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- Johanne Pettersen, Inger, et al.
(författare)
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Nordic Management & Business Administration Research - Quo Vadis?
- 2002
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper deals with the ongoing debate as to whether there is a Nordic research tradition in management and business administration. And if there is such a tradition, what are the characteristics of this way of academic thinking? The research question is particularly relevant due to the globalisation of trade and communication and the expansion of multinational companies, which have made management more observant of international trends, styles and cultures. Does global competition entail a global management style, or are there still some use in understanding and going deeper into regional/geographical management characteristics as a means of competition and thus, as a topic for research? The empirical data is based on a survey study among the participants at the 15th Nordic Conference on Business Studies hosted by the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration in Helsinki, August 1999. The study identifies some strong scholars in this research field, who dominate the learning processes by which research traditions emerge. Based on this and earlier work we conclude that management and business administration research is diverse and fragmented. To integrate this field there is a drive towards integrative research methods like field- and case-studies and narrative perspectives.
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- Jönsson, Sten, 1940
(författare)
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Action towards time structures in product development processes - observations on the micro level
- 2003
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In product development processes conventional wisdom has it that structure is provided by strict specifications of product properties, budgets and time schedules that are followed up (Womack et al 1990, Clark & Fujimoto, 1991). This is especially applicable to the car industry, which has the longest history of large, complex development projects directed towards large consumer markets. I claim that such "models" are based on romantic assumptions that the planner commands the required specialised knowledge and that members of development teams are easy to discipline by unrealistic requirements. In real life budgets are overrun and adjusted accordingly if the right arguments are given, specifications are surpassed as technical development and customer tastes progress, while time schedules are manipulated to fit the real situation. To do things according to plan is probably not always right. Still there is a disciplining dimension in these planning tools since they are used as bases for argumentation and as generators of crisis consciousness. In this paper I will concentrate on the time factor as it is socially constructed in a so called "gate system" to control a car development project. One incident in a meeting of the project management team about halfway through the project is analysed against the background of the gate system, the alliance situation, relations to functional departments, production schedules, suppliers participating in development, and other complexifying background factors. It is claimed that time is not a absolute, universal or even "shared" entity in any practical meaning. It is rather a social artefact that can be stretched, bent, manipulated and renegotiated. Still it is an actant in the sense that it sets agendas and provides arenas for argumentation in the general discourse on what constitutes a premium product (which develops into a narrative as nets of actions concord). A "shared" conception of time in the product development project will require a strong narrative as a sense-making device.
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- Jönsson, Sten, 1940, et al.
(författare)
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Articulation of principles on the micro level - observing argumentation in a merger process
- 2004
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The merging process between a Swedish and a Norwegian manufacturing company has been studied using interviews, video recordings and comments explaining video recorded events at meetings. It is assumed that sensemaking includes a choice of con-text to apply to the text at hand. But sensemaking also offers opportunities to propagate a certain con-text/perspective. Here a central idea, "selvstendig bedrift" (independent and self-sufficient company), is taken as the object to unpack. We demonstrate how it has become value-laden in Norwegian managerial discourse and tied to a managerial role that differs slightly from the Swedish one. We also show an example of how principles packed into this idea become articulated in practical discourse in a management meeting and how participants interpret "what is going on". A conclusion is that a speaker must pay attention to what context he or she wants to mobilize in the audience. We also question to what extent terms like "shared values" or "shared information" has any useful meaning.
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- Jönsson, Sten, 1940
(författare)
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Banks and their world view contexts
- 2016
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- It is reasonable to assume that banks, throughout history, will pay attention to what arguments best justify their existence and their maintenance of their “good name”. Most banks have long histories of survival in adverse conditions and of surfing on good tides. At the same time the recent crisis has demonstrated that many banks (and government agencies) failed to see what was coming and take appropriate action. In fact my starting assumption in the work on this essay has been that most failures in this crisis can be labelled managerial failures, ethical as well as instrumental. Over time I grew convinced that it is more complicated than that. It is not that bank managers do not make grave mistakes, they certainly do, but it is also that the contexts in which banks have to find their model of survival and prosperity there are also wills and strategies at play. The context is not a passive generator of data to be used for forecasting, it is rather an active player, who, to the extent that it finds it worthwhile to pay any attention to banks, will assert power to make banks employ a “logic of appropriateness”. That concept (the logic of appropriateness) was introduced by March & Olsen (1984, 2009) into organizational discourse in the form of “new institutionalism” deals with the simple but fundamental question: “What should a person like me do in a situation like this?” That question is not only about “who am I? (a person like me)” but also “what kind of situation is this?” (the context), and “What actions are possible?”(do). The normative factors at play at a given time and place must be discerned and acted upon for the person in question to do the appropriate thing, not only the person’s self-interest but also socially sanctioned values contained in the dominating ideology. Of course the person can rebel, but this is done better with appropriate knowledge of the values that are celebrated here at this time. My project is to lay out some of the major ideologies in history and place some prominent banks along the time line to see if anything can be discovered concerning the interaction between banks and their value contexts. I have chosen Scholasticism (around 400 to 1600 AD), Mercantilism (the 1600s), Liberalism (1700 – 1900), Neoliberalism (1900 until today).
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- Jönsson, Sten, 1940, et al.
(författare)
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Bracketing an issue in a product develoment process
- 2000
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper deals with action in the complex setting of a large product develeopment project a new year model of a car. The prespective is that of one engineer who has discovered a problem with the prototype car he is driving (a noise problem). He wants a mandate to study and propose a solution, but the issue is lost to a colleague. The analysis is based on a video recording of the project management meeting and audiotapes of participants' explanations to the conversation as it is replayed to them individually. It seems like the focus person (Charlie) fails to control the definition of the problem. The `bracketing' of an issue in meetings, and floor management as a means of making meetings efficient, are discussed.
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- Jönsson, Sten, 1940, et al.
(författare)
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Confrontation and the rules of the game in product development - the micro processes
- 2001
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Observations from two car projects are analysed. Video-recordings of two sequences showing team members trying to use confrontation to make other members change their behaviour and pay more attention to the provision of current information on release status to colleagues. The problem is formulated against a background of decision quality and creativity which are assumed to improve with `programmed conflict'. Such a conflict is present almost by design when representatives of Production Control participate in decisions on design changes in late stages of the product development process. It is found that confrontation seems to be inconclusive, arguments in general in the observed projects seemed to be incomplete. This is probably because several con-texts are mobilised when members of different specialities interpret what is meant by an argument. An alternative approach to analysis using a modernised version of Speech Act theory (Cooren 2000) is used. A new kind of polyphony is indicated.
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- Jönsson, Sten, 1940, et al.
(författare)
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Doing interventionist research in management accounting
- 2005
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Interventionist research is not unobtrusive since the researcher deliberately seeks to make an impact on the world in order to gain knowledge. In this chapter we examine the fundamental nature of interventionist research in management accounting, its philosophical anchoring, variations, and forms of output. We also give brief illustrations. The distinguishing character of this kind of research is the need for the researcher to cross the border between the etic (outsider) and the emic (insider) perspectives - there and back again. This shift between differing logics provides opportunities for new insights since the researcher wants to achieve solutions that work in the field and come back with evidence of theoretical significance.
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