The risks and opportunities that climate change presents for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) have been largely overlooked by previous research (Schaefer et al. 2011, Williams & Schaefer 2013). The subsequent lack of knowledge in this field makes a meaningful, profitable and sustainable engagement of SMEs with climate change challenging. Current research has difficulty explaining (1) why SMEs rarely engage with climate change (2) how climate change is currently communicated to SMEs and (3) how SMEs overcome the knowledge gap between business practice and climate change science (cf. Hoffman 2004, 2006, Hart 2007, Goodall 2008). In this thesis I critically examine 31 SMEs which engage with climate change knowledges, 5 Innovation-Support-Organizations (ISOs) which communicate climate change knowledges and 2 business-led communities of practice that discuss climate change-related business practices. Over a three-year period, I explore why and how business leaders approach the knowledge gap between climate change science and business practice, drawing on a variety of ethnographic research methods: (1) in-depth semi-structured and open interviews; (2) participant observations; (3) practitioner's workshops; and (4) an online survey. My research demonstrates that the participating ISOs communicate climate change in an overly simplistic way. The participating ISOs focus on persuading business leaders to engage with climate change. The participating business leaders who hear this persuasive message are already willing to engage with climate change. Their motivations to engage are lay-knowledge-dependent, derived from personal values, space and place identity. What the participating business leaders require is practical advice on how to mitigate the impact of, and adapt to, climate change, and they therefore try to overcome the limitations of current climate change communication through forming and joining communities of practice. By doing this, they can make sense of climate change in specialist niche communities and benefit from social belief systems. To enhance the number of SMEs engaging with climate change, I recommend that the participating ISOs target the personal values of business leaders and actively use these specialist niche communities niches within which the participating business leaders develop business practice to learn about climate change-related business practices themselves. Overall, my PhD shows that to create meaningful, profitable and sustainable engagement with climate change, business leaders and ISOs, as well as governments and society, need to address their "confusion and anxiety about the goals, ambitions and destinies [they] foresee" for themselves (Hulme 2013: 298).

How do people construct shared views of what the organization is all about in the international, complex; company? Within a cultural perspective, organizational identity can be tmderstood as organizational members' shared views and definitions of the organization. As people make sense of actions, events, decisions, etc., shared meanings develop which provide organizational members with a sense of organization. Through an ethnographic study in the corporate setting of lKEA I have tried to create an understanding of the processes tluough which organizational identities become constructed across borders. In the study it is shown how organizational members through the processes of sense-making construct collective self-views. By drawing borders against the outside world, mirroring themselves and talking to the self, organizational members come to create definitions of what the organization is all about. In the international, complex organization, these processes take place in different national contexts and in various local spheres of meaning. In order to offset divergent views and differentiation of meanings, managers try to create a global supra-identity through the fabrication of culture. At the same time, however, there is a heterogenization of meanings as predefined meanings from the top are constantly interpreted, rejected, recreated or adopted in the local spheres. Thus, in the complex organization, there are many collective selfviews and multiple identities. The organization, then, is to be Wlderstood as an arbitrary boundary around a set of spheres of meaning that overlap and interact.Index

