Dissemination of management into politics: Michael Porter and the political uses of management consulting

The article contributes to the literature on management dissemination by looking at how management fashions are diffused into and circulated in politics. The ideas of management have been increasingly disseminated into the realm of politics during recent decades. To illustrate how this takes place, this article examines the spread of Michael Porter’s ideas on national politics. Porter’s work is considered a management fashion that has been skilfully packaged; a new form of the 20th-century tradition of state-led social engineering which takes the form of management fashion-style packaging. For this he is seen as a global guru in national politics, and this development is regarded as a new form of consultocracy in the realm of democracies. In consultocracy, the ideas of management consulting are often adopted into politics as a common justifying rationality of power for the political elites. Thus we call for further research on the underlying dynamics of the power involved as management fashions are disseminated into the realm of politics

Gloomy at the Top : How the Wealthiest 0.1% Feel about the Rest

Growing inequalities have prompted research on the wealthiest groups and their cohesive practices and ideologies. This article suggests that emotional expression - how the members of the wealthy upper class feel about themselves and the rest of society - provides a way to examine their position in society. Drawing from interviews with business executives who belong to the richest 0.1% in Finland and to their society's power elites, I argue that just as low-income groups feel resentful towards more affluent groups, the wealthy also harbour resentment towards more disadvantaged groups. The wealthy executives create an emotionally laden self-justification - a deep story - in which they feel positively about themselves but assign negative feelings to other classes. In this narrative, the optimistic business elites thus become gloomy societal elites, who build empathy walls against the less advantaged groups even in Finland, one of the world's most equal countries.Peer reviewe

The structure of Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.) stems in relation to wood properties of sawn timber

