| 1. |
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Brytting, Tomas, 1956-, et al.
(författare)
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Meaning, Authority, Rationality and Care as "MARCs" of sustainable organisations
- 2008
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Ingår i: Proceedings from ANZAM 2008. - Auckland, NZ : ANZAM. ; , s. 1-17
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article, we present MARC, a model for assessing - and improving - the health of organisations from a humanistic point of view. It is a part of the quest for sustainability, currently a main theme in organisations. The components of MARC: Meaning, Authority, Rationality, and Care, are four aspects that are all needed, and need to be in balance in an organisation, to provide a work situation where people can sustainably thrive rather than be damaged and consumed for the sake of the organisation. Implications of the model are discussed. A conclusion is that trust is central to this healthy balance. This presents a real challenge for sustainability, as trust takes time to build - but can quickly be erased.
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| 4. |
- Westelius, Alf, 1959-, et al.
(författare)
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Idrott, föreningar, sociala media och kommunikation : en undersökning av IT-användninginom idrottsrörelsen
- 2012
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Rapporten inleds med en diskussion av webben som kommunikationsmedium och en analys av gästboksinlägg – en vanlig form för medlemsinlägg på föreningars hemsidor. Därefter presenterar och analyserar vi enkätresultaten från de 997 föreningar som svarat. Efter den genomgången vänder vi intresset mot sociala nätverkstjänster. Fokus riktas först mot facebook, den applikation inom sociala nätverksmedia som fått störst användning i Sverige, och vad vår undersökning givit för bild av facebookanvändning inom idrotten. Därefter ger vi ett antal exempel på idrottsrelaterade nätverk på olika nivåer, vissa facebookbaserade, andra byggda på alternativa sociala nätverkstjänster. Vi avslutar sektionen om sociala nätverkstjänster med en diskussion av hur olika intressenter och kommunikationsalternativ påverkar vad som kan bli meningsfull facebookanvändning. Därefter följer rapportens slutdiskussion med slutsatser och implikationer.Våra huvudsakliga poänger är att:webbnärvaro och epostanvändning nu ses som viktigt i de flesta, men inte alla, idrottsklubbar – mellan 1/3 och 1/4 av klubbarna har inte hemsida. hemsida, e-post och telefon är de viktigaste kommunikationskanalerna i klubbarna (utöver kontakten vid träningar och möten). Brev och klubbtidning minskar.floran av använda kommunikationskanaler inom föreningarna fortsätter att öka – nya tillkommer men gamla lever kvar.sociala nätverksmedia huvudsakligen är på experimentstadiet där de alls används. Endast 11% av klubbarna i undersökningen uppger att de är viktiga kommunikationskanaler i någon form inom klubben.för klubbar spelar sociala nätverksmedia främst en roll för fans och andra som följer klubbens aktiviteter på avstånd. Endast enstaka föreningar har sociala nätverksmedia som huvudsakligt verktyg för organisering av aktiviteter.facebookanvändning startas främst genom individuella initiativ, inte genom styrelsebeslut. Endast en liten del av initiativen uppvisar uthållig aktivitet.idrottsrelaterade facebookgrupper skapas inte bara runt klubbar – i hälften av de påträffade fallen rörde de istället till exempel en känd individ, en tävling, sporten som sådan eller kommersiell verksamhet med idrottsanknytning.sociala nätverkstjänster synliggör individerna och bidrar till känslan av gemenskap inom nätverket.användning av sociala nätverkstjänster inom idrotten underlättar möjligheten att upprätthålla breda, i stor utsträckning passiva, kontaktnät.ett brett nät av relativt passiva kontakter inte behöver vara negativt för idrotten som samhällsinstitution. En ökande användning av sociala nätverkstjänster kan vara av godo. Känslan av samhörighet och möjligheten att fördjupa kontakten vid behov kan vara en viktig del i att stärka samhällsväven.
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| 5. |
- Westelius, Alf, et al.
(författare)
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Meaning, Authority, Rationality and Care as MARCs of sustainable organisations
- 2013
-
Ingår i: Cross Cultural Management. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1352-7606 .- 1758-6089. ; 20:2, s. 161-185
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The purpose of the article is to present MARC, a model for assessing – and improving – the health of organisations from a humanistic point of view.Design/methodology/approach - The model has been developed in an organisational development clinical research tradition. The validity of the model rests on logical reasoning grounded in organisational and salutogenic research, and on it appearing useful to our clients and members in organisations where we have employed it.Findings - When using the MARC model to structure analyses and facilitate discussions in organisations that have sought our aid, the model has helped reveal major sources of imbalance between its four aspects: Meaning, Authority, Rationality and Care. A major survey revealed no statistically significant differences between men and women. This indicates that the MARC concepts are general rather than gender-specific. The results also contradicted the often stated notion that men emphasise "hard" aspects (A and R) while women emphasise "soft" ones (M and C).Originality/value - We demonstrate that support for the importance of each of the four aspects Meaning, Authority, Rationality and Care as perspectives in analysing and understanding organisations can be found in the organisational research literature. Our contribution is to argue the case that they represent four important human needs that need to be attended to in balance in an organisation if cooperation between the individuals in the organisation is to be sustainable from a human-centred perspective. MARC is designed to help visualise and focus this balance.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Askenäs, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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Five Roles of an Information System : A Social Constructionist Approach to Analysing the Use of ERP Systems
- 2003
-
Ingår i: Informing Science. - 1547-9684 .- 1521-4672. ; 6, s. 209-220
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents a novel way of thinking about how information systems are used in organisations.Traditionally, computerised information systems are viewed as objects. In contrast, by viewing the informationsystem as an actor, the understanding of the structuration process increases. The user, beinginfluenced by the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system and giving it an actor role, thereby alsoconfers agency on the ERP system; through its very use it influences actions and thus also the structure.Based on a case study of ERP use in an ABB company over a decade, five different roles played by theERP systems were identified. The ERP systems acted as Bureaucrat, Manipulator, Administrative assistant,Consultant or were dismissed (Dismissed) in the sense that intended users chose to avoid usingthem. These terms are defined in the full text.The purpose of this approach here is not to “animate” the information systems, to give them life or amind of their own, but rather to make explicit the socially constructed roles conferred on them by usersand others who are affected by them. On this basis, it is possible to suggest how the roles can help usopen up new areas of exploration concerning the fruitful use of IT.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Cöster, Mathias, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Conceptualising innovative price models : the RITE framework
- 2019
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Ingår i: Baltic Journal of Management. - : EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD. - 1746-5265 .- 1746-5273. ; 14:4, s. 540-558
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to lay a current, research-based foundation for investigation of the concept of innovative price models and its connection to business models.Design/methodology/approachThe design is composed of a structured literature review of articles on price models published in 22 journals during 42 years. This then serves as a base for a subsequent conceptual discussion about the foundation of innovative price models.FindingsThe literature review yields only very few results that are loosely scattered across various areas and mostly without any kind of deeper exploration of the concept of price models. The paper therefore goes on to conceptually explore some fundamental conditions that might influence or even determine price models. The final outcome of this exploration is the relation, intention, technology and environment (RITE) framework that is a meta-model for conceptualising innovative price models.Research limitations/implicationsThe literature review could include additional journals and areas, and empirical testing of the RITE framework as yet has been limited.Practical implicationsThe RITE framework can be used by practitioners as a tool for investigating the potential and usefulness of developing the capability to handle innovative price models.Originality/valueThe RITE framework provides fundamental conditions, which influence, or even determine, how innovative price models are developed and applied.