The thesis introduces the concept of ‘sense-making of risk’ (riskförståelse) for the purpose of the theoretical and empirical study of the individual’s sense-making of risk. Particular weight is attached to an examination of the term’s various components, its compass, and the relationship between sense-making of risk and behaviour. The premise is that risk is created and defined by the common conceptions that exist within the framework of a specific social context; the effect is to focus attention on the significance of social and cultural contexts. To provide a full picture of sense-making of risk, and risk behaviour, and to study these phenomena using a variety of methodological perspectives, the data was gathered from both polls and focus-group interviews. It is in the first article, based on a focus-group interview study, that the concept of sense-making of risk is introduced: the empirical results demonstrate that it can be used to chart how young people with similar risk perceptions differ in their understanding of a variety of risks. A theoretical model is proposed that establishes that there are two dimensions to the individual’s sense-making of risk. The second article considers young people’s risk behaviour in traffic milieus. The principal conclusion drawn in this study is that the individual’s sense-making of risk is insufficient to explain behaviour in relation to risk: the spatial context must also be taken into account. The third article focuses on the relationship between place attachment and sense-making of risk, and demonstrates that various aspects of place attachment have implications for the individual’s sense-making of risk. The fourth and final article offers a cluster analysis. The article’s most important result is its refinement of the theoretical concepts.  Structure of meaning is singled out as the basis for the individual’s sense-making of risk. In its empirical application the concept was shown to be useful in studying the behavioural differences between various social groups, since grouping by structure of meaning furnishes an explanation for variations in risk and risk-reducing behaviour. The introductory and concluding chapters assemble the studies’ findings and offer a full account of the concept of sense-making of risk. The thesis’ most important conceptual contribution is to the question of how the individual arrives at a personal sense-making of risk. However, it will fall to future studies to establish the concept’s general applicability by considering its theoretical ramifications and empirical implementation. In this way, sense-making of risk can take its place in a specifically sociological conceptual apparatus that focuses on how the individual relates to risk. / Föreliggande avhandling introducerar begreppet riskförståelse (sense-making of risk) och dess syfte är att teoretiskt och empiriskt studera detta begrepp. Särskild vikt har lagts vid att undersöka riskförståelsens olika beståndsdelar, dess rumsliga dimensioner samt relationen mellan riskförståelse och beteenden. Med utgångspunkt i att risker definieras och skapas med utgångspunkt i gemensamma föreställningar inom ramen för ett specifikt socialt sammanhang fokuseras betydelsen av sociala och kulturella kontexter. Med detta som grund har begreppsutvecklingen i avhandlingen bland annat inspirerats av Karl Weicks och Alfred Schütz teorier om individens meningsskapande. I de olika delstudier som ingår i avhandlingen studeras olika aspekter av individens riskförståelse och risk-/riskreducerande beteenden. Genom att utgå ifrån Weicks teorier om meningsskapande illustrerar riskförståelsebegreppet individens personliga förståelse för olika risker. De normer och värderingar som omger individen i det sociala och rumsligt definierade sammanhang som hon befinner sig i är avgörande för vilken förståelse hon kan skapa för en risk. Genom att använda bland annat Schütz teorier om sociala relationer betydelsen och funktionen av individens meningsstruktur synliggjorts som bas för individens riskförståelse. Meningsstrukturen består av flera olika beståndsdelar och i avhandlingen lyfts fyra av dessa fram: egna erfarenheter, värderingar, platsanknytning och social skiktning. Genom att individen relaterar den risk hon möter till den egna meningsstrukturen skapas förståelse för den specifika risken. Meningsstrukturens funktion är att bistå individen med förenklingar av verkligheten för att göra det möjligt att skapa mening kring olika risker. En viktig aspekt vad gäller meningsstrukturen är att den i hög grad är socialt konstruerad genom socialiseringsprocesser i det specifika rumsliga sammanhang som individen befinner sig i. Detta innebär att individens förståelse av risk relateras till olika sociala och rumsliga sammanhang; individens riskförståelse är således platsbunden. Avhandlingen bygger på fyra delstudier vilka presenteras i artikelform. Datamaterial samlats in genom både enkätundersökningar och fokusgruppsintervjustudier för att undersöka detta fenomen utifrån olika metodologiska perspektiv. I den första artikeln, baserad på en fokusgruppsintervjustudie, introducerades begreppet riskförståelse. De empiriska resultaten visade att begreppet kan användas för att synliggöra hur ungdomar med liknande riskperceptioner skiljer sig åt i sin förståelse av olika risker. En teoretisk modell utformades som beskriver individens riskförståelse med utgångspunkt i två dimensioner. Den första dimensionen relaterade till i vilken grad individens riskförståelse är platsbunden och den andra till om individens riskförståelse främst kan beskrivas som kollektivt eller individuellt orienterad. Empiriskt åskådliggjorde resultaten att ungdomarna i studien uppfattade samma risker som allvarliga men att deras riskförståelse skilde sig åt och att dessa skillnader kunde härledas till boendemiljö. I den andra artikeln