Process automation is often portrayed as a straightforward solution, yet its successful introduction and long-term maintenance are organizationally complex. It requires careful planning, strategic management, and sustained commitment from the outset. Automation initiatives also unfold in multi-stakeholder contexts, where various actors are involved in and affected by automation in different ways. Despite the widespread use of process automation, knowledge remains limited regarding how organizations should govern and maintain such initiatives over time, as well as how automation affects employees’ work situations and work environment. This thesis therefore examines the maintenance of process automation by exploring how automation initiatives are organized and governed across development, implementation, and management phases in a multi-stakeholder context, from an organizational work environment perspective. Empirically, the thesis is based on a qualitative and interpretative single-case study of the automation of several human resource (HR) processes at a large industrial company in Sweden. The study focuses particularly on the automation team responsible for maintaining and managing the automated solutions. The empirical material consists primarily of participatory observations and field interviews conducted during a year-long observational study, supplemented by two rounds of semi-structured interviews. The analysis combines stakeholder theory with the demand-control-support model to explore challenges and tensions in the ongoing maintenance and management of process automation. These include technical debt, time constraints, technical issues released to production, support-channel difficulties, end-user-related problems, competing demands and priorities, and insufficient inter-team collaboration. The analysis further shows how these challenges were shaped by structural work conditions characterized by high job demands, limited control, and weak social support. The combined theoretical framing provides a structured way to analyze the tensions that arise when process automation unfolds in complex multi-stakeholder settings. The thesis concludes that the challenges involved in maintaining and managing process automation were simultaneously technical, organizational, and relational. These tensions were linked to a mismatch between the automation initiative’s  objectives and the organization’s arrangements and capacity. They became particularly visible in stakeholder interactions, consultant dependency, and development-oriented maintenance practices. 

Processautomation framställs ofta som en okomplicerad lösning, men dess framgångsrika införande och långsiktiga underhåll är organisatoriskt komplext. Det kräver noggrann planering, strategisk styrning och ett varaktigt engagemang redan från start. Automationsinitiativ utvecklas också i sammanhang med flera intressenter, där olika aktörer är involverade i och påverkas av automation på olika sätt. Trots den utbredda användningen av processautomation är kunskapen fortfarande begränsad om hur organisationer bör styra och under-hålla sådana initiativ över tid, samt om hur automation påverkar medarbetares arbetssituation och arbetsmiljö. Denna licentiatavhandling undersöker därför underhållet av processautomation genom att utforska hur automationsinitiativ organiseras och styrs under utvecklings-, implementerings- och förvaltningsfaserna i ett sammanhang med flera intressenter, utifrån ett organisatoriskt arbetsmiljö-perspektiv. Empiriskt bygger licentiatavhandlingen på en kvalitativ och tolkande fallstudie av automatiseringen av flera HR-processer vid ett stort industriföretag i Sverige. Studien fokuserar särskilt på det automationsteam som ansvarar för att underhålla och förvalta de automatiserade lösningarna. Det empiriska materialet består främst av deltagande observationer och fältintervjuer, som genomfördes under en årslång observationsstudie, kompletterat med två omgångar semistrukturerade intervjuer. Analysen kombinerar intressentteori med krav-kontroll-stödmodellen för att undersöka utmaningar och spänningar i det pågående underhållningsarbetet och förvaltningen av processautomation. Dessa omfattar teknisk skuld, tidsbegränsningar, tekniska problem som släpps ut i produktion, svårigheter kopplade till teknisk support, slutanvändarrelaterade problem, konkurrerande krav och prioriteringar samt otillräckligt samarbete mellan automationsteam. Analysen visar vidare hur dessa utmaningar formades av strukturella arbetsvillkor som kännetecknades av höga arbetskrav, begränsad kontroll och svagt socialt stöd. Den kombinerade teoretiska inramningen erbjuder ett strukturerat sätt att analysera de spänningar som uppstår när processautomation utvecklas i komplexa sammanhang med flera intressenter. Licentiatavhandlingen drar slutsatserna att utmaningarna med att underhålla och förvalta processautomation var både tekniska, organisatoriska och relationella. Dessa spänningar var kopplade till en bristande överensstämmelse mellan automationsinitiativets mål och organisationens strukturella förutsättningar och kapacitet. De blev särskilt synliga i intressentinteraktioner, konsultberoende och utvecklingsorienterade förvaltningsmetoder.

This study explores organizational work environment issues related to the dynamics of client-consultant teams in complex automation projects. Focusing on a Swedish industrial company’s long-term collaboration with a consultancy firm to implement HR process automation, the study highlights how the interplay between knowledge and power shape the collaboration, stakeholder salience, and project success. Grounded in Nordic traditions of user-participation and democracy, it draws attention to how automation initiatives affect structural working conditions, job demands, and resources. This qualitative, single-case study, featuring participatory observations and semi-structured interviews, reveals the importance of addressing work environment issues at an organizational level and underscores the challenges of ensuring knowledge transfer, balancing stakeholder interests, and maintaining agile, collaborative prac-tices. The findings contribute to current Nordic and global discourses by demonstrating how client–consultant relationships and dependency can transform an organization’s conditions and requirements for work, emphasizing the need for a strategic approach to project management.

This paper explores organizational work environment issues related to Human Resource (HR) process automation. While HR process automation promises efficiency and productivity gains, it also introduces new challenges. These include organizational changes in the conditions and requirements for work, with the potential of significant impact on the employees’ working with these technologies. Our research examines this relationship, highlighting the need to consider organizational work environment issues early in the automation process. We present preliminary findings from a literature analysis and an ongoing case study on automation of the onboarding process at a large industrial company, emphasizing the need for user involvement throughout the design, implementation, and use of the automated system. The study contributes by illustrating the relationship between HR process automation and work environment. Our continued and future work aims to contribute with theoretical insights on, and practical guidelines for, organizational work environment interventions related to HR process automation.