| 1. |
- Smith, Peter B., et al.
(författare)
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In search of Nordic management styles
- 2003
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Management. - : Elsevier. - 0956-5221 .- 1873-3387. ; 19:4, s. 491-507
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previously published studies have indicated some distinctive aspects of Nordic management. Nordic managers have been consistently reported as individualistic but also more ‘feminine’ and employee-oriented, than those further south. In the present study, the ways in which managers from the five Nordic nations describe their role are compared with descriptions provided by managers from 42 other nations. Managers from each nation were asked to describe the degree to which they relied on each of eight sources of guidance in handling a series of everyday work events. Nordic managers reported relying more on subordinates and peers and less on formal rules and superiors than did other European managers. However, marked contrasts were also found between the Nordic manager samples. Predictions are derived from the results as to the types of difficulty most likely to occur within different Nordic collaborations.
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| 2. |
- Berg, Monika, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Managing public value conflicts – Institutional strategies and the greening of public pension funds
- 2023
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Management. - : Elsevier. - 0956-5221 .- 1873-3387. ; 39:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Greening public organizations demands the acknowledgment and reconciliation of tensions and conflicts between core values. This is a challenge that public pension funds have come to face as the call for sustainability has reached the finance sector. Building on the value pluralism debate and institutional theory this article provides a theoretical elaboration of strategies for managing value conflict in public organizations, discussing how value conflict management may promote or inhibit institutional change. The empirical analysis explores how sustainability-related value conflicts are managed within Swedish public pension funds. Political goals and ideals of sustainable finance are pushing funds to promote sustainability through their investments, thus, to consider and promote further values than financial return. Previous research has mainly focused on the financial profitability of sustainability concerns. This study shows that economic value calculation remains the dominant approach within funds, downplaying any conflict between environmental and financial goals. However, to maintain institutional legitimacy under increasing external pressure, the funds have implemented complementary strategies, such as organizational separation of value-related tasks, and different principles for prioritizing value-based actions. The funds thereby avoid ethical reasoning which they fear would lead to subjectivity. In conclusion, the implications for organizational change are discussed.
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| 3. |
- Bergström, Ola, 1968, et al.
(författare)
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Organizing disciplinary power in a knowledge organization
- 2009
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0956-5221 .- 1873-3387. ; 25:2, s. 178-190
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article provides a systematic attempt to analyze the effects of performance appraisals, here conceptualized as tools for executing disciplinary power, and how the agency of employees is shaped. The article demonstrates how agency is enrolled by a broad set of disciplinary technologies aimed at behavior as well as the self, orchestrated in way that effectively short-circuits resistance. Drawing upon data collected from a Swedish subsidiary of a large American consultancy firm, the article provides a detailed account for the use of disciplinary technologies in knowledge-intensive work and other types of high-commitment work settings. Furthermore, the article pays specific attention to how punishments, rewards and human agency interact in this context.
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| 4. |
- Du Rietz, Sabina, 1983-
(författare)
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When accounts become information : A study of investors’ ESG analysis practice
- 2014
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Management. - : Elsevier. - 0956-5221 .- 1873-3387. ; 30:4, s. 395-408
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present study investigates how accounts are identified as information. A precondition for the interpretation and use of information is that it is identified as potential information. How does this happen? Using the empirical case of investor analysts and environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, the study finds that to be able to distinguish information from irrelevant accounts, the analysts specify what they want knowledge about, the epistemic object. In fact, how the epistemic object is defined strongly influences which accounts are regarded as information. Still, the linking between accounts and what they are believed to reflect requires an interpretation. This effort is particularly visible when the ‘fit’ is lacking. Studying and reflecting on their informing process, the analysts acquire knowledge of what is captured but should not be and what is not captured but should be. Hence, the identification of accounts is not only the story of how available accounts are identified as information but also of how information is identified in its absence.
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| 5. |
- Eriksson-Zetterquist, Ulla, 1967, et al.
