Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore organizational identity as a potential process.   Design/Methodology/Approach: We applied a qualitative method and followed an inductive approach that was applied to a multiple-in-depth-case study for which we conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 members of two organizations, the Swedish consulting company REACH and the Swiss digital agency WONDROUS. Following a narrative approach, both for structuring the empirical findings, as well as conducting the analysis, we used over 16 hours of interviews to create company narratives and subsequently analyzed them in multiple steps in the fashion of a narrative analysis.   Findings: Based on our empirical findings and the empirical analysis, we developed a conceptualization, the Flux Model. We contribute to the existing body of literature by proposing that the Flux Model visualizes the dynamics of how organizational members socially construct organizational identity on the premise of their own (self-)perceptions. By presenting the different parts of the model and their multiple layers, the process of how organizational identity is continuously becoming is illustrated.   Research Limitations/Implications: The scope of our study is restricted to the two case companies in question. If our abstractions from the cases in form of the Flux Model help to better understand the process of organizing, managers become liberated to make deliberate choices about their organizations’ identities. For research this means an even tighter connection to individual psychology and a deepening of the perspective that organizational identity can not only be viewed as something companies have.   Originality/Value: Out of skepticism towards the usefulness of viewing organizational identity as a process, we applied a symbolic interpretivist perspective and allowed for the possibility that we might not find a process after all. The primary value of this study we believe to be found in the extensive presentation of empirical data, together with our narrative analysis and our conceptual contribution (the Flux Model).

Den svenska välfärden står inför utmaningar att vidareutveckla verksamhetsprocesser och tjänster för att kunna möta samhällets krav på tillgänglighet och effektivitet. Som en följd av detta genomgår svenska kommuner en digital transformationsresa som förändrar både interna arbetssätt men även tjänsteleveransen mot kommuninvånarna. Tidigare undersökningar visar att digitaliseringsprojekt är komplexa att genomföra och förankra inom organisationen. Studien utgår från ett teoretiskt ramverk med fokus på förändringsledarens förmåga att möjliggöra för meningsskapande. Det teoretiska ramverket används för att undersöka och analysera förändringsledarens roll och vilka framgångsfaktorer som råder i svenska kommuners digitala transformationsprojekt. Studien har en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi och den empiriska datan har samlats in genom åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med medarbetare från tre svenska kommuner. Studiens resultat visar att både interna och externa faktorer står som grund för kommunernas transformationsresa. Resultaten visar även att både ledare och medarbetare berörs och behöver vara medvetna kring den digitala transformationen där en viktig framgångsfaktor är att skapa en gemensam grund och samverkan mellan verksamheter och förvaltningar, övriga medarbetare och ledare. Förändringsledarens roll är dock inte hugget i sten, utan den förändras och delas mellan de medarbetare som är involverade i förändringsarbetet. Studien resulterar i en vidareutvecklad konceptuell modell vilket kan användas som ett analysverktyg för att hjälpa svenska kommuner att förstå, identifiera och prioritera förändringsarbetet i relation till den digitala transformationen. / The Swedish welfare is facing challenges in further developing business processes and services in order to meet society's demands for accessibility and efficiency. As a result, Swedish municipalities are undergoing a digital transformation journey that is changing both internal working methods and the delivery of services to citizens. Previous studies show that digitalization projects are complex to implement and anchor within the organization. Hence, this study is based on a theoretical framework focusing on the change leader's ability to enable sensemaking. The theoretical framework is used to study and analyze the role of the change leader and the success factors that prevail in Swedish municipalities' digital transformation projects. The study has a qualitative research strategy, and the empirical data has been collected through eight semi-structured interviews with employees from three Swedish municipalities. This study shows that both internal and external factors form the basis for the municipalities' transformation journey. The results also show that both managers and employees are affected and need to be aware of the digital transformation. Important success factors are to create a common foundation and collaboration between business units, employees, and leaders. However, the role of the change leader is not set in stone, instead it is changed and shared between the employees who become involved in the change process. The study results in a conceptual model that can function as an analysis tool that helps municipalities to understand, identify and prioritize change management in relation to the digital transformation.

