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ssv.ioa@cbs.dk

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Office: +4538152827

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Institut for Organisation

Room: KIL/14.A-4.94

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Emner

Organisation Centralisering Decentralisering Forandringsledelse Teknologi Sociologi Historie

Primary research areas

History of organization theory

A longstanding interest in my research is how ideas of organization have emerged and developed within organization theory. I am interested in changes in its conceptual repertoire, the self-understanding of organization scholars, and its relationship to adjacent academic disciplines. My current project traces the role of organizational charts and diagrams as “tools of the intellect” in shaping concepts of organization and in making organizations available for analysis, planning, and management.

Formal organization

A second strand of research concerns how ideas of organization are translated into formal arrangements and principles of governance. My research examines the changing meanings of formal organization and the practical consequences of formalization, including what happens when formal arrangements are inadequate, ambiguous, or contested. Empirically, I have studied these questions in areas such as the organization of anti-money laundering in banks and the management of innovation partnerships.

Organizational change

A third area of my research concerns organizational change, both as an empirical phenomenon and as a concept in organization theory. I have studied concrete change processes in healthcare, including the consequences of electronic patient records for professional roles, responsibilities, and risks in the hospital. I have also addressed how change is conceptualized, