enmioa
Department of Organization
- People and Organizing (PnO)

My primary research interests center on the psychological dimensions of work relationships among professionals.
My research delves into the hidden dynamics of conflict in organizations, where I employ qualitative methods such as ethnography and in-depth interviews to generate nuanced, context-sensitive analyses. I have made significant contributions to advancing our understanding of the unspoken and unconscious mechanisms that underpin organizational conflict.
Another major theme in my research explores the role of emotions in organizations, challenging traditional notions that confine emotions to internal, individual experiences. Drawing on rich empirical case studies of prisons, health care, and law enforcement, my work highlights the profound influence of emotions on professional collaboration and organizational performance. My most significant contribution lies in shifting the understanding of emotions beyond an individual-centric framework to reveal their power as an organizing force.
In addition to my engagement in these research areas, I maintain an active interest in the role of gradeless learning in the academic development of university students.
I was a SCANCOR Visiting Scholar at Harvard University from 2023 to 2024.
I currently serve as Study Director for the MSc program in Business Administration and Psychology.
- Work relationships and hidden conflict in organizations
- Emotions in organizations
- Organizational sensemaking and narrative theory
- Systems psychodynamic and the sociology of emotions
- Qualitative methodology, etnography
Study Director for the MSc program in Business Administration and Psychology
Member of the Study Board for the executive program of Master of Management Development (MMD)
Coordinator of the People and Organizing (PnO) Research Group
Master Thesis Supervision:
Thesis supervisor at the MSc in Business Administration and Psychology (PSYK)
PhD Supervision:
- Linda Nørgaard Madsen (Department of Organization, CBS) (2023-)
- Marie Arnbak-Hartzberg (Department of Organization, CBS) (completed in 2025)
- Tobias Berggren Jensen (Department of Organization, CBS) (completed in 2023)
PhD Assesment Committees:
- Elisabet Skov Nielsen, Department of Organization, CBS (grad. 2025), Chair of committee
- Carlos Eduardo De Lima, Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo, da Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), Brazil (grad. 2024), Member of committee
- Katharina Christiane Jeschke, Department of Organization, CBS (grad. 2022), Chair of committee
- Jakob Rømer Barfodm, Department of Organization, CBS (grad. 2021), Chair of committee
- Christian Dyrlund Wålin-Jacobsen, the National Research Centre for the Working Environment and the Department of Organization, CBS (grad. 2019), Chair of committee
Assistant Professor Supervision:
Supervisor in the Higher Education Teaching Excellence Programme (HETEP)
Master thesis Module, MSc in Business Administration and Psychology (PSYK)
Master thesis Module, MSc in Human Resource Management (HRM)
Leadership and organizing, Executive Master in Management Development (MMD)
Co-management, Executive Master in Public Governance (MPG)
Annemette Kjærgaard, Julie Buhl-Wiggers & Elisabeth Naima Mikkelsen (2024): Does Gradeless Learning Affect Students’ Academic Performance? A Study of Effects Over Time. Studies in Higher Education, 49(2): 336-350.
Annemette Kjærgaard, Elisabeth Naima Mikkelsen & Julie Buhl-Wiggers (2023): The Gradeless Paradox: Emancipatory Promises but Ambivalent Effects of Gradeless Learning in Business Education. Management Learning, 54(4): 556-575.
Elisabeth Naima Mikkelsen (2022): Looking over your shoulder: Embodied responses to contamination in the emotional dirty work of prison officers. Human Relations, 75(9): 1770-1797.
Elisabeth Naima Mikkelsen (2022): Organizational perspectives on boring prison work: Between emancipation and paranoia. Organization, 29(5): 816-838.
Elisabeth Naima Mikkelsen, Barbara Gray & Anne Petersen (2020). Unconscious processes of organizing: Intergroup conflict in mental health care. Journal of Management Studies, 57(7): 1355-1383. Special issue: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Publication of Karl Weick’s The Social Psychology of Organizing.
Elisabeth Naima Mikkelsen & Didde Maria Humle (2020). Dynamics of overt and covert conflict in organizations: The power of organizational identity. Group and Organization Management, 45(6): 768–807.
The paper was awarded Best Qualitative Paper in 2020 by Group and Organization Management.
Elisabeth Naima Mikkelsen & Randi Wåhlin (2020). Dominant, hidden and forbidden sensemaking: the politics of ideology and emotions in diversity management. Organization, 27(4): 557-577.
Elisabeth Naima Mikkelsen & Stewart Clegg (2019). Conceptions of conflict in organizational conflict research: towards critical reflexivity, Journal of Management Inquiry, 28(2): 166-179.