Denna studie utforskar hur organisationer kan undvika tillkortakommanden vid ERP- implementationer. Studien bygger på två forskningsfrågor: i) “Hur arbetar projektledare med meningsgivande handlingar vid ERP-implementationer?” samt ii) “Vilka faktorer upplevs vara viktiga för systemanvändares meningsskapandet?”. För att besvara frågorna undersöker studien ERP-implementationer utifrån en socialkonstruktivistisk lins där teorin om meningsskapande appliceras. Studien bygger på en kvalitativ metod där 16 projektledare och systemanvändare inom åtta svenska organisationer intervjuats. Resultaten tyder på att projektledare använder fyra kommunikationskanaler i sitt meningsgivande: i) intranät/mail, ii) möten, iii) utbildningar samt iv) superanvändare. Vidare indikerar de även att de kanaler som möjliggjort social interaktion bidraget till en mer positiv uppfattning hos systemanvändarna. Systemanvändarnas meningsskapande upplevs påverkas av fem faktorer: i) generationstillhörighet, ii) förändringsförståelse, iii) avstånd till förändringen, iv) engagemang samt v) förändringskultur. Studien adderar till tidigare forskning genom att fördjupa kunskapen om hur ett socialkonstruktivistiskt synsätt kan användas för att studera ERP-implementationer. / This study explores how organizations can mitigate ERP failures. The study is based on two research questions: i) “How do project managers apply sensegiving during ERP implementations?”, and ii) “What aspects are perceived as important in the sensemaking process amongst systems users?”. Pursuing these questions, the study examines ERP implementations through a social constructivist lens and the theory of sensemaking. The study is based on a qualitative method, in which 16 project managers and system users, among eight Swedish organizations, are interviewed. The findings suggest that project managers use four channels of communication in their sensegiving: i) intranet/mail, ii) meetings, iii) education, and iv) superusers. It is also found that channels that enable social interaction contributes to more positive attitudes amongst system users. The sensemaking amongst system users is perceived to be affected by five aspects: i) generational affiliation, ii) understanding of change, iii) distance to change, iv) commitment, and v) change culture. The study adds to previous research by deepening the knowledge of how a social constructivist approach can be used to study ERP implementations.

Notre thèse s’attache à répondre à la question de savoir quelles sont les stratégies et les logiques d’action mises en œuvre par les universitaires participant de l’appropriation du Processus de Bologne (PB) à travers sa mise en place. Le PB doit permettre aux universités de jouer pleinement leur rôle d’acteur économique majeur dans l’économie de la connaissance. Une double logique caractérise son fonctionnement : une logique stratégique de définition d’objectifs, au niveau supranational, associée à une logique d’instrumentation qui traduit ces objectifs en instrument à mettre en place au niveau local, soit des universités. Les universités vivent une période de changements, marquée par l’incertitude et le défi de s’adapter aux besoins de l’économie de la connaissance tout en remplissant pleinement leurs missions de service public. Une mise en place efficace des instruments du PB doit leur permettre de relever ces défis. C’est tout l’enjeu ici d’une réelle réflexion basée sur le management des organisations publiques : il s’agit de s’appuyer sur les principes de ce management, en termes de performance, comme de qualité, afin de mener une réflexion véritablement stratégique pour une mise en place efficace. Dans notre travail, nous proposons une perspective novatrice du PB, en l’apparentant à une innovation. Cette perspective permet de mettre en lumière l’importance du sens qui doit être donné à la mise en place du PB, et le rôle majeur joué par l’acteur dans cette mise en place, à travers ses choix et ses stratégies. A partir de ces constats, nous avons donc construit notre problématique de recherche. Trois hypothèses ont été formulées, elles concernent les stratégies d’appropriation à travers des pratiques de mimétisme, fréquemment observées dans des situations d’incertitude, le lien entre appropriation et association objectifs/instruments lors de la mise en place, et les bénéfices d’un management stratégique et participatif pour une réduction de la dissociation objectifs/instruments. Nous avons opté pour un positionnement épistémologique relevant du paradigme interprétativiste, et pour une démarche de recherche hybride, entre abduction et hypothético-déduction. Notre recherche s’appuie sur deux cas précis : l’Université Pierre-Mendès-France (Grenoble – France) et l’Université Matej Bel (Banská Bystrica – Slovaquie). Pour traiter les donnés recueillies, nous avons procédé à une analyse qualitative thématique. Globalement, nous avons constaté que : certains universitaires mettaient en œuvre différentes stratégies (stratégies de mimétisme, d’observation, de réappropriation des instruments, de choix de partenaires stratégiques) conduisant à une appropriation et une mise en place