| 1. |
- Bergström, Ola, 1968, et al.
(författare)
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It takes change to remain the same: The transformation of Swedish government policy making in economic crises and the involvement of social partners
- 2021
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Ingår i: Economic and Industrial Democracy. - 0143-831X. ; 43:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The government responses to the corona crisis across the world has actualized an old debate regarding the role of the state and government policy making in economic crises. This debate should, the authors of this article argue, be understood in the context of how government policy making has been transformed in advanced capitalist economies in the past five decades and recent theoretical developments regarding the role of actors and institutions involved in the production and dissemination of ideas in such transformations. Drawing on an extensive review of policy making and changes in policy making doctrines, this article examines the role of government public investigations in the transformation of the Swedish government policy making in relation to economic crises where the state supports policy making through social partners.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Leadership under construction: A qualitative exploration of leadership processes in construction companies in Sweden.
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management - ASCE. - 1943-7862 .- 0733-9364. ; 147:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Leadership has increasingly been advocated as a potent organizing practice, linked positively to several performance dimensionsas well as successful organizational development and change. Despite these alleged promises, the specific characteristics of leadership proc-esses as they unfold in a construction context have not been fully captured by construction researchers. This paper is predicated on anidentified lack of methodological richness underlying leadership studies in construction. While a growing number of contributions havequantitatively tested the ideas and models of leadership scholars, few have qualitatively explored the experiences and interpretations ofthe actual people that practice leadership in their daily work in construction companies. Drawing on a rich qualitative interview study, thispaper analyzes open-ended stories about leadership in the largest construction companies in Sweden. The findings show how leadership styleshave been shaped to align with traditional work and organizing principles, but also how they, by the same token, pose a seemingly unresolvedtension with change initiatives that seek to reorganize to improve organizational performance. Altogether, these findings indicate that there aregrounds to question the transformative potential of leadership in construction companies, as practiced today. The paper concludes by outliningthe practical implications of these findings, together with some analytical generalizations that can serve as pointers for a strengthened lead-ership agenda in construction research, one that is characterized by an increased methodological richness and accentuated focus on thecontext-specific aspects of leadership
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| 5. |
- Styhre, Alexander, 1971
(författare)
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Coping with irrationality in orthodox economic theory: Moralization as expedient theorizing
- 2016
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Ingår i: International Journal of Organizational Analysis. - 1934-8835. ; 24:5, s. 792-810
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to critically assess the assumptions regarding human behaviour in orthodox neoclassical economic theory. The orthodox neoclassical economic theory prescribes rational models of human behaviour, but the strictness of the criteria, developed to promote theoretical consistency and conceptual elegance, commonly fails to fully accommodate all of the empirical material. To save the core of the orthodox neoclassical economic theory research program and to neutralize and mute criticism regarding its predictive failures, its proponents engage in expedient theorizing, the expansion of the initial theoretical framework by adding ad hoc hypotheses and/or including additional explanatory factors; in many cases, dismissed as “unnecessary complications” (as in the case of morality and ethics – two conspicuously “non-economic” concepts) in the initial formulation of theoretical propositions of the core theories. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reviews a body of heterogeneous literature to introduce and examine the use of expedient theorizing in economic thinking. Findings: In the present case, the hyperrationalist axiom regarding the efficacy of calculative practices to maximize individual utility is accompanied by moralist concerns (and, by implication, corrective and disciplinary action) regarding the failure to adhere to such prescriptions. Expedient theorizing, thus, becomes a key mechanism in the political economy of truth that currently grants orthodox neoclassical economic theory significant authority to inform policy-making in substantial ways and considerable prestige. Originality/value: The orthodox neoclassical economic theory constitutes the blueprint for policy-making and institutional change, and, therefore, the key economic ideas being the constitutive elements of the contemporary economy demand scholarly attention. The paper thus points at theoretical inconsistencies in the orthodox neoclassical economic theory and introduces the concept of expedient theorizing as its remedy. © 2016, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
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| 6. |
- Styhre, Alexander, 1971
(författare)
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Gender Equality as Institutional Work: The Case of the Church of Sweden
- 2014
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Ingår i: Gender Work and Organization. - : Wiley. - 0968-6673 .- 1468-0432. ; 21:2, s. 105-120
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Institutional theory predicts that organizations respond to external changes in their environment to be able to safeguard their long-term viability. One of the most significant institutional changes in the last century has been the entry of women into both labour markets and professions; however, an extensive literature reports that gender inequality and various forms of sexism still structure and influence the everyday work of organizations. Drawing on the recent literature on institutional work, the article reports on a study of how the Church of Sweden has managed to relatively successfully institutionalize female ministers as legitimate and widely respected members of the professional category of ministers ordained by the Church. Female ministers believe they are, by and large, respected in the Church, but suggest that gender remains an issue as women are at times expected to embody certain interests and have to answer some questions that their male colleagues may have been spared. The findings describe institutional work as an ongoing process with no fixed end-point, stressing agency as the distributed and collective capacity to question established beliefs and norms.