An important challenge in forest industry is to get the appropriate raw material out from the forests to the wood processing industry. Growth and stem reconstruction simulators are therefore increasingly integrated in industrial conversion simulators, for linking the properties of wooden products to the three-dimensional structure of stems and their growing conditions. Static simulators predict the wood properties from stem dimensions at the end of a growth simulation period, whereas in dynamic approaches, the structural components, e.g. branches, are incremented along with the growth processes. The dynamic approach can be applied to stem reconstruction by predicting the three-dimensional stem structure from external tree variables (i.e. age, height) as a result of growth to the current state. In this study, a dynamic growth simulator, PipeQual, and a stem reconstruction simulator, RetroSTEM, are adapted to Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.) to predict the three-dimensional structure of stems (tapers, branchiness, wood basic density) over time such that both simulators can be integrated in a sawing simulator. The parameterisation of the PipeQual and RetroSTEM simulators for Norway spruce relied on the theoretically based description of tree structure developing in the growth process and following certain conservative structural regularities while allowing for plasticity in the crown development. The crown expressed both regularity and plasticity in its development, as the vertical foliage density peaked regularly at about 5 m from the stem apex, varying below that with tree age and dominance position (Study I). Conservative stem structure was characterized in terms of (1) the pipe ratios between foliage mass and branch and stem cross-sectional areas at crown base, (2) the allometric relationship between foliage mass and crown length, (3) mean branch length relative to crown length and (4) form coefficients in branches and stem (Study II). The pipe ratio between branch and stem cross-sectional area at crown base, and mean branch length relative to the crown length may differ in trees before and after canopy closure, but the variation should be further analysed in stands of different ages and densities with varying site fertilities and climates. The predictions of the PipeQual and RetroSTEM simulators were evaluated by comparing the simulated values to measured ones (Study III, IV). Both simulators predicted stem taper and branch diameter at the individual tree level with a small bias. RetroSTEM predictions of wood density were accurate. For focusing on even more accurate predictions of stem diameters and branchiness along the stem, both simulators should be further improved by revising the following aspects in the simulators: the relationship between foliage and stem sapwood area in the upper stem, the error source in branch sizes, the crown base development and the height growth models in RetroSTEM. In Study V, the RetroSTEM simulator was integrated in the InnoSIM sawing simulator, and according to the pilot simulations, this turned out to be an efficient tool for readily producing stand scale information about stem sizes and structure when approximating the available assortments of wood products.Suomalaisen metsäsektorin toimivuuden ja kilpailukyvyn kannalta ensisijaisen tärkeää on saada oikeanlaista puuraaka-ainetta metsistä jatkojalostukseen. Tätä silmälläpitäen erilaisia metsän kasvua ja puiden rakennetta sekä puuraaka-aineen laatua ennustavia simulaattoreita on lisääntyvässä määrin kehitetty. Kun edellä mainittuja simulaattoreita yhdistetään puuraaka-aineen jalostusprosessia mallintaviin simulaattoreihin (esim. sahaussimulaattorit), voidaan kehittää koko jalostusketjua kuvaavia ohjelmistoja. Tässä tutkimuksessa on muunnettu männyn kolmiulotteista rakennetta ennustavat simulaattorit PipeQual ja RetroSTEM kuvaamaan kuusen runkorakennetta (runkokäyrät, oksaisuus ja puuaineen tiheys). PipeQual ennustaa metsikön kasvua ja yksittäisten runkojen kolmiulotteisen rakenteen kehitystä dynaamisesti taimesta alkaen, aina metsikön kiertoajan loppuun. RetroSTEM rekonstruoi yksittäisille puille rungon kolmiulotteisen rakenteen, puun iän ja koon (pituus, rinnankorkeusläpimitta, latvus-suhde) perusteella, aloittaen rakenteen muodostamisen taimesta ja päätyen puun olemassa oleviin mittoihin. Molemmat simulaattorit voidaan liittää sahaussimulaattoriin. PipeQual ja RetroSTEM simulaattorit perustuvat molemmat teoreettiseen kuvaukseen puun rakenteesta. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin, missä määrin latvan rakenteen tai rungon, oksien ja latvan välisten rakennesuhteiden kehitys noudattaa tiettyjä säännönmukaisuuksia iältään ja kasvutilaltaan erilaisissa metsiköissä. Säännönmukaisesti käyttäytyviä tai vakioiksi havaittuja suhteita puun eri rakenteiden välillä voidaan hyödyntää simulaattorissa, kun kasvun jakautumista puun eri rakenteiden välillä ohjataan kiertoajan eri vaiheissa, tiheydeltään erilaisissa metsiköissä. Esimerkiksi puun neulasmassan suhde rungon pohjapinta-alaan latvusrajalla havaittiin olevan vakio iältään erilaisissa metsiköissä, ja puun neulastiheyden todettiin saavuttavan maksimitiheyden noin viidessä metrissä latvan kärjestä alas, riippumatta puun iästä tai sen asemasta latvuskerroksessa. Viiden metrin alapuolella latvan pituus ja leveys sekä samalla neulastiheys vaihtelevat puun iän ja kasvutilan mukaan. Tutkimuksessa testattiin PipeQual ja RetroSTEM simulaattoreiden ennustuskykyä vertailemalla simuloituja tunnuksia mitattuihin vastaaviin tunnuksiin. Molemmat simulaattorit ennustivat yksittäisten puiden runkokäyrän ja oksien läpimitan sekä tiheyden testiaineiston perusteella melko harhattomasti. Runkoläpimitta- ja oksaisuusennusteet rungon eri korkeuksilla osoittivat kuitenkin lievää yli- tai aliarviota ja vaativat näin ollen lisätestausta ja jatkotoimenpiteitä simulaattoreiden kehittämisessä. RetroSTEM simulaattori liitettiin edelleen InnoSIM sahaussimulaattoriin ja tämän pilottitutkimuksen perusteella voidaan todeta, että kyseisellä yhdistelmällä on mahdollista ennustaa nopeasti ja tehokkaasti kuusisahatavaran laatujakaumaa eritavoin käsitellyissä metsiköissä

