This qualitative, cross-sectional study centres on professionals in the field of educational development, which has been and continues to change significantly in contemporary higher education. Twenty-eight teaching and learning professionals in three broad classifications from 19 Canadian higher education institutions were interviewed. Data was collected to both describe the formal structures and roles and elicit understandings regarding how the individuals see their roles, identities and social power. Consistent with other international findings, and influenced by the broader changes in higher education, Canadian teaching and learning professional roles appear to be expanding in both depth and breadth. The findings reflect a number of changes and tensions associated with their organisational structure, role design and role classifications. Although they come from a variety of academic backgrounds, the findings indicate a common identity is evolving, underpinned by a set of shared values, strong professional association identification and a shared purpose of bridging and translating needs towards the enhancement of teaching and learning. While respondents described using a variety of power bases and influence tactics to generate change at the individual, group, organisation and system levels their attempts to influence used primarily soft power bases rather than harsh power bases (Kipnis, 1984). The findings support previous research that indicates there is a relationship between roles (structure) and identity (Alvesson and Willmott, 2002, Dutton et al., 1994, Ibarra, 1999, Sluss and Ashforth, 2007) and provide evidence to support the theorised link between identity and action (Alvesson et al., 2008, Ibarra, 1999). Further, it is argued, the interconnectivity of role, identity and power, was expressed through respondents’ attempts to make sense of and in many cases change the social evaluations of them, their team and their work in an effort to legitimise a unique organisational space and enable them to accomplish their change oriented goals. In light of these findings, a theorised process of how an organisational space for teaching and learning work may be legitimised and a visualised “middle space” for teaching and learning work is presented.

O ambiente de negócios está sob severa mudança ultimamente, requerendo das empresas não apenas a diferenciação da concorrência, mas também o desenvolvimento da capacidade de adaptação a novos cenários como uma forma de manter a competitividade e até mesmo sobreviver. Esta não é uma tarefa fácil, especialmente para grandes corporações, onde as políticas, regras, burocracia, comportamentos ortodoxos, para listar alguns, conspiram para dificultar a inovação. É ainda mais difícil quando estas empresas operam em mercados bem estabelecidos, com produtos maduros e até padronizados. Não fosse isso o suficiente, no Brasil tais corporações também precisam enfrentar desafios adicionais em relação à economia do país e à burocracia, bem como um sistema nacional de inovação ainda emergente. A literatura sobre inovação é vasta, e inovação em si é um tema cercado por vários aspectos diferentes. No entanto, até onde sabemos, não existem artigos que tratam da questão de como projetar e implantar um framework de gestão da inovação para uma corporação como as características descritas acima. O objetivo deste trabalho é ajudar essas empresas neste esforço, descrevendo e analisando a concepção e implementação de um framework de gestão da inovação em uma grande empresa brasileira de aço, bem como gerar conhecimento para apoiar futuras pesquisas acadêmicas no campo. O objetivo foi atingido através de uma pesquisa-ação e os resultados não só confirmaram a importância dos fatores de influência para inovação, como estratégia, liderança, cultura, recursos e sistemas de gestão, mas também apresentaram maneiras de combinar esses fatores de forma inter-relacionada para criar uma capacidade de inovação sustentável. / The business environment has been under severe change lately, requiring firms not only to differentiate themselves from competition, but also to develop capabilities to adapt to new scenarios as a way to keep competitiveness and even to survive. This is not an easy task, especially for large corporations, where polices, rules, bureaucracy, orthodox behaviors, to list a few,, collude to hinder innovation. Even more difficult when these corporations operate in well established markets, with mature and even standardized products. Would that not be enough, in Brazil such corporations also need to face additional challenges regarding the country`s economy and bureaucracy as well as facing an emergent national innovation system. The literature on innovation is vast and innovation itself is a topic surrounded by several different aspects. However, to our knowledge, there are no articles dealing with the question of how to design and implement and innovation management model for a corporation such as those described above. The objective of this work is to help these companies on this endeavor by describing and analyzing the design and implementation of an innovation management model in a large Brazilian steel company, as well as to generate knowledge to support further academic research on the field. The objective was accomplished through an action research and the results not only confirmed the importance of innovation drives such as strategy, leadership, culture, resources and management systems, but also presented ways of combining these drives in an intertwined fashion to create a sustainable innovation capability.

