1. |
- Kifokeris, Dimosthenis, 1988, et al.
(author)
-
Lost and found in translation: top-down decoupling and bottom-up recoupling of strategies and practices in construction production
- 2021
-
In: Proceedings of the 37th Annual ARCOM Conference, ARCOM 2021. ; , s. 532-541
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Researchers have noted an apparent decoupling between construction production strategies formulated at upper management, and their top-down translation into onsite practices. In this paper, we revisit the research question of how and why there is such a decoupling and use that to conceptualise a primarily bottom-up schema of production strategizing, drawing on site managers’ perspectives. As such, we conduct a Sweden-specific literature review focusing on (s) lean construction production practice variants, and (b) site managers’ dispositions towards production strategy improvements imposed by upper organisational levels - which may not align with hands-on best practices. The findings show that production-oriented lean construction variants aiming at strategy or on-site processes may lack an interface altogether; furthermore, there exists a decoupling between the standardisation logic of the strategic top-down view of production, and site managers’ tendency to act in free problem-solving roles. We then use the strategy as process and practice (SAPP) framework to integrate those findings and conceptualise a best practice-informed production strategising schema. This schema favours bottom-up production strategising, but also considers a loop-like collaboration approach - in an effort to integrate the benefits from a top-down production standardisation, with the flexible bottom-up buffer zones allowing for innovations and out-of-box solutions.
|
|
2. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982, et al.
(author)
-
"Being a construction worker": Identity effects as a self-reinforcing mechanism in construction
- 2012
-
In: CIB 2012 Conference Proceedings, Montréal.
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The interplay between identity and behaviour has been well documented in the literature, but how identity and organizational life relate warrants future research. This paper draws on data from an ongoing longitudinal case study in a large construction company in order to examine how the “self” interacts with the organizational cultural capital. Our results indicate that there exists a strong collective identity that permeates the members of the organization regardless of role, position, and function. We claim that the effect of this strong collective identity is at the heart of an organizational self-reinforcing mechanism that can explain specific traits of organizational life in construction. We conclude by arguing that the identify effect could result in a problematic contradiction between operational “best practices” and strategic “best practices” in construction.
|
|
3. |
|
|
4. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982, et al.
(author)
-
CEOs narrating leadership: Constant gardeners, team players, actionable pragmatists and business directors
- 2018
-
In: Proceeding of the 34th Annual ARCOM Conference, ARCOM 2018. ; , s. 697-706
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- There is an increasing stream of leadership-related rhetoric, organisational discourses and training interventions stemming from policy-makers, media and management consultants concerning the ‘right’ kind of leadership needed in order for industries to meet their current and future challenges. Yet seldom is the concept itself problematised or viewed from the perspective of leadership as it unfolds in situated practice. The purpose of this explorative pilot study is to examine CEOs discursive constructions of their leadership, their ambitions and concerns in their every-day practice. Using a narrative-survey approach, life-stories of 12 CEOs in private construction-related organisations in Sweden were collected and analysed against the backdrop of recent studies of managerial leadership of site managers in construction. Four main metaphorical themes emerged of CEOs leadership practices: constant gardeners, team players, actionable pragmatists and business directors. These mindsets showed quite different orientations to those advocated in much of the normative leadership literature. Rather the practices had interesting similarities with the leadership views of site managers. The paper contributes with a more nuanced, and maybe humbler, view of leadership at the top, which aligns well with leadership practices on site. We also introduce a novel qualitative research tool and briefly reflect over its viability.
|
|
5. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982, et al.
(author)
-
Digitaliseringsdrivna värden och affärsmodeller i samhällsbyggnadssektorns ekosystem: En detaljerad framtidsspaning
- 2022
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- I denna slutrapport avrapporteras det strategiska projektet Digitaliseringsdrivna värden och affärsmodeller i samhällsbyggnadssektorns ekosystem: En detaljerad framtidsspaning. Studiens utgångspunkt är att det saknats insikter kring hur digitala tekniker kan komma att förändra värdeskapande och affärslogiker i samhällsbyggnadssektorn. Syftet med studien är därmed att via ett ekosystemsperspektiv kartlägga hur värde kopplat till digitalisering skapas idag av aktörerna i samhällsbyggnadssektorns traditionella värdekedja och utifrån det identifiera, diskutera och katalysera framtida omställningar av digitaliseringsdrivna värden och affärsmodeller genom en detaljerad framtidsspaning. Totalt har 46 företag och organisationer bidragit till studien med sina perspektiv, antingen via intervjuer, referensgruppsmöte, och/eller deltagande i scenarioworkshop. Fokus i datainsamlingen är att ta