efficace des instruments ; qu’un management stratégique et participatif menait à une appropriation, par les agents, du PB et conduisait également à une mise en place des instruments plus efficace ; et que les structures proposant des formations hautement professionnalisantes s’appropriaient mieux le PB que les structures proposant des formations plus ‘classiques’. S’il est possible de constater une appropriation du PB par certains agents, tous ne semblent pas encore le légitimer, menant souvent à une dissociation instruments/objectifs et une mise en place relativement techniciste et mécanique. Ainsi, nous proposons de nous tourner principalement vers les principes du management par le sens. Appliqués, ces principes doivent permettre une légitimation du PB. Ce travail pourrait servir de base à des études plus longitudinales, plus larges, intégrant l’étude d’autres universités, à des études mobilisant les économies de la grandeur ou le management des réseaux pour un approfondissement des résultats obtenus, ainsi qu’à un élargissement pluridisciplinaire, voire à une réflexion conduisant à un outil permettant, de manière non contraignante, de mesurer, de cadrer et d’identifier les besoins des agents d’une mise en place efficace du PB. / Our thesis aims to answer to the question: which are the strategies and the logics of action, that are applied by the university staff, in order to legitimise the Bologna Process (BP), through its implementation. The BP should help universities to play entirely their role of major economic stakeholder in the knowledge economy. A double logic characterises its functioning: a strategic logical, that defines goals, at a supranational level, combined with an instrumentation logical, that translates these goals into instrument, that should be implemented at the local level, namely in the universities. Universities live in a period of changes, characterized by uncertainty and the challenge of an adaptation to the needs of the knowledge society, as well as their duty to fulfill their missions of public service. The effective implementation of the instruments of the BP should help them to accomplish these challenges. Here is precisely the stake of a real reflection, based on the management of public organizations: it is to lean on the principles of this management, in terms of performance, as well as of quality, in order to conduct a truly strategic reflection for an efficient implementation. In our research work, we offer a pioneering perspective of the BP, by connecting it to an innovation. This perspective helps to highlight the significance of the sense that should be given to the implementation of the BP, as well and the major role of the stakeholders in this implementation, through his choices and strategies. Based on these statements, we elaborated our research question. Three hypotheses have been formulated, they concern the strategies of appropriation through mimetism practices, that are frequently observed in situations of uncertainty, the link between appropriation and the association goals/instruments during the implementation, and the benefits of a strategic and participative management to reduce the dissociation goals/instruments. We opted for an epistemologic positioning that comes under the interpretativist paradigm, and for an hybrid approach, between abduction and hypothetico-deduction. Our research is leaning on two precise cases: the Université Pierre-Mendès-France (Grenoble – France) and the University Matej Bel (Banská Bystrica – Slovakia). In order to handle our collected data, we proceeded through thematic qualitative analysis. Globally, we observed that : some of the university staff applied different strategies (strategies of mimetism, observation, reappropriation of instruments, choices of strategic partners) that led to an appropriation, and showed en efficient implementation of the instruments; that a strategic and participative management led to an appropriation by the stakeholders of the BP and to a more efficient implementation of the instruments; and that the structures, that offer highly professionalising education, better legitimate the BP than the structures that offer more ‘classical’ education. It is then possible to observe an appropriation of the BP by some stakeholders, nevertheless it seems that not all stakeholders legitimate it yet, that often lead to a dissociation instruments/goals and to a relative technicist and mechanical implementation. In this way, we propose to turn principally to the principles of a sensegiving and sensemaking management. Through their application, these principles should lead to a legitimation of the BP. Our work could lead to more longitudinal, or wider studies, that could integrate more universities, to studies using ‘les economies de la grandeur’, or the network management, to go deeper in our results, as well as to enlarge them, by pluridisciplinary studies, nay to a reflection, that could lead to the creation of a tool, that could help, on a non restrictive way, to estimate, to offer a framework, and to identify the needs of the stakeholders within the frame of an efficient implementation of the BP.

