Understanding and Impoving Remote Internal Communication

Understanding and Improving
Remote Internal Communication

through Collaborative
Development
A Case Study of a Remote Startup Team
Zhiwen Yap
Master's Thesis
MA Collaborative and Industrial Design
Aalto University
2021
Understanding and Improving Acknowledgements
Remote Internal Communication through
Collaborative Development
A Case Study of a Remote Startup Team First and foremost, a huge thank you to the SU team for giving
me the opportunity to work on this thesis and supporting me
the whole way. Thank you especially to the leaders of SU for
trusting me, the interviewees for sharing about your work
experiences so openly, and the workshop participants for your
presence and creativity. I learnt so much from listening to and
working with you throughout this process. I first joined this
team as a Design Trainee long before this thesis even came into
being, and am beyond grateful to have had you all as my first
work family in Finland.
Thank you, Núria, for being the best thesis advisor I could have
asked for with your enthusiastic encouragement and practical
advice. You challenged and supported me in exactly the way I
needed, not just as a student but also as a person. I could not
have done this without your guidance and mentorship!
— Finally, thank you to the amazing humans who have been by

my side as I pushed through this thesis. Tim and Flo, for your
Zhiwen Yap friendship and proofreading this thesis. My flatmate Joona,
for the daily low-threshold conversation and cooking for me
Master's Thesis as I tapped away on my laptop all night long. Austen, for your
MA Collaborative and Industrial Design academic advice, delicious dinners, and cosy movie nights.
Department of Design Rob, for the daily commiseration and sharing of productivity
Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture memes. Philip, for being there for me on the days I wrote 1000
Spring 2021 words and the days I wrote 0. And to the friends whom I have
not had enough time for especially in the final weeks leading
Supervisor & Advisor: Núria Solsona Caba up to my deadline, thank you for being a part of my life.
Abstract Author Zhiwen Yap The interviews and observation surfaced rich insights about
Title of thesis Understanding and Improving Remote Internal SU’s remote internal communication. Notably, SU’s team
Communication through Collaborative Development: A Case culture and efforts to facilitate meaningful remote interactions
Study of a Remote Startup Team helped maintain their strong team spirit even during remote
Department Design work. However, areas for improvement such as the need
Degree programme Collaborative and Industrial Design for establishing team communication norms, better use of
Year 2021 digital tools, and more spontaneous ways to connect remotely
Number of pages 145+7 were identified. The collaborative development process led
Language English to several tangible improvements in SU’s remote internal
communication, and more importantly, created an ongoing
The COVID-19 pandemic starting in late-2019 radically culture within the team of discussing and improving how
changed how we work. Since then, work-from-home orders they communicate and collaborate. Observation and analysis
and travel restrictions have forced organisations worldwide to of how SU’s collaborative development process played out
rapidly embrace remote working practices, though many were also revealed advantages and constraints it has in developing
ill-prepared for this sudden transition. Even post-pandemic its remote internal communication, due to its specific
though, remote work is likely to remain as part of hybrid organisational setting.
work models in the future of work. Understanding how teams
communicate remotely and envisioning more effective and The insights from this case study contribute to our
human ways for remote internal communication is hence both understanding of remote internal communication in startup
timely and crucial for organisations, leaders, and employees and remote teams by highlighting relevant issues that warrant
alike. further exploration, especially as organisations transition to
hybrid work models that combine remote and in-person work.
Through a case study with a Finland-based startup (SU), this Lessons learnt from SU’s case are also relevant for leaders and
thesis seeks to understand how remote internal communication employees, particularly in organisations similar to SU, who
is organised and can be improved in a specific organisational wish to improve remote internal communication in their own
setting – a startup with a small but internationally distributed teams.
team and a pre-existing reliance on remote work, which was
increased by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The case study Keywords internal communication, organisational
was carried out from late-2020 to mid-2021, during which communication, collaboration, teamwork, remote work,
I was myself an employee of SU. I first conducted employee COVID-19, startup companies, case study, co-design,
interviews and participant observation to understand SU’s human-centred design
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.
Table of Contents 4 Case Study 48
4.1 About the case company 50
4.1.1 Company profile 50
1 Introduction 10 4.1.2 Internal communication situation 51
1.1 Personal motivation for this research 11 4.1.3 Organisational structure 52
1.2 Relevance of the topic 12 4.1.4 Office space 55
1.3 Research questions and objectives 13 4.1.5 Work culture and remote work 56
1.4 Thesis structure 14 4.1.6 Team culture 57
4.2 Internal communication means 58
2 Theoretical Background 16 4.2.1 Work meetings 58
2.1 Internal communication in organisations 17 4.2.2 Social meetings 61
2.1.1 Defining internal communication 17 4.2.3 Digital communication tools 63
2.1.2 Importance and goals of internal communication 21 4.2.4 Decision-making processes 65
2.2 Internal communication in startups 22 4.3 Existing internal communication developments 66
2.2.1 Characteristics of startups 23 4.3.1 Introduction of Weekly Work Buddy system 66
2.2.2 Impact of startup growth on internal communication 25 4.3.2 Reorganisation of project management platform 68
2.2.3 Internal communication model for startups 27 4.4 Insights about SU’s internal communication 70
2.3 Remote internal communication 29 4.4.1 Facilitated remote interactions build strong team spirit 71
2.3.1 Remote work and internal communication 29 4.4.2 Regular low-threshold video meetings engage and
2.3.2 Productivity and effectiveness 30 empower remote employees 73
2.3.3 Relational and social development 31 4.4.3 Remote work compromises on the spontaneity of
2.3.4 Remote accommodations for effective internal employee interactions 74
communication31 4.4.4 Time differences create barriers to real-time
communication75
3 Methodology 34 4.4.5 Periodic in-person get-togethers are still essential to
3.1 Single-case study 35 keep a remote team connected 76
3.1.1 Justification for a single-case study 35 4.4.6 Remote communication increases the need for
3.1.2 Selection of the case company 37 purposeful communication to maintain accountability 77
3.1.3 Writing of the case study report 38 4.4.7 Remote meetings are most productive when they
3.2 Participant observation 38 are precisely planned and activate participants 80
3.3 Semi-structured interviews 40 4.4.8 Remote meetings can be more efficient with the right
3.3.1 Selection of interviewees 42 tools and consistent documentation 82
3.3.2 Interview structure 43 4.4.9 Important information gets lost in the Chat without
3.3.3 Documentation and analysis 44 processes for documentation 84
3.4 Workshops 45 4.4.10 Lengthy Chat discussions cause information
3.4.1 Goals of the workshops 46 overload and mental strain 88
3.4.2 Organisation of the workshops 46
4.4.11 Relying on coworkers to find files reduces Conclusions134
independence and efficiency 89 6.1 Limitations of the research 135
4.4.12 Creating an internal logic for the use of digital 6.2 Suggestions for further research 136
tools supports remote collaboration 91
4.4.13 Unpopular digital tools cause frustration and References140
inconsistent usage 94
4.5 Collaborative development process 98 Appendix146
4.5.1 Design directions 99 8.1 Appendix 1: Interview Guide 147
4.5.2 Insights sharing with leadership 99
4.5.3 Workshop 1: Understanding present state of
remote internal communication 101
4.5.4 Workshop 2: Improving remote internal
communication through co-development 106
4.5.5 Tangible and intangible outcomes 108
4.5.6 Advantages and constraints in collaborative
development112
Discussion116
5.1 Present state of remote internal communication
in SU 117
5.1.1 Employees communicate mainly via digital tools 119
5.1.2 Strong team spirit despite reliance on remote
communication120
5.1.3 Need for shared communication norms,
better use of digital tools, and new ways of
connecting employees remotely 121
5.2 Developing remote internal communication
in SU 123
5.2.1 Improvements arising from collaborative
development process 123
5.2.2 SU’s organisational setting creates advantages
and constraints for development 125
5.2.3 Role of participation and collaboration in
developing remote internal communication 129
5.3 Relevance of this case 130
5.3.1 Generalisability of case studies 130
5.3.2 Generalisability of SU’s case 131
10 Introduction 11
1.1 Personal motivation for this research
1 The idea for this thesis arose in the summer of 2020 when I
started working as a Design Trainee at a small Finnish startup,
Introduction
which will henceforth be referred to as Startup (SU). During
my traineeship, I worked closely with different SU employees
on cross-functional projects, immersing fully into their work
environment and team culture. At the time, the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic and its resultant restrictions against in-
person work and overseas travel affected how the startup’s
small but internationally distributed team communicated and
collaborated with each other. My observations and experiences
from working in SU, especially at a time of increased reliance
on remote work, led me to notice aspects of their remote
internal communication that could be improved.
In particular, I began paying attention to brewing issues with

the use of digital communication tools, information sharing
and storage, and reduced in-person interaction, amongst others.
For instance, when I was tasked to design a set of customer
guides and needed to find detailed information about the
company's operational processes, I realised that much of that
knowledge was in fact stored in the heads of a few experienced
employees, rather than documented somewhere accessible
to the whole team. I noticed how different employees would
ask the same questions on the company's Chat platform again
and again. I also observed inconsistent usage of the team’s
project management platform amongst some employees, and
heard coworkers openly air their frustrations about it. My
first-hand experience of these pain points and their effects
on team collaboration and employee experience in SU led
me to think about how they could be addressed to help the
team communicate in more effective and engaged ways while
working remotely.
Towards the end of my traineeship, I was offered the

opportunity to continue working at SU as a Designer and
12 Introduction Introduction 13
Thesis Worker. While discussing my thesis topic with the pandemic forced organisations worldwide to rapidly embrace
CEO, I highlighted the remote internal communication issues remote working practices, though many were ill-prepared for
I had noticed earlier and proposed a case study research to this sudden transition. Even post-pandemic however, remote
investigate and tackle them collaboratively with the team. work is most likely here to stay as a permanent fixture in
Having himself noticed and become concerned about those the future of work, where local teams adopt hybrid models
same issues, the CEO was supportive of my thesis proposal. I combining remote and in-person work, and organisations
hence began working on this thesis with SU as a case company increasingly tap on international talents based overseas who
to study how its remote internal communication is organised collaborate remotely with local teams (Capgemini Research
and can be improved in collaboration with its employees. Institute, 2020). Organisations, leaders, and employees
urgently need to understand and envision more effective and
human ways to facilitate remote internal communication. This
1.2 Relevance of the topic research hence takes a first step into this uncharted terrain by
offering rich insights from SU’s journey of developing their
The topic of this research has both academic and contemporary remote internal communication.
relevance. Firstly, prior research on organisational internal
communication has focused predominantly on the context
of large established organisations with bigger and more 1.3 Research questions and objectives
hierarchical teams. Comparatively, much less attention has
been paid to how internal communication takes place in Through a case study research conducted with SU from late-
smaller organisations like startups, which may have as few as 2020 to mid-2021, this thesis aims to understand how remote
10-20 employees at the early-growth stage. The small team size, internal communication is organised and can be improved in
Organisations,
informality, and flat hierarchy characteristic of such startups a specific organisational setting – a startup with a small but
leaders, and
create vastly different internal communication challenges for internationally distributed team and a substantial reliance on
employees
them than for larger organisations. Further, since remote work remote work, which was intensified by the ongoing COVID-19
urgently need
has only gained widespread adoption and attention recently pandemic. The research is organised to answer the following
to understand
and envision
due to the COVID-19 pandemic which began in late-2019, few Research Questions (RQs) and related Exploratory Questions
more effective prior studies have had the opportunity to understand internal (EQs):
and human ways communication in an almost completely remote work setting.
to facilitate By understanding and improving internal communication in RQ1: How is remote internal communication organised in SU?
remote internal the specific organisational setting of SU, a startup with only 13 RQ2: How might SU improve its remote internal communication
communication. employees and a heavy reliance on remote work, this research through a collaborative development process?
hence extends prior research about organisational internal • EQ2a: What improvements can SU adopt?
communication into the realm of remote startup teams. • EQ2b: What advantages and constraints do SU have in
this process?
Beyond its academic relevance, this research topic is also RQ3: How might this case study be relevant beyond SU?
especially timely now and in the years to come, as organisations
increasingly adopt remote work as a norm. The COVID-19
14 Introduction Introduction 15
The Research Objectives of this thesis are to: and justifies the overarching research method (a single-case
• Understand how remote internal communication is study) and specific data collection methods (interviews,
presently organised in SU through an in-depth case study participant observation, and workshops) used in this thesis.
• Facilitate a collaborative development process with the Chapter 4 dives into the case study itself, and can also be read
SU team to improve their remote internal communication on its own as a standalone case study report. It introduces
• Gain insight into the advantages and constraints SU the case company and presents the insights gathered about
has in improving its remote internal communication its remote internal communication. It also describes the
through the collaborative development process collaborative development process I facilitated to improve
• Outline how insights from SU’s case can be extended to remote internal communication with the team, and reflects
theory and other organisations on its outcomes. Chapter 5 answers the research questions and
draws connections between the case study’s empirical findings
These research questions and objectives are addressed in and the theoretical background in Chapter 2. Finally, Chapter
the case study research through a two-staged process of 6 concludes the thesis by discussing the research limitations
understanding and improving. First, I investigate the present and suggesting future research directions.
state of remote internal communication in SU through
employee interviews and participant observation. Next, I
facilitate a collaborative development process with the SU
team to tackle the areas for improvement uncovered. I also
observe and analyse how this development process plays out,
and reflect on the advantages and constraints it reveals SU to
have in improving their internal communication. Further, I
outline how this case study is relevant beyond SU by discussing
the theoretical domains it contributes to and the conditions
under which other organisations might find its insights most
relevant.
1.4 Thesis structure
This thesis is divided into six chapters. The present chapter,

Chapter 1, has started by explaining my motivation for
conducting this research and the relevance of the topic. It also
outlined the research questions and objectives. The remainder
of this thesis will be organised as follows:
Chapter 2 provides a theoretical background from literature

on key concepts relevant to this research. Chapter 3 explains
16 Theoretical Background 17
This chapter lays a theoretical foundation for the case study. It

is divided into three sections which address the key concepts
2 relevant to this research. Section 2.1 introduces internal
communication in organisations in general, Section 2.2
Theoretical Background
focuses on internal communication in startups in particular,
and Section 2.3 discusses remote internal communication.
2.1 Internal communication in organisations
In this section, I review different definitions of internal

communication in organisations for the purpose of developing
a new integrated definition for this thesis. I also outline
the importance and goals of internal communication for
organisations and employees, as discussed in relevant literature.
2.1.1 Defining internal communication

This thesis concerns itself with internal communication
in the case company SU, but what exactly does internal
communication mean and entail in organisations? To establish
a comprehensive understanding of the term for this thesis,
this subsection reviews and synthesises various definitions
and descriptions of internal communication from previous
scholars. The earliest commonly-cited definition of internal
communication is Frank and Brownell's (1989):
…the communications transactions between individuals

and/or groups at various levels and in different areas of
specialisation that are intended to design and redesign
organisations, to implement designs, and to co-ordinate day-
to-day activities. (pp. 5-6, as cited in Welch & Jackson,
2007)
This definition emphasises the multi-faceted nature of internal

communication, suggesting that it takes place between
different people and for different purposes: to develop strategy,
implement plans, and facilitate day-to-day operations.
18 Theoretical Background Theoretical Background 19
Scholes (1997) takes a stakeholder perspective by defining However, it is worth noting that Welch and Jackson’s (2007)
internal communication as “the professional management of typology is tailored towards internal communication in
interactions between all those with an interest or ‘a stake’ in large established organisations with many employees and
a particular organisation” (p. xviii). This definition focuses a traditional hierarchical structure. In contrast, in a small
on who is communicating, though it does not distinguish and flat startup team like SU’s, distinctions between "line
further between different types of “stake[s]”, allowing “all managers/supervisors" and other “employees” may be less
those” to potentially include both employees and external defined. Hence, while Welch and Jackson's definition and
stakeholders (Welch & Jackson, 2007). A similar but more matrix gives a broad overview of the diverse scope of internal
precise approach is taken by Cornelissen (2014), who defines communication in organisations, it cannot be applied directly
internal communication as: “communication with employees to the case company’s context.
internal to the organization” (p. 164).
Beyond who, Cornelissen’s (2004, as cited in Welch & Jackson,
Welch and Jackson (2007) further define internal 2007) glossary definition also brings focus to how internal
communication in terms of its participants and their positions: communication takes place: “all methods (internal newsletter,
intranet) used by a firm to communicate with its employees”.
…the strategic management of interactions and relationships This definition highlights the role of digital tools in internal
between stakeholders within organisations across a number communication. However, the traditional and limited
of interrelated dimensions including, internal line manager examples of newsletters and intranet do not sufficiently
communication, internal team peer communication, capture the variety of contemporary digital communication
internal project peer communication and internal corporate tools used by organisations today. The definition is also skewed
communication. (p. 184) towards a more one-directional firm-to-employee form of
communication, which fails to capture more participatory
This definition presents a comprehensive typology of internal forms of internal communication in modern startup teams.
communication across the four dimensions, resulting in a
matrix (Fig. 1) that illustrates the level, direction, participants, Finally, scholars also highlight that internal communication
and content of communication for each dimension. includes both formal and informal communication:
“all formal and informal communication taking place

internally at all levels of an organisation.” (Kalla, 2005,
p. 304)
"Internal communication happens constantly within

organisations and includes informal chat on the “grapevine”
Figure 1
as well as managed communication.” (Welch & Jackson,
Internal 2007, p. 178).
communication
matrix (Welch &
Jackson, 2007)
Formal communication would refer to official communication 2.1.2 Importance and goals of internal communication
processes which are aligned with organisational structures and Having defined internal communication for this thesis,
hierarchies (Kandlousi, 2010). For example, planned company and this section explains the importance and goals of internal
team meetings, or company updates that leaders give to employees. communication for organisations and employees. Internal
In contrast, informal communication includes all other ways that communication coordinates business activities and facilitates
employees interact, and relies on social relationships and networks change in organisations (Rode & Vallaster, 2005). Especially
within teams (Guffy et al., 2005). For example, coworkers casual in the present information age, organisations create business
chatting in the office, over lunch, or on digital chat platforms. If value from internal communication, through which input of
information transmitted through formal communication processes information is processed with employees’ collective creative
is ambiguous or insufficient, employees might rely on informal and intellectual assets (Quirke, 2000, as cited in Welch &
communication to fill those gaps (Gilsdorf, 1998). Coworkers also Jackson, 2007). Effective internal communication is crucial for
discuss issues and thoughts both related and unrelated to their jobs, organisations to succeed, as it engages employees and aligns
developing interpersonal relationships in the process (Kandlousi, their efforts towards strategic objectives (Welch & Jackson,
2010). Hence through a combination of formal and informal internal 2007; Quirke, 2012). It also allows businesses to create quicker
communication, employees share information and socialise. change, more flexibility and innovation, better decision-
making and knowledge sharing, and a more motivated
These definitions by previous scholars each highlight different workforce (Quirke, 2012).
aspects of internal communication. However, no single definition
is perfectly suited to the context of this case study with a startup. Internal communication commonly serves two goals (Francis,
Hence, I propose a new integrated definition to frame what internal 1989; De Ridder, 2003). The first goal is to inform employees
communication means in this thesis: about tasks, policies, and other matters in the organisation so
they know what they need to do their jobs well. D'Aprix (1982)
All formal and informal interactions and relationships… identifies three fundamental areas about which employees
• between employees and/or groups of employees in an organisation, need to be informed:
• which happen either in-person or remotely,
• to coordinate day-to-day business activities, implement new plans, “They want to know where the organization is heading and
shape organisational strategy, or form social connections. how it will get there, and most important—what all that
means to them. They want to know what the battle plan is,
It is worth pointing out that unlike Welch and Jackson’s (2007) and how hard they have to fight to achieve their goals.” (as
matrix which distinguishes between “all employees”, “managers”, cited in Saini & Plowman, 2007)
and “strategic managers”, my definition captures all individuals
working in the organisation under “employees”, since such rigid According to Saini and Plowman (2007), this goal requires
distinctions are less relevant in SU’s small team with flat hierarchy deliberate and dynamic internal communication that provides
and fluid roles. Further, while the above definition includes both in- an effective flow of communication to employees. Leaders
person and remote communication, this thesis will focus on remote should clearly define and communicate the organisation’s
internal communication due to SU’s reliance on remote work strategy so that employees can incorporate them into their
especially at the time of the study due to the COVID-19 pandemic. daily work, preventing uncertainty and boosting productivity.
The second goal of internal communication is to create a 2.2.1 Characteristics of startups

