| 1. |
- Andersson, Annika, 1961-
(författare)
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Affärssystemsprojekt : konsekvenser av att vara sluten eller öppen för förändringar
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Affärssystemsprojekt är en väsentlig företeelse i organisationer. Allt ifrån små till större nationella och internationella företag har ett affärssystem som stöd för sina affärsprocesser. Införande och byte av affärssystem betraktas inom affärsvärlden som en av de mest krävande och riskfyllda förändringarna ett företag kan genomföra. Att studera affärssystemsprojekt är av intresse ur ett organisationsperspektiv eftersom resultatet får långvariga konsekvenser för organisationen. Interorganisatoriska affärssystemsprojekt består dessutom av parter från två organisationer, vilka har skilda typer av kompetenser och roller. I ett affärssystemsprojekt är begrepp som projektmål, tidsdimension, och interorganisatoriska team av vikt att diskutera. Kommunikation, funktionen som översättare mellan parterna och ledarnas delaktighet för att integrera informationsstrategier och affärsstrategier är, enligt tidigare forskning inom både informationssystems och projektforskning, av vikt att diskutera.Det finns olika synsätt på förändring och sambanden som råder vid genomförandet av affärssystemprojekt. Det ena är att projektdeltagarna bör vara slutna för förändring och det andra är att de bör vara öppna för förändring av projektmål, tid och team beroende på den kunskap som utvecklas. Studier som fokuserar på konsekvenser för organisationer av det ena eller andra synsättet är däremot begränsade. Studiens övergripande problem är att studera vilka konsekvenser det kan få för leverantörs respektive beställarorganisationerna om parterna är slutna respektive öppna för förändring.Avhandlingen avser att bidra till både näringsliv och affärssystemsforskningen genom att beskriva konsekvenser för leverantörs och beställarorganisationer av om parterna är slutna eller öppna för förändringar inom affärssystemsprojekt.Multipla och longitudinella fallstudier har genomförts för att uppmärksamma organisatoriska konsekvenser över tid. Studien har genomförts indelad i tre faser (1) en retrospektiv fas, (2) en observationsfas och (3) en longitudinell fas. Datainsamlingsmetoder som använts är intervjuer, observationer och dokumentgranskning för att beskriva konsekvenser för både leverantörs och beställarorganisationer som genomför affärssystemsprojekt.Resultaten visar att en öppenhet och en slutenhet för förändringar av projektmål, tid och team fick konsekvenser för de båda organisationerna. När båda parter var slutna för förändring blev det svårt att använda kunskap inom projekten. Leverantören identifierade strategiska lärandeprojekt innan de beslutade sig för att vara öppna för förändring. När beställarna var öppna för förändring och leverantören sluten för förändring genomförde beställarna lärande och förändringsprojekt utanför projekten och de gemensamma projekten sekventiellt. När båda parter var öppna för förändringar blev konsekvenserna varken system eller organisationsutveckling, vilket hade kunnat förväntas. Istället ledde det till kommunikationsbarriärer.I denna sammanläggningsavhandling sammanställs och beskrivs resultaten från studien av affärsystemsprojekt via fyra publicerade artiklar.
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| 2. |
- Blomquist, Tomas, 1963-, et al.
(författare)
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Ekonomisk styrning för förändring : en studie av ekonomiska styrinitiativ i hälso- och sjukvården
- 1998
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Since the end of the 1980’s Swedish county council managers has been preoccupied with planning and implementing organisational change in order to alleviate the financial problems and to create more efficient production systems. Many of these efforts to change have implied changing the systems for management accounting and control, changes that have been inspired both by market-oriented ideologies and by the governance principles of large corporations in the private sector. Literature on management accounting and control indicates however, that management is unintentionally contributing to the creation of organisational inertia and conservatism. This contradiction is formulated as a change dilemma; ”How can managerial principles that make organizations subject to bureaucratization and inertia be used as important strategies for organizational change?” The purpose of the study is thus to analyze the use of management control systems as organizational change strategies in health care, employing a change perspective on management control.When used as a change strategy, management accounting and control becomes manifest as management control initiatives. Actors handle these control inititatives by organising themselves around the issue at hand. This organising process ends or fades away when there are no need for further attention to the control initiative.Empirical studies were made in the councils of Västerbotten, Sörmland and Uppsala counties. Management control initiatives investigated were performance-related pay, quality improvement work, systematic planning procedures, provider/purchaser-models, downsizing projects and profit center systems.The systems for management accounting and control appeared to structure health care organisations in terms of spatial structuring temporal structuring and actor categorization. The management control initiatives introduced were structured as extraordinary organising processes delimited in terms of space, time and involved actors. Actors in the administrative norm system participated with the intention to change the organisation, while those in the medical norm system aimed at just handling the initiative.Management control initiatives can therefore be seen as passing opportunities to change, passing in the sense that the organising processes are temporary by nature, opportunities in the sense that temporary re-coupling can be used to achieve long-term change. One such opportunity is the formulation of control initiatives; the possibility of using simple and standardized change strategies can be useful, but only if they are also linked to the medical norm system. A second opportunity is the temporary organising processes; if the project form of organising change can also be conveyed to the medical norm system, management control initiatives could result in short, intense courses of events that actually change things. The third opportunity s the recurrent cyc ica pro perties of management accounting and control systems, enabling recurrent activities around the same themes, thereby keeping them alive.