This study examines the differences in perception between officers at unit level regarding personnel replacement in war. The army has reintroduced the ability to replace personnel in the manoeuvre units, which has been out of the organization since the 1990s. The officers currently serving at unit level have little to no experience of how the previous replacement system worked and the Armed Forces have not explained how the system is supposed to work. This means that especially the younger officers create their own understanding of the conceived system. The study shows that there is basically a common opinion about the replacement system, but also that there are three areas with tensions (different perceptions of the system) between lower and higher unit levels. The difference lies in the fact that the lower level ascribes a different meaning to the categories of competence, experience and esprit de corps than the higher level. This could have been addressed through more active sensegiving from managers in the organization as they have the opportunity to create common meaning with the system. The study was conducted to increase the understanding of the different perceptions the officers have and with sensemaking interpret the difference in perception there is in the officer corps, regarding personnel replacement. The study is inductive and qualitative and has used interview as a method for collecting data. The material has then been analysed using thematic analysis. Key words: Personnel replacement, Sensemaking, Sensegiving, inductive, qualitative, thematic analysis, Swedish Armed Forces.

Föreliggande studie syftar till att undersöka hur ett urval enhetschefer på sjukhus inom Västra Götalandsregionen upplever ledningens kommunikation och vilka förutsättningarkommunikationsinsatsen ger enhetschefer att kommunicera med sina medarbetare. Studien undersöker kommunikation i en förändringsprocess under 2023 och utgår från organisationskommunikationens begrepp meningsskapande, meningsgivande samt transparent kommunikation.  För att tillhandahålla kvalitativ kännedom genomfördes materialinsamlingen med hjälp av sju individuella semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Reflexiv tematisk analys används som analysmetod för att identifiera mönster, kategorier och teman från empirin. Resultatet belyser betydelsen av tvåvägskommunikation, exempelvis dialoger, i en hierarkiskt styrd organisation och hur det skapar möjligheter att kommunicera utökad meningsskapande och meningsgivande. Resultatet visar även huruvida ett tolkningsbaserat kommunikationsuppdrag lämpar sig inom Västra Götalandsregionens sjukhus. Analysens resultat påvisar att det faktum att media hinnerrapportera om förändringen innan enhetscheferna kan samtala med sina medarbetare är ett hinder och resulterar i avsaknaden av förtroendegivande kommunikation. / This study aims to examine how a sample of unit managers at hospitals within Västra Götalandsregionen experience the organizational managements communication and what prerequisites to communication efforts the unit managers conceive to communicate with their employees. The study examines communication during a change process during 2023 and is based on organizational communications concepts sensemaking, sensegiving and transparent communication.  In order to provide qualitative knowledge, the empirical material was collected through seven individual semi-structured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis is used as a method to identify patterns, categories and themes from the empirical data. The results highlight the importance of two-way communication, such as dialogues, in a hierarchical organization and how it creates opportunities to communicate extended sensemaking and sensegiving. The result also reflects on whether an interpretation-based communication mission is suitable in the hospitals of Västra Götalandsregionen. The study’s results clarify that the fact that the media reporting about the change before unit managers can communicate with their employees is an obstacle and leads to lack of trustworthy communication