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| 10. |
- Cöster, Mathias, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Digital Transformation : Understanding Business Goals, Risks, Processes, and Decisions
- 2023
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Även om digitalisering är långt ifrån ett nytt koncept, antar många att det räcker med att bara införa automation och informationssystem i olika former för att effektivisera deras organisations verksamhet. Denna missuppfattning kan ofta leda till oordning och kostsamma misstag. Digital transformation: Att förstå affärsmål, risker, processer och beslut visar hur man undviker sådana problem genom att noggrant överväga vad ett företag verkligen behöver.Till skillnad från många andra böcker om digital transformation, uppehåller sig författarna inte vid databasdesign eller detaljerna för att implementera informationssystem. Istället betonar de vikten av en tydlig förståelse för alla aspekter av en organisation för att effektivt kunna implementera och hantera digitala system, från affärsmål och strategier till att strukturera information och fatta beslut, riskbedömningar, projektledning, organisera och upphandla tjänster och Produkter.Den här boken är organiserad i elva kapitel och bygger på exempel från hela världen och kommer att vara av intresse för universitetsstudenter inom företagsekonomi, management, informationssystem och datavetenskap, såväl som praktiker som vill bättre förstå hur man hanterar digital transformation i sin egen organisation.
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| 11. |
- Cöster, Mathias, et al.
(författare)
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Digitalisering
- 2016
-
Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Begreppet digitalisering är högt upp på agendan i många sammanhang. Att digitalisering är av fundamental betydelse för våra samhällen är de flesta överens om, men sällan diskuteras vad begreppet faktiskt kan betyda. Detta vill författarna Mathias Cöster och Alf Westelius reda ut i den här boken. De gör det genom att diskutera såväl digitaliseringens framväxt, som olika aktuella och möjliga framtida konsekvenser av den. Till exempel att Internet är ett slags drömmarnas nät – men kan det även ses som mardrömmarnas?Mathias Cöster och Alf Westelius tar med läsaren på en resa där digitaliseringen problematiseras med utgångspunkt i informationsteknikens historiska framväxt. På så sätt formulerar författarna ett viktigt fundament för fortsatt diskussion om teknikens möjligheter och begränsningar ur ett brukarperspektiv. Jag rekommenderar alla med ambitionen att förstå och påverka det moderna samhället att ta till sig av och reflektera över innehållet.
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| 12. |
- Cöster, Mathias, et al.
(författare)
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Digitalisering : Begreppbart
- 2016. - 1
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Bok (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Digitalisering är ett begrepp som står högt upp på agendan i många sammanhang. Att digitalisering är av fundamental betydelse för våra samhällen är de flesta överens om.Mathias Cöster och Alf Westelius diskuterar såväl digitaliseringens framväxt som olika aktuella och möjliga framtida konsekvenser av den.
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| 13. |
- Cöster, Mathias, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Digitalisering
- 2021. - 2
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Digitalisering är ett begrepp som står högt upp på agendan i många sammanhang. Att digitalisering är av fundamental betydelse för våra samhällen är de flesta överens om, men sällan diskuteras vad begreppet faktiskt kan betyda. Detta vill författarna Mathias Cöster och Alf Westelius reda ut i den här boken, som nu är inne på sin andra upplaga.De gör det genom att diskutera såväl digitaliseringens framväxt som olika aktuella och möjliga framtida konsekvenser av den.Sagt om boken"Mathias Cöster och Alf Westelius tar med läsaren på en resa där digitaliseringen problematiseras med utgångspunkt i informationsteknikens historiska framväxt. På så sätt formulerar författarna ett viktigt fundament för fortsatt diskussion om teknikens möjligheter och begränsningar ur ett brukarprespektiv. Jag rekommenderar alla med ambitionen att förstå och påverka det moderna samhället att ta till sig och reflektera över innehållet." Pär J. Ågerfalk, professor i informationssystem vid Uppsala universitet
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| 14. |
- Cöster, Mathias, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Digitalisering och organisering : Att skapa värde i det 21:a århundradet
- 2017
-
Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Förändringarna ger organisationer bättre förutsättningar än någonsin för att lyckas, men för att lyckas behöver man förstå och utnyttja dem. Vissa klarar det, andra inte. Att digitalisera framgångsrikt är inte enkelt.Den här boken visar hur organisationer skapar värde i en digitaliserad verklighet. Boken går igenom digitalisering med utgångspunkt i vad en organisation egentligen är och vad den behöver. Den spänner över mål, affärsmodeller, strategier, organisering, beslut och projekt. Tyngdpunkten ligger på hur man strukturerar för att få effektivare beslutshantering och mer framgångsrika projektgenomföranden. Eftersom beslut och project är grundpelare för att kunna använda digitaliseringen.Boken lämpar sig särskilt väl för kurser i företagsekonomi, industriell ekonomi och data- och systemvetenskap. Men den vänder sig till alla som vill förstå hur organisationer ska hantera och dra nytta av digitaliseringen.
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| 15. |
- Cöster, Mathias, et al.
(författare)
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Från produkt till tjänst : Prismodellers roll i digitaliserad affärsutveckling
- 2016
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Ingår i: Management of Innovation and Technology. - Göteborg. - 2001-208X. ; , s. 3-5
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Recension (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- I Management of Innovation and Technology nr 4, 2015, konstateras att den digitala omställningen går fortare än förväntat, samtidigt som det saknas kunskap om dess effekter. Ett område som särskilt pekas ut är hur digitalisering påverkar affärsmodeller. Som ett svar på upp-ropet om kraftsamling av forskning om digitalisering, presenteras i den här artikeln hur analys av prismodeller kan ge ökad kunskap om digitaliseringens påverkan på affärsmodeller.
