| 1. |
- Alexius, Susanna, 1976-
(författare)
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Att leda komplexa uppdrag
- 2021
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I takt med att pandemins undantagstillstånd övergår i mer normal vardag växer förväntningarna på oss att ta upp tråden igen, i fråga efter fråga som satts på vänt under coronatiden. Agenda 2030, barnperspektivet, arbetsmiljö, utveckling, IT-säkerhet och samverkan tar plats igen tillsammans med så mycket annat. Höga ambitioner, mål och visioner trängs om uppmärksamheten och trots möten från tu till sju är det många som känner sig otillräckliga i detta race. I takt med att att-göra-listan fylls på och tempot trissas upp ser vi hur många ledare - till synes reflexmässigt – kavlar upp ärmarna och tar upp jakten på ”det perfekta systemet”, där allt gott på något mirakulöst sätt ska kunna genomsyra alla delar av verksamheten. Det är synd när denna speciella tid borde erbjuda ett gyllene tillfälle att stanna upp och fundera på förutsättningarna för ett mer situationsanpassat och inte minst hållbart ledarskap.Det finns en otålighet i vår kultur och en övertro på smidiga och enkla lösningar. I Susanna Alexius bok Att leda komplexa uppdrag, synar hon orealistisk förhärskande ledarskapsideal som riskerar att bryta sönder ambitiösa ledare. Med grund i organisationsforskning och genom många exempel från samtida organisationer visar Alexius att allt gott omöjligt kan genomsyra allt, och att vad som är ”rätt” i ledarskap och organisering varierar över tid och rum. Så är det bara och det måste vi acceptera och förhålla oss till.
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| 2. |
- Alexius, Susanna, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Enabling Sustainable Transformation : Hybrid Organizations in Early Phases of Path Generation
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Business Ethics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0167-4544 .- 1573-0697. ; 165:3, s. 547-563
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The rapidly growing research on hybrid organizations in recent years suggests that these organizations may have particular abilities to facilitate institutional change. This article contributes to our understanding of change and, in particular, sustainable transformation in society by highlighting the importance of organizational forms. Looking more closely at the role of hybrid organizations in processes of path generation, we analyze the conditions under which hybrid organizations may enable path generation. A retrospective (1988–2017) exploratory case study of the Swedish hybrid organization The Natural Step confirms how hybrids can take part in- and may facilitate the early phases of path generation: assimilation and coalescence. The conclusion drawn is that hybrids have multivocal abilities that enable them to earn trust and authority to open up “neutral” spaces for orientation and connection between actors in separated sub-paths, and that this in turn may ease tensions and trigger dialogue and exchange, also between former opponents. Yet, as also seen in the case, this enabling position of the hybrid may be both fragile and temporary.
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| 3. |
- Alexius, Susanna, 1976-
(författare)
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Hybridorganisering som social innovation : En historisk fallstudie av RFSU
- 2022
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Ingår i: Social innovation för hållbar utveckling. - Lund : Studentlitteratur AB. - 9789144151465 ; , s. 53-66
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I tider av gränsöverskridande utmaningar behövs djupare kunskap om organisationsformer för gränsöverskridande samverkan och social innovation. I det här kapitlet studeras hybridorganisering inom ramen för en föreningsägd koncern, som ett innovativt sätt att organisera sådan samverkan. Sedan 1933 har RFSU framgångsrikt kombinerat politisk aktivism i föreningsform, medicinsk vetenskaplig praktik på egen klinik och kommersiellt företagande i sina bolag i en och samma koncern. Sådan höggradig hybriditet kan betraktas som en social innovation i sig. I kapitlet beskrivs hur RFSU:s hybriditet har möjliggjort stora framsteg inom sexual- och familjepolitiken, både i Sverige och internationellt. Genom sin speciella hybrida form har RFSU verkat för frågor relaterade till god hälsa och välbefinnande, långt innan de paketerades som ”mål 3” i Agenda 2030. För att hitta lovande vägar framåt när det gäller social innovation och hållbar utveckling behöver vi lära av historien. Inte minst behöver vi återuppliva kunskap om föregångares organisering och betydelsen av äldre organisationsformer som kan vara högaktuella än idag.
