-making is based on the external environment surrounding the

subject area as well as the internal organizational characteristics (Papadakis et al., 1998).

Managers face situations of decision-making with acquainted intentions (Eisenhardt et al.,

1992).

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There has been little theoretical and empirical work for unpredicted change and the challenge

it would contribute for organizations. Previous research for bounded rationality in strategic

decisions shows that environments with high uncertainty and low external control limits

rationality (Dean & Sharfman, 1993). Unanticipated change can be considered the opposite to

strategic decision and planned change. It can be connected to bounded rationality, but it is the

extreme case where there is little or no knowledge in advance. It is commonly disregarded,

thus it can easily turn out to become a crisis (Hällgren & Wilson, 2008). The COVID-19

pandemic is a perfect example of an unanticipated and unforeseen change, it has caused

massive organizational change throughout the globe. There is little or no rationality behind

this change which has led to many managerial decisions and changes in organizations.

Regarding organizational change, a differentiation can be made based on the nature of the

reason for the change. The change can have an external or an internal characteristic based on

the event occurring (Langley et al., 2013).

The different types of change affect the organization from different angles. Change can be

identified from the broadest of concepts such as mindsets, to the most narrow like a specific

tool or employee (Mintzberg & Wesley, 1992). Previous studies have shown that depending

on what types of changes that are occurring, they could have vastly different outcomes

(Mintzberg & Wesley, 1992; Dominguez et al., 2015) and a potential change per se, can have

devastating effects on the outcome and performance of projects (Hällgren & Wilson, 2008).

How a potential change affects a specific organization depends on the competences and

resources exploited and how they are utilized (Teece et al., 1997). Most research made, either

pay attention to an internal or an external change separately. Viewing these combined is

crucial for organizations to meet demand and long-term learning (Murk & Walls, 1999;

Vuorinen & Martinsuo, 2019).

Table 1 (created by the authors)

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Forces of external change Forces of internal change

- Political - Economical - Natural disaster - Technological - Governmental - Environmental

- Leadership - Structure - Strategy - People - Technology - Cultural


External forces refer to the changes of environmental uncertainties outside of the organization

(Papadakis, 1998). A specification of environmental context variables are political (Mintzberg

& Wesley, 1992), economic, technological (Sopow, 2020), governmental (Dominguez et al.,

2015) environmental and natural disasters (Battaglia et al., 2019). For the external factors

forcing change, projects have little or no control over the cause (Bryson et al., 1993) it is

beyond the control of the organization (Mellert et al., 2015). Daft et al., (1988) views

environmental change as the major factor influencing organizational decision-making,

structures and internal processes. Dominguez et al., (2015) support that external forces are

mainly the drivers of change. The origin of change can come to light from any environmental

factor in terms of an external force or through intentional decision-making in terms of internal

forces (Langley et al., 2013).

Internal forces of change refer to changes within the organization. These organizational

context variables are grounded from sources inside the organization such as changing

leadership (Jarzabkowski, 2003; Dominguez et al., 2015), strategy (Barker et al., 2001;

Boeker, 1997a; Miller, 1993; Simons, 1994), structure (Barker et al., 2001; Gordon et al.,

2000; Hayward and Shimizu, 2006; Lant et al., 1992) culture and people (Král & Králová,

2016; Bate et al., 2000). There is also the variable of technology, according Diab-Bahman &

Al-Enzi (2020) when new technologies emerge it can change how the organization or firms

operate. Had the technology of virtual video calls not emerged, a situation which calls for

working from home would be a lot harder to conduct.

3.2.2 Collaboration in changing projects Collaboration is the operation of joining forces or joint partnership, it can be utilized between

two or more people within one single entity, such as within a project to combine knowledge

and more efficiently achieve goals by working together (Bond-Barnard et al., 2018). It is a

crucial factor for successfully performing projects (Vaaland, 2004) and collaboration

increases willingness of organizational incentives to perform challenging operations

(Nepelski & Piroli, 2018; Katz, 1986). If receiving complementary resources, reducing risk

and minimizing transaction costs, there is a tendency for higher willingness of joining forces

(Nepelski & Piroli, 2018; Caloghirou, Tsakanikas & Vonortas, 2001; Hagedoorn, Link &

Vonortas, 2000). The level of output being created through collaborations heavily depends on

the partners, the skill-set and knowledge of the comprised people involved (Nepilski & Piroli,

2018). Collaboration has strong connections to network theory due to the appearance of

10


formulating alliances through networking activities. Having a strong relevant network can

provide huge opportunities and extensive information as well as being highly valuable in

international settings (Gulati, 1999).

When investigating collaborations in projects, the reasons for why the relations between

partners and people work well or are dysfunctional need to be addressed. By reviewing

previous literature, conflicts seem to be the major factor for dysfunctional collaboration.

Conflicts are destructive by nature and can be avoided through institutionalized behavior of

patterns to minimize the risk or implementing team-building activities (Vaaland, 2004). Thus,

conflicts are mostly viewed as a negative phenomenon, it can challenge previous goals or

even be the link towards progress and creativity (Gemunden, 1985).

Collaboration has a strong relationship to trust and communication for linking project

management success. If trust is achieved in projects, people are more willing to ask questions,

being honest towards others, increase risk-taking and be open towards challenging tasks with

less anxiety and stress (Bond-Barnard et al., 2018) “Trust can be defined as a function of the

predictability and expectations of others’ behaviours or a belief in others’ competencies,

which affects performance through activation of cooperation” (Bond-Barnard et al., 2018).

According to Tyler (2003), success factors such as trust have a positive impact on cooperation

and collaboration performance. If established in an efficient way, it will positively contribute

to shared interdependent knowledge of expertise among members in projects.

3.2.3 Work satisfaction in changing projects Human resources are the skills and knowledge of the employees. It can in most cases be

considered the highest valuable asset of a company, organization or project (Söderlund &

Bredin, 2006). According to Hällgren and Söderholm (2011) the amount of work within a

project can in many cases lead to significant feelings of stress, as well as burn-out and

family-problems caused by long working hours. Söderlund and Bredin (2006) concur and

state that the effects of project-based organizing often lead to problems and challenges for the

firm’s human relation management. Besides stress and anxiety, they also bring up trust and

state that within project-based organizing there could often be a lack of trust, especially in

looser based organizations. As can be seen, working within a project can in many cases lead

to lower work satisfaction.

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Previous research has also concluded that organizational change can be a factor affecting the

individual’s health and overall well-being (Armenakis & Harris, 2009; Saksvik et al., 2007;

Nery Vanessa de Fátima, Sanches & Nieva, 2019). Organizational change can in many cases

lead to stress, lower work satisfaction, frustration, and lowered performance. According to

Bordia et al. (2004) and Rafferty and Grifn (2006) the stress caused by organizational change

is often due to the uncertainty regarding the changes in the working environment. Rafferty

and Grifn (2006) have also concluded that poorly planned changes, which can often occur

when something unexpected happens, lead to greater feelings of uncertainty and therefore

more stress. In addition, their research has also proven that uncertainty and stress is negatively

associated with work satisfaction, commitment and trust, which ultimately leads to poorer

health for the people involved.

Therefore, human relationship management and work satisfaction is of high importance when

it comes to project organizations and organizational change.

3.3 Theoretical framework To construct the conceptualized framework for this thesis, the concepts and methods

presented previously will be connected to the scope in how these will be used for this

research. It has been constructed broadly, given the nature of this investigation and the

complexity of the project selected to collect the data. Theory is a guide in advising how to

carry out research, usually (variable A) based on theory will have certain results on (variable

B). In this research there are two different variables, variable A (internal change) and variable

B (external change) contain different theories collected from previous literature, it will be

examined how they affect variable C (the project chosen for this case study). The project is

analyzed in connection to the concepts presented which are evaluated further in this section

and then it is investigated how these forces of change impact collaboration and work

satisfaction.

