Hur skapar chefer tillit vid distansarbete? : En kvalitativ intervjustudie utifrån ett relationsorienterat ledarskapsperspektiv

Sammanfattning: Title: How do managers create trust in telework? A qualitative interview study from a relationship-oriented leadership perspective. Background: As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, teleworking has gained an increasing place in society and is predicted to increase in the future. Previous literature emphasizes that managers tend to be negative about teleworking as a result of reduced opportunities for control and monitoring. Studies, on the other hand, believe that strict supervision and control can cause more harm than good as it shows a lack of trust in employees. Furthermore, trust is described as essential in teleworking. Thus, teleworking seems to require a leadership that focuses on creating trusting relationships between manager and employee. Purpose: The aim of this study is to create an understanding of how managers work with creating trust in the context of telework from a relationship-oriented leadership perspective. The study intends to contribute to existing literature in leadership by focusing on how managers from a relationship-oriented leadership perspective work to create trust. Research questions: How do managers perceive trust in the context of teleworking? How do managers work to create trust in teleworking? Method: The study consists of a qualitative cross-sectional study based on the interpretive phenomenological perspective. The empirical material consists of semi-structured interviews with nine respondents who work at four different banks in Sweden. Conclusion: The results of the study show that all managers describe the perception of trust as well as the work of creating trust from the relationship-oriented leadership perspective. The study also found that managers' perceptions of trust are strongly linked to how managers work to create trust. Furthermore, three main themes were identified for how managers work to create trust, all of which can be attributed to the manager's way of acting with consideration for the employees' needs and wellbeing. The three overarching themes identified in the study consist of: the manager's qualities, communication and the individualized leadership. Keywords: Telework, leadership, trust, trust-building, relationship-oriented leadership