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| 3. |
- Nilsson, Andreas, 1971-
(författare)
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Projektledning i korta projekt : Observationer av projektledares arbete i multiprojektmiljö
- 2004
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- As most of the project management models were developed for larger projects, there is a lack of understanding of what project managers in short duration projects do. Short-duration projects are projects in multi-project environments lasting for a number of weeks rather than a number of months. Even if they are common today, short-duration projects have not yet attracted the interest of project researchers. The present study aims to analyze what the project managers in short duration projects do and to develop a method for studying the project managers at work.A theoretical framework is built on earlier studies of managers’ work, suggesting three areas having impact on the project manager’s work. The impacting areas are the project, the project manager’s experience, and the organizational context of the project. The project manager and the assisting project manager were studied while managing a sub-project in a greater telecom system project. The project managers were studied one week each using participant observation and interviews. The findings indicate that much of the time at work was spent in meetings of different kinds, to deal with change, and to guard the production teams from being disturbed by changes in the environment. It was also found that studying a multi-project environment from the sub-project’s perspective gives a different view on multi-project environments that have earlier been presented as the project managers in the short-duration project constantly have to adjust to changes, inputs and demands from the surrounding projects and functional organizations. In the end some proposals on directions for further studies of managers of short-duration projects are made.
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| 4. |
- Nilsson, Andreas, 1971-
(författare)
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Projektledning i praktiken : Observationer av arbete i korta projekt
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Project management used to be described as rational and well structured - a notion that builds on a traditional view that project management is about planning, budgeting and controlling. Nevertheless, it has been questioned if this is a full description. Even though project management techniques were developed for large projects, those techniques and models are used today in small projects of short duration - projects that are quite dissimilar to the large ones. The present study takes a practice perspective to investigate what project managers do when they lead such short projects. Its observations and interviews are used to analyze what happens in the everyday life of project managers. Using classical managerial behaviour studies as a foundation, seen through a practice perspective lens, the study finds that the work of project managers in a software development project is fragmented – their time is filled with formal and informal meetings of different kinds and efforts to resist disturbances in the project.Three challenges were found in the project manager’s work. The first was to Understand: to create meaning. The plans were clearly defined at the start of the project but as the goals were later re-defined, it was scarcely possible to finalize them before delivery. Contrary to the traditional view that plans are inflexible, these plans were discussed, negotiated and interpreted throughout the project. This was the continuous work of creating both meaning in the plans and a common understanding of the project.The second challenge was to Order/coordinate: to manage resources. The project manager reacted to emerging issues rather than acting to prevent things from happening. These reactions led to creative ways of managing and finding solutions to problems. One important way of managing new or changed conditions was to reorganize resources to cover the needs of different teams. The meetings played a central role in this work as arenas for negotiating resources, which became especially evident in times of stress or high workload.The third challenge was to Make it in time: to manage time. Time is a central aspect of project management as projects are temporary organizations; they have a beginning and an end. Previous research has found a point in time, in the middle of a project, when the team starts to feel pressured and stressed about meeting their deadlines. For project managers there is always a struggle to manage time, as dates for delivery are one of the things in a project that are not negotiable. In short-duration projects where projects follow each other seriatim, there is an almost constant feeling of urgency; stress and pressure. The project manager used experiential data to determine and plan the amount of time that would be needed to manage changes in the project, intending that the slack created would enable the project to deliver on time. Although changes and deviations were expected, the project manager rarely knew beforehand what they were or when they would come.The three challenges, previously described as separated from each other, were observed to be all managed simultaneously. The site, the practitioner and the practices influence daily work practice.
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| 6. |
- Blomquist, Tomas, Professor, et al.
(författare)
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Feeling good, being good and looking good : motivations for, and benefits from, project management certification
- 2018
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Ingår i: International Journal of Project Management. - : Elsevier. - 0263-7863 .- 1873-4634. ; 36:3, s. 498-511
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Project management (PM) is one of many occupations following a path to professionalization that includes voluntary certification. It has been said that certification, and especially voluntary certification, can be seen as an approach to being good by improving our competence in the profession, or a means to looking good, essentially signaling the capabilities of the holder. Based on self-determination theory, we contribute to this discussion the notion of feeling good whereby certification provides a way to challenge one’s capabilities, provide self-actualization, and a sense of worth. Using two sets of survey responses, collected 10 years apart (2004 and 2014), we assess whether there are differences in the demographics of those seeking voluntary project management certification, and the motivations (expected benefits), and realized benefits associated with this certification, at these two points in time. Demographically, the people with certification and those not pursuing certification did not exhibit any significant differences in either time period. Analyses indicate that feeling good and being good are the main motivators but participants pursuing certification in 2014 reported lower levels of motivations and received more benefit than those in 2004. Comparing responses as to why professionals pursue voluntary PM certification across a decade span, gives us an indication of how these perceptions may be changing with the increased popularity of the certification. We compare these findings to similar studies examining other volunteer certifications and conclude by discussing the potential impact of these changes from the perspective of the individuals seeking certification, the occupation, and certifying organizations.