Previous literature of project management is introduced to give clear insight and knowledge

about project settings, important concepts and their structures. Further concepts from previous

literature, provided in the review, introduce the project-as-practice approach. This enables the

understanding of how to perform projects and connects to the research how these practical

activities have been affected. The main focus of this research and the phenomena studied is

organizational change. It is the backbone of this thesis describing the forces of change. Given

that the project chosen for this case study had both an internal force of change switching

12

https://journals-sagepub-com.ep.bib.mdh.se/doi/full/10.1177/0021886319865277#

https://journals-sagepub-com.ep.bib.mdh.se/doi/full/10.1177/0021886319865277#


project management and an external force of change in the environment being COVID-19.

Here, strategic and unanticipated change is introduced to clearly separate the different

changes occurring.

There is an assumption that large organizational changes, such as the external force of change

being COVID-19 and an internal force of change, the change in head management, are very

demanding. However, considering a project setting, in which according to previous literature,

practitioners should be used to changes occurring seeing that it is a normal development

within projects and temporary organizations, this might not be the perception. As mentioned

in the problematization, what has not been previously studied, is how these changes affect the

project when they occur simultaneously or in close connection to each other. Such extensive

changes like these from two different variables should have negative consequences for both

collaboration and work satisfaction of employees. Given that humans are against changes by

nature, a restructuring change as well as an environmental change alternating the working

processes in this setting is investigated to validate this theory.

Figure 1 (created by the authors)

13


This model is created to visualize the connections between the theoretical concepts, it shows

how the theoretical framework will be used for narrowing down important concepts in order

to answer the research questions and fulfill the purpose of this thesis. The point of departure

of the model is the concept of Project Management, which is then affected by the internal and

external changes, being the phenomenon of the study. These changes in turn affect the

working processes and structure within the project. Lastly, depending on how the processes

and structures change, they may also affect collaboration and work satisfaction. The

project-as-practice approach includes the technological tools as being part of the daily work,

therefore it will not be presented in this model, however, it can be considered included in the

working structure/processes part.

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4. Methodology In the following section the research design, setting, data collection methods, what types of sources, a literature review as well as limitations will be presented.

4.1 Research Design The method used to carry out this thesis is qualitative, which is a form of study that focuses

more on the non-measurable dimensions in order to obtain outcomes beyond what can be

answered by numbers and short statements. Seeing that this qualitative approach is an

open-ended way of conducting research, it does not adopt sequential measures (Bryman &

Bell, 2015).

The focus of this study is on organizational change first and foremost. The context in which

this is studied is a temporary project which has experienced a large internal change in terms of

a new head management resulting in processes and structures being changed because of the

new project manager. However, there is also a second dimension to this organizational

change, namely the external force of COVID-19, which occurred in close connection to the

change in head management. Therefore, the focus is not only on organizational change, but

external and internal forces of change occurring simultaneously or in close connection and

what the effects of them are. The theoretical structure relies on literature regarding project

management, organizational change, collaboration and work satisfaction in order to

supplement the key concepts.

The initial approach for this thesis was a deductive approach, this means that the authors

collected information about relevant themes for the topic of choice, chose different theories

that would fit the research and then elaborated on these theories (Saunders et al., 2012).

However, according to Bryman (1988) there are some limitations to the deductive approach,

namely the possibility of reaching an early conclusion because of the chosen theories.

Therefore, there is a need for adaptation of the approach to be more inductive. The inductive

approach can be incorporated into the deductive approach in order to integrate new theories

into the research, based on unanticipated themes surfacing in the collected data (Saunders et

al., 2012). Which is the case for this thesis, the interviews provided new theories that would

better fit the research and were therefore incorporated into the literature and theory section of

this thesis. Therefore, this thesis uses a mix of the deductive approach and the inductive

approach, which can be called an abductive approach according to Saunders et al. (2012).

15


Regarding what type of research methodology is used there are three different types of

epistemological research methodologies. They are positivism, realism and interpretivism.

Interpretivist research requires prior comprehension of accepted knowledge, but because of

the uncertainty and unpredictable nature of what is considered to be fact, there is an

expectation that existing knowledge is inadequate (Hudson & Ozanne, 1988). According to

Bryman and Bell (2015) the primary concern of interpretivism is understanding human

behaviors through interviews and observations. Interpretivism is the specific epistemological

branch used for this thesis.

4.2 Setting The selection method used for the primary data during this undertaking was purposive

selection (Bryman & Bell, 2015). The chosen project, Swedish Scaleups, that is examined in

this thesis had the best possible attributes for the research area and was eager to take part of

the study. The background information presented about the project, which is also the setting

of this study, was collected from Swedish Scaleups website, documents provided from the

project organization, as well as from an initial meeting with top management from Swedish

Scaleups.

The project itself is called Växtzon 2 and within this project there are a number of other

smaller scale projects. This means that Växtzon 2 operates the platform called Swedish

Scaleups. Växtzon 2, and therefore Swedish Scaleups, is a project that is part of the European

Union's growth policy and a lot of money has been invested by the EU in order to create

growth operations. The main focus of the project is innovation and business support, while the

purpose of the project is to create collaboration methods and stimulate growth, work

opportunities as well as the economy as a whole (Swedish Scaleups, 2020).

Swedish Scaleups was initiated in 2018, it is a project in which ten different parties consisting

of incubators and science parks operate in the Eastern Central of Sweden region. The

municipalities included in this region are Eskilstuna, Linköping, Norrköping, Uppsala,

Västerås and Örebro. The firms that benefit from Swedish Scaleups are given access to all ten

parties' knowledge, expertise and networks to scale up their operations more quickly. As is

custom for projects, Swedish Scaleups is active for a limited time. During a period of three

years, they will support more than 240 firms to grow from a start-up phase to a scale-up phase

(European Commission, 2020).

16


The structure of Swedish Scaleups is very loose, which can of course make it quite confusing,

complex and hard to understand. However, an illustration has been created of the structure to

make it easier to comprehend:

Figure 2 (Swedish Scaleups, 2020)

At the top is the project manager, who works closely with people who are in the eight

different programmes below. At the bottom is the ten incubators and science parks which

conduct the activities in the project, hereinafter referred to as partners. Within this structure,

employees may have double responsibility, both within the ten partners as well as the eight

programs. The people within the ten partners do not work solely within the project, the

involvement differs between the project workers. Other time is spent on activities within their

own incubator or science park. Which means that in theory, opinions and activities between

the place of hire (science park/incubator) and the project could clash.

The reason why this organization is of interest for this thesis is that in december 2019 they

had a change of head management. By then the project had been going on for a little more

than one year and had about two more years until completion. A change in head management

can be quite difficult and frustrating for participants, it could also lead to changes in processes

and structures within the project which in turn could lead to even more frustration and stress.

In the middle of the implementation of the new head project manager, COVID-19

commenced and even further changes had to be made because of the restrictions and

recommendations put into place.

17


4.3 Data collection There are several different data collection methods that can be used for this particular study.

For example; observations, sampling, questionnaires and secondary data. For the aim of this

study, a qualitative approach will be used in the form of semi-structured interviews to get a

deep understanding of the questions studied. In addition to the interviews which are primary

data, secondary data will also aid this study. Interviews give the undertaking a more profound,

subjective comprehension of the current circumstance, while secondary data gives a more

extensive viewpoint. (Saunders et al, 2019).