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| 4. |
- Alexius, Susanna, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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In Proper Organization We Trust : Trust in Interorganizational aid relations
- 2020
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study is to contribute to our knowledge of how donors and recipients of aid cope with the uncertain world in which development aid takes place. When and how does trust become a substitute for certainty and what makes donors and recipients of aid actually trust one another? What may explain current trust patterns and what are their implications for the organization of aid? In recent years, management trends associated with New Public Management have been increasingly criticized. As a response to this criticism, in 2016, the Swedish government launched a “Trust Delegation” (Tillitsdelegationen) with interest in “trust based management”, which partly has been seen as a response to the NPM criticism. Even though the development aid sector has not formally been targeted by the Trust commission, it is clear that ideas on trust and alternative management styles have spurred a lot of interest and discussion, also in the aid sector. One of the intentions for this study is to bring empirical input and theoretical nuances to this discussion.Relations in the aid field are characterized by three particular coordination conditions: distance, inequality and complexity, which all contribute to perceptions of uncertainty. In an uncertain setting such as that of development aid, trust becomes a precious substitute for the much sought after certainty. Therefore, it is not surprising to find that trust has long been regarded a key component for successful aid projects and a fundamental component for all aid relations, and operations. However, somewhat paradoxically, distance, inequality and complexity also present challenges to interpersonal trust.In this report we show that actors involved in aid relations attempt to solve or at least handle their uncertainty by transferring trust from a range of different sources of trust. We argue that a prominent such source of trust is formal organizing following ideal-typical characteristics of what we here call the “proper organization”. Our empirical studies indicate that there is a general ideal for how an actor involved in an aid project should be organized. This ideal emphasizes formal organizing and conformity among different types of organizations and projects, for example conformity stemming from using similar control systems and management technologies.We conclude that most often, actors involved in aid relations try to solve the paradox of distance, inequality and complexity by putting their faith in a range of different sources of trust, where a strong – and dare we say – dominating source of trust is trust in formal organizing and organizations, or structures and processes of “proper” organizations, such as certain management technologies or control structures. The three field conditions; distance, inequality and complexity, help to determine not only the need for trust to coordinate aid relations, but also how trust is assessed, maintained, at times lost and then hopefully restored. Our analysis suggests that the greater the distance, inequality and complexity – the lower the chances are to achieving certainty, which in turn implies a greater need for trust to bridge this gap. However – and somewhat paradoxically: our data also suggests that the greater the distance, inequality and complexity, the more likely is trust transference from an impersonal source of trust, such as a management technology or a particular legitimate organizational structure or process.The core of our analysis concerns who trusts whom on what grounds, that is “What makes a certain trustor in the aid field trust a certain trustee?” What are preferred sources of trust and how are they used to transfer trust onto trustees? What general patterns of trust can we identify and how may these be explained? We examine the following key questions: 1. What makes a donor trust a recipient? What makes a donor not trust a recipient? 2. What makes a recipient trust a donor? What makes a recipient not trust a donor? In our empirical study we are interested in intermediary organizations in so called aid chains (or as we will later claim: aid nets). In these nets of relations, organizations often play dual roles, being both a donor and a recipient of aid, both a rule-follower and a rule-setter, both an auditor and an auditee. In one situation, the organization will play the role of the donor, in another, the role of the recipient of aid. As a recipient, the organization interprets what its needs to do in order to receive further financing. As a donor, it regulates what the next actor in line needs to do in order to obtain financing. Theory as well as empirical data suggest that these social roles and how actors switch between them have an impact on trust patterns in aid. We therefore call for more studies as well as practitioner reflection on these issues. Our research design departs from Sida’s categorization of different actor groups who receive Swedish public aid funding; a) civil society organizations