community within the organisation (Francis, 1989; De Ridder, According to MacVicar and Throne (1992, as cited in Saini &
2003). This goal relates more to the social and relational Plowman, 2007), startups are "small companies, most often
dimensions of teamwork, such as building interpersonal with a high-tech focus and in an early stage of development,
connections, trust and a shared team culture. While less creating a product/service or having a product/service
explictly work-centric, the second goal can also support the needing manufacturing and/or marketing." This definition
first goal as trust between employees results in more positive highlights two main characteristics of startups: they are small
attitudes towards work, higher levels of cooperation, and and in an early stage of growth. Mueller et al. (2012) also add
superior performance (Jones & George, 1998). that startups are small organisations undergoing a process of
emergence. They hence face a different and arguably more
In sum, effective internal communication is vital to challenging operating environment than large established
organisational success as it helps employees to reach personal organisations (Saini & Plowman, 2007).
and strategic goals and facilitates knowledge sharing and
innovation in teams, thereby creating value. Internal This challenging operating environment of startups may
communication aims to both inform and unite employees so affect their internal communication in several ways. Firstly,
that they can do their jobs effectively and in alignment with with a small team and at this early growth stage, startups need
organisational strategy, while feeling connected to each other to accomplish more with less time and more limited resources
and the organisation. than established organisations (Goldsmith, 1996). They may
thus have less time and resources to devote to developing
effective internal communication practices.
2.2 Internal communication in startups
Secondly, the process of emergence that startups are going
Most of the literature on internal communication in through is chracterised by uncertainty and liability to
organisational and business contexts reviewed in the previous newness, as they have not established a legitimate track record
section was informed by and targeted at the context of large in the business yet (Mueller et al., 2012; Stinchcombe, 2000;
established organisations. However, the company at the heart Ulvenblad, 2008). Thirdly and relatedly, startups are highly
of this case study, SU, is a young startup with a small team vulnerable to their external environment. New ventures
of only 13 employees. This section hence turns its focus to often require the mobilisation and acquisition of resources
internal communication in startups specifically. It begins that are not owned or controlled by the founders themselves
by highlighting the unique characteristics of startups and (Stevenson & Jarillo, 1990). Yet startups are also often perceived
explaining their implications for internal communication. by financiers as more uncertain investments than established
It then explains startup growth and how it affects internal organisations, potentially causing problems in securing
communication. Finally, it presents a model for internal funding (Choi, 2005). Further, startups are more likely than
communication in startups. established organisations to face difficulty engaging potential
customers and suppliers (Choi, 2005).
Hence, even if they wish to develop their internal 2.2.2 Impact of startup growth on internal
communication, startups often have more urgent problems communication
such as financial instability or external circumstances that Forming and running a startup is an emergent process that
they need to prioritise. Together, limited time and human faces constantly changing realities (Mueller et al., 2012).
resources, uncertainty, liability to newness, and vulnerability Startup growth creates changes to its organisational structure
to external factors may result in startups being less well- and culture, and by extension, its internal communication
equipped to devote resources towards developing their internal (Saini & Plowman, 2007). This subsection hence describes
commmunication. the typical startup growth process and explains its impact on
internal communication.
However, startups also have some unique advantages for
internal communication. While large organisations take Picken (2017) provides a useful model (Fig. 2) to describe
startup growth. He posits that the entrepreneurial innovation
process goes through four stages – Startup, Transition, Scaling,
and Exit – each of which are defined by the main challenges
faced by the team. The boundaries between adjacent stages are
ambiguous and often overlapping, as illustrated in Fig. 2. At
the time of the case study, SU exhibits qualities that situates
it between the first two stages of startup and transition. This
subsection will hence unpack these two stages and their impact
on internal communication in greater detail.
In the initial startup stage, the primary challenge for the

Figure 2 young organisation is to define and validate its product or
Life cycle of an service offering, value proposition, business model, and go-
entrepreneurial
firm (Picken, 2017)
to-market strategy (Picken, 2017). A startup usually consists
only of a few co-founders and/or a very small team at this
stage. Its organisation tends to be loosely structured and fluid
more time to make decisions and hence respond more slowly with little hierarchy or distinctions between employees' roles
to change, startups are leaner and less bound by rigid internal and tasks (Picken, 2017). The work culture is characterised
processes, enabling them to adapt more quickly and flexibly by participation, collaboration, and a familial and close-knit
(Saini & Plowman, 2007; Eisenberg & Goodall, 2004). Internal atmosphere (Saini & Plowman, 2007). Internal communication
communication in startups hence enjoys a dynamism rarely is hence open, informal, and unorganized. There is two-way
found in larger organisations (Saini & Plowman, 2007). This and symmetrical communication and information exchange,
dynamism allows startup teams to be more open to improving with free dispersal of information and active participation
internal communication processes and able to quickly in decision-making amongst all team members (Dozier et al.,
implement changes if needed. 1995; Grunig, 1992). Employees and management talk freely
with each other, and debate of differing opinions is encouraged.
The period of transition begins however, when the startup first transitions to a functional structure then eventually
gains traction in the market. This period represents a bridge to a divisional structure. During such transitions, internal
between the startup’s initial loosely structured informality communication may break down and important information
and the structured and disciplined form it needs to attain may fall through the cracks. As the team grows, it is important
for rapid scaling (Picken, 2017). As a startup grows, its loose to “establish structures and processes that facilitate effective
organisational structure, informal internal communication and communications and decision making” (Picken, 2017, p.
decision-making processes become unwieldy and less effective 592). On the hurdle of developing effective processes and
(Picken, 2017). In a larger team, roles and responsibilities also infrastructures, Picken (2017) argues that while an organisation
inevitably become more clearly defined (Saini & Plowman, is small enough, it can get by with ad hoc processes. As the
2007). The earlier spontaneous communication gradually team expands however, functional specialization of roles
becomes more formalised, with the adoption of more formal necessitates the development of structures and processes for
communication processes, structures, and tools (Pfeffer, 1982). effective internal communication within a more complex
Such growth and formalisation pose communication blocks, organisational structure (Picken, 2017).
filtering and distorting potentially useful information within
the team (Saini & Plowman, 2007). Finding a balance between In sum, startups face different conditions and challenges
open flow of information and information overload becomes a as they grow. Since this case study focuses on how internal
challenge for the founding leaders at this stage, as they struggle communication is organised and can be developed in a small
to decide how much and what information to disseminate to and growing startup, it is important to consider the impact of
who (Goldhaber et al., 1984). growth on their internal communication.
According to Picken (2017), the transition phase as the startup 2.2.3 Internal communication model for startups
matures into a disciplined business is the most critical period To conclude Section 2.2, this subsection introduces a model for
in the life cycle of an emerging startup. During this phase, internal communication in startups from Saini and Plowman’s
the founding team needs to simultaneously handle strategic (2007) study, one of the few prominent studies that focused
direction and market positioning, while establishing team on startup internal communication. Based on interviews
norms and formalised processes. Picken (2017) outlines eight with employees from different startups, the authors
different hurdles that startups need to clear to get through this developed an ideal internal communication model to guide
critical transition period. Particularly relevant to the internal startup entrepreneurs.
communication focus of this case study are the hurdles
of "Building an organization and management team" and Their model (Fig. 3) represents internal communications
"Developing effective processes and infrastructures" (Picken, as a wheel, with employee communications as the cog in
2017, p. 592). the centre (Saini & Plowman, 2007). Five two-way spokes
between the cog and outer rim represent different components
On the hurdle of building an organization and management of internal communication – Leadership (spoke I), Decision
team, Picken (2017) explains that emerging companies follow Making (spoke II), Human Resources (spoke III), (internal)
a predictable pattern of organisational evolution. From an Public Relations and Communication Models (spoke IV),
initial structure where everyone reports to the founder, it and Motivation (spoke V). The wheel’s outer rim also depicts
organisational growth and the responsive changes the startup

needs to make in internal communication (Saini & Plowman,
2007). The outward-pointing arrow on the right represents
the need for consistency between internal communication
with employees and external communication with external
stakeholders (Saini & Plowman, 2007).
As one of the rare models developed for startups, Saini and

Plowman’s (2007) model offers a broad overview of the various
components and factors that influence internal communication
Figure 3 in startups, and the interrelationships between them.
Ideal internal Notably, it illustrates the bi-directional influence between
communication a startup’s emerging internal communication systems and
model (Saini &
Plowman, 2007)
its organisational structure. It also factors in the impact of a
startup’s external environment on its internal communication.
arrows moving clockwise from spoke I to spoke V, to illustrate

the influence of each component on the succeeding ones (Saini 2.3 Remote internal communication
& Plowman, 2007, pp. 223-224). For instance, leadership style
and vision (spoke I) influences how and what the decisions are Having discussed internal communication more holistically in
made (spoke III) in a startup, which shapes the internal public the previous sections, this section focuses on remote internal
relations and communication models (spoke IV) adopted. communication – the dominant mode of communication in
the case company. It discuss the impact of remote internal
The grey space between the cog and rim, as well as between communication on team productivity and effectiveness, and
the five spokes, represents the startup’s internal environment on the relational and social dimensions of teamwork. It also
and organisational culture, which permeates all of the startup’s discusses accommodations that can make remote internal
communication activities (Saini & Plowman, 2007). This view communication just as, if not more, effective than in-person
is supported by Welch and Jackson (2007), who posit that communication.
internal communication takes place within a communication
climate influenced by organisational culture, while internal 2.3.1 Remote work and internal communication
communication in turn shapes that culture. The wheel’s outer The COVID-19 pandemic starting in late-2019 radically
rim represents organisational structure, which can both dictate changed the way organisations and teams work. Remote work
and be dictated by a startup’s emerging internal communication orders and travel restrictions worldwide forced organisations
systems (Saini & Plowman, 2007). Finally, the interplay to rapidly embrace remote working practices (Neeley, 2020).
between a startup’s internal and external environment is Even when the pandemic passes however, remote work is
indicated by two large arrows. The inward-pointing arrow on expected to stay as part of a “new normal”, with three-quarters
the left represents the impact of the external environment on of organisations in a recent study expecting over 30% of their
employees to continue working remotely (Capgemini Research remote rather than in-person communication (Lin et al., 2008;
Institute, 2020, p. 3). Sole & Applegate, 2005). In particular, remote communication
that relies heavily on text messages risks the loss of important
While the adoption of remote working practices at such a information in transmission, as physical and verbal cues aid
large and global scale is new, remote work itself has existed comprehension (Lin et al., 2008).
in organisations to varying degrees even pre-pandemic
(Capgemini Research Institute, 2020). In SU’s case, employees 2.3.3 Relational and social development
have always relied on remote work substantially due to their Scholars have also argued that remote communication hinders
flexible work culture and internationally distributed team, relational development and the social dimension of team work
though the pandemic did further increase the prevalence (Walther & Parks, 2002). Hunter (2019) also points to the lack
of remote work especially amongst employees based in the of interaction and stimulation through face-to-face contact as
Finland headquarters. In remote teams like SU’s, employees downsides of remote communication.
collaborate with each other while being dispersed across
different locations (or countries) by using communication Beyond social interactions in general, remote work especially
technology. This disperson of employees can require greater reduces spontaneous interactions, which can inhibit the
efforts to adapt internal communication to a remote working development of trusting relatiomships between employees
environment (Walther & Bunz, 2005). Two main categories of (Straus & Olivera, 2000 in Sole & Applegate, 2005). Further,
impact that remote work has on internal communication were Nardi and Whittaker (2002) highlight the importance of in-
surfaced from literature: productivity and effectiveness, and person interaction early on in the formation of collaborative
relational and social. They will be separately discussed in the relationships for developing interpersonal relationships that
next two subsections. are not solely built on work-related comunication.
2.3.2 Productivity and effectiveness 2.3.4 Remote accommodations for effective internal
Firstly, some scholars argue that remote internal communication
communication may negatively affect a team’s productivity However, other research has pushed back against the perceived
and effectiveness. Smith and Vanacek (1990) suggest that the negative impact of remote work on internal communication.
quality of collaboration and work output in remote teams may While more deliberate effort needs to be made by employees and
be lower, due to delays from asynchronous interaction and the team to optimise remote communication, these adaptations
difficulties with group information sharing and processing. become easier over time (Hunter, 2019). Remote teams may then
Geographical dispersion within a team also creates incongrous even experience the advantages of remote communication. For
work environments, international time differences, reduced example, the normalisation of asynchronous communication
communication, and misinterpretation of communication, via digital tools can increase efficiency compared to waiting
which disrupt the formation of common knowledge and work for a real-time meeting, while the right tools can facilitate
interpretations (Hinds & Bailey, 2000; Alsharo et al., 2017). office interactions remotely (Hunter, 2019).
Further, group tasks that involve solving complex or unfamiliar Remote teams can also benefit from initial or periodic in-
problems may consume more time and effort when done over person contact. For instance, remote communication may
32 Theoretical Background 33
work better when employees have met in-person at least

once before (Hunter, 2019). That initial contact then sets a
foundation for smooth remote collaboration thereafter, which
can be mediated by strong digital technology.
In sum, remote work presents valid challenges to internal

communication which should be acknowledged. However,
effective accommodations can mitigate the presumed
downsides of remote communication, even enabling teams to
develop different but just as effective ways of communicating
remotely (Walther & Bunz, 2005). This case study will expand
our understanding of the types of accommodations remote
teams can or should make, by exploring how SU organises its
remote internal communication and how they can improve it.
34 Methodology 35
In this chapter, I explain and justify the research methods

used in this thesis. The overarching method is that of a single-
3 case study conducted with a selected case company, SU, to
understand how remote internal communication is organised
Methodology
in their specific organisational setting and how it can be
improved. As part of the case study research, several methods
of data collection were used including participant observation,
semi-structured interviews, and workshops. Each of these
methods will be elaborated on in separate sections of this
chapter.
3.1 Single-case study
This thesis uses a single-case study as its overarching research

method (Yin, 2009). The case study seeks to first understand
in-depth how remote internal communication is organised in
the case company’s specific organisational setting, then explore
how it can be improved through a collaborative development
process facilitated by the researcher.
3.1.1 Justification for a single-case study

The choice of the case study method is justified based on the
three-part criteria suggested by Yin (2009): (1) the type of
research question posed, (2) the extent of control an investigator
has over actual behavioral events, and (3) the degree of focus
on contemporary as opposed to historical events.
For the first criteria, “how” and “why” research questions