An observation might have fit the purpose of this thesis incredibly well, however, due to the

current situation of COVID-19, it might not be the safest data collection method. According

to the Public Health Authority in Sweden, there are some local general recommendations that

should be followed in order not to spread the virus. Some of these recommendations are, to

refrain from meetings unless absolutely necessary and if possible, employees should work

from home (Folkhälsomyndigheten, 2020). Therefore, as to not risk spreading the virus, the

authors will refrain from the observation method.

4.3.1 Qualitative interviews

Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain a deeper and broader knowledge of the

project. The questions were divided into four sections that were of interest for the analysis of

this thesis, these are project, organizational changes in which the internal and external factors

of change are included, as well as the changes together, following the theme of collaboration

and lastly work satisfaction.

The interviews were about 45 minutes to an hour long and were conducted through Zoom.

The respondents at Swedish Scaleups were five project leaders from five of the ten different

partners as well as five employees working for the project leaders. This to get a broader

perspective on the changes, both from a leadership point of view and an employee point of

view. As to not cause confusion, the change of head management will hereafter be referred to

change in project management or change in project manager and the responding 5 sub-project

leaders will be referred to as project leaders. The language chosen for the interviews was

Swedish, since the respondents preferred speaking in their native tongue to be as precise and

accurate as possible in their statements and descriptions of the concepts being studied.

18


The interviews were semi-structured, which means that most of the questions were already

made up previous to the interviews, with a predetermined theme about the research

phenomena (Saunders et al, 2019). Before the interviews, the questions were sent to the

respondents via email, so that they would be able to prepare and give thoughtful insights to

the areas of interest. In accordance with the prepared research questions, the questions asked

during the interviews were formulated to cover the contexts and concepts of importance.

Instead of being inspired or adopted from previous research, in order to develop stronger

arguments for the analysis, the group members formulated the questions with regard to the

phenomenon and developed research questions.

4.3.2 Secondary sources

The secondary sources used for this thesis are books, course literature, websites, scientific

articles as well as journals from different types of official publishers. In addition to previous

literature, documents from Swedish Scaleups have presented valuable information for the

project background.

Secondary sources consist of summaries that have been published which contain raw data, it

can be used for further explanations and information transfer where its main objective is to

demonstrate additional knowledge and draw conclusions (Saunders, 2019). The course

literature Research Methods for Business Students by Saunders et al., (2019) has been one of

the principal sources for the structures used within the report. However, secondary sources

such as papers and journals have been collected to improve the credibility of the systems in

order to not be biased. These journals have been peer-reviewed, cited previously and the

majority of them can be found in a scholar’s index.

4.4 Operationalization According to Saunders et al., (2012) operationalization is the concept of translating concepts

into tangible indicators. In order for the interview questions to fit the relevant theoretical

framework, the questions were operationalized. In the table below the questions are presented

together with the theme and the aim of the question (Saunders et al., 2012). The questions

were divided into different themes that were derived from the theoretical concepts in order to

get a broad understanding of the area of study. The order the questions were asked could vary

between interviews which allowed the authors to be able to ask further questions in response

to the topic of the discussion that could be of value (Bryman & Bell, 2015). The purpose of

operationalization is to create an extension between theory and practice, as indicated by

19


Lynham (2002). According to Bryman & Bell (2013), operationalization is based on a set-up

on how the study will proceed to measure theoretical concepts. In this thesis, the authors have

constructed this operationalization based on the theoretical concepts, as a starting point of

view, in order to establish a link between theory and practice. The questions were formulated

based on the previous literature research within this field of study to be able to answer the

research questions for this thesis. The table can be found in the appendix.

4.5 Data Analysis Saunders et al. (2012) state that qualitative data is more likely than not, non-standardised data,

which is rather broad in volume and difficult to fully comprehend. A process through which

the researcher summarizes, condenses and categorizes the data in order to group it together

and put it into themes, is needed to analyze all of this information. In addition, the researcher

will also need to link the themes together in order to answer the research questions.

In this thesis, the interviews conducted were audio recorded, with the permission of all of the

participants, to be able to fully transcribe what each individual respondent answered to the

questions. Through saving the audio file after the transcription was completed, the authors

were able to go back and listen multiple times to the way the respondents answered the

questions, if they hesitated or seemed generally unsure of what they were stating, which is

rather important as it gives another dimension to the collected material. The majority of the

transcriptions were dictated through Google docs voice input function as it considerably

decreased the time put into each transcription. This resulted in the transcriptions being

completed soon after the actual interview and the authors were able to hear as well as say the

information provided by the interviewees, which resulted in a deeper understanding of the

material (Saunders et al., 2012). There were of course some minor mistakes made by the

software, however, these mistakes were easy to fix for the authors and it also enabled the

authors to read carefully through the answers again. After the transcriptions had been

completed, the commencement of writing transcript summaries began. These summaries

comprise long statements into shorter ones which consist of the essence of what has been said

by the respondent and are very helpful for the analysis of the data. The summaries allow the

authors to identify principal themes and relationships that surfaced in the interviews

(Saunders et al., 2012).

The method of Thematic Analysis was selected to be able to analyze and make sense of the

qualitative results, with the use of coding which involves labeling the different data from the

20


transcripts with codes for symbolizing meaning and extracting the data of highest relevance

(Saunders et al., 2019; Langley, 1999). These methods were chosen in combination for

analyzing the respondents’ answers in the interview due to the essential purpose of the

methods selected focusing on themes and patterns which occur in a selection of data

(Saunders et al,. 2019). Since the presented theory in this thesis is explanatory in character

with an abductive approach, all of the data provided from the interviews is potentially

interesting but will be restricted to the research questions for selecting the most relevant data

to code. The source of coding is both concept driven based on previous theories and data

driven based on labels from the authors and terms used by the participants (Saunders et al.,

2012).

For this thesis, the summary transcripts were

color coded in accordance to interesting

categories that arose, this to make it easier to

see patterns between the interviews. To

provide an example, one theme that arose

from coding the information collected from

the interviews was Absence of Social

Interactions. The table shows the categories

picked out from the interviews and in how

many of the interviews they appeared in, thus

resulting in a good basis for a collective

theme.

The procedure of analyzing the data began right after the interviews were conducted,

transcripts were made in separate documents through the process mentioned earlier in this

section where the authors got familiar with the data, thereafter coding was performed which

led to the search for themes and potential relationships in accordance with the research

questions and purpose.

4.6 Quality criteria

It is important to dig deeper into the topic from previous studies and articles to be able to

provide an overview and conclusion for the reader. To gain confidence in the topic of

research, diving into literature that already exists on the subject is of great importance (Yin,

2013). The databases that have been used to gather the information about the researched

21


topics are ABI/INFORM Global, Primo, Elsevier ScienceDirect, Diva, Google Scholar and

Emerald Insights, which have been valuable to find scientific articles that have been

peer-reviewed to be able to guarantee their reliability, validity and credibility and most of

them can be found in the ABS-index list.

In addition, official web pages, journals, as well as documents collected from the respondents

have been gathered to build a good foundation for this thesis. The authors have not excluded

any information that is important to the research in question, this in order to make sure that

the work is not biased (Bryman & Bell, 2015). The reader should be able to make their own

assumptions and conclusions when reading the text and not be influenced by personal

opinions of the writers, which increases the study's reliability (Bryman & Bell, 2015;

Saunders et al., 2012).

4.7 Methodological Limitations

One limitation that can be found regards the previous literature on the theoretical concepts

included within this thesis. The authors have used a scholars index concerning business and

management literature called Academic Journal Guide (2018) by Chartered ABS. This list

ranks different journals within this field of study and provides a good guide for finding

valuable and credible sources of information. However, regarding newer theories, such as

project management and organizational change management, the ranking is low and the

sources scarce. Though, as mentioned previously, the literature used is found within this

index, or at the least peer-reviewed. A second limitation has emerged due to COVID-19 and

that is the restrictions and recommendations that have been put into place. These restrictions

limit the authors from using specific data collection methods such as observations and

face-to-face interviews, which might have resulted in the loss of expressful body language.