b) private sector actors, c) Swedish authorities in the public sector and d) research cooperation (see www.sida.se). The first intermediary in the case organizations studied are thus always located in Sweden, which means that we have been able to keep the aid providing country a constant variable (Sweden, a high trust country). Thereby we have also been able to study whether there are any differences in how trust is experienced inbetween the different actor groups, since the four groups formally have the same amount of rules and requirements. The actor groups represent different institutional contexts in society; public sector, market and civil society, all with different organisational forms, owners, purpose, stakeholders and sources of financing.In our empirical study we have thus departed from the organizations based in Sweden, implying that the majority of our illustrative examples are taken from such Sweden based organisations. As a second step however, we have also studied whether and how the empirical findings are applicable in a few intermediary organizations acting as both donors and recipients in the aid net, i.e. the empirical material covers intermediary organizations from the Ministry of Forein Affairs to final recipients of aid. Interestingly, despite differences in origin, size etc. we have found the social role scipts of the donor and recipient to apply and to be interepreted in a similar fashion by the organizations studied.Providing “food for thought” on how trust influences aid, the study draws upon theory as well as illustrative examples from case studies (including ongoing case studies) in the four actor groups. However, the report makes no claims to give a fully representative picture of every donor and recipient involved in the aid nets in development aid. We do however earnestly believe that the propositions and tentative findings put forth here are well-worth considering. We also welcome further testing and elaboration of our tentative findings by both researchers and practitioners in the field. The reader should bear in mind that exploring to generate promising hypotheses, as we do in this report, is not the same as designing exloratory studies to test such hypotheses on a larger sample. Needless to say though, without exploratory research of this kind, there would be far less interesting hypotheses around to test and elaborate further.Empirical findings on sources of trustWe discuss seven sources of trust in aid relations: control systems and management technologies; external experts and expertise; the VIP-partner status; the institutional context; thematic and domain specific knowledge; results and interpersonal relations. The sources of trust have been mentioned by the interviewees in our case studies. Our main findings concerning these are listed below: Control systems and management technologiesOur empirical cases demonstrate that control systems such as the management technology The Logical Framework, is a prominent source of trust from which donors frequently transfer trust onto recipients of aid. First, we have found that being without such a system or technology is generally not a viable option for a recipient, since not having one would affect the recipient’s assessed trustworthiness negatively. Having and using a management technology is generally seen as a sign that the recipient is a rational decision maker, a core characteristic of a “proper organization”. Second, we have noted that there has in several cases been a discrepancy between an organization’s formal decision to trust (or not) and the informal trustworthiness assessments made by individual employees of the same organization. Third, we have found that different social roles (donor or recipient) may explain differences in the perception of a certain control technology. Despite recent calls for simplification and less of control exercise, the tendency seems to be that this is not happening, since the intermediary organizations act according to different social scripts in their roles as donors and recipients. While happy to drop and criticize control measures in the role of the recipient, the same organization may perceive the same control measures as very reasonable, necessary and also expected in the role of the donors. Fourth, in some of the case studies, we have seen that trust in a control system or a management technology has developed over time. A recipient organization might thus both learn to use the technology and find it beneficial, for example to gain legitimacy and trustworthiness from the donor.External experts and expertise Experts and expert knowledge play a crucial part in many aid relations and to demonstrate expertise is a means for the recipient organization to demonstrate its ability. First, we have found that recipients and donors have different perceptions in regard to the value of third parties. While hiring
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| 5. |
- Alexius, Susanna, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Med kritisk blick på delningsekonomin
- 2020
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Ingår i: Organisation & Samhälle. - 2001-9114 .- 2002-0287. ; :1
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 6. |
- Alexius, Susanna, et al.