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| 16. |
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| 17. |
- Cöster, Mathias, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Organisations, Processes, Decisions : Strategies for a Digitised Century
- 2020
-
Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Amazingly, many still believe that introducing automation and information systems in various forms is enough to make their operations more efficient. The outcomes of such actions often become very costly. One reason for this misconception is that the technical design is a sidetrack in the context of an organisation. Instead, the real issue is understanding your goals and your organisation. This book is about taking advantage of the opportunities that the now rather mature digitisation offers in a world of abundance of data. The book goes through digitisation based on what an organisation really is and what it needs. We describe how to understand its goals, develop its strategies, and shape its business models. We describe in detail how to achieve this by developing organisations, processes, decisions, configurations, and project implementations.We address everyone who wants to understand how organisations should handle, and seriously take advantage of, the risky gold mining that digitisation actually is.The authors have numerous years of experience as researchers, lecturers and consultants in the field.The world is more unpredictable than ever. Digitisation, which in principle affects everything that surrounds us, has during the last half-century strongly contributed to this unpredictability. It has enabled a global trade that incorporates more and more people, organisations, and states. It has enabled a larger international labour market than anyone could foresee. It has made possible a tremendous rationalisation of social functions and tasks. It has enabled a huge flow of information in all sectors of society. And it has enabled some sort of organisation of all this. Numerous human beings, for good and bad, have had to dramatically change their lives. Digitisation has thus created a wave of both problems and opportunities. This development has fantastic advantages, but there is every reason to consider the entire thing with some scepticism. Nevertheless, this is where we are, so let us shape the future so that it suits us.However, to be able to shape something at all, we need to know what we want. This applies to both individuals and organisations. First and foremost, it must be clear to us where we want to go, what we want to achieve (what goals we have), and how we will get there (which strategy we choose and the decisions we make). This may seem simple, but it is not. Building a vision and a goal in a complex environment and understanding how to realise them is difficult. Nevertheless, the need for clear preferences is often underestimated and clear preferences are rarely spelled out. At the same time, digitisation provides better conditions for success than ever – if we understand how to use it.Amazingly, many still believe that introducing automation and information systems in various forms is enough to make their operations more efficient. The outcomes of such actions often become very costly. One reason for this misconception is that the technical design is a sidetrack in the context of an organisation. Instead, the real issue is understanding your goals and your organisation.You need to understand how people and parts of the organisation should interact to achieve clear and instrumental goalsYou need to understand the different processes in the organisationYou must understand how to assess risks and opportunitiesYou have to understand how to make decisionsIf you take this as a point of departure, there are good opportunities to build an adequate IT business to support the organisation's processes and functions. This book therefore differs from a typical book on IT strategies. It is not about the details of implementing different types of information systems. Nor does it handle database design and data excerpts. You can easily find that elsewhere. Many of the technical details are also becoming increasingly obsolete as information system development becomes less and less computer-related and readily available modular products basically satisfy all our needs, as long as we know what we want.A meaningful book on IT strategies must therefore be about something completely different, something more fundamental. Thus, this book is about taking advantage of the opportunities that the now rather mature digitisation offers in a world of abundance of data – and sometimes even a lack of relevant data. It is about understanding your goals and strategies and how business utility relates to your activities. It is about how to structure information and how to make decisions. It is about risk assessments and uncertainty. It is about project portfolios and project management. It is about organising resources and capacities. And it is about how to purchase services and products in our increasingly distributed world.The book therefore goes through digitisation based on what an organisation really is and what it needs. We describe how to understand its goals, develop its strategies, and shape its business models.Theories are often good for understanding reality, but equally often it is difficult to understand how to actually use them in practical activities. Therefore, we also describe in detail how to achieve this by developing organisations, processes, decisions, configurations, and project implementations.The book is particularly suitable for courses in business administration and industrial economics and management as well as computer and systems science. But we really address everyone who wants to understand how organisations should handle, and seriously take advantage of, the risky gold mining that digitisation actually is.
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| 18. |
- Cöster, Mathias, et al.
(författare)
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Price models: a missing link in business model research?
- 2015
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Business models always include relationships – with suppliers, partners, market channels, and consumers – which involve commercial agreements. Such business contracts identify how payments are linked to various aspects of delivery. Among practitioners, the term “price model” is often used to describe this, in particular when prices are linked in a way that is seen as innovative. Mobile phones provide a typical example, where goods and services, fixed and variable fees, contract duration, etc are configured to make offerings competitive.We expected price models – not only with consumers but with suppliers, partners, etc – to have attracted research, and performed a literature survey. We found only a few contributions, which we report on. The relative lack of research led us to suggest fundamental conditions of pricing which we believe should be explored. Such research must be seen as important for understanding how a business model can be turned into commercially viable reality.
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| 19. |
- Cöster, Mathias, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Prissättning och prismodeller
- 2018. - 11
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Ingår i: Controllerhandboken. - Stockholm : Liber. - 9789147127016
-
Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 20. |
- Cöster, Mathias, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Strategic and innovative pricing : price models for a digital economy
- 2020
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This book provides a concrete guide on how to execute strategic pricing to excel in an increasingly dynamic and digitised business environment, while developing and deepening relations with contract partners. The secret lies in crafting innovative price models that reward joint value creation in accordance with the business model, rather than engaging in confrontative zero-sum pricing reasoning.Strategic and Innovative Pricing: Price Models for a Digital Economy provides hands-on tools that are applied on three interconnected levels of analysis. It illustrates how to explore the business ecology to understand its dynamics and how digitisation enables it to prosper and demonstrates how to construct a viable business model that enables an organisation to navigate in its vibrant ecology. Finally, and most importantly, it shows how to use innovative price models to realize and monetise the business model and its value offering, making the organisation and its partnerships sustainable.Models pertaining to the three levels of analyses are applied in rich case studies and examples from different countries, and the book includes guidelines on how to use them. Special attention is paid to digitisation as an underlying theme, making this book of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of strategic management and technology & innovation management.
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| 21. |
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
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| 24. |
- Eriksson, Emelie, 1987-
(författare)
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Patterns of corporate visual selfrepresentation in accounting narratives
- 2017
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation deals with firms’ visual and pre-visual self-representations in accounting narratives. Self-representations are those descriptions about the company that firms include in accounting narratives to convey the current standings and their identity. External stakeholders increasingly expect non-numerical information about firms to be disclosed, and accounting narratives are a key medium for firms to account for their activities and maintain legitimacy as social actors. The question of which reporting conventions exist for legitimating selfrepresentations, especially from a visual perspective, remains unexplored. The purpose of this study is therefore to explore the empirical phenomenon of self-representations in accounting narratives in relation to legitimation rhetoric.The study is based on three research papers dealing with different patterns of self-representations in accounting-related narratives, including corporate reporting and business model diagrams. The examples are viewed through the theoretical lenses of semiotics and institutional theory, particularly legitimation theory. The study combines visual methods (visual content analysis and visual taxonomy) with other methods (interviews, text analysis) to conceptualize and exemplify what is meant by self-representations in accounting narratives. The study finds that there may be multiple parallel pre-visual self-representations at play to influence representations of the self, that visual self-representations are becoming more common in accounting narratives, and that several rhetorical strategies for legitimation are observable in these representations. By showing how diagrams can serve a legitimating purpose in accounting narratives, it is argued that diagrams should be considered on par with graphs and photographs as visual rhetorical devices in accounting narratives, and that they could be used as key communicative elements in the accounting process.Second, based on the longitudinal and comparative examples of self-representations, it is suggested that self-representations increasingly refer to abstract rather than concrete referents. This change is discussed in terms of the increasingly digital and service-based knowledge economy, where material referents give way to “amaterial” values. The contribution of this study is to describe selfrepresentations through several empirical examples, and to thereby increase awareness among practitioners and researchers of how visuals serve as communicative resources with legitimating functions in accounting narratives. Four concepts are proposed as tools for explaining the observed developments, and for improving visual literacy with regard to accounting narratives: inclusive perspective on accounting narratives, amateriality, self-representation, and diagrams.
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| 25. |
- Granath, Malin, et al.
