Studien har undersökt hur ett förändringsarbete i en organisation förmedlats och tagits emot genom de hierarkiska nivåerna. Frågeställningarna har därför undersökt hur ledning förmedlat och motiverat ett förändringsinitiativ, hur mellanchefer tolkat detta och förmedlat det vidare till medarbetare och slutligen vilken form av meningsskapande och lärande som skett hos medarbetare. Tidigare forskning har bland annat visat att kommunikationen mellan över- och underordnad haft en stark koppling till hur en förändring tagits emot. Medarbetares meningsskapande har även haft en tydlig koppling till deras relation till organisationen och sina chefer där medarbetare bör känna en trygghet för att kunna ställa sig positiva till en förändring. Det forskningen inte visat är hur dessa meningsskapande processer praktiskt sker i de hierarkiska nivåerna samt hur dessa kan ses i relation till andra typer av organisationer i olika branscher. Metoden som har använts för att belysa dessa luckor är kvalitativa intervjuer då detta gett en bredare och djupare bild av medlemmarnas upplevelser kring förändring. Studiens resultat har visat att ledning måste skapa sig en tydlig bild av organisationens tillstånd samt ge utrymme för bland annat mellanchefer att anta en meningsgivande roll och därmed främja ett lärande med utgångspunkt i reflektion för att förändringen ska få ett lyckat utfall. Studien har även synliggjort hur en tydlig kommunikation är avgörande för att kunna skapa en samsyn och främja ett lärande kring förändring genom organisationers olika nivåer. Studiens främsta bidrag till forskningsfältet har varit att framhäva samtliga nivåers roll i det meningsgivande arbete som krävs för att nå en lyckad förändring. / The study has examined how change management is carried out and received through various hierarchical levels in an organization. The questions of this study has therefore examined how topmanagement communicated and motivated a change initiative, how the middle managers interpreted this and communicated it to the employees and finally what form of sensegiving and learning has taken place among the employees. Previous research has partially focused on how communication between the superior and subordinate has had a strong connection to how a change is received. The employees’ sensemaking has also had a clear connection to their relationship with the organization and its managers, where employees should feel a safe connection to the organization in order to experience the change in a positive way. What is less clear in earlier research is how these processes practically take place across hierarchical levels and how these can be seen in relation to other types of organizations in different industries. To contribute to this research field, the method used in this study is qualitative interviews as this method gives a broader and deeper picture of the organizational members’ experiences about change. The study's results have shown that the management must create a clear picture of the organization's conditions and that they give room for the middle managers to adopt a meaningful role, thus promoting learning based on reflection. The study has also highlighted how clear communication is crucial in order to create a consensus through the levels and to be able to promote learning within the change. The main contribution of this study to the field of research has been to highlight the importance of the role of different levels within an organization in sensegiving work, which is required to achieve successful change.