Mediatization of Power : Corporate CEOs in Soft Capitalism

The present article analyses the mediatization of corporate power with a special focus on the work of the CEO. A review of the literature on the role of the media in corporate management, especially in the work of corporate leaders, shows how the techniques of power in corporate management have become mediatized. Different media have become increasingly important for the work of corporate leaders. More importantly, media have become tools of power. In flexible and soft capitalism, corporate power is exercised using performative and affective techniques aimed at identity and community formation. Consequently, different media are utilized as tools of corporate management and control. With regard to the mediatization of power, the case of corporate management suggests that one should look into the societal and institutional structures of power rather than into the power of the media. © 2014, Nordicom. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Tackling the emotional toll together : how journalists address harassment with connective practices

In this article, we examine how journalists address and tackle online harassment by connective practices that involve joint action with peers and editors that we find are particularly effective in addressing the emotional effects of harassment. Theoretically, we bridge community of practice research with theories of emotional labour to develop a novel perspective to examine online harassment. Drawing on 22 interviews with Finnish journalists, we find three categories of connective practices that are particularly effective in tackling harassment: (1) supportive connection between the journalist and the editor; (2) shared collegial practices among peers in the newsrooms and (3) emotional engagement among peers outside the newsroom. All three categories illustrate how journalists as a community of practice develop new practices through dynamic processes innovation, improvisation, trial and error, reciprocal learning and mutual engagement. Importantly, emotional labour forms an important dimension of these practices as the journalists jointly address and tackle the emotional effects of harassment. We posit that the effectiveness of these connective practices largely stems from their ability to provide emotional support. While addressing feelings of fear, anger and shame, these shared practices also help consolidate the newly acquired knowledge and the professional identity under attack. Finally, we offer recommendations for newsrooms and journalists on how to collectively counter harassment and develop policies to address it.Peer reviewe

The role of professional elites in shaping management practice: how the old mentalities condition the adoption of new management ideas

This study explores how the adoption of management ideas is conditioned by wider macro-level mentalities that are not company based but that instead reflect professionally or nationally rooted ways of managing. Drawing from studies on professional mentalities and practices, we study Finnish top executives working in globally operating multinational corporations in the metal and forestry industries, showing how, starting in the 1980s, they adopted new management practices during the rise of globalisation, market liberalisation and post-Fordism. Altogether, a traditional engineering mentality strongly conditioned the dissemination of new management ideas, which needed to adapt with the existing mentality. As a result, we find three ways of management idea dissemination: (a) new ideas had to fit in with the old business elite mentality, (b) new ideas were side-lined and belittled by the old mentality and (c) new ideas were smuggled into management by reframing and widening the old mentality. By extending Guillén’s work on elite mentalities, the study contributes to the research on management ideas by exploring the role of societal macro-level mentalities in management learning, highlighting their role in times of societal transformation

Imperiumin järki: Financial Timesin poliittinen järjestys

Artikkelissa pohditaan uusia imperiumin ja imperialismin teorioita, erityisesti Michael Hardtin ja Antonio Negrin teesiä uudesta imperiumista ja sen valtajärjestelmästä, ja mietitään, miten niitä voitaisiin soveltaa globalisaation tuottamien kansainvälisten julkisten tilojen ymmärtämiseksi. Artikkelissa analysoidaan genealogisesti Financial Times -lehden vaaliuutisointia 26 maan kansallisissa parlamenttivaaleissa 2000–2005. FT:n tuottama poliittinen järjestys nähdään uuden imperiumin järkenä, jossa vaikuttavat edelleen myös edesmenneen britti-imperiumin poliittisen hallinnan käytännöt ja paradoksit. Artikkeli ehdottaakin, että kansainvälisiä julkisia tiloja voisi tutkia ja ymmärtää poliittisen hallinnan ja kurin tuottajina

