Browsing Ph.D. theses (MPP/LPF) by Title
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Vintergaard, Christian (København, 2006)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Dette værk er indgivet til Ph.D. bedømmelse under Forskerskolen i Viden og Ledelse ved Institut for Ledelse, Politik og Filosofi ved Copenhagen Business School som en del af opfyldelse af kravene for at opnå graden Ph.D. Målet med denne afhandling er, at fremsætte en kombination af nye teoretisk perspektiver og ledelsesmetoder, som tilsammen vil give et bedre indblik i de tidlige stadier af corporate venturing. Dette vil inkludere nye perspektiver på corporate venturing, eftersom afhandlingen videreudvikler akademiske og praktiske værktøjer for beslutningsprocesser. Afhandling bidrager med to overordnede tilføjelser til den nuværende litteratur om corporate venture. For det første, sætter den fokus på de vigtige, men oversete, tidlige faser ved venture processen. Dette indebærer de forhold, nødvendige for udvikling af nye innovative venture muligheder (venture basen), opdagelse af investeringsmuligheder og endelig forberedelse til evaluering af investeringsmuligheder. Venture basen er de karakteristika og forhold der for et firma og dets miljø kan udgøre ressourcer til opstart af nye ventures. Grundet ventures innovative natur bliver det, at opdage entreprenelle muligheder en hovedudfordring der involverer en diversificeret gruppe af aktører. Den tidlige fase inkluderer også specifikke vidensskabende handlinger der skal udføres for at kunne evaluere de mange investeringsmuligheder. For det andet bibringer afhandlingen nye perspektiver til hvorledes aktiviteterne i de tidlige faser er forbundet i værdikæden. I modsætning til tidligere litteratur, hvor venture processer præsenteres som lineære og forudsigelige, demonstrerer dette værk, at en mere dynamisk tilgang er tiltrængt, en tilgang der er særlig fokuseret på hvordan vidensprocesser og læringsfremmende aktiviteter driver venture processen, lige fra udviklingen af nye ideer til deres betydning evalueres. Disse bidrag trækker på teoretiske perspektiver fra den nuværende corporate venture litteratur (såsom Block and MacMillan, 1993; Burgelman, 1984, 1996; Chesbrough, 2000; Zahra, 1991) og komplementerende litteratur der tilvejebringer et netværk og videns perspektiv (såsom Gibbons et al. 1994; Kline and Rosenberg, 1986; Powell et al., 1996). Disse perspektiver er særligt gennemslagskraftige i deres argumentation om innovations processer og evolutionær udvikling. De bringer også ny indsigt om den type læringsproces som corporate ventures er en del af når de udvikler og evaluerer nye venture muligheder. I modsætning til en traditionel monografisk Ph.D. afhandling, så præsenterer denne afhandling sine resultater i fem (5) uafhængige men forbundne undersøgelser, udgivet i internationale peerreviewed tidsskrifter og bog kapitler. Udover disse studier så indeholder afhandlingen også en teoretisk introduktion og metode, en litteratur gennemgang og en konklusion. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7133 Files in this item: 1
christian_vintergaard.pdf (4.638Mb) -
Towards Relational Leadership In the Cultural SectorFriis Møller, Søren (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The thesis is an inquiry into how leadership is performed narratively in the cultural sector. Chapter 1 draws the cultural sector as a narrative landscape, and the reader is invited on a tour around this narrative landscape as seen through the eyes of some of the top guns in the cultural sector. Seen from this vantage, leadership in the cultural sector seems to be predominantly performed by relating narratives with reference to the metanarrative of the Enlightenment. The inquiry, however, draws on Lyotard (1984) to argue that such extralinguistic legitimization is in a crisis of legitimacy, wherefore the inquiry embarks on a problematization of the dominant understanding of leadership in the cultural sector with the activist aspiration of suggesting a postmoderning understanding of leadership in the cultural sector being performatively legitimized. Chapter 2 argues in favor of a relational, non-entitative understanding of narratives and it points to emplotment as a process of finding the best fit. This relational understanding of narratives allows the project to inquire into leadership performed narratively in all kinds of empirical settings, not confining itself to formal leadership contexts. Chapter 3 offers a genealogic approach to what the project has defined as the dominant narrative in the cultural sector, the narrative of art for art’s sake (the AFAS narrative), which the project argues function as an implicit standard. This includes notions of aesthetic autonomy such as suggested by Kant in 1790, artistic freedom and art for its own sake such as claimed by artists in the Romantic era, and the arm’s length principle as the ‘constitution of cultural policies’ in the post WW2 Western world. Chapter 4 provides an overview of alternative voices which have challenged the dominant narrative. These include post colonial studies, cultural entrepreneurial studies and consumer behavior studies which in various ways propose alternative ways to lead and support the cultural sector. Chapter 5 links the discussions in chapter 3 and chapter 4 to leadership studies, notably to discussions of leader-centered orientations versus leading relationally orientations. The chapter concludes by suggesting a new sensibility towards understanding leadership and meditates on how this might be achieved, paying attentions to the possibilities of overcoming the