22


5. Empirical Findings In the following section the empirical findings will be presented.

By looking through the transcript summaries in a detailed manner the authors have found

different themes that arose in the interviews. The empirical findings will be presented using

the following themes as headings; Employee feelings towards change; Absence of social

interactions; Striving towards common goals; and lastly Stress in connection to workload.

The table below shows the different respondents connected to the partner.

Table 3 (created by the authors)

5.1 Employee feelings towards change

5.1.1 The internal change The change of head management was according to eight out of ten respondents something

positive. Before the internal change, the respondents found the project to be unstructured, that

the objectives could easily be interpreted differently and that the partners were working at

their own ends. PL1 stated: “When I heard about the new head project manager I felt like it

at least could not get any worse.” According to PL3 the previous head managers were very

divided, it did not feel like the two head managers were working towards the same things. E5

stated that “The reason the project was structured poorly before the change was not having

the right people for the correct positions.”

When the new manager took over the project, eight out of ten respondents felt that the biggest

changes the new project manager caused were a better and more clear structure and

continuous work as well as improved communication. The understanding of the platform that

23

Partner Project leader Employee

1 PL1 E1

2 PL2 E2

3 PL3 E3

4 PL4 E4

5 PL5 E5


is being built in the project has also become clearer. Respondent E4 explains that “The

change entailed a more action oriented leadership and a more structured project, the

combination of restructuring the project and the change in head management led to more

clarity for the employees.” Respondent E5 thinks that the project is much easier to work in

now given that they have a project manager that views the full picture and who is willing to

interact and discuss different ideas. The effective leadership is the biggest difference for

working together within the project, as well as the phase the project was in.

5.1.2 The external change

Before COVID-19 the project employees were traveling a lot between the different partners

for meetings and workshops et cetera. When the pandemic started, the project's working

processes and activities transformed into digital which has led to an increased amount of

meetings as people are more accessible and because it has been easier to invite people and

start meetings. The respondents emphasize that the biggest change has been the loss of

physical interactions between the partners of the project. Which in turn have affected the

communication and the networking. This will be further discussed in later sections.

What was mentioned by seven respondents were that the different phases of the project and

the stage the project was in, affected the outcome of the external change. When COVID-19

started, the project was already halfway through, and at this stage relationships have been

established and trust has been built between the partners. The respondents emphasize the

importance of respecting the project's different phases and that the relationships would not

have been as easy to establish if this would have occured in the initial phase. PL5 believes

that “In the initial phase of the project, it was more confusing, but the longer you work in the

project, the clearer it becomes.”

Eight out of the ten respondents expressed that the external change was not as positive as the

internal change. E3, PL4 and E4 felt that the creative aspect as well as the physical

interactions are lost. PL1 feels like they have more to do now than previously and that

COVID-19 has affected the goals in the way that it might be harder to reach them and that the

outcomes might not be as satisfactory. PL3 explained that “having meetings digitally is a lot

quicker and more efficient as there is a higher focus on the agenda and work, however, it is

also a lot more intense”. The respondents felt that the increased intensity of the meetings

makes it hard since they do not have the energy to sit in meetings the entire day. E3 states

that the digital way of conducting work is manageable but it is not as fun as meeting in

24


person and visiting the office. However, the respondents also explain that there is less time

spent on traveling and more time for preparations which has made the workdays in some

ways more effective.

5.2 Absence of social interactions Another theme that was brought up a lot by the respondents were absence or lack of social

interactions. As mentioned previously, due to the restrictions and recommendations put into

place to handle the COVID-19 situation, all working processes turned digital for the

participants. Nine out of the ten respondents have talked about how the lack of physical

interactions and meetings have affected them negatively. They all state, in one way or

another, that they are very social and that they gain energy from meeting people in person.

The social contact has, to a large extent, lessened due to all of their working processes

becoming digital. They also find it harder to build relationships and gain trust with people

they do not know that well. PL3 even says that “I sometimes have COVID-19 depressions

because I am unable to meet people physically, it feels as if everyone is just going in circles.”

One respondent, E5, did not feel that the absence of physical meetings affected them to a

great extent, because they already conducted most of their work digitally, previous to the

pandemic.

What has also been expressed in the interviews is that it is less fun to have digital meetings

rather than meeting in person, this opinion is shared by five out of the ten respondents. They

feel that meeting virtually is less relaxed, it is more focused on the agenda and work, which

results in less focus on their actual well-being and what is happening in their lives beside

work. PL3 expressed that “All processes get a little worse because of the digitalization, it gets

a little tougher to do the work and there is a loss of energy, it is not as fun and you do not get

to know people as good.” E1 and E3 concur, E3 says that “The digital way of working is not

as stimulating as working physically where you get to meet people. It is not as fun.” They

express that this also ties into the work satisfaction, if they are not able to have fun, their

work satisfaction is lowered. However, E4 expressed that the digitization process was not

dramatic.

Though the absence of physical meetings is hard for most of the employees, some do state

that because of the digitalization of their meetings, people are more accessible now. While

three out of ten respondents think this is a good thing, some have pointed out that it is also

negative. PL1 states “It has been a lot easier to start meetings and invite to meetings as

25


people are more accessible, maybe a bit too accessible and that it is too easy to start short

meetings.” Being too accessible has turned out to be somewhat of a problem for five out of

ten respondents, they have a lot more meetings now than previously, some say that they get

pulled into virtual meetings for the smallest of things and even though the meetings are short

they still take up time and may be disruptive. What has also been brought up in the interviews

is that it is a lot harder to reach consensus and have discussions in digital meetings, E2 states

“You let the person speaking finish what they have to say, it is a lot harder to interrupt and

chime in. Also, people are more easily distracted during digital meetings than if they would

have been physically present.”

Furthermore, all of the project leaders think that the digitalization and therefore lack of

physical and social interactions did not affect the implementation process of the new project

manager. They were able to meet and get to know the new project manager at a physical

conference just before the restrictions were put into place. However, three out of the five

employees express that they do feel that the implementation process was affected, because

they did not get to meet the new project manager physically. E1, E2 and E5 all agree that it is

harder to get to know the project manager on a deeper level. E2 states “I feel like it could

have been a bit of uphill work for the new manager seeing that they did not have the

possibility to meet us physically and therefore it is harder to create close personal

connections.”

Regarding lack of physical meetings and creating close personal connections, the feeling that

it has become harder and more difficult is something that is shared by a majority of the

respondents. They not only feel that it is harder to get to know new employees within the

project, but that it also is harder to create a personal relationship to the firms who take part in

the activities arranged by the project. PL2 states that “The networking activities have become

harder to perform, we can no longer connect different entrepreneurs to meet and we are

unable to visit firms.” PL4 states that “The digitalization has negatively affected the personal

connection to other people. It is harder to build relationships and get an understanding of

others, what they do and why.”

As has been stated by the respondents, how they have been affected by the lack of social

interactions, is incredibly personal. They express that the more social the person, the more

they are going to be affected by the virtual work setting and the more they are going to miss

the social exchange.

26


5.3 Striving towards common goals A theme that emerged during the majority of the interviews, which is also an important

aspect of this study, is how the respondents experienced if they were working towards the

same objectives. According to all the respondents, the project is working well. Although,

there are different opinions of how the different partners operate in order to reach the goals

of the project. Four respondents brought this to light during the interviews and expressed

that some partners in the project follow more their own agenda or have different aims in

order to reach the goals. PL1 states “We are not really collaborating to reach the same

common goals, the partners are going their own ways to reach a goal which they have

interpreted to fit their activities the best.”According to E1, there are some partners using

the project in order to finance their own activities.

