| 1. |
- Lagrosen, Yvonne, 1966, et al.
(author)
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Kvalitetsutveckling i sjukvården
- 2006
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In: HEL. - Göteborg : Sahlgrenska akademin vid Göteborgs universitet. - 9197613606 ; , s. 112-121
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)
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| 2. |
- Stenberg, Ann-Charlotte, 1967
(author)
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The Social Construction of Green Building: Diachronic and Synchronic Perspectives
- 2006
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- AbstractAlthough environmental issues have been on the agendas of governments, businesses and scientists for at least three decades, there still remain conceptual difficulties concerning what environment or green actually encompass. The concepts are in constant flux, shifting as actors who represent different social relevant groups struggle to find support for their specific interests.The overall aim of this research is to contribute new insight concerning the processes through which environmental issues are represented and given meaning in the Swedish building sector. To fulfill this purpose, three research questions have been formulated, all of them focusing on different organizational levels: how are environmental issues (1) framed? (2) made sense of?, and (3) acted upon? Furthermore, to understand the social construction of green building, the topic has been addressed from a diachronic and a synchronic perspective. The thesis draws on theories of social construction of technology, institutional change, travel of ideas, sensemaking and identity construction to explicate the qualitative empirical data, which is mainly collected through interviews, written documents, and field observations.Green building is a contested discursive terrain, where relevant groups struggle for the preferential right of interpretation of green. The plurality of meanings enacted in several distinct logics can result in widely differing problem formulations and contradictory solutions. On organizational level, contesting views may mobilize counter-action or non-action, which is destructive for strategic environmental work. The trade magazines bias towards technical measures and their proclivity toward traditional definitions regarding environmental impacts may lock practitioners into a technocratic logic. Environmental areas that are not formulated areas of key concern risk being taken for granted, i.e., being black-boxed. Accordingly, development within these areas may stagnate, especially since those who make strategic environmental decisions in the companies are not the same people who possess environmental expertise. For environmental issues to be enacted at all levels of a company, the environmental experts would need to be empowered with a decision-making mandate. To succeed, the environmental work has to be given adequate resources and also be legitimized by the business management.To conclude, there is no one true notion of green building. Instead, it is a social construct with multiple interpretations, which is not only a constraint, but may also function as a driver for change and development.
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| 3. |
- Sanz-Velasco, Stefan, 1970
(author)
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Entrepreneurial learning: Developing opportunities and business models
- 2006
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The purpose of this dissertation is to explore and describe the entrepreneurial process with an emphasis on how technology-based entrepreneurs learn as they perceive and exploit opportunities. The thesis draws on a variety of entrepreneurship-oriented literature such as Austrian economics, entrepreneurial learning and the resource-based view, and it features four empirical studies, primarily among start-up ventures in the emerging Swedish mobile Internet industry.The results indicate that the dominant opportunity discovery conceptualisation can be reconceptualised as opportunity development to better represent the processual nature of technology-based entrepreneurship. This would also enhance our possibilities to develop tools and models of use for practitioners. The initial opportunity perceptions in these start-ups are often rudimentary, and then substantially developedin processes that may be iterative, intrusive and interactive. Another conclusion is the need to attend to entrepreneurial learning in order to better understand opportunity development, thereby rendering our view of the entrepreneurial process more dynamic. In doing so, the thesis illustrates how entrepreneurial learning can be analysed at the infrequently used venture level, and thereby contributes to entrepreneurial learning literature.A concept that has been derived from a number of theories is presented: the business model. The concept allows analyses of entrepreneurial learning, but also captures the development of opportunities over time, partly because it addresses core dimensions of the entrepreneurial process. The value of using the business model as an analytical tool is accentuated by its role as a boundary object between researchers and practitioners. The empirical studies also suggest that entrepreneurial learning in the venture often takes place through experimentation with different business models. In view of the observed need for business model changes in early phases, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists might advantageously delay committing large resources until the business model of a venture has stabilised. The idea of business modelling as a disciplined method for developing the business model is launched. It concerns making important assumptions explicit and turning them into hypotheses that are tested on the market. Unsuccessful ones are refuted, whereas success is considered to demonstrate viability.Depicting business modelling as a method leads to the concept of learning methodologiesrecurrent patterns of thought and actionwhich is suggested as a contribution to entrepreneurial learning literature. To discuss the association of learning with performance, it is argued that we must first determine what learning methodology is present. The dissertation shows one example of learning methodologies that correlate positively with venture growth. Analogously to earlier research aiming to correlate individual traits with success, it is consequently suggested that learning methodologies might serve as a complementary approach.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Erlandsson, Johan, 1973
(author)
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ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN COMPANIES –TOWARDS AN ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK
- 2006
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In: 13th International Greening of Industry Network Conference.
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The generation and use of relevant, accessible, comparable and understandable environmental information on company and product level is needed in companies both for business reasons and for different types of reporting requirements from stakeholders. However, there are several known problems to environmental information management in the industry. Ambiguous information, high time consumption, high costs, low organisational memory, low availability and a poor product information flow are just a few.The PhD project Towards Integrated Environmental Information Systems aims to contribute to increased knowledge about preconditions, barriers and possibilities for environmental information systems in the industry. Site related environmental information as well as product related information is included in the scope of the project. The main research method is field studies of companies, and a framework for analysing field study results about environmental information management in the industry is presented in this paper. The construction of the framework, which is work in progress, is based on the results of a pilot field study of one company and a literature review. The pilot field study results suggest a preliminary analytical framework, where a company's environmental information management can be analysed through four groups of prerequisites; drivers, format, IT systems and organisation.The literature review aims to describe and analyse different approaches and initiatives that have been and are being taken to describe, analyse and improve environmental information management in companies. Environmental accounting and suggested methods for improving environmental data management addresses the actual procedures of environmental information management. IT systems and organisation design can be seen as facilitators of these procedures. Different policy initiatives are examples of external drivers for environmental information management. Internally, life cycle assessments, environmental management systems and environmental information for marketing purposes create a need for environmental information management.