Internet can be described as a source of gaining knowledge through useful information founded in different social media platforms. Social media is used by organizations and customers in order to share news, offers, questions and feedback to increase the communication level. The benefit of using different types of social media platforms is to share knowledge that can be used among organizations in order to make organizational developments. Facebook is one relevant type of social media platform. Facebook is used by different types of organizations to facilitate the communication and knowledge sharing to create customer- and organizational value.The purpose of this study is to investigate how organizations handle received feedback from their customers through social media in order to improve and develop themselves. The theoretical study is based on theories that facilitate the understanding of the problem area. The empirical study is based on interviews that are made with three public transport organizations; Västtrafik, SJ and Skånetrafiken that use Facebook as a means of communication with their customers. The theoretical- and empirical study was compared and analyzed. We have reached the conclusion that Facebook can promote organizational development through the received feedback from customers. We believe that the received feedback should be in focus, as the customer is the end user, in order to create customer- and organizational values. / Program: Masterutbildning i Informatik

O estudo da epidemia da AIDS no Brasil possibilita observar uma somatória das ações e conquistas de diferentes atores que contribuíram para a modificação do atendimento e dos serviços em prol de pessoas vivendo e convivendo com AIDS, onde a experiência positiva do Brasil chama a atenção dentro do cenário mundial. A AIDS, dada a sua importância como evento global, foi assim um elemento fomentador de mudanças que se refletiram também nas organizações, dentre as quais, as ONGs/AIDS, cujo caráter público-privado encontra no Terceiro Setor o seu ambiente de identificação. Na experiência das ONGs/AIDS brasileiras o desenvolvimento organizacional se deu dentro da contingência cultural e sócio-política como uma resposta necessária à demanda da epidemia. Essas organizações buscaram uma profissionalização e o desenvolvimento de ferramentas de gestão próprias que viabilizaram a melhor implementação de sua missão e valores organizacionais junto aos beneficiários, com isso também, ampliando suas relações com outros setores da sociedade, dentre os quais, o governo e o mercado, com vistas ao estabelecimento de parcerias. A atuação organizacional promotora do protagonismo, perceptível pela inclusão do beneficiário nas decisões organizacionais e no redesenho do seu papel nos projetos é uma mostra da mudança proposta como desenvolvimento organizacional. A ONG/AIDS Casa de Assistência Filadélfia - CAF objeto deste estudo é representativa na medida em que buscou modificar-se para responder às necessidades percebidas e referidas pelos beneficiários, contribuindo para um atendimento em HIV humanizado e com equidade. A pesquisa teve como objetivo: Descrever a trajetória de uma ONG/AIDS com relação à evolução da epidemia de AIDS identificando elementos que indiquem desenvolvimento organizacional. Foi utilizada uma metodologia qualitativa com Estudo de Caso sendo a coleta de dados feita através de análise documental e entrevistas semi-estruturadas com informantes chaves referidas pela organização, a saber: beneficiários (responsáveis pelas crianças), voluntários, lideranças, funcionários e parceiros. A pesquisa foi aprovada pelo Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa da Faculdade de Saúde Pública. O presente estudo aponta para a necessidade de se modificar a discussão sobre o papel e a importância das ONGs/AIDS, chamando a atenção para a importância do desenvolvimento organizacional como meio de promover organizações saudáveis, auto-sustentáveis e autônomas, que estimulem a solidariedade e o controle social através de idéias inovadoras. / The study of the HIV epidemic in Brazil enables the observation of a group of actions and achievements of different agents that contributed towards the modification of the services for people living and coexisting with AIDS, where the positive experience in Brazil calls attention in the global scenario. AIDS, due to its importance as a global event, has been a fomenting element of changes that have also reflected in the organizations, including the AIDS/NGOs, whose public-private character finds in the Third Sector its identification environment. In the experience of Brazilian AIDS/NGOs the organizational development happened within the cultural and social-political contingence as a necessary answer to the demands of the epidemic. These organizations have searched for professionalism and the development of their own management tools that have enabled better implementation of their mission and the organizations’ values regarding their beneficiaries, and with this they have also enlarged their relationship with other sectors of the society, including the government and the market, with the intension of establishing partnerships. The protagonist organizational action, visible by the inclusion of beneficiaries in organizational decisions and in the rewriting of their roll in projects is an evidence of the change proposed as organizational development. The AIDS NGO Casa de Assistência Filadélfia-CAF object of this study is representative as it changed in order to respond to the needs observed and pointed out by beneficiaries, contributing for a humanized and equalized service for HIV. The objective of the research: to describe the trajectory of an AIDS/NGO in relation to the evolution of the AIDS epidemic identifying elements that indicate organizational development. A qualitative methodology was used and the collection of data was made by documental analyses and semi-structured interviews with key informants appointed by the organization: beneficiaries (person responsible for the children), volunteers, leadership, employees and partners. The research was approved by the Ethics Research Committee of the Public Health College. The present study points out the need of modifying the discussion about the roll and importance of the AIDS/NGOs, calling attention to the importance of organizational development as a means of promoting healthy organizations, self-sustainable and autonomous, that stimulate solidarity and social control through innovating ideas.

O estudo da epidemia da AIDS no Brasil possibilita observar uma somatória das ações e conquistas de diferentes atores que contribuíram para a modificação do atendimento e dos serviços em prol de pessoas vivendo e convivendo com AIDS, onde a experiência positiva do Brasil chama a atenção dentro do cenário mundial. A AIDS, dada a sua importância como evento global, foi assim um elemento fomentador de mudanças que se refletiram também nas organizações, dentre as quais, as ONGs/AIDS, cujo caráter público-privado encontra no Terceiro Setor o seu ambiente de identificação. Na experiência das ONGs/AIDS brasileiras o desenvolvimento organizacional se deu dentro da contingência cultural e sócio-política como uma resposta necessária à demanda da epidemia. Essas organizações buscaram uma profissionalização e o desenvolvimento de ferramentas de gestão próprias que viabilizaram a melhor implementação de sua missão e valores organizacionais junto aos beneficiários, com isso também, ampliando suas relações com outros setores da sociedade, dentre os quais, o governo e o mercado, com vistas ao estabelecimento de parcerias. A atuação organizacional promotora do protagonismo, perceptível pela inclusão do beneficiário nas decisões organizacionais e no redesenho do seu papel nos projetos é uma mostra da mudança proposta como desenvolvimento organizacional. A ONG/AIDS Casa de Assistência Filadélfia - CAF objeto deste estudo é representativa na medida em que buscou modificar-se para responder às necessidades percebidas e referidas pelos beneficiários, contribuindo para um atendimento em HIV humanizado e com equidade. A pesquisa teve como objetivo: Descrever a trajetória de uma ONG/AIDS com relação à evolução da epidemia de AIDS identificando elementos que indiquem desenvolvimento organizacional. Foi utilizada uma metodologia qualitativa com Estudo de Caso sendo a coleta de dados feita através de análise documental e entrevistas semi-estruturadas com informantes chaves referidas pela organização, a saber: beneficiários (responsáveis pelas crianças), voluntários, lideranças, funcionários e parceiros. A pesquisa foi aprovada pelo Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa da Faculdade de Saúde Pública. O presente estudo aponta para a necessidade de se modificar a discussão sobre o papel e a importância das ONGs/AIDS, chamando a atenção para a importância do desenvolvimento organizacional como meio de promover organizações saudáveis, auto-sustentáveis e autônomas, que estimulem a solidariedade e o controle social através de idéias inovadoras. / The study of the HIV epidemic in Brazil enables the observation of a group of actions and achievements of different agents that contributed towards the modification of the services for people living and coexisting with AIDS, where the positive experience in Brazil calls attention in the global scenario. AIDS, due to its importance as a global event, has been a fomenting element of changes that have also reflected in the organizations, including the AIDS/NGOs, whose public-private character finds in the Third Sector its identification environment. In the experience of Brazilian AIDS/NGOs the organizational development happened within the cultural and social-political contingence as a necessary answer to the demands of the epidemic. These organizations have searched for professionalism and the development of their own management tools that have enabled better implementation of their mission and the organizations’ values regarding their beneficiaries, and with this they have also enlarged their relationship with other sectors of the society, including the government and the market, with the intension of establishing partnerships. The protagonist organizational action, visible by the inclusion of beneficiaries in organizational decisions and in the rewriting of their roll in projects is an evidence of the change proposed as organizational development. The AIDS NGO Casa de Assistência Filadélfia-CAF object of this study is representative as it changed in order to respond to the needs observed and pointed out by beneficiaries, contributing for a humanized and equalized service for HIV. The objective of the research: to describe the trajectory of an AIDS/NGO in relation to the evolution of the AIDS epidemic identifying elements that indicate organizational development. A qualitative methodology was used and the collection of data was made by documental analyses and semi-structured interviews with key informants appointed by the organization: beneficiaries (person responsible for the children), volunteers, leadership, employees and partners. The research was approved by the Ethics Research Committee of the Public Health College. The present study points out the need of modifying the discussion about the roll and importance of the AIDS/NGOs, calling attention to the importance of organizational development as a means of promoting healthy organizations, self-sustainable and autonomous, that stimulate solidarity and social control through innovating ideas.

