Peter E. Johansson, Helena Blackbright, Tomas Backström, Jennie Schaeffer and Stefan Cedergren
The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding regarding how managers attempt to make purposeful use of innovation management self-assessments (IMSA) and performance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding regarding how managers attempt to make purposeful use of innovation management self-assessments (IMSA) and performance information (PI).
Design/methodology/approach
An interpretative perspective on purposeful use is used as an analytical framework, and the paper is based on empirical material from two research projects exploring the use of IMSA and PI in three case companies. Based on the empirical data, consisting of interviews and observations of workshops and project meetings, qualitative content analysis has been conducted.
Findings
The findings of this paper indicate that how managers achieve a purposeful use of PI is related to their approach toward how to use the specific PI at hand, and two basic approaches are analytically separated: a rule-based approach and a reflective approach. Consequently, whether or not the right thing is being measured also becomes a question of how the PI is actually being interpreted and used. Thus, the extensive focus on what to measure and how to measure it becomes edgeless unless equal attention is given to how managers are able to use the PI to make knowledgeable decisions regarding what actions to take to achieve the desired changes.
Practical implications
Given the results, it comes with a managerial responsibility to make sure that all managers who are supposed to be engaged in using the PI are given roles in the self-assessments that are aligned with the level of knowledge they possess, or can access.
Originality/value
How managers purposefully use PI is a key to understand the potential impact of self-assessments.
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Simon Önnered, Anna Sannö, Ioana Stefan and Peter E. Johansson
The purpose of this study is to explore the long-term, deeper transformations occurring in the wider energy transition to anticipate emerging issues through collective…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the long-term, deeper transformations occurring in the wider energy transition to anticipate emerging issues through collective anticipatory intelligence.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a co-productive research design, the authors collectively scanned and discussed contemporary developments in the Swedish energy transition. The acquired insight was used in a causal layered analysis over three horizons to separate between views and developments in time and space.
Findings
Findings of this study present current, transitionary and emerging issues and how they emerge from deeper levels such as values and worldviews. These issues are discussed around how underlying changes may change to mitigate them, suggesting three strategies.
Practical implications
The framed and anticipated issues enable monitoring and proactive response, and the discussion contributes insight to ongoing political debates, as well as implications for managing similar initiatives.
Social implications
Insights are provided into the changing cultures and values required in a future energy system, showing, e.g. how demand-side response may either come through relinquishing control over consumption or through increased flexibility and change.
Originality/value
Studying issues of growing concern and novel approaches, this paper should be of interest to practitioners in the energy sector and foresight professionals. It provides a critique and framing of issues to be monitored, adding to the growing library of energy futures studies.
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Joakim Berndtsson, Peter Johansson and Martin Karlsson
The purpose of the study is to explore potential value conflicts between information security work and whistleblowing activities by analysing attitudes to whistleblowing among…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to explore potential value conflicts between information security work and whistleblowing activities by analysing attitudes to whistleblowing among white-collar workers in Swedish organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is conducted using survey data among (n = 674) Swedish white-collar workers. Statistical analyses are conducted to explore variations in acceptance of whistleblowing and analyse the relationship between acceptance for whistleblowing and information security attitudes and behaviours.
Findings
The study finds strong support for whistleblowing in both public and private spheres, and by both private and public sector employees. The study also finds stronger acceptance for intra-organisational whistleblowing, while support for external whistleblowing is low. Finally, the study shows that the whistleblowing activities might be perceived as coming in conflict with information security work, even as the support for including whistleblowing functions in information security practices is high.
Research limitations/implications
With a focus on one country, the study is limited in terms of empirical scope. It is also limited by a relatively small number of respondents and survey items relating to whistleblowing, which in turn affects its explanatory value. However, the study does provide unique new insight into a specific form of “non-compliance”, i.e. whistleblowing, which merits further investigation.
Originality/value
Few studies exist that combine insights from the fields of whistleblowing and information security research. Thus, this study provides a basis for further investigation into attitudes and behaviours linked to whistleblowing in public and private organisations, as well as attendant value conflicts related to information security management and practice.
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Peter E. Johansson, Jessica Bruch, Koteshwar Chirumalla, Christer Osterman and Lina Stålberg
The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of paradoxes, underlying tensions and potential management strategies when integrating digital technologies into existing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of paradoxes, underlying tensions and potential management strategies when integrating digital technologies into existing lean-based production systems (LPSs), with the aim of achieving synergies and fostering the development of production systems.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a collaborative management research (CMR) approach to identify patterns of organisational tensions and paradoxes and explore management strategies to overcome them. The data were collected through interviews and focus group interviews with experts on lean and/or digital technologies from the companies, from documents and from workshops with the in-case researchers.
Findings
The findings of this paper provide insights into the salient organisational paradoxes embraced in the integration of digital technologies in LPS by identifying different aspects of the performing, organising, learning and belonging paradoxes. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate the intricacies and relatedness between different paradoxes and their resolutions, and more specifically, how a resolution strategy adopted to manage one paradox might unintentionally generate new tensions. This, in turn, calls for either re-contextualising actions to counteract the drift or the adoption of new resolution strategies.