fram detaljerade framtidsspaningar kring digital transformation i samhällsbyggnadssektorn. Olika digitala tekniker förväntas spela en mycket mer central roll och generera ett förändrat värdeskapande. Därmed förändras även ekosystemet i sin sammansättning och interaktionsmönster. Studien identifierar tre aktörskategorier med olika affärsmodellslogiker inom ramen för digital transformation. ’Samhällsbyggarnas’ affärsmodellslogiker bygger på att digitala verktyg främst används för att förbättra befintliga processer med tekniknyttan i fokus. ’Digitaliserarnas’ affärsmodellslogiker är grundade i digitalisering och erbjuder digitala lösningar för att effektivisera och förbättra ‘samhällsbyggarnas’ befintliga processer. Här är tekniknyttan därmed lika med affärsnytta, inte minst genom den handpåläggning och de tjänster som krävs för att anpassa de digitala verktygen efter specifika behov. ’Game Changers’ affärsmodellslogiker är också grundade i digitalisering, men här är det värdet av data som översätts till ny affärsnytta via data-drivna affärsmodeller. Datagenererande interface (framför allt kunddata men potentiellt vilken data som helst) är den största tillgången som i sin tur möjliggör nya kundinteraktioner och erbjudanden i kontaktytorna mellan delprocesserna design, produktion och användning. Studiens samlade resultat pekar på två övergripande (och överlappande) framtidsscenarion för digital transformation: ’IT-baserad processintegration’ och ’Data som affärsvärde’. Gemensamt för dessa scenarios är att en omsättning av samhällsbyggandets enorma mängder data skapar helt nya möjligheter: signifikant effektivare processer, ny integration av processer samt nya erbjudanden. Sammantaget skapas helt nya affärsvärden och intäktsströmmar. Det nya värdeskapandet genereras i de kontaktytor som finns mellan delprocesserna design, produktion och användning samt i nya leverantör- och kundinterfaces. Även fast det fysiska byggobjektet alltid kommer vara den grundläggande produkten för samhällsbyggnadssektorn, så pekar studiens resultat på att ekosystemets totala värde kommer omdistribueras från produktionen av det fysiska byggobjektet till nya typer av värdeströmmar kopplade till samhällsbyggandets data. Detta komma leda till att befintliga roller förändras och nya roller och positioner uppstår, vilket i sin tur skapar en mer omfattande transformation av samhällsbyggnadssektorns ekosystem. Studiens resultat kan sammanfattas i åtta slutsatser formulerade som framtidsspaningar kring digital transformation i samhällsbyggnadssektorns ekosystem: • I framtiden karaktäriseras nya framgångsrika affärsmodellslogiker av förmågan att samla och extrahera värde av data både för att effektivisera processer samt skapa nya erbjudanden och affärer. • I framtiden har digitala verktyg möjliggjort en helt ’sömlös’ processintegration mellan design, produktion och användning så att helt nya logiker för organisering av samhällsbyggandet uppstår. • I framtiden kommer en stor del av värdeskapandet genererat av fysiska produkter och byggnadsobjekt omdistribueras till värdet av data kopplat till dessa. • I framtiden kommer de mest radikala förändringarna uppstå i de dynamiska flödena där ’data’ förädlas till värde, snarare än de sekventiella flödena där ’brädor’ förädlas till byggobjekt. • I framtiden kommer en stor del av leverantör/utförarekundinteraktioner ske via data-drivna plattformar som skapar helt nya kopplingar, relationer och konstellationer, både inom samhällsbyggnadssektorns ekosystem och till andra ekosystem. • I framtiden kommer dagens generalistroller inom design, produktion och användning försvinna och ersättas av: i) vertikal integration med design, produktion och användande in-house samt ii) en extrem nischad specialisering för att kunna applicera specifika kunskaper och erfarenheter för att komplettera de digital verktygens förmågor. • I framtiden kommer ’Samhällsbyggarna’ möta hård konkurrens från aktörer som agerar enligt ’Game Changers’-logiken, som via en ny typ av ledarskap utmanar gamla sanningar om samhällsbyggnadssektorns strukturella och kulturella hinder för förändring generellt och digital transformation specifikt. • I framtiden kommer relationsbyggande att ha en avgörande betydelse om de befintliga ’Samhällsbyggarna’ ska kunna tillskansa sig de förmågor som krävs för att skapa konkurrenskraft med avseende på det enorma värdet som finns i data.
|
|
6. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982, et al.
(author)
-
Doing strategy in project-based organizations: Actors and patterns of action
- 2018
-
In: International Journal of Project Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0263-7863. ; 36:6, s. 889-898
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the project management literature, projects have often been conceptualized as mere implementation sites of organizational strategy. However, such rationalization seldom draws on empirical evidence of strategy as it unfolds at the micro-level and at the interfaces between projects and the organization. Drawing on rich case-study data, this article explores strategy as-it-is-practiced in a large project-based organization. Using a Strategy-as-Practice lens to identify key patterns of strategizing actions, we found that project mind-sets and skill-sets afforded project actors legitimacy to act as strategists on all organizational levels. Project actualities therefore broadly shape strategy in the organization, and play a much larger role in organizational strategizing than typically portrayed in the literature. The findings are used to suggest new perspectives regarding who are strategists and what strategy is in project-based organizations, and outline new directions for a revitalized research agenda on strategy in the project-management field.
|
|
7. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982, et al.
