The work of multibusiness leaders in networks : the dynamics of identity creating processes

This thesis is concerned with the work of business leaders. The interest lies in the holders of positions as Chairpersons, Boardmembers and Managing Directors. This study, however, goes beyond the position holder to consider the actions of actors, as they operate within networks with concurrent multiple business activities. The purpose is to generate knowledge and understanding of the activities and relations of multibusiness leaders involved in managing small and medium-sized companies. Major schools of thought on the manager's job are described. The review relates the scientific debate about different schools and emphasises the need for more inductive research. The call for processual and contextual analysis leads to an epistemological position grounded in understanding through interpretation. The method used in this study adopts such an approach, and thus aims to discover qualities of the studied phenomenon based on social constructivism. Empirical reality is approached by means of intensive studies of a few cases. Case descriptions of the work of multibusiness leaders in the National, Regional, Intermediary, Independent, and Developing Networks are undertaken, where the inter­action processes of the different actors are described according to the working life his­tory of the actor, and to the networking and work activities carried out. The analysis is based upon four themes (the actor's 'task legitimacy', 'economic legi­timacy', 'idea development' and 'network'). The first two themes have been given the generic term 'legitimacy concept', not only to reflect the interactive and changeable aspects of work, but also to illustrate how work in itself is intimately interwoven in an institutional context. The creation of 'task legitimacy' and 'economic legitimacy' of the leaders is analysed. The analysis of the actors' idea development results in a description of differing visions in the individual networks. This description takes up visions covering long-term industrial leadership, regional co-operative leadership, restructuring leadership, flexible market-adaptive leadership and network-based leadership. In a survey of the existing literature, the role of a leader is seen as one of many managerial roles, a view that is based upon the work of Mintzberg (1973). This study contrasts with the above picture, by discussing a reciprocal dependency between the leader's leadership role and his/her other roles. This reciprocity and concurrency is dealt with by introducing the concept of identity as a theoretical aid, thus reflecting in a more appropriate way the complex and interactive actor. The social identity concept (Tajfel, 1982) is used, in order to answer more profoundly the research questions. As leaders are reciprocally dependent on a network for their own existence, we must both look inward in order to be able to understand at a deeper level the actors' motives, and look outward to be able to look at identity creation in a wider industry context. What I have termed näringslivsledaridentitet (the Identity of Multibusiness Leaders), is a substantial part of this study's findings. The concept is used in order to be able to describe how the actors' inner and outer motives merge in identity creating processes. The actors' different patterns of interaction are absorbed into a composite whole.digitalisering@um

The work of multibusiness leaders in networks : the dynamics of identity creating processes

This thesis is concerned with the work of business leaders. The interest lies in the holders of positions as Chairpersons, Boardmembers and Managing Directors. This study, however, goes beyond the position holder to consider the actions of actors, as they operate within networks with concurrent multiple business activities. The purpose is to generate knowledge and understanding of the activities and relations of multibusiness leaders involved in managing small and medium-sized companies. Major schools of thought on the manager's job are described. The review relates the scientific debate about different schools and emphasises the need for more inductive research. The call for processual and contextual analysis leads to an epistemological position grounded in understanding through interpretation. The method used in this study adopts such an approach, and thus aims to discover qualities of the studied phenomenon based on social constructivism. Empirical reality is approached by means of intensive studies of a few cases. Case descriptions of the work of multibusiness leaders in the National, Regional, Intermediary, Independent, and Developing Networks are undertaken, where the inter­action processes of the different actors are described according to the working life his­tory of the actor, and to the networking and work activities carried out. The analysis is based upon four themes (the actor's 'task legitimacy', 'economic legi­timacy', 'idea development' and 'network'). The first two themes have been given the generic term 'legitimacy concept', not only to reflect the interactive and changeable aspects of work, but also to illustrate how work in itself is intimately interwoven in an institutional context. The creation of 'task legitimacy' and 'economic legitimacy' of the leaders is analysed. The analysis of the actors' idea development results in a description of differing visions in the individual networks. This description takes up visions covering long-term industrial leadership, regional co-operative leadership, restructuring leadership, flexible market-adaptive leadership and network-based leadership. In a survey of the existing literature, the role of a leader is seen as one of many managerial roles, a view that is based upon the work of Mintzberg (1973). This study contrasts with the above picture, by discussing a reciprocal dependency between the leader's leadership role and his/her other roles. This reciprocity and concurrency is dealt with by introducing the concept of identity as a theoretical aid, thus reflecting in a more appropriate way the complex and interactive actor. The social identity concept (Tajfel, 1982) is used, in order to answer more profoundly the research questions. As leaders are reciprocally dependent on a network for their own existence, we must both look inward in order to be able to understand at a deeper level the actors' motives, and look outward to be able to look at identity creation in a wider industry context. What I have termed näringslivsledaridentitet (the Identity of Multibusiness Leaders), is a substantial part of this study's findings. The concept is used in order to be able to describe how the actors' inner and outer motives merge in identity creating processes. The actors' different patterns of interaction are absorbed into a composite whole.digitalisering@um