putative crisis of legitimacy the inquiry is placed in. Chapter 6 relates a case-study of Malmoe City Library which endeavors into a difficult, yet very promising process of reformulating what a library may become in a contemporary context. This process challenges the dominant narrative and thus the current understanding of what a library should be, and this deviation from the dominant narrative challenges leadership. Chapter 7 assembles three different approaches to challenges the dominant narrative and to make new interpretive resources available to the understanding of leadership in the cultural sector. First, givrum.nu, a social movement working with arts, second, Mogens Holm, a leader in the cultural sector in a transition phase, and third, Copenhagen Phil, a classical symphony orchestra striving to avoid becoming a parallel society phenomenon. These case studies are conducted as written interviews with the cases, in an attempted un-edited form to also introduce relational processes informed by a power with relation to my own research project. Chapter 8 reflects on the case-studies in chapter 6 and chapter 7 in light of the two approaches to leadership discussed in chapter 5. It does so by linking my study to relational leadership theory in order to see how this theoretical field might inform my inquiry and how my inquiry might inform this field. It equally offers five possible reconstructions of the cases before concluding the research project by summing up contributions to the empirical field and the research fields, as well as by pointing to areas which could be further developed in future research. In line with the aspirations of the relational constructionist framework of the project, the inquiry does not offer a conclusion. Instead it encourages further reconstructions, thus submitting itself to the performative legitimization it argues in favor of. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8590 Files in this item: 1
Søren_Friis_Møller.pdf (1.809Mb) -
Hanh, Pham Thi Song (Frederiksberg, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Departing from my interest in finding key factors determining a developing country firms’ export success, this research explores two fascinating topics: one is the debate on whether a developing country’s producers should become involved in marketing functions where a developed country’s firms already hold a strong position, and the other is the very limited attention given in the export literature to the role of relational capability in a firm’s export business.... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7742 Files in this item: 1
pham_thi_song_hanh.pdf (1.155Mb) -
A study of the pathologies of performativityJohnsen, Rasmus (Frederiksberg, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Temaet for denne afhandling er en undersøgelse af tre historiske ’formationer’ organiseret omkring en ’ting’ i kroppen i melankoliens brede og farverige historie i et forsøg på at skabe baggrund for en filosofisk undersøgelse af sammenhængen mellem patologi, arbejde og performativitet i samtiden. I denne forstand er der tale om et stykke filosofisk grundforskning, der forsøger at etablere og åbne et felt for mødet mellem de klassiske, filosofiske discipliner, og temaer i organisationsteori og ledelsesfilosofi. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7929 Files in this item: 1
Rasmus_Johnsen.pdf (1.060Mb) -
A study of corporate branding strategies at Novo NordiskHolm Hansen, Jacob (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The inspiration for this project came from a practical and a theoretical interest in how strategies are anchored in organisations. In 2005 a colleague and I published a book about strategic leadership communication (Bordum and Holm Hansen 2005). It was an inquiry into how the power of strategic statements, such as vision, mission and values, are rooted in the underlying forces of communication and actions among the stakeholders of organisations. It demonstrated that the drivers of successful leadership are based on persuasive communication and action. This project takes this line of thought further through a conceptual and empirical inquiry. It is motivated by an interest in basic knowledge about corporate branding as an integrative phenomenon. Corporate branding is often understood as a strategic activity that creates attention and value for a company. The strategic and managerial approaches are generally dominant in theory and practice, where they suggest various prescriptions for success with a corporate branding project. Such approaches often build on assumptions about control where certain consecutive steps automatically lead to a powerful brand. While there are many possible approaches to corporate branding, it seems that the question of integration is a salient issue that characterises the phenomenon in different ways. For instance, corporate branding is said to integrate various academic disciplines, provide an integrated profile of a company, integrate internal and external stakeholders, etc. The particular focus here is encouraged by questions and reflections about how corporate branding as an integrative activity can be analysed and understood through a pragmatic theory of communication. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8456 Files in this item: 1
Jacob_Holm_Hansen.pdf (5.526Mb) -
