There is now considerable controversy concerning the role that incremental change plays in the process of organizational transformation. Some scholars assert that incremental change is the primary source of resistance to more radical re-orientations, while others argue that on occasion, ongoing incremental change can produce dramatic transformation. To help reconcile these competing perspectives, in this paper I report the results of an inductive study of one firm's successful attempt to improve continuously and incrementally its core manufacturing process. The principal results of this effort are: (1) to challenge the current view of the source of change in process-oriented improvement initiatives; and (2) to offer an alternative characterization of the mechanisms through which competence-enhancing, incremental change actually occurs. The theory emerging from this analysis provides one path to resolving the dilemma posed by incremental change processes that can, on occasion, produce organizational transformation, but more often limit the organization's ability to adapt to its environment. / MIT Center for Innovation in Product Development under NSF Cooperative Agreement Number EEC-9529140

Problembakgrund: Men hänsyn till världens utveckling anses det av både forskare samt av ledare att förändring har en stor betydelse för organisationerna. Det gäller att ständigt kunna anpassa sig och följa omvärldens utveckling. Denna studie avser att studera transformellt ledarskap i samband med inkrementella förändringar då dessa anses ha en koppling till varandra.   Syfte: Syftet med studien är att utforska hur ledare med hjälp av det transformella ledarskapet kan påverka en inkrementell förändring i kommunala och privata bolag för att finna eventuella likheter och skillnader mellan bolagsformerna.   Problemformulering: Hur kan det transformella ledarskapet påverka inkrementella förändringar i kommunala och privata bolag?   Teori: Teorin i denna studie behandlar tranformellt ledarskap tillsammans med inkrementella förändringar i kommunala och privata bolag. Det transformella ledarskapet består av fyra delar, intellektuell stimulans, inspirerande motivation, individuellt hänsynstagande samt idealt inflytande. Den inkrementella förändringen är en förändring där en organisation hanterar ett problem samt ett mål i taget dvs. en steg för steg-förändring som är ständigt pågående som berör organisationens operativa processer.   Metod: Detta är en kvalitativ fallstudie som jämför hur det transformellt ledarskap kan påverka inkrementella förändringar i två olika bolagsformer. Den kvalitativa ansatsen har genomförts med hjälp av intervjuer. Studien har en deduktiv ansats.   Empiri: Respondenterna är ledare från fyra olika bolag, två privata och två kommunala. Vi har intervjuat två verkställande direktörer, en förvaltningschef, en områdeschef samt en produktions- och logistik ansvarig. De har alla ledande befattningar samt har erfarenhet av inkrementell förändring.   Analys och slutsats: Vi har inte kunnat tyda på några stora tydliga mönster för transformellt ledarskap under inkrementell förändring för var och en av bolagsformerna. Det vi kommit fram till i studien är främst att ledarna på de kommunala bolagen måste ständig anpassa sitt transformella ledarskap i den inkrementella förändringen utifrån kommunens särskilda mål, vilket inte alltid betyder det bästa för bolaget i sig. Ledarna på de privata bolagen har en större frihet i sitt transformella ledarskap och kan se till bolagets bästa när det kommer till att leda inkrementella förändringar. Likheterna och skillnaderna är lika stora mellan t ex två ledare på kommunala bolag som två ledare på privata bolag. Bolagsformerna har viss men inte någon större inverkan på ledarens transformella ledarskap, ledarens personlig har en större inverkan. / Background: It’s considered by both researchers and leaders that changes in organizations have a significant impact in the organizations well being. The organizations constantly need to adapt to the developing context. This study intends to study transformational leadership in the context of incremental change because these seem to be linked to each other.   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how leaders using the transformational leaderships can affect an incremental change in both municipal- and private companies in order to identify possible similarities and differences between the two types of companies.   Problem statement: How can the transformational leadership influence incremental changes in municipal- and private companies?   Theory: The theory in this study deals with transformational leadership in incremental changes in municipal and private companies. The transformational leadership consists of four parts, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, individual consideration and idealized influence. The incremental change is a change where an organization handles one problem and one objective at a time, ie. a step-by-step change that is ongoing concerning the organization's operational processes.   Method: This is a case study where we have conducted a qualitative and deductive approach. We have collected the empirical data by interviewing our respondents.   Empirical: The respondents are five leaders on four different companies. There are two respondents from the same company. The companies are two municipal- and two private companies. We have interviewed two managing directors, one manager of administration, one manager of a field and one manager of production and logistics. They all have a leading position in the organization and they all have experience of an incremental change.   Analysis and conclusions: Primarily we concluded that the leaders in the municipal companies constantly must adapt their transformational leadership in the incremental change according to the specific municipality objectives, which does not always mean the best for the company itself. The leaders in the private companies have more independence in their transformational leadership and can focus on the company's best when it comes to leading incremental changes. The similarities and differences are equal between for example two leaders in municipal companies as two leaders in private companies. The company types does not have as much impact on the leaders transformational leadership as the impact that the personality has.