(author)
-
“Everyone has felt it’s their project”: Strategically enacting ‘equality’ in the tug-of-war of meta-organizing
- 2019
-
Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Meta-organizations - organizations made up of organizations - are increasingly prevalent today, especially to tackle societal challenges. Meta-organizing is a strategizing activity characterized by particular types of inter-organizational relationships. We adopt the Strategy-as-Practice perspective to explore the strategizing practices of participants in a meta-organization with 15 member organizations. We find that participants engage in both strategizing for the home organization and for the meta-organization, attempting to influence meta-organizational strategies for the strategic benefit of member organizations, and attempting to influence organizational strategies for the benefit of the meta-organization. Such practices of strategizing involve the continuous restaging of ‘equality’ between member organizations. This staged equality masks the differences in time and resources that organizations contribute to meta-organizational activities.
|
|
8. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982
(author)
-
Exploring the concept of strategy using a practice lens: The case of a large construction company
- 2012
-
Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Ever since its origins back in the 1960´s, strategy researchers have been engaged in an ongoing discussion about what strategy actually means. Over the historical development of the strategic-management field strategy has gone from something that top managers formulated; it has gone from including a rather limited analytical process, to being a pattern in streams of actions and to encompass a myriad of strategic micro processes. The aim of this thesis has been to explore the strategy concept. To do this, a Strategy-as-Practice (SAP) lens was applied on empirical findings from a large construction company. SAP is a rather recent stream of research which portrays strategy as a socially constructed activity inherent to organizational life. Based on this perspective this thesis has considered strategy and organizational life as two closely related phenomena. Using a narrative and interpretative approach, practices were explored on the micro-level in order to identify the “blood vessels” of organizational life. The empirical data has been collected using an ethnographic longitudinal case study in a large Swedish construction company. The findings are presented in three appended papers and contribute by highlighting current micro-practices that may explain industry specific traits. A final in-depth discussion contributes to strategy research by highlighting what parts of the empirical findings could strengthen current theory and what parts indicate theoretical gaps.
|
|
9. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982, et al.
(author)
-
How does change happen in a large construction company: Comparing objectified and lived versions of change
- 2011
-
In: 27th Annual Conference of the Association of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2011. Bristol, 5 - 7 September 2011. - 9780955239052 ; 1, s. 85-94
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- That change is a part of organizational life has been well documented in the literature, but how change emerges over time and is interpreted warrants further research. Much of the existing literature portrays organizational change as detached episodes - based on a single perspective, accounting either for the content, the context, or the process. This paper traces the development in a large construction company from 1990 to the present and compares an objectified (documented) version with a lived version of change in order to elucidate the multifaceted nature of organizational change. The data is part of an ongoing longitudinal case study which to date comprises, 27 in-depth interviews with lower- to high-level actors, and documentation covering the period. The analysis is structured around the two versions of change and enhances their main differences. Change seems to be continuous and trend-related in the objectified version and discontinuous and reactive in the lived version. Conclusions from this study are: researchers need to apply an interpretative approach when studying organizational change; and, if the actors in a construction company interpret change to be reactive and discontinuous then those interpretations might reflect and enact a passive company culture.
|
|
10. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982
(author)
-
Hur sker förändring inom svensk byggbransch? En studie om initiativ, logiker, och roller
- 2017
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Det framförs ofta kritik mot att den svenska byggbranschen har en låg förändringsbenägenhet generellt. Denna kritik cirkulerar delvis som självkritik inom branschen, men kommer i större utsträckning från forskarhåll samt en rad statliga och branschspecifika undersökningar utförda under de senaste 20 åren. Denna bild delas dock inte av alla och det finns motstridiga ståndpunkter gällande en rad olika frågor som rör förändring inom svensk byggbransch, inte bara mellan olika intressegrupper utan även inom forskarsfären. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur förändring sker inom svensk byggbransch med förhoppningen att ett fokus på förändringens natur snarare än dess grad ska kunna bringa nya nyanser in i debatten. Denna studie har valt att göra skillnad på hur förändring framställs och hur förändring upplevs. I enlighet med detta bygger studien på två olika dataset 1) analys av årsredovisningar för några av de största svenska entreprenörsföretagen (NCC, Skanska, Peab, Serneke), och 2), intervjuer med en rad olika personer inom dessa företag. I analysen av årsredovisningarna (35 stycken totalt) läggs fokus på hur tre vanligt förekommande förändringsinitiativ (Partnering, Grönt Byggande, Industriellt Byggande) har framställts över de senaste tio åren (år för år) med syftet att försöka uttyda vad som varit dessa förändringars drivkrafter och frön. Detta har sedan jämförts med resultaten från 33 intervjuer med medarbetare från dessa företag. Resultaten visar inte helt oväntat på tydliga skillnader mellan de två versionerna. Den version som framställs på de höga organisatoriska nivåerna skildrar en förändring vars logik präglas av en strävan mot att ständigt bli bättre, inom egentligen alla de områden där branschen ofta blivit kritiserad för att underprestera (t.ex. produktivitet, kvalitet, kostnadsutveckling, miljöpåverkan, innovation). Detta kan jämföras med den upplevda versionen som snarare vittnar om förändring vars logik är starkt präglad av en mer reaktiv typ av krishantering. Dessutom kopplas förändringarnas drivkrafter i stor grad även till enskilda individer som via stora organisatoriska frihetsgrader initierar och driver förändringar enligt en mer personbunden logik. Tillsammans pekar dessa två versioner på en motstridighet mellan en uttalad strävan emot att i högre grad effektivisera byggproduktionen och en yrkesrollsbaserad ovilja mot att ge upp det individuella manöverutrymmet till förmån för de mer standardiserade arbetssätten som kommer krävas för att uppnå denna typ av förändring. Utifrån detta resultat betonar studien behovet av ett ökat fokus riktat mot branschens traditionella yrkesroller (här lyfts platschefsrollen upp specifikt) och studera och diskutera på vilka sätt och hur dessa måste förändras för att verkligen kunna genomföra de förändringar som ofta nu är i ropet, både bland forskare och utövare.