Elisabeth Naima Mikkelsen (2013): An analysis of the social meanings of conflict in nonprofit organizations, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 42(5): 33-49.
Paper presented at The 27th Nordic Academy of Management (NFF) Conference 2024, 2024
In: Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 49, No. 2, 2.2024, p. 336-350
In: Journal of Organization Design, Vol. 13, No. 4, 12.2024, p. 147-162
In: Partnervold og partnerdrab: Samfundets blinde vinkel. . ed. /Trine Baumbach; Linda Kjær Minke; Tine Søberg. København : Djøf Forlag 2024, p. 485-505
In: Violence Against Women, Vol. 30, No. 8, 6.2024, p. 1959-1983
Paper presented at 39th EGOS Colloquium 2023, 2023
In: Ephemera: Theory & politics in organization, Vol. 23, No. 1, 4.2023, p. 201-215
In: Management Learning, Vol. 54, No. 4, 9.2023, p. 556-575
Abstract from EARLI SIG 1 & 4 Joint Conference 2022, 2022
In: Human Relations, Vol. 75, No. 9, 9.2022, p. 1770-1797
In: Organization, Vol. 29, No. 5, 9.2022, p. 816-838
Paper presented at 38th EGOS Colloquium 2022, 2022
In: German Journal of Human Resource Management / Zeitschrift für Personalforschung, Vol. 36, No. 3, 8.2022, p. 205-212
In: Journal of Organizational Ethnography, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2021, 6 p., p. 1-6
Paper presented at 37th EGOS Colloquium 2021, 2021
Paper presented at The Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2021, 2021
In: Proceedings of the Eighty-first Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management. ed. /Sonia Taneja. Briarcliff Manor, NY : Academy of Management 2021, 1 p. (Academy of Management Proceedings)
In: Nordisk Tidsskrift for Kriminalvidenskab, Vol. 108, No. 2, 2021, p. 327–342
In: Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 33, No. 7, 2020, p. 1401-1415
In: Organization, Vol. 27, No. 4, 7.2020, p. 557-577
In: Group & Organization Management, Vol. 45, No. 6, 12.2020, p. 768–807
In: Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 57, No. 7, 11.2020, p. 1355-1383
In: The Routledge Companion to Anthropology and Business. ed. /Raza Mir; Anne-Laure Fayard. New York : Routledge 2020, p. 295-315 (Routledge Companions in Business, Management and Marketing)
In: Journal of Management Inquiry, Vol. 28, No. 2, 4.2019, p. 166-179
In: Managing and Organizations: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. . ed. /Stewart R. Clegg; Martin Kornberger; Tyrone S. Pitsis; Matt Mount. London : SAGE Publications 2019, p. 221-252
Paper presented at 13th Organization Studies Workshop , 2018
Paper presented at The 34th EGOS Colloquium 2018, 2018
In: Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, Vol. 11, No. 3, 8.2018, p. 185-203
Paper presented at 35th International Labour Process Conference, 2017
Paper presented at 34th International Labour Process Conference, 2016
In: Doing Organizational Ethnography. ed. /Anne Reff Pedersen; Didde Maria Humle. New York : Routledge 2016, p. 17-39 (Routledge Studies in Management, Organizations and Society, No. 38)
In: Managing & Organizations: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. . ed. /Stewart Clegg; Martin Kornberger; Tyrone Pitsis. London : SAGE Publications 2016, p. 237-258
Paper presented at 34th International Labour Process Conference, 2016
In: Tidsskrift for Arbejdsliv, Vol. 18, No. 3, 2016, p. 9-27
In: International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. ed. /James D. Wright. Vol. 2, Amsterdam : Elsevier 2015, p. 639–643
In: Tidsskrift for Arbejdsliv, Vol. 16, No. 2, 6.2014, p. 82-98
In: Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2013, p. 33-49
In: Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 5, 2013, p. 923-941
In: Danish Medical Bulletin (Online), Vol. 60, No. 9, 2013
In: Ugeskrift for Laeger, Vol. 175, No. 40, 30.9.2013, p. 2342
In: Journal of Conflictology, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2012, p. 7-17
Paper presented at The Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2012, 2012
Vol. 43.2012, Frederiksberg : Copenhagen Business School [Phd] 2012, 243 p. (PhD series, No. 43.2012)
In: Politiken, 11.6.2025, p. 5-6
2021
In: Fængselsfuntionæren, Vol. 1, 2018, p. 20-21
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2024
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EVA
Consultancy (10 hours)
EVA Evalueringsinstitut (10 hours)
2021
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2020