This thesis is about the healthcare managers, working at operational levels, defined as the first-line managers. These managers often are given the role and responsibility to integrate improvements into daily work. A stronger development ability of Swedish healthcare requires first-line managers with a developed ability to lead change. Thereby efforts must be made to provide these managers with supportive work conditions when leading and developing organizations. One approach to organizational development is Lean, which refers to a strong improvement culture based upon a supportive and highly engaged leadership as well as a strong customer focus. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to knowledge about and an understanding of the conditions that influence first-line healthcare managers’ abilities to drive improvement work based on Lean. Some of the conditions investigated are; time, receiving support from the own manager, feeling joy in improvement work and being assured about the effects of Lean. The thesis is based on three separate analyses of a web-based survey, which relate to the two research questions. The study was conducted in a Swedish healthcare organization two years after the initiation of Lean. The analyses are presented in three separate papers. The first research question considers; How can an instrument be developed that investigates first-line managers’ views on their role, conditions and ability to drive improvement work based on Lean? The second question is; What can be learned from using the instrument that investigates first-line managers’ views on their role, conditions and ability to drive improvement work based on Lean? A qualitative study based on a hermeneutic, inductive, qualitative research approach was conducted in order to meet the research purpose and answer the research questions. The thesis is mainly based on three papers. In paper 1 it is stated that the assuredness about the effects of Lean was quite high among the managers when the survey was conducted, such as that Lean contributes to a greater patient focus and to the development of an improvement culture. In paper 2 it is noted that the first-line managers view their role as crucial in improvement work based on Lean. Time, support from coworkers, and a clear vision and clear goals were the three conditions they considered to be most important for their ability. The results presented in paper 3 show that to initiate improvement work based on Lean, they ask for own managers who are assured about Lean and include them in discussions. They view their role and responsibility in relation to their coworkers as extensive, for instance increating a culture where problems and mistakes are viewed as possibilities to improve and for encouraging that new work procedures are tested. The findings indicate a need for a deeper understanding of Lean. It is concluded that a thorough understanding of Lean is a main condition for the first-line managers´ ability to drive improvement work based on the approach. Developing a common view of Lean takes time, which is important to emphasize in the practical setting to motivate for a long-term perspective. This development takes highly motivated, assured and persistent leaders with a continuous improvement attitude and a mission to improve healthcare together. There is also an applied research question; How can the use of the instrument contribute to developing first-line managers’ role, conditions, and ability to drive improvement work based on Lean? In its essence, Lean is concerned with improving a system and since the instrument raises questions about relationships between organizational members, it sets focus on the system and calls on a system view. The responsibility for one management level must continuously be set I relation to another, when putting the pieces together in the “improvement puzzle”. Change depends on adjustments in human behavior and the instrument establishes a focus on the people in the processes necessary for development and results. The instrument also provides opportunity and structure to investigate and talk about the soft conditions important for the ability, such as receiving support from the own manager, and feeling inspiration and being assured. The practice of Lean requires changes in attitudes, new habits, new skills in the whole system, meaning in each individual from the executive management to the front-line workers. Thereby self-reflection becomes important, which requires forums for dialogue. It is concluded that such forums can influence first-line healthcare managers’ abilities to drive improvement work based on Lean. In dialogue forums improvement work can be reflected upon and learned from together. / <p>Vid tidpunkten för framläggningen av avhandlingen var följande delarbeten opublicerade: delarbete 2 (accepterat), delarbete 3 (inskickat).</p><p>At the time of the defence the following papers were unpublished: paper 2 (accepted), paper 3 (submitted).</p>

<p><strong>Title:</strong> Yes, but…<em> - How changes in banks in Västerbotten are linked to the current financial crisis, but are still normal organizational development</em></p><p><strong>Background: </strong>In the beginning of the 90’s, there was a financial crisis in Sweden which hit Swedish banks hard. The Swedish bank Gota banken went bankrupt and Nordbanken was taken over by the government, in large part because of their apathetic reactions to the situation they were so surprised to find themselves in. Today, almost 20 years later, the banks of Sweden find themselves in a new crisis. Because of the important position banks have in society, it is extremely important that they remain stable and have the capacity to ride out a crisis situation comfortably. As the banks did not show any crisis management strategy or skills in the 1992 crisis, it is relevant to explore if the previous experience has given Swedish banks the ability to handle a crisis situation in an efficient way.</p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The purpose of this study is to apply organizational development theory, crisis management theory and adversity reaction theory to the primary data collected from the interviews with the banks and through that analyze if Swedish banks are acting to prevent the financial crisis from affecting them badly.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> The study has a hermeneutical approach and was carried out by interviewing managers from the five major banks in Västerbotten. The primary data collected has been analyzed to get an understanding of the current development in the banks and its possible link to the financial crisis.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>We found that banks are constantly changing in order to keep up with their competitors, changes in technology, society and the increasing demands from customers. The current events and changes in the banks are undoubtedly linked to the financial crisis, it has accelerated change, it has slowed down ongoing processes and it has facilitated harder decisions and less popular changes. But the crisis has not caused drastic changes in the organizations or their way of doing business. In fact, it can be said that the changes due to the financial crisis is normal organizational development, as the banks have responded to it in much the same fashion as they do to all changes in the external environment.</p><p><strong>Key words:</strong> crisis management, organizational development, threat rigidity, prospect theory, financial crisis</p>