|
|
11. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982, et al.
(author)
-
Leadership under construction: A qualitative exploration of leadership processes in construction companies in Sweden.
- 2021
-
In: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management - ASCE. - 1943-7862 .- 0733-9364. ; 147:12
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Leadership has increasingly been advocated as a potent organizing practice, linked positively to several performance dimensionsas well as successful organizational development and change. Despite these alleged promises, the specific characteristics of leadership proc-esses as they unfold in a construction context have not been fully captured by construction researchers. This paper is predicated on anidentified lack of methodological richness underlying leadership studies in construction. While a growing number of contributions havequantitatively tested the ideas and models of leadership scholars, few have qualitatively explored the experiences and interpretations ofthe actual people that practice leadership in their daily work in construction companies. Drawing on a rich qualitative interview study, thispaper analyzes open-ended stories about leadership in the largest construction companies in Sweden. The findings show how leadership styleshave been shaped to align with traditional work and organizing principles, but also how they, by the same token, pose a seemingly unresolvedtension with change initiatives that seek to reorganize to improve organizational performance. Altogether, these findings indicate that there aregrounds to question the transformative potential of leadership in construction companies, as practiced today. The paper concludes by outliningthe practical implications of these findings, together with some analytical generalizations that can serve as pointers for a strengthened lead-ership agenda in construction research, one that is characterized by an increased methodological richness and accentuated focus on thecontext-specific aspects of leadership
|
|
12. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982, et al.
(author)
-
"Playing back-spin balls": Narrating organizational change in construction
- 2012
-
In: Construction Management and Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1466-433X .- 0144-6193. ; 30:9, s. 795-806
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- What does change mean for organizational members? Although researchers have attempted to capture its intrinsic complexities, there remains uncertainty as to what change really is and how it happens. Drawing on a longitudinal interpretative case study of change in a large Swedish construction company, a narrative approach is used to elicit middle managers’ stories of change episodes over the past two decades. These stories have then been compared with the narratives of the same episodes in governing documents. We found that the lived and the formal narratives, respectively, depicted two very different interpretations and enactments of change: the former described a discontinuous process of discrete contingencies demanding immediate short-term responses whereas the latter described a proactive incremental strategic plan. A narrative approach to the study of organizational change contributes to deeper insights into the ramifications of an organization’s socio-cultural system by enabling the capture of significant variations, contradictions and tensions, both for organizational members and for the researchers who study change.
|
|
13. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982, et al.
(author)
-
Social identity in construction: enactments and outcomes
- 2014
-
In: Construction Management and Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1466-433X .- 0144-6193. ; 32:11, s. 1093-1105
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A social identity lens and theories of self-reinforcement are used to explore identity work and processes of identification at the micro-level in a large construction company. Rich data from a qualitative case study show that a strong collective identification is self-defining for the vast majority of managers in the organization, regardless of their role and function. This collective identification revolved around the trade of ‘being a construction worker’, associated with the traits of being practically oriented and of having a long professional background in construction. This collective identification seems to reinforce itself by a combination of pulling and pushing movements and/or ‘being blind’ vis-à-vis those that stand outside its self-defining core, content, and behaviours. The results of the study suggest that self-defining at the individual and group levels has implications for organizational performance and outcomes. It is also suggested that the use of a social identity lens can help increase understanding of interpersonal relations, collaboration, and change initiatives in the construction industry.
|
|
14. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982, et al.