(rather than “what”, “who”, or “where”) favor the use of methods
like case studies, histories, or experiments (Yin, 2009). This
is because “how” and “why” questions are more explanatory,
involving the tracing of contextual links and conections over
time, rather than investigating the incidence or prevalence of
a phenomenon (Yin, 2009). Since, the research questions posed
in this thesis seek to understand how internal communication
is organised and can be improved in a specific organisational
36 Methodology Methodology 37
setting, the suitable research methods can be narrowed down use of a single-case study.
to case studies, histories, or experiments.
3.1.2 Selection of the case company
The second criteria (extent of control over behavioral events) The selected case company is a small Finnish startup
and the third criteria (degree of focus on contemporary as (SU) with a team of 13 employees. It is headquartered in
opposed to historical events) further affirm the case study as Finland, where there is an office space that Finland-based
the most appropriate method for this research. According to employees can go to. However, the team also includes a few
Yin (2009, p. 11) the case study is preferred for “examining employees working remotely from three other countries (The
contemporary events, but when the relevant behaviors cannot Netherlands, Germany, and the USA). Since the overseas
be manipulated.” This is the case for this research, which employees are mostly working alone rather than with a local
explores how remote internal communication occurs in SU team around them, their daily work requires frequent remote
and how the collaborative development process with its team communication with the rest of the team in Finland and
plays out. These events are influenced by actions, choices, elsewhere.
and interactions of employees which are largely out of the
researcher’s control. As is characteristic of small startups, SU has also always had
a flexible work culture that gives employees the freedom to
In sum, the case study method was chosen because this thesis work remotely, whether they are based in Finland where there
seeks to understand in-depth a contemporary phenomenon is an office or overseas where there are none. Hence, due to
of remote internal communication in the real-life context the small but internationally distributed nature of SU’s team
of a selected organisation, where the organisation’s specific and their flexible work culture, employees have always relied
contextual conditions influence and are pertinent to the significantly on remote internal communication. This case
phenomenon being studied (Yin, 2009). Additionally, one study was also conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic,
strength of the case study in investigating contemporary but which further increased SU’s reliance on remote work and
unmanipulable events is the addition of interviews of persons even removed the possibility for travelling to rare full-team
involved in the events being studied, and observation of those get-togethers.
events to the researcher’s evidence sources (Yin, 2009). Both
employee interviews and participant observation were used In sum, the case company SU is apt for studying the topic of
for this case study, as will be discussed later in this chapter. this thesis – how remote internal communication is organised
and can be improved in a startup team – because:
Single-case studies, as opposed to multiple case studies,
are also likely to have more significant theoretical impact 1. It has a small but internationally distributed team
when presented in the early stages of a field’s development that necessitates frequent remote communication
(Eisenhardt, 1991). Since most existing studies on internal between employees,
communication have focused on large established organisations 2. … a flexible work culture that favours remote work,
and remote work only gained mainstream attention recently 3. … and at the time of the study, is operating during a
due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus of this thesis on pandemic which further increases remote work and
remote internal communication in a startup team justifies the prevents overseas travel.
By diving deep into and telling a rich story about remote As mentioned from the beginning of this thesis, this research
internal communication in SU’s specific organisational setting, was inspired by and is inextricably tied to my position working
this case study seeks to understand internal communication in the case company. My insider’s position gave me the unique
from the unique perspective of a remote startup team. opportunity to observe and understand remote internal
communication in SU through my personal experiences in the
3.1.3 Writing of the case study report team. It is worth highlighting as well that I worked not just as
This insider's
Beyond the activities and improvements carried out in SU, the a Thesis Worker in SU, but also simultaneously as a Designer.
perspective is
main output of the research comes in the form of a written case My Designer role entailed involvement in other design and invaluable, if not
study report. It is embedded in this written thesis as Chapter 4, strategic projects unrelated to this thesis. To perform those indispensible, to
but can also be read on its own as a comprehensive standalone work tasks, I communicated regularly with different coworkes understanding
document about the case. from Design, Marketing, Sales, Operations, and IT / Data, matters of
as well as the CEO and COO. Hence, I could participate in interpersonal
The report tells an in-depth story of how I, as the researcher and observe an even wider range of internal communication relations and
strategic
and an employee of SU, investigated how SU’s remote internal processes for this research.
practice in
communication is organised and worked with the team to organisational
improve it. It first details what I discovered from employee According to Yin (2009), the participant observation method settings.
interviews and participant observation about remote internal offers three unique opportunities for collecting case study
(Watson, 2011)
communication in SU’s specific organisational setting. It then data, all of which apply to this research. Firstly, the researcher
describes my process of sharing these findings with the team can gain access to events or groups that might otherwise be
and facilitating a collaborative devleopment process with inaccessible (Yin, 2009). As an employee of SU, I attended
them to tackle the identified areas for improvement. Finally, it numerous meetings and was included in the team’s social
reflects on the outcomes of this process – what solutions were community. I also faced little difficulty reaching out to the
adopted, and in what ways the development process went well research participants (my coworkers). Arguably, this might
or less well and why. have been harder if I was conducting this study as an external
researcher or consultant.
3.2 Participant observation Secondly, the researcher can perceive reality from the
perspective of someone inside the case study, rather than
Participant observation was used as an ongoing, organic external to it (Yin, 2009). Watson (2011) has even argued that
method of qualitative data collection in this case study. In this insider’s perspective is invaluable, if not indispensible, to
case study methodology, observational evidence is useful for understanding matters of interpersonal relations and strategic
providing additional information about relevant behaviors practice in organisational settings. Especially in workplaces,
and conditions in the natural setting of the case (Yin, 2009). “talking to people, watching them, and sharing tasks with
Participant observation is a special mode of observation where them over a period of time” contributes significantly to
the researcher is not just a passive observer, but a participant “understanding what ‘actually happens’ and ‘how things work’”
in the events being studied (Yin, 2009); in my case, as an (Watson, 2011, p. 204). This was especially true in this case
employee of SU. study, as my personal experience working in SU gave me a
contextual understanding of their internal communication The semi-structured interview was chosen for this research
processes, tools, and norms even before starting any interviews. as its controlled flexibility makes it effective for surfacing
I could hence make better use of the interviews to investigate “hidden facets of human and organizational behavior” (Qu
deeper rather than superficial issues. I could also interpret and & Dumay, 2011, p. 246). It is also valuable for understanding
analyse the interview findings with a nuanced understanding how interviewees perceive the social world being studied (Qu
of the context from which the interviewees were speaking. & Dumay, 2011). It is hence apt for use in this case study to
understand how SU employees communicate with each other
Thirdly, the researcher may be able to manipulate minor and how they feel about it.
events, such as by convening a meeting of persons involved in
the case, hence creating new opportunities for data collection The primary goal of these interviews was to gain a holistic
(Yin, 2009). As an employee, I was able to easily organise understanding of the present state of remote internal
meetings or workshops with groups of coworkers, or even communication in SU, including its strengths and areas
gather soft feedback about my research activities during for improvement, from the perspectives of employees. As a
informal interactions with coworkers. secondary goal, I also sought to gather some preliminary ideas
from interviewees about how remote internal communication
In sum, while participant observation was not the main can be developed in SU. To achieve these goals, I kept the
research method used in this case study, it provided ease of interviews casual and open-ended, altering the style, pace, and
access, an insider’s perspective, and additional opportunities order of questions accordingly to elicit the fullest responses
for data collection. My intimate first-hand understanding from each interviewee (Qu & Dumay, 2011). Since I had already
of team dynamics and employee personalities inside SU also worked in SU for 7-8 months prior to conducting the interviews,
helped me to better tailor my execution of the other methods my interviewees’ familiarity with me as a coworker and my
(interviews and workshops). understanding of them enabled me to conduct each interview
in a way that made the interviewee more comfortable sharing
openly about their working experiences with me.
3.3 Semi-structured interviews
This thesis uses as its main source of empirical data eight semi-
structured interviews with employees of SU. Seven interviews
were conducted between November and December 2020 over
Zoom, each lasting for 60-70 minutes. One supplementary
20-minute interview was conducted later in March 2021 over
Google Meets, to ask a few questions about specific issues.
The semi-structured interview method entails a prepared but

flexible line of questioning guided by pre-identified themes,
interspersed with probes from the interviewer to elicit more
elaborate responses from the interviewee (Qu & Dumay, 2011).
3.3.1 Selection of interviewees 3.3.2 Interview structure

The interviewees were selected to include employees working As is standard practice for semi-structured interviews, instead
in different functional areas, based in different countries, and of asking interviewees a list of pre-determined questions,
with different durations of work at SU. A summary of the I prepared a interview guide (see Appendix 1) with a list of
interviewees’ profiles is provided in Table 1. broad themes I wished to cover, a several open-ended questions
under each theme. This guide gave me a source of structure
As shown, the interviewees work across all the different and support as an interviewer, ensuring that the same
functional areas in SU: Sales / Business Development, thematic approach was applied across different interviews (Qu
Marketing, Design, IT / Data, and Operations. Half are based & Dumay, 2011). The interview themes were:
in the Finland headquarters, while the rest are based across
The Netherlands, Germany, and the US . Three had worked • Present state of internal communication
with SU for a longer time (4-8 years), while the remaining five • Collaboration on projects
had joined SU more recently (0.5-1.5 years ago). This selection • Meetings
helped me to gain a holistic understanding of remote internal • Remote work
communication in SU from the interviewees’ diverse vantage • International (distributed) teams
points. • Information and resource sharing
• Internal communication tools
• Onboarding
Referenced as Position Based in Duration of work • Dream state of internal communication in SU’s context
in SU (years)*
I came up with these themes based on my first-hand
Employee 1 Sales and Marketing Manager Finland (HQ) 1.5 experiences in SU and some preliminary discussions I had with
Employee 2 Business Development Manager The Netherlands 0.5 SU’s leaders and employees. Collectively, the themes covered a
Employee 3 IT / Data Specialist Finland (HQ) 7 broad range of issues and enabled me to achieve the research
Employee 4 Business Development Manager Germany 4 objective of holistically understanding of how remote internal
Employee 5 President, North America USA 1.5 communication is organised in SU.
Employee 6 Service Design Lead Finland (HQ) 8
Employee 7 Sales and Marketing Representative USA 0.8 I began each interview by asking the interviewee to recount
Employee 8 Operations Manager Finland (HQ) 1.5 a specific experience from working at SU which had been
challenging due to internal communication. This was intended
Table 1 Interviewees as a warm-up question to help interviewees dive right into the
* Interviewees’ duration of work is calculated based on the total number of years they have worked
topic by revisiting a specific memory, hence easing them into
with SU at the time of their interview, including any trainee / part-time / freelance role(s) held prior to discussing the interview’s themes in more detail subsequently.
full-time employment. All interviewees were full-time employees of SU at the time of their interview. The first seven interviews were conducted entirely according
to the interview guide. The final short interview with
Employee 8, the Operations Manager, focused on only two of
the themes (Meetings and Remote Work), as I conducted this
interview specifically to find out about the Operations team’s

approach of holding daily remote meetings.
3.3.3 Documentation and analysis

To facilitate documentation and analysis, all interviews were
recorded with the consent of the interviewees. From the
recordings, each interview was then fully transcribed for
analysis. The interviewees’ names were also replaced with
reference codes (as shown in Table 1) to ensure anonymity.
Since the interviews produced a large and diverse pool of

qualitative data, I used affinity diagramming to organise and
analyse it. Also known as thematic analysis or the K-J method,
affinity diagramming is useful for arranging many pieces of
data into manageable, themed groups (Plain, 2007). Relevant
quotes from each interviewee were first highlighted in the Image 1
transcripts, then transferred onto individual post-its on a Affinity diagram
virtual Miro board. from Miro board
193 quotes were extracted, which I clustered into 17 themes.

Some of these themes directly co-related with the interview 3.4 Workshops
themes, such as ‘Meetings’ or ‘Remote Work’, while others
were new subtopics that emerged during the interviews, After understanding how remote internal communication is
such as ‘Accountability’ or specific digital tools used by SU. organised in SU through participant observation and employee
I also created additional subcategories to break down the interviews, I facilitated a collaborative development process in
larger clusters, and developed one insight statement for each the team by conducting two workshops.
subcategory or cluster. Image 1 shows a screenshot from Miro
of the outcome of the interview analysis; the yellow and white Workshops have the unique ability to bring together different
post-its are quotes, the green post-its are themes, and the pink stakeholders to participate in a facilitated, collaborative
post-its are insight statements. process of co-creation (Mattelmäki et al., 2014). In this case,
the stakeholders of remote internal communication in SU
Using this systematic approach for data analysis helped me to are the employees themselves. Through participating in this
surface the most pertinent insights about the strengths and process, SU employees become more committed to the solution
areas for improvement of SU’s remote internal communication, ideas they collectively generate, as these ideas are rooted in
from which design directions could be derived. both their own experiences and understanding of others’
experiences (Mattelmäki et al., 2014).
3.4.1 Goals of the workshops spontaneously chose to allow the already lively discussion to
The workshops had two practical goals and one research goal. continue instead of breaking the flow.
Firstly, they sought to establish a common understanding of
the present remote internal communication situation in SU Since Workshop 1 had already created a common understanding
amongst employees by openly sharing the interview insights. and started a lively discussion amongst employees, Workshop
Secondly, they brought together SU employees to co-develop 2 was held in a more structured manner. I facilitated a series of
ways to improve their remote internal communication. Finally, activities on Miro which guided participants to ideate, discuss,
in this case study the workshops also served as an experiment and prioritise different solutions. The schedule of activities for
for me to observe and analyse the process and outcomes of Workshop 2 was planned as follows:
collaborative development in SU’s specific organisational
setting. The team’s interactions and dynamics that played 1. Participants individually brainstorm ideas and write
out during the workshops provided qualitative insights on them on post-its on the Miro board. (15 min)
the advantages and constraints faced by SU in developing its 2. Participants take turns to share about the ideas they
remote internal communication collaboratively. wrote. (20 min)
3. Participants do a round of quick voting by adding emojis
3.4.2 Organisation of the workshops to the post-its with their favorite ideas. Each participant
I had initially planned to conduct only one workshop that gets three votes. (5 min)
combined both goals of understanding and improving remote 4. Wrap-up and discussion of next steps (5 min)
internal communication. However, I decided to conduct a
second follow-up workshop as the discussion during the first
workshop was cut short due to time constraints.
Both Workshops 1 and 2 were conducted remotely over Google

Meets so that all SU employees had the opportunity to join,
regardless of which country they were based in. Participation
was encouraged but not mandatory. Out of 12 potential
participants (excluding me as the facilitator), nine employees
participated in Workshop 1 while six employees participated
in Workshop 2. Both workshops were recorded to facilitate
subsequent documentation and analysis.
The workshops used a combination of presentation, guided

discussions and ideation activities on the online visual
collaboration platform Miro to facilitate co-development
amongst participants. In Workshop 1, I first presented my
analysis of the interview insights to the SU team. I had then
planned to facilitate some ideation activities on Miro, but
48 Case Study 49
This chapter dives into the core of this thesis – a case

study conducted with SU to understand how its internal
4 communication is organised in its remote and international
work setting, and explore how it can be improved through
Case Study
collaborative development. As explained previously, this
chapter also functions as a standalone case study report which
can be read independently of the full thesis. It documents
findings and insights that are reflective of SU at the time of the
study from late-2020 to mid-2021, during which the COVID-19
pandemic was also ongoing.
Section 4.1 first introduces SU as the case company, then

Section 4.2 describes the various means employees use to
communicate with each other. Section 4.3 highlights a few
internal communication developments that were initiated in
SU prior to this study. Section 4.4 dives into insights from
the employee interviews about SU’s present remote internal
communication. Section 4.5 discusses the collaborative
development process I facilitated to improve remote internal
communication with the team. It also discusses the outcomes
of this process, and the advantages and constraints it revealed
SU to have in collaborative development.
Since the case study report reveals sensitive information about

the case company’s internal operations and team dynamics,
it has been given the pseudonym Startup (SU). To ensure
individual and organisational anonymity, the names of the
research participants, all of whom are employees of SU, have
been replaced with reference codes in the attribution of quotes.
Faces of employees and other recognisable details in the images
shown have also been blurred.
50 Case Study Case Study 51
4.1 About the case company SU can be said to be in an early-growth stage at the time of
this study. Using the terminology of Picken’s (2017) model
4.1.1 Company profile for startup growth as described in Subsection 2.2.2, SU can
The selected case company, SU, is a Finnish startup operating be situated between the Startup and Transition phases. In other
in the packaging and delivery logistics industries. SU was words, it has defined and validated its business concept fairly
founded in 2011 in Helsinki, Finland by three co-founders, of well and is beginning to gain traction in the market, but now
which one continues to be active in the day-to-day running needs to transition into a scalable business.
of the company as its CEO. SU is a business-to-business (B2B)
company which sells its product and service to other businesses, SU has several strategic priorities at this time. As the most
though its end-users are consumers. SU’s business is both urgent short-term priority, it aims to increase sales to generate
product-centric and service-centric. It seeks to introduce a revenue and become profitable without further reliance on
more sustainable way for certain processes to be carried out in external funding. In anticipation of servicing more customers
the packaging and delivery logistics industries. and end-users in the near future, SU is also scaling its
operational capabilities and product inventory. For the longer-
SU offers a physical product, which was first designed by one term, it is developing different aspects of its product and
of its co-founders and has been iterated over the years. That service to make the end-user experience and communication
physical product exists within a service cycle with various more engaging.
operational touch points (e.g. warehouses, third-party
logistics companies) and digital touch points (e.g. end-user 4.1.2 Internal communication situation
communications, back-end data management systems). These SU’s internal communication was experiencing major changes
different elements create complexity in SU’s service cycle, as due to both internal and external factors in 2020. Internally,
some are managed in-house while others are managed by third SU had only started expanding its team recently from late-
parties, with further variations between different customer 2019 to mid-2020 after receiving new funding. In a short
accounts, service models, and countries of operation. At the time, the core team grew from 2 to 13 employees, including
time of the study, SU operates in and mainly works with several working remotely from three other countries outside
customers from Europe and the USA. of Finland. SU hence needed to move away from the informal
internal communication that existed between its handful of
In late-2019, SU received substantial new funding from an Finland-based employees, towards more structured remote
external grant, which kickstarted its growth phase. For the internal communication practices for its larger and more
first time, the funding enabled SU to expand beyond its initial distributed team.
core team by converting some individuals who had previously
worked with SU in informal or freelance capacities into full- Externally, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a remote work
time employees. SU also hired several new employees, including recommendation in Finland from early-2020. This further
a few working remotely from The Netherlands, Germany, and increased remote work amongst the Finland-based employees,
the USA to manage business opportunities there. As of late- who previously worked in the Helsinki office more often.
2020 when this study began, SU had 13 employees across four Pandemic travel restrictions also prevented SU from organising
countries. periodic full-team get-togethers.
The simultaneous team expansion and increased reliance three other countries. Eight employees, including the leaders,
on remote work created challenges for SU’s internal are based in Finland. The remaining five employees, who
communication. For instance, processes were not yet predominantly work in sales roles, are spread across Germany,
established for information sharing and storage in the larger The Netherlands, and the USA working either alone or with
and more distributed team. Knowledge hence often remained only one other coworker locally. Table 2 shows a breakdown
in the heads of the few experienced employees, while newer of the SU team by country. SU’s organisational structure is
employees asked the same questions repeatedly on the team visualised in Fig. 4 , which also indicates the country where
Chat. Some employees were frustrated with the team’s digital each employee is based in brackets.
communication tools. Many also lamented the lack of in-person
interaction during remote work. These and other brewing Country Number of Employees
issues affected employee experience and team collaboration,
prompting me to embark on this case study to understand and Finland (HQ) 8
improve remote internal communication in SU. Germany 1
The Netherlands 2
Table 2
4.1.3 Organisational structure USA 2
Breakdown of
At the time of this case study, SU had 13 employees (including SU employees by
Total 13
me). While SU is headquartered in Finland, it also operates in country
CEO
Chief Executive Officer (FI)
SALES / BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MARKETING DESIGN IT / DATA OPERATIONS
CCO Service Design Lead (FI) COO

Chief Commercial Officer (FI) Designer* (FI) Chief Operations Officer (FI)
Sales and Marketing Manager (FI) IT / Data Manager (FI) Operations Manager (FI)
Sales and Marketing Representative (USA)
Figure 4
SU Organigram
Business Development Manager (DE)
Business Development Manager (NL) FI: Finland
Business Development Manager (NL) DE: Germany
President, North America (USA) NL: The Netherlands
* My role
SU’s main functional areas are Sales / Business Development, of the Sales and Marketing Manager, Service Design Lead,
Marketing, Design, IT / Data, and Operations. As is Designer, and IT / Data Manager.
characteristic of small startup teams, SU employees have
relatively fluid roles and responsibilities. For example, some 4.1.4 Office space
employees are involved in both Sales and Marketing, while SU has an office in a co-working space in Helsinki, Finland,
some Business Development Managers also work on IT / Data where most of its employees are based. It does not have any
and Operations matters. At this stage in SU’s growth when office spaces in Germany, The Netherlands, or the USA, as
many processes still need to be developed or scaled, employees each country only has 1-2 employees based there, all of whom
also often collaborate cross-functionally on projects. For work from home.
example, the 'End-user Experience 2.0' project group consists
2 3 4
5 6 Image 2 Image 5
SU's office room Large workspace for
(shaded blue) in the group discussions
co-working space
Image 3 Image 6
SU's office room Open kitchen area in
comfortably fits up the co-working space
to four employees
Image 4
Employees can freely
work in the co-working
space’s common areas
The co-working space in Helsinki is shared with other startups 7 8

and companies, though SU has its own private office room
(Image 2) that can comfortably accommodate about four
people working in it at a time (Image 3). When in the office
though, the Finland-based employees do not necessarily stay
in SU’s room, but are free to work anywhere they wish in the
common areas of the co-working space. The common areas
have various individual and group work areas to choose from
(Images 4 & 5), and an open kitchen where people can eat or
have a coffee together (Image 6).
4.1.5 Work culture and remote work