(författare)
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On the use and usefulness of theories and perspectives: A reply to Brunsson
- 2021
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0956-5221 .- 1873-3387. ; 37:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present paper is a reply to Brunsson (2021b), who wrote a commentary on the edited volume Theories and Perspectives in Business Administration (Eriksson-Zetterquist, Hansson & Nilsson, 2020). Although we agree with Brunsson on several points, we nevertheless argue that students need to learn about different theories and perspectives. First, the use of theories and perspectives as analytical tools will help students to describe and analyze a certain phenomenon. Second, to be able to theorize students need to acquire fundamental knowledge of the background and the specificities of the theory or perspective in use. Third, an awareness of the diversity of theories and perspectives that exists within the business administration discipline is a prerequisite to being able to contribute to the creation of new knowledge. Finally, we do not agree with Brunsson that the multitude of theories and perspectives in the business administration discipline is a sign of "an inferiority complex". It is the outcome of the vitality and viability of the discipline.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Frostenson, Magnus, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Organizational sustainability identity : Constructing oneself as sustainable
- 2022
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Management. - : Elsevier. - 0956-5221 .- 1873-3387. ; 38:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the literature, organizational sustainability identity tends to be treated as something that is ‘engineered’ within business organizations through control, reporting, target setting, strategic communication, and other instruments. Through a case study of a company mainly active within the recycling industry, an alternative understanding is given. A distinct organizational sustainability identity is, rather, a social construct based on perceptions of the core operations as “sustainable in themselves” and collaborative work with customers that is perceived as entailing sustainable solutions. Understood in this way, organizational sustainability identity has relatively little to do with formal controls such as codes, policies, reports used by management to position the company as sustainable. Rather, for organizational members, the process of constructing oneself as sustainable builds on convictions about the core operations and the possession of specific capabilities manifested in customer relations. The article adds to current literature through its constructivistic approach and through identifying underlying beliefs that condition the process of forming an organizational sustainability identity.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Greve, Jan, 1951-, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of society on management control systems
- 2017
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Management. - : Elsevier. - 0956-5221 .- 1873-3387. ; 33:4, s. 253-266
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study is to investigate whether certain configurations of management controls dominate in certain societies (socio-cultural contexts) and whether the effectiveness of a given archetype of management control systems (MCSs) varies depending on the socio-cultural setting the society in which it operates. The study focuses on three socio-cultural groups and the corresponding institutional contexts (an Anglo-Saxon group, a Central European group, and a Northern European group) and three MCS archetypes (delegated bureaucratic control, delegated output control, and programmable output control). We use unique data from a cross-national, interview-based survey encompassing 610 strategic business units from nine countries (seven European countries plus Canada and Australia). The idea that firms tend to adapt MCSs to the socio-cultural context does not gain empirical support in this study. No significant differences in the distribution of MCSs between the three socio-cultural groups are noted. However, we do find that programmable output control has a more positive impact on effectiveness in Anglo-Saxon cultures, while delegated output control has a more positive impact on effectiveness in Northern Europe. Taken together these findings indicate that distinct differences between societies make a particular MCS design more appropriate in a given society, but where such differences are not dramatic (as in the present case), multiple MCS designs can be found in the same society.
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| 10. |
- Hansson, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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Recontextualizing the Hawthorne effect
- 2006
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0956-5221 .- 1873-3387. ; 22:2, s. 120-137
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we explore the thesis that a threat to the vital interests of an entity, be it a single individual or a group, will lead to productivity increases in a variety of forms. We argue that because threat was present in the Hawthorne experiments, the adoption of a decline perspective is relevant to a recontextualization of the Hawthorne effect. This means introducing aspects of an open systems approach into the analysis. A comparison between the Hawthorne effect and the Closedown and Horndal effects reveals certain analytical similarities. In view of this, and because the threat factor is present in the Hawthorne experiments, we recommend that threat be taken into account as one component of the Hawthorne effect
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