Search results

Focus on the qualities and rhythms of time are important in order to understand strain and learning opportunities in modern working life. This article aims to develop a framework for exploring the qualities of time in boundaryless work, and to explore self‐management of time as a process, where the relations between time and tasks are negotiated.

The article consists of a theoretical part that takes inspiration from newer time sociology and leads to proposal of a framework that focuses on the relation between identity, meaning and qualities of time. The empirical part illustrates the use of the framework. The authors present a case study of teachers’ work at an elementary school based on qualitative data collected by observations, teachers' time dairies and individual and group interviews.

The authors suggest an analytical framework where temporal order is a core concept, and points at conflicts between multiple temporal orders as a focus for empirical studies. On the basis of the case study the article discusses how mastering of time conflicts is an integrated part of doing the job and how professional identity and meaning is at stake in this process.

The article urges for a renewal in research on time and strain at work, and discusses how self‐management of time becomes a new area for learning at the workplace, implying that collective arenas should be established.

The article offers an original contribution to understanding and studying temporal aspects of work and the role of learning processes.

The purpose of the paper is to describe the ways in which people use language to achieve mobilization. Recognizing and anticipating the discursive practices that are used online, for instance for mobilization, increasingly is a primary concern for professionals in crisis communication or issue management.

A discursive psychological perspective is drawn upon to conduct a qualitative analysis of the interactional and rhetorical features of mobilization on two Facebook event pages, and to discover patterns of talk.

Three dominant discursive patterns were identified: disputing the integrity of authorities, constructing a positive atmosphere and a feeling of “togetherness” and constructing decisive identities. These activities play an important role in mobilization and are accomplished by the use of language. Furthermore, it demonstrates that mobilization involves the concern of not overtly presenting oneself as a victim or activist.

Insights into the discursive strategies people use to achieve mobilization are important for recognizing these discursive phenomena during media monitoring. The analysis presented in this paper does not allow the authors to draw general conclusions nor the success of the strategies in terms of the actual events.

The study offers important insights for communication professionals (for instance, in the domain of crisis communication), enabling them to recognize mobilizing practices in other contexts and designing an adequate response.

The study exposes those issues that are important for mobilizing a community and creating public engagement.

In addition to other studies on the role of language in mobilization, the current study adds a perspective that takes into account both the rhetorical and the interactional features of mobilization. Furthermore, the findings are implemented in a training for professionals in the domain of crisis communication.

The purpose of this study is to understand how the concept of diversity management is translated and adapted into the Danish societal context. The authors therefore seek to answer these questions: to what extent do larger Danish companies experience a need to practice diversity management? Do they also have specific diversity policies? And how do these Danish companies discursively construct and manage diversity?

The authors surveyed 100 Danish firms and performed a discourse analysis of two frontrunner firms' diversity documents.

The Danish firms in the survey experienced a need for diversity management, but were somewhat reluctant to introduce diversity policies. The two frontrunner firms drew on a discourse of diversity as a business case intertwined with a discourse of social responsibility with focus on helping minority groups having difficulties accessing the job market. The findings indicate that concepts must be translated for the local context in order to be accepted by local actors.

Further studies should look closer into local practices of diversity management to increase understanding of how this seemingly universal management concept is translated.

Danish society, which until recently was relatively homogeneous, forms a specific cultural context for diversity management that differs significantly from American and British multicultural societies.

The paper aims to report on an in‐depth study of the merger and acquisition processes involved in the creation of the leading financial services corporation in the Nordic countries: Nordea. The purposes are, first, to describe the roles played by the HR function and examine the effects of the roles enacted by the HR function on how the workforces were managed and integrated in the post‐merger processes; second, to analyze issues influencing the changing roles played by the HR function in Nordea during the merger processes.

The data for this paper were collected mostly through 60 interviews with HR managers and top executives in Nordea. In addition to the interviews, access was provided to company‐internal material and consultancy reports concerning the HR function.

The paper finds that the Nordea case shows, on the one hand, typical problems in organizing and managing HR issues, but also illustrates, on the other, how the HR function is easily left with a secondary non‐strategic role in these processes.

The paper shows that the general limitations of any single case analysis apply also to the present study.

The paper indicates that the communication of expectations both to and from the HR function may be particularly important in clarifying the roles the function is to play in the post‐merger process.

The paper offers unique insights into the roles played by the HR function in merger processes.