Work culture at SU is and has always been flexible, such that
employees have the freedom to work remotely whenever
they wish. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (early-2020 and Regardless of the pandemic, since at any one time one-third Image 7
before), the eight employees based in Finland worked in the of the team is working remotely from other countries, remote Soundproof
meeting pods in
office more regularly. Due to the flexible work culture in SU internal communication has always played a large role in work the co-working
I think it will
however, it was not mandatory even before the pandemic for at SU. SU employees hence acknowledge that it will remain a space
always be
remote to some employees to be in the office every day or for the full day. At signficant part of their reality even after the pandemic.
the time of the case study, the ongoing pandemic had increased Image 8
extent, because Finland-based
the team is remote work even more amongst the Finland-based team. “I think it will always be remote to some extent, because the employees join
distributed. Only one employee (the CEO) continues to work in the office team is distributed … Some people can't always be present, or video meetings
(Employee 6) almost daily, 3-4 others are there a few times a week, while the some people always will be joining remotely.” (Employee 6) from pods
rest are only there a few times a month or less.
4.1.6 Team culture
“I go less to the office now. Previously [before the pandemic] I SU has a small tight-knit team of 13 employees. Their team
went more often, maybe three times a week or so. But it has culture is characterised by open communication, flat hierarchy,
always been flexible, people have worked remotely whether and strong team spirit. According to the interviewees,
there has been a pandemic or not.” (Employee 8) communication between employees is open and flows freely
without being restrained by traditional hierarchies. Hence,
Since most meetings would have at least one employee joining employees feel comfortable talking to or asking anyone in the
remotely, they are held as video meetings even if some of the team anything, regardless of their position or seniority.
Finland-based employees happen to be in the office at the same
time. To prevent audio disruptions caused by being in the same “I feel our communication is somehow open. So people don't
room during a video meeting, the employees in the office have a feeling that they should hide something, that they can
often join from individual soundproof meeting pods at the co- openly ask something and they get responded to mostly in a
working space (Images 7 & 8). nice manner.” (Employee 3)
“I feel like there is not really hierarchy between people, so it is for different purposes. The main types of work meetings are
super easy to just ask and talk to anybody, like it never feels summarised below in Table 3 and explained in the rest of this
weird. You can really talk to anybody at the same level, and not subsection. At the time of the study, these meetings are mostly
feel less or more than them.” (Employee 1) conducted as video meetings, except on the rare occasion when
all attendees are in the Finland office at the same time.
Interviewees also highlighted the strong team spirit in SU.
Employees are helpful and responsive whenever a coworker asks
or needs something, even if they are mainly communicating Meeting Type Participants Frequency Content
via digital tools. The high level of motivation and engagement
amongst SU employees contributes to a strong team spirit and Project Weekly Project group Weekly Project updates and
willingness to help each other. discussion
Company Monthly All employees Monthly Company-wide updates
“When I started [at SU] ... it was quite tricky to understand and strategic plans
everything on my own, but people were so helpful! If you a Operations Daily Operations employees Daily Day-to-day operations
question, in ten minutes someone is taking the time to answer. issues
The good team spirit I think is also because of the

personalities of the people. Everyone is super motivated, The majority of work meetings at SU are project meetings, Table 3
everyone likes working for [SU] and is very involved.” as work in SU is organised around projects. The group of Work meetings
in SU
(Employee 2) employees involved in each project meet for a Project Weekly
at the same time each week to discuss project updates and
issues. These weekly meetings are led by the respective
4.2 Internal communication means Project Owners. At the time of the case study, there were 15-
20 active ongoing projects. Examples of projects include ‘Sales
Having introduced the overall organisational and team context and Business Development’, whose project group includes
of SU in Section 4.1, this section begins to unpack how remote all employees in sales and business development roles, and
internal communication is presently organised in SU based ‘End-user Experience 2.0’, whose project group includes two
on findings from the employee interviews and participant employees from Design, one from Sales and Marketing, and
observation. The following subsections will explain the one from IT / Data.
means of communication used by the SU team, such as the
types of work and social meetings employees have, the digital The entire SU team meets once a month at the Company
communication tools they use, and how decision-making Monthly to hear about and discuss overall company
happens. developments. A screenshot of the CEO sharing the agenda for
a past Company Monthly with the team in the Chat is shown
4.2.1 Work meetings in Image 9. These company-wide meetings are held remotely
Different types of work meetings take place in SU involving at a common time that suits employees across Europe and the
different groups of employees, at different frequencies and US, usually starting around 1700 EET (Image 10). They are led
by the CEO, though different Project Owners are also asked to “We have an Ops meeting at 2pm everyday where we go
give brief updates about their projects. Since the team is small through running issues, everyday stuff. It's good for us to
and close-knit, these meetings are kept relatively informal and both know where we're going with the operations, and it's
conversational. easier to talk than to write things. It might take just 5-15
minutes, but it's pretty good.” (Employee 8)
In addition to the planned work meetings described above,

spontaneous video meetings also sometimes happen between
2-3 employees to quickly discuss or clarify an issue that could
benefit from a short verbal conversation rather than an
exchange of Chat messages.
4.2.2 Social meetings

Apart from solely work-related meetings, employees also
Image 9 meet for more social purposes. The main social meetings are
CEO shares summarised in Table 4.
Company Monthly
Agenda on Chat
Meeting Type Participants Frequency Content
Work Buddy calls Weekly Work Buddy pairs Weekly Casual conversation
Annual Team All employees Yearly Socialising and

Retreat (in-person) strategic planning
Image 10 Firstly, employees have Work Buddy Calls with a randomly Table 4
SU Company
allocated coworker each week. This Weekly Work Buddy Social meetings
Monthly on in SU
Google Meets system was introduced by SU’s leaders in mid-2020 in response
to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, to help employees
connect casually with coworkers despite working remotely
Among the different functional areas in SU, the Operations and from different countries. Subsection 4.3.1 will elaborate
team is the only one that has a daily video meeting. The on the motivations and outcomes of introducing this Weekly
two employees in Operations find it helpful to have a quick Work Buddy system.
Operations Daily every afternoon to discuss and update each
other about day-to-day operations issues face-to-face. “In the call you can share your experiences and plans with
your work buddy. ... It can be brainstorming, problem-solving
or a quick chat to share your work results, ask questions, They provide a dedicated time both for strategic planning with
learn from others and get to know your teammates better.” all employees in one space, and for the usually distributed team
(SU internal document “Weekly Work Buddy”, prepared to socialise. For example at the 2020 retreat to Berlin, SU hired
by CEO) an external consultant to facilitate workshops for the team
to clarify SU’s vision, plan their roadmap for the year ahead,
At the start of week, the CEO generates random work buddy and clarify roles and responsibilities within the team. Due to
pairings with an online tool and sends them to the team via the ongoing travel restrictions during the pandemic however, SU
Chat (Image 11). Work buddy pairs can arrange a 15-30 min has not been able to organise an in-person full-team retreat for
casual chat during the week, where they can talk about tasks almost 1.5 years since the last one in January 2020 (Image 12).
they are working on, exchange ideas, or just catch up socially.
From early-2021, the responsibility of sending the work buddy “We had a really good team meeting in Berlin in January
pairings each week was passed on from the CEO to me as it where everybody came together, and I think it was very
was relevant to my thesis efforts. important just to arrange time to talk in person, get to know
people, like a mix of work and free time.” (Employee 6)
Image 12
Image 11 SU Team in Berlin
Work Buddy for a team retreat
pairings shared in in January 2020
the Chat
4.2.3 Digital communication tools
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the full SU team also travelled SU employees also use a variety of digital communication tools
to meet each other once a year for a team retreat. These roughly to support different internal communication needs: project
week-long retreats were held in different places each year, such management, internal chat, video meetings, scheduling, and
as in Berlin, Germany in 2020 and at a cabin in Finland in 2019. file sharing and storage. The tools SU uses are all mainstream
tools available to organisations through enterprise plans, Drive. Google Meets is the team’s video meeting platform.
rather than platforms custom-built for SU. Since most meetings in the team are held remotely especially
during the pandemic, in practice almost all meetings take place
SU uses Teamwork Projects, a project management platform, on Google Meets. From the team’s Google Calendar, any SU
to keep track of projects, milestones, and tasks. Teamwork also employee can view the schedules of other coworkers. This
has an integrated Chat function, Teamwork Chat, which SU enables employees to independently find common time slots
uses as an internal messaging platform (Image 13). Teamwork when organising meetings with coworkers. A calendar invite
Chat allows for the creation of group channels, which exist for with a Google Meets link is automatically sent to all invited
all Projects, and the sending of direct messages either to a single participants when a meeting is scheduled via Google Calendar.
coworker or a group of several coworkers. E-mail is very rarely
used for internal communication in SU, and is reserved for SU uses Google Drive for file sharing and storage. All of SU’s
communicating with external parties like customers. Hence, files are stored there, and all employees have open access to
the Chat is the main non-verbal platform employees use to ask every folder, including those for functional areas or projects
questions and have discussions with each other. that they are not involved in. This means that anyone, from
the CEO to a Trainee, can in theory access any file if they wish,
though they might face more difficulty finding files in folders
that they are unfamiliar with.
4.2.4 Decision-making processes

Decision-making in SU is participatory and informal,
as influenced by its small team size, culture of open
communication and trust, and flat hierarchy. As is typical of
startups at this early-growth stage, SU employees and leaders
share and discuss information freely with each other, and
active participation in decision-making is encouraged amongst
all team members (Grunig, 1992).
For simple matters, SU employees are trusted to make decisions