<p><strong>Aim:</strong> The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between innovation and system complexity, and suggest improvements for an organization to handle innovation and complexity better.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> The analysis was based on theoretical models about organizational structure, development models and knowledge management. The models were selected to highlight theoretical extremes rather than practical usefulness to avoid practical obstacles in the theoretic evaluations. The work progressed as a strategy development flow based on a model including four phases; analysis, objectives and recommendations, options and Implementation.</p><p><strong>Result & Conclusions: </strong>To significantly improve how complexity and innovation are managed it isn’t sufficient to focus on improvements in one part, such as processes. Organizational goals, external environment, organizational structure, development model, knowledge management and internal culture have to be considered and balanced to achieve significant improvements. For the organization studied it was clear that there was a difference in the official description of the organization and how it worked in practice.</p><p><strong>Suggestions for future research: </strong>Metrics are important to measure value and improvement. Balanced metrics describing how well an organization is adapted to its goals and environment is an area for future work. The effect of Model-Based design on organizational structure is another interesting topic for further research.  </p><p><strong>Contribution of the thesis: </strong>The recommendations and objectives developed in this study can be used to improve an organization with respect to both internal and external environment.</p>

Developing Product Development – that’s what it’s about, developing our capability to do what we need to do. Ericsson Executive Product development in times of brutal change requires capabilities beyond normal product development capabilities. In order to meet the challenges of brutal change, an ability to change and improve how products are developed, and how product development is organized and managed is required. This thesis looks inside an industrial firm subjected to brutal market changes, forcing it to respond promptly and strongly, to reduce cost yet retain and improve the ability to develop, market, sell, deliver and support its products and services. The firm uses externalization of product development to cut fixed costs and reduce headcount quickly. To cut operating costs, it uses offshoring. Transformational structural changes destroy both capabilities and rigidities. The increasingly competitive situation calls for even higher efficiency. Product development capabilities have to be recreated to support even higher efficiency while retaining and improving innovativeness. Participative organizational development is performed to rebuild and improve product development capabilities at the workgroup level. Software developers use self-assessment and group reflection to augment their conceptions of efficiency and concurrently improve their efficiency. This thesis provides a typology of modes of organizing, and of transitions between different modes of organizing. It highlights the role of capabilities in supporting efficiency in the transfer of product development from one mode of organizing to another. In doing so, it aims to contribute to a dynamic perspective of product development organizing, and at the same time provide actionable advice to product development managers in times of brutal change. This thesis also illustrates the potential in group self-improvement, building on collective knowledge creation and use, with direct coupling to action. It argues that augmentation of conceptions through concept elaboration and reflection may be more efficient and effective than traditional training programs. Developing Product Development is both about improving the practice of product development and about improving the understanding of- and knowledge about product development. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2006

This thesis investigates organizational formalization within the context of young Swedish high-technology ventures. The research provides four longitudinal case studies which approach the formalization process in vivo through multiple actor engagement, including a retrospect understanding of the initial development. Formalization has been considered an irrelevant lens for understanding the organization of new ventures and the development of formalized structures. If discussed at all it has been treated as a legitimacy challenge or a consequential problem of growth. A new strand of research gives other indications; it argues that the formalization of structures is among the earliest decisions taken during high-technology venturing. It is also suggested that the earliest decisions direct increased formalization. Emergent knowledge about early formalization, while an important platform, only captures part of the complex formalization process. The results of my research indicate that formalization is an ongoing process that develops in parallel through dual-actors. Management on the one hand, is hesitant and indecisive about how to increase formalization, but uses formalization as an instrument to direct focus among the employees. Employees, on the other hand, pursue formalization through a continuous mapping of core processes. These findings are brought together to reconceptualize formalization from a new venture perspective. The thesis offers a new research framework for future empirical investigation and theory development. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2008</p>