PL3 states that the partners are very different in character, there is a difference between

Incubators and Science Parks as well as their structure within. They have different

assignments which make them work differently. PL5 expresses that the level of

collaboration between the actors depends on different areas of the project. The

collaboration is more intense in between some partners. When collaborating between

different partners there is a higher chance to reach mutual goals and through

communication, which increases during collaboration, the objectives are further discussed.

“It has become clearer who to collaborate with, not everyone needs to be involved in

everything, so it becomes more effective”, stated by PL5. There is evidence of different

interpretations of the goals set by the management of the project. Two of the respondents

have clear opinions about operational activities, processes and models used within their

partners without referring to the project. Four respondents referred to the processes, models

and criterias set for the project and its purpose.

Collaboration and communication are vital for working together to reach common goals,

seven out of the ten respondents feel like the collaboration is lacking in some parts. This is

evident from the differences in objectives that the partners can improve their collaboration.

Five of the respondents clearly stated that collaboration is more intense where different

partners have mutual interests or joint activities. The geographical location seems to be

another factor for increased collaboration expressed by PL1, PL3 and E5. According to

PL2 collaboration is built on trust and as a project leader it is hard to work explicitly well

with all nine other project leaders. “It is not an easy task to steer ten strong individual

CEOs towards the same direction.” Four respondents expressed that the new project

27


manager was easier to contact and discuss everything related to the project as well as the

structural improvements mentioned earlier. “The change in project management resulted in

more clear and continuous work, as well as improved communication”, stated by PL5. To

make sure that ten different partners are working towards common goals in a complex

project, communication and structure were the major factors discussed by the respondents.

The external environmental change caused by COVID-19 has affected the way

communication and work is performed in the project. All the respondents have shifted into

virtual settings. The majority of the respondents agree that the daily work has become

more efficient in the way that there is no traveltime and it is easier to book meetings.

However, half of all the respondents feel that the communication is straightforward and

meetings are focused only on the agenda. According to E5, firms are able to participate in

digital activities which are no longer restricted to geographical locations. The

disadvantages of digital work in relation to striving towards common objectives is that

even if the communication occurs more frequently, there is lack of in-depth discussions,

social talk and relationships is much harder to establish. “Networking has been harder, the

aspect of getting to know new people and meeting in groups is not as qualitative in virtual

settings”, stated by E1. All respondents concur that digital meetings are not as qualitative

and satisfactory compared to physical.

5.4 Stress in connection to workload One of the most talked about concerns, were the organizational changes in relation to stress.

While the opinions did differ, the respondents did talk about it quite in-depth. Six respondents

feel that the level of stress has increased in some way or another. The reasons mentioned for

the higher amount of stress were the increased workload due to COVID-19. Two respondents

state that while their workload has not explicitly increased, they feel more stressed because of

the lower amounts of breaks in their daily work, while this does not instantly translate to a

higher workload, a lower amount of breaks mean that they have more time for work and that

it is more intense. Two of the respondents, PL2 and E5, mentioned that they felt an increased

amount of stress due to concerns about the project completion, which is connected to the

different phases of the project, as time is running out. This stress is related to the higher

amount of increased workload in the processes connected to the completion of the project.

This is also, of course, connected to the responsibilities for the employees.

28


Respondents PL4 and E4 state that their stress levels are unchanged, this is because they do

not think that their workload has increased. They mention a few factors causing them to feel

this way, for example that the rules and regulations are different in the area they are from.

They also mention that the collaboration is better within their partner. Lastly, PL3 and PL5

feel that their levels of stress have actually decreased, their reasoning is that they do not spend

as much time on traveling and that it is easier to structure their work when everything is

digital.

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6. Analysis In the following section a discussion of the empirical findings as well as an analysis will be conducted. The following sections will cover the themes established through the thematic analysis on the empirical data collection.

6.1 Internal and external forces of change affecting processes within a project

Regarding the forces of change it is something that has been discussed elaborately by the

respondents. Jarzabkowski (2003), Dominguez et al., (2015) and other researchers, state that

internal forces of change refer to changes within the organization. These organizational

context variables are grounded from sources inside the organization such as changing

leadership which is exactly the case for the project in question. The changes in turn could also

indirectly affect strategy, structure and people within the project.

What has been brought to light during the interviews is a general feeling of satisfaction

regarding the internal change and dissatisfaction about the external changes. These positive

and negative feelings could be explained by the pre-conditions for each of the changes. As

has been explained by many of the respondents, before the new project manager took over,

there were two project managers running the operations, they also explained that the project

was unstructured and that they were not very satisfied. One respondent, PL1, explicitly stated

that “... it could at least not get any worse.” when talking about the change in head

management. The project was not in an optimal state, meaning that the changes that were

about to happen were sorely needed and welcomed with a feeling of relief from the project

participants. All of the respondents agreed that to be able to move the project forward they

needed a change, which is something that has been expressed by researchers such as Roland

Gareis, 2010; Lehmann, 2010; Singh and Shoura, 2006 in their works. The researchers state

that in order for businesses to remain relevant, adapt and even flourish, organizational change

is both needed, but also inevitable. Had this internal change not occurred, some of the

respondents believe that the project would not succeed to the same extent that they now

believe that it will.

Regarding the external forces of change, according to Papadakis (1998) it refers to

uncertainties outside of the organization. This leads to adaptation and organizational change

in order to cope with the environment. As presented by Battaglia et al, (2019) context

variables such as COVID-19 can be identified as a natural disaster. Additionally, Hällgren

30


and Wilson, (2008) say that unanticipated changes, as was the case for COVID-19 can easily

turn out to become a crisis, which already there brings an air of discontent and misery. Now

concerning the preconditions for the external change, they looked quite different than for the

internal change. Before the pandemic, business was conducted as what was normal, physical

meetings and traveling was allowed. Project participants were satisfied with the change in

head management and the structural changes that had come with it. Most of them were happy

with the new leadership and the clarification of goals, objectives and activities conducted

within the project. Therefore, when the external change occurred, the preconditions for the

change did not allow for the respondents to feel relief or satisfaction. Rather, they felt

generally dissatisfied both because of this external change being considered a crisis or natural

disaster, but also because the settings within the project were that good after the internal

change and now because of the restrictions and digitalization they would lose everything that

worked so well. However, even though this external change was undesired by the

participants, had they not changed or adapted their working processes, the project would most

likely fail which is something that Jacobs et al (2013) states in their work, organizational

change is needed in order to adapt and not fail.

What is also to be taken into consideration, is that, as explained by Bryson et al., (1993) and

Mellert et al., (2015), projects have little or no control over external factors forcing change, it

is beyond the control of the organization. This means, once again, that as a project you could

either adapt or fail. E4, amongst others, expressed that the digitization process was smooth

and that most of the partners found it quite easy to adapt. This could be because they had no

choice, they were more or less forced into the virtual work setting or they would fail, so they

adapted without much resistance, however, the majority of the respondents were still

dissatisfied. This also goes to show that what the researchers above as well as what Marchi

and Sarcina (2011) say, about temporary organizations having a greater adaptability and

changeability capacity, is rather true.

Concerning the effect COVID-19 has had on the new project manager and their

implementation, it is quite hard to draw links or conclusions seeing that the opinions of the

respondents were quite different. According to the project leaders, the implementation

process of the new manager was not at all affected by the pandemic. They feel that the

process was quick, smooth, easy, efficient and worked well. Whereas E1, E2, and E5 felt that

COVID-19 did affect the implementation process negatively because they were unable to

meet physically and connect on a deeper level. It is quite interesting that all of the project

31


leaders felt that COVID-19 did not affect the implementation, whereas the majority of the

employees felt that it did. The explanation for this could be that the new project manager

made sure to meet all of the project leaders to be able to present themselves and get to know

each other before the pandemic started. However, this was not the case for most employees.