Yes / In today’s rapidly changing business landscape, organizations increasingly invest in different technologies to enhance their innovation capabilities. Among the technological investment, a notable development is the applications of big data analytics (BDA), which plays a pivotal role in supporting firms’ decision-making processes. Big data technologies are important factors that could help both exploratory and exploitative innovation, which could affect the efforts to combat climate change and ease the shift to green energy. However, studies that comprehensively examine BDA’s impact on innovation capability and technological cycle remain scarce. This study therefore investigates the impact of BDA on innovation capability, technological cycle, and firm performance. It develops a conceptual model, validated using CB-SEM, through responses from 356 firms. It is found that both innovation capability and firm performance are significantly influenced by big data technology. This study highlights that BDA helps to address the pressing challenges of climate change mitigation and the transition to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. However, our results are based on managerial perceptions in a single country. To enhance generalizability, future studies could employ a more objective approach and explore different contexts. Multidimensional constructs, moderating factors, and rival models could also be considered in future studies.

À partir de l’exemple de la politique pénitentiaire, la thèse met au jour le rôle du Parlement français dans la réforme d’un secteur d’action publique confiné. Elle montre comment la mobilisation de députés et sénateurs sur un dossier contribue à en redéfinir les problématisations, à susciter des changements incrémentaux dans son traitement et à redessiner les contours de son réseau d’intervenants. La prison a longtemps été gérée par des acteurs administratifs producteurs de leurs propres normes. À l’issue d’un long processus de décloisonnement de l’institution carcérale et de l’éclatement d’un scandale médiatique autour des conditions de détention, deux commissions d’enquête parlementaires font intrusion en prison et initient des apprentissages individuels et collectifs sur celle-ci. Une spécialité parlementaire sur la prison émerge et se consolide sur une décennie, au terme de laquelle la prison est susceptible d'être rapatriée dans le domaine de la loi et de la décision politique. / Dealing with the case of carceral policy, the dissertation sheds light on the role played by the French parliament in reforming a circumscribed branch of public policy. It shows how the mobilisation of MPs on a case contributes to defining this latter's problematising anew, raising incremental changed in the way it is handled and outline new contours for the network of actors involved. Prison has long been managed by professional actors who issued their own norms. Subsequent to a longstanding process whereby the penitentiary institution has been desegmented and public scandals have arisen around emprisonment conditions, two parliament committees have so investigated prisons from within as to engage processes of collective and indiivudal learning about those. A parliamentary specialism on prison has arisen and stabilsied over a decade at the end of which prison is likely to be brought back into the remit of law and political decision-making.

This doctoral thesis examines the history of the Iraqw’ar Da/aw area in the Mbulu Highlands of northern Tanzania. Since the late nineteenth century this area has been known for its intensive cultivation, and referred to as an “island” within a matrix of less intensive land use. The conventional explanation for its characteristics has been high population densities resulting from the prevention of expansion by hostility from surrounding pastoral groups, leading to a siegelike situation. Drawing on an intensive programme of interviews, detailed field mapping and studies of aerial photographs, early travellers’ accounts and landscape photographs, this study challenges that explanation. The study concludes that the process of agricultural intensification has largely been its own driving force, based on self-reinforcing processes of change, and not a consequence of land scarcity.