Abstract The Armed Forces are in an expansive period where the need for competent personnel is greater than ever. Partly due to the need to train soldiers and new officers being greater than in a long time and the need to maintain readiness in accordance with the interpretation of the world situation. This is a situation where the Armed Forces have a competence-preserving anorexic organization which, due to political decisions, has decreased by 70% since the 1990s. In 2015, due to Russia's annexation of Crimea, the political orientation changed to increase the capabilities of the Armed Forces. This intensified in 2022 with Russia's attack on Ukraine. The study was conducted at a unit where data was collected between the years 2017-2022. In 2017, the surveyed unit had 393 officers and 2022 318 officers, which is a decrease of 75 officers during the period. How can it be that a unit loses 75 officers in 5 years when politicians want the Armed Forces to grow?   The study shows that officers terminate their employment due to the tensions that arise between the three identified Sensemaking processes. These processes are the Authority, the Profession and the individual. • The resignations of officers arise when a person is faced with an ultimatum in which they are forced to choose between the Authority, the Profession and the Individual and its basic truths. • And when the Armed Forces are unable to give meaning to the forced change of meaning. The cumulative tension of meaning to which the professional officer is exposed during his career is increasing in relation to level and family situation. The triggers that lead up to the ultimatum are lack of opportunity to influence the organization as well as one's own situation, lack of support and trust from the manager, and lack of quality time with the family.  The conflict between the Authority and the Profession is based on the different views on the emphasis placed on training military units. The conflict between the individual and the profession is about the double loyalty between the family and the unit. The conflict between the Individual and the Authority is based on what the job gives in relation to the sacrifice the individual makes.  The study was carried out with the approach of understanding and interpretingthrough sensemaking why officers leave the Armed Forces to a greater extent than the unit wants. This is a hermeneutic, inductive and qualitative study where interviews and workshop are used to gather data which is then analysed in a GT inspired method.

När personer och grupper med olika bakgrund och erfarenheter möts för att sam-arbeta förutsätts ofta att samsyn kring målen med verksamheten är en förutsätt-ning för koordinerad handling. Forskningen har dock inte kunnat visa empiriskt i vilken utsträckning samsyn är viktigt för att åstadkomma samhandling. I förelig-gande avhandling presenteras en studie som undersöker hur gemensam mening formas i sammanhang präglade av heterogenitet respektive mångtydighet samt hur koordinerad handling uppstår under sådana förutsättningar. Som empirisk grund för att kunna besvara frågeställningarna studeras FöretagsNära med stöd i me-ningsskapandeperspektiv. FöretagsNära är en ny verksamhet organiserad som ett projekt i samverkan mellan Norrköpings kommun och Arbetsförmedlingen i Norr-köping. Syftet med satsningen är att föra samman näringslivsutvecklande och ar-betsmarknadsinriktade insatser och bidra till fler arbetstillfällen i Norrköping. Ba-serat på en longitudinell fältstudie berättas om meningsskiljaktigheter och strävan efter samsyn. Den longitudinella ansatsen gör det möjligt att se utvecklingen av och komplexiteten i formandet av samsyn och samhandling. Skildringen av Före-tagsNära visar att meningsskapandet i processen tar sig olika uttryck. I fråga om syftet med FöretagsNära uppstår en kamp om meningen. Studien visar hur samsyn och samhandling relaterar till varandra på mer komplexa sätt än tidigare forskning föreslagit. Det finns ingen entydig relation mellan gemensam mening och koordi-nerad handling. Studiens resultat har både teoretisk relevans och stor praktisk be-tydelse. / When people and groups with different backgrounds and experience are brought together to cooperate, a prerequisite for coordinated action is often a shared per-spective, i.e. that they have a mutual understanding with regard to the aims of their work. However, previous research has not been able to conclude empirically whether a shared perspective is essential for bringing about joint action or not. This dissertation is the result of a study inquiring into the connection between