As stated by Abdomerovic and Blakemore (2002) clarification of roles, reporting relations

and responsibilities should be defined to increase project success. This could be why the

employees felt that the pandemic affected the implementation processes. Because the

employees were unable to meet the new project manager physically and did not connect with

them in the same way as the project leaders were able to, this clarification might have been

lacking when it comes to the employees.

6.2 The importance of structure and the different stages in a project When it comes to the structure of the project, the respondents' opinions differ to some extent.

According to the majority of the respondents, the project is complex and messy. The reasons

for the complexity could be divided into two. The first one being the multiple partners that

participate in the project, complicating the project's processes and structure by not working

perfectly in line with the shared goals. The second one being that the project is EU funded,

which comes with rules and regulations that must be followed. According to Hällgren and

Söderholm, (2011) this implies that the practices are drawn upon rules and policies which

steer the project in the way they act and have routinized their behavior. The external change

has also added another dimension to the practices by forcing the project to follow new rules

and regulations about the pandemic that have forced the project to act differently as well as

altering its methods for the delivery of the objectives.

Abdomerovic and Blakemore (2002) as well as Skulmoski and Hartman (2010) discuss the

importance of defining tasks and roles within a project in order for the project to get an

overview of the project as a whole in a clear and comprehensive way. In the case of Swedish

Scaleups, the importance of structure became a crucial part for the success of the project due

to its complexity. The new project manager made the structure more clear by increasing

meetings, clarifying the roles and relationships and had the ambition to create value for all

partners and firms within the project. If this change in head management did not occur, it

could have been damaging for the project's outcome, seeing how beneficial the change was

for the project.

32


Skulmoski and Hartman’s (2010) study the different phases within a project, that a project is

divided into four different phases; the initial phase, the planning phase, the implementation

phase and the close-out phase. In the initial phase they highlight the importance of

teambuilding, but that the need for teambuilding declines in the three latter stages of the

project. When the study was conducted, the project was moving towards the close out phase,

meaning that the main work and the building of relationships has already been done, and what

is left to do is the reporting and wrapping it up. By this phase, relationships and trust between

the partners and the firms had already been established.

Since the project is collaborative of its kind, the relationships both with the firms and between

the partners are the basis of the project and its success. If the external change would have

occurred in the initial phase of the project, where partners and firms were getting acquainted,

it would have had more severe effects on the project since it is harder to gain trust and

establish relationships through virtual communication. If the internal change would have

occurred earlier in the project, in the initial phase or planning phase, it could have affected the

project even more positively. If the change in head manager would have occurred earlier, the

objectives could have been more specific and clarified which could have increased the

understanding of the objectives by the project employees. The new project leader would also

have had even more time to get to know more people on a deeper level which could have

increased the quality of the communication on an earlier stage. Additionally, the new manager

clarified the structure, which the project would have benefitted from on an even earlier stage

than the change occured. The timing of the changes occurring during the implementation

phase was not as devastating for the project as if it would have occurred in the initial phase.

Which the respondents expressed as well.

6.3 Collaboration and the importance of relationships in a project setting The respondents of this case study are heavily aware of the need for collaboration in a

large-scale and complex project like Swedish Scaleups. In the data set there was evidence of

different views regarding the function and extent of existing collaboration. All respondents

agreed that the overall collaboration is working, even if there are some aspects in which this

could be improved.

According to Bond-Barnard et al., (2018) collaboration in projects is the operation of joining

forces or joint partnership between two or several persons/partners to achieve a shared goal, it

is utilized to combine knowledge to efficiently reach objectives. People think, believe and act

33


differently even if they receive the same information. According to Bond-Barnard et al.,

(2018), different perceptions of similar settings can be solved through communication and

close collaboration. The respondents experienced that some of the partners involved in the

project are not following the common objectives, not striving towards the same goals or work

separately by themselves. Either through interpreting the activities to fit their own operations,

as a way to finance their own functions or just having different objectives. According to

Vaaland (2004) conflicts are destructive by nature and the major factor for dysfunctional

collaboration. Even though conflicts were not addressed by the respondents, not striving

towards common objectives could lead to conflicts and therefore dysfunctional collaboration.

Regarding the internal force of change, the project manager improved communication and

structure which was positively addressed by all respondents. The roles became clearer and the

manager was determined in what to do, being able to put their foot down where it was needed.

The empirical findings clearly show that collaboration is more intense where different

partners have mutual interests or combined activities. Nepelski & Piroli, (2018); Caloghirou,

Tsakanikas & Vonortas, (2001); Hagedoorn, Link & Vonortas, (2000) state that the incentives

for higher collaboration in projects increases when different parties have something to gain

from joining forces or receiving complementary resources when performing complex projects

with challenging operations. In addition to their theories, the findings of this study showed

that the geographical location is another factor for higher collaboration between the different

partners. Partners located with less distance between them have a higher degree of

collaboration. However, this is an interesting aspect, seeing that now they are not able to

travel and because of the digitalization the geographical locations should no longer matter.

People are habitual, therefore the higher collaboration between geographically closer partners

could remain, even though there is no real reason for it anymore. Had the project been digital

from the start, the collaboration between all ten partners might have been better than it is now.

According to Nepilski & Piroli (2018), the workforce consisting of the skill-set and

knowledge of the composed people involved, determines the level of output created in

connection to collaboration. The respondents agreed that the new project manager, who was

active and engaged, has made the collaboration stronger than it has ever been in the Eastern

Central of Sweden region. All respondents think that the collaboration has improved in some

way due to the new management. Although, E1 felt a lack of information received from other

partners' operations. What this goes to show is that leadership is incredibly important in a

34


project like this, during changes like these. However, it is hard to satisfy everyone and

compromising is inevitable.

The importance of establishing networks and having strong alliances was presented by Gulati

(1999) who states that collaboration is strongly connected to network theory. In light of the

external force causing a virtual work setting, the respondents expressed that network activities

have become harder to perform. Setting up meetings with different firms to connect

entrepreneurs is no longer an option because of the restrictions of social distancing. It is no

longer possible to visit large-scale companies for inspiration, bonding relationships and

building networks. All respondents agreed that communicating through virtual tools is not the

same thing compared to physical face-to-face communication. Lehman (2010) describes the

importance of communication during change, it is an effective tool for preparation and

initiation. From the data collected, trust and communication turned out to be important

aspects for establishing relationships which emphasizes collaboration for people to work well

together. However, some findings argue that they expect other partners to follow the criterias

and guidelines in order to reach the goals and objectives set out before operating the project.

Given the large-scale and complexity of the project, it is very hard to make all partners work

well together, respect and trust might differ or be stronger between a few of them. As stated

by Bon-Barnard (2018) and Tyler (2003), trust is an important linkage, a success factor for

project management and collaboration performance to exchange knowledge as well as

expertise.