(författare)
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Beyond a common title : The formation of a professional identity among energy advisers
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Human Resource Costing and Accounting. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1401-338X .- 1758-745X. ; 16:3, s. 210-234
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore if and how a professional identity can be formed in the wake of the foundation of a new public service. In the article, we focus on how different forces, regulative and emergent, interact and contribute to a development of a coherent understanding of a professional identity in a decentralised service. The case of local authority energy and climate consultancy is an illustrative example of a nascent service occupation in Sweden where the individuals holding the job title are geographically dispersed. Design/methodology/approach: This paper has a qualitative approach and relies on three different data sources: participatory observations, written documents, and in-depth interviews with energy and climate advisers working in a particular region in Sweden. The study covers the years 2005 to 2010. Findings: Our findings suggest that identity formation among geographically dispersed individuals in a nascent service occupation is possible. The development of collective understanding of the professional identity is influenced both by regulative and emergent forces, which interact. Research limitations/implications: This paper is limited to one particular service occupation in Sweden from which generalisations are limited. Practical implications: The findings may serve as useful input for management in order to understand facilitation of identity building among professionals in decentralised functions. Originality/value: The value of this study lies in the comprehensive approach to how different pertinent forces interact with each other in order for a cohesive understanding of a work-related identity to develop in newly established service occupations.
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| 26. |
- Granath, Malin, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Beyond a common title - The development of a professional identity among energy advisor
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore if and how a professional identity can be formed in the wake of the foundation of a new public service. In the article we focus on how different forces, regulative and emergent, interact and contribute to a development of a coherent understanding of a professional identity in a decentralized service. The case of local authority energy and climate consultancy is an illustrative example of a nascent service occupation in Sweden where the individuals holding the job title are geographically dispersed. Design/methodology/approach: This paper has a qualitative approach and relies on three different data sources: participatory observations, written documents, and in-depth interviews with energy and climate advisers working in a particular region in Sweden. The study covers the years 2005 to 2010. Findings: Our findings suggest that identity formation among geographically dispersed individuals in a nascent service occupation is possible. The development of collective understanding of the professional identity is influenced both by regulative and emergent forces, where regulative and autonomous forces seem to concur. Research limitations/implications: This paper is limited to one particular service occupation in Sweden from which generalizations are limited. Practical implications: The findings may serve as useful input for management in order to understand facilitation of identity building among professionals in decentralized functions. Originality/value: The value of this study lies in the comprehensive approach of how different pertinent forces interact with each other in order for a cohesive understanding of a work-related identity to develop in newly established service occupations.
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| 27. |
- Granath, Malin, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Beyond a common title - The development of a professional identity among energy advisor
- 2008
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore if and how a professional identity can be formed in the wake of the foundation of a new public service. In the article we focus on how different forces, regulative and emergent, interact and contribute to a development of a coherent understanding of a professional identity in a decentralized service. The case of local authority energy and climate consultancy is an illustrative example of a nascent service occupation in Sweden where the individuals holding the job title are geographically dispersed. Design/methodology/approach: This paper has a qualitative approach and relies on three different data sources: participatory observations, written documents, and in-depth interviews with energy and climate advisers working in a particular region in Sweden. The study covers the years 2005 to 2010. Findings: Our findings suggest that identity formation among geographically dispersed individuals in a nascent service occupation is possible. The development of collective understanding of the professional identity is influenced both by regulative and emergent forces, where regulative and autonomous forces seem to concur. Research limitations/implications: This paper is limited to one particular service occupation in Sweden from which generalizations are limited. Practical implications: The findings may serve as useful input for management in order to understand facilitation of identity building among professionals in decentralized functions. Originality/value: The value of this study lies in the comprehensive approach of how different pertinent forces interact with each other in order for a cohesive understanding of a work-related identity to develop in newly established service occupations.
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| 28. |
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| 29. |
- Granath, Malin, 1974-
(författare)
-
Kan professioner organiseras fram? : En fallstudie av den kommunala energi- och klimatrådgivningen
- 2012
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Att nya samhällsfunktioner och professioner växer fram som svar på behov i samhället är inte något nytt fenomen i sig, men vad är det som händer när en ny decentraliserad funktion skapas utifrån ett statligt behov? Hur organiseras och samordnas den? Och leder den nya samhällsfunktionen även till att en ny profession växer fram? I professionslitteraturen lyfts olika förklaringsmodeller till professioner ochprofessionalisering fram, allt från strukturfunktionalistiska förklaringar till monopolistiska och kulturella. Samtidigt när det handlar om utveckling av en ny funktion kan olika aspekter av organisationer och organisering bidra till ökad förståelse av vilken betydelse det har för att även en profession ska kunna ta form.I den här studien är det ett statligt behov som legat till grund för att en ny samhällsfunktion har kommit att utvecklas. Som ett led i genomförandet av politiska mål skapades förutsättningar för kommuner att ansöka om bidrag för att tillhandhålla en ny funktion: kommunal energi- och klimatrådgivning. Den nya funktionens främsta uppgift var att förmedla anpassad kunskap om energieffektivisering, energianvändning och klimatpåverkan till allmänhet, företag och organisationer. Fokus i studien har varit på hur organiseringen kring den nya funktionen sett ut, vilken roll IT har i detta och vilka konsekvenser organiseringen haft för samordning och för skapandet av en profession. Dessa områden hanteras i tre artiklar. Den första artikeln undersöker om och hur en professionell identitet kan formas som ett led i utvecklingen av en ny samhällsfunktion. Fokus ligger på hur reglerande och framväxande krafter samspelar och kompletterar varandra i formandet av en enhetlig tolkning av en professionell identitet. Den andra artikeln utforskar hur kunskap och praktik kan strömlinjeformas i en decentraliserad verksamhet, där styrningen karaktäriseras av olika intressenters inblandning. Den tredje artikeln undersöker hur samverkan utifrån samordnade insatser kring kunskap och kunskapsdelning kan växa fram och på så sätt skapa livskraftiga nätverk.Organiseringen kring den nya samhällsfunktionen visar på både ett decentraliserat och ett centraliserat ansvar, där kommunerna har det operativa ansvaret och statens energimyndighet har ett övergripande administrativt och samordnande ansvar. Samordning sker på olika nivåer och på olika sätt. Bland annat har en regional samordning i nätverk vuxit fram. Den regionala samordningen har visat sig vara viktig för att en gemensam tolkning av uppdrag och utförande ska kunna ta form, men även för att tillit och identitet utvecklas inom gruppen. Den nationella samordningen rör bland annat utbildning och informationsinsatser och i detta sammanhang har IT haft en central roll. Sammantaget har olika aspekter av organisering kring en ny samhällsfunktion, såsom uppdragsreglering, planering och uppföljning, och inte minst samordning, bidragit till att en professionell identitet börjat växa fram.
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| 30. |
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| 31. |
- Granath, Malin, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
-
The social network and networking technology - The emergence and fostering of the network/s of local authority energy
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper explores the concept of communities of practice and networks of practice. Special focus lies on networking technologies as tools for fostering emerging network/s. More specifically, the purpose of this articel is to frame and analyse the case of local authority energy consultancy from a community perspective as well as a concept of ba perspective to judge if, and how, a network is forming among the dispersed individuals holding the energy advisor job title. The contribution of this article lies in furthering the understanding of the problems faced in establishing national networks of practice, in environments where work and social interaction is geographically dispersed. Key findings are that there are several smaller communities of local energy advisors emerging rather than one unified network holding the whole professional body together. A reason for this development is probably that it is easier to build relations in smaller groups. Further, fostering of a larger network is important to get networking started, but it is the local initiatives that have viability. Finally, as assumed, dominating means of communication are uncontroversial technologies such as e-mail and telephone.