(author)
-
Standardizing the free and independent professional: The case of construction site managers in Sweden
- 2020
-
In: Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management. - 1365-232X .- 0969-9988. ; 27:6, s. 1337-1355
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose Research concerned with standardization of the construction process has generally considered the challenges from only rational and instrumental perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to foreground a social perspective of this challenge. Specifically, the work of construction site managers is explored through a professional work lens in order to emphasize significant misalignments with the principles of standardized production in the construction industry. Design/methodology/approach Data are drawn from a longitudinal (2014-ongoing) case study of site managers' work in a large Swedish construction company. The research design is characterized by an explorative approach, altogether consisting of 44 in-depth interviews at the site manager level (28) and at other managerial levels (16). All the interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed particularly to highlight two contrasting dominant discourses: "standardized construction production" and "site manager work." Findings The findings show that site manager's work is enmeshed with a particular type of professional expertise and identity that is ideologically crafted around a proclivity for free and independent work. It is outlined in detail how these social dimensions of work are enacted to form an ongoing (and successful) resistance to organizational initiatives that are based on principles of standardization. Originality/value This study improves our understanding of an unresolved social challenge that impedes the transformation toward more standardized construction production. It adds new perspectives and value to current research by reminding that (and how) significant changes in production processes also seriously implicate professional work.
|
|
15. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982
(author)
-
Strategizing in construction: Exploring practices and paradoxes
- 2015
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The starting point of this thesis was an identified lack of strategy-related research within the construction industry as well as a lack of comprehensive strategy management at the organizational level in construction. A growing number of researchers have highlighted the importance of strategy research in construction in regards to increase understanding of long-term development and change on the organizational levels of construction companies. The overall purpose of this thesis is to explore how strategizing in construction is deployed using a Strategy-as-Practice (SAP) lens. Two main research questions have driven the research: 1) How is strategy perceived and enacted at the micro level in a construction company? 2) What practices enacted at the micro level can be linked to organizational outcomes and change on various macro levels in a construction company?In order to answer these questions, I draw on rich empirical data from an in-depth case study of a large construction company (Alpha) and combine insights from using three different methodological approaches: narrative analysis of interviews, observation studies, and a short ethnographic study. The findings show that traditional strategy practices such as annual reviews, strategic planning, and strategic workshops did not seem to be overtly consequential for organizational outcomes and directions in the organization. Instead the findings reveal how the managers collectively identify with and foregrounded the craftsmanship of to the building site. This over time seems to have embedded a common set of practices that permeate all the organizational levels, including project levels, middle-management levels, and higher levels, through a top-down as well as bottom-up negotiation encompassing mainly those with the appropriate and legitimate craftsmanship-grounded habitus. This phenomenon could be considered as a pattern of strategizing in itself and it highlights that there is a tension (paradox) in regards to what the key practices are and what the actors actually do in relations to strategy in construction. It is suggested that the social process relating to the strong collective identification may have negative consequences for long-term change and development in the construction industry since one of its main mechanisms is to self-reinforce itself to remain the same. This thesis also contributes methodologically and theoretically, both to SAP and to construction, by showing how underlying logics of practices are more readily discerned by studying them as they are enacted between different groups interacting at boundary interfaces.
|
|
16. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982, et al.
(author)
-
Strategy work in a large construction company: personified strategies as drivers för change
- 2011
-
In: 6th Nordic conference on Construction Economics and Organisation, 13-15 April, 2011, Copenhagen, Denmark..
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Strategizing can be seen as a balancing act between aggregating knowledge and experiences from an organization’s past business cycles and forecasting future possibilities over a longer period of time. Yet knowledge about strategizing over business cycles and in rapidly changing market conditions in the construction sector is scarce. This paper takes a micro perspective on strategizing and examines individual narratives of change processes to identify driving factors. The empirical data is part of an ongoing longitudinal case study in a large construction company on strategizing over business cycles from 1990 until today. The study comprises in-depth interviews with 14 key actors and a wide range of documentation covering the period. The Strategy-as-Practice perspective serves well as a retrospective description of strategizing over time; understanding the dynamics that underlie the various strategic changes is a matter of understanding what the strategists have done. The paper shows that strategy processes mainly are related to a few individuals (mostly the CEO’s), rather than to the activities or rationale behind them. This paper contributes a novel perspective on the strategy literature in construction by emphasizing personified strategies as drivers for change. We argue that personified strategies are an intra-organizational phenomenon related to power distribution, governance, and the tensions between individual agency and the institutionalized context.
|
|
17. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982
(author)
-
‘Taking off my glasses in order to see’: exploring practice on a building site using self-reflexive ethnography
- 2015
-
In: Construction Management and Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1466-433X .- 0144-6193. ; 33:5-6, s. 404-414
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- There has recently been a growing interest for ethnographic studies in construction, predicated upon the belief that ethnographic research in the construction industry can provide a powerful way of illuminating construction practices in new ways. Focusing on the ethnographic method, it is demonstrated how a self-reflexive ethnography can contribute to a deeper understanding of the variations, contradictions and tensions underlying practices on a building site, thereby serving as a complement to other qualitative approaches. A short four-week ethnographic study illustrates how the subjective ‘I’ of the ethnographer can be used as an active producer of knowledge, by reflecting on how insights from an individual’s role, both as an observer and as a worker, can account for the complex interplay between socialities and materialities on a building site. The results also contribute to the discussion regarding the length of ethnographic studies, by showing how valuable insights can be drawn from shorter ‘ethnographic episodes’, studied through a self-reflexive lens.
