Tom Hagström | Stockholm University (original) (raw)

Papers by Tom Hagström

Autonomy of employees is one way to ensure the flexibility, adaptability and innovation competenc... more Autonomy of employees is one way to ensure the flexibility, adaptability and innovation competence needed in organisations working on a global market. This has to be dynamically balanced on a system level by integration of the employees into the organisation. Formulation and communication of an organisational culture is one way to integrate employees to an understanding of the work that increases the chances of co-ordinated behaviour towards the goal of the organisation. The aim of this article is to increase the knowledge about processes leading to integration of employees into the organizational culture. The hypothesis is that culture emerges in the interaction between members of a social group. Thus, the article is studying the importance of communication, the research questions are: What makes the culture of a work group similar to the organizational culture?, How is a work group culture constructed? and How is it possible that some members of the workgroup are integrated in the organizational culture while others are not? Theories used are about culture as an organizing structure emerging in interaction between actors, about organizational culture as a way for management to exert control, and about social networks as a way to describe the interaction processes is. The empirical data comes from a merchant bank in Sweden famous for: long term competitiveness, a decentralized organisation and the use of organizational culture. 105 respondents from ten work groups of this bank have answered questions about their communication and their integration into the organisational culture. The results show that communication between members of a group is a mechanism behind the development of the sub-culture of the group and the integration of each individual member into this subculture. There seems to be a self-reinforcing spiral between collegial talk, especially about goals, plans and changes at the work place, and culture integration. To build a strong subculture it is important to have all members of a group included in this communication, since persons in the periphery of the talk pattern tends to be less integrated. The value system of the group’s supervisor is strongly influencing the sub-culture of the work group. Thus, to hire supervisors with the correct values and giving resources to employees for communication is central for an organisation using organisational culture as a tool for control.

... Utförlig beskrivning. Författare: Wilhelmson, Lena; Backström, Tomas; Döös, Marianne; Göranss... more ... Utförlig beskrivning. Författare: Wilhelmson, Lena; Backström, Tomas; Döös, Marianne; Göransson, Susanna; Hagström, Tom. Titel: När jobbet är kul då går affärerna bra! : om individuellt välbefinnande och organisatorisk konkurrenskraft på banken. ...

Arbetsliv i omvandling, 2005

Introduktion Värderingar och arbetsvärderingar i ett samhälls-och genusperspektiv: Några överväga... more Introduktion Värderingar och arbetsvärderingar i ett samhälls-och genusperspektiv: Några överväganden och trender Tidigare forskning: Svenska studier Internationella studier Genusskillnader i arbetsvärderingar: Två antaganden Syfte och frågeställningar 11 Metod Undersökningsdeltagare och design Frågeformulär och skalor Statistiska analyser 15 Resultat 16 Gruppskillnader i arbetsvärderingar och deras stabilitet 16 Arbetsvärderingarnas intraindividuella stabilitet 20 Arbetslivserfarenheter Arbetserfarenhetsvariablernas totala inverkan på individuella värderingsförändringar Relationen mellan förändringar av individuella arbetsvärderingar och specifika arbetserfarenheter 22 Diskussion Några utgångspunkter Könsskillnader och deras förändringsbarhet: Tre tolkningar Arbetsvärderingar och arbetserfarenheter 32 Yrkessocialisationen inom minoritetskönen 34 Arbetsvärderingar och förändringsmekanismer: Några avslutande överväganden Sammanfattning 41

PubMed, 2013

Providing autonomy for employees ensures innovation competence if balanced by integration into th... more Providing autonomy for employees ensures innovation competence if balanced by integration into the organization. The aim of this article is to study processes leading to the integration of employees into the company culture. The two research questions are: What makes the culture of a work group similar to the company culture? How is a work group culture constructed? Theories that are employed concern culture as an organizing structure emerging in the interaction, company culture as a way to exert control, and social networks as a way to describe the interaction. Empirical data come from a merchant bank from which 105 respondents from ten work groups answered questions about their communication and their integration into the company culture. The results show that the sub-culture of the group emerges in communication between members of the group. There seems to be a self-reinforcing spiral between collegial talk, especially about goals, plans and changes at the work place, and cultural integration. All members of a group should be included in this communication to create a strong culture. The value system of the supervisor strongly influences the sub-culture of the work group. Appointing supervisors with values that correspond to the company culture and provide for employee communications is thus central for organizations using culture as a tool for control.

Journal of Adolescence, Aug 1, 1995

Springer eBooks, 2023

The original version of this book was inadvertently published without the expansion of the abbrev... more The original version of this book was inadvertently published without the expansion of the abbreviated term DIID in the first occurrence in respective chapters, which has now been expanded as 'Duality, Identity, Interactional, Dialectical'. The book has been updated with the change.

Bulletin Monumental, Apr 14, 2011

I det postindustriella arbetslivet framtrader tendensen att tidigare yttre regleringar av arbetet... more I det postindustriella arbetslivet framtrader tendensen att tidigare yttre regleringar av arbetet overgar till individers inre reglering vilket aktualiserar nya kompetensbehov och krav, framst i s. ...

DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Sep 1, 2015

Human development theories differ in "context sensitivity," covering those stressing development ... more Human development theories differ in "context sensitivity," covering those stressing development stages and those stressing continuously progressing changes. The former theories differ in whether, how and why the stages are regarded as being generalized across domains, i.e. their generality claims. Piaget's developmental stage theory of logical complexity of children and adolescents fulfill "strong" such claims, including fixed stage sequentiality of increasing complexity levels and higher stage structures integrating earlier ones. His theory has inspired a number of adult development stage theories with varying generality claims. These provide suggestions of stages and stage transitions reaching beyond "pure" cognition, integrating more of e.g. emotional, value and moral dimensions. From a neo-Piagetian perspective, core generality aspects seem to concern on the one hand logical reasoning and on the other hand meaningmaking. This raises questions of how these aspects are related to each other in terms of stage structures and transformations. The aim of the article is to discern general features in adult development stage structures and transitions, in terms of logical reasoning and meaning making. This is carried out by a "thought experiment" interrelating two theories that differ in these respects but that are both based on Piaget's theory, namely Robert Kegan's constructive developmental Subject-Object Theory (SOT) and Michael Common´s behaviouristic Model of Hierarchical Complexity (MHC). This comparing approach concerns the 3rd, 4th and 5th order of consciousness as well as transitions between these according to SOT, and order 9 to 12 and corresponding transitions according to MHC. The thought experiment indicates 1 Tom Hagström is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Education, Stockholm University, licensed Psychologist and formerly senior researcher at the Swedish National Institute for Working Life. His research and theoretical frame focuses people´s scope of action and development in instable and changing work related contexts e.g. rehabilitation, unemployment, school-work transition and socialization, boundaryless work and decentralization, integrating qualitative and quantitative aspects methodologically. He was one of the initiators of a Swedish adult developmental research network.

The Learning Organization, Apr 17, 2009

PurposeDecentralization and company cultures have emerged to master increasing external flexibili... more PurposeDecentralization and company cultures have emerged to master increasing external flexibility, as in a competitive bank in Sweden, raising issues of the sustainability in terms of competence and competence development. The purpose of this paper is to study how the staff members in a bank perceive a company culture and how this perception is related to background aspects (gender, age, etc.), and engagement in regular regulating activities decided by the company.Design/methodology/approachAn “abductive” approach inspired by action‐, adult developmental‐, complexity‐ and “holon” theory comprise a frame of reference applied on a multi‐methodological case study in progress, within which a survey distributed in the whole bank in Sweden has been analyzed in terms mainly of a multiple linear regression analysis.FindingsResults indicate strong integration in the company culture related to active engagements in regular and regulating activities. The regression analysis clearly indicates that the cultural integration is more influenced by those activities than by individual background variables. However, results also show more critical attitudes towards the culture. This may reflect both an individual developmental aspect and a generational aspect.Research limitations/implicationsResults are only one of many necessary contributions to a deeper multi‐methodological ongoing approach.Originality/valueThe approach combines different lines of reasoning and data providing both a broad an in‐depth elucidation of the issues studied.

Kluwer Academic Publishers eBooks, Dec 10, 2005

The objective of the study was to gain knowledge of the early work socialization of 498 nurses an... more The objective of the study was to gain knowledge of the early work socialization of 498 nurses and 307 engineers in the light of value changes and work experiences. The two groups were chosen to represent contrasting values and socialization conditions as well as typical and atypical gender influenced occupational choices. Questionnaires were completed at the end of their trainee

Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, Apr 1, 2007

Gender related changes of work values were analyzed in a longitudinal questionnaire study of 173 ... more Gender related changes of work values were analyzed in a longitudinal questionnaire study of 173 male and 48 female engineers and 353 female and 31 male nurses at three measurement occasions covering about four and half years from the end of their vocational education. At all occasions, Social relations were rated as more important by women than by men and Altruism was given higher ratings by the nurses than by the engineers. Within both occupations women's mean Altruism ratings were higher than men's mean ratings, and in all groups except male engineers the mean ratings dropped between the three occasions. Women's ratings of Benefits and career and Influence were strengthened in both occupations, thereby eliminating an initial gender difference. The stability of work values is discussed in terms of challenges and norms in working life.

Hallbarhet i belysning av foretagskultur, decentralisering och handlingskompetens. En presentatio... more Hallbarhet i belysning av foretagskultur, decentralisering och handlingskompetens. En presentation och diskussion av en pagaende fallstudie

Search: onr:"swepub:oai:DiVA.org:hig-2284" > Changeability and g... ... Changeabilit... more Search: onr:"swepub:oai:DiVA.org:hig-2284" > Changeability and g... ... Changeability and gender related challenges of work values. ... Hagström, Tom (author) Kjellberg, Anders, (author) Högskolan i Gävle, Institutionen för teknik och byggd miljö, Inomhusmiljö Högskolan i Gävle ...

Transformative learning in a decentralized organization with a strong company culture; a case stu... more Transformative learning in a decentralized organization with a strong company culture; a case study of a bank