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- Augustinsson, Sören
(författare)
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Om organiserad komplexitet : integration av organisering, lärande och kunnande
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall purpose of the thesis is how organisations can be understood according their own conditions instead of trying to make them more rational and structured than they actually are in practice. In order to accomplish this, the thesis includes theoretical discussions with support in the following central concepts: organisation, learning and knowing. The contents of these concepts are treated as details, but are also to some extent integrated in order to understand organised complexity, which in this case means organisations. A feature of organised complexity is the dynamic character of relations and the fact that the results can be unpredictable. The phenomenon in itself is neither organised nor disorganised, but its most distinguishing feature is what is in between. These perspectives are represented within theories of complex adaptive systems. In this way, the last mentioned theories are used as an entirety, with the three themes, in order to understand organised complexity. By having themes (in this case organisation, learning and knowing) as a starting point, the result is that these central parts can be integrated with support in complex adaptive processes, where nine principles are considered somewhat more important than others. These principles are: self- organising, the future is under constant construction - a never-ending creation, circular causality, process is focused rather than result, paradoxes exist simultaneously, change is normality, small events and fluctuations rather than larger ones lead to change, time aspects are always present, and positive as well as negative feedback is given. These nine principles are crucial, also for the outcome of rational reason. In addition to this, there are roles, relations and interactions, general important concepts in order to understand the process within the three themes and thus organised complexity. In order to look into these concepts and their integration, two case studies are used: a study of a tax office and an ethnographic study of machine operators. The stories, and thus the descriptions, that emerge from the interviews are more ambiguous than logical and rational. In each organisation respectively, different kinds of interaction take place between the different roles, but also between the individual and his or her idea of the content of the role he or she has. Thus, the individual paradoxically appears simultaneously as individual and role. Moreover, relations are ambiguous: to the task, the work management and to other roles. In all these relations, meaning is constructed from roles and interactions, meaning that tends to repeat itself in self-organising processes. First and foremost, these processes take place out of circular causality rather than a simple reasoning of cause and effect . The creation of meaning with the time aspects of the past, the present and the future exist simultaneously as vital parts of interactions. For the machine operator this takes place in relation to the task, the machine, the supervisor, technicians, other operators and others, for tax administrators in relation to staff reductions and other changes initiated by the management. If the nine principles constitute largest possible entirety, then details are represented by the themes and their contents. In all the themes and in theories of complex adaptive processes, role, relation and interaction are recurring concepts. Together, they constitute some of the concepts that enable an analysis of connections between action and interest that are characterised as organised complexity which is constructed by interaction of details.
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| 2. |
- Johansson Falck, Marlene
(författare)
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Technology, Language and Thought : Extensions of Meaning in the English Lexicon
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this thesis, the relationship between technological innovation and the development of language and thought is analysed. For this purpose, three different fields of technology are investigated: 1) the steam engine, 2) electricity, and 3) motor vehicles, roads and ways. They have all either played an extremely important part in people’s lives, or they are still essential to us. The overall aim is to find out in what ways these inventions and discoveries have helped people to develop abstract thinking and given speakers of English new possibilities to express themselves. Questions being asked are a) if the correlations in experience between the inventions and other domains have motivated new conceptual mappings? b) if the experiences that they provide people with may be used to re-experience certain conceptual mappings, and hence make them more deeply entrenched in people’s minds? and c) if the uses of them as cognitive tools have resulted in meaning extension in the English lexicon? The study is based on metaphoric and metonymic phrases collected from a number of different dictionaries. In the material a large number of metaphorical and metonymic expressions including terms connected to the inventions and discoveries that are part of this thesis are found. As is clear from the expressions, the steam engine, electricity, motor vehicles, roads and ways have all provided us with ample tools for structuring our thoughts, and for conveying our thoughts to others. Primarily, it seems to be the different functions of the discoveries and inventions, or the effects that they have on other objects that have motivated the mappings. In addition to analysing the cognitive role of the inventions that are part of this thesis, some general conclusions concerning the relationship between language, thought and world are suggested.
