Flexible freedom and remote responsibility - The effects of extensive telework on organizational control in professional service firms

Sammanfattning: Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the conditions for daily operations, actions and task execution have dramatically changed in the corporate sphere. Management and employees have been forced to telework extensively, which for most is a completely new way of working. The teleworking context has eliminated physical interaction, which in turn has altered the conditions for, and execution of, organizational control. The fundaments for control execution have changed particularly in professional service firms, characterized by a strong corporate culture, well-qualified employees and with the primary means of production being knowledge. Through a qualitative study, consisting of semi-structured interviews with knowledge workers from multiple professional service firms, this thesis aims to examine the impact on certain control mechanisms from extensive telework. A theoretical foundation has been developed and derived from thorough research, to fully understand the impact of extensive telework on relevant control mechanisms in professional service firms. The cross-sectional study concludes that a major shift in socio-ideological control mechanisms has occurred meanwhile the technocratic control mechanisms remain rather unchanged. This thesis informs current and future knowledge workers and managers on how to grasp the teleworking context, as well as provides implications for future research.