En undersøgelse af det intense arbejdslivKirkegaard, Line (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Denne afhandling tilbyder et diagram over eksistensformen for en gruppe højt profilerede management konsulenter. Den tilbyder et diagram over et moderne selvforhold. Den tilbyder en fortegnelse over, hvordan en gruppe højt profilerede management konsulenter griber de kriterier, de bliver udsat for i sit deres liv og den eksistensmåde, der hermed muliggøres. Med dette ønsker jeg at bidrage til de eksisterende work-life balance teorier. Min vej ind i teorierne er nemlig, at logikken i mit empiriske materiale forekommer så forskelligt fra de traditionelle work-life balance teorier, at disse ikke lader sig forene. Jeg foretager derfor en analyse af den eksisterende litteratur, og rejser i den forbindelse en grundlæggende kritik af work-life balance teorierne, for at operere med falske problemstillinger på en måde, så svaret allerede indgår i de spørgsmål, der stilles... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8390 Files in this item: 1
Line_Kirkegaard.pdf (1.175Mb) -
Relasjonen mellom virksomhetsledelse og kontraktshåndtering, belyst via fire norske virksomheterSimilä, Jan Ole (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Why do we focus on the internal arrangements of the contractual process from a leadership perspective? Through empirical research where we have asked questions about the internal organizational arrangements, what kind of knowledge the organization need, and how institutional arrangements affect the contract process, we have tried to answer the main research question. We have also carried with us a question of if the organization's attachment to the public or private sector affects the arrangements. I have conducted a comparative case study where data has been generated from two public sector organizations, The National Road Administration, Helsebygg Midt-Norge, one private sector organization, Siemens, and one hybrid organization, NTE. Data was primarily generated from the governance system of the different organizations, and informant interviews. The analysis was carried out by two steps; first an empirical analysis, then a theoretical analysis, based on contractual theory, of the empirical findings. The empirical analysis shows that the organizations share the same thoughts on how to organize the contractual work; the division between the line and the project organization, the distribution of decision-making authority, and the institutionalization of a specific governance system. The organizational processes are formalized, and the governance system gives the clear recommendation on desired actions. The empirical data gives a clear understanding that the contract process is dominated by one profession — the engineers. Regarding the question on knowledge, I found the organizations to be interested foremost on problem solving competencies (engineering competencies). Other competencies, for example economic or legal competencies, where viewed as support competencies. We also found that personal skills in handling the complex and difficult processes and attitude toward ethics seemed to be of importance. On the question on how institutional elements in the organizational environment affected the contract process, we found that the overall interest of the organizations was stability and predictability. We also found that the market mechanisms cause the organizations some worry. In the end, the empirical findings did not give us any strong reasons to differentiate between public sector organizations and private sector organizations in how to deal with contractual work processes. The theoretical analysis has been carried out within classical and relational contract theory. The analysis shows that the empirical findings, to a great extend, can be explained through classical contract theory. It also gives us some ideas on what areas of the theory, especially relational contract theory that should be improved. Regarding the main research question, the conclusions indicate a need to establish a comprehensive approach to the contract process, to ensure a good balance between different partial processes. There also seem to be necessary to work on improvements on contract theory to increase the applicability of the theory, especially the relational contract theory. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8011 Files in this item: 1
Jan_Ole_Similä.pdf (2.216Mb) -
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Abstract: Co-creation has emerged today as a concept which thinkers across otherwise largely opposed traditions have come to embrace. This dissertation substantiates how the concept of co-creation, from proponents of Strategic Management Thought to thinkers coming out of Autonomist Marxism and Critical Management Studies, appears as designating either: (1) a new win-win mode of value creation where businesses co-create value with various sorts of outsiders; (2) a new social, commons-based value creation autonomous from business interests; or (3) a mode of value creation intimately intertwined with new modes of management capable of harnessing and exploiting productive capacities outside established organizations. Behind these contemporary differences, the dissertation discloses a more encompassing history. Through this, the emergence of a widely shared co-creation vocabulary is brought forth. While this vocabulary is used persistently to express a whole new mode of value creation, in whatever form, the dissertation argues that the co-creation vocabulary actually undermines the very possibility of speaking about value creation in a consistent manner. At the same time, however, it is not a vocabulary which can just be dispensed with, since its emergence is intimately intertwined with an accelerated emphatic injunction; an injunction advanced by a reformulated managementality