(författare)
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Obsessive Measurement Disorder or Pragmatic Bureaucracy? : Coping With Uncertainty in Development Aid Relations
- 2024. - 1st
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Complex coordination across time, space, and cultures involves a great deal of uncertainty. This uncertainty may be accepted and handled with judgment and pragmatism, but more often in contemporary modern society, it is treated as a technical problem to be solved. This is a book about the paradoxical implications of the quest for certainty in interorganizational relations in the complex field of development aid. Authors Alexius and Vhmki scrutinize questions related to the concept Obsessive Measurement Disorder, i.e. what causes an increase in control mechanisms, and how and when can this prove counterproductive? They further investigate the question on why performance management - and measurement requirements seem in some instances to hinder, and in others to support the implementation of aid projects and programs. Drawing on 80 original interviews with aid bureaucrats working at different levels and in different organizations, including public agencies, companies, non-government organisations, and universities all involved in development aid projects financed fully, or in part, by the Swedish taxpayer, they identify coping mechanisms and responses that may help to prevent the extremes of obsessive measurement disorder, and foster instead pragmatic, constructive organizing and learning that benefits not only aid organizations and their employees, but also - and more fundamentally - the societies in need.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Alexius, Susanna, 1976-
(författare)
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Social impact through 90 years of Hybrid Organizing : The case of the Swedish Federation for Sexual Education
- 2022
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Through a longitudinal mixed method case study, this paper’s general aim is to contribute to the organizational analysis of the intricate relations and mutual influence between manifold forms of organization involved in tackling grand societal challenges (Alexius and Furusten, 2020; Brès et al 2018; George et al, 2016; Gray and Purdy, 2018; Gümüsay et al, 2022; Kaufmann and Danner-Schröder, 2022). As noted in the call for abstracts, many previous studies have highlighted confusion, contradiction and conflict in organizations with heterogeneous expectations. And among the fewer, more positive studies, a great number are conceptual rather than empirical (Segnestam Larsson and Wollter, 2020). That is to say that in these studies, hybrid or other alternative organizational forms, are treated as promising a priori (Greenwood and Freeman, 2017).These insights may make one wonder whether there is solid empirical evidence to suggest that alternative forms of organizing are capable of tackling grand societal challenges. In this paper, drawing on an historical case study, I claim that the Swedish Federation for Sexual Education (RFSU) has potential to qualify as an interesting success case in this regard. An old saying goes: “All good things come in threes”. It all started in the 1930s. Internationally renowned journalist and social activist in sexual education and parental planning, Elise Ottesen Jensen, founded the Swedish Federation for Sexual Education (RFSU) in 1933. Missions like free and legal abortion, an acceptance of homosexuality and sexual education and access to contraceptives for all teenagers, were among those that motivated Ottesen Jensen to set up RFSU (Lennerhed, 2002).Ottesen Jensen realized early on that her mission to extend sexual and reproductive rights in society could not be achieved solely on public funding, since the political ideas she and her co-founders (medical doctors and representatives from the workers’ movement) wanted to push were radical. There was a need for own “free cash” able to finance political sexual rights advocacy that in 1930s Sweden was seen as provocative to many.From the start, Ottosen Jensen therefore had the idea of an organization made up of three different organizational “bodies” – a nonprofit parent organization for political advocacy and education, a clinic for therapy and treatment and a fully owned limited enterprise (RFSU Limited), producing and selling a product that was closely in line with the core political mission of sexual education and rights: condoms. Although each of the three had their particular institutional conditions, they also shared the same mission and were able to cooperate on their respective fronts, using different means (Lennerhed, 2002; Alexius and Segnestam Larsson, 2019).Theoretically then, RFSU may be defined as a constitutional hybrid: an organization that is hybrid by constitution, hence an organization that was established for the explicit purpose of integrating not only different institutional logics but also structural elements typically found in different societal spheres, to fulfill its mission (Alexius et al, 2017; Alexius and Furusten, 2019). Examples of constitutional hybrids include limited enterprises fully owned by the public, cooperatives, mutually owned enterprises and the category of organizations focused in this