Close but far away -about leader competence and organizational capability to lead in a digital world

Important results from the project

The purpose of the project in step 1 was to study what competencies that enable and support effective leadership in a digitally based telework so that an organisational ability can be created that provides the conditions for innovation and change. The work in step 1 has created good conditions for a possible step 2 where specific organizational contexts, in turn, will be studied and analyzed in close collaboration with the partners in an ambition to jointly develop both practically applicable and scientific knowledge.

Expected long term effects

The project as a whole (both steps 1 and 2) was expected to contribute to the development of new, theoretically informed knowledge at the intersection of leadership and digitalisation. Based on competence theory and how competence can enable organisational ability the project, in step 1, has thus contributed with knowledge of how individual leadership competence, in a digital work context, can enable organisational ability to better lead with support of digital tools and working methods. The result of step 1 is a projected and submitted proposal to step 2.

Approach and implementation

The plan for the project was to develop knowledge, research questions and intervention-based research methods for a possible step 2 in close collaboration with needy owners. In step 1 / phase 1, interviews, knowledge acquisition and two workshops took place. In total, the data base included a focus group interview and 16 individual interviews. In step 1 / phase 2, analysis took place, partly together with partners, also methods and tools for data collection in a possible step 2 were developed together with partners. A total of 4 workshops were conducted with partners.