that throughout the twentieth century has tempted management ‘to go outside’. Accounting for this history, the dissertation claims that a complex experience has been born, an experience of the outside. Through this experience, the outside has emerged not merely as a source of value creation and an object of management; it has also emerged as an obligation that has to be met, an obligation which is forcefully expressed today through the co-creation vocabulary. In order to inquire into contemporary accounts of co-creation, as well as the historical trajectories through which this phenomenon has come to emerge, the dissertation develops what is designated as the historical problematization analysis, inspired by and reconstructed from the very late work of Michel Foucault. By utilizing this mode of analysis, it becomes possible to bring together otherwise separate accounts of co-creation on the same level of analysis, to inquire into central historical conditions of possibility through which the phenomenon of cocreation has come to emerge and to take stock of what difference the arrival of cocreation introduces in relation to yesterday. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8701 Files in this item: 1
Thomas_Lopdrup-Hjorth.pdf (1.975Mb) -
Om udvikling af medarbejdernes brandorienterede dømmekraftHermansen, Dorte (Frederiksberg, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: How can service companies get their employees to ‘live the brand’? This thesis answers this question through a dialogue between practice and theory. It investigates the potential of philosophical-dialogical methods to transform abstract brand values into action in corporate branding praxis at TDC and explores opportunities to apply the methods in context of service companies in general. It develops an understanding of corporate branding as an organisational and cultural project in which collective dialogue-processes serve as the main sensemaking process. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7813 Files in this item: 1
Dorte_Hermansen.pdf (2.588Mb) -
How special groups organize for collaborative creativity in conditions of spatial variability and distanceO’Donnell, Shannon (Frederiksberg, 2013)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The enormous challenges and opportunities impacting the world community today increasingly require people to practice collaborative innovation effectively both in person and across geographic boundaries. Simultaneously, advances in technology such as social networking tools, digital 3-D representations, virtual worlds, and open source practices are inspiring generations of users to develop new kinds of adaptive collaborative networks and capabilities. But when people work across organizational and geographic boundaries, new challenges arise that make it difficult for groups to achieve the levels of excellence they are capable of achieving together in close proximity. Practitioners need help determining how best to perform collaborative creativity given unique and dynamic work conditions. Meanwhile, as new forms of creative group work emerge at an accelerating pace, researchers struggle to keep up with and develop nuanced understanding of the variations in collaborative processes we increasingly see performed. With this PhD research, I aim to increase our understanding of a particular, specialized form of collaborative creativity called “ensembling.” I investigate this phenomenon by studying it in diverse—including “stretched”—conditions. By stretched, I mean that, literally, groups are stretched apart in space as membership size and spatial distance between members increase and work configurations vary. The groups I study are those both capable of achieving and driven to achieve a peak-performance state of ensemble, and do so via the enactment of an interdependent set of methods that call ensemble into being, a process I call ensembling. In their ideal form, these work methods support the emergence of ensemble and result in the creation of aesthetically coherent and novel outcomes that are particularly responsive to the contexts in which they are made. To investigate the phenomenon of ensemble, I first develop a construct of ensemble based on informant descriptions, and use theory and data to develop a detailed description of how ensembling is performed in natural conditions (i.e., in close physical proximity). Then I look at an extreme example in which a set of expert groups’ ability to ensemble was put under stress by an unprecedented work task. In 2009, multiple string quartets (many considered world class) organized to perform a new musical composition. The composition challenged four quartets at a time to perform as an integrated ensemble while sitting apart, in various configurations, and at spatial distances of up to 70 feet. To help them address the difficulties produced by increased membership and distance, the musicians integrated a simple coordinating technology into their process. To learn how participants made ensemble possible given these new conditions, I engaged multiple qualitative methods for generating data and multiple perspectives for interpretation. I first considered their process as an iterative approach to exploring strategies for addressing constraints, in order to show how the methods of ensembling interacted with conditions of increased group size, increased spatial distance and configurational variability, and to elicit their evolving beliefs about what methods made ensemble more likely to occur given these conditions. Then I performed an alternative interpretation, disrupting this logic and