The background to this study is the high employee turnover that prevails in the grocery retail. The personnel management in the organisation is considered to have the opportunity to influence the employee turnover and the possibility of influence varies depending on the position. A middle manager is the manager who works closest to the employees and can thus affect the employee turnover in different ways. For example, the middle manager can influence this by creating a group where everyone feels involved. In addition to this, there are a number of studies that show that the relationship with the immediate manager is of importance for whether or not the employee chooses to remain within the organisation. The social relationships between middle managers and employees are important for employees´ choices in remaining within the organisation. Furthermore, employeeship is mentioned as a prerequisite for the employee to not quit. Since a number of studies mention the importance of well–functioning social relations between employees and middle managers, the study's authors have chosen to apply the LMX theory in the study. The LMX theory concerns the purpose of the study–to create an understanding of how the social relationships between employees and middle managers can be shaped and developed to create trust in the grocery retail. The present study has a qualitative approach and the data collection consists of ten semi–structured interviews with both employees and middle managers in the grocery retail. The empirical study shows that the respondents are concerned about the social relationships and consider these as a prerequisite for the organization to function in a desirable way. The empirical material identifies a number of key concepts that contribute to the study's analysis. Some of the concepts that were brought up in the social relationships were respect, responsiveness, communication and feedback. During the interviews, a number of different factors were identified that are considered to lead to high–quality social relationships between employees and middle managers. The conclusions show the importance that both middle managers and employees show an interest in each other and the will to deepen their social relationships. It also appears that none of the parties can perform in a desirable way if there is a lack of well-functioning social relationships. The high–quality relationships are determined by the personal chemistry and commitment to deepen the relationship. Trust must exist between middle managers and employees for a well–functioning social interaction, regardless of the nature of the relationship to each other. / Bakgrunden till denna studie är den höga personalomsättningen som råder inom dagligvaruhandeln. Organisationens personalledning anses ha möjlighet att påverka personalomsättningen och möjligheten till inflytande varierar beroende på befattning. En mellanchef är den chef som finns närmast till hand för medarbetaren, vilket gör att hen kan påverka personalomsättningen på olika sätt. Exempelvis kan mellanchefen påverka detta genom att skapa en grupp där alla känner delaktighet. Utöver detta finns det ett antal studier som visar att relationen till den närmaste chefen är av betydelse för huruvida medarbetaren väljer att stanna kvar inom organisationen eller inte. De sociala relationerna mellanchef–medarbetare är betydelsefulla för att medarbetaren ska välja att stanna kvar i organisationen. Vidare nämns också medarbetarskap som en förutsättning för att medarbetaren inte ska lämna. Eftersom ett flertal studier nämner vikten av välfungerade sociala relationer mellan medarbetare och mellanchef har studiens författare valt att utgå från LMX–teorin. LMX–teorin berör studiens syfte–att skapa förståelse för hur de sociala relationerna mellan medarbetare och mellanchef kan formas och utvecklas för att skapa förtroende i dagligvaruhandeln. Föreliggande studie har kvalitativ ansats och datainsamlingen består av tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med både medarbetare och mellanchefer inom dagligvaruhandeln. I studiens empiri framgår att respondenterna är måna om de sociala relationerna och ser dessa som en förutsättning för att organisationen ska fungera på ett önskvärt sätt. I det empiriska materialet identifieras ett antal nyckelbegrepp som sedan bidrar till studiens analys. Några av de begrepp som uppkom gällande de sociala relationerna var respekt, lyhördhet, kommunikation och feedback. Vid intervjuerna identifierades ett antal olika faktorer som anses leda till högkvalitativa sociala relationer mellan medarbetare och mellanchef. I studiens slutsatser framgår vikten av att både mellanchefer och medarbetare visar intresse för varandra och är villiga att fördjupa de sociala relationerna. Det framgår också att ingen av parterna kan utföra sitt arbete på ett önskvärt sätt om det råder brist på välfungerande sociala relationer. De högkvalitativa relationerna avgörs av personkemin samt engagemang för att fördjupa relationen. Förtroende måste finnas mellan mellanchef och medarbetare för ett välfungerade socialt samspel, oavsett relationens art till varandra.

