| 1. |
- Andersen, E. S., et al.
(författare)
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Projects and politics : exploring the duality between action and politics in complex projects
- 2010
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Ingår i: International Journal of Management and Decision Making. - : InderScience Publishers. - 1462-4621 .- 1741-5187. ; 11:2, s. 121-139
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Traditional research and literature on project management and organisation theory tend to view project organisations as non-political bodies and purely action-oriented endeavours. In contrast, this paper presents an alternative analysis drawing on the idea of projects as political and emergent processes. Based on in-depth, case-study findings of a complex development and implementation project, we suggest an analytical framework that focuses on the interrelatedness of action and political processes and which explains how project management deals with the two processes simultaneously. We identify and analyse three separate but nested organisational logics applied by the project management team to cope with the dual challenges of politics and action. The general idea is to illustrate the notion of projects as emergent processes involving both politics and action. The three logics are: 1) balancing openness and closure; 2) reformulating tasks to seek solutions; 3) relating to improve action capacity. Our findings add to the literature on the role and practice of project management in complex projects that entail both stakeholder and technological challenges.
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| 2. |
- Berggren, Christian, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring Knowledge Integration and Innovation
- 2011
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Ingår i: Knowledge integration and innovation. - Oxford : Oxford University Press. - 9780199693924 - 9780191730580 ; , s. 228-245
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Technology-based firms continue to compete primarily on innovation, and are continuously required to present new solutions to an exacting market. As technological complexity and specialization intensifies, firms increasingly need to integrate and co-ordinate knowledge by means of project groups, diversified organizations, inter-organizational partnerships, and strategic alliances. Innovation processes have progressively become interdisciplinary, collaborative, inter-organizational, and international, and a firm's ability to synthesize knowledge across disciplines, organizations, and geographical locations has a major influence on its viability and success.This book demonstrates how knowledge integration is crucial in facilitating innovation within modern firms. It provides original, detailed empirical studies of prerequisites, mechanisms, and outcomes of knowledge integration processes on several organizational levels, from key individuals, projects, and internal organizations, to collaboration between firms. It stresses the need to understand knowledge integration as a multi-level phenomenon, which requires a broad repertoire of organizational and technical means. It further clarifies the need for strong internal capabilities for exploiting external knowledge, reveals how costs of knowledge integration affect outcomes and strategic decisions, and discusses the managerial implications of fostering knowledge integration, providing practical guidance and support for managers of knowledge integration in
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| 3. |
- Berggren, Christian, 1950-, et al.
(författare)
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Management Education for Practicing Managers : Combining Academic Rigor With Personal Change and Organizational Action
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of Management Education. - London, UK : Sage Publications. - 1052-5629 .- 1552-6658. ; 35:3, s. 377-405
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For several decades, management educators have discussed the difficulty of accommodating the competing values of academic rigor and organizational relevance. Only a few articles, however, consider approaches for integrating theory and practice in educational programs for working managers. Building on 15 years of experience in executive education, this article presents an approach grounded in experiential and action learning, which combines personal learning and organizational action without compromising academic standards. The following educational practices are discussed and evaluated: reflection reports, personal learning contracts, roundtable examinations, live cases, action-oriented thesis work, and organizational knowledge theaters. Taken together, the approach constitutes a powerful program design to address multiple learning loci and combinations of reflection and action, albeit one with considerable challenges and difficulties, as the authors discuss.
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| 4. |
- Berggren, Christian, 1950-, et al.