exploring the ways in which participants used methods of ensembling—particularly openness to uncertainty and reconceiving—to create unanticipated potentialities for ensemble to emerge despite constraints. I show how they worked with a coordinating technology called a “click-track” in important new ways that went beyond “merely” achieving synchronous coordination to increasing their autonomy, relatedness, and ability to demonstrate artistic virtuosity, enabling them to engage equally in leadership and participation and to play. Finally, performing a comparative analysis across sub-units of the case, including examples of breakdown in the process, I generated additional insights into what conditions, beliefs, methods and behaviors enable or inhibit processes of ensembling. Integrating learning from analysis and interpretation, I propose a new range of conditions in which ensembling is possible, and a revised and expanded description of the methods by which groups ensemble. Conditions can expand to include larger groups with limited-tenure consisting of enduring-tenure sub-groups, multiple task interdependencies at group and sub-group levels, balanced tenure at sub-group level, a balance between proximity and distance, opportunities to work with and without technological mediation, and self-determined configuration variability. I show that the emergence of ensemble depends on, for instance, a shared purpose to ensemble, and methods such as a “struggle” phase, episodes of close physical proximity, collective leadership, “dueting” in different configurations, reconceiving constraints, living with the paradox of one-and-four, opening the process to uncertainty and to the emergence of consent, and subliminal technology engagement. Ultimately, these groups demonstrated an increasing ability to adapt to new conditions faster and more creatively, making new configurations possible, and suggesting ways in which ensemble might be performed in other kinds of group settings. I summarize findings in the form of a “framework of ensembling” that is meant to serve as a tool to further enrich our yet nascent understanding of this complex phenomenon and to aid in the exploration of ensembling in contexts outside the usual places we expect it to occur. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8653 Files in this item: 1
Shannon_O'Donnell.pdf (7.529Mb) -
Value creation and ambiguity in client-consultant relationsSmith, Irene Skovgaard (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Et godt og effektivt samarbejde mellem kunde og konsulent fremhæves generelt som en afgørende betingelse for at få succes med brug af eksterne konsulenter. Dansk Industri har sammen med Dansk Management Råd (DMR) og Copenhagen Business School (CBS) etableret et udviklingsprojekt, der under overskriften 'Vækst i Vidensamfundet' har til formål at udvikle det afgørende samarbejde mellem kundevirksomheder og konsulentvirksomheder. Nærværende ErhvervsPh.d.-afhandling er en del af dette udviklingsprojekt og sætter fokus på, hvad der sker i kunde-konsulent samspillet i konteksten af konsulentopgaver, hvor det handler om at implementere forandring. På sådanne forandringsprojekter forventes konsulenterne at bidrage med viden, værktøjer og løsninger samtidig med, at de fungerer som forandringsagenter i kundeorganisationen og involverer og arbejder med ledere og medarbejdere på forskellige niveauer. Det gør kunde-konsulent samspillet til en kompleks størrelse, der ikke bare handler om den personlige relation og godt samarbejde mellem konsulent og opdragsgiver/projektsponsor. Når vi har at gøre med ydelser, hvor konsulenterne går i clinch med organisationen for at implementere forandring, må kunde-konsulent relationer ses i et bredere perspektiv end fokus på personlige relationer mellem enkeltindivider tillader. Kunden er en organisation; en kompleks social konstellation af mennesker med forskellige positioner og interesser. Det afgørende er, hvilken rolle konsulenterne får, når de bevæger sig ind i denne sociale sammenhæng, og hvilke muligheder og begrænsninger det indebærer for at være med til at skabe forandring som ekstern part i processen. Afhandlingen stiller skarpt på disse sociale aspekter af samspillet mellem konsulenter og interne aktører i konteksten af kundeorganisation. Forskningen, der ligger til grund for afhandlingen, er udført som antropologisk feltarbejde på to forandringsprojekter; den ene i en industrivirksomhed og det andet på et hospital. Dette indebar både observation af konkrete situationer, hvor konsulenter og interne aktører arbejdede sammen, og efterfølgende interviews med både konsulenter og de relevante ledere og medarbejdere om deres oplevelse af samspillet. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7127 Files in this item: 1
irene_skovgaard_smith.pdf (1.890Mb) -