on their own without extensively consulting the leaders or
Image 13
another coworker. In such cases, internal communication
Teamwork Chat focuses on updating relevant members of the team about the
interface decision that has been made, rather than seeking approval
from them. I experienced this trust-based decision-making
already in my initial months working at SU as a Trainee, when
SU also subscribes to a Business plan for Google Workspace I was very quickly trusted by my coworkers to make decisions
(formerly G Suite), in which the features they use most regularly and communicate with external parties independently.
for internal communication are Google Meets, Calendar, and
For more complex matters, the SU team leans towards system would facilitate casual social interactions remotely
consensus-building rather than executive decision-making. between employees.
These complex decisions are often discussed openly during
meetings, such as in the relevant Project Weekly. Some “Corona-situation means we can’t get together as a team for
employees such as the CEO and COO and a few others, the foreseeable future and it can be difficult to work on your
who have worked for more years in SU and understand the own week in week out. Hopefully, a work buddy system helps
business better, are informally regarded as experts on various to connect with the team but can also be a channel to vent
areas. They are hence often consulted for their opinions when frustrations and share success stories with others.”
complex decisions need to be made, but do not get the final (SU internal document “Weekly Work Buddy”, prepared
say simply by virtue of their seniority. The opinions of newer by CEO)
employees and even Trainees are equally valued and heard. A
common process is for a matter to be brought up in a Project The Weekly Work Buddy system served its intended purpose
Weekly, and employees in the meeting to share their opinions and was well-received by the team. All interviewees gave
It's a good
until a consensus is reached around the best course of action. positive comments about their experiences with their Work
opportunity
The Project Owner (who is the meeting leader) verbally Buddy calls, highlighting several benefits. Firstly, these calls to get to know
summarises the decision and next steps, before moving the provided structured time for coworkers to socialise, rather people, because
meeting on to another topic. than only discussing work. we don't have
the opportunity
“Especially when we are sitting a lot in different places, at the moment
4.3 Existing internal communication because of the international team and COVID at the moment to meet
face-to-face.
developments too, I think it's a good thing to have also just the social contact,
not necessarily only talking about work-related things.” (Employee 6)
This section outlines developments initiated by SU’s leaders (Employee 3)
prior to and independently of this thesis to improve the
team’s remote internal communication. Two initiatives were These structured social moments were seen as particularly
introduced recently: a Weekly Work Buddy system, and a valuable during the pandemic, which had drastically reduced
reorganisation of SU’s project management platform. This the incidence of casual office interactions especially amongst
Corona-
section elaborates on the motivations behind and outcomes of the Finland-based team.
situation means
we can’t get these two developments self-initiated by leadership.
together as a “I think it's a good opportunity to get to know people, because
team for the 4.3.1 Introduction of Weekly Work Buddy system we don't have the opportunity at the moment to meet face-to-
foreseeable As mentioned in Subsection 4.2.2, SU’s leaders started a Weekly face. It's like a sort of mandatory free time to get to know
future Work Buddy system in mid-2020 in response to the ongoing your work buddies.” (Employee 6, based in Finland)
(Internal COVID-19 pandemic. They felt that the increased reliance on
document) remote work in SU and the distributed team’s inability to gather Secondly, the Work Buddy calls cultivated closer interpersonal
for a team retreat might inhibit interpersonal connections relationships between employees, which in turn facilitated
within the team. Hence, they hoped a Weekly Work Buddy smoother work interactions.
“You get to just talk to somebody as a person, versus always In response to these sentiments amongst employees and in
talking about work. You get to talk about their life and what an effort to make Teamwork Projects more useful for the
they're interested in, and how they're doing. Once you have team, the CEO worked with one other employee to review
more of a personal relationship with somebody, it's easier to how the platform was used and reorganise the entire project
say, "Can you help me with this thing?" (Employee 7) management process.
Thirdly, since employees often share about their ongoing work This resulted in a new project management framework
tasks with their Work Buddies, these calls also strengthened organised around ‘Projects’, which have several defined
employees’ understanding of different projects in SU, giving ‘Milestones’, each of which are broken down into different
them a more holistic picture of the company’s activities ‘Tasks’. When all Tasks under a Milestone are completed,
as a whole. In particular, the interviewees who joined SU that Milestone has been reached, and when all Milestones
more recently saw the introduction of the Weekly Work under a Project are reached, that Project is completed. This
Buddy system as a major turning point in completing their reorganisation of Teamwork Projects was generally seen by
understanding of SU and its different operational areas. the interviewees as an upgrade from the situation before. The
key improvements highlighted were that it clarified project
“It wasn't until we started doing the Work Buddy calls roadmaps and expectations, created more achievable work
every week that I really had conversations with everybody packages, and enabled clearer ownership of projects.
who works here. I think that's really when it clicked for me,
understanding both who was involved in which projects and “Recently [name] and [name] have been reviewing the whole
which projects were even happening, because certain things I project management process on Teamwork and explaining
was like, "Oh, I didn't even know about that." (Employee 7, how we actually have to do it, which is super nice, because it’s
joined SU less than a year ago) way easier to work on a project, and everyone is informed.”
(Employee 2)
4.3.2 Reorganisation of project management platform
Another recent internal communication development in SU “With the way Teamwork Projects has been reorganised, it’s
was the reorganisation of its project management platform. As a bit more clear what we have to do, what others are expecting
mentioned in Subsection 4.2.3, SU uses Teamwork Projects for from me. So that definitely improved, to not just have to
project management, but usage and understanding of the tool remember everything in your head.” (Employee 1)
was inconsistent amongst the team. Some employees found the
platform messy and not user-friendly, such that in practice a “I think it has made things better. One advantage is that it's
sizeable portion of the team were not using it to support their smaller digestible work packages. A project is not like endless
day-to-day work in a significant way. lists of tasks that never is gone, you can finalize something.
It's also easier to have true ownership per project.”
“Teamwork was horrible a month ago. I hated it, I just used (Employee 4)
the Chat and a piece of paper for the projects.” (Employee 3)
Despite acknowledging these improvements however, some
interviewees still experience difficulties with the platform.
These lingering issues will be elaborated on later in Subsection Social and relational
4.4.13. 1. Facilitated remote interactions build strong team spirit
2. Regular low-threshold video meetings engage and
In sum, recent initiatives spearheaded by SU’s leaders to empower remote employees
develop remote internal communication have been well- 3. Remote work compromises on the spontaneity of
received by the team. The existence of such development efforts employee interactions
even prior to this study reflects a pre-existing willingness by 4. Time differences create barriers to real-time
SU’s leadership to tackle observed internal communication communication
problems and respond to employee feedback. The positive 5. Periodic in-person get-togethers are still essential to
reception of these initiatives by the SU team also highlights keep a remote team connected
their openness towards new ideas for improving their remote
internal communication. Both these factors will similarly Productivity and efficiency
influence the collaborative development process I facilitated as 6. Remote communication increases the need for
part of this thesis, which will be discussed later in Section 4.5. purposeful communication to maintain accountability
7. Remote meetings are most productive when they are
precisely planned and activate participants
4.4 Insights about SU’s internal communication 8. Remote meetings can be more efficient with the right
tools and consistent documentation
This section will present insights from the employee interviews
about how remote internal communication is presently Remote communication tools
organised in SU, with specific focus on what works well or 9. Important information gets lost in the Chat without
less well and why. Seven 60- to 70-minute interviews were processes for documentation
conducted between November and December 2020, while one 10. Lengthy Chat discussions cause information overload
supplementary 20-minute interview was conducted later in and mental strain
March 2021. The insights presented in this section hence relate 11. Relying on coworkers to find files reduces
to the state of remote internal communication in SU as it was independence
from late-2020 to early-2021. and efficiency
12. Creating an internal logic for the use of digital tools
The insights are listed here in the order that they will be supports remote collaboration
discussed in the subsequent subsections. Broadly clustered, 13. Unpopular digital tools cause frustration and
insights 1-5 relate to the social and relational aspects of remote inconsistent usage
internal communication, insights 6-8 relate to the productivity
and efficiency aspects, while insights 9-13 relate to the use of 4.4.1 Facilitated remote interactions build strong team
remote communication tools. spirit
Despite being predominantly remote, most interviewees
highlighted the strong team spirit and interpersonal connection
in SU as a strength of their internal communication. In
particular, facilitated remote interactions in the form of the 4.4.2 Regular low-threshold video meetings engage
informal but planned Weekly Work Buddy calls contributed to and empower remote employees
this strong team spirit. Within SU’s remote and internationally distributed work
setting, video meetings are the closest substitute for in-person
The link
As mentioned in Subsection 4.3.1, SU’s leaders recently interactions. SU employees hence try to discuss work matters
between people
initiated a system of randomly pairing up employees each over video meetings where possible and appropriate, even if it is really here,
week for Work Buddy calls. This Weekly Work Buddy system is just a short 15-minute call, rather than only communicating and they really
provided structured time for coworkers to have casual social through faceless Chat messages. While working in the SU work on keeping
interactions even while working remotely, rather than only team over the past year for example, I observed that whenever it like this.
discussing work in meetings. a coworker wanted me to work on a task, they would suggest (Employee 2)
getting on a quick call to explain what it was about. This
“I think it's a good opportunity to get to know people, because inclination towards the closest remote substitute for face-to-
we don't have the opportunity at the moment to meet face-to- face interactions has helped remote and distributed employees
face. It's like a sort of mandatory free time to get to know your to feel engaged and empowered.
work buddies.” (Employee 6)
Employee 2, who joined the team during the pandemic from
“I find that very helpful, because that motivates me to get in The Netherlands and has only worked remotely since, felt
contact at all.” (Employee 4) that seeing other employees frequently in video meetings
helped her to feel connected to her coworkers despite working
Interviewees also felt that being randomly paired up with a alone from home. To her, these regular face-to-face remote
different coworker every week gave them a chance to establish interactions help to maintain a strong human connection
interpersonal connections with coworkers they do not work between SU employees.
with as closely, and understand better what different employees
are working on in SU. “Something good about [SU] is that the link between people
is really here, and they really work on keeping it like this
“It has been super, super interesting to know a bit more ... I’m seeing at least three people on Google Meets from the
exactly about what other people are doing … especially team per day. I don’t feel like I’m working on my side alone.”
because we are remote so it’s not like you would normally have (Employee 2, based in The Netherlands)
a casual conversation with somebody who is not in your direct
team.” (Employee 1) Employee 7, who is based in the US and works entirely remotely,
also felt that being able to talk to her coworkers face-to-face in
In sum, the introduction of the Weekly Work Buddy system to video meetings has helped her to feel connected to the team.
facilitate remote social interactions strengthened team spirit in
SU despite the team’s reliance on remote work. “While it's hard to find meeting times that work for
everybody ... I do think that for me at least that has really
helped, talking to people face to face.” (Employee 7, based in
the US)
Remote employees also found that having low-threshold Other interviewees also said that during remote work, work
video meetings either one-on-one or in smaller groups was meetings become the dominant form of interaction between
particularly helpful for them to clarify or discuss more complex employees. Spontaneous social moments like having a coffee
issues, rather than relying on Chat messages. break or going for afterwork drinks together are harder to
come by remotely, compromising on the human aspect of work.
“I think having one-on-one video meetings or with just a
couple people is a good opportunity for me to ask questions and “In remote working, there's in a way this human aspect
discuss things that I may be unsure about. missing? It's another work meeting and another work
meeting, and everything is just around work. If you're in the
Things like, "What's your opinion on this?" or "How do office then it's maybe more casual, because you're going to
you handle this situation?”; it’s nice to discuss those face-to- get to actually see people and go to afterwork or whatever.”
face versus in Chat, so I can also ask follow-up questions.” (Employee 6)
(Employee 7, based in the US)
4.4.4 Time differences create barriers to real-time
Keeping the threshold low for having face-to-face discussions communication
via video meetings has thus helped SU employees to feel more Though SU only has a small team of 13 employees, they are
engaged and empowered in their work. already distributed internationally, creating difficulties related
to time differences. During the study, all except two of SU’s
4.4.3 Remote work compromises on the spontaneity of employees were based in Europe, while two were based in the
employee interactions US. The Europe-based employees only have a 1-2 hour time
While SU employees have tried to stay connected with each difference between them, which causes little to no issue.
other through planned Work Buddy calls and frequent video
If you're in the
meetings, six out of eight interviewees still talked about The US-based employees are however 10-11 hours behind
office then it's
maybe more missing the spontaneous social aspects of working together their Europe-based coworkers, making it difficult to schedule
casual, because in-person. Hence while team spirit has been maintained in SU meetings at a time that suits everyone. In practice most
you're going to to some degree, the spontaneity of in-person interactions are meetings that require the US team’s presence, such as the
get to actually hard to replicate through remote communication tools. Company Monthly or Sales weekly meetings, are scheduled to
see people and start between 1700-1800 EET (Finland time), which is between
go to afterwork For example, some interviewees highlighted their desire to 0600-0700 PST in the US. This means that both sides have to
or whatever.
have a human sounding board next to them to spontaneously either work slightly later than usual, or wake up very early to
(Employee 6) bounce ideas with in the day, as would happen in an office attend these meetings.
work setting. This affects in particular those working fully
from home in Germany, The Netherlands, or the USA. US employees do acknowledge that while they have to attend
meetings at awkward hours, their European coworkers are
“I personally really need somebody here, to have a ping pong also doing the same to accommodate them. Nevertheless, this
partner. Just saying something over the desk, asking "Hey, remains an inconvenient challenge for both sides.
have you thought about this or that?"” (Employee 4)
“I think always the time difference is going to be a big factor, While the interviewees based in Finland could still meet
because finding a time that works for everybody is already coworkers from time to time in the office, they still wished
difficult. Often the meetings that we have, it's 6:30am my that they could travel to get together for a full-team retreat
time so it's a little difficult. For them they try and find a again (mentioned in Subsection 4.2.2). The importance of this
time later, but then it's in their evening so there are family yearly in-person get-together is felt even more strongly now
obligations.” (Employee 7, based in the US) as SU has not been able to organise one for almost 1.5 years
since the last one in January 2020, due to COVID-19 travel
There is also an inevitable response time lag between coworkers restrictions.
in the US and Europe. While employees in Europe can expect
relatively immediate responses from each other, the US-based “We had a really good team meeting in Berlin in January
employees face built-in delays in their daily work because they where everybody came together … I feel like if we didn't have
can rarely get immediate responses from those in Europe. that meeting in January, I wouldn't be so connected to other
people.” (Employee 6, based in Finland)
“During the day when I’m at work, everybody else is asleep. So
if I need to have any questions answered, there’s often a delay Hence though SU has found ways to stay connected remotely,
of some sort.” (Employee 7, based in the US) remote interactions are still imperfect replacements for getting
together in-person periodically.
4.4.5 Periodic in-person get-togethers are still
essential to keep a remote team connected 4.4.6 Remote communication increases the need for
Though interviewees acknowledged that remote work has purposeful communication to maintain accountability
been relatively smooth in SU, they still crave meeting their When asked to recount a work experience in SU that they found
coworkers or the full team in-person at least periodically. challenging because of internal communication issues, four
Interviewees who are not based in Finland lamented their interviewees brought up an incident where they experienced
present inability to at least travel to work in-person for short difficulty getting timely action or confirmation over remote
periods of time with the rest of the team. comunication from coworkers who they had delegated tasks to.
“If we didn’t have this COVID situation, I would have gone to While the interviewees noted that these incidents were
Helsinki probably once or twice, and it would have been even occasional rather than the regular occurences, their recounts
nicer to actually meet people to work on stuff together, maybe highlighted that SU’s reliance on remote communication can
for a week or something.” (Employee 2, based in The make it more difficult to maintain accountability between
Netherlands) employees. Remote work hence makes clear and purposeful
communication even more crucial when delegating tasks to
“I think for me, it's been interesting not having that work someone else.
culture so to speak, where you physically go to work and
interact with people. ... that's something that I've missed a “It was really hard to get confirmation from [group], like did
little bit, like I don't even know when I'll meet these people in they actually do it, and was it done properly?” (Employee 1)
person.” (Employee 7, based in the US)
“I had a chat with them. They knew they had to do it and we “It’s hard to know at what point you’re pushing too much,
had set up a deadline, but they were not doing it.” because you also don’t know what the other person is working
(Employee 2) on. Maybe they have a lot of work, maybe it’s not the
priority.” (Employee 2)
This difficulty of getting a timely response from coworkers
was exacerbated by the fact that employees are almost never Interviewees attributed their inadequate awareness of
If we always
in the same physical space, due to SU’s remote and distributed coworkers’ workloads at least in part to SU’s remote work
have to
communicate team especially during the pandemic. Interviewees felt it setting, theorising that co-location would result in more
via remote tools, would somehow be easier and more pleasant to remind a organic conversations and hence a better sense of what others
it's different coworker about a request or task in-person. While working are working on.
than being right remotely however, these reminders are sent via Chat messages
next to each by default. “If you’re sitting every day with each other and you talk
other and just about this and that, you have a better feeling for what is the
going like "Hey,
“If we always have to communicate via remote tools, it's workload. That is lacking, and that leads to insecureness to
by the way, that
issue…"
different than being right next to each other and just going demand something from somebody else.” (Employee 4)
like "Hey, by the way, that issue…”” (Employee 4)
(Employee 4)
In sum, it can occasionally be difficult for employees to
“It’s easier to ignore a chat message, to just be like “I have other get timely action or confirmation of action from their
stuff to do today I’ll look at it tomorrow.”” (Employee 2) coworkers over remote communication. In such cases, the
lower awareness of each other’s workloads during remote
Interviewees expressed discomfort and frustration about work makes employees feel uncomfortable about following
having to follow up on tasks by sending repeated reminder up with their coworkers on overdue tasks. This discomfort
messages to their coworkers. Some also feared that these is magnified in a remote setting when the default channel for
requests might come across as passive aggressive to their such reminders is the Chat, as repeated reminder messages
recipients. can come across as passive-aggressive. Hence, the reliance on
The fact that
remote communication in SU increases the need for clear and
we are working
“When you are not in the office with a person, it’s kind of purposeful communication when delegating tasks, such that remotely means
hard to send a reminder every two days and be like “hey the recipients really understand the purpose of the task and you have to
did you forget about me?”, because it can sound a bit passive why they need to do it. make sure
aggressive.” (Employee 2) someone really
“The fact that we are working remotely means you have to got the goal of
In particular, interviewees felt insecure about following up make sure someone really got the goal of the project. Because if the project.
on late tasks with their coworkers as they lacked awareness you already have a lot on your plate and you don’t really get (Employee 2)
of each other’s workloads. They did not know how hard they why you’re doing [this task], it’s harder to do it.”
could push for something to be done, in case their coworkers (Employee 2)
had other more urgent tasks on their plate at that moment.
4.4.7 Remote meetings are most productive when they importance for remote meetings to have a clear agenda and
are precisely planned and activate participants objectives.
The interviewees had relatively good feedback about
how SU’s meetings, which are predominantly remote, are “What we were doing before was that everyone was
conducted. Inevitably though, there were still some meetings explaining in a few minutes how their week was, people are
that were perceived as being less productive or useful than listening but not really listening ... Some people talk way more
others. By getting the interviewees to recount and reflect than others, then it becomes a main topic, so you kind of get
on the differences between their better and worse meeting lost. Sometimes it was just not super organized, and in the end
experiences, several best practices for having productive we were not taking anything out of it.” (Employee 2)
remote meetings in SU were identified.
Secondly, interviewees saw it as the Project Owner’s
They are: (1) having a clear agenda and objectives to responsibility to prepare for each meeting and facilitate them
accomplish in that specific meeting, (2) the project owner well. How well-prepared and skilled this person was at leading
being well-prepared and a good facilitator, and (3) attendees the meeting was seen as an influential factor in determining
being active participants rather than passive listeners. Firstly, how much participants take out of it.
many interviewees emphasised the importance of having a
clear agenda and objectives that are adhered to, so that remote “A good meeting should be one that is really prepared by the
meetings are kept focused and efficient. owner of the project, with a goal for that specific meeting. ...
so that after the meeting, people are going to remember those
“I like that in the bigger meetings there's an agenda and we tasks, they know how to work on them and we have all the
move through topics pretty quickly. That's helpful for keeping details.” (Employee 2)
them from dragging out too long.” (Employee 7)
Thirdly, interviewees emphased the importance for meeting
“I think there mostly is quite a clear agenda. Somebody's attendees to be activated, such as by participating in the
responsible for following it, and also reminds other people discussion or keeping their video on.
if they are talking too long. I think it's as clear as it can be.”
(Employee 3) “If everybody there is committed to the dialogue, not just
listening for one hour and doing other random stuff at
In contrast to the good meeting examples raised above, some the same time, then it's more meaningful to be there.”
interviewees also raised examples of meetings which were (Employee 6)
less well-planned. For example, one of the Project Weeklys
(described in the quote below) did not have a clear agenda and “Most of the time everyone has their video on, and it’s so
would begin with each person taking turns to share how their nice to see people and to actually be active. I think good
work has been that week. As this was a large project group communication is also about having everyone here during a
(including ~8 employees), the unstructured meeting style meeting, focusing on the same thing.” (Employee 2)
led to long undirected meetings which employees found less
valuable and enjoyable to attend. This example reinforces the
One interviewee even suggested that some Weekly meetings time it lasted for only 30min!” (Employee 2)
could have rotating facilitators and note-takers. Whether
or not this idea would work in practice might depend on Secondly, interviewees also brought up the need to document
the project. However, it reflects a desire for more active meeting discussions, as a way to efficiently keep track of project
participation in meetings, or for employees to only be included progress from week to week.
in meetings where they actually have something to say.
“If you hold weekly meetings, it’s good to create a summary of
“It would be nice if both facilitator and notekeeper would be what has been discussed, so you can look back next week and
rotating. It activates people, triggers your brain in a different review how we achieved what we discussed last week.”
way? When you’re a passive listener from week to week, at (Employee 6)
least I don’t always feel very motivated.” (Employee 6)
While the need for documentation was widely acknowledged
4.4.8 Remote meetings can be more efficient with the however, the interviews also surfaced the problem that there
right tools and consistent documentation is currently no consistent process in SU for documenting
We’ve never
While the three best practices mentioned in the previous meetings and sharing that documentation with the team.
come together
subsection were found to be foundational for having productive The interviewees spoke of a range of different approaches as a team to
remote meetings in SU, the interviewees also highlighted to documenting meetings. Some take notes on a Google figure out a
two supplementary practices that could make meetings even Document and post the link to it on Teamwork Projects. good process for
more efficient. They are: (1) using the right digital tools to Others use the Notebook function in Teamwork Projects to some of these
structure meetings, and (2) documenting meeting discussions take notes. Others think that ideally, the only documentation organisational
consistently and accessibly. needed is to add new tasks to or update the Project’s task list on communication
pieces.
Teamwork Projects.
Firstly, remote meetings can achieve more in less time (Employee 5)
if structured with the right digital tools, if appropriate. “I always write meeting notes, but I am very bad at sharing
Interviewees spoke of the positive effects of incorporating them. I write them on Google Drive and sometimes link them
the use of SU’s digital tools into some meetings. For example, in Teamwork Notebooks if some people request for them.”
the Project Group responsible for customer onboardings had (Employee 6)
recently adopted a new way of structuring their Weeklys
using a feature on Teamwork Projects, which displays a table “I think there’s potential to work more like that; having
overview of different new customers and their statuses. Using the Tasks be themselves the documentation, instead of the
this table as a structuring device to discuss each customer’s Notebooks.” (Employee 4)
situation sped up the meetings substantially.
“If we’re working on a project, is it better to create a Notebook
“Now we use the table display with different columns: ‘waiting and write the notes there? Is it better to create a Google
for customer’, ‘waiting for data’, and ‘waiting for marketing’. document and link to it? We’ve never come together as a team
So we just go through which ones are waiting for what, like to figure out a good process for some of these organisational
“this, [name] do you know why?” This goes super fast and last communication pieces.” (Employee 5)
Different employees also have different note-taking styles, “Somehow it's a culture that people send that question in the
creating further inconsistency. Chat, but after five minutes it goes away because others have
chatted something else, and then information is just gone as it
“The notes go into Notebooks but everyone has their own style moves up in the Chat.” (Employee 4)
of taking notes. We definitely need to clarify how we take
notes about meetings, and where we store them.” In some cases, newer employees ask questions in the Chat
(Employee 2) about recurring topics, such as standard customer processes
or product specifications. The answers they receive from
Despite these differences in opinion on how and where meeting coworkers hence contain information that other or new
discussions should be documented however, interviewees were employees will need in future as well (Image 14).
united by a desire to decide on and adopt a common process for
documentation throughout SU.
4.4.9 Important information gets lost in the Chat

without processes for documentation
Five interviewees raised the issue that important information
Image 14
is often shared on SU’s Chat platform, where it eventually Discussion
gets lost without being documented. This information loss about
is a waste of the intellectual labor employees expend to share repeated
questions
information in their messages. Further, it wastes unnecessary
asked in Chat
After five time and effort by new and old employees to ask and answer
minutes it the same questions over and over again.
goes away
Some interviewees felt that such recurring information should
because others
have chatted
As mentioned in Subsection 4.2.3, SU uses Teamwork Chat as be documented in one place, such that new hires who join SU
something its main internal messaging tool. Whenever employees want to in future can access it straightaway without having to ask the
else, and then ask or discuss something with their Project group, but do not same questions in the Chat again.
information is think it requires a video meeting or do not have time to have
just gone as it one, they send a message to the corresponding Project channel “When I got onboarded, I was asking so many questions that
moves up in the on the Chat. Others may then respond or start a discussion, but are super basic, like how do you do this with a customer etc.
Chat. if someone else sends a message about a different topic soon Those processes should be documented somewhere, because the
(Employee 4) after, the original messages are quickly displaced and forgotten. next person that comes on board is going to ask the same all
over again! When a new person joins, they should have access
“Sometimes valuable information gets lost in the Chat because [to the documentation].” (Employee 2)
we just send everything like this, but if you have ten messages
coming afterwards, maybe you’re not going to see it, or you’re Since information loss in the Chat has been an ongoing
not going to see it as a priority.” (Employee 2) problem in SU, employees had already had discussions before
about it. However, no final decision had been reached thus far
as employees had different opinions about how best to solve These solutions that involve documenting important
this problem. information from the Chat in Teamwork Projects was
championed most by Employee 4, who was also the one who
One solution that was brought up was to permanently initially suggested using Teamwork Projects when SU was
document any decision reached through Chat discussions in looking for a project management platform.
the corresponding project page on Teamwork Projects, such
as by creating and updating a Notebook (see Image 15), or “We have to define these rules. Chat is for if you want to talk
by posting a Comment (see Image 16) on a specific task or with somebody and ask this or that. But whenever there is a
milestone. solution, any decision or outcome, that needs somehow to be
documented [on Teamwork Projects].” (Employee 4)
Other interviewees however felt that documenting

information in Teamwork Projects may not solve the problem
either, as it could get lost there as well. This sentiment was
related to the fact that many employees still find it difficult to
navigate Teamwork Projects, which will be elaborated on later
in Subsection 4.4.13.
Image 15
Creating a “It might be a good idea if a question has to do with a specific
Notebook on project, then discuss it on Teamwork Projects so they will be
Teamwork
Projects
saved. But I also don’t find that to be totally without problems,
because they might get lost there too... we have so many
projects, so many tasks.” (Employee 3)
“… then again if you record it in a notebook which is buried

somewhere in Teamwork Projects, people cannot find it
anyway. Is there any difference if it's buried in a Chat or
buried in Teamwork Notebook?" (Employee 6)
In the interim, some employees have developed their own