Kollektiivisen trauman julkinen työstäminen: Tampere 1918

Monissa maissa on käynnistynyt 1990-luvulta lähtien yhteiskunnallisia kriisejä ja kollektiivisia traumoja työstäviä prosesseja. Artikkeli tarkastelee mikä julkisuuden ja medioiden rooli voisi olla kollektiivisen trauman työstämisessä. Artikkeli esittelee kansainvälistä keskustelua kollektiivisten traumojen työstämisestä ja tarkastelee erityisesti Suomen vuoden 1918 sisällissodan työstämistä vuonna 2008 Tampereella. Museokeskus Vapriikin näyttelyssä ja keväällä 2008 Tampereella järjestetyssä katudraamassa käytiin läpi Tampereen taistelujen viimeisiä vaiheita niiden tapahtumapaikalla. Näihin tapahtumiin on liittynyt myös verkon käyttö: aineistojen esittely, muistojen kerääminen ja keskustelu. Artikkelissa todetaan, että kollektiivisten traumojen työstäminen on monipolvinen ja mutkikas prosessi eikä poppakonsti yhteiskunnallisten ongelmien ratkaisemiseksi. Siitä huolimatta vuoden 1918 tapahtumien julkisessa muistelussa vuonna 2008 on useita piirteitä, jotka näyttävät toimivilta traumateorian näkökulmasta ja pyrkivät stereotypioiden, viholliskuvien ja siirtotaakkojen purkamiseen. Julkisuudella on ollut näissä prosesseissa monia rooleja

The Etiquette of Economy : Economic crisis and political governance in Finland in the 1990s

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.In the early 1990s Finland experienced banking crisis that can be considered as one of the most severe ones in the OECD-countries since the Second World War. At the same time the crisis was a part of a larger political change as Finland was liberating financial markets and moving towards market oriented systems in society. This work analyses the talk of the Finnish political elites in this process. Theoretically the work draws of the work of Michel Foucault and especially his concepts of governance and governmentality. According to Foucault modern states develop special forms of political governance, which use language and special forms of knowledge such as economy and economics. Foucault aims to study the particular historical forms governance takes in various historical situations. In this case, the aim is to look at the particular case of Finland in the 1990s. What kind of regime of governance develops in the Finnish economic crisis? The study analyses biographical accounts of the crisis by the most important political decision-makers. The interviews were made by Sitra in 1995. Moreover, previous research on the crisis as well as already published memoirs of the political elite and background interviews of the elite are used as secondary sources. It is suggested that the economic crisis creates a regime of political governance named moral managerialism. Political and ideological distinctions are to a large extent wiped away from the talk of the political elite. Instead the elite is united by managerial talk, which thrives to solve given problems instead of discussing various political alternatives and interests. At the same time many decision-makers use moral analysis. The crisis is seen as a result of a moral failure as the morals of the common people failed. This moral managerialism in interpreted as a form of political governance, which is based on neoliberalistic, economistic and nationalistic ideas. The appearing regime does not endorse the ideals of democracy. On the contrary, elections, public discussion and citizens are in the eyes of many decision-makers a problem that hinders effective and rational management. At the same time markets gain a prominent position in elite talk and surpass politics, which gets a negative connotation as a word. The Finnish political elite appears in the crisis as a relatively homogeneous group. The elite is united in pragmatic talk based on national economy, while various political ideologies and ideas, that could create cleavages within the elite, are put aside

Wind and gravity in shaping Picea trunks

Key message Spruce trunk tapering corresponds closely to tapering required to resist bending forces caused by wind and gravity. Understanding why trunks (tree stems) are the size that they are is important. However, this understanding is fragmented into isolated schools of thought and has been far from complete. Realistic calculations on minimum trunk diameters needed to resist bending moments caused by wind and gravity would be a significant step forward. However, advancements using this biomechanical approach have been delayed by difficulties in modelling bending of trunks and wind gusts. We felled and measured five Norway spruces (Picea abies) in an unthinned monoculture in southeastern Finland planted 67 years earlier. We then focused on forces working on storm-bent (maximally bent) trees caused by gravity and the strongest gust in a 1-h simulation with a large-eddy simulation model. The weakest points along the trunks of the three largest trees resisted mean above-canopy wind speeds ranging from 10.2 to 12.7 m s(-1) (3.3-fold in the strongest gust), but the two smallest were well protected by a dense layer of leaves from the bending tops of larger trees, and could have resisted stronger winds. Gravity caused approximately one quarter of the critical bending moments. The wind that breaks the trunks in their weakest points is close to breaking them in other points, supporting the importance of bending moments caused by wind and gravity in the evolution of trunk taper.Peer reviewe