studerades ungdomars riskbeteenden i trafiken. I studien gjordes logistiska regressionsanalyser på ett datamaterial hämtat från Trafiksäkerhetsundersökningen 2001. En viktig slutsats från denna studie var att det är viktigt att inte bara ta hänsyn till individens riskförståelse, utan också till rumsliga sammanhang vad gäller att förklara individens beteenden i relation till risk. Den tredje artikeln, som baserades på en fokusgruppsintervjustudie, var en tillämpning av begreppet riskförståelse med avseende på risker i trafiken. Undersökningen fokuserade på relationen mellan platsanknytning och riskförståelse. Studien visade att olika aspekter av platsanknytning har betydelse för individens riskförståelse. Social tillhörighet hade särskilt stor betydelse vad gäller riskförståelse hos de ungdomar som deltog i studien men också de andra dimensioner av platsanknytning som studerades (yttre förhållanden, ömsesidigt beroende och värdegemenskap) hade betydelse för riskförståelse hos respondenterna i studien. I den fjärde delstudien genomfördes klusteranalys på ett datamaterial från undersökningen Samhälle och värderingar 2008. Det viktigaste resultatet från denna studie var den teoretiska begreppsutveckling som presenterades. Denna innebar att meningsstrukturen lyftes fram som bas för individens riskförståelse. Vidare gjordes en operationalisering av individens meningsstruktur, vilken användes för att gruppera individer. Den empiriska tillämpningen visade sig vara användbar vad gäller att studera skillnader i beteenden mellan olika grupper i samhället då gruppering utifrån meningsstruktur bidrog till att förklara skillnader i risk-/riskreducerande beteenden. I kappan förs de olika delstudierna samman och begreppsutvecklingen i fråga om riskförståelse beskrivs. Begreppet är av särskild vikt vad gäller att beskriva hur sociala och rumsliga sammanhang ingår i individens riskförståelse. Den begreppsutveckling som gjorts har också visat att individen baserar sin riskförståelse på en meningsstruktur vilken också kan användas för att undersöka risk- och riskreducerande beteenden. Avhandlingens viktigaste bidrag är den teoretiska begreppsutvecklingen ifråga om hur individen skapar sin personliga riskförståelse. Ytterligare teoretisk begreppsutveckling och empiriska tillämpningar bör dock göras i kommande studier för att säkerställa begreppets generella användbarhet. Genom detta kan riskförståelse bli en viktig del i en specifikt sociologisk begreppsapparat med fokus på hur individen förhåller sig till risk.

[pt] Um dos grandes focos da literatura atual em Gestão tem sido a identificação de caminhos para a implementação eficaz de mudanças organizacionais. Diante das dificuldades que as organizações encontram em lidar com a gestão de mudanças freqüentes e intensas, diversos autores têm se empenhado na busca pela descoberta dos fatores que afetam a possibilidade de sucesso nos processos de transição. Entre tais fatores, a comunicação tem sido apontada como aquele que mais pode contribuir ou criar dificuldades para o engajamento das pessoas ou, como alguns preferem afirmar, para a redução de suas resistências. O que se observa, entretanto, é que, em grande parte desses textos, prevalece ainda um conceito de comunicação como um mero instrumento para a divulgação das intenções institucionais e para elevar o nível de compreensão das pessoas com relação aos objetivos das mudanças projetadas. Essa visão instrumental, inspirada em um modelo balístico de comunicação (Giordano, 1998), tem sido muitas vezes acompanhada de uma crença de que as resistências humanas são o maior obstáculo a ser vencido pela organização no processo. A tese aqui defendida é a de que esta é uma visão simplista, que não dá conta da complexidade do processo de mudança nas organizações. Assim, o presente trabalho procura modificar essa forma de abordar a problemática que envolve a mudança, a comunicação organizacional e as pessoas, adotando um enfoque interpretativo (Giordano, 1998) para a análise da comunicação. O pressuposto básico é o de que a comunicação é a arena na qual as pessoas e a própria organização podem criar sentido e reconstruir as suas identidades (Ford e Ford, 1995; Giddens, 1984; Taylor, 1993; Weick, 1995), bem como os indivíduos têm a chance de tornarem-se sujeitos na mudança (Olivier, 1995). Utilizando- se a metáfora do texto e da conversação proposta por Taylor (1993), construiu-se, então, um quadro referencial sobre os diversos aspectos que caracterizam a comunicação organizacional multidirecional, para responder a seguinte questão: de que modo os aspectos relativos à comunicação afetam os processos de subjetivação, de criação de sentido e de reconstrução das identidades das pessoas que participam das mudanças organizacionais? O quadro privilegia três dimensões: os indivíduos e suas identidades; as percepções sobre o contexto; as relações com as outras identidades presentes na organização. Com base no quadro mencionado, foi realizada pesquisa em cinco importantes organizações que atuam em diferentes ramos de atividades no Brasil e que vivem momentos de intensas mudanças. A