Given the fact that the partners are different in character and size, the composed people as

presented by Nepilski and Piroli (2018) as well as having different assignments. The belief of

striving towards the same goals can be different depending on the perception of each

individual. Communication and trust have proven to be key factors which are in line with

conclusions by Bon-Barnard (2018) and Tyler (2003) when performing projects with

collaborative character. Even if the internal force improved communication, the external force

worsened the depth of it even if they meet more often during reconciliation meetings. The

external force was not only negative, it also brought some benefits. The majority of the

respondents agreed that they now operate more efficiently due to the possibilities of a virtual

work setting in that it is not geographically restricted. There is no travel time and it is easier to

plan the working days. These improvements have been brought to light even if they emerged

on the cost of the disadvantages elaborated on throughout this thesis. The loss of social talk

and face-to-face communicative interactions is one driver affecting lower satisfaction. Virtual

35


meetings make it possible to use break-out rooms, but according to the respondents, people

are less willing to speak up during digital meetings. This can be the case that people do not

want to lose their faces by saying something that might be wrong or disagreed by other

participants. The respondents stated that it is much harder to sense tensions and read body

languages on a screen rather than in real life. In an office setting, interactions between

colleagues might appear when suitable. In a digital meeting where there are several

participants, it is hard to speak with one individual. It could be seen as unprofessional to bring

up irrelevant subjects since time is money and when an individual might be uncertain in their

thoughts, they might choose not to speak up to the group.

6.4 Work satisfaction within a changing project When it comes to the work satisfaction in this case, the factors that had the biggest effect on

work satisfaction, were the organizational changes in relation to stress. Rafferty and Grifn

(2006) have concluded that poorly planned changes, which can often occur when something

unexpected happens, lead to greater feelings of uncertainty and therefore more stress. It is safe

to say that the change in head project management where not particularly unexpected, nor

unwelcome based on what some of the respondents had to say on the matter. COVID-19,

however, was certainly quite unexpected and not something that could be planned for. This

pandemic was something that took the world by storm, there were no predictions and it has

moved along fast and spread to all parts of the world. It is and was unexpected in its entirety,

therefore, going by Rafferty and Grifns’ (2006) conclusion, the changes in relation to

COVID-19 can be seen as poorly planned, which is also somewhat mirrored in the opinions

and feelings of the respondents.

What has previously been talked about is the pre-conditions or starting points for change and

that depending on the starting point, the change is perceived differently by those it affects.

This also ties into the changes and how unexpected they are (Rafferty & Grifn, 2006). The

change in management had a good starting point for change, the previous head management

were unsuccessful and this resulted in low work satisfaction. Therefore, the switch of head

management was not particularly unexpected, it did not lead to higher levels of uncertainty

nor higher levels of stress for the participants, although it did lead to higher work satisfaction.

Regarding the starting point for COVID-19 it was not as good for the outcomes of the

changes, at this point people were content with the change in head management and their

work satisfaction was high. Then, unexpectedly, COVID-19 comes along with all entailing

36


restrictions and increased workload, which resulted in higher levels of uncertainty and stress

for the majority of the participants, as well as lowered work satisfaction. Which was the case

for PL1, E2 and E3 to name some. According to Bordia et al. (2004) organizational change

can in many cases lead to stress, lower work satisfaction, frustration, and lowered

performance. Rafferty and Grifn (2006) concur and state that the stress caused by

organizational change is often due to the uncertainty regarding the changes in the working

environment. Therefore, the feelings the respondents experienced during these large

organizational changes are, according to literature, not uncommon and at some level goes

hand in hand with changes like these. What needs to be taken into consideration however is

the starting point for the changes as it can, which has been proven here, have quite a large

effect on the employees feelings and work satisfaction.

What should be considered when changes like these occur, especially in a project setting, is

the fact that a project is temporary (Turner & Müller, 2003), it has an end. What should also

be considered is the stage the project is in. Two participants, PL2 and E5, mentioned

specifically that the cause for their heightened stress levels and thus lowered work

satisfaction, has more to do with the fact that the project is moving into its completion stage.

Skulmoski and Hartman (2010) talk about the different stages in their study and how there is

an increased workload in certain areas in the close-out phase of a project and that heightened

stress levels are not uncommon connected to these areas. However, this cause of stress is also

connected to the responsibilities of the respondents, some of the respondents might not feel

stressed over this at all because their job is finished when the planning or implementation

phase is over, while others, who have a larger role in the close out phase might be majorly

affected and their stress levels may go up.

A further area of stress in a project setting is discussed by Söderlund and Bredin (2006), who

state that stress is often caused by low trust within a project. As has been talked about in the

collaboration section of this analysis is how, according to some respondents, the collaboration

is lacking in some areas. They say that the ten partners do not work explicitly well with each

other and that there is a perception, among some of the respondents, that the other partners

work more on their own end and towards their own goals. Even though some respondents,

such as PL5 talk about the importance of building relationships and finding who to

collaborate with in their interview, the feeling of trust between all the partners seem quite low,

based on the information collected from the interviews.

37


There is also another area which is connected to work satisfaction, namely the lack of social

contact and physical meetings. Eight out of the ten respondents have talked about how the

lack of physical interactions and meetings have affected them negatively. They explain that

they are very social people, that they gain energy from meeting people in person, it is less fun

meeting digitally and they also find it harder to build relationships and gain trust when only

meeting virtually. This does tie in to what Söderlund and Bredin (2006) say about trust and

that it leads to stress, lower amounts of trust lead to higher levels of stress, and higher levels

of stress lead to lower work satisfaction in many cases. Additionally, Hällgren and Söderholm

(2011), put a lot of emphasis on people and how they act in their work. They explain that

praxis is for example meetings and simple talk between employees. Practice refers to cultures

and norms, while practitioners are the people executing the project. Their work can be used to

explain why the respondents feel the way they do concerning the lack of physical meetings.

Due to the digitalization, the praxis for the respondents have changed, while the meetings

have increased, the content of the meetings have transformed. As has been explained by

respondents E1 and E3 amongst others, there is a larger focus on the agenda and work, and

less focus on simple talk such as their well-being and things happening outside of work. Their

practices have also changed, the respondents were used to a very social culture and where

meeting physically was the norm/standard. This is also why the digitalization and lack of

physical meetings have been perceived as negative, it is not something they are used to and

there is also a loss of small talk between employees. As stated by Whittington (2006) practice

is routinized behavior and now, because of COVID-19, the participants of Swedish Scaleup

have had to change their routinized behavior, their norms and this is difficult for the

participants. What also can explain the perception of work satisfaction/stress amongst the

respondents is their own structuring of their work. One that is structured as a person, making

sure to plan for breaks between meetings might feel less stressed than one that does not plan

their working day in the same way.

Hällgren and Söderholm (2011) also state that the project-as-practice approach looks into the

smaller mundane activities performed by practitioners. This could be the explanation as to

why the lack of physical meetings does not seem to be of high concern or something to ease,

seeing that they do still get the job done, even though their work satisfaction is lowered.

As can be seen, the levels of stress and work satisfaction are not only affected by the

organizational changes, but also the starting point for the changes, the unexpectedness of the

changes, the phase in which the changes occur, levels of collaboration and trust among the

38


participants, lack of social contact and physical meetings as well as how the employees plan

their work plays a big part in the employees’ well-being and overall work satisfaction.

6.5 Implications

Even though the internal and the external change have affected the project in different ways,

the fact that the changes happened during a short amount of time did not have any severe

effects in the project when it comes to conducting work. Despite the fact that the changes

have been affecting the working processes, they have not forced the project to end its

operations, and the participants have to most parts been able to adapt the way they conduct

their work and the activities they execute. It also, with a few exceptions, does not really

matter what kind of change it is that occurs. What does matter is if the change is disruptive

when it comes to the praxis and practice (Hällgren & Söderholm, 2011) for example if

meetings or presentations are cancelled, if simple talk between employees becomes

unavailable or if the operational procedures, cultures or norms are disrupted within the

project. This is what causes the negative feelings surrounding change that the participants

have spoken about, the more disruptive the change is to their normal praxis or practice the

more negatively the change will be perceived. The change in head management did not really

disrupt their working processes, it improved them. Whereas COVID-19 did disrupt the

working processes and is therefore more negatively perceived. What also affects this is, as

mentioned previously, the pre-conditions for the change which should also be taken into

consideration.