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| 32. |
- Granath, Malin, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
-
The social network and networking technology - The emergence and fostering of the network/s of local authority energy
- 2008
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper explores the concept of communities of practice and networks of practice. Special focus lies on networking technologies as tools for fostering emerging network/s. More specifically, the purpose of this articel is to frame and analyse the case of local authority energy consultancy from a community perspective as well as a concept of ba perspective to judge if, and how, a network is forming among the dispersed individuals holding the energy advisor job title. The contribution of this article lies in furthering the understanding of the problems faced in establishing national networks of practice, in environments where work and social interaction is geographically dispersed. Key findings are that there are several smaller communities of local energy advisors emerging rather than one unified network holding the whole professional body together. A reason for this development is probably that it is easier to build relations in smaller groups. Further, fostering of a larger network is important to get networking started, but it is the local initiatives that have viability. Finally, as assumed, dominating means of communication are uncontroversial technologies such as e-mail and telephone.
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| 33. |
- Gullberg, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
-
Backbone or helping hand? : On the role of information systems and non-systematic information in managers’ work
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Information systems are often described as horizontal integrators, supporting and integrating core processes and providing vast amounts of real-time data in organisations. However, previous research indicates that managers use an “information mosaic” - a variety of pieces of information and information sources, rather than one centrally planned and unified information system - to control their work. In this paper, we explore recurring work activities among a number of managers with different responsibilities, and the use of information associated with these activities. The purpose is to put the formal computerised information system into the context of the information mosaic, thereby providing insight into how formal information systems support and do not support these managers’ work. Personnel responsibility is a uniting factor in the way these managers handle information and is an area where information systems seem to mainly support minor activities. Furthermore, the use of formal and informal information sources appears to be intertwined. The main contribution of this paper lies in charting managerial information behaviour in the light of technological development.
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| 34. |
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| 35. |
- Gullberg, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
-
Backbone or helping hand? On the role of information systems and non-systematic information in managers’ work
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Informing Science. - : Informing Science Institute. - 1547-9684 .- 1521-4672. ; 14, s. 139-160
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Information systems are often described as horizontal integrators, supporting and integrating core processes and providing vast amounts of real-time data in organisations. However, previous research indicates that managers use an “information mosaic” – a variety of pieces of information and information sources, rather than one centrally planned and unified information system – to control their work. In this paper, we explore recurring work activities among a number of managers with different responsibilities and the use of information associated with these activities. The purpose is to put the formal computerised information system into the context of the information mosaic, thereby providing insight into how formal information systems support and do not support these managers’ work. Personnel responsibility is a uniting factor in the way these managers handle information and is an area where information systems seem to mainly support minor activities. Furthermore, the use of formal and informal information sources appears to be intertwined. The main contribution of this paper lies in charting managerial information behaviour in the light of technological development.
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| 36. |
- Gullberg, Cecilia
(författare)
-
Puzzle or Mosaic? : On Managerial Information Patterns
- 2011
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Managers and information are key components in most management control literature, and a range of tools and concepts have been developed to better accommodate the information needs of managers so as to ensure efficient action and intelligent decisions. At the same time, the managerial work is often described as highly fragmented, unstructured and interpersonal, with little time for planning and isolated reflection. It is therefore relevant to explore how and to what extent new technologies come into play in managerial information patterns. Furthermore, new management concepts and tools could potentially give rise to new control practices, resulting from e.g. novel relations between managers and other actors, new influential roles, and alternative forms of information flows.These issues are addressed in three papers. The first paper examines the portfolio of information that managers use in their daily work, thereby putting formal information systems into the context of less formal sources. The study is based on interviews with a variety of managers in different organisations. The second paper discusses the interplay between formally designed information-based practices, and the individual perceptions and habits that emerge in relation to the formalised. People at different levels in two public-sector organisations form the basis of the second paper. The third paper explores how various control practices operate together in a government agency, thereby providing new perspectives on how management control is exercised in a knowledge-intensive organisation.It is suggested that managerial information patterns evolve slowly compared to the technological development. Obtaining an overview of one’s area of responsibility is mainly achieved through dialogue and interaction with others. However, new technologies have influenced the more routine exchange of information, thereby causing increased dispersion among users and creating new roles. Subordinates constitute a vital influence on the managerial role and on how managers reason concerning their use of information. This people-oriented type of management results in the use of a multitude of pieces of information that is sometimes very subtle and retrieved in spontaneous interaction. The multidimensional and emerging nature of information provides insight into both the strengths and the limitations of formalising managerial information patterns. Furthermore, various information patterns are interrelated, e.g., they complement each other, substitute each other, or serve different purposes at different times. In total, managerial information patterns resemble a mosaic rather than a puzzle that can be solved by specific pieces. Management information should therefore be viewed from a broader perspective in order to better understand managers’ information needs, how control practices emerge and how information systems come into play.
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| 37. |
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| 38. |
- Gullberg, Cecilia
(författare)
-
Roles of Accounting Information in Managerial Work
- 2014
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Managerial work has been described as fragmented, action-oriented, and highly interpersonal, leaving limited room for formal planning and analysis. Even so, managers are expected to engage with accounting information for planning and analysing their area of responsibility. Accounting information has, however, been found to be tardy, aggregated, and incomplete, leading managers to rely on a wide set of additional informational resources. Still, managers’ doings and concerns tend to remain largely in the background in much management accounting research, which leaves us with limited knowledge of how accounting information comes into play in managers’ work. Moreover, technologies aimed at accommodating managers’ information needs are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and allow for timelier and more precise accounting information. This gradual transformation of technologies has led to questions concerning how management accounting is practised, and how it is related to accounting information systems. The aim of this dissertation is to identify roles of accounting information in managerial work in order to better understand the link between managerial work and management accounting systems. The dissertation consists of two volumes, each with three papers and a summary appraisal. The empirical material consists of interviews with a cross-sectional sample of mainly first-line managers, and a study of a construction firm including interviews with higher- and lower-level managers, observations of workshops where higher-level managers and staff discuss the management accounting systems, and internal documents. Overall, this dissertation suggests four roles of accounting information, based on its capacity to serve as representation, translation, key and perspective. Essentially, these roles reflect the ability of accounting information to both aggregate and disaggregate “reality”. The potential of each of these roles is shaped by managerial, organisational and technological issues, and is not always easily realised. The potential of these roles is particularly challenged in an environment with many local contexts. By accentuating what makes accounting information more and less valuable vis-à-vis other informational resources, this dissertation adds clarity to the emerging body of literature on managers’ situated use of accounting information, and to the debate on information technologies and management accounting.