|
|
18. |
- Löwstedt, Martin, 1982
(author)
-
"Taking off my glasses in order to see": exploring practice on a building site using self-reflexive ethnography
- 2014
-
In: Raiden, A B and Aboagye-Nimo, E (Eds) Proceedings of the 30th Annual ARCOM Conference, 1-3 September 2014, Portsmouth, UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management. - 9780955239083 ; , s. 247-256
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- There has recently been a growing interest for ethnographic studies in construction. This interest is predicted upon the belief that ethnographic research to the construction industry can provide a powerful way of illuminating construction practices in new ways. The purpose of this paper is therefore to explicate how ethnography could be used to answer research questions in construction. Drawing on rich empirical data from a field study were the researcher went native, working as a dogsbody on a building site, this paper illustrates how the researcher first battled contrarious roles, only to realize that the transforming perspectives were the true resource. The paper presents the practices on the building site from an observer perspective and a worker perspective respectively and concludes that a self-reflexive ethnographic approach can account for the variations, contradictions, and tensions embedded in the practices of construction.
|
|
19. |
- Räisänen, Christine, 1950, et al.
(author)
-
Game of experts: Management consultants vying for power in unfamiliar fields
- 2014
-
In: EGOS conference, Rotterdam, 3-5 July, Sub-theme 41: The Power of Management Experts in Organizations and Society.
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We critically examine management consultants in their work to inculcate “new” ideas, subdue resistance and enforce their value in, hitherto for them, an uncharted field. Our empirical data are drawn from a longitudinal study (2005-2014) examining strategy work in a large Swedish construction organisation. In this paper, we focus on a particular strategic-development project carried out in 2011 to consolidate a new strategic direction in the organisation. Contrary to previous strategic endeavours, business-school management experts were commissioned to design and run this project. It comprised leading a three-day mandatory away-days strategy workshop for all top, middle and project managers in the organisation: in all 30 iterations of the workshop were planned. We describe the unfolding of the power dynamics in three of these workshops: one with top-managers, one with middle managers and one with project managers. In this case, the management experts failed to achieve buy-in at all managerial levels for their advocated models and practices, and the project was aborted half way. The workshops became sites of contention in which struggles for power were played out between two very different fields of expertise. In our analysis, we focus on the resources, both available and used, by the management experts to establish and legitimate their social order. We also discuss the resources used by the construction managers to resist, and to reinforce their own social order.
|
|
20. |
- Räisänen, Christine, 1950, et al.
(author)
-
Stakes and struggles in liminal spaces: construction practitioners interacting with management-consultants
- 2014
-
In: Engineering Project Organization Journal. - : Engineering Project Organization Society. - 2157-3735 .- 2157-3727. ; 4:2-3, s. 123-133
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Although external consultant interventions are usual in construction organizations to mediate strategic change, micro-level analyses of these interactions remain scarce. We draw on rich data from a qualitative case study and focus on observations of a set of three management-consultant strategy workshop interventions, aka away-days, with top, middle and project managers, respectively, in a large construction company in Sweden. Our analysisuses the conceptual construct ‘liminality’ to frame the intervention practice and elements of Bourdieu’s theory of practice to examine the unfolding of the interaction at the boundary interface. The consultants failed to achievetake-up of their novel ideas, and the workshops became sites of contention in which power struggles were played out between two very different fields of expertise. Using an integrated framework provides better understandingof power struggles at intra- and inter-organizational boundary interfaces.
|
|
21. |
- Räisänen, Christine, 1950, et al.
(author)
-
Strategy wayfinding: Backstage rehearsal for frontstage enactment
- 2019
-
In: Nordic Academy of Management conference. ; 2019
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In mainstream literature, strategy is conceptually viewed as future-oriented; top management responds to prevailing external factors by cognitively constructing an abstract means-end representation of a perfect future. This representation is encapsulated in predefined mission, goals, master plan and (sometimes) actions. Simultaneously, much of the literature reports multiple organisational failures to transform this strategy representation into operational performance. What is it that goes wrong in the communication process between strategy formulation and strategy implementation? In this conference paper we seek answers to this question. Informed by a strategy-as-practice (SaP) perspective, we study the unfolding of an institutionalised strategic practice, away-days (aka strategy workshops), in real time in three construction companies. We draw on three frames: the notion of strategic episodes (Henry and Seidl 2003); Turners’s (1980) theory of ritualization, and Goffman’s (1990) conception of backstage and frontstage performances. Using an ethnographic approach, we seek to understand the dynamics at play in the uptake and/or resistance to proposed strategies. We see strategising as wayfinding that unfolds in time and space, and in which past and present action-based, intersubjective and contextually interdependent practices, human sensitivities and predispositions (habitus) as well as technical and semiotic elements are mutually constitutive Studying the unfolding of an institutional practice at micro level can help us understand how an organisation’s “forelife” (Räisänen et al 2011) and the anticipated outcomes or the “afterlife” (Pearce 2007) of the practice influence the enactment of that practice in the present. In other words, what impacts do an organisation’s past history and its strategic future-oriented vision and goals have on the present planning and implementation of an event such as strategy away- days. Observing strategy-in-the-making in real time with subsequent deep interviews with strategists and participants have enabled us to trace actions that may or may not result in strategic outcomes both backward (preconditions) and forwards (consequences). In this extended graphical abstract, we provide a brief summary of the theoretical framing. We then illustrate the three away-day sites pictorially to give the reader a feel of the affordances and/or constraints that each site offers. We hope these illustrations in large part speak for themselves. We present our empirical findings in table form, ordered according to Henry and Seidl’s (2003) strategy episodes; however, we have conflated initiation and conduct, and added what we see as two very important framing episodes: forelife and afterlife.
|
|
22. |
- Räisänen, Christine, 1950, et al.
