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An ethnographic study of organizational change in a bank
No full textThis dissertation is based on a longitudinal ethnographic study of organizational
changes in a Nordic bank. Taking as a point of departure, an empirical observation
of lower-level organizational members consistently identifying other
organizational changes as radical than those indicated by top management, this
study pursues how organizational members construct organizational changes
through an emic approach.
The field of organizational change has historically been characterized by a number
of dominant dichotomies, such as ‘planned – emergent change’, however, this
study explores and challenges the existing dichotomies. With an aim of going
beyond the existing dichotomies of the field, the study draws on process
philosophy. Grounded in the assumption that phenomena are always in a state of
becoming, this dissertation contributes to the field with a study of organizational
changes which are not a priori determined organizational changes such as
mergers, acquisitions, or reorganizations. Instead, organizational changes are
viewed as fluid phenomena that are part of everyday work activities, constructed
by the organizational members themselves
From RIIO-1 to RIIO-2
No full textThe regulatory and operating context of energy networks is dynamic and constantly evolving. Achieving a multitude of economic, environmental, social and policy objectives is a challenging task for the sector regulators. In 2010, the UK energy regulator Ofgem replaced its approach to energy network price control and incentive regulation with a Revenue-Incentive-Innovation-Output (RIIO-1) model. This paper reviews the incentive areas that influence the performance of the next version of the model (RIIO-2). Guided by the principals of regulatory economics and evidence in the literature, we discuss key aspects of the regulation model that be revised by the regulator. The lessons of experience from the RIIO models are also relevant for regulators in other countries and can inform their design of incentive regulation of energy networks
The Architectural Enablement of a Digital Platform Strategy
No full textFacing the opportunities and threats arising from digitalization, traditional brick-and-mortar
companies are increasingly following the lead of digital natives and seeking speed in the
development of digital value propositions. This ability hinges on the flexibility and evolvability of
each company’s existing information systems landscape. As a result, the underlying architecture
has turned into a crucial determinant of a company’s proficiency to leverage the business
potential induced by new inventions in digital technologies.
This PhD thesis elaborates on the digitalization journey of the LEGO Group to investigate how
companies create innovation-enabling platform architectures to overcome previous limitations to
digital innovation as well as international expansion. Based on the theoretical findings from four
individual research papers, the pervasive analysis presented in this thesis explains the
phenomenon of architecting from a configurational perspective. The research results provide a
contingent conceptual understanding of the mechanisms through which architecture decisionmaking
produces innovation-enabling or -constraining outcomes for the overall platform
architecture.
Portraying Enterprise Architecture (EA) as a central mechanism to guide the transformational
journey, the four individual research papers explain (1) how the dynamic capability of EA can be
built, (2) how EA as a function drives a company’s platformization journey, and (3) how this
transformation removes previous barriers to digital innovation as well as internationalization
into digitized markets
Dynamic Volatility Connectedness in the Irish and Great Britain Markets
No full textThis study investigates the volatility connectedness between the Irish and Great Britain electricity markets and how it is driven by changes in energy policy, institutional structures and political ideologies. We assess various aspects of this volatility connectedness including static (unconditional) vs dynamic (conditional), symmetric vs asymmetric characteristics between 2009 and 2018. We find that volatility connectedness is time varying and is significantly affected by important events, policy reforms or market redesigns such as Brexit, oil price slump, increasing share of renewables, and fluctuations in the exchange rates. Our asymmetric analysis shows that the magnitude of the good volatility connectedness is marginally larger than that of the bad volatility connectedness. Our result suggests that good volatility levels would be even higher once the Irish market adopts the carbon price floor. Therefore, supporting renewable generation by setting an appropriate carbon price in interconnected wholesale electricity markets will improve market integration
An ethnographic study of business ethics in a multinational biopharmaceutical company
No full textToday’s business world is increasingly globalized and increasingly complex and therefore requires
companies to operate across multiple countries, cultures and modes of work. Companies are met with
demands from shareholders and civil society to manage their business in a responsible and ethical way,
and social media channels will ensure broadcasting of companies who fail to comply with these
requests no matter where they operate. Companies are therefore keen to live up to corporate ethical
standards and communicate to their environments about their ethical business conduct. Sometimes,
such efforts materialize into ‘ethics offices’, which are corporate functions with the responsibility for
‘ethics programs’ that are put in place to ensure ethical conduct within companies.
With empirical point of departure in one such ethics program in one company and theoretical point of
departure in the concept of ‘Recontextualization’ and ‘Ordinary Ethics’, this study investigates what
happens when an ethics program travels to business units abroad and how it is recontextualized within
these new national contexts. The study explores business ethics as a practical endeavor within different
‘vocational communities of practice’ in the company and further investigates how the ethics program is
interpreted and enacted within these communities.
The aim is to contribute to academic communities with a theoretically and empirically founded
understanding of ethics as practice and of local interpretations of a business ethics program. The aim is
also to contribute with insights for companies who seek to ensure adherence to such ethics programs
across complex organizations
Making up leaders in leadership development
No full textToday, public and private organizations have increasingly turned to management and leadership development, seeking to advance their respective organizations under the assumption that leadership development programmes (LDPs) enable participants to develop their leadership capacity. As such, this capacity, whether on the individual or collective level, is cultivated through a number of techniques often associated with corporate HR, including personality profiling, 360-degree surveys, coaching, mentoring and stretch assignments. These activities usually require the participant to engage in exploring questions pertaining to herself and her organization, such as ‘Who am I as a leader?’ ‘What is important in my organization right now?’ ‘What kind of leader is needed in my organization?’ ‘What do I need to become such a leader?’ At times, this involves working on participants’ experiences in the organization.
Most studies of leadership development assume that many components of such programmes exist independently of and prior to the programme. Such components include the participant’s identity, the instructors, the curricular material and the process of delivering a programme. In this instance ‘assume’ means orient to these components as if they were somehow produced outside the world of interactions. Studies inspired by French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984) question this assumption and try to unravel the historical processes by which the various components are themselves put together. An important way Foucault demonstrates these processes to work is through the very techniques for measuring, assessing and developing objects so endemic to, for instance, leadership development programmes. Other studies take a route into leadership development programmes on the premise of acknowledging the participant’s agency, even in the midst of regulation