Il progetto di ricerca riguarda le decisioni di disinvestimento ed il coinvolgimento del management di livello intermedio nelle iniziative di disinvestimento. L’obiettivo principale è quello di comprendere il processo decisionale sottostante alle decisioni di disinvestimento nelle grandi aziende multinazionali, con particolare attenzione agli asset di business. I manager di livello intermedio sono chiamati spesso a valutare gli asset di business e scegliere quali tenere e quali vendere, nell’ambito del portafoglio di asset detenuti da un’azienda. Utilizzando il framework di dynamic capabilities, ai fini della presente ricerca, abbiamo adottato una metodologia mista, che ci ha permesso di raccogliere le prime evidenze da un case study, tornare alla letteratura di management per una review di quanto scritto in precedenza e costruire la sezione più innovativa di questo lavoro, ossia l’esperimento di policy capturing. Tramite delle interviste fatte a manager di livello intermedio in una multinazionale europea, sono state individuate quattro prospettive teoriche che possono spiegare i determinati che hanno portato alla dismissione di un asset, ossia real option theory, transaction cost economics, resource-based view e new institutionalism. Il gap di ricerca è stato individuato nel fatto che gli studi condotti in precedenza si sono focalizzati principalmente sul disinvestimento di business unit o filiali e hanno basato le analisi prevalentemente su dati secondari. L’esperimento di policy capturing è stato usato per catturare quali fattori realmente influenzano le valutazioni dei manager di livello intermedio nel momento in cui sono chiamati a valutare la dismissione di asset di business. Il nostro obiettivo è quello di sviluppare e testare un framework teorico derivante da un fenomeno osservato, che origina dalla pratica manageriale. L’interesse è stato guidato principalmente da un gap percepito tra la teoria e la pratica in merito alle decisioni di disinvestimento e l’impressione che quanto saggiamente descritto nei libri di management non sia diffusamente utilizzato nella pratica. / This research project addresses divestment decisions and the involvement of middle management in divestiture initiatives. The main goal is to understand the practice of divestment decision-making in multinational multibusiness corporations, with a focus on the divestment of business unit assets. Middle managers are routinely asked to assess business unit assets and choose the ones to keep and the ones to be divested within the firm’s portfolio of assets. Within the dynamic capabilities framework, as for the purpose of this research project, we adopted a mixed methodology that allowed us collect useful insights from a case study, go back to the management literature for a structured review and open up the way to the most innovative section of this work, the policy capturing experiment. Middle managers inside a European multinational corporation were interviewed, providing evidence for four main theoretical lenses that can explain determinants related to asset divestment decisions, namely real option theory, transaction cost economics, resource-based view and new institutionalism. A clear research gap was identified as a consequence of the major focus of prior research on business unit or subsidiary divestments and the predominant use of secondary data. The policy capturing instrument, drawing from the four theoretical lenses, is used to capture which factors influence middle managers assessment of the divestment of business unit assets. Our intent is to develop and test a theoretical framework about an existing phenomenon, originating from the management practice. This interest was mainly driven by a perceived gap between theory and practice about divestment decisions and by the belief that the conventional wisdom of management textbooks is not widely used in practice.

<p><strong>Syfte: </strong>Syftet med denna undersökning har varit att utröna hurenhetschefer upplever sin yrkesposition. Många av Sveriges kommuner står idag inför stora besparingskrav där metoder för att kostnadseffektivisera verksamheterna tillämpas. Undersökningens syfte var därför även att utröna huruvida enhetschefers uppfattning av sin yrkesposition förändras vid organisatoriska förändringar.</p><p><strong> </strong><strong>Metod: </strong>Undersökningen har haft en kvalitativ ansats där intervjuer med åtta enhetschefer inom Socialförvaltningen i en mindre kommun i södra Sverige har utförts.</p><p><strong> </strong><strong>Huvudresultat: </strong>Respondenterna har uppgett att de ekonomiska kraven har hårdnat till följd av en turbulent tid präglad av konkurrensutsättning, kundval och decentralisering.</p><p>Respondenterna menar att de upplever en ökad grad av kontroll sedan den turbulenta tiden, detta kopplat till det ökade beslutsutrymme som ecentraliseringen inneburit. Å andra sidan upplever de att det inte går att ha fullständig kontroll i arbetet, i synnerhet inte i frågor som rör ekonomin. Stöd uppger respondenterna främst komma från kollegor samt ekonomer.