Flexibility, performance and commitment in work-life managementRaastrup Kristensen, Anders (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis offers a critical contribution to the theories of work-life balance. Within the contemporary theoretical perspectives on work and life the individuals are constructed as being responsible for work-life balance by turning it into a problem of the personal behaviour, decisions, psychological traits and family condition of the human subject. In this sense the everyday problem of balancing between work and home is reduced to be primarily an individual problem and decision. When the problem of work-life balance is raised in this way, it is difficult for companies to offer managerial and organizational solutions that do not automatically exclude this as an individual problem. It might be possible for managers and organizations to help the employees in achieving work-life balance, but it is fundamentally a challenge that the individual employees must solve. The thesis offers a different perspective on the relation between work and life. This perspective is not based upon the individual employees’ perception and hence constitution of work-life balance. Instead, it is argued that the constitution of the relation of work and life is to be found in its effects. These effects are not established in the constitution of the boundary between work and home, but are rather recognized by how the employees determine and define activities and tasks as work. For example, is it work to send email in the evening? Is it work to read an article at the weekend? Is it work to update a profile on Facebook? The question is therefore ‘what is work?’ and not ‘what is the boundary between work and home?’ URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7973 Files in this item: 1
Anders_Raastrup_Kristensen.pdf (4.374Mb) -
Kampagnestyring i Velfærdsstaten: En diskussion af trafikkampagners styringspotentialeSpeiermann, Sabrina (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
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A History of Danish School Governing from 1970-2010Grønbæk Pors, Justine (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In Denmark, as in many other welfare states, we strongly believe that problems within the public sector can be solved by means of better management. For quite some years it has been assumed that management leads to more control over and better quality of welfare. Politicians and public servants have therefore been concerned with how the individual hospital, nursing home and school can develop its management. This has created a somewhat strange problem: How is it possible from a position at the top of a governing hierarchy to create management capacity from below? This thesis is about how Danish local government, municipalities, have developed understandings of governing relations between themselves and the public school over the last 40 years. The thesis tracks how municipalities have gradually assigned organizational independence to the individual school and increased their expectations of its self-management.... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8355 Files in this item: 1
Justine_Grønbæk_Pors.pdf (4.586Mb) -
(Re)assembling work in the Danish PostMogensen, Mette (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The well-being of employees is currently a central matter of concern both in public and private companies. If employees do not feel well, in the last instance they might experience a burn out or fall ill from stress and thus add to the highly costly yet ever growing number filling up the statistics of this modern epidemic. In short, well-being is key to productivity. For sure this is not a new story, but at the core of organization and management theory: how to best organize the human resources of production balancing off the need for increased productivity and the preservation of physical and mental resources of the worker? In contrast to classic principles such as Taylor’s scientific management, it seems today generally agreed that well-being thrives when work is organized by principles of ‘flexibility’, ‘learning’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘creativity’. However, at the same time workplaces and organizations are under an enormous pressure towards standardization and optimization. This dissertation investigates empirically competing or intersecting ways of organizing well-being and productivity, with an analytic outset in the work task, departing from historically generated, however still prevalent, dichotomies and normativities of standardization and flexibility respectively. The empirical case of the dissertation is the organization of postal work in a big and formerly publicly run distribution company in Denmark. Based on an ethnographic field work and the employment of an auto-photographic method, the dissertation investigates how the current and simultaneous efforts of standardization and flexibility configure the well-being(s) and productivities of postal work. The theoretical framework is primarily informed by Actor Network Theory and the dissertation attend to a detailed investigation of how well-being and productivity are enacted in the daily work practices and the constant shifting/delegation going on between the inscribed postal worker of work tools, standard procedures and management programs on the one side and the routinized bodies of the postal workers on the other. Most of the time this results in ‘working compatibilities’ silently enacting bodies-with-standards that are both productive and well. At other times, however, controversy and conflicts arise, pointing to the fact that the presence of multiple modes of organizing are not always productive. The empirical chapters departs from selected auto-photographs that prompt different unfoldings of the way postal work is organized – or sought organized – and the way well-being and productivity arise as effects of these organizations. In this unfolding the analysis proceed on a tension between phenomenological and actor-network theoretical readings of empirical material creating a patchwork-like assemblage of postal work. This involves a stitching together of highly mundane, corporeal practices and material such as bicycles and kickstands, personal experiences, the researcher’s interpretations, the technical scripts of electric bikes, the norms of postal workers, the discourse