Trust Building in Remote Global Change Projects : A Single Case Study on Atlas Copco

Sammanfattning

Digital communication advancements are constantly opening up opportunities for businesses to easily expand and collaborate across borders. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a situation where people have had to work remotely in a virtual setting which forced managers to adapt to a fully remote management approach. This is a single case study investigating how the industrial company Atlas Copco navigated through two global change projects, one executed in a semi-remote setting, and the other executed in a fully remote setting. The remote setting has made it difficult to build trust, and this thesis aims to increase the understanding of trust building in remote global change projects. This is a qualitative, single case study conducted with an abductive research approach. The data has been collected through interviews with representatives from the case company. The empirical findings show that people define trust differently, whether trust is built over time or exists from the start. The various definitions imply that there are consequences if people define trust differently. The thesis also highlights the importance of communication and support activities when building trust and what role the change management team had in this process. Factors affecting trust building are highlighted and mitigating aspects are presented.