partir dos resultados obtidos por meio de entrevistas semi-abertas realizadas com 75 pessoas do conjunto dessas organizações, no período compreendido entre maio e dezembro de 2000, foi possível concluir que os processos de subjetivação, de criação de sentido e de reconstrução das identidades das pessoas, no contexto de mudanças, estão fortemente ligados, entre outros aspectos: ao nível de clareza com que os indivíduos percebem as definições quanto ao conteúdo e às prováveis implicações das mudanças; ao modo como as pessoas percebem que as mudanças afetam a identidade, o papel social, a ideologia e as chances de sucesso da organização; ao modo como os indivíduos percebem que a mudança afeta as suas identidades pessoais e sociais; à história do relacionamento entre a instituição e os indivíduos, sobretudo em termos da confiança e do respeito mútuos; ao modo e à intensidade com que a organização cria oportunidades para que as pessoas possam fazer uso da palavra; às políticas e práticas de gestão de pessoas e aos recursos disponibilizados pela organização para que os indivíduos possam desenvolver o seu perfil pessoal e profissional, de modo a que percebam ter chances de suce / [en] One of the most important focuses, in recent Management literature, has been on searching ways for achieving an effective organizational change implementation. Facing organizations difficulties to manage very frequent and intensive changes, several authors have focused their researches on trying to identify factors which can improve transition processes possibilities of success. Among such factors, communication has been claimed as the one which is most supposed either to contribute or to create difficulties for people engagement or, as some people prefer to affirm, for reducing people resistances. However, what can be observed in such texts, is that they still privilege a concept of communication as a mere instrument for internally diffusing institutional intentions and for increasing people comprehension level about planned change objectives. Such instrumental vision, inspired in a ballistic model of communication analysis (Giordano, 1998), has been accompanied by an old belief in human resistances as the biggest obstacle to be faced by organizations in their change processes. This study supports the thesis that this is a simplistic vision, which doesn t take into account the complexity of change processes in organizations. Therefore, the study tries to modify this way of approaching the issues involving change, organizational communication and people, adopting an interpretative focus (Giordano, 1998) for communication analysis. The basic supposition is that communication is the arena in which the people and the organization can create sense and reconstruct their identities (Ford and Ford, 1995; Giddens, 1984; Taylor, 1993; Weick, 1995), as well as individuals have the chance to reconstitute themselves as subjects in change situation (Olivier, 1995). Using the text and conversation metaphor proposed by Taylor (1993), it composes, then, a referential picture about the several aspects that characterize organizational multidirectional communication, in order to answer the following question: How do the aspects related to communication affect subjectivity, sense making, and identities reconstruction processes for people which participate in organizational changes? The pictures addresses three basic dimensions: individuals and their identities; their perceptions about context; and their relationship with other identities present in organization. Based on the mentioned picture, a research was accomplished in five important organizations from different areas of activities in Brazil, which pass for moments of intense changes. From results obtained by means of semi-open interviews with 75 people that work for those organizations, accomplished between May and December 2000, it was possible to find that people`s subjectivity, sense making and identities reconstruction processes, in a context of organizational change, are, among other aspects, strongly related to: the level of clearness by which individuals access the definitions related to the content and the probable implications of change; the way people perceive that change affect organizational identity, social role, ideology, and chances of success; the way individuals perceive that change affects their personal and social identities; the historical relationship between the institution and individuals, mainly in terms of trust and mutual respect; the way and the intensity with which organization creates opportunities for people to make use of words; people management policies and practices, as well as the resources allocated by organization, in order to permit that individuals can develop their personal and professional profile, in a way they can perceive to have chances of success in the new context; the level of equality of conditions offered to the different actors in change process; the emphasis and the way organization creates opportunities so that the people can reconstruct its coexistence space and solidarity.

