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Manager's task to support integrated autonomy at the workplace: Results from an intervention
School for Innovation, Design and Technology, Mälardalen University, Sweden.
Dalarna University, School of Technology and Business Studies, Occupational science.
School for Innovation, Design and Technology, Mälardalen University, Sweden.
Department of Education, Stockholm University, Sweden.
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2013 (English)In: International Journal of Business and Management, ISSN 1833-3850, E-ISSN 1833-8119, Vol. 8, no 22, p. 20-31Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

A new managerial task arises in today’s working life: to provide conditions for and influence interaction between actors and thus to enable the emergence of organizing structure in tune with a changing environment. We call this the enabling managerial task. The goal of this paper is to study whether training first line managers in the enabling managerial task could lead to changes in the work for the subordinates. This paper presents results from questionnaires answered by the subordinates of the managers before and after the training. The training was organized as a learning network and consisted of eight workshops carried out over a period of one year (September 2009–June 2010), where the managers met with each other and the researchers once a month. Each workshop consisted of three parts, during three and a half hours. The first hour was devoted to joint reflection on a task that had been undertaken since the last workshop; some results were presented from the employee pre-assessments, followed by relevant theory and illuminating practices, finally the managers created new tasks for themselves to undertake during the following month. The subordinates’ answers show positive change in all of the seventeen scales used to assess it. The improvements are significant in scales measuring the relationship between the manager and the employees, as well as in those measuring interaction between employees. It is concluded that the result was a success for all managers that had the possibility of using the training in their management work.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2013. Vol. 8, no 22, p. 20-31
Keywords [en]
integration, autonomy, manager, enabling, communication, dialogue, improvisation
National Category
Work Sciences
Research subject
Complex Systems – Microdata Analysis, Attraktiv Konkurrenskraft
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:du-17095DOI: 10.5539/ijbm.v8n22p20OAI: oai:DiVA.org:du-17095DiVA, id: diva2:793624
Projects
Regisserad Kompetensutveckling
Funder
VINNOVAAvailable from: 2015-03-09 Created: 2015-03-09 Last updated: 2022-10-19Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Epistemology of practice and its consequences in practice: Educating for knowing-in-action in working life
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Epistemology of practice and its consequences in practice: Educating for knowing-in-action in working life
2021 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Education and competence development are of increased interest in today’s society and organizations, to increase the wellbeing, lifelong learning, and mobility of the labor force, and contribute to companies’ global competition. As a consequence, formal and informal education is growing. However, there are dilemmas when developing professional competence e.g. bridging the gap between theory and practice, trying to increase employability in higher education, and the degradation of professionals’ knowledge. These dilemmas can partly be due to epistemology and the difficulty to act in accordance with one’s epistemology. Previous research has presented Technical Rationality (TR) as the cause of the problems and an epistemology of practice as an alternative approach. 

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to a deeper understanding of a holistic epistemology, i.e. what an epistemology of practice is, and its consequences for the view of professional competence and educational design in different contexts. Beyond this, the aim is also to analyze the quality of learning needed to reassess one’s epistemology. The theoretical framework is based on Schön’s work on epistemology of practice, the competence of a professional i.e. knowing-in-action, and educational design i.e. the reflective practicum. Mezirow’s theory of Transformative Learning (TL) is used to analyze the quality of learning. 

The four included studies are used as examples of different educational situations in different contexts; in Studies Ι and ΙΙΙ how managers in a research intervention learn to become enabling managers, in Study ΙΙ, how pupils in a vocational school are learning to minimize work environment risks in their future work, and in Study ΙV how HR students learn to foster collective learning within organizations. 

The results show the importance of being aware of one’s epistemology, and to act according to it. From an epistemology of practice approach, the overall conclusion is that adding practice is not enough, it is important to balance theory, practice, and reflection to enable knowing-in-action. The role of the teacher/supervisor to handle both theory, practice and reflection using reflection-in/on-action and coaching strategies such as joint experimentation, follow me and hall of mirrors to enable knowing-in-action is emphasized. The design of an education needs to be adapted to the participants’ former experiences and access to work practice. To enable reassessment of epistemology, TL is proposed, since a quality of learning which enables deep learning is needed. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Västerås: Mälardalen University, 2021
National Category
Learning Work Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:du-42860 (URN)978-91-7485-521-0 (ISBN)
Public defence
2021-10-29, Delta samt via Zoom, Mälardalens Högskola, Västerås, 10:00 (Swedish)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2022-10-19 Created: 2022-10-19 Last updated: 2023-03-17Bibliographically approved

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