(författare)
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Principles for ‘Engaged Management Education’ : Designing Education Programs for Practicing Project Managers
- 2011
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- For many years, scholars have criticized managementeducation for its lack of connection to real business problemsand disinterest in deep personal learning. Several recentcontributions address the need for reflexive approaches toalign subject learning with development of self-awarenessand purpose. Few papers, however, discuss approaches forintegrating theory and practice in programs for practicingmanagers. As a response to this lacuna, this paper discusses asocial action-oriented twist of experiential learning, drawing onideas of knowledge co-production and engaged scholarship, tobridge the ”knowing-doing gap”. The paper is based on morethan ten years’ of experience with various customized programsfor practicing managers that have been developed with a selectgroup of world-leading Swedish-based firms in such industriesas aerospace, automotive and telecom systems. The paperpresents six practices intended to combine personal learningwith organizational action, however without compromisingacademic standards. The paper concludes with an agenda ofcore principles for building engaged management educationwhere knowledge co-production is the underlying pedagogicalphilosophy. The agenda is viewed as particularly relevant forprograms in project management that are carried out in closepartnership with sponsoring organizations – a market segmentof great importance to many business and engineering schoolsinvolved in project management.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Borg, Elisabeth
(författare)
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Liminality at Work : Mobile Project Workers In-Between
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This doctoral thesis addresses how mobile project workers; technical consultants working in projects, experience and deal with project-based work. The thesis consists of a compilation of five papers and an extended summary. It is based on three qualitative studies including methods like interviews, diaries, and observations. The thesis adopts and develops the conceptual lens of liminality.The results of this thesis show that mobile project workers use four different practices to deal with liminality at work. Furthermore, the thesis develops the framework of “liminality competence,” indicating that some mobile project workers are better at utilizing their liminal positions than others. The thesis also studies how liminality competence is developed and how formal training programs influence the liminal position for mobile project workers.
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| 7. |
- Borg, Elisabeth, et al.
(författare)
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Moving in, moving on : liminality practices in project-based work
- 2014
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Ingår i: Employee relations. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 0142-5455 .- 1758-7069. ; 36:2, s. 182-197
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the practices mobile project workers rely upon to deal with their liminal work situation, i.e. a work situation in which they are “in-between” and do not have a clear long-term belonging to any specific organisation or project.Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a qualitative approach and draws upon in-depth interviews with 24 engineers working for one of Scandinavia's leading technical consultancies. The aim of the qualitative data analysis was to identify a set of commonalities and differences in their experiences and ways of dealing with liminality.Findings – The data indicate that mobile project workers experience their liminality in two separate dimensions; one which is primarily technical and task related, and one that is predominantly group related and social. These types of liminality are dealt with either actively, to lower or handle the ambiguity in the situation, or passively when the individual waits for the situation to be dealt with by others. Based on these two dimensions and types, the paper identifies and discusses four kinds of liminality practices.Research limitations/implications – The paper demonstrates the importance of focusing on individuals in project-based work, and specifically how they deal with work in-between. The paper shows when and how individuals make use of different liminality practices in their work, and calls for further research on the different skill sets and competencies that are needed to deal with liminality.Originality/value – By identifying four liminality practices applied in situations signified by the experience of being in-between, this study offers an important contribution to the literature on flexible and mobile work conditions. Thus, the paper contributes to the knowledge of threshold-like employment positions that denotes the everyday work situation for an increasing number of individuals engaged in knowledge-intensive and project-based work.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Borg, Elisabeth, et al.
(författare)
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The nature and development of liminality competence : Narratives from mobile project workers
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Purpose: This paper describes and analyzes the nature and development of liminality competence among mobile project workers. It draws on an interpretative approach documenting how mobile project workers develop their conceptions of work performed in liminal (in-between) positions. The overall aim is to extend the knowledge on how people in time-limited and ambiguous work positions develop competencies to address their specific work conditions.Design: This research relies on two in-depth narratives of mobile project workers drawn from a larger longitudinal study. The data include diaries and interviews. The study seeks to identify similarities and differences in the development of liminality competence over time.Findings: Three processes were identified as important in developing higher liminality competence: (1) understanding the value of in-betweenness, (2) understanding the role of the liminar as different and (3) translating liminal experience through reflexivity. The paper generally demonstrates the importance of context and critical events in progressing through these three processes.Practical implications: The paper demonstrates the need for employers to support individuals in passing through the three identified processes and to support thoughtful mobility across different project settings.Originality/value: In the dual ambition of offering insights based on interpretative research on competence and putting greater emphasis on people working in in-between positions, this study enhances the understanding of how individuals develop their conceptions of work in general and their conceptions of liminality at work in particular.
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| 10. |
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