By conducting this theory-based empirical study, gathering data from working negotiators in the US and Canada, I have determined what primary dynamic activities, communication skills, and negotiation tools are used by hostage/crisis negotiators. Negotiators implement their negotiation and decision strategies differently depending on whether the situations they deal with are instrumental or expressive. I have determined which elements of negotiations and factors affecting negotiations differ while handling instrumental and expressive hostage situations. I found that the collected data did not reveal any significant relationship between handling instrumental/expressive hostage situations differently and belief in the elements of Brenda Dervin's and Shannon-Weaver's theories. I have also determined that the belief in the elements of the Dervin's and Shannon-Weaver's theories is workable and practical for negotiators to use. Based on the above findings, the model suggested by this research adds the elements and directives of Dervin's and Shannon-Weaver's models to the common approach used by the negotiators. This revised model suggests that the negotiators pay attention to the dynamics of the interactions presented between the two parties: the negotiators themselves and hostage takers. The revised model also recommends that the negotiators focus on not only the hostage takers behavioral characteristics, psychological conditions, and criminal history but also on the meaning of the sent message and the interaction itself as performed between the two parties. This perspective enables the negotiators to look at the negotiation process as information and communication process. We are not ignoring the fact that hostage negotiation is a format of extreme information management. By looking at such an extreme case, we can add to our understanding of Dervin's and Shannon-Weaver's perspectives in order to see the hostage negotiation process from a wider perspective. The revised model is not an alternative approach to the common approach most negotiators use. Instead, the revised model uses the perspective and directives of the common approach and extends its meaning and content by also focusing on Dervin's sense making theory and Shannon-Weaver's communication model perspectives. The use of the perspective of this revised model is one more tool for the negotiators to use in order to promote new ways of looking at hostage negotiation resolutions.

On the 8th of January 2005, two deep technical cave divers entered Bushman’s Hole, a water filled cave system in the Northern Cape in South Africa. One did not return, the other, fighting the elements for over 12 hours, narrated the event the very next day. This exploration into the narratives of a technical cave diver, is an interpretive journey into the various constructions informing the process of making sense of the death of a fellow dive partner. Exploration of the unknown within the wombs of the earth uncompromisingly challenges society’s dominant views on death and the safekeeping imperative. This exploration of the culture within death and survival in water filled cave systems is situated within the narrative ontology. Subsequently this exploration is aimed at continuously integrating the historical and cultural messages within this dangerous pastime in attempt to find meaning within the narratives of one such individual who ventured into this darkness. Ultimately this exploration is aimed at understanding narratives of sense making employed by a technical cave diver after the loss of a fellow diver amidst the passion that summoned them to explore the darkness within water filled cave systems; a pastime that has been labelled by some as the most dangerous sporting pursuit available to humankind. The journey starts with a literature exploration on death, moving through various researched understandings of the bereavement experience. From there it continues into the nature of interpretive methodology, with an in-depth focus on the historical and cultural situated nature of the narratives we employ in making sense of our world. This qualitative approach is based on the subjective experienced and interpreted meaning that I discovered while moving through the narrated text, hence this journey is also reflective of the co-construction of meaning that implicitly takes place between individuals when making sense of their own experiences. As the receiver of this narrative exploration, you too will find meaning within this journey, meaning co-constructed with the multitude of narratives and experiences that have historically and culturally entered your interpretive process. Implicit within this exploration is the unique nature of the death and bereavement experience within the specific context of deep technical cave diving. This journey places the emphasis on the uniqueness of the bereavement experience, and ultimately challenges the objective approach to dealing with bereavement as a psychologist. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Psychology / Unrestricted

Covid-19-pandemin påminner oss om att vi lever i en föränderlig värld, en enhet som verkar för att ge invånarna ett gott liv och som var dag arbetar nära pandemin är Serviceresor på Region Kronoberg. Något som är av intresse i denna uppsats är hur chefers beslutsfattande ser ut under en så unik situation. Det är på detta vis vår studie skiljer sig eftersom vi undersöker en krissituation som tidigare inte existerat och önskar därmed sammanfläta tidigare teori med nyfunna erfarenheter genom intervjuer vid enheten Serviceresor. Vårt arbete syftar till att få en ökad förståelse för hur beslutsfattande och meningsskapande i chefsposition ser ut. Så vi ställer oss frågan, hur ter sig beslutsfattande under Covid-19-pandemin? Utifrån tolkning av empiriskt material faller slutsats ut i att det formella ansvar en chef bär är densamma. Nya typer av problem en krissituation för med sig gör beslutsprocessen mer detaljorienterad där beslut kretsar kring införande av lämpliga medel. För effektiv hantering eftersträvas en större analytisk förmåga av beslutsfattaren, men också mod att våga fatta beslut. En komplex struktur underlättar beslutsfattarens uppgift genom att vägar för kunskapsdelande redan är etablerade och ett gott samarbete genom samordning och kommunikation skapar en känsla av kontroll. Beslutsfattandet blir reaktivt och en snabb beslutsprocess möjliggör ett flexibelt handlande där mening kan skapas i takt med en föränderlig värld.

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