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| 39. |
- Gullberg, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
-
Systems, Roles and Relationships in the Governance Ecology
- 2011
-
Ingår i: The Future of Work and Organisations. - 9781877040863
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to explore how individuals perceive a management information and control milieu and how these perceptions influence the control practices. The paper is based on a case study of a public sector organisation. By applying the concept of role, we intend to contribute to the management control literature. Contrary to the formalised, top-down-inspired practices often found in the management control literature, we find that bottom-up forces play an important role in the management landscape and that signals can be faint yet still govern behaviour. We introduce the term “governance ecology” to illustrate the interplay among managers, other actors and structures, and to inspire further research into how structural and individual aspects of management control interact.
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| 40. |
- Gullberg, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
-
Systems, roles and relationships in the governance ecology
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into how individuals perceive a management information and control milieu and how these perceptions influence the control practices. Design/methodology/approach – By applying the concept of role, we highlight alternative aspects of management information and control practices found in two public sector organisations; aspects that are often obscured in the traditional literature. Findings – Contrary to the formalised, depersonalised and top-down inspired practices often found in the management control literature, our findings indicate that bottom-up forces play an important role in the management landscape, that some key individuals serve to reinforce information flows and articulate expectations, and that signals can be faint yet still govern behaviour. Research limitations/implications – The paper is intended to inspire further research into how structural and individual aspects of management control operate together. The empirical content, representing two organisations only, limits the strength of the conclusions. Originality/value - Our findings add to the conventional understanding of management control, and the term governance ecology appears illustrative of the interplay among managers, information systems and other actors.
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| 41. |
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| 42. |
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| 43. |
- Havemo, Emelie, 1987-
(författare)
-
Den visuella bilden av organisationen : Perspektiv på visualitet i accounting
- 2020
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Organisations play a crucial role as actors that shape material action and societal discourse; therefore, it is important to understand the ways in which they gain legitimacy and how they shape society. The power of accounting representations to construct the accounting object – the organisation – is therefore a key concern in the accounting literature. Accounting is widely treated as a numbers-based ‘language of business’ through which ‘paper world’ representations shape outcomes in the material world. At present, visuality (the presence of visual images and visual thinking) is gaining influence as a means to represent organisations and construct accounting objects visually. As visuality continues to expand into the realm of accounting, questions emerge about its role and the possibilities of combining the two ‘languages’ during a time when management research is facing a “visual turn”.The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the nature of visuality in accounting. The dissertation is based on five essays that contribute to the visual turn through semiotic analysis of visual texts and qualitative case studies. Paper I explores how business model diagrams – an example of a corporate self-representation – can be designed, and proposes a typology of four main logics for illustrating value creation: classification, circularity, processes and transactions. Paper II describes the development of visuals use in the annual report, finding that visuals are used in greater numbers overall, and that diagrams are a relatively new visual resource in financial reporting. The paper also outlines the trend of a materiality, that is, that visuals increasingly refer to a non-specific and symbol-based idea of the organisation. In Paper III, internal and external representations of a business model are compared, and I conclude that self-representations can be based on parallel but conflicting interpretations of an idea. Paper IV proposes a new visual method for analysing combinations of graphs and texts, and shows that the ‘rhythm’ of graph use in the annual report increasingly integrates visuality in accounting narratives so that accounting and visuality overlap. Finally, Paper V explores challenges and opportunities of a digitalisation of visual artefacts based on the experiences of three organisations that used visual management before the transition.The theoretical contribution of this dissertation is framed in terms of two perspectives. First, a developmental perspective highlights that the nature of visuality has become more prominent in accounting settings, and that the nature of visuality has changed from materiality-based to a material practices that favour conceptual visualisations like diagrams and visual symbols. Second, visuality is explored from an ‘overlaps’ perspective. Three explanations for the role of visuality in accounting are synthesised from the literature: separation, convergence and multilingualism. The contribution is to conceptualise these ‘overlap models’ and thereby deepen the understanding of the role played by visuality in accounting. I also propose a fourth model – bridging – to extend the range of explanations for the meaning of a visual form of accounting.Based on the findings that visuality is more prominent and that the role of visuality is changing, it is proposed visual literacy is an important skill for practitioners who use visual images in accounting. The dissertation presents two frameworks that can contribute to visual literacy. The ‘transformationality framework’ shows how to analyse underlying ideas in corporate diagrams, and the ‘rhythm framework’ illustrates how to shape, use and analyse accounting texts in terms of how combinations of visuals form different rhythms in the annual report.
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| 44. |
- Hedman, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
-
Inledning
- 2009. - 1:1
-
Ingår i: Temperaturen på affärssystem i Sverige. - Lund : Studentlitteratur. - 9789144053561 - 9144053568 ; , s. 17-25
-
Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Affärssystem har stor betydelse för hur verksamheter leds och organiseras. De utgör ryggraden i många organisationers informationsbehandling och styrning. Boken riktar sig till praktiker, studenter och forskare genom att visa på affärssystemområdets bredd och lyfta fram relevanta - och vetenskapligt intressanta - situationer och frågeställningar. Den syftar till att ta temperaturen på affärssystem i Sverige! I boken diskuteras vad affärssystem är, hur utvecklingen av dem förhåller sig till utveckling av skräddarsydda system, varför vi behöver dem och hur de bidrar till att skapa värde. På vilket sätt kan ett affärssystem underlätta införandet av en mer strategisk ekonomistyrning och vilken roll har controllern i arbetet med att ta tillvara systemets möjligheter? Vad kan vi lära oss av de företag som lyckats och varför är det troligt att affärssystem blir politiska verktyg i dragkampen om hur organisationen ska styras? Inte minst i den offentliga sektorn ställs många av dessa frågor på sin spets.
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| 45. |
- Hedman, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
-
Sammanfattning och slutsatser
- 2009. - 1:1
-
Ingår i: Temperaturen på affärssystem i Sverige. - Lund : Studentlitteratur. - 9789144053561 - 9144053568 ; , s. 269-276
-
Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Affärssystem har stor betydelse för hur verksamheter leds och organiseras. De utgör ryggraden i många organisationers informationsbehandling och styrning. Boken riktar sig till praktiker, studenter och forskare genom att visa på affärssystemområdets bredd och lyfta fram relevanta - och vetenskapligt intressanta - situationer och frågeställningar. Den syftar till att ta temperaturen på affärssystem i Sverige! I boken diskuteras vad affärssystem är, hur utvecklingen av dem förhåller sig till utveckling av skräddarsydda system, varför vi behöver dem och hur de bidrar till att skapa värde. På vilket sätt kan ett affärssystem underlätta införandet av en mer strategisk ekonomistyrning och vilken roll har controllern i arbetet med att ta tillvara systemets möjligheter? Vad kan vi lära oss av de företag som lyckats och varför är det troligt att affärssystem blir politiska verktyg i dragkampen om hur organisationen ska styras? Inte minst i den offentliga sektorn ställs många av dessa frågor på sin spets.