co-incident meaning and coordinated action in situations characterised by heteroge-neity and equivocality. How does coordinated action originate in such circum-stances? The empirical case of the study is “FöretagsNära” (“Close to Companies” in English), a collaboration project between the municipality of Norrköping and the local branch of the state employment agency. The purpose of the venture is to coordinate the efforts of measures aimed at trade and industry development with labour market measures, in order to contribute to a decrease of the unemployment rate in the city of Norrköping. Based on a longitudinal field study, a narrative of clashing meanings, and a striving for mutual perspectives unfolds. The longitudi-nal approach supports an understanding of how joint action unfolds and the com-plexity involved in developing a shared perspective. The description of Företags-Nära shows that the creation of meaning in the process takes on different expressions, and a battle of meaning arises about the matter of the purpose of FöretagsNära. The connection between a shared perspective and joint action is more complex than previous research has suggested. There is no unequivocal connection between coincident meaning and coordinated action. The results of the thesis are of both theoretical relevance and practical importance.

Försvarsmakten tillväxer sedan beslut togs om återinförande av värnplikt respektive utökade ekonomiska ramar för Försvarsmakten i slutet på 2010-talet av rikets ledning. Tillväxten innebär att ett ökande behov av personal måste tillgodoses och yrkesofficerare utgör en nyckelkategori att rekrytera för att kunna effektuera tillväxten. Inom ramen för tillväxtbehovet återfinns yrkesofficerare som kan utbilda och leda enheter avsedda för skydd mot massförstörelsevapen och det finns yrkesofficersutbildningar med inriktning just för detta område. Problemet är att rekryteringsorganisationen är liten för att åstadkomma detta. Syftet med denna studie är att förstå hur rekryteringen av värnpliktiga till officerutbildningarna med inriktningen, skydd mot massförstörelsevapen, kan förbättras och därmed utvecklas.  Studien är genomförd som en kvalitativ, induktiv studie och de kvalitativa data som ligger till grund för studien är inhämtad genom workshops med värnpliktiga, kadetter och nyanställda yrkesofficerare. Förutsättningarna för rekryteringen har sammanställts ur intervjuer. Resultatet av studien visar att image och konkurrens utgör hinder för rekryteringen och att rekryteringen kan förbättras genom att vidta åtgärder som skapar mening att vilja bli yrkesofficer med denna speciella inriktning. De slutsatser som har dragits är att meningsgivande information om dessa specialiserade yrkesofficerare behöver spridas målgruppsinriktat på sociala media samt att förbandproduktionen för denna specialiserade funktion behöver decentraliseras. / The Swedish Armed Forces is growing due to decisions made by the Swedish government in the late second decade of the 21st century. The growth means that the Swedish Armed Forces needs to expand its employed staff and especially there is need for increasing numbers of officers and noncommissioned officers. The recruitment, necessary for the Swedish Armed Forces employed staff, includes officers and noncommissioned officers specialized in handling protection against weapons of mass destruction. There are specialized military officers training programs for this purpose in Sweden. The problem is that there is a small organization for recruitment for this purpose. The purpose of this thesis is to gain understanding of how the recruitment from conscripts training to these specialized officers training courses can be improved and developed. The thesis has a qualitative method, and inductive approach. The data has been collected through workshops with conscripts, cadets and newly employed officers. The conditions for recruitment have been collected through interviews. The results of this thesis shows that image and competition are obstacles for the recruitment and that recruitment needs to be improved with sensemaking measures. The conclusions are that sensegiving information about these specialized officers should be presented on social media and that the production of the specialized units for this organization should be dispersed geographically in Sweden.

No description available.