ways to cope, such as by starring important messages or
downloading files immediately before they get lost in the Chat.
Image 16 “What I tend to do now is I star things that I think are going
Comment thread
attached to a Task to be important later, or if it’s a document I just download it
on Teamwork immediately so that I don’t lose it later. I do think everybody
Projects recognizes this as a weakness of the Chat.” (Employee 7)
Nevertheless, the frequency at which this problem was brought super interesting, but like guys, organise a call about it and
up during the interviews and the frustration expressed by then document it in a Notebook.” (Employee 2)
[we need] more
interviewees show that the underlying problem of information
processes, a
better storage loss still needs to be addressed somehow with a proper process This frustration about lengthy Chat debates is also related to
of valuable for storing information. the weakness of the Chat as a place where information gets
information so lost, as discussed in Subsection 4.4.9. Hence, interviewees felt
that we avoid “… [we need] more processes, a better storage of valuable that crafting long messages in response to debates on Chat was
asking questions information so that we avoid asking questions that have been not a worthwhile use of time, since any information contained
that have been asked two weeks ago. That would result also in a better use of in them will eventually be lost when newer messages are sent.
asked two
the Chat.” (Employee 2)
weeks ago.
“I think the Chat has to remain as easy stuff to read, so the
(Employee 2) 4.4.10 Lengthy Chat discussions cause information person doesn’t have to spend 10 minutes replying to you for
overload and mental strain information that is going to be lost at one point.”
Sending a message on the Chat is the most common and lowest- (Employee 2)
threshold mode of internal communication in SU’s remote
work setting. While sending a message to a group channel Additionally, many group channels in SU’s Chat platform
is an easy way of reaching out to different people at once, it include all employees by default, even those who may not
has sometimes also resulted in endless Chat discussions, such be directly involved in that project. In a way, this is another
as when a single message leads to an exchange of several long manifestation of SU’s culture of open communication and free
If you get fewer
messages by different people. dispersal of information. However, interviewees suggested
super long
that the information overload could be reduced simply by messages on
Some interviewees commented that such lengthy discussions removing them from group channels created to discuss topics the Chat that
on Chat can cause information overload and mental strain for that they are not directly involved in. you think you
them, and wished to reduce the amount of long Chat messages. have to read,
“Maybe some of the chats, like the [project name] for example, it's better for
“Sometimes it’s just too much information in one chat. I I don’t know anything about it and I’m not going to get everyone's
mental health.
think if you get fewer super long messages on the Chat that involved, so maybe I don’t need to be in that chat.”
you think you have to read, it’s better for everyone’s mental (Employee 2) (Employee 2)
health.” (Employee 2)
4.4.11 Relying on coworkers to find files reduces
Ideally, they wished to reduce the amount of long debates that independence and efficiency
take place on Chat. The Chat was seen as a channel better Employees have open access to all of SU’s files in the team’s
suited for easy-to-read, quick exchanges, while longer or more Google Drive folder, including those related to projects or
complex discussions call for a video meeting instead. functional areas that they are not involved in. However, it can
be difficult for employees to find files they need in unfamiliar
“Stop having endless debates about [topic] on the Chat for four locations of the Drive, due to the large number of different
days in a row. I’m just thinking of these conversations that are folders, sub-folders, and file versions.
Some interviewees spoke about their frustration with file “To make things more efficient and flow better, we could set
organisation in SU, where they often have to send another up some norms and standards so we could reduce that reliance
Because
coworker a Chat message to ask where a file is. Though on asking each other to find files for us.”
we're working
remotely, we interviewees acknowledged that asking coworkers to find files (Employee 5, based in the US)
want to feel for them is not difficult due to SU’s helpful team culture, they
empowered felt that being able to find files without waiting for someone Employee 6 also shared that he had previously developed a
to do our jobs else’s reply would empower them to do their jobs more document with principles for how SU’s Google Drive should be
without having independently. used. I found a working version of that document in the Drive,
to rely on but as he said, it was never completed and over time, forgotten.
asking someone
“Because we're working remotely, we want to feel empowered He suggested that the team could review and commit to these
where's a file.
to do our jobs without having to rely on asking someone principles again. The updated document could then also be
(Employee 5) where's a file. So even though it's not a huge thing, it just shared during the onboarding of new hires in future, such
would enhance our ability to do our jobs better.” that over time a shared standard for organising files will be
(Employee 5, based in the US) embedded into the team’s ways of working.
Especially in SU’s remote work setting, rather than just asking “I once made these rules for how Google Drive should be used
a coworker in the office about a file and getting a response – what are the naming and numbering principles, and how
immediately, employees have to wait for a reply from their to always find the latest document – but it maybe was lost
coworker over the Chat. Employees based in the US who are somewhere.
working when their coworkers in Europe are asleep might even
need to wait till the next day to receive a reply. Considering I think it would be good to review or create these principles
this built-in time lag, employees in the US try harder to find together and then commit to them as a team again. It would be
files by themselves and feel more frustrated when they are nice for this to also be part of onboarding when a new person
unable to do so. comes in.” (Employee 6)
“When one tries to find something, one doesn't necessarily 4.4.12 Creating an internal logic for the use of digital
know where to begin looking. One will spend extra time tools supports remote collaboration
looking and sometimes one can’t find it, and then has to go As mentioned in Subsection 4.3.2, SU’s CEO and another
back to a person and bother them.” (Employee 5, based in employee had recently led an internal review both of the
the US) overall project management process in SU, and the Teamwork
Projects platform. This resulted in the creation of both a
Some interviewees felt that the underlying cause of this clearer project management framework and an internal logic
problem was the lack of shared guidelines in SU around file for the use of Teamwork Projects based on that framework.
organisation. If these were established, employees might need
to rely less on each other to find files. The new project management framework built on the
features of the Teamwork Projects platform, which allows
for the creation of Projects, Milestones, and Tasks. In this
new framework, all work in SU is organised around defined Almost all interviewees appreciated the parallel reorganisation
‘Projects’, which comprise of several ‘Milestones’ with target of the Teamwork Projects platform and project management
dates, each of which are broken down into individual ‘Tasks’ framework in SU, pointing to several improvements that it
with deadlines (see Images 17 & 18). When all the Tasks under created. Firstly, it clarified project roadmaps and what was
a Milestone are completed, that Milestone has been reached, expected of employees involved in each project.
and when all the Milestones under a Project are reached, that
Project is completed. “Recently [name] and [name] have been reviewing the whole
project management process on Teamwork and explaining
how we actually have to do it, which is super nice, because it’s
way easier to work on a project, and everyone is informed.”
(Employee 2)
“It’s a bit more clear what we have to do, what others are
expecting from me; to not just have to remember everything
in your head.” (Employee 1)
Image 17 It also broke down previously large, seemingly all-

Project encompassing projects into more achievable work packages in
organised by the form of Milestones and Tasks. Finally, it enabled clearer
Milestones
on Teamwork ownership of projects and their parts, as each Project has a
Projects designated Project Owner and each Task is clearly assigned to
specific employee(s).
“One advantage is that it's smaller digestible work packages,

and a project is not like endless lists that never is gone. You
can finalize something. It's also easier to have true ownership
per project.” (Employee 2)
This effective restructuring of how the SU team uses their

Image 18 project management platform and by extension, how they
Milestones manage projects, highlights the importance not just of using
broken down digital tools to aid remote collaboration, but also of creating
into Tasks on
Teamwork a coherent internal logic for the use of those tools. In this
Projects way, the usage of digital tools is aligned with and supports the
team’s remote collaboration processes.
4.4.13 Unpopular digital tools cause frustration and “I'm not really good in using that. I'm also not always making
inconsistent usage new tasks if somebody asks for something. I just do it or I
Despite the afore-mentioned improvements made to how write it down on a text editor on my laptop.” (Employee 3)
SU uses Teamwork Projects for project management, at least
half of the interviewees still dislike using the tool. To them, Evidently, the restructuring of the Teamwork Projects
Teamwork as
Teamwork Projects remains unintuitive and cumbersome platform helped but could not solve the inherent usability issues
a platform, it's
very confusing to use due to inherent issues with its user interface and user experienced by employees. The unpopularity of this tool has
and complex. experience. For example, too many clicks and steps are required led to employees using it with varying degrees of consistency
There's too to create and edit Tasks or Projects, or to find information. and discipline, reducing the value it brings to the team as a
much clicking whole. Some are so frustrated with Teamwork Projects that
and too “Teamwork Projects I find a little... it's not as simple as it could they wish for SU to explore alternative tools to replace it.
much hidden be somehow. It would be nice if it would somehow be easier to
information.
just quickly write a task.” (Employee 3) “Get rid of Teamwork Projects if possible, or find a better
(Employee 6) solution for it. It doesn't need to be like a Swiss Army knife
“Teamwork as a platform, it's very confusing and complex. that has all the functions, it can be a combination of different
There’s too much clicking and too much hidden information. tools that each have a specific purpose.” (Employee 6)
It’s frustrating when you need to click 10 times to get
somewhere, then you realize it’s not there, and you need to Secondarily, some interviewees also raised issues with
click 10 times more.” (Employee 6) Teamwork Chat. To them, its inability to categorise chat
channels into project, group, or individual channels makes
These inherent issues with Teamwork Projects has it hard to find the right place where information was shared
accumulated frustration amongst some interviewees. Some (Image 19). This was in contrast to other messaging platforms
find it much easier to just write down their tasks on a piece of commonly used by organisations, such as Slack, where the list
paper or a text editor, instead of creating an official Task on of channels are displayed in a more organised way (Image 20).
Teamwork Projects. To them, using Teamwork Projects feels
like an extra burden that they endure for the sake of keeping “I think one really bad feature in Teamwork is the Chat
their coworkers updated, rather than something that supports function, because it's really hard to find information. If
their own day-to-day work. you think about Slack for example and how Slack channels
are structured, I think that would be really beneficial.”
“I kind of have a love-hate relationship with Teamwork, (Employee 6)
because on the one hand, yes it's helpful, and then on the
other hand, it sometimes feels like an extra step of like, okay, This difficulty of finding the right channel on the Teamwork
now before I even do this thing, I have to make a task in Chat interface has led employees to often create new group
Teamwork.” (Employee 7) channels with the same individuals, rather than taking the
time to search for the project or group channel which already
exists.
Image 21
“A very common habit is to always create a new channel and Creating a new
invite the same people. Then you get lost with all the channels group channel
because you have 15 chats already with the exactly same people, easily by typing
and when you try to look for information, it's impossible to the members
names
find it anymore.” (Employee 6)
A new group channel can easily be created by typing the names

of the coworkers you want to send a message to (Image 21),
compared to searching for the existing group channel in the
Image 19 disorganised list. While convenient however, this habit creates
Channels are not even more duplicate channels, making it even harder to find
categorised in the right one each time (Image 22).
Teamwork Chat,
but displayed in
order of most Hence, it is important for SU consider whether employees
recent activity enjoy using a digital tool before adopting it for the team.
Choosing or sticking to unpopular tools will inevitably result
Image 20
in inconsistent usage from frustrated employees, such that the
Categorisation of
channels in Slack tools do not support remote communication and collaboration
(for comparison) as much as they should.
Image 22
Multiple group
channels with the
same people on
19 20
Teamwork Chat
4.5 Collaborative development process 4.5.1 Design directions

The employee interviews generated a large pool of insights,
Having painted a rich picture of how remote internal as detailed in Section 4.4. From these insights, I synthesised
communication is organised in SU in the previous Sections three main areas that SU most urgently needed to improve.
4.2–4.4, this section goes on to discuss the collaborative Presented in the form of three 'How Might We' questions,
development process I facilitated with the team to tackle the these design directions gave structure to the collaborative
areas for improvement which emerged from the interviews. development process I facilitated in the SU team to improve
In the following subsections, I first outline the design their remote internal communication:
directions I proposed to SU based on the interview insights.
Then, I explain how I shared those insights with SU’s leaders 1. How might we establish and commit to common
and conducted two workshops with the team to co-develop processes and norms for
solutions. I also describe how the workshops went and • …documenting important information and
what they achieved. Finally, I discuss the outcomes that this discussions permanently,
collaborative process of understanding and improving SU’s • …organising files to reduce reliance on coworkers to
remote internal communication achieved. I also reflects on find them?
the advantages and constraints that this process revealed SU to
have in developing their internal communication, given their 2. How might we use digital tools in a way that best
specific organisational setting. supports
• ...employee experience,
• …team collaboration and project management?
3. How might we within a remote and international work

setting
• ...imitate the spontaneity and ease of in-person
collaboration,
• …create opportunities for casual social interactions?
4.5.2 Insights sharing with leadership

To kickstart the collaborative development process, I presented
a summary of the interview insights and my proposed design
directions in a meeting with SU’s CEO and COO. The hour-
long meeting was held in a hybrid fashion, with the CEO
and I present together in the office while the COO joined
us remotely. My 25-minute presentation was structured
around the thematic clusters that emerged from my earlier
affinity diagramming process. I presented the insights with
supporting quotes, humanising the analysis with the voices
of SU employees (Image 23). I concluded the presentation 4.5.3 Workshop 1: Understanding present state of
with the three design directions mentioned in the previous remote internal communication
subsection, which I presented in the form of three ‘How Might At my suggestion and with the support of SU’s CEO and COO,
We’s (Image 24). I arranged a workshop with the whole team to share the
interview insights and develop solutions collaboratively. The
The presentation was followed by an open discussion with the workshop was held remotely over Google Meets so that all
two SU leaders about their immediate reactions and what next employees could join regardless of which country they were
steps we should take. The CEO and COO both agreed with in. All SU employees were invited to the workshop, in which
the insights and the importance of addressing the areas for participation was encouraged but not mandatory.
improvement highlighted. They also thought that the rest of
the team should also hear these insights, and was supportive Out of 12 potential participants (excluding me, the facilitator),
of me giving this same presentation to the whole team before nine employees were participated in the first workshop.
facilitating a team discussion. Most of the nine participants already had some knowledge
about this study prior to the workshop; six participants had
been interviewed, two participants were the CEO and COO
who were not interviewed but who had been involved in
discussions with me about this, while only one participant had
neither been interviewed nor involved in discussions. I believe
this prior familiarity of most participants with the workshop’s
topic contributed to its smooth running.
I had two main practical goals and one research goal for
this workshop. Firstly, I wanted to establish a common
Image 23
understanding in the SU team of their current remote internal
Slide: Insight with communication situation by sharing the interview insights
supporting quotes openly. Secondly, I wanted to facilitate an open discussion and
guide the team to co-develop solutions based on the design
directions I identified. Further, the workshop also served as
an experiment within this case study for me to observe and
analyse how this facilitated collaborative development process
plays out within the team.
To begin the workshop, I gave a similar presentation to the

one I had given to SU’s leaders, sharing the interview insights
and design directions with the rest of the team. After the
Image 24 presentation, participants were invited to take turns sharing
Final slide: Design their thoughts about the insights. Some commented about
directions
the insights that resonated with them most, while others also Miro. Since the participants already knew each other and the
thought out loud about possible solutions to the issues raised. problems at hand well, little further prompting was needed for
them to begin discussing ideas.
This initial sharing showed that the participants largely
It's nice to
agreed and resonated with the insights. Especially for those The discussion that followed organically revolved around the
know that a lot
of people are who had themselves been interviewed, the open sharing of the first and second design directions about establishing common
struggling with interview analysis revealed that their privately-held opinions processes and norms, and about the usage of digital tools.
the same things about SU’s remote internal communication had in fact been As mentioned in Subsection 4.4.13, many employees were
that I have echoed by other interviewees, giving them a sense of personal frustrated with the digital communication tools used in SU.
strggled with validation and solidarity with their coworkers. Empowered by the affirmation that other coworkers felt the
too. same way too, the frustrated employees advocated during the
(Employee 7) “Reflecting on what I said in my own interview and hearing discussion for SU to explore alternative tools for chat and
what other people said too, there's so much overlap and it's project management to replace Teamwork Chat and Teamwork
nice to know that a lot of people are struggling with the same Projects.
things that I have struggled with too.” (Employee 7)
“Teamwork tries to be everything like a swiss army knife, but
“I have actually no idea which of the quotes are what I said or it sucks at everything. We could consider choosing some other
not, because I agree with a lot of things.” (Employee 1) tools to make task management or team collaboration better.
Participants also felt that hearing and openly discussing Tools can either enable good interactions or in the worst case,
the problems raised by the interviewees fueled collective hinder all interactions when you don't have proper tools. In
We could
motivation for finding solutions to them. this international and remote setting, it is even more crucial to
consider
have the right kind of tools for the right tasks.” (Employee 6) choosing some
“We seem to be a bunch of people who can express quite well other tools
when they see a place where something needs to be better. However, amongst the participants was Employee 4, who to make task
That's a valuable point that came out of this, so there's only strongly advocated for sticking to the existing tools. Recalling management
good direction after these kind of comments.” (Employee 3) an anecdote from his previous workplace, he argued that the or team
problems stem not from the usability of the tools themselves, collaboration
better.
“It's nice to know that even in the bad stuff, everybody agrees but the lack of established team norms for using them. To him,
on that, so that's a good sign for improving.” (Employee 1) any tools SU switches to might still fail if they do not develop (Employee 6)
shared norms and discipline for maintaining them properly.
Next, I moved the workshop on to coming up with solutions
based on the three design directions. I had initially planned to “We found out that [previous workplace] had had already
facilitate ideation activities on the online visual collaboration four or five CRMs in its history. Every CRM failed not
platform, Miro. However, I spontaneously deviated from that because the CRMs were shit, but because they weren't
plan and allowed the discussion continue from the initial maintained properly, because the discipline, norms and
lively sharing, instead of breaking the flow by switching to standards for collaboration weren't there.” (Employee 4)
In face of these opposing views during the discussion, the CEO Two ideas were proposed to navigate these resource
played a mediating role. He emphasised that the team should constraints. Firstly, the COO suggested changing just the chat
listen to the feedback from the majority of the interviewed tool first, rather than switching the entire Teamwork system
employees and be open to alternative tools. (Teamwork Chat and Teamwork Projects) together.
“I think as a team we are better off exploring other tools as “There were quite many comments about Chat; I think that
well, because there were still so many people who were totally would be the easiest thing to try with some other tool. If people
fed up with Teamwork. So let's keep other options open, and like we could try out Slack instead of Teamwork Chat.”
if we find a better tool then we go for that, rather than force (COO)
Teamwork down people's throats.” (CEO)
Secondly, I suggested trying out an alternative tool for project
He also suggested taking a vote to decide based the majority’s management only for a few of SU’s projects. Running a small-
preference. scale pilot would be less resource-intensive than transferring
all of SU’s data to a new tool at one go. During the pilot phase,
“I think we could simply do a vote on this one, see if people some employees would be simultaneously using both the
want to try Slack as a chat channel instead of Teamwork, existing and the alternative tool, and could give feedback on
then we'll try it. After a few months, we can see how we feel how they compared against each other before any final decision
about it.” (CEO) is made about the switch.
Nevertheless, participants acknowledged that changing SU’s “We don't have to think about changing something completely.
digital tools also involved a time- and resource-intensive We could do a pilot by getting a few project teams to use a new
process of evaluating different alternatives and transferring all tool for a couple of weeks, and then have that comparison.”
We do not have
the data from existing tools to new ones. However, SU was at (Facilitator; me)
resources at
this moment this time undergoing a challenging transition period; human
to change the resources were stretched and employees needed to focus on In sum, the workshop achieved its goals of establishing a shared
whole platform, increasing sales to ensure the profitability and long-term understanding amongst SU employees about the present state
right? So we survival of the business. Hence, in the interim before SU has of their remote internal communication and facilitating
could look at it, the resources to switch to different tools, the team should still an open discussion about solutions. Though we were only
but that is also a optimise their use of existing tools. able to discuss two out of the three design directions in this
process.
workshop’s scheduled time, the third would be addressed in the
(Employee 4) “We do not have resources at this moment to change the whole next workshop. More importantly, this first workshop took a
platform, right? So we could look at it, but that is also a first step towards starting a longer ongoing conversation in
process. The question is if you want to put effort into that the team about how they communicate and work with each
now, or if we have other problems. In the meanwhile, we other remotely.
should still optimize [Teamwork], until eventually we have a
different solution.” (Employee 4)
4.5.4 Workshop 2: Improving remote internal looking forward to taking part in some of the suggested
communication through co-development activities.
After the first workshop, I organised a second one to continue
the discussion around developing SU’s remote internal
communication. It was also conducted remotely over Google
Meets, with six employees participating this time. Workshop
2 focused on the third design direction about creating
spontaneous collaboration and social opportunities in a remote
and international work setting, as time constraints during
Workshop 1 had cut short the discussion about this area.
Compared to Workshop 1 where I let the free discussion

continue organically, in Workshop 2 I facilitated a series of
co-development activities on Miro (Image 25). The specific Image 25
schedule of activities for Workshop 2 was detailed previously Brainstorming
on Miro during
in Subsection 3.4.2. Workshop 2
The ideas generated during Workshop 2 can be broadly

clustered into four categories (Image 26). Firstly, participants
had creative ideas for planned activities the team could do
together remotely, such as weekly virtual “teatimes” and
monthly book clubs. There were also suggestions for low-
threshold remote meetings, such as more frequently discussing
issues over a quick video meeting rather than communicating
through Chat messages, and having virtual coffee breaks. The
third category of ideas related to digital tools, such as to create
a chat channel for random fun conversations or to use Miro to
replicate live in-person collaboration and bouncing of ideas.
Finally, suggestions were made for the full team to hang out
in-person once the pandemic is over.
Overall, Workshop 2 created a casual space for SU employees

to discuss ways to make their experience of internal
communication during remote work more engaging and
Image 26
fun. The discussion amongst participants had a friendly
Clustered ideas
atmosphere throughout, interspersed with jokes and laughter. from Workshop 2
The workshop concluded on a positive note with participants with votes
108 Case Study 109
Goal Steps Status