</p><p>Intressant var här att vid frågor som rör ekonomi efterfrågas endast stöd från ekonomer medan vid frågor som rör personal- och andra driftsfrågor efterfrågas kollegialt stöd. Sammantaget synliggjordes en upplevd kunskapslucka hos enhetscheferna vad gäller ekonomi.</p> / <p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of this study has been to investigate how</p><p>middle-managers experience their operational position. Many of</p><p>Sweden’s municipalities stand before large economic cutbacks,</p><p>where methods for reducing costs in organizations are utilized. The</p><p>purpose of the study was thereby also to investigate if middlemanagers’</p><p>consider that their operational position transforms in</p><p>times of change.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>This study have had a qualitative approach where</p><p>interviews with eight middle-managers within SocialServices in a</p><p>smaller municipality in the southern of Sweden has been</p><p>performed.</p><p><strong>Main results: </strong>The respondents has claimed that the economic</p><p>demands have toughened as a result of a time of turbulence that has</p><p>been characterized by; parts of the organisation has been exposed</p><p>to competition, customers’ right to choose among alternative</p><p>health-care institutions as well as decentralization. The respondents</p><p>indicate that they have experienced a higher degree of control since</p><p>the time of turbulence, as a result from an increasing decisionmaking</p><p>freedom due to decentralization. On the other hand they</p><p>imply that one cannot have absolute control in the work, especially</p><p>not for questions concerning economy. Support is claimed to</p><p>emerge from colleagues and from economists. Interesting hereby is</p><p>that in questions concerning economy the respondents always</p><p>consult an economist, whereas questions concerning personnel or</p><p>other questions regarding the daily work are refereed to colleagues.</p><p>Altogether a knowledge-shortage was uncovered among the</p><p>middle-managers regarding economy.</p>

Möjligheten till att uppnå balans mellan arbete och privatliv antas i framtiden bli en allt viktigare fråga och i allt högre grad påverka individen i hennes val av arbetsgivare. Studiens syfte utformade författarna tillsammans med Halmstad kommun vilka har märkt av en svårighet att rekrytera yngre kompetenta chefer och därför önskar bli mer attraktiv som arbetsgivare. Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för hur kvinnliga chefer mitt i livet upplever balans i livet och vad arbetsgivaren, Halmstad kommun, kan erbjuda för att de skall uppnå balans. Undersökningen är av kvalitativ karaktär och till grund för studien låg åtta djupintervjuer med kvinnliga mellanchefer. Enbart kvinnor valdes ut till studien eftersom kvinnor utöver sitt lönearbete traditionellt sett även antas utföra det mesta av hushållsarbetet. Resultatet visade att de kvinnliga cheferna ansåg sig ha balans mellan arbete och privatliv. Exempel på faktorer som kan hämma balansen är otillräckligt stöd från chef och en för hög arbetsbelastning utan möjlighet till avlastning. Arbetsgivaren kan i hög grad påverka de anställdas upplevelse och möjlighet till balans genom arbetsvillkoren. Balans i livet kan bland annat främjas av en familjevänlig personalpolitik. / The possibility to obtain a work-life balance will in the future be of greater importance in an individual’s choice of employer. The purpose of the study was drawn up in collaboration with the municipal of Halmstad who, since they have experienced some difficulties in attracting and recruiting younger qualified managers, wants to become more attractive as employer. The purpose decided upon was to enlarge the understanding of how female managers in the middle scene of life experience work-life balance and what their employer, the municipal of Halmstad, can offer their employees to facilitate a work-life balance. It is a qualitative study in which eight deep interviews with female middle managers make up the foundation. Only women were chosen to the study since women, even though they are employed outside of the home, traditionally carry out most the domestic chores. The result showed that the female middle managers felt that they today experienced a work-life balance. Some of the elements that can restrain a positive work-life balance are insufficient support from superior manager and a high degree of workload without relief. It was found that through the working conditions is the employer to a large extent able to influence the employee’s experience of work-life balance. Family-friendly organizational policies, among other factors, can foster work-life balance.