of management and the political-economic developments of European postal markets. Through the empirical chapters, the dissertation depicts postal work not as a story of standardization versus flexibility, but as a constant ‘juggling’ and balancing act between them. This is not a story of humanization or the opposite, it is both at once. It is not a story of stabilization or perpetual change, it is both at once. It is a story of the hanging-togetherness of an organization that displays multiple versions of well-being and productivity as well as multiple controversies as a result of this. Depending on the stakes one has in this complex organizational set-up, whether one is the postal worker, the local manager, the HR consultant or perhaps the customer, preferences will differ, and indeed this is an important discussion. What is the better way to organize postal work? The analysis presented in the dissertation will not deliver the answer to this, but hopefully make the discussion a more qualified one, by displacing old truths. Having as point of departure and final emphasis a heuristics of the work task, the thesis aims to contribute to a specification of organization theory, HRM and work environment theorizing, which otherwise tend to have lost its primary object: work. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8589 Files in this item: 1
Mette_Mogensen.pdf (9.923Mb) -
Exemplified by the transformation of the Danish pine furniture manufacturersLutz, Salla (København, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Dette forskningsprojekt tager udgangspunkt i observationer omkring de danske producenter af fyrretræsmøbler. Siden slutningen af 90’erne har industrien været præget af priskonkurrence som ses dels indbyrdes mellem de danske producenter, dels fra aktører i lande med lavere omkostningsstrukturer. Derudover er slutbrugernes interesse for fyrretræsmøbler dalet betragteligt. I takt med den heraf følgende lavere efterspørgsel på fyrretræsmøbler er de danske producenter i stigende grad begyndt at købe færdigproducerede møbler fra lavprismarkeder som Kina og Østeuropa for at komplementere deres egen møbelproduktion. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7762 Files in this item: 1
Salla Lutz.pdf (1.214Mb) -
Industrirådet og efterkrigstidens Danmark 1945 - 1958Lind Larsen, Morten (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Velfærdsstaten befinder sig i et vadested. Befolkningen bliver ældre, og finansieringsgrundlaget skrumper. Det giver grundlag for diskussioner om, hvorvidt kursen skal justeres eller lægges radikalt om, og hvordan forholdet skal være mellem rettigheder og pligter i fremtiden. I de aktuelle diskussioner om den danske velfærdsstats fremtid er det et tilbagevendende spørgsmål, hvordan den danske velfærdsstatsmodel er opstået, og hvad der egentlig er dens centrale bestanddele. Den danske velfærdsstats rødder kan naturligvis trækkes langt tilbage, men der er efterhånden enighed om, at de første årtier efter befrielsen står som helt centrale i forhold til den moderne danske velfærdsstats historie. I perioden fra 1945 til slutningen af 1950’erne blev en række væsentlige forudsætninger således skabt for, at den moderne velfærdsstat kunne realiseres i 1960’erne og 1970’erne, hvor omfattende velfærdsreformer blev gennemført og en stor offentlig sektor etableredes. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8399 Files in this item: 1
Morten_Lind_Larsen.pdf (1.475Mb) -
Managing and Researching Inclusive SchoolsRatner, Helene (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This thesis examines “reflexivity” as the key theme for understanding how Danish school managers work with the currently influential political vision of including students with special needs in the common school (educating children aged 5-16). Despite repeated attempts to realize the vision of inclusion, the number of students referred to special pedagogical services, and thus segregated from the common school, has continued to grow, especially since 1995. There is a widespread consent that this development is due to the schools’ practices and socially constructed categories of “special needs” and “normalcy.” Pedagogical scholars and recent policy initiatives posit that schools can achieve the much-wanted cultural change towards inclusion if teachers reflect (more) on their mindsets and practices. When advocating inclusion, scholars often refer to school managers as “leaders of meaning construction,” thus emphasizing their importance in facilitating cultural change. Existing knowledge practices are depicted as too “durable” with the unintended side-effects of segregation and budget overruns, and school managers are, following, encouraged making teachers change their practices through (self-) reflexivity. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8459 Files in this item: 1
Helene_Ratner.pdf (2.848Mb) -