(author)
-
Strategy workshops: The fusing of the past and the future in the present
- 2013
-
In: CIB World Building Congress, Construction and Society, Brisbane, 5-9 May 2013.
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper draws on empirical data from a longitudinal study of strategy management in a large Swedish construction company. We examine strategy-in-the-making at the micro level of discursive practice during a two-day strategy workshop with middle managers. We show how strategic sense-making is achieved through creating a coherent link between past and future, staged as a rehearsal in the present. This collective, informal strategising rehearsal provides middle managers with a liminal space, time and mediating tools to make sense of and appropriate the information and knowledge embedded in new strategies. We suggest that by conceptualising strategy workshops as ritual backstage rehearsals of future actions, managers may enhance the success of the intended strategy outcomes. Studying strategy-in-the-making at the micro-level contributes understanding of how actors avail themselves of institutional practices and mediating tools to construct meaning.
|
|
23. |
|
|
24. |
|
|
25. |
|
|
26. |
|
|
27. |
- Sandberg, Rikard, 1984, et al.
(author)
-
Exploring the Work Practices of Site Managers as Processes of Embodiment
- 2016
-
In: In: P W Chan and C J Neilson (Eds.) Proceedings of the 32nd Annual ARCOM Conference. - 9780995546301 ; 2, s. 679-688
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In construction, site managerial work has often been depicted as ‘muddling through’, skilfully solving problems as these inevitably crop up and trying to be everywhere at the same time. This perspective seems to give precedence to structural conditions in the industry when explaining micro-level practice on construction sites. Recently, however, organisation scholars have highlighted a need to investigate managerial practices as these unfold in everyday work. This means we ought to take into account the actual work activities that influence expectations, meanings and values about what is desirable and necessarily relate to everyday work. The purpose of this paper is to further explore how practice enactment and outcomes are embedded in the lived, everyday work activities of real human beings working on site. The focus is on the work stories of two site managers, a man and a woman, in a large Swedish construction company. Drawing on their stories we take a critical stance towards the established view that certain structural and cultural conditions are strong and sufficient precursors to predict work practice outcomes. We propose instead that practices enacted on site can better be understood as various processes of embodiment.
|
|
28. |
- Sandberg, Rikard, et al.
(author)
-
Liberating the semantics: Embodied work(man)ship in construction
- 2018
-
In: Societies under Construction. - Cham : Springer International Publishing. - 9783319739953 ; , s. 115-149
-
Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Human bodies are under-researched in organisational theorising. This chapter brings out the perceived experiences and emotions of a physical body-in-context. Using a narrative approach and life-story analysis, the authors examine the interplay between strongly entrenched masculine corporeal inscriptions of an ideal (normal) body and the embodied performances of one female construction site manager as she makes active choices to appropriate and occupy viable subject positions made available by her engagement with deeply entrenched semantically gender-burdened meanings. To do this, she purposefully enacts multiple bodies, mobilising masculine and feminine gender strategies to craft her identity and subject position. The chapter shows that construction is a rich and fertile empirical site for challenging and expanding social science theorising of the body and of work.
|
|
29. |
|
|
30. |
|
|
31. |
|
|
32. |
- Sandberg, Rikard, 1984, et al.
(author)
-
Working in a loosely coupled system: exploring practices and implications of coupling work on construction sites
- 2021
-
In: Construction Management and Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1466-433X .- 0144-6193. ; 39:3, s. 212-226
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The conceptualization of construction as a loosely coupled system has been widely used to explain behaviour within the industry. In this article, we revisit the concept by exploring what it means to work at the micro-level within this system. Adopting a practice lens, this study focuses on the daily work of site managers, a category of workers who often have been described to have a hub-like role in construction projects. The findings highlight how their work consists of activities that can be seen as mundane, yet simultaneously fill an important coupling function in the projects, which we conceptualize as coupling work. Coupling work denotes a managerial work practice through which site managers use slack from the parent organization to tighten site-activities. However, they do so in a particular way that tightens the projects closer to their own authority which, in turn, sustains organizational loose coupling. The study contributes to debates on change and development in construction by showing how coupling work is produced and reproduced to preserve the autonomy and control of site managers.
|
|
33. |
- Styhre, Alexander, et al.