paper; limited enterprises fully owned by civil society organizations.The paper is a development of a recently published Swedish essay (Alexius, 2022) and describes how the “holy trinity“ of radical political mission, clinical care and own market income, has been at the heart of RFSU and vital to its success during its 90 years in operation for the sexual health and rights in Sweden and abroad. In terms of data, the case study draws on previous historical volumes on RFSU and their founder (Lennerhed, 2002; Lindahl, 2003; Thorgren, 2014), as well as own document studies and 12 interviews conducted 2015-2021 with previous and current RFSU leaders and staff.An important conclusion is that the common assumption in previous literature on hybrids, that power asymmetries will lead to mission-drift towards company-ization and marketization, should not be taken for granted. Rather, these processes must be scrutinized empirically using theoretical concepts like that of constitutional hybridity that opens up for recognition of the mutually strengthening mechanisms that have enabled RFSU to tackle grand societal challenges by achieving important social and sexual reforms.ReferencesAlexius, S. (2022). Hybridorganisering som social innovation: En historisk fallstudie av RFSU. I Bonnedahl, K J; Egan Sjölander, A and Lindberg, M. (eds). Social innovation för hållbar utveckling. Lund: StudentlitteraturAlexius, S., Gustavsson, M., & Sardiello, T. (2017). Profit-making for mutual benefit: The case of Folksam 1945–2015. Score Working Paper Series, no 2.Alexius, S., & Furusten, S. (2019). Exploring Constitutional Hybridity. I Alexius, S & Furusten, S. (eds.) Managing Hybrid Organizations. Palgrave Macmillan, p. 1-26.Alexius, S. & Furusten, S. (2020). Enabling Sustainable Transformation: Hybrid Organizations in Early Phases of Path Generation, Journal of Business Ethics, no. 165, p. 547-563.Alexius S. & Segnestam Larsson, O. (2019). Market Means to Political Mission Ends: Scrutinizing the Social Meaning of Money in the Swedish Federation for Sexual Education (RFSU), Essay presented at the conference Political Resources: Autonomy, Legitimacy, Power, Södertörn University, Sweden, 17 May, 2019.Brès, L, Raufflet, E. & Boghossian, J. (2018). Pluralism in organizations: Learning from unconventional forms of organizations. International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 20, no. 2, p. 364-386.George, G., Howard-Grenville, J., Joshi, A., & Tihanyi, L. (2016): “Understanding and Tackling Societal Grand Challenges through Management Research.” Academy of Management Journal, vol. 59, no. 6, p. 1880–1895.Gray, B., & Purdy, J. (2018). Collaborating for our future: Multistakeholder partnerships for solving complex problems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Greenwood, M., & Freeman, R. E. (2017). Focusing on ethics and broadening our intellectual base. Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 140, no. 1, p. 1-3.Gümüsay, A. A; Marti, E; Trittin-Ulbrich, H. and Wickert, C. (eds), (2022). Organizing for Societal Grand Challenges, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, vol. 79.Kaufmann, L J & Danner-Schröder, A. (2022). Adressing Grand Challenges Through Different Forms of Organizing: A Literature Review. In Gümüsay, A. A; Marti, E; Trittin-Ulbrich, H. and Wickert, C. (eds), (2022). Organizing for Societal Grand Challenges, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, vol. 79, p. 163-186.Lennerhed, L. (2002). Sex i folkhemmet. RFSUs tidiga historia. Stockholm: Gidlunds förlag.Lindahl, K. (2003). Sex – en politisk historia. Stockholm: RFSU/Alfabeta Anamma.Segnestam Larsson, O. & Wollter, F. (2020). Vad kännetecknar de organisationer som studeras med hjälp av begreppet hybridorganisation? Score report series 2001:7Thorgren, G. (2014). Ottar och kärleken: En biografi. Norstedts förlag.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Segnestam Larsson, Ola, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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The social meaning of money in non-profit organizations : A case study of formal and informal earmarking of money
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership. - : Sagamore Publishing, LLC. - 1046-6819 .- 2157-0604 .- 2374-7838. ; 11:3, s. 1-19
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- By studying mechanisms, justifications, and valuations, this article analyzes the so- cial meaning of earmarked money in a nonprofit organization. Focusing on the social meaning of money implies gaining insights into the moral underpinnings and justi- fications of the origin and generation of money as well as processes by which vari- ous streams of money are earmarked. Based on previous literature as well as our own research, we offer two models for understanding and studying processes that earmark and justify the earmarking of money. We illustrate the relevance of these models in a case study of the nonprofit organization IOGT-NTO in Sweden. We conclude the article by presenting key implications for nonprofit leadership and future research, in- cluding the recommendation that leaders need to analyze earmarking processes as well as how these processes affect organizations and to what ends money may be used.
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