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| 7. |
- Dehghanpour Farashah, Ali, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring employer attitude towards migrant workers : evidence from managers across Europe
- 2020
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Ingår i: Evidence-based HRM: A Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 2049-3983. ; 8:1, s. 18-37
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Migrants play an essential role in economic and societal outcomes of the host society, both as members of the workforce and as citizens. However, integration and finding employment after migration remain critical issues. The purpose of this paper is to employ an evidence-based quantitative approach to identify migrant workers’ most important qualifications from an employer perspective and to explore factors that influence employer perception of migrants.Design/methodology/approach: This study uses European Social Survey data that contain responses from managers in European countries in 2014 (n=2,828) and 2016 (n=3,014). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling are used to analyse the data. Findings: For managers, migrants’ commitment to the host country’s way of life is more important than their job skills, educational level and language proficiency. The effects of managers’ individual characteristics, including demographics, expectancies and personal values, on their general attitude towards migrants are also quantified.Practical implications: The study’s outcomes can assist migrants to develop the qualifications most valued by employers, and allow policymakers to integrate the organizational perspective into policies and initiatives for integration of migrant labour.Originality/value: Through HR practices, organizations significantly affect migrants’ career outcomes. Yet research on migrant workers from an organizational and managerial perspective is limited. This study identifies migrant workers’ most important qualifications from an employer perspective. It also explores which individual characteristics most influence organizational decision-makers’ perception. Utilizing a cross-cultural and longitudinal data set provides a unique opportunity to generate generalizable findings.
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| 8. |
- Dehghanpour Farashah, Ali, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring the value of project management certification in selection and recruiting
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Project Management. - : Elsevier. - 0263-7863 .- 1873-4634. ; 37:1, s. 14-26
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For many years project management has been moving toward professionalization through voluntary certification. Simultaneously, recruiters increasingly use voluntary professional certification as a signal of applicant competencies and likely future performance, to increase the efficiency of the selection process. This practice increases the value of certification to holders and leads to the growth of certification. However, despite significant research into the value of voluntary certification in numerous occupations, results linking certification with performance are tentative at best. We contribute to the growing body of research exploring the performance signaling ability of certification by empirically examining the case of project management professional certification using survey responses from 452 (certified (370), and uncertified (82)) international project managers. Our findings provide some support for this recruitment and selection practice, not through a direct relationship between certification and performance but by showing that self-efficacy mediates the relationship. Certification also relates to higher levels of professionalism. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings for recruiters, project management professionals, and professional associations.
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| 9. |
- Dehghanpour Farashah, Ali, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Organizational culture and cultural diversity : An explorative study of international skilled migrants in Swedish firms
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Global Mobility. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 2049-8799 .- 2049-8802. ; 9:2, s. 289-308
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeThis paper empirically explores the types and extent of cultural diversity strategies in Sweden, a developed economy with many migrant workers. The role of organizational culture as the context and the association with diversity strategy and the selection of international skilled migrant workers is examined.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical data are collected by surveying 249 Swedish large or medium-sized firms. Cluster analysis is used to explore the configuration of organizational culture, cultural diversity strategy, and selection and development criteria.FindingsWe identify five clusters of organizations. Organizational culture is the main contextual factor that influence the cultural diversity strategy and HR approaches for selecting skilled migrant workers. The profile of the clusters including organizational culture diversity strategies, the selection criteria, and firm demographics is presented. The empirical results indicate that organizational culture and demographics are associated with the choice of diversity strategy and, consequently, HR processes.Originality/valueThis study’s main focus is on intetrnational skilled migrants, which are among empirically less-studied areas in global mobility literature. Furthermore, until now more attention has been directed toward studying the consequences of diversity than to understanding the factors that influence choice of diversity strategies and practices. This study focuses on antecedents of diversity and attempts to understand the factors that influence adoption and implementation of different cultural diversity strategies.
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| 10. |
- Dehghanpour Farashah, Ali, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Perceived employability of skilled migrants : a systematic review and future research agenda
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Human Resource Management. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0958-5192 .- 1466-4399.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This review examines the perceived employability of skilled migrants (SMs) through an analysis of 88 management and organisational research articles published over the 2009-2019 period. We find the extant literature characterised by context-specific studies featuring considerable variety in terms of levels of analysis, theory, and content. Using the notion of perceived employability, key themes in the literature are identified and presented in an integrative framework. The framework encompasses individual, organisational, occupational, and institutional components of the perceived employability of SMs, different forms of work transition and associated mediators (broadening strategies) and moderators(transition conditions). Proposing adoption of process thinking for future research, suggestions regarding the interaction of individual and contextual components of perceivedemployability and the mediation and moderation mechanisms in the process of work transition are outlined.
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