Originality/value
This paper adds perspective to operations management (OM) research through the use of paradox theory, and we (1) provide a fine-grained perspective on why integration sometimes “fails” and label the forces of internal drift as mechanisms of imbalances and (2) provide detailed insights into how different management and resolution strategies are adopted, especially by identifying re-contextualising actions as a key to rebalancing organisational paradoxes in favour of the integration of digital technologies in LPSs.
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Peter E. Johansson and Andreas Wallo
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the competence in use when working with interactive research, which is a continuation and elaboration of action research.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the competence in use when working with interactive research, which is a continuation and elaboration of action research.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research approach was adopted for the study. The main body of empirical material in this paper is based on two sources of data – a survey comprising open-ended questions, followed by a series of focus group interviews. The respondents were researchers with varying degrees of experience in using interactive research.
Findings
The findings provide illustrations of what characterises interactive research as work and identify an additional set of activities that go beyond traditional research activities. Some activities are relatively easy to describe, while others exist in the gaps between other activities – e.g. boundary spanning – and are harder to explicitly define in terms of implications for the involved researchers’ competence. The work activities reaching beyond the traditional research boundaries are implicit and are not a common shared practice. From a competence point of view, this implies that the competence in use for these implicit tasks of interactive research becomes individually carried. Based on these findings, a number of individual aspects of what constitutes competence in use are suggested.
Research limitations/implications
In future studies, it would be valuable to use a mixed-method approach that also includes longitudinal observations of the actual work of conducting interactive research.
Practical implications
The findings and suggestions for how to understand the competence of interactive researchers can be used as guidance for training in research education.
Originality/value
This study contributes to previous research by describing important requirements and critical elements of competence in use when conducting interactive research.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of stakeholder theory for organisational development and contribute to the knowledge of operational stakeholder management.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of stakeholder theory for organisational development and contribute to the knowledge of operational stakeholder management.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a case study in a micro‐enterprise where data have been collected as participant observations.
Findings
Stakeholder theory suggests that to be sustainable, organisations must find a balance between different stakeholder interests. The paper presents a case study where a stakeholder model has been tested in a micro‐enterprise. Results include a revised model based on the experiences from the case. The stakeholder model has been adapted to accommodate a process approach and the PDSA‐cycle.
Practical implications
The model can be used when wanting to develop a structured management system based on stakeholder interests.
Originality/value
The paper has a vast content of originality as not as much has been written about stakeholder management from an empirical point of view as from a theoretical.
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Åsa Wreder, Peter Johansson and Rickard Garvare
The purpose of this paper is to trace the development of a methodology for identification of stakeholders, their demands, wants and expectations.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to trace the development of a methodology for identification of stakeholders, their demands, wants and expectations.
Design/methodology/approach
Within the public eldercare, data were collected by means of participant observations to assess the methodology under development and to explore the stakeholder view within public eldercare.
Findings
In public eldercare, the customer focus is often emphasised, but not always apparent. Nursing staff have the responsibility to give patients the right care. However, these customers often have to be satisfied subject to meeting demands from relatives, management and society, just to mention a few of the other potential stakeholders. Indeed, nurses have diverging views of who the stakeholders are and also find it problematic to prioritize between stakeholders' interests. The findings include a stakeholder methodology, which suggests steps for identification of stakeholders and stakeholders' demands, wants and expectations on an individual employee level as well as steps for group discussions concerning how to achieve a common view and balance different interests on an organizational level.
Research limitation/implications
The implications of the findings are mainly valid for the Swedish public eldercare. However, both experiences and the stakeholder methodology should be valuable both for other public and private organisations.
Originality/value
The study might stimulate the debate on the somewhat controversial customer focus in public eldercare. It explores the suitability of stakeholder theory on an individual level and presents a tentative stakeholder methodology.
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Marianne Döös, Peter Johansson and Lena Wilhelmson
This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of learning-oriented leadership as being integrated in managers’ daily work. The particular focus is on managers’ efforts to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of learning-oriented leadership as being integrated in managers’ daily work. The particular focus is on managers’ efforts to change how work is carried out through indirect acts of influence. In their daily work, managers influence the organisation’s learning conditions in ways that go beyond face-to-face interaction. Neither the influencer nor those influenced are necessarily aware that they are engaged in learning processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was part of a larger case study. The data set comprised interviews with nine middle managers about ways of working during a period of organisational change. A learning-theoretical analysis model was used to categorise managerial acts of influence. The key concept concerned pedagogic interventions.
Findings
Two qualitatively different routes for indirect influence were identified concerning social and organisational structures: one aligning, that narrows organisational members’ discretion, and one freeing, that widens discretion. Alignment is built on fixed views of objectives and on control of their interpretation. The freeing of structures is built on confidence in emerging competence and involvement of others.
Research limitations/implications
The study was limited to managers’ descriptions in a specific context. An issue for future research is to see whether the identified categories of learning-oriented leadership are found in other organisations.
Practical implications
The learning-oriented leadership categories cover a repertoire of acts of influence that create different learning conditions. These may be significant for the creation of a learning-conducive environment.
Originality/value
Managerial work that creates conducive conditions for learning does not need to be a specific task. Learning-oriented elements are inherent in aspects of managerial work, and managers’ daily tasks can be understood as expressions of different kinds of pedagogic intervention.