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| 6. |
- Erlandsson, Johan, 1973
(author)
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Product-Specific Environmental Information and Environmental Management Accounting
- 2006
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In: Environmental Management Accounting and Cleaner Production.
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Product related environmental information is gaining increased attention, but todays generation and availability of such information could be significantly improved. In parallel with the increased product focus, the concept and practice of Environmental Management Accoun¬ting (EMA) is evolving. Even if EMA by definition seem to facilitate the generation of product related environmental information, current EMA practice suggest that this so far is not the case. The concepts of Site-specific LCA and Internal ecological accounting could push the development of EMA in this direction if they are further developed.
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| 7. |
- Gluch, Pernilla, 1968, et al.
(author)
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Social practices, structure and agency: Effects on environmental management in construction projects
- 2006
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In: 13th International Greening of Industry Network Conference, City Hall, Cardiff, 2-5 July 2006.
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This paper discussed social processes and practices associated with environmental management in project organisations. The focus is on the interplay between structural conditions and managerial agency and its effects. Drawing on a qualitative case study, organizational and social mechanisms that influence the interplay between environmental management and project management have been studied. Findings show the existence of built-in tensions in the relationship between how the environmental work respectively how the project is organized and managed. An effect from these tensions is that organizational units within the corporation, due to isolation, partly strive towards different goals. This way of organizing also restrains the environmental organizations ability to communicate environmental information as well as the project organizations ability to handle environmental issues properly. It is concluded that the way environmental issues are dealt with in construction projects largely depends on their legitimization in the project and how well socio-cultural communication processes succeeded in creating meaning and understanding for practitioners in relation to their specific practice, situation and context. It is also found that environmental work governed by a top-down controlled environmental management system match poorly with the decentralized and autonomous decision-making culture of project organisations, making them insufficient for situated project practice. It is concluded that top management need to support the establishment of communicative communities of practice by offering arenas where members from the two units can team-up.
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| 8. |
- Erlandsson, Johan, 1973
(author)
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Company and Product Related Environmental Information Management -A pilot field study
- 2006
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This report is the first outcome from the PhD project Towards an Integrated Environmental Information System. It covers the findings from a pilot field study of environmental information management at flooring manufacturer Forbo.Relevant, reliable, accessible and understandable environmental information is a cornerstone for any attempt on environmental management of production units and products, and also for making solid purchasing decisions. However, there are several known problems to environmental information management in companies. Ambiguous information, high time consumption, high costs, low organisational memory, limited availability and a poor product information flow are some of the problems that can be found.The purpose of this study is to get an understanding of the preconditions for the efficient generation and use of relevant environmental information at the study object, both at site/company/group level and product level. Another aim is to refine the research questions and research methodology to prepare for further field studies.Two Forbo units were chosen as study objects partly because they were known to manage both site related and product related environmental information. The study was carried out mainly through semi-structured interviews and by collecting and analysing documented environmental information.The quality of product related environmental information at Forbo is lower than the professional site related environmental information. The product information lacks in objectivity, precision and actuality. Possible explanations are a weak market demand for products with lower environmental impact, weak third-party intervention on the product level and an organisation design that seems to create a barrier for the flow of product related information.The detailed and extensive format of the product declaration seems to be a barrier for understanding and using environmental product information.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Lagrosen, Yvonne, 1966
(author)
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Values and Practices of Quality Management - Health implications and organisational differences
- 2006
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis has two main aims which are developed in seven papers. The first aim is to explore the knowledge and use of actual values and practices of quality management in different organisational settings. A mail survey covering 500 Swedish quality professionals was carried out. The results show that there is a strong correlation between adoption of the values grown from the quality movement, which are often considered as the basis of quality management, and successful quality management. Further, the connection between quality management and different organisational structures based on Mintzbergs framework is examined. A contingency approach based on his five configurations is proposed as a way to facilitate understanding for managers when assessing quality initiatives and measuring their effects. Differences between manufacturing, private service and public service organisations in the management of quality, have also been identified. Since the values were found to be particularly vital, it became interesting to consider and examine related concepts like trust. Therefore, a conceptual paper with this purpose was written. The concept of trust is elaborated and compared to the traditional values of quality management. Moreover, a tentative framework based on previous research is proposed. The second aim is to provide empirical investigations into the connection between quality management and employee health, especially the relationship between the employees perception of values grown from the quality movement and their health. Starting with an explorative case study at Fresh Ltd, an industrial manufacturing company in Sweden, the relationship is further examined and related to a case study at the emergency clinic at South Stockholm General Hospital. Statistical correlation between how the employees perceive some of the values and how they perceive their health was found. Having indications that the values of leadership commitment and participation of everybody are important for the employees health, the last study aims at verifying these relationships and probing deeper into the mechanisms of these values. This study is carried out in a Swedish production plant, which is part of a leading manufacturing company. Dimensions of importance for the leadership commitment and participation of everybody were identified and described in models. Thus, a focus on more subtle levels of quality management, like the stated values, has been shown to be fruitful as a foundation both for well-functioning of companies quality systems and for the employees health.
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