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| 46. |
- Imre, Özgün, 1985-
(författare)
-
Adopting Information Systems Perspectives from Small Organizations
- 2017
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Why do organizations adopt information systems? Is it just because of financial reasons, of concerns for efficiency? Or is it due to external pressures, such as competitor pressure, that an organization adopts an information system?And, how does the adoption take place? Is it a linear process, or is the process one of conflicts? Does a specific person govern this process, or do we have multiple parties involved? What happens if these conflicts occur among those involved? How does the organization move on and achieve a successful information system adoption?By investigating two organizations, one international academic journal and one South American manufacturing company, this thesis aims to investigate the whys and hows of information system adoption, and aims to contribute to the discourse on information system adoptions in small organizations – an often underrepresented segment in information system adoption literature.By adopting different theoretical lenses throughout the five research papers included, this body of work suggests that even when seemingly simple, information system adoptions can become rather complex. The cases reveal that the role of information systems and issues related to information system adoptions are often not well thought-out in the early days of the organization. The actors’ understandings of adoption and consequences mature and the information systems become more intertwined.Common use of stakeholder theory introduces general stakeholders and their interaction with the focal organization. The cases reveal that the adoption process involves multiple actors, even within what would initially appear as a stakeholder, and that those actors can be in conflict with each other. These conflicts often lead to negotiations, and the cases reveal that these negotiations are opportunities of learning; the actors engage with the information system and with each other, gaining new knowledge about the issues at hand.The dissertation argues that there are various social worlds in information system adoptions, and various factors – ranging from organizational structure to social norms – that often affect why and how the organization undergoes an adoption process. The multiple power relations and divergent interests of stakeholders in these adoption processes, and how information systems affect other parts of the organization, reinforce the need for a well thought-out, flexible and reflexive approach to information system adoptions.
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| 47. |
- Iveroth, Einar, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
-
How to Differentiate by Price : Proposal for a Five-dimensional Model
- 2013
-
Ingår i: European Management Journal. - : Elsevier. - 0263-2373 .- 1873-5681. ; 31:2, s. 109-123
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this article is to analyse the repertoire of possible price models that organisations may deploy for their products and services. This is attained by developing the SBIFT model that suggests that organisations can differentiate by price along five dimensions. Previous research on pricing has been dispersed across different academic disciplines. This article offers a more integrated perspective, derived from earlier theory as well as discussions in a collaborative research project with the international telecom company Ericsson. The model can be used as a tool for price modelling in a descriptive and prescriptive sense. Altogether, this article uncovers implicit features of price models, and by doing so it illustrates how an organisation can differentiate and re-invent their offering based on price.
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| 48. |
- Lindeberg, Fredrik, 1987-
(författare)
-
Coordinating the Internet
- 2019
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Många självklarheter i vårt digitala samhälle är beroende av Internet för att fungera. Allt från smarta dörrar för hemtjänster, till självscanningsapparaterna på ICA, till nyare bilar, moderna tillverkningsrobotar, telefoner och affärssystem. Den här licentiatavhandlingen reder ut vad Internet är, hur det styrs och vad det har för praktiska konsekvenser. Tidigare forskning finns bland annat inom telekommunikation där Internet liknas vid andra telekommunikationstjänster, så som kabel-TV eller mobiltelefoni, och inom digitalisering både inom management och informationssystem där Internet i det närmaste tas för givet som teknisk infrastruktur. Här tar jag en ansatts där jag förklarar Internet ur ett kombinerat tekniskt och organisatoriskt perspektiv.Studien är principiellt uppdelad i tre delar. Den första delen fokuserar på att begreppsmässigt hitta ett sätt att diskutera Internet utan att essentiella aspekter faller bort, såsom styrningen eller konsekvenser av den tekniska designen. Jag landar i att Internet är både ett tekniskt och ett organisatoriskt fenomen. Tekniskt i bemärkelsen att det handlar om digital paketbaserad kommunikation (dvs att olika paket kan ta olika väg och att det inte finns ett beroende på en viss specifik väg, eller “krets”), vilket kan särskiljas från exempelvis kretskopplad kommunikation (dvs en specific väg från sändare till mottagare) eller rent analog kommunikation. I denna tekniska dimension är Internet förhållandevis likt klassisk telekommunikation såsom kabel-TV och mobiltelefoni, och förlitar sig på best-effort paketbaserad kommunikation. I den andra dimensionen, styrning och organisation, är Internet ett explicit bottom-up fenomen som styrs med andra principer och ideal än klassisk telekommunikation. Till sin utformning är denna minsta möjliga koordination som krävs för att möjliggöra koordinering av de tekniska unika identifierare som behövs för att Internet ska fungera (dvs idag DNS- och BGP-flororna av protokoll för användning av namn och nummer på Internet). Båda dimensionerna, de organisatoriska och tekniska, följer samma designprinciper, och generellt är det meningsfullt att se Internet som en ekologi av aktörer snarare än en organisation i strikt teoretiska termer (exempelvis finns ingen tydlig övergripande strategi, organisationsnummer eller löneutbetalare). Det är dessa designprinciper, som ligger väl i linje med systemarkitektursprinciper för datorsystem, som är orsaken till Internets lager-design där man (generellt) inte ska bry som om vad som händer på andra lager än sitt eget (beskrivet som “separation of concerns” eller i dubbel negation “high cohesion” i texten) samt att ha en minimalistisk ansatts till koordinering och enbart koordinera eller skapa beroenden mellan enheter (både tekniskt och organisatoriskt) när det verkligen behövs (beskrivet som “minimum coordination” eller “low coupling” i texten). Den andra delen fokuserar på hur Internet kan socialt påverkas eller förändras till något annat, eller till något med en annan funktion sett som en styrd organisation. Jag använder begreppet social robusthet, som motpol till teknisk robusthet som i hur man tekniskt kan förstöra Internet, för att diskutera dessa aspekter. Slutsatserna här mynnar ut i att Internets explicita bottom-up och problemsuppdelnings-design gör det märkbart svårt för någon att medvetet påverka Internet för att ändra dess beskaffenhet, och dessutom visar jag att även om man praktiskt lyckas ta över de formellt beslutande råden (exempelvis ICANNs och IETFs styrelser) så finns det inga formella eller praktiska hinder för att bara ignorera dem (dvs switching costs för just ICANN eller IETF är låga, om än tekniskt omständligt med att konfigurera om rötter och routing-tabeller, och betydligt enklare än att gå från IPv4 till IPv6 då utrustning kan behöva ersättas och därmed en betydligt högre switching cost). Med andra ord, det är enklare att byta ut Internets koordinerare än att byta ut Internet mot något som fungerar annorlunda. Däremot är den rådande politiska världsordningen ett hot mot Internet, eftersom den regelstyrda och koordinerade världsordningen inte längre är lika självklar som den varit tidigare. Den tredje och sista studien fokuserar på nätneutralitet, dvs rätten nätverksoperatörer har att fånga värde i andra dimensioner än trafikmängd, som en praktiskt effekt av hur Internet styrs och fungerar. Det primära praktiska bidraget är att nätneutralitet inte får ses som enbart en reglerings och lagstiftningfråga utan det är mer relevant att prata om i termer av nätneutralitet i praktiken. I den bemärkelsen är lagstiftningens vara eller inte vara mindre intressant än praktisk nätneutralitets vara eller inte vara och en tyngdpunktsförskjutning i den offentliga debatten hade fört diskussionen närmare hur Internet fungerar. Sammanfattningsvis ger Internets designprinciper att marknadskrafter, och ej direkt reglering, ska möjliggöra nätneutralitet. För att förtydliga, tanken är att det ska finnas konkurrens inom de flesta nivåer eller lager, och att det är av vikt att det finns konkurrens rakt igenom så att en kundvilja för paketneutralitet på tjänstenivå även påverkar nätägar- och