Changes in leadership style due to the crisis of covid-19 in the tech SMEs in Sweden
Liang, Hui (2021)
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Lataukset:
Liang, Hui
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202102152331
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202102152331
Tiivistelmä
The objective of this study was to find out how COVID-19 crisis has impacted the tech SMEs in Sweden, caused them to change their leadership style, and which leadership attributes were adopted by the leadership of the Swedish tech SMEs to deal with the COVID-19 crisis.
Interviews with five Project Managers/CEOs of the Swedish tech SMEs were conducted to collect primary data. The interview data was analysed using the-matic analysis and frequency distribution analysis.
Based on the results obtained, the COVID-19 crisis has had only a minor or mod-erate impact on the Swedish tech SMEs. The adjustment was positively influ-enced by subsidies paid by the Swedish government, which enabled companies to pay salaries and avoid the need to lay off staff.
Based on the interviews, the project managers and CEOs had to change their management style only slightly or moderately due to the crisis. As a result, the impact of the crisis on management practices in Swedish technology SMEs was not significant.
The biggest change in management practices was caused by the transition of staff to tele-working. Managers had to communicate with staff using virtual tools. They had adopted the attributes of democratic leadership style and situa-tional leadership style while carrying out virtual leadership because they need to give freedom and flexibility to the team members remotely.
Interviews with five Project Managers/CEOs of the Swedish tech SMEs were conducted to collect primary data. The interview data was analysed using the-matic analysis and frequency distribution analysis.
Based on the results obtained, the COVID-19 crisis has had only a minor or mod-erate impact on the Swedish tech SMEs. The adjustment was positively influ-enced by subsidies paid by the Swedish government, which enabled companies to pay salaries and avoid the need to lay off staff.
Based on the interviews, the project managers and CEOs had to change their management style only slightly or moderately due to the crisis. As a result, the impact of the crisis on management practices in Swedish technology SMEs was not significant.
The biggest change in management practices was caused by the transition of staff to tele-working. Managers had to communicate with staff using virtual tools. They had adopted the attributes of democratic leadership style and situa-tional leadership style while carrying out virtual leadership because they need to give freedom and flexibility to the team members remotely.