4.5.5 Tangible and intangible outcomes
Both tangible and intangible outcomes came out of this Explore alternative • Change the Chat tool first Earmarked for future
process of understanding the present state of remote internal tools to replace implementation when more
Teamwork Chat and • Conduct a small-scale pilot resources are available
communication in SU through employee interviews and
Teamwork Projects by moving a few projects to a
facilitating the development of solutions with the team. In potential alternative project
terms of tangible outcomes, the SU team came up with various management tool and getting
goals and solutions during the two workshops, which are employee feedback before
summarised in Table 5. deciding on the switch
Beyond coming up with this list of actionable ideas that have either • In the meanwhile, optimise
the existing tools by
been implemented or are planned for future implementation,
establishing team norms for
the more significant impact of this collaborative development their use
process lies in its intangible outcomes. On an individual
employee level, the in-depth conversations with the eight Establish common • Create and regularly Implemented
employees interviewed (accounting for two-thirds of the SU processes and norms update a dashboard for file Discussions take place in
dedicated Chat channels, e.g.
team) gave them a safe space to share their honest thoughts for communication management
‘How We Work’
about how remote communication in the team has been. and collaboration
• Constantly raise and discuss Ongoing
Subsequently, presenting the interview insights openly during
problems openly to create
Workshop 1 empowered individual interviewees with a sense
shared communication norms
of validation as they realised their privately-held frustrations
were felt by other interviewees too. The non-interviewed Employ suitable • Encourage spontaneous Ongoing
employees also resonated with the interviewees’ opinions, digital tools to low-threshold video meetings
creating a sense of solidarity within the team to improve their recreate the (e.g. virtual coffee breaks,
remote internal communication together. spontaneity of quick discussions)
in-person work
remotely • Use online collaboration tools Ongoing
On the team level, me conducting this research on commission
(e.g. Miro) to facilitate live Many project teams now use
by SU’s leaders displayed the leadership’s commitment to collaboration remotely Miro to collaborate remotely
diagnosing and improving their team’s remote internal
communication. Both during the interviews and workshops, Enhance remote • Strengthen existing Weekly Ongoing
I made known to participants that this study had been opportunities Work Buddy system with I took over the responsibility
from the CEO for pairing up
commissioned by and conceptualised with SU’s leaders. The for casual social conversation prompts
employees, and come up with
team was hence likely to have seen these activities as evidence interactions conversation prompts weekly.
• Do remote social activities Ongoing

together as a team I organised SU's first game night.
Table 5 →
Tangible • Create a chat channel for Implemented
outcomes from random fun conversations
the workshops
of the leadership’s willingness to listen to employee feedback

and openness to improvement. Further, the workshops
provided the team with a casual space to discuss creative
ideas for making their remote internal communication more
effective and engaging. The convivial atmosphere during
the workshops gave the team’s future journey of developing
remote internal communication a joyful first push.
Finally, bringing together employees to develop solutions

in the workshops kickstarted a culture in the team of
continuing to talk about and improve their remote internal
communication. Some concrete examples of this include when
someone started a discussion about recent low attendance at
the Sales team’s casual virtual hangouts (Image 27), and when
employees discussed issues with Teamwork Projects (Image
28) and shared ideas for optimising it (Image 29).
Image 28
Chat discussion
about optimising
the use of
Teamwork
Projects and Chat
Image 27
Chat discussion Image 29
about low Suggestion from
attendance at employee about
the Sales team’s a useful feature
casual virtual in Teamwork
hangouts Projects
Hence while this collaborative development process did not

immediately resolve every issue with SU’s remote internal
communication, it did set in motion an ongoing conversation
and communication-conscious culture within the team.
4.5.6 Advantages and constraints in collaborative

development
Image 30
The collaborative process I facilitated in the SU team surfaced CEO proposing an
several advantages and constraints that it has in developing idea to the team
its remote internal communication. This subsection reflects after hearing my
on these advantages and constraints in light of SU’s specific presentation of
interview insights
organisational setting.
Advantage 1: SU’s team culture of open communication and flat fixes they could immediately make to tackle some of the issues
hierarchy enabled the study of its internal communication to be raised (Image 30). During the workshops, employees also
carried out smoothly and meaningfully. participated enthusiastically in discussions that were highly
SU’s culture of open communication and flat hierarchy solution-oriented. Some even contacted me privately after the
between employees, as discussed in Subsection 4.1.6, created first workshop to express their desire to continue discussing
good conditions for me as a researcher to conduct an in- ways to address the issues identified. Hence, SU’s openness and
depth study into its remote internal communication smoothly adaptability to change fueled collective enthusiasm for and
and meaningfully. In a team like SU’s where employees are commitment to the development process.
unafraid to speak up and feel that their opinion matters
regardless of their position, it was easy for me to arrange and Constraint 1: SU’s small team and flat hierarchy can slow down
conduct insightful interviews. All the employees I approached decision-making about divisive issues.
for an interview were eager to participate and shared openly However, SU’s team size and culture presented some difficulties
about their experiences. The rest of the team and its leaders for decision-making. In a small team of 13, each individual
also took the interview insights seriously and were committed voice can have a big impact on the outcome of a collaborative
to developing their remote internal communication based on process. SU’s flat hierarchy and inclination towards consensus-
the feedback gathered. building rather than executive decision-making also resulted
in more time incurred to resolve differences in opinions
Advantage 2: SU’s openness and adaptability to change as a startup between employees. As mentioned in Subsection 4.5.3, the
facilitated the process of developing remote internal communication. team was caught up in a debate during Workshop 1 over
Another advantage SU had in this development process was changing their digital tools. While most employees supported
its team’s openness and adaptability to explore and implement exploring alternative tools, one strongly advocated for sticking
changes to their internal communication practices. After the with the current tools and instead improving the way the team
first presentation of the interview insights to the CEO and uses them. The CEO ultimately voiced support for the majority
COO, they were already coming up with ideas on what quick opinion, though it remained difficult to make a final decision
due to the lack of full consensus within the team.
Constraint 2: SU’s limited resources as an emerging startup

constrained the types of solutions it could feasibly adopt.
SU’s limited resources and challenging operational realities
also constrained the types of solutions that it could adopt to
improve the team’s remote internal communication. At the
time of the case study, SU was undergoing a difficult period
where human resources were stretched and employees needed
to focus their efforts on new business generation to ensure the
company’s long-term survival.
“We do not have resources at this moment to change the

whole platform, right? So we could look at it, but that is also a
process. The question is if you want to put effort into that now,
or if we have other problems.” (Employee 4)
Hence, resource constraints limited the types of solutions

SU could feasibly implement in the short-term. Despite
acknowledging the problems with their existing digital
communication tools for example, SU could not immediately
embark on the resource-intensive task of finding, evaluating,
and investing in new tools. Instead of seeking technological
solutions, they had to alter their own behavior by optimising
how they use their existing tools in the interim, until they have
the resources to change them.
116 Discussion 117
In this penultimate chapter, I answer the Research Questions

(RQs) by drawing connections between the empirical findings
5 from the case study in Chapter 4 and the theoretical background
in Chapter 2. I also critically reflect on possible reasons for and
Discussion
implications of the findings.
In the next sections, I first summarise the means, strengths,

and areas for improvement discovered about SU’s present
remote internal communication to answer RQ1, “How is remote
internal communication organised in SU?” Then, I discuss the
improvements that arose from the collaborative development
process I facilitated, analyse the advantages and constraints
the SU team faced, and reflect on the role of participation and
collaboration in this process, thereby answering RQ2, “How
might SU improve its remote internal communication through a
collaborative development process?” Finally, I discuss how insights
from SU’s journey can be generalised to theory and outline the
conditions under which other organisations might find this
case most relevant, thereby answering RQ3, “How might this case
study be relevant beyond SU?”
5.1 Present state of remote internal

communication in SU
In this section, I answer RQ1 “How is remote internal

communication organised in SU?” by synthesising findings from
the case study research. As discussed in detail in Section 4.4,
a rich pool of insights were uncovered about SU’s remote
internal communication:
Social and relational

1. Facilitated remote interactions build strong team spirit
2. Regular low-threshold video meetings engage and
empower remote employees
3. Remote work compromises on the spontaneity of
employee interactions
118 Discussion Discussion 119
4. Time differences create barriers to real-time 5.1.1 Employees communicate mainly via digital tools
communication Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the distributed SU
5. Periodic in-person get-togethers are still essential to team has always enjoyed the flexibility to work remotely. With
keep a remote team connected the pandemic ongoing at the time of this study, the SU team
relied even more heavily on remote communication. Due to
Productivity and efficiency their remote and international work setting, communication
6. Remote communication increases the need for between SU employees is mostly mediated by digital tools
purposeful communication to maintain accountability through a combination of video meetings (on Google Meets),
7. Remote meetings are most productive when they are messages on the team’s Chat platform (Teamwork Chat), and
precisely planned and activate participants interactions on their project management platform (Teamwork
8. Remote meetings can be more efficient with the right Projects).
tools and consistent documentation
SU employees have a variety of video meetings. Scheduled
Remote communication tools work meetings include Project Weeklys and Company
9. Important information gets lost in the Chat without Monthlys. The Operations team also has an Operation Daily.
processes for documentation Additionally, employees sometimes have spontaneous short
10. Lengthy Chat discussions cause information overload video meetings to discuss more complex matters face-to-face,
and mental strain rather than exchanging Chat messages.
11. Relying on coworkers to find files reduces
independence In terms of social meetings, SU’s Weekly Work Buddy system
and efficiency pairs up different employees randomly each week, who arrange
12. Creating an internal logic for the use of digital tools 1-2 short video meetings to catch up socially during the
supports remote collaboration week. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, SU’s internationally
13. Unpopular digital tools cause frustration and distributed team also travelled for an annual in-person team
inconsistent usage retreat, which combines a mix of socialising and strategic
planning. However, the full team has not been able to gather
To answer RQ1, I distill what these insights tell about the in-person since the last team retreat in Berlin in January 2020,
means, strengths, and areas for improvement of SU’s remote due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
internal communication in the following subsections. Where
relevant, I also draw links between SU’s case and the theoretical In sum, the SU team’s remote and international work setting
background discussed earlier in Chapter 2. created a reliance on internal communication mediated by
digital tools and a prolonged reduction of in-person interaction.
This reliance on digital communication tools led the discussion
about internal communication in SU to be inextricably tied to
the tools they use, which were raised by many interviewees as
an area for improvement. Additionally, though SU employees
have adapted to the prolonged lack of in-person contact with
the full team, interviewees still lamented the situation and The existing strong team spirit in SU has been maintained
expressed their hope for a sooner return to in-person team relatively well despite the increased reliance on remote work
get-togethers. SU’s case hence points to the irreplaceability of during the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the leadership’s
at least some degree of in-person interaction, even for teams and team’s efforts to facilitate meaningful remote interactions.
that have grown accustomed to remote work. As discussed in Subsection 2.2.3, Saini and Plowman’s (2007)
model illustrates the impact that startup leaders have on shaping
internal communication models. In SU’s case, in response to
the pandemic SU leaders initiated a new Weekly Work Buddy
system, which facilitated remote social interactions between
different employees. Further, lowering the threshold for
having spontaneous short video meetings to discuss work –
the closest remote substitute for face-to-face interactions – has
helped SU employees to feel more connected and engaged.
Image 31
Workshop 2 ideas
(detail) As seen from SU’s case, initiative from leadership contributed
to growing a longer-lasting team culture of sustaining
interpersonal connections remotely. SU’s ability to cultivate
5.1.2 Strong team spirit despite reliance on remote and maintain strong team spirit between employees, despite
communication their reliance on remote work, is a distinct strength that it
Despite communication being predominantly remote, should retain even as it develops other areas of their remote
interviewees highlighted the strong team spirit and internal communication. These areas for improvement will be
interpersonal connection as strengths of SU’s internal discussed in the next subsections.
communication. These strengths are both a result of SU’s team
culture and the team’s deliberate efforts to facilitate meaningful 5.1.3 Need for shared communication norms, better
remote interactions. use of digital tools, and new ways of connecting
employees remotely
As mentioned in Subsection 2.2.2, startups at an early growth The interviews surfaced three main areas for improvement
stage tend to have a culture characterised by participation, in SU’s remote internal communication. These areas are
collaboration, and a close-knit atmosphere (Saini & Plowman, summarised in the design directions previously outlined in
2007). As illustrated also by the internal communication Subsection 4.5.1:
model for startups developed by Saini and Plowman (2007) in
Subsection 2.2.3, a startup’s organisational culture permeates 1. How might we establish and commit to common
its communication activities, which in turn shape that culture. processes and norms for
These theoretical propositions were mirrored by SU’s case. • …documenting important information and
Interviewees felt that everyone in the team is highly motivated discussions permanently,
and engaged in their work for SU, which results in their • …organising files to reduce reliance on coworkers to
readiness to support each other and display strong team spirit. find them?
2. How might we use digital tools in a way that best corroborates what the theoretical background suggested,
supports that geographical separation can limit informal spontaneous
• ...employee experience, interaction and inhibit the development of trusting coworker
• …team collaboration and project management? relationships (Straus & Olivera, 2000, as cited in Sole &
Applegate, 2005). Given SU’s remote and internationally
3. How might we within a remote and international work distributed work setting with or without the COVID-19
setting pandemic, it needs to constantly develop new ways to create
• ...imitate the spontaneity and ease of in-person spontaneous and social connections within the team.
collaboration,
• …create opportunities for casual social interactions?
5.2 Developing remote internal communication
Firstly, the interviews surfaced the lack of established in SU
communication processes and norms in the team, which affects
productivity and efficiency. The main areas in which team In this section, I answer RQ2 “How might SU improve its remote
norms need to be created and committed to are: documentation internal communication through a collaborative development
of important information which currently get lost in the Chat, process?” by relating insights from the workshops I facilitated in
consistent documentation of meeting discussions, and file the SU team with the theoretical background about startups.
organisation. RQ2 is answered in the following subsections, as guided by
its two exploratory questions: “What improvements can SU
Secondly, interviewees also highlighted issues both with adopt?” and “What advantages and constraints do SU have in this
the digital communication tools used in SU, and the way the process?” To conclude this section, I also evaluate the role of
team uses them. The unintuitive user interface and poor collaboration and participation in the development of remote
user experience of SU’s chat and project management tools internal communication more broadly.
led to frustration and inconsistent usage amongst employees.
Lengthy Chat discussions have also caused information 5.2.1 Improvements arising from collaborative
overload and mental strain. Hence, changing the digital tools development process
used and improving the way the team uses them can help SU From the two workshops, the SU team came up with several
to maximise the value these tools can provide for a pleasant tangible ways to address the areas for improvement identified
employee experience, efficient team collaboration and project in their remote internal communication, as summarised below.
management during remote work. The concrete steps taken towards these goals, along with their
implementation statuses, were also outlined in Table 5 of
Thirdly, while SU employees have been able to work Subsection 4.5.5 in the Case Study chapter.
independently and stay connected fairly well, remote work
has still constrained some aspects of their collaboration and
socialising. In particular, employees miss having spontaneous
work collaboration and casual social opportunities, which
working together in-person better facilitates. This finding
• Explore alternative tools to replace the unpopular chat despite some divergences in opinions. During Workshop 1
and project management tools, while optimising the for example, after one participant strongly argued for sticking
team’s use of existing tools in the interim with SU’s existing chat and project management tools despite
• Establish common processes and norms for many others preferring to explore alternatives, someone
communication and collaboration jokingly asked if he was secretly being paid by the company
• Employ suitable digital tools to recreate the spontaneity behind the existing tool, inviting laughter from everyone else.
of in-person work remotely
• Enhance remote opportunities for casual social Employee 6: [Name], is Teamwork paying you?
interactions Everyone: -laughter-
Beyond these tangible improvements however, the The convivial atmosphere of the workshops hence gave the
collaborative development process led more signficantly to team’s continuous journey of developing remote internal
long-lasting intangible effects in the SU team. To begin with, communication a joyful first push.
the interviews provided employees with a safe and receptive
space to discuss their experiences and opinions about remote Finally, me conducting this research on commission by SU’s
internal communication in SU. It was clear to me from the leaders displayed and solidified the leadership’s commitment
eight interiews I conducted that many interviewees had to diagnosing and improving the team’s remote internal
already been thinking about issues with SU’s remote internal communication. Buoyed by this initial push from leadership,
communication for some time, but simply had not had a the collaborative development process kickstarted a culture in
dedicated opportunity to discuss them in-depth with anyone. the SU team of consciously talking about and improving how
Many interviewees shared their simmering thoughts in an they commununicate, as evidenced by subsequent discussions
unfiltered manner with me, and expressed enthusiasm about initiated by other employees about the topic (see Images 27-29
the fact that I was conducting this study and gathering their in Subsection 4.5.5).
feedback to improve how the team communicates. Hence,
even prior to the workshops, the interviews themselves helped In sum, though this collaborative development process did not
employees to feel acknowledged and listened to. immediately resolve every issue found, its greatest impact lay in
creating a receptive space for employee feedback and building
During the workshops, my open sharing of the interview a longer-lasting communication-conscious culture within the
insights with the team helped them to move from individual team. I believe these intangible outcomes have created fertile
frustration to collective motivation for finding solutions. Both ground for future efforts by SU to continuously improve their
interviewed and non-interviewed employees resonated with remote internal communication.
the areas for improvement raised and were united by a sense
of solidarity. The workshops also created a casual space for 5.2.2 SU’s organisational setting creates advantages
SU employees get creative about how they might make their and constraints for development
remote internal communication more effective and engaging. The collaborative development process also revealed several
Thanks to the existing close-knit and familial atmosphere in advantages and constraints which SU has in improving
the SU team, the workshop discussions were kept friendly its remote internal communication, due to its specific
organisational setting. These were explained previously in 2.2.1, startup teams take less time to make decisions involving
Subsection 4.5.6 and summarised again here: change and can adapt more flexibly than larger organisations
(Saini & Plowman, 2007; Eisenberg & Goodall, 2004). Hence,
Advantages startup teams may be more open and quicker to implement
1. SU’s team culture of open communication and flat improvements to their internal communication practices.
hierarchy enabled the study of its internal communication With SU, I observed how quickly new and non-objectionable
to be carried out smoothly and meaningfully. ideas could be put into practice. As documented in Subsection
2. SU’s openness and adaptability to change as a startup 4.5.6, almost immediately after hearing the interview insights
facilitated the process of developing remote internal from my presentation, SU’s CEO sent a Chat message to
communication. propose his idea for a daily 30-minute remote catchup break to
Constraints the whole team. His message received positive responses from
1. SU’s small team and flat hierarchy can slow down other employees. In a team as small and close-knit as SU’s, non-
decision-making about divisive issues. complex improvements can be as easy as a Chat message away.
2. SU’s limited resources as an emerging startup constrained
the types of solutions it could feasibly adopt. As is corroborated by existing literature, such dynamism would
be harder to come by in larger organisations (Saini & Plowman,
In this subsection, I further discuss how these advantages 2007). This has two implications for other organisations.
and constraints are aligned with the literature on startups. I For startups, I believe they should take advantage of the
also reflect on what they may imply for other organisations early-growth phase in which the team is smallest and most
hoping to learn from SU’s case in developing their own remote dynamic to undertake internal communication development
internal communication. processes. If successful, this could sow the seeds for a positive
communication culture that will endure even as the startup
As an advantage, SU’s team culture of open communication and grows bigger. For larger organisations, perhaps such endeavors
flat hierarchy enabled me to carry out my study of its internal could produce more meaningful outcomes when conducted in
communication smoothly and meaningfully. As highlighted in individual departments or teams made up of fewer employees,
Subsection 2.2.1, early-growth startups like SU exhibit strong rather than the organisation as a giant whole. When there are
two-way communication with active participation in decision- fewer stakeholders and (real or perceived) levels of decision-
making amongst all team members (Dozier et al., 1995; Grunig, making involved in the development process, new ideas may be
1992). These traits manifested in SU employees being eager more readily proposed by individuals and accepted by others.
to be interviewed by me and to share their thoughts openly
during the interviews. The interviewees’ opinions were also While SU’s flat hierarchy was mentioned above as an
taken seriously by the leadership and the rest of the team when advantage however, it also slowed down decision-making on
I presented them during the workshops. issues that employees disagreed about, especially when coupled
with a small team size which amplifies individual voices. As
A second advantage SU had in the development process was its mentioned in Subsection 2.2.2, the initially informal decision-
openness and adaptability to change – a common characteristic making processes of startups become less effective over time,
highlighted by literature on startups. As discussed in Subsection and active participation in decision-making amongst all team
members becomes unwieldy in face of growing complexity wish to develop their remote internal communication at a
(Saini & Plowman, 2007; Grunig, 1992). similar growth stage as SU are hence likely to also face resource
constraints to some degree. While it may be frustrating to
In SU’s case, the team’s and leadership’s lingering inclination not be able to implement certain needed improvements for
towards consensus-building rather than executive decision- this reason, it could be helpful for startup leaders and the
making made it difficult for even their leaders to take a decisive researcher-facilitator to frame the process as an ongoing rather
stand on divisive issues, such as whether to stick with or than a one-off one from the beginning. Hence, the team should
change their digital tools. During the workshops, I chose not not expect the development process to solve all the identified
to take a stance between opposing views on this issue, as I felt problems immediately, but to be a first step in an ongoing
the participants should decide on and commit to the outcomes dialogue and pursuit of better ways of working in the team.
themselves. Ultimately, the CEO emphasised that the team
should listen to the feedback of the majority of interviewees, 5.2.3 Role of participation and collaboration in
and even suggested taking a vote to decide. Hence when developing remote internal communication
undertaking collaborative development, other startup leaders To conclude this section, I reflect more broadly on and evaluate
should anticipate situations in which they need to intervene to the role of participation and collaboration in the development
facilitate decision-making. Ideally, some prior thought should of remote internal communication, as demonstrated by
be given to possible decision-making mechanisms the team SU’s case. Based on my experience with SU, I believe active
can resort to in face of divided opinions, whether it be voting, employee participation unbounded by rigid hierarchies
leaving the final decision up to a specific person, or adjourning enables organisations to understand and improve their
the discussion to another time. internal communication in a more meaningful way. In work
environments where employees believe their opinions are
Finally, the resource constraints and operational challenges valued, employees are more likely to participate eagerly in
SU faces as a small emerging startup also limited the types of interviews and share openly about their experiences. These
internal communication solutions it could adopt (Mueller et interviews are then more likely to uncover rich insights
al., 2012). At the time of the case study, SU was undergoing about employees’ pain points and needs, which offer informed
a challenging period where resources had to be focused on directions for collaborative development.
new business generation to ensure the company’s long-term
survival. These resource constraints meant that the team could However, the collaborative development approach I used
not immediately embark on the resource-intensive task of in this research by facilitating workshops open to the entire
finding, evaluating, and investing in new digital tools, despite SU team proved to have both pros and cons. As mentioned
acknowledging the problems that the interviews surfaced in Section 3.4, such workshops can bring together different
about their existing tools. stakeholders in a collaborative process of co-creation, through
which they become more committed to solutions they generate
As discussed in Subsection 2.2.1, startups at an early- (Mattelmäki et al., 2014). Hence on one hand, the workshops
growth stage like SU have more limited resources and face harnessed the enthusiasm and willingness of SU employees to
more financial uncertainty than established organisations develop internal practices, and gave them a space to shape the
(Goldsmith, 1996; Mueller et al., 2012). Other startups who future of their workplace together.
In the context of SU’s small and flat startup team however, this Instead, case studies rely on analytic generalisation, which
open participatory process also amplified diverging opinions strives to generalise findings from a case’s specific setting
between employees and slowed down decision-making. During to some broader theory in the relevant domain. Given this
Workshop 1 for example, employees disagreed on whether to understanding of case study research, the next subsection
stick with or change their digital tools, culminating in the discusses how SU’s case can be generalised.
CEO taking a flexible stance inclined towards the majority
view. SU’s experience with collaborative development 5.3.2 Generalisability of SU’s case
shows how empowering employees and leaders to influence SU’s organisational setting, like that of any other organisation,
outcomes equally can prevent decisive action on divisive is unique and has distinct characteristics which invariably
issues, especially when the team has an underlying inclination shaped the way its remote internal communication was
towards consensus-building. organised and how the team’s process of improving it played
out. Hence, this research does not seek to definitively claim
In sum, while participation and collaboration can help an that findings from SU’s case are predictive of how remote
organisation to develop remote internal communication in a internal communication and the process of developing it might
truly employee-centred way, they also open the door to difficult be like in other organisations.
debates. Hence, I believe open participation and collaboration
can be bolstered by prior commitment amongst participants to Rather, this case study generated insights that contribute
decision-making mechanisms for resolving disagreements that to our understanding of less-explored theoretical domains
arise, so that the employee-driven momentum can ultimately mentioned in the Theoretical Background chapter: internal
lead to concrete actions. communication in startups and in remote teams. Specifically,
it highlights the following relevant issues which warrant
further exploration, especially as organisations worldwide
5.3 Relevance of this case increasingly adopt remote working practices as a norm:
This section answers the third and final research question, 1. The need for facilitated remote interactions to build and
“How might this case study be relevant beyond SU?” maintain team spirit
2. The loss of spontaneity during remote work
5.3.1 Generalisability of case studies 3. The role of startup leaders and teams in finding ways
A common concern about case studies as a research method for employees to stay connected remotely
is about its generalisability, i.e. how can you generalise from a 4. The role of digital tools in creating more human ways of
single case? (Yin, 2009). This concern stems from the nature of communicating and collaborating remotely
case studies, like this one with SU, as an in-depth investigation 5. The importance of choosing the right digital tools
into a specific case which has highly particular characteristics 6. The importance of establishing team norms for remote
that shape the findings discovered. According to Yin (2009) communication
however, case studies are not meant to be generalisable to
larger populations or universes, as in statistical generalisation. However, I believe the future of work will not be as fully
remote as was observed in SU at the time of this case study
(at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic). Post-pandemic,