Regarding the exceptions mentioned above, if the internal force would have been economic of

its kind, the outcome of the project would be different. An economic force should have a

greater effect on the project. For example, had there been a bigger financial crisis the EU

might have withdrawn their funding and the project would have to shut down. Additionally,

had the pandemic had a bigger financial effect on these start-up and scale-up companies they

might have gone bankrupt, and the project might have been unable to proceed. Also, if the

death rate/toll would have been higher in connection to COVID-19, it could have affected the

project in a more negative way seeing that the project participants might not be alive to

conduct their activities. So even though it is mentioned that the type of change does not really

matter, there are of course some, more or less likely exceptions.

39


7. Conclusion In this chapter the conclusions will be presented based on the analysis. Limitations and future research will be presented following the conclusions.

To conclude, the working processes and structures have transformed due to the changes. The

fact that the changes occurred simultaneously or in close connection did not affect the project

to a large extent. What can be concluded is that the nature of the change and its severity is

what will interrupt the workflow. The internal force, the change in head management, has led

to a better structured project. The new manager has clarified the communication between the

partners as well as the goals. They have also made it easier to understand the project as a

whole. The external force of COVID-19 has forced the project to move its operations from

working in an office environment to a digital work setting. This has led to more continuous

communication within the project as well as it has increased the amount of shorter follow-up

meetings.

To answer the first research question: How has the working processes/structure transformed

due to internal and external changes? The internal change of the new management turned out

to be very positive. It has transformed the processes and structures with clearer roles of who is

to do what as well as which people comprised working with specific assignments.

Communication which is key for both collaboration and trust has clearly been improved and

increased work satisfaction. The employees feel more confident asking questions and

receiving feedback from the new manager who tries to guide them towards the objectives of

the project. This turns out to be a win-win situation where structure is clarified and

differences in objectives can be discussed and addressed. This means that the internal force of

change has improved, not interrupted the working activities.

The external change has forced a virtual work setting. Even if the project is still functional,

simple tasks such as asking the person normally sitting right next to you in the office, needs to

be booked into a meeting or sent an email. Tools and materials available at the office might

not exist in the homes of employees, this makes the working processes harder to perform. It

has to the larger parts been perceived negatively since humans are social creatures by nature.

However, digitalization has increased effectiveness by reducing valuable time spent on travel

and other activities. Time is money and a non-renewable resource, especially in temporary

organizations which are indeed limited by this resource. What can also be concluded is that

40


the pre-conditions for the changes play a major part in how they will be perceived by

employees.

To answer the second research question: How do these changes affect the collaboration and

work satisfaction, seeing that such extensive changes, which take place simultaneously or in

close connection, can be very demanding? For a project like Swedish Scaleups where

collaboration is of utmost importance, it has affected how they work together towards their

common objectives. Building trust and relationships have clearly become harder in virtual

settings. However, the new manager distinctly increased the collaboration between the

partners, which shows that the personal attributes of a manager are of highest relevance for

trust and collaboration. Operating larger-scaled complex projects with several partners having

their own operations in addition to a project with different characteristics will never become

an easy task. There is a huge need for distinct structure, strong leadership and collaboration to

be able to operate at the highest possible potential.

It can be concluded that the digitalization has weakened the work satisfaction within the

project, the study shows that the respondents find it less fun to be unable to have physical

meetings and only communicate virtually. What can also be concluded is that it is very

personal how much people will be affected by these changes, many of the respondents have

increased stress levels and lowered work satisfaction. Even though the communication has

increased, the fact that the communication is no longer occurring through physical meetings,

has led to some difficulties being discovered. Digital communication is harder to use for

building relationships, network building and gaining trust.

Therefore, this thesis has contributed to an improved perception of complex, collaborative

projects, for which two major changes occur, in close connection to each other, one internal

change and one external change. In contrast to earlier studies in the field, this thesis has

generated new insights from a different viewpoint on projects and organizational change. By

discovering that it does not matter that several changes occur simultaneously, rather what the

changes affect, this study adds to the literature on the subject.

7.1 Limitation

The world is currently positioned in a very unstable and uncertain time. Everyone is unsure of

what will happen after COVID-19 is handled and if the changes implemented by nations and

businesses will be successful. Concerning Swedish Scaleups, they are still fully operating

41


which means that further research conducted after the project has ended would give a full

view of the changes and how the project adapted to these internal and external forces. The

financial aspects of this case study could potentially be of high interest for this research.

However, this thesis is limited to events of change, how they have been managed and

important concepts for successfully operating a complex project undergoing both a large

internal shift in leadership and adapting to the changing environment of the COVID-19

pandemic. Which is why the financial aspect of this research has been excluded for the

limitation of scope, purpose and time.

7.2 Future research For future research, conducting a case study in the same project from a leadership perspective

would increase the understanding of the leadership change, the challenges they faced as well

as how they solved certain problems which arose unbeknownst to the ten project leaders and

their employees. What also would be interesting for future research is to do a comparison

between a project and a regular organization undergoing extensive changes under a short time

and analyze the differences, if problems and uncertainties were handled in a similar way, as

well as which part was the most successful. If projects are more flexible compared to regular

organizations and more efficiently adapts to such extensive changes. Lastly, as mentioned in

the limitations, to study this project from a financial perspective would be of interest since it

is EU funded. Further research on EU funded projects and their impact on the economy would

contribute with an interesting aspect, seeing that there are a lot of financial resources at stake

that have been paid for by EU citizens.

42


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Appendix The appendix consists of tables and data of relevance to the thesis.

Table of Operationalization

Theme Question Aim

Project Tell us about yourself?

- What is your role and responsibilities in the project?

- Do you follow any models or processes in your work?

To get an understanding of the interviewee and their part in the project.

Organizational change Internal change

What was your daily work like before the change of management, and after the change? How has it affected you?

- What do you think / believe is the reason as to why it looked like it did before?

- What are the biggest changes?

Comparison of how the employees working processes changed due to the new leader

How did you think the implementation process of the new leader worked?

- What has improved based on the change? Is there anything that has not improved or even gotten worse?

- The structure of the project is quite complicated, do you think it is too complicated?

Comparison of how structures and processes changed in the entire project due to the new leader

Organizational change External change

How have you adapted your work processes to the restrictions regarding social distancing and how has it affected how you performed your work?

- Which processes have been affected the most? - What are the biggest changes?

Comparison of how the employees working processes changed due to COVID-19

How has communication been affected due to COVID-19?

- Have the limitations of meeting in person contributed to difficulties?

- Has anything improved due to COVID-19? Is there anything that has not improved or even gotten worse?

Comparison of how structures and processes changed in the entire project due to COVID-19


(created by the authors)

Organizational change The changes together

Has COVID-19 affected the implementation of the new project manager? How?

- Do you think COVID -19 would have been more difficult to handle if you had not had a change in project management? Why?

- Have you been able to perform your ordinary work?

- Have you been able to reach your goals despite these changes?

To get an understanding of the effects of the change of the new leader as well as COVID-19 in combination

Collaboration What does the collaboration look like within your actor and towards other partners?

- Has something changed in the collaboration due to the change in management and COVID-19?

- Has anything improved? - Has anything impaired? - What are the biggest differences? - What do you think the future holds for the

collaboration after the project is over?

To get an understanding of the importance of collaboration between the partners, as well as the effects of the changes on the collaboration

Work satisfaction How did you feel about the change of management?

- Based on these changes, how has your well-being been affected?

- Based on these changes, do you feel more or less stressed in your work? Why?

To gain further insight into the work satisfaction of the employees and to elaborate on areas which might have already been brought up

internal and external forces of organizational change in

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