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| 3. |
- Vänje, Annika, Professor, 1963-
(författare)
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Knäcka Koderna : Praxis kring kön, industriell organisation och ledarskap
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The main purpose of this doctoral thesis is to describe, analyse and initiate processes of change from a gender point of view. In the present field study the focus is on gender-creating processes in and around formal and informal structures at an engineering company´s organisation. The central theme is the implication of gender in relation to industrial organisation and leadership.The aim of this thesis is i) to identify processes and praxis in the organisation that create both opportunities and obstacles for women who have made an untraditional choice of career as engineers and managers, ii) on the basis of this knowledge and together with practitioners in the organisation initiate processes of change that will increase the proportion of women managers.The doing-gender approach has been used as a theoretical tool in order to understand the processes surrounding technology, leadership and gender in the organisation. Doing gender allows us to initiate process-thinking about how gender is constructed in different social contexts, such as those in industrial organisations. From a doing-gender perspective the central question is what an individual does and not what he or she is. In other words, the focus is on actions.The methodological approach is action-oriented, using as its starting point an interactive research perspective. The interactive approach has a democratic basic outlook, it combines theoretical understanding with practical action.This doctoral thesis helps to elucidate the complexity of gender-creating structures, processes and practices in an industrial organisation. Its empirical method also shows how researchers and practitioners in the organisation can jointly launch processes of change on the basis of a gender-theoretical basis.The thesis presents a gender-theoretical model for change and analysis that is based on the so-called doing-gender approach. This model has been of importance both as an analytical tool and as a starting point for initiating processes of change. The model has four dimensions and they are dissimilar in character and are more or less demanding of time in bringing about changes. They each have an effect and affect each other in various constellations in the gender-creating processes in organisations.The viewpoints that the doing-gender approach communicates makes it possible to change existing attitudes and expectations concerning gender, since the construction of gender is a continually ongoing process that differs in different contexts.One contribution that this thesis makes is to illuminate the complexity of organisation and gender. It contributes to research by providing empirical examples of gender-creating praxis in an engineering company and by showing how we can work on processes of change from a gender perspective.
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| 4. |
- Wennergren, Ann-Christine, 1957-
(författare)
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Dialogkompetens i skolans vardag : En aktionsforskningsstudie i hörselklassmiljö
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In classes for hard-of-hearing pupils there are children and young people with different degrees of impaired hearing, all of whom need hearing aids and technical equipment inthe environment. The initial problem area of the present thesis concerned the pattern of communication in the classroom. Previous research has shown that such communication is strongly affected by the chosen technical solution. The research questions developed successively from the assumption that it is only the teachers that can change the learning environment. In order to achieve a combination of scientific results and improvement,this study has an action research study approach. The overall aim was to illuminate and describe dialogues between different actors in a national school improvement project. Actors in the context were teachers, their pupils and the researcher. The thesis is based on improvement work in which the researcher cooperated with fifty teachers from five schools located in different parts of Sweden. This work involved parallel processes of change, for the pupils in the classrooms and for the participating teachers. The thesis comprises three substudies, two of which are focused on the teachers’ dialogues and one on the pupils’ listening environments. In the last-mentioned substudy, 165 pupils were asked to draw and describe their best listening environment at school. The result showed that the listening role required different environmental conditions, such as a cleaned upsound environment, visual support, conversation rules and comfortable surroundings. A central conclusion was that pupils need to be offered opportunities to verbalise their individual needs in the school environment. The result further showed that the teachers worked in different ways to improve the learning environment and that they introduced structures to support the dialogue between pupils. This happened at the same time as the teachers were trying out tools for their own learning in order to take part in dialogues with colleagues based on confirmations and challenges. Tools used in the learning processes were a logbook, shadowing, facilitating and a net-based dialogue. The analyses showed explicit differences between using the tools and learning through them in the zone of proximal development. In their improvement processes the teachers depended on critical friends in order to be challenged as knowledge developers. Difficulties in giving a balanced response were evident from the net-based forum in which the teachers reported different attempts at change. The study has drawn on sociocultural perspectives on learning in which dialogue competence have been central to learning in the classroom and in the teachers’ occasional communities of practice. The results indicate that teachers, for their professional improvement, require critical friends in alternative forms of learning processes and that pupils as actors require alternative listening environments.
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| 5. |
- Oghazi, Pejvak
(författare)
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Supply chain management : an empirical study on Swedish manufacturing firms' enterprise systems adoption, supply chain integration, competition capability and performance
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Today’s marketplace is more fiercely competitive than ever before. Globalization, continual technological advances, and an ever-changing customer demand for new products have brought about new managerial practices and business models. New management approaches and unique business models emerge and fade constantly as managers strive to help their companies succeed in this less-predictable business world. However, communication and information technologies are offering new opportunities for businesses to compete in the global arena with a variety of tools. One area that has benefited the most from new technologies is supply chain management (SCM). Today, SCM could be a single, integrated function that is responsible for all aspects of material flow, as well as financial and information exchange among business partners within the chain. For several years, pundits have observed that the very nature of competition is changing. Some experts have even claimed that the day is rapidly approaching when companies will no longer compete against other companies. Instead, they foresaw a world in which supply chains will compete with other supply chains for market supremacy. The possibilities in a supply chain are indeed astounding, but the challenges that lie along the path to achieve excellence in supply chain integration are equally formidable. Companies are investing in systems, tweaking measures, and looking to technology and people to find the key to more effective interorganizational cooperation. To help future managers achieve success in this arena, this PhD project articulates a support measure intended to underscore the importance of supply chain integration for the focal firm in terms of better competition capability and performance. A proposed research model and seven hypotheses were developed in this PhD project. A survey was conducted among Swedish manufacturing companies, which resulted in 422 complete and usable responses, with an effective response rate of 65.8%. The hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling. Additionally, the moderating and mediating effects were also tested in this study. The results obtained for this thesis suggest that a significant relationship exists between the perceived benefits of SCM integration and the adoption of different enterprise systems. With regard to the core issues of this thesis regarding the connection between supply chain integration, competition capability, and firm performance, the findings strongly indicate a positive and direct relationship between these constructs. Furthermore, the present study also determined that the competition capability of a firm mediates the relationship between supply chain integration and the performance of the firm. Consequently, firms that strive to achieve superior performance, and thus establish a strong position in the marketplace, should consider a genuine integration level with their supply chain partners. For this reason, the adoption of different enterprise systems facilitates the achievement of a high-level integration across the supply chain. It is also important to recognize that establishment of a high integration level is essential to achieving superior performance and a strong competition capability in the market today and in the future.