[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Offentlige forvaltninger verden over har været præget af voldsomme reformbølger de seneste 20-30 år, og den private sektor er i stigende grad blevet inddraget i den offentlige serviceproduktion. Privatiseringer og udliciteringer kendetegnede således forvaltningspolitikken i mange vestlige lande op gennem 1980erne og 1990erne. De mange reformtiltag er i forvaltningslitteraturen kendt under betegnelsen New Public Management. En af de senere udviklinger i den moderne forvaltningshistorie er fremkomsten af offentlig-private partnerskaber (OPP). OPP har i dag fået en lignende udbredelse som de tidligere privatiserings- og udliciteringstendenser. De fleste vestlige landeforvaltninger har således forsøgt sig med OPP, og i forvaltningslitteraturen har antallet af publiceringer om emnet været hastigvoksende de seneste cirka 10 år. Trods den store udbredelse, i såvel teori som praksis, skorter der imidlertid med klassifikationer, endsige definitioner af OPP begrebet. Denne afhandling har to centrale formål. Det ene er at afdække OPP begrebets mangetydige betydninger. Det gøres ved at kortlægge hvordan begrebet bliver anvendt i den internationale forvaltningslitteratur. Analysen viser at begrebets grænser er slørede, og at betegnelsen OPP bliver anvendt om en mangfoldighed af offentlig-private samarbejdsformer dækkende over uformaliserede netværksbaserede relationer såvel som stærkt formaliserede kontraktstrukturer. På baggrund af analysen inddeles forvaltningslitteraturen i en række strømninger. Dermed skabes et overblik over feltet som ikke eksisterede forud for analysen. Denne del af analysen munder endvidere ud i en ny måde at klassificere og definere forskellige typer OPP på. OPP er et relativt ungt forskningsfelt. En markant barriere for udviklingen af feltet har været manglen på anerkendte klassificeringer/definitioner. Begrebsdefinitioner er en forudsætning for teoriudvikling. Ved at afdække OPP begrebets mangetydige betydninger, og ved at udvikle nye måder at klassificere og definere OPP på bidrager denne analyse væsentligt til den fremtidige teoriudvikling om OPP. Afhandlingens andet formål er at afdække hvad der kendetegner samarbejdsrelationerne i idriftsatte OPP-projekter. Det er en udbredt opfattelse blandt praktikere såvel som forskere at OPP bebuder noget kvalitativt nyt relativt til de fordums tiders privatiseringer og udliciteringer. Der findes således en udbredt teoretisk diskurs om at OPP indebærer tætte og tillidsbaserede samarbejdsrelationer, dialog og fokus på processer frem for output. På trods af sådanne udbredte forventninger og antagelser om samarbejdsformens karakter, så er der forbavsende få systematiske empiriske studier af hvordan samarbejdsrelationerne ser ud i praksis. Ved empirisk at kortlægge samarbejdets karakter i fem britiske OPP-projekter udfylder afhandlingen derfor et vigtigt hul i den internationale forvaltningslitteratur. Analysen bidrager til litteraturen på to centrale måder. Den viser, for det første, at forventningerne om kvalitativt anderledes samarbejdsrelationer ikke bliver indfriet i flertallet af de analyserede cases. Det forventede skift fra hierarkiske, kontrolorienterede principal-agent relationer mod fladere, tillidsbaserede principalprincipal relationer ses ikke i praksis. For det andet ses der dog alligevel stor variation i den måde hvorpå samarbejdet udmønter sig i de forskellige cases. Den ene case udviser således mange af de førnævnte samarbejdskarakteristika som typisk bliver kædet sammen med OPP. Analyseresultatet peger på, at samarbejdsrelationernes kan udmøntes væsensforskelligt indenfor den samme type kontraktstrukturer. Dette peger videre på, at formelle strukturer kun giver en begrænset indsigt i samarbejdets karakter. For at få en dybere forståelse af OPP, er det derfor nødvendigt at gå bagom kontrakten og analysere hvordan samarbejdsformen udspiller sig i praksis. Der identificeres endvidere en sammenhæng mellem samarbejdspraksis og partnerskabsperformance. De cases som involverer de mest tillidsbaserede og tætte relationer ser samtidig ud til at være de cases, der præsterer bedst. Analyseresultaterne har implikationer for OPP litteraturen og ledelsesmæssige implikationer. For det første giver resultaterne anledning til at revidere den eksisterende teoretiske diskurs om OPP. Der er en tendens i litteraturen til at forbinde bestemte samarbejdsstrukturer med bestemte typer samarbejdsprocesser. Resultaterne her indikerer at disse to dimensioner ikke følger hinanden. Dernæst peger resultaterne på at ressourcer og ledelsesmæssig opmærksomhed med fordel kan rettes mod de løbende samarbejdsprocesser, da dette kan få betydning for samarbejdets udfald. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7734 Files in this item: 1
Gudrid_Weihe.pdf (4.007Mb) -
En analyse af coachingsdiskursens genealogi og governmentalityHede, Tobias Dam (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Formålet med denne afhandling er at undersøge coachingdiskursens genealogi og ”governmentality”, dvs. dens historiske formationer og normative basis som ledelsesmodel og praksisregime. Problemfeltet formuleres igennem det såkaldte ”symmetriproblem”. Den væsentligste udfordring heri er spørgsmålet om, hvordan en coach kan bistå et andet menneske med at åbne sig for og vende sig imod det, der er væsentligt for den enkelte selv, og det fællesskab, han eller hun definerer sig i forhold til. I det perspektiv er symmetriproblemets analysestrategiske funktion at være samlebetegnelse for tre ”problematiseringslinjer” i coachingdiskursens genealogi og governmentality, der konstituerer sig igennem diskursive strategier for: 1) Ledelse, 2) erkendelse og 3) subjektivitet. Ud fra det perspektiv besvarer afhandlingen følgende research question: Hvordan problematiseres, idealiseres og tilegnes coaching som samtalekunst og ledelsesdisciplin på baggrund af symmetriproblemet? Afhandlingens formål og problemfelt vil i det følgende blive udfoldet i en mere generel indledning ud fra fem overskrifter: 1) Motivation af problemfeltets tilblivelse, aktualitet og relevans; 2) analysestrategisk greb; 3) genstandsfelt; 4) erkendelsesinteresser og forskningsbidrag, samt 5) analysestrategiens disposition og empiriske design. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8279 Files in this item: 1
Tobias_Dam_Hede.pdf (5.700Mb)