As a result of organizational restructuring, the role of the middle managers has changed over time. Studies of change processes have increasingly placed focus on middle managers. According to researchers, middle managers play a key role in implementing the change. When putting the change into practice, there are factors affecting the middle managers. However, further research is needed regarding what constrains and enables the middle manager in these change processes. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to explore the sensemaking and sensegiving process during organizational change, with focus on middle managers. To answer to the purpose, a theoretical model combining Balogun and Johnson’s (2005), Nonaka and Takeuchi’s (1995) models and theories of middle management is developed. By using the model we analyze the centralization of the accounting departments at the Swedish energy company Vattenfall. This change process constitutes the case of this thesis. The empirical findings are based on ten interviews and two group discussions with top management, middle managers, co-workers as well as other key actors in the project providing trustworthiness to our study. A qualitative method using an abductive approach is used in the thesis to explore the actors’ interpretation of the change and capture the complexity of the case. The conclusion includes enablers and constraints during the sensemaking and sensegiving process for the middle managers during the centralization of Vattenfall’s accounting departments. The identified enablers are the communication channels, a middle manager’s awareness of employees’ approach of making sense, the provided tools used to adjust working processes, some Business Units’ initial negative attitude towards the change, as well as the rejuvenated spirit. Finally, the middle managers themselves enabled the change as a result of their unique role in the organization. On the other hand, the recognized constraints in the sensemaking and sensegiving process of the middle managers are; concerns regarding middle managers’ future employment, their ‘stuck in the middle’ position, limited resources, new working processes not adopted by some co-workers, and positive attitudes that resulted to flaws in the planning at some Business Units.

Syfte: Syftet med denna undersökning har varit att utröna hurenhetschefer upplever sin yrkesposition. Många av Sveriges kommuner står idag inför stora besparingskrav där metoder för att kostnadseffektivisera verksamheterna tillämpas. Undersökningens syfte var därför även att utröna huruvida enhetschefers uppfattning av sin yrkesposition förändras vid organisatoriska förändringar.  Metod: Undersökningen har haft en kvalitativ ansats där intervjuer med åtta enhetschefer inom Socialförvaltningen i en mindre kommun i södra Sverige har utförts.  Huvudresultat: Respondenterna har uppgett att de ekonomiska kraven har hårdnat till följd av en turbulent tid präglad av konkurrensutsättning, kundval och decentralisering. Respondenterna menar att de upplever en ökad grad av kontroll sedan den turbulenta tiden, detta kopplat till det ökade beslutsutrymme som ecentraliseringen inneburit. Å andra sidan upplever de att det inte går att ha fullständig kontroll i arbetet, i synnerhet inte i frågor som rör ekonomin. Stöd uppger respondenterna främst komma från kollegor samt ekonomer. Intressant var här att vid frågor som rör ekonomi efterfrågas endast stöd från ekonomer medan vid frågor som rör personal- och andra driftsfrågor efterfrågas kollegialt stöd. Sammantaget synliggjordes en upplevd kunskapslucka hos enhetscheferna vad gäller ekonomi. / Purpose: The purpose of this study has been to investigate how middle-managers experience their operational position. Many of Sweden’s municipalities stand before large economic cutbacks, where methods for reducing costs in organizations are utilized. The purpose of the study was thereby also to investigate if middlemanagers’ consider that their operational position transforms in times of change. Method: This study have had a qualitative approach where interviews with eight middle-managers within SocialServices in a smaller municipality in the southern of Sweden has been performed. Main results: The respondents has claimed that the economic demands have toughened as a result of a time of turbulence that has been characterized by; parts of the organisation has been exposed to competition, customers’ right to choose among alternative health-care institutions as well as decentralization. The respondents indicate that they have experienced a higher degree of control since the time of turbulence, as a result from an increasing decisionmaking freedom due to decentralization. On the other hand they imply that one cannot have absolute control in the work, especially not for questions concerning economy. Support is claimed to emerge from colleagues and from economists. Interesting hereby is that in questions concerning economy the respondents always consult an economist, whereas questions concerning personnel or other questions regarding the daily work are refereed to colleagues. Altogether a knowledge-shortage was uncovered among the middle-managers regarding economy.