organisations will likely transition to hybrid work models that
flexibly combine in-person and remote work. The above issues
about remote internal communication highlighted by this case
study should hence be explored in the context of new hybrid
work models in future research, as will be elaborated on in
Section 6.2.
By painting a rich picture of SU’s specific organisational

setting, this case study also suggests conditions under which
insights from SU might be more applicable. Organisations and
teams which share many similar characteristics with SU, as
described below, are more likely to find this case study relevant:
1. Small team size (between 10-20 employees)

2. Internationally distributed team despite the small team
size
3. Substantial reliance on remote work
4. Culture of open communication, flat hierarchy, and
active participation in decision-making amongst all
employees
5. Startup at an early growth stage
However, it must be noted that internal communication

especially in small teams can be heavily influenced by
individual behavior and team dynamics. Each organisation’s
or team’s case may hence still vary signficantly, so any studies
or development processes should account for their specific
organisational setting as well.
134 Conclusions 135
In this final chapter, I discuss the limitations of the study and

suggest possibilities for future research.
6
6.1 Limitations of the research
Conclusions
Some limitations of this research should be noted. Firstly, time
constraints of this thesis dictated how much could be done,
and at what depth. The total duration from the first employee
interview to the completion of this thesis was slightly under
six months. Further, I was simultaneously juggling work as a
Designer at the case company alongside that of a Thesis Worker.
If more time had been available both for me and the employees
of SU, more extensive workshops and follow-up actions
could have been taken to see through the implementation of
solutions.
At the time of the case study, the case company was also
undergoing a challenging period in which resources were
stretched. Despite employees’ genuine willingness to contribute
to this development process, organisational circumstances and
individual work loads inevitably limited the types of solutions
that could be implemented, and the speed and extent of their
implementation. While these circumstantial factors affected
the development process however, they also contributed to
insights about the constraints faced by SU, and potentially by
other similar early-growth startups.
Further, this case study used employee interviews as its

primary source of evidence to understand remote internal
communication in SU. As verbal retrospective reports,
interviewees’ responses are vulnerable to bias, poor recall or
inaccurate articulation (Yin, 2009). However, this limitation
is not as significant due to the intrinsically “human” nature of
the research topic, which is concerned with how employees
communicate with each other. The interviews hence remain
a useful method to understand interviewees’ subjective
136 Conclusions Conclusions 137
experiences and opinions about communication in their with other startups with similar characteristics to SU, and to
workplace. compare the findings between the studies.
Finally, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic at the time of the It would also be interesting for future research to focus
study inevitably influenced how the research activities were specifically on individual issues surfaced by this case study as
carried out. Notably, all the interviewees and both workshops listed in Section 5.3.2, such as the impact of facilitated remote
were conducted remotely rather than in-person. However, interactions, the role of leadership, and the use of digital
since SU’s team is internationally distributed, the workshops tools. Since previous research on internal communication has
and at least some of the interviews would have to have been focused disproportionately on large established organisations
conducted remotely anyway, regardless of the pandemic. In and office work settings, more in-depth studies on these issues
fact, the pandemic even benefited this research in several as they manifest in remote startup teams are needed.
ways. It increased the reliance on remote work amongst the
Finland-based team, allowing both employees based in Finland Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has permanently altered how
and elsewhere to be united in their motivation to improve organisations work, creating an urgent need for research on
SU’s remote internal communication. The pandemic had also remote internal communication in the future of work. During
brought mainstream media attention to remote work and this study, the SU team was working almost fully remotely due
internal communication for the first time, with a proliferation to the combined effects of its existing flexible work culture
of articles on how companies and employees can navigate and the ongoing pandemic. As countries recover from the
this transition to remote work. This might have primed the pandemic however, organisations are likely to transition to
interviewees and workshop participants to more readily hybrid work models that combine in-person and remote work
discuss such issues in the context of SU’s own team, creating in new and flexible ways. More and more organisations, each
more insightful outcomes for my research. with their own unique characteristics and evolving internal
practices, will present interesting cases for further research on
hybrid working.
6.2 Suggestions for further research
I believe there is huge potential here for researchers and
This thesis has highlighted several promising directions organisations to learn from each other in navigating this
for further research: replicating this case study in similar transition to hybrid working. How can the combination of
organisations, understanding individual issues highlighted remote and in-person work be optimised? What practices
by this study in-depth, and envisioning remote internal work well and less well? How can hybrid work models be
communication in the evolving future of hybrid working. developed in employee-centred ways? These are all intriguing
questions that organisations are formulating answers to in real
As discussed in Section 5.3, findings from a single-case time today, generating rich material for researchers to observe
study like this one may be generalised to relevant theoretical and analyse in the coming years. Simultaneously, organisations
domains. However, the generalisation should be supported can be informed and inspired by researchers’ work to envision
by replicating the study with other similar cases (Yin, 2009). more effective and human hybrid working models.
Hence, it would be worthwhile to replicate this case study
138 Conclusions Conclusions 139
It is both surreal and exciting to realise that at the time that

this research is being concluded, we are moving into a future
of work that looks much different both from what we were
used to pre-pandemic, and what we are experiencing now
during the pandemic. In this light, this study with SU is but
one of many studies to come that will continue to expand
our understanding of remote internal communication in the
evolving future of work.
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146 Appendix 147
8.1 Appendix 1: Interview Guide
8 Introduction
I am working on my Master's Thesis with [SU], which is
Appendix
a case study research that explores how remote internal
communication can be organised more effectively in small but
geographically distributed companies.
For this interview, think about “internal communication” as:

all interactions and relationships between employees and/or
groups of employees inside the company, that are intended
to coordinate day-to-day business activities, implement new
projects and plans, or shape the direction of the company.
These interviews with you and other team members are one of
the first research activities I’m conducting. So I want to keep it
casual and open-ended to get a complete understanding of the
present state (good things, as well as areas for improvement)
of internal communication, and open up some initial ideas for
how we can develop it.
Before we start, is it ok if I record this interview? Relevant

quotes from you may be used in my thesis, but your identity
will be anonymised with numbers, e.g. “Employee 1”
Themes
In this interview, I wish to discuss a few main topics. I came
up with these topics based on previous discussions with [CEO]
and [COO], as well as my personal observations from working
at [SU].
• Present state of internal communication
• Collaboration on projects
• Meetings
• Remote work
• International teams
• Information and resource sharing
• Internal communication tools
148 Appendix Appendix 149
• Onboarding 9. How well do you think [SU] internal meetings are

• Dream state of internal communication in [SU’s] context conducted currently?
• Areas of strength? Areas for improvement?
If there are any other topics or issues you think are relevant to 10. Any wishes for how meetings can be conducted better?
discuss, which have not been covered under these, you can also • E.g. Types of meetings, frequency, duration,
raise them at the end of the interview or anytime during. facilitation structure, etc
11. How has your experience with the Weekly Work Buddy
Questions system been?
Background
1. How long have you worked at [SU]? Remote work, international teams
COVID has moved collaboration online even more. But this
Warm-up / Collaboration on projects has been [SU]’s reality even before the pandemic, due to having
Recall a current or recent project you worked on, that was teams in different locations.
(relatively) difficult or frustrating for you in terms of internal 12. How do you feel remote work has affected how you
communication: communicate with other team members (either
2. Why do you think this project was difficult or frustrating positively or negatively)?
for you? 13. What are some difficulties you face in working with
3. Does this happen often in other projects? geographically distributed teams (if any)?
• [If YES] Why do you think this is so?
• [If NO] In what ways do you think the smoother Information and resource sharing
projects are different from this one? 14. How easy or hard is it to get access to or find information
4. How do you usually communicate and collaborate with or files you need for your work? Why?
other project team members? • From who / where do you go to get what you need?
• In what ways have the collaboration been smooth, or
not smooth? Internal communication tools
15. On an average work day, when and how do you use each
Present state of internal communication of these tools –Teamwork Projects, Teamwork Chat,
5. How do you communicate with team members at Google Drive, Google Meets?
present? (What channels, what frequency)? 16. How well do each of these tools support your work?
6. To you, what are some good points about the way people • In what ways do they support you well, or not well?
communicate and work with each other at [SU] now?
7. What are some pain points or areas for improvement? Onboarding
17. How were you onboarded, especially in terms of
Meetings internal communication – using different tools / how
8. On average, how many internal meetings do you have in to find information / who to go to for help?
a week? (e.g. last week) • In what ways was this done well?
• How many hours do they take? • In what ways could it have been improved?
150 Appendix Appendix 151
Dream state
18. What would the dream state of internal communication
at [SU] look like to you?
19. If you could suggest 1-2 ways in which internal
communication at [SU] can be improved to achieve this
dream state / better support your and the company’s
needs, what would it be?
20. Any other issues or ideas that we haven’t discussed yet?

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Understanding and Improving

Remote Internal Communication

— Finally, thank you to the amazing humans who have been by

1.1 Personal motivation for this research

In particular, I began paying attention to brewing issues with

Towards the end of my traineeship, I was offered the

1.4 Thesis structure

This thesis is divided into six chapters. The present chapter,

Chapter 2 provides a theoretical background from literature

This chapter lays a theoretical foundation for the case study. It

2.1 Internal communication in organisations

In this section, I review different definitions of internal

2.1.1 Defining internal communication

…the communications transactions between individuals

This definition emphasises the multi-faceted nature of internal

“all formal and informal communication taking place

"Internal communication happens constantly within

The second goal of internal communication is to create a 2.2.1 Characteristics of startups

In the initial startup stage, the primary challenge for the

organisational growth and the responsive changes the startup

As one of the rare models developed for startups, Saini and

arrows moving clockwise from spoke I to spoke V, to illustrate

work better when employees have met in-person at least

In sum, remote work presents valid challenges to internal

In this chapter, I explain and justify the research methods

3.1 Single-case study

This thesis uses a single-case study as its overarching research

3.1.1 Justification for a single-case study

For the first criteria, “how” and “why” research questions

The semi-structured interview method entails a prepared but

3.3.1 Selection of interviewees 3.3.2 Interview structure

interview specifically to find out about the Operations team’s

3.3.3 Documentation and analysis

Since the interviews produced a large and diverse pool of

193 quotes were extracted, which I clustered into 17 themes.

Both Workshops 1 and 2 were conducted remotely over Google

The workshops used a combination of presentation, guided

This chapter dives into the core of this thesis – a case

Section 4.1 first introduces SU as the case company, then

Since the case study report reveals sensitive information about

SALES / BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MARKETING DESIGN IT / DATA OPERATIONS

CCO Service Design Lead (FI) COO

The co-working space in Helsinki is shared with other startups 7 8

4.1.5 Work culture and remote work

The good team spirit I think is also because of the

In addition to the planned work meetings described above,

4.2.2 Social meetings

Meeting Type Participants Frequency Content

Annual Team All employees Yearly Socialising and

4.2.4 Decision-making processes

For simple matters, SU employees are trusted to make decisions

4.4.9 Important information gets lost in the Chat

Other interviewees however felt that documenting

“… then again if you record it in a notebook which is buried

In the interim, some employees have developed their own

Image 17 It also broke down previously large, seemingly all-

“One advantage is that it's smaller digestible work packages,

This effective restructuring of how the SU team uses their

A new group channel can easily be created by typing the names