infrastrukturnivå, så att det är användarnas efterfrågan som leder till nätneutralitet (om den användarviljan finns). Dock kan det mycket väl vara så att man som användare inte är intresserad av nätneutralitet och då ska tjänsteleverantörer, nätägare och infrastrukturoperatörer inte heller tvingas vara neutrala genom lagstiftning då det går stick i stäv med designprinciperna. Inte heller ska en grupps vilja kring nätneutralitet påverka andras möjligheter att välja.Genomgående identifierar jag två kolliderande världsbilder, den distribuerade regelstyrda och koordinerade ordningen i sitt perspektiv med sina förkämpar, och den mer integrerande och suveräna världsordningen med sitt perspektiv och sina förkämpar. Rent praktiskt uppfyller Internet en önskad funktion i den tidigare men ej i den senare, då Internet designmässigt är byggt för att tillåta snarare än kontrollera och bestämma. Exempelvis finns det inte inbyggda (tekniska) mekanismer i Internet för att till exempel möjliggöra statlig övervakning eller kontroll av material som finns tillgängligt, och då ligger det mer i statens intresse att ha kontrollerade telekommunikationstjänster, såsom kabel-TV, mobiltelefoni och liknande lösningar där man inte helt enkelt kan lägga på ett “extra lager” för att uppnå kryptering, anonymitet eller tillgång till andra tjänster.I texten använder jag perspektiven tillsammans med teknologi, marknader och byråkrati för att fånga upp dynamiken och strömningarna i Internet-ekologin och jämför med tekniska samhällsförändringar, som exempelvis järnvägsnät, postverk och finansiella marknader. Jag konstaterar att Internet har varit styrt av teknologiskt baserade värderingar, till skillnad från de andra exemplen som i huvudsak har utformats av dynamiken mellan byråkrati och marknad. I denna mån förelår jag att teknologi kan användas som strömning och motperspektiv till den klassiska uppställningen med byråkrati och marknad för att beskriva fenomen i digitaliseringens tidsålder.Avhandlingen sätter även pågående trender i ett bredare perspektiv mot både organisation och teknik, och trycker på vikten av att förstå delarna var för sig och tillsammans för att på ett rikare sätt måla upp helheten.
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| 49. |
- Lindeberg, Fredrik, 1987-
(författare)
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Coordinating the Internet : Thought styles, technology and coordination
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Internet is often mentioned as a driver for digitization or a democratizing tool for societies. However, the Internet is seldom explained, conceptualized or defined. This dissertation elaborates upon and conceptualizes the Internet through three lenses, or thought styles, referred to as the interoperability, the bureaucratic and the market thought styles in an effort to provide an overarching or holistic view of the concept that is the Internet. The Internet, as captured and conceptualized in this dissertation, is separate from services on top, such as the web, by explicit design for an interoperable network which decouples the use of the network from the network itself. A thought style can be considered a set of guiding values or principles of one’s thoughts. This dissertation focuses on different views of technology and coordination depending on thought style, that is conflicts and compatibilities between thought styles rather than conflicts and compatibilities between technology and coordination. This dissertation proposes that the Internet was, and is to a lesser extent, primarily mediated through norms in what I denote the interoperability thought style, which aims and strives for interoperability of both technology and coordination. In modern times the norms of the interoperable Internet, through principles such as separation of concerns, are challenged by market actors striving for profits and bureaucracies wanting to subject the Internet to laws and regulations. As core Internet standards were formulated with explicit intention of open-endedness, the vertical integration native to value capture by market actors and control by bureaucracies provides an arena for conflict and misunderstanding. In a sense, the purpose of the interoperability thought style is to limit path dependency, that is to keep all options open for as long as possible. This is contrary to market logic, where an actor might gain an advantage by shaping and therefore premeditating future market decisions. There are discussions concerning both what the Internet is, and concerning what the Internet should be. This dissertation illustrates these issues through thought styles, even if the thought styles sometimes are so far apart it is impossible to find compatible common ground for agreement or disagreement. Net neutrality is an example of such an issue. Seen from the core values of the interoperability thought style, traffic differentiation based on traffic content is not permitted, since traffic content by design should be separated from the implementation of the network to provide interoperability and separation of concerns. This in practice implies net neutrality, but not through regulation or policy, but instead by technical design to ensure open-endedness and permissionless innovation at the edges of the Internet. In addition, the concept of regulation is in conflict with the interoperability thought style, as regulation aims to control or forbid behavior, whereas the interoperability perspective strives to allow and permit behavior. This is in conflict with the principles of the bureaucratic thought style where regulation is one of the means through which to attain a want. Similarly, core values of the market thought style, such as bundling, market barriers and lock-in effects are in stark conflict with the embedded open-endedness of the Internet and the Internet’s architecture. In particular there are two separate groups of actors with a primary market perspective: the actors selling services on the Internet, and the actors selling Internet-service. Their logics are similar, but their goals different, and regulation and technical standards could provide an advantage to either of the two types of for-profit actors. It is important to note that these thought styles are not tied to education or work title. As an example, an engineer can be bureaucratic by preferring consolidating and integrative design for control. Or a manager might be interoperability minded by avoiding a business decision because it would have led to technical lock-in down the line. This thesis suggests that the Internet today can be conceptualized as an architecture and set of protocols for best-effort digital end-to-end communication effected by its users through adhocratic processes based on ideals of design for interoperability. This conceptualization is primarily grounded in the interoperability perspective; however, notions of the bureaucratic and market perspectives are becoming prevalent, particularly in actual and future coordination of the Internet. The Internet is currently in a slow transformation towards a more vertically integrated network coordinated by value capture and regulation; this is different from a network where all components explicitly are decoupled to as large extent as possible. These perspectives with their compatibilities and conflicts are captured through interviews, discussions, reading of academic literature, bylaws, standards, routing data and exploration of Internet use. This dissertation also intends to be an introduction to the nascent field of Internet coordination and suggests, through examples, relevant approaches to capture multifaceted arenas colored by norms, values, coordination, and technology.
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| 50. |
- Lundmark, Erik, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Adoption of Discretionary Public Information Systems with Digital Use Patterns : Barriers and Driving Forces
- 2008
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Ingår i: International Journal of Public Information Systems. - Sundsvall : Mid Sweden University. - 1653-4360. ; 4:2, s. 87-130
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article presents a new model, AKAM, for analysing adoption of discretionary, public information systems (PIS) with digital use patterns (such as use or non-use, as opposed to frequency of use, or degree of engaged or compliant use). The model is based on Rogers’ innovation diffusion theory (IDT) and Nilsson’s user centred access model (UCAM). The model is an alternative to the general technology acceptance model (TAM). The AKAM model (Awareness, Knowledge, Access and Motivation) identifies six prerequisites for use and four management approaches and describes how these are related. To illustrate its applicability, the AKAM model is used to analyse the adoption of a specific module, the YAF-module, in the Swedish Sports Confederation’s (SSC) system Swedish Sports Online. We present empirical results that indicate the frequency and importance of the barriers and driving forces as experienced by the YAF module users and the potential YAF module users.
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