Denna studie behandlar mellanchefer inom vården i den offentliga sektorns arbetssituation. Mellanchefer inom vården innehar ofta en roll som sjuksköterska och en roll som avdelningschef. Den dubbla rollen kan vara problematisk då man ska tillgodose den etik och moral som professionen innebär samtidigt som resultat ska levereras till verksamheten. Syftet med studien var att söka ökad förståelse för om det finns en konflikt mellan profession och verksamhetskrav samt hur denna konflikt uppstår. Intentionen var också att undersöka om det kan leder till brott mot Det psykologiska kontraktet. Resultatet visade att professionen som sjuksköterska kommer i konflikt med verksamhetskraven och att detta kan leda till brott mot Det psykologiska kontraktet. Av studien framgick även att konflikt kan uppstå mellan de olika professionerna på sjukhusen, framförallt mellan sjuksköterskor och läkare. Även politisk påverkan har en effekt på verksamheterna dock leder det troligen inte till upplevt brott mot Det psykologiska kontraktet. / The purpose of this study is to seek greater understanding of middle managers in public sector work situation. This is by studying whether there is a conflict between their profession and business requirements and how this conflict can arise. The intention was also to investigate whether or not this could lead to violations of the psychological contract. The study deals with middle managers in healthcare that often has a role as a nurse and a role as the manager. The dual role can be problematic as they are aimed to satisfy the ethics and morals that the profession means and at the same time deliverer result to the business. The results showed that the profession as a nurse comes into conflict with the business requirements and that this may lead to violations of the psychological contract. The study also showed that the conflict may occur between the different professions in hospitals, particularly between nurses and doctors. Also the political influence has an effect on operations; however this does not lead to violations of the psychological contract.

The group of elderly people in Sweden will increase significantly in the future and science point out that the future elderly people will not accept today’s standards and offers of assistance in today’s public elderly care. Therefore public elderly care stands before a significant challenge in terms of development that has to be sustainable. New research also points out that middle managers can be a great strategic resource, and a founder of success, in the challenge of sustainable development. The aim of the report was to increase the knowledge about what middle managers in public elderly care think sustainable development has to embrace, when it comes to quality and personnel administration, in order to meet the needs of the future elderly people. The aim was also to deepen the knowledge of how formal and informal organizational factors facilitate or limit middle managers possibilities to work with development in general and sustainable development in specific in their units. Interviews, as a qualitative method, were used to gather empirical data and the result was analyzed with theories as Domain theory, New Public Management and Situational leadership. Our findings showed that middle managers have little possibilities to work with sustainable development in their units and that formal factors as budget had a great impact of the middle managers overall possibilities in their work. According to the result it seemed that development and long term planning in this particular organization were tasks mainly for the management and political domain. According to our findings it seemed as if the introduction of New Public Management increased the underlying initial problems of human service organizations. According to Domain theory these problems consists of disjunction, discordance and conflicts due to the differences between the three domains when it comes to principles, success measures, structure and work modes.

<p>The group of elderly people in Sweden will increase significantly in the future and science point out that the future elderly people will not accept today’s standards and offers of assistance in today’s public elderly care. Therefore public elderly care stands before a significant challenge in terms of development that has to be sustainable. New research also points out that middle managers can be a great strategic resource, and a founder of success, in the challenge of sustainable development. The aim of the report was to increase the knowledge about what middle managers in public elderly care think sustainable development has to embrace, when it comes to quality and personnel administration, in order to meet the needs of the future elderly people. The aim was also to deepen the knowledge of how formal and informal organizational factors facilitate or limit middle managers possibilities to work with development in general and sustainable development in specific in their units. Interviews, as a qualitative method, were used to gather empirical data and the result was analyzed with theories as Domain theory, New Public Management and Situational leadership. Our findings showed that middle managers have little possibilities to work with sustainable development in their units and that formal factors as budget had a great impact of the middle managers overall possibilities in their work. According to the result it seemed that development and long term planning in this particular organization were tasks mainly for the management and political domain. According to our findings it seemed as if the introduction of New Public Management increased the underlying initial problems of human service organizations. According to Domain theory these problems consists of disjunction, discordance and conflicts due to the differences between the three domains when it comes to principles, success measures, structure and work modes.</p>