(author)
-
Pastoral power in leadership work: the relational leadership idiom in the construction industry
- 2023
-
In: Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management. - 1746-5656 .- 1746-5648. ; 18:1, s. 84-101
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose Drawing on the literature on pastoral power, a term introduced by Foucault that denotes a specific form of authority based on the subordinate's open communication regarding aspirations, interests and personal concerns, having the full faith in the leader's care of the subordinate's welfare, this article report empirical material from a study of Swedish construction industry. Design/methodology/approach Leadership practices are contingent on context and situation, and over time, authoritative leadership practices have been complemented by relational leadership that increasingly emphasizes the bilateral communication between manager and subordinate. The more communicative and "soft" leadership idiom may have both benefits and incur unanticipated consequences and conditions that need to be studied on basis of empirical materials. Findings Managers in the construction industry emphasize how subordinates increasingly turn to their closest managers to address a variety of concerns. Even though managers recognizes the value of providing personalized support, there is a risk that such a leadership idiom distract both managers and subordinates, i.e. counseling activities consume too much resources, making agents less prone to fully attend to proper project goals. Originality/value To consider contemporary leadership practices as partially premised on pastoral power provides new analytical possibilities that shed light on how leadership practice needs to correspond with new demands in the corporate setting.
|
|
34. |
- Svensson, Ingrid, 1987, et al.
(author)
-
Navigating the Logics of Changing Public Facilities Management
- 2019
-
In: Proceedings of the 35th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2019, Leeds, UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management. - 9780995546349
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Growing cities, new governmental sustainability directives, and a large building stock in need of acute measures put pressure on public facilities management organizations to transform their operations. However, the complex organizational context encompasses multiple, sometimes competing, institutional logics where long-term demands on sustainability often are at odds with short-term financial goals and politics. The aim of this paper is to increase the understanding of how actors navigate within such complexity in order to translate governmental energy efficiency directives into local practices. Data was collected through an ongoing case study of a facility management organization in Sweden. Focus is on a single institutional actor, a project manager and his (institutional) work of creating and implementing new energy directives. Findings show that translating energy-efficiency directives into practice is not a straight forward process and, together with other issues, requires considerations of the interplay between different logics. In order to manage this, the project manager was switching between strategies of 'zooming in' and 'zooming out' i.e. either focusing on single and narrow logics or integrating them at different stages of the process. By elucidating the more practice-based simplifications that also is adopted by the project manager, we instil the need for more nuanced conceptualizations of complex institutional landscapes, being a central concern for researchers and practitioners engaged in the sustainability challenge in the built environment sector.
|
|
35. |
- Svensson, Ingrid, 1987, et al.
(author)
-
Navigating the logics of changing public facilities management
- 2021
-
In: Facilities. - 0263-2772. ; 39:11-12, s. 737-758
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Abstract Purpose–The purpose of this paper is to explore how a multitude of demands and challenges faced bypublic facilities management organizations ’(PFMOs) particularly in relation to a large building stock in need of measures ’are acted upon and negotiated in practice. Specifically this study asks: What are the institutional logics (IL) that constitute the organizational context of PFMOs? How does an institutional worker navigate to create change in PFMOs? Design/methodology/approach–Data were collected through a case study of a public facility management organization and include interviews, a questionnaire, observations and organizationaldocuments. The analytical focus is the work of a single actor, a project manager portrayed as “the navigator” and his institutional work (IW) of developing and implementing new organizational practices, to meet current challenges and develop a more “strategic” facility management. Findings–The complex institutional landscape faced by officials in PFMOs enforce officials responsible for implementing and developing new practices to become navigators. Originality/value–The findings offer a rich practice-based account of the day-to-day IW carried out by actorsthat try to navigate complex institutional landscapes, consisting of multiple and, at times, conflicting IL. Current challenges for PFMOs are to be portrayed as multi-dimensional and the actual work to transform organizational practices in this context is highly complex, unordered and messy. The findings point towards a need for new competences and roles to tackle current challenges; geared towards integrating different logics and perspectives.
|
|
36. |
- Ulutas Duman, Dilek, 1985, et al.
(author)
-
Moving Beyond 'Business as Usual'? Exploring Digital Transformation in the Swedish Construction Sector
- 2022
-
In: In: Tutesigensi, A and Neilson, C J (Eds) Proceedings of the 38th Annual ARCOM Conference. ; :38th annual conference, s. 45-51
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Digital transformation (DT) refers to a process of integrating digital technologies that will lead to new forms of relationship among actors; organisational processes; and business models. It is frequently portrayed as something that can improve; but also, potentially disrupt; the construction sector (CS) as we know it today. As DT requires distributed actions; collaboration; and coordination across inter-organisational boundaries in the sector; we apply an ecosystem perspective to explore the current state of DT in 14 Swedish construction incumbent firms. Findings show the need to address the heterogeneity of the actors; their respective roles; positions in the value chain. The sense of urgency to transform is highest for actors with business models based on selling hours. DT is mainly linked to incremental improvements regarding internal efficiency and cost reductions rather than exploitation of new business models. Finally, the role of leadership in the transformation process is rather absent and the actors take a more reactive role waiting for others to demand change.
|
|