Vikten av de oskrivna reglerna

Sammanfattning: Title: The Importance of the Unwritten Rules Seminar date: 15th of January 2021 Course: FEKH49, Business Administration: Bachelor’s degree Project in Organization, Undergraduate level, 15 credits Authors: Alice Söderberg, John Söderberg, David Weiler Supervisor: Nadja Sörgärde Five Key-words: Teleworking, norms, interactions, communication, digital communication channels Purpose: The purpose of this study is to nuance previous research regarding how interactions are affected by teleworking by examining how the employees at Översättningsbolaget experience changes in the interactions they have with their colleagues due to teleworking and which norms that could affect this. Research question: How do the employees at Översättningsbolaget experience that the interactions they have with their colleagues have changed due to teleworking and which norms could affect this? Theoretical perspective: The study’s theoretical perspective consists of previous research on interactions, what teleworking is and how teleworking affects interactions between colleagues and the consequences this entails. The study has a cultural-theoretical perspective that consists of social norms. Method: The study has been made in a qualitative manner based on semi-structured interviews held with the employees at Översättningsbolaget. Ontologically the study has a social constructionist perspective. Epistemologically the study has an interpretative perspective. The study has been conducted in an abductive manner where the theory chapter has been adapted after our empirical findings. Result: The study has shown that the employees at Översättningsbolaget experience themselves as more independent due to the effect that norms have on how their inclination to initiate interactions that revolve around work-related questions. The study has also found that the informal interactions at Översättningsbolaget generally become negatively affected due to teleworking, but that they do not disappear completely but rather live on within a reduced circle of colleagues and that these effects have to do with the norms for informal interactions. Conclusions: The theoretical contribution of the study is that norms, regardless of what those norms are, can affect how employees experience the change in interactions that teleworking entails. The practical implications of the study are that the digital communication channels that are used in teleworking might be constricted by the norms for interactions, which could result in these channels not being used as much as they could be.