Understanding and improving remote internal communication through collaborative development: a case study of a remote startup team
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
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Date
2021
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Mcode
Degree programme
Master's Programme in Collaborative and Industrial Design
Language
en
Pages
141 + 7
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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic starting in late-2019 radically changed how we work. Since then, work-from-home orders and travel restrictions have forced organisations worldwide to rapidly embrace remote working practices, though many were ill-prepared for this sudden transition. Even post-pandemic though, remote work is likely to remain as part of hybrid work models in the future of work. Understanding how teams communicate remotely and envisioning more effective and human ways for remote internal communication is hence both timely and crucial for organisations, leaders, and employees alike. Through a case study with a Finland-based startup (SU), this thesis seeks to understand how remote internal communication is organised and can be improved in a specific organisational setting – a startup with a small but internationally distributed team and a pre-existing reliance on remote work, which was increased by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The case study was carried out from late-2020 to mid-2021, during which I was myself an employee of SU. I first conducted employee interviews and participant observation to understand SU’s present state of remote internal communication and diagnose areas for improvement. I then facilitated a collaborative development process over two workshops with the team to improve their remote internal communication. The interviews and observation surfaced rich insights about SU’s remote internal communication. Notably, SU’s team culture and efforts to facilitate meaningful remote interactions helped maintain their strong team spirit even during remote work. However, areas for improvement such as the need for establishing team communication norms, better use of digital tools, and more spontaneous ways to connect remotely were identified. The collaborative development process led to several tangible improvements in SU’s remote internal communication, and more importantly, created an ongoing culture within the team of discussing and improving how they communicate and collaborate. Observation and analysis of how SU’s collaborative development process played out also revealed advantages and constraints it has in developing its remote internal communication, due to its specific organisational setting. The insights from this case study contribute to our understanding of remote internal communication in startup and remote teams by highlighting relevant issues that warrant further exploration, especially as organisations transition to hybrid work models that combine remote and in-person work. Lessons learnt from SU’s case are also relevant for leaders and employees, particularly in organisations similar to SU, who wish to improve remote internal communication in their own teams.Description
Supervisor
Solsona, NúriaThesis advisor
Solsona, NúriaKeywords
internal communication, organisational communication, remote work, teamwork, collaboration, COVID-19, startup companies, case study