In search of a creative space : A conceptual framework of synthesizing paradoxical tensions

We examine paradoxes in organizations and the organizations’ ability to deal with the resulting paradoxical tensions. Paradoxes constitute contradictory yet interrelated organizational demands that exist simultaneously, with the resulting tensions persisting over time. Irrespective of the prevailing evidence that engaging paradoxes leads to peak performance in the short-term, which reinforces long-term success, the question of how this might be done remains perplexing. Thus, based on pragmatic philosophy, this paper aims to increase our understanding of what constitutes a paradox and suggests a conceptual framework from which organizations and their members can frame and cope with tensions that result from paradoxes. Specifically, we conceptually map a way to achieve a synthesis of paradoxical tensions that is informed by design thinking. This synthesis is said to occur when competing demands are simultaneously fulfilled to their full potential. In this paper, design thinking – as a management concept – is used to refer to the interplay between perspective, structure, process, and mindset. It provides an alternative framing of how organizations approach paradoxes and deal with the resulting tensions

Identity construction among boundary-crossing individuals

In this article we describe a study of boundary-crossing individuals (individuals who change organisation frequently) and the way they construct identities through interaction and self-reflexion. It is argued from a social constructionist perspective that studies of the way individual identities are constructed are important to our understanding of the complexity of the identity phenomenon. Identities cannot simply be reduced to certain stable institutionalised aspects such as profession or gender. Rather life should be seen as an ongoing process of identity construction, whereby reflexion upon life episodes and the pattern of such episodes shape identities. The results suggest different patterns of articulations through narratives. These narratives are associated with different underlying ontological discourses that describe diverse ways of reasoning among boundary-crossing individuals.Identity construction Boundary-crossing individuals Self-reflexion Narratives Discourses

Resa genom arbetslivet : Om människors organisationsbyten och identitetsskapande

QC 20111118</p

Loop Closure Detection Through Environmental Indicators In Underwater SLAM

A key step in Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) with autonomous robots is the ability to recognize when the vehicle is revisiting an area. The recognition of salient features allows re-localization to a previously visited place, forming a so-called loop closure. Loop closures enable autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to reduce the unbounded navigation drift experienced when mapping unknown terrain. However, the scarcity of recognizable features in unstructured sub-sea environments makes disambiguation of places a challenging problem. In this work we study the application of water analysis sensors mounted on an AUV to construct descriptors of underwater environments. Since these sensors measure very different properties of the areas compared to terrain sensors, these descriptors could increase robustness against perceptual aliasing on place recognition and thus improve loop closure detection in a SLAM framework. We present a method to create and compare these spatial descriptors, test it with several data sets collected with an AUV in two different geographical locations and analyze their potential use for loop closure detection.QC 20201020SMaRC SSF IRC15-004

Urban Strategies for Culture-Driven Growth: Co-Creating a European Capital of Culture

Over the past three decades, the European Capital of Culture has grown into one of the most ambitious cultural programs in the world. Through the promotion of cultural diversity across the continent, the program fosters mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue among citizens, thereby increasing their sense of belonging to a community. This insightful book outlines potential avenues through which culture and creativity can raise the imaginative capability of citizens and harness opportunities tied to what the book calls ‘culture-driven growth’

a systematic comparison

Organizational scholars have shown increasing interest in the ways in which managers enact and respond to competing demands and the tensions they prompt as constitutive elements of their organizations. There is now a proliferation of conceptualizations of such competing demands that can be somewhat confusing. We will enhance conceptual clarity by identifying seven constitutive empirical characteristics of competing demands: these consist of the existence of dyadic relations, contradiction, interrelatedness, complementarity, compatibility, simultaneity, and the existence of push-pull forces. We construct a comparative classification of competing demands using these characteristics as our distinguishing features. The result is a more nuanced understanding of how managers approach competing demands that can help scholars to minimize arbitrariness, interpret results, and compare contributions in the area in a much-needed step toward understanding and designing organizations.publishersversionpublishe