This study investigates ethical tension situations that municipal managers face in their everyday working life by identifying the occurrence and nature of such situations, their contextual and organizational dependence and what resources are available to handle and/or solve them. The study is based on in-depth qualitative interviews with 21 municipal managers from various sectors. In total, 222 ethical tension situations were revealed. The main finding of the study is the identification of the importance of contextual and organizational dependencies, regarding not only managers’ experience of ethical tensions but also the resolution of such tensions. In the paper a contextual model of managerial tensions is presented that gives account to the different logics, value systems, norms, regulations, and ethics, that make up the complex world in which municipal managers find themselves and need to handle.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to critically study the implementation and contextualization of the human resource transformation (HRT) management model within the human resources (HR) function of a global industrial company group.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative case study that includes two data collections.

Findings

Implementation of the HRT model led to tensions and conflicting interpretations of the mission of the HR function, and a “tug of war” about the distribution of work both within HR and between HR and line management. Splitting the HR function into three legs made the HR function's learning cycles more difficult. The corporate group had a decentralized and diverse business culture, and contextualization of the HRT model to this setting highlighted the model's embeddedness in the American business culture of centralization and standardization. Implementation of the model also entailed a transition from an employee to an employer perspective within HR.

Research limitations/implications

For an assessment of HR's total work other parts of the HRT model (Ulrich and Brockbank, 2005) need to be involved since HR professionals in the insourced or outsourced shared service center (SSC) and Center of Expertise (CoE) and the e-HR tools are equally important for executing the total HR's mission. Further studies of the problematic human resource business partner (HRBP) role are needed and also what the development of e-HR solutions means for the HR profession.

Practical implications

 The authors argue for a continuous development of HR work, along with closer professional contact both with line managers (LMs) and within the HR function, for improved learning cycles and a need for contextualization when implementing management models.

Social implications

The paper discusses the HRT model's impact on HR practitioners’ and LMs’ work practice.

Originality/value

This article shows the need for contextualization when implementing management models. The lack of such contextualization led to severe tensions, and the intentions of an efficient and respected HR function were not achieved. The study contributes an evaluation of the tensions between HRT as a normative and standardized model in business settings accustomed to variety and decentralized decision-making.

We make decisions based on our values and self-interest. In this article we are interested in motherhood and consumption. Today, fashion-interested mothers are active online sharing opinions and information on children´s clothing (Friedman 2013). By examining conversations in an Internet forum for mothers about children´s clothing the aim is to discover how they reason about motherhood and ethical values linked to their attempt to be good mothers in relation to gender norms and children´s participation. As our theoretical framework we use Bourdieu and Goffman. Based on posted messages in a Swedish internet forum we identified how mothers in their self presentations position themselves. Mothers create and develop different maternal identities through their discussions regarding consumption experiences (Goffman,1959/2006).

From the 1970s through the 1990s, Scandinavian work-life, especially in Sweden, was an international role model for work organization and industrial relations. Practices such as job enrichment, teamwork in semi-autonomous groups, multi-skilling, and long work cycles were commonplace. This article investigates if and how such practices, the Socio-Technical Systems model (STS), are still followed in Sweden after the arrival of lean production. The study was conducted at Scania, a Swedish heavy truck and bus manufacturer well-known for its innovative work organization and its previous use of a socio-technical work design. The study finds that as this production and management model has been substantially marginalized, a new model has emerged. The new model, inspired by the Toyota Production System and lean, is characterized by a line organization design, standardized work processes, daily control, all shorter cycle-times, permanent team leader positions, position ownership, and continuous improvement with rotation possibilities. This new model, Scania Production System (SPS), has enjoyed considerable success. Yet challenges remain with respect to employee commitment to work and their boredom with highly-paced, repetitive work, leading to an advocacy for more of a hybrid model between the SPS and the STS models. Although the study is performed in only one company it is an exemplar company in Sweden which has been highly influential also beyond the transportation industry. The article also expands the scientific knowledge of production systems by the help of a novel stakeholder model. The article’s contribution is its demonstration of current work organization practices and to what extent these represent continuity or new trajectories. Lean production has had a vigouous reception in Scania but there are problematic features that are distinct from a stakeholder model perspective.

The chapter summarizes the BP-Deepwater Horizon accident 2010 in the Mexican Gulf, which caused 11 deaths and the largest oil spill in history. The chapter builds on secondary sources and a resilience analysis is made using the theoretical framework developed in the book. It is described what the main causes of the accident were and the events that took place before, under and after the accident. The resilience analysis clearly shows that maintaining time limits and budget was made at the expense of reliability and safety, and that unnecessary risks were taken in order to improve project economy. The end results were one of the most costly human made disasters in the history (over 50 billion USD).

Today, fashion-interested mothers are active online sharing opinions and information on children’s clothing. As consumers they are involved in a variety of activities, participating in discussions, sharing knowledge with other mothers, and contributing to affect consumer behaviour. By examining conversations in five internet forums for mothers on children’s clothing the aim of this article is to discover various self-presentations of motherhood. As our theoretical framework we use Pierre Bourdieu and Erwin Goffman. Based on 284 posted messages in these internet forums we identified how mothers in their self-presentations position themselves by using different habitus and capital when it comes to children’s participation, gender norms, hierarchy and status. We also found some consumer uncertainty. The self-presentations can be seen both as ways to share experiences of motherhood and mothering, and as expressions of doing motherhood in public sphere. At times children become tools for impression management and mothers’ indirect self-presentations and extended selves. In doing so they use Bourdieu’s different kinds of capital. Children’s fashion is communicated both through writing and by showing photos, whereby the mothers contribute to how style and identity are created, both linguistically and visually. The present study provides a starting point for further research on how mother internet forums affect consumer behaviour and ethical debate about children’s being, becoming and belonging in relation to motherhood and the new media culture.

This chapter deals with the issue of stagnation in companies and how to halt such a spiral of stagnation. What does it take to turn such a company around to once again prosper and flourish? In addressing the topic of stagnation and resilience, the chapter describes how a fashion design company, under new ownership, after a long period of stagnation, turned near failure into vitality and renewal capacity. The analysis shows that economic, technical and social resources were used and combined in ways to ensure trust as a mediating factor. Lessons learned are that such a turnaround is likely to involve many of the following changes: debt restructuring, a long-term view of profitability, a remix of product lines, brand renewal, and revised strategies with customers and suppliers. Additionally, an investment in a more innovative organizational structure in which employees have more responsibility and where stating and sharing one’s ideas and opinions is not only a requirement but also a necessity.

This book puts forward a carefully crafted theoretical framework that makes a substantial contribution to the field of organizational resilience. It is a framework that goes far beyond the traditional crisis management perspective (accidents, scandals, etc) to an investigation of the characteristics and factors that make organizations viable over time. The book creates a much-needed link between human resource management and organizational development on the one hand, and the literature about risk and crises management and resilience engineering on the other.The book assembles several robust social science theories such as evolutionary theory, complexity theory, and institutional theory, as well as concepts from management theory such as followership, organizational trust, open innovation, and serendipity management into a coherent framework. It also integrates important models from the field of resilience engineering that have not previously been included in the research on organizational resilience. Several new models are used to present the theoretical framework, models that have relevance for researchers as well as practitioners. In addition to the theoretical framework, all chapters are set in various practical environments that both illustrate the use of resilience resources and align with the framework itself.