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| 6. |
- Rundquist, Jonas, 1964-
(författare)
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Outsourcing and knowledge integration in new product development
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis deals with two aspects of knowledge needed for new product development; theaccess to external knowledge through outsourcing of NPD and the integration of knowledgedeveloped when outsourcing activities in the NPD process. As modern products competing onincreasingly international markets call for both complex and specialized knowledge, it isbecoming more important to take an outward perspective of knowledge, searching for externalknowledge sources, in order to be competitive. But it is also important for the firm to take aninward perspective on integration of the knowledge achieved from external sources in order tosecure the knowledge gained.Outsourcing of New Product Development (NPD) refers to the outsourcing of activities fordeveloping new products (goods and/or service), where all or the innovative part of the NPDprocess is purchased externally according to a contract from organizational units separatefrom the outsourcing firm. This means that the service to develop a whole or a part of a newproduct is outsourced. This definition implies that (A) the outsourced activity shall be aninnovative (strongly contributing to the newness) part of the NPD process, (B) the outsourcedactivity was previously conducted internally, and (C) the activity shall be purchased andregulated in a contractual agreement between the organizations.Knowledge integration refers to the process of acquiring, sharing, and making use ofknowledge by combining it with previous knowledge in order to create new value. Becauseknowledge possessed in collaborating firms is often complementary, it is important tocombine it with previous knowledge in the firm. Therefore knowledge integration is chosenthroughout the thesis as the term for the overall process.Based on transaction costs theory, resource based and knowledge based perspectives twomajor issues are investigated. First, the identification of which factors are the most importantfor firms when making the decision to outsource activities in the NPD process. Second, theestablishment of the importance for knowledge integration of external knowledge in the firm,and to find what role level of involvement among staff plays for efficiently achievingknowledge integration.The thesis is a compilation thesis (with six appended papers) based on findings from threequantitative studies and a longitudinal case study (presented in two of the appended papers).Using cases from and samples of medium-sized manufacturing firms with in-house NPD itwas found that, while cost has been traditionally considered the most important factor foroutsourcing in general, search for external knowledge is found to have a greater importancewhen intangible processes as NPD is object for outsourcing. It is also found that thematicknowledge is the most important type of knowledge to efficiently integrate to achieve highinnovation performance and that a higher degree of processes and culture supportinginvolvement, increase knowledge integration when outsourcing activities in the NPD process.
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| 8. |
- Hansson, Örjan, 1965-
(författare)
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Studying the views of preservice teachers on the concept of function
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of an overview of the subject, where in particular five papers are put into a frame. The research conducted for the thesis concerns the views of preservice teachers on the concept of function. Preservice teachers’ conceptions of the function concept are in particular examined in relation to mathematical statements that can be related to different topics on a variety of levels in mathematics; in this research, concept mapping technique is a research tool of interest. Questions concerning preservice teachers’ conceptions of the significance of functions in mathematics, and the presence of functions in school mathematics, are also considered relevant aspects of their views of functions. The final part of the research study includes an intervention study regarding the concept of function, located to a calculus course as one of the concluding courses in mathematics on the educational programme. There is a range of findings from the study that is summarized and further discussed in the overview part of the thesis. One result, is that preservice teachers in their reasoning show signs of knowledge compartmentalization which is an issue of concern in their development of conceptual frameworks rich in meaningful connections. This might have consequences for their abilities to operate in a constructivist environment and reason with their students from different points of view. The function concepts’ large network of relations to other concepts is frequently omitted in the preservice teachers’ reasoning. One reason for this is that to preservice teachers, properties of functions seem to be results of isolated procedures, associated with operational conceptions rather than structural conceptions of functions. The findings imply that preservice teachers should encounter functions in a variety of context, to develop their views of the concept of function – including frameworks rich of meaningful relations – and realize that the concept of function is one of the underlying concepts of mathematics, and an important concept to introduce to their future students. The preservice teachers’ reflections concerning functions in school mathematics contribute to emphasize the significance of the process of transformation of subject matter knowledge to pedagogical content knowledge. Further results of the research study, and an outline of the implications, are included in the concluding discussion of the overview part of the thesis. The preservice teachers participating in the study are enrolled in a four and a half year teacher preparation program in mathematics and science, grades 4 to 9. The five papers included in the thesis, describe parts of a larger study essentially conducted until the sixth term during the concluding mathematics courses of the program.
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