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| 7. |
- Tyskbo, Daniel, Dr. 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Karma chameleon : Exploring the leadership complexities of middle managers in the public sector
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Public Management Journal. - Philadelphia, PA : Routledge. - 1096-7494 .- 1559-3169. ; 26:4, s. 548-569
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While leadership is one of the most discussed concepts in the social sciences, there is a need for more scholarly research that examines the ambiguous leadership position of middle managers, and how their leadership work is perceived in practice. In this article, we follow the recent research turn of adopting a social constructionist view of leadership, and make use of metaphors to answer the following research question: how are middle managers in the public sector managing the expectations and demands from both top management and subordinates, and what are some of its consequences? We study this in the public sector, a context of particular importance but one that has often been neglected in previous research. Through a qualitative in-depth case study, based on observations, interviews, and organizational documents, our findings show that middle managers were trapped in the way they moved between being constructed as a leader and a follower, along what we call a leader-follower pendulum, and in the way they enacted two different leadership metaphors: the buddy and the commander. These aspects jointly contribute to a complex and ambiguous situation for middle managers, which in turn gives rise to alienation and the constant strive to fit in, something that we metaphorically refer to as “karma chameleon.” © 2022 The Author(s).
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| 8. |
- Arman, Rebecka, 1976, et al.
(författare)
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Inspecting life: professional vision in assisted reproduction technology
- 2019
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Ingår i: Cognition, Technology & Work. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1435-5558 .- 1435-5566. ; 21:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A growing scholarship in organization studies has examined how visual practices are informed by and situated within organizational settings and routines. Using the concept of professional vision, this is a study of the visual work of embryologists selecting human embryos in the field of assisted reproductive technologies. The term professional vision accentuates how embryologists cope with a number of tensions to accomplish disciplinary objectivity in their work. The study shows how visual practices are simultaneously individual and collective. While there are internationally enacted standard protocols guiding the routine-based work, these are continuously modified as novel clinical data is reported. Therefore, the embryologists’ inspection of life needs to actively accommodate both standard cases and deviations therefrom. This ultimately renders the professional vision of embryology something other than an “exact science” but rather a fluid, partly improvised, subjective, and at the same time highly specialized, routinized aesthetic practice. The study contributes to the emerging scholarship on visuality and professional vision in organizations, specifically to how standards are used in such practices. In addition, the study adds to the organizational research on assisted reproduction technology.
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| 9. |
- Arman, Rebecka, 1976, et al.
(författare)
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The sacred and the profane in life science: The case of assisted reproduction laboratories
- 2018
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Ingår i: Culture and Organization. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1475-9551 .- 1477-2760. ; 24:5, s. 348-364
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Reproductive medicine and assisted reproduction therapies have been developed over the last decades resulting in over five million babies. The handling of human reproductive materials and patients is based on the ability to combine health care work and techno-scientific expertise in both the clinic and the laboratory setting. This study of Swedish assisted reproductive technology clinics demonstrates that the active day-to-day manipulation of human reproductive materials enact both the ‘profane’, through treating the embryos as raw materials in standardized procedures enabling economies of scale, and the ‘sacred’ through enacting a separation, the potential to human life, the patients ordeals, and seriousness. The enactment of the profane and the sacred is mostly balanced but at certain points in the work procedures, their intersecting becomes particularly salient. Such points provide opportunities for the study of the sense making of professionals in organizational grey zones, during techno-scientific activities.
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| 10. |
- Bergström, Ola, 1968, et al.
(författare)
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Irish Butchers Rather than Irish Meat: Trade Union Responses to Agency Work in Sweden
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of Industrial Relations. - 0022-1856 .- 1472-9296. ; 52:4, s. 477-490
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Trade unions are often considered as being against the use of agency workers in the workplaces that they represent. As opposed to standard permanent employment, temporary agency work is often regarded as a more precarious form of work that serves the purposes of employers seeking to reduce labour costs, enhance flexibility and avoid employment regulation. However, trade unions may also see benefits of using agency workers as experience of them increases. When examining how agency workers are established in an organization, the mechanisms available to resolve inconsistencies between the perceived benefits and disadvantages needs to be recognized. Rather than conceiving of trade unions as being opposed or in favour of the use of agency workers, the analysis of trade union responses needs to be grounded in a different perspective. This article is an attempt to formulate such a perspective on trade union responses to agency work as being based on understanding the process of establishment rather than polarized responses. The argument is supported by an empirical study of a food manufacturing company in Sweden that increasingly turned to agency workers as a source of labour.
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