Leadership practices for sustainable success: The case of the Norwegian energy sector

Denne EMBA master oppgaven hadde som mål å finne måter å endre tankegangen til energisektoren gjennom å utforske relevant litteratur som kan gi energisektoren den ledelsepraksisen den trenger for å lykkes og samtidig være en del av løsningen på klimaendringene. Det var å vise at det å ta samfunnsansvar gir muligheter og ikke er en trussel. Forskningsspørsmålet var: Hvilken lederpraksis kreves for at energisektoren skal lykkes gjennom det grønne skiftet? Basert på datainnsamlingen ble det funnet noen ledelsepraksiser. For det første er det antydet at ledelse bør betraktes som noe som gjøres i et kollektiv mot et felles formål, det gjøres ikke av et enkelt individ. For det andre bør organisasjonene etablere et høyere formål for å sikre at organisasjonen skaper verdier til det beste for samfunnet samtidig som de produserer overskudd. For det tredje må organisasjoner innen sektoren realisere sitt samfunnsansvar for sine interessenter, og at det å ta dette ansvaret øker selskapenes overskudd og sikrer langsiktig suksess. For det fjerde kan designtenkningsparadigme gi verktøyene for å sikre god strategisk beslutningstaking og skape engasjement rundt innovasjon og endringsarbeid.This EMBA thesis set out to find ways to change the mindset of the energy sector trough exploring relevant literature that could provide the energy sector with the leadership practices it needs to be successful while also being part of the solution to the climate change. It was to show that taking social responsibility could be and opportunity and not a threat. The research question was: What leadership practices is required for the energy sector to gain success through the green shift? Based on the data collection, some leadership practices were found. First, it’s suggested that leadership should be viewed as something that is done in a collective towards a shared purpose, it’s not done by a single individual. Second, the organisations should establish a higher purpose to ensure that the organisation creates value for the greater good while also producing profits. Third, organisations within the sector needs to realise their social responsibility for its stakeholders and that taking this responsibility increase the company’s profits and ensure long term success. Fourth, design thinking paradigm can provide the tools to ensure good strategic decision making and create engagement around innovation and change efforts

Diakonia in a contemporary socio-democratic welfare society : a qualitative research on the role of the church to care for the weak, marginalized and suffering in the city of Stavanger, Norway

Master's thesis in global studies. VID Specialized University, Stavanger, May 2017MV 17 S

Rational beliefs - inconsistent practices : Civil Military Coordination in North-Afghanistan

PhD thesis in Risk management and societal safetyWhat was the idea? Coordination is a vital element of crisis management (Turner, 1978; Minear et al., 1992; Schneider, 1995; Rasmussen, 1997; Strand, 2003; Boin et al., 2005; Kruke and Olsen, 2005; Keen, 2008). The coordination between civil and military actors is especially crucial and complicated if the crisis is characterized by political (military), economic, and social conflict, as displayed in Afghanistan. Civil and military actors have different organizational cultures, standard operating procedures, aims and priorities. Still, they are often forced to coordinate in order to perform their humanitarian, political and military tasks in joint efforts to assist the local populations in a complex emergency. To manage this coordination, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in North-Afghanistan operated under three concepts: the Comprehensive Approach (CA), Counterinsurgency (COIN), and the NATO civil-military coordination (CIMIC) doctrine. These three approaches, to some extent, overlapped, to some extent were contradictory, but most important; they were differently understood and implemented with various levels of success. ISAF, as a powerful military actor in Afghanistan, consists of many high qualified and capable soldiers at all levels. The question is whether it is possible for such an organization as ISAF to handle crisis management under the guidance of these coordination concepts and the broad mandates operational in Afghanistan? To enlighten this, the structures and processes in ISAF organization are studied in order to assess how these structures/ processes influenced the civil military coordination in the field. With the aim of contributing to the enhanced knowledge about civil military coordination, I put forth the following research question: - How do ISAF structures and processes influence civil military coordination in North Afghanistan? In the analysis I have applied theories of security and the new wars, complex emergencies and, in particular, organizational theories with a basis in bureaucracy-theory and new-institutional perspectives. The rationale behind this choice was that military organizations are normally viewed as representatives of rational bureaucratic organizations, having structures and processes that characterize rational organizations (Weber, 1971; Banfield, 1959; Lindblom, 1959). The new-institutional perspective is meant to be a tool to explain the shortcomings of rationally built organizations and the influence of the surrounding environment (Greenwood et al., 2008; Meyer and Rowan, 1977; DiMaggio and Powell, 1983). Further, the use of Turner (1976/1978) and Turner and Pigeon’s (1997) theories of man-made disasters enlighten the crisis management perspective. [...

How to mobilize knowledge-based Innovations in Service Industries? A Tourism Example

Service industries as tourism, cultural industries, finance, and retail are considered as under-represented in the trade and industry portfolio. This paper centres on the tourism industry and pay particular attention to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). The purpose of the project was to identify SMEs' need for research-based knowledge, relevant topics, and to prioritize R&D ideas suitable for innovation and/or as a cooperation between academic and industry partners. Three virtual workshops were arranged in the period May – September 2020. All participants represented Norwegian destination associations, regional businesses, and SMEs. As a result of reflections in groups and plenary, specific tourism challenges and knowledge needs were identified. The tourism industry is characterized by many small businesses with few employees, tight finances, and limited resources for development. Challenges are related to seasonal employment, high workforce turnover, lack of strategically market insight, and limited ability to exploit new technology. Businesses are generally vulnerable to changes in demand from the market, which was reinforced by the outbreak of COVID-19. Three topics were emphasised for developing mutual project concepts and joint applications as a collaboration between the industry and scientific partners: (1) Partnership collaboration, (2) Virtual Tourism, and (3) All-Year Destinations. This paper discusses potential theoretical perspectives and empirical approaches for creation of future joint innovations and studies . Discussions are related to: How suitable are virtual workshops for joint reflection on common challenges and cocreation of prioritized actions? Which challenges and needs are tourism confronted with? What should the tourist industry emphasise in face of the Covid19 pandemic? An additional result of the workshops is the establishment of a tourism network among the participants, and with an intention to incorporate even more relevant actors. Further, the project has been significant for developing a program for SMB innovations, including both the service industries and additional sectors.acceptedVersio

Can I bring my cars in case we write a story? Supporting struggling readers

The research describes the experience of a beginning special education teacher who examined and adapted her teaching practices to attempt to meet the learning needs of the young struggling readers and writers with whom she was working. Autoethnography allowed the researcher to probe and analyze her classroom practice. As the researcher shares her teaching experiences simplistic solutions to reading difficulties are discounted as ineffective. The hegemony of standards-based instruction and assessment practices are challenged. An educational system whereby some students are labeled as deficient due to their sociocultural or socioeconomic differences is viewed through a critical lens. The researcher proposes that fostering students’ freedom to express their knowledge using multimodal expression while supporting students within their zones of proximal development is the key to enhancing literacy learning. Creating learning opportunities that allow students to build on their strengths and pursue their interests ameliorates the injustice of the typical skill drill lessons regularly prescribed for students struggling in school. Teachers need to be respected as professionals who can make programming decisions that are specifically designed to support students at their level of need