SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Business Administration
No 2006:11:
How to manage people who think. A structural approach.
Carina Beckerman ()
Abstract: This is a paper about creativity, diversity and other
often used buzzwords. It is also a paper about how to manage people who
think. Today we live in a world in which computers and mobile phones have
become the key artifacts. Nokia´s slogan ”connecting people” expresses in a
brilliant way what it is all about. When we connect people information is
transfered and new knowledge hopefully created. And innovations, ideas and
individuals are central for everything that takes place. We are all
supposed to be flexible, exercising our knowledge in a setting
characterized by diversity. This setting is also characterized by paradoxes
that I will write more about further down. But transformations such as the
globalization and implementing of new information technology race crucial
questions about how to deal with a changing economic landscape and new
mindsets and changing attitudes. The pages that follow is based on
extensive reading of the literature and participating in many conferences
and work-shops. In addition to this I have interviewed managers and
employees at Electrolux, Ericsson, TeliaSonera and The Confederation of
Swedish Enterprise. I have asked people in the above mentioned
organizations how they react to concepts such as the knowledge society and
the practice of managing knowledge, creativity, diversity and flexibility.
This paper is written with a Scandinavian perspective. It is also written
with a social constructionist perspective. The theoretical framework
includes theories about knowledge management, structuration theory and
cognitive theories. The findings are based on interpretative research and I
have systematically reflected over the material I have collected. I direct
myself towards people in business who think and worry about the future. The
purpose is to inspire to further discussions about these very important
matters.
Keywords: Knowledge management; structuration theory; knowledge society; globalization; creativity; diversity; flexibility.; (follow links to similar papers)
50 pages, November 21, 2006
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