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Tor Hernes

Professor

Subjects
Decision-making Change management Leadership Organisation Artificial intelligence Analysis Qualitative methods Green transition Psychology

Primary research areas

Or­gan­iz­a­tion­al time, con­tinu­ity change
How or­gan­iz­a­tions ad­dress chal­lenges of change and con­tinu­ity while ad­dress­ing mul­tiple time ho­ri­zons, inc
Time and tem­por­al­ity
I take a pro­cess view of time to un­der­stand how time is en­acted by people and or­gan­iz­a­tions through their on-go­ing activ­it­ies. This view al­lows for dif­fer­ent un­der­stand­ing than clock-based time views and of­fers nov­el un­der­stand­ing of the in­ter­play between or­gan­iz­a­tion­al change and con­tinu­ity.

Mak­ing people think dif­fer­ently about time and or­gan­iz­a­tion

Exploring how time can be used to understand the change-continuity interplay in organizations 

Organization and management research and practice have been dominated by linear views of time, mainly focusing on future opportunities and constraints. Linear views may be necessary, but they are insufficient to understand the contemporary world of emerging crises. My research and teaching is rooted in a process view of time. Rather than taking linear time for granted, I work with the idea of time—particularly the interplay between present, past and future–is continually conceived, negotiated, and enacted in organizations. Such a view enables understanding of time as the very essence of organizing and not merely a liners back-drop for organizing.  

Taking this view has enabled me to publish papers in top-tier journals on organizational phenomena, such strategy, identity, narrative, change, projects, resilience, and sustainability. My theoretical contributions have appeared in books, where I have developed ideas from thinkers in philosophy and sociology. By engaging with foundational ideas I have been able to show the importance of thinking differently about time and temporality  in today’s context.  

I enjoy taking some of these ideas to the class-room, and it is a pleasure to see how experienced managers in our executive programme become energized by adopting a different time lens to challenges such as strategic change.  

Recent research projects

The Tem­por­al­ity of Food In­nov­a­tion

The pro­ject, fin­anced by the Velux Found­a­tion, aimed at ad­van­cing the un­der­stand­ing of the tem­por­al­ity of in­nov­a­tions, ex­plain­ing how nov­elty is cre­ated as act­ors en­gage with (re-)in­vent­ing the past to fa­cil­it­ate the emer­gence and in­sti­tu­tion­al­iz­a­tion of nov­el prac­tices for the fu­ture. The pro­ject ana­lysed in­nov­a­tions at dif­fer­ent levels (or­gan­iz­a­tion, event, and field) in the Dan­ish food sec­tor as a par­tic­u­lar field of or­gan­iz­a­tion­al and in­sti­tu­tion­al act­ors.

Mak­ing Dis­tant Fu­tures Ac­tion­able

There is an ur­gent need to un­der­stand how com­pan­ies make dis­tant fu­tures ac­tion­able, cre­at­ing a path for­ward. This chal­lenge is at the core of the Ac­tion­able Fu­tures Pro­ject, fin­anced by the Novo Nor­d­isk Found­a­tion. The pro­ject stud­ies Dan­ish com­pan­ies in dif­fer­ent in­dus­tries, which are among the early movers in the ef­forts to cre­ate a zero-car­bon fu­ture. The com­pan­ies com­prise Ørsted in en­ergy; Arla in foods, and Novo Nor­d­isk in life-sci­ence. In each com­pany, we study on­go­ing pro­jects with the po­ten­tial for reach­ing dis­tant fu­ture cli­mate goals such as how off-shore wind­farms may cre­ate nature-based solu­tions in mar­ine biod­iversity; how an­im­al-based farm­ing may be­come re­gen­er­at­ive across dif­fer­ent loc­al eco­sys­tems; and how de­vel­op­ing cir­cu­lar solu­tions for the re­cyc­ling of med­ic­al plastic waste can be­come re­source­ful on a glob­al scale.
Link to COT

Outside activities

Tor Hernes is ad­junct pro­fess­or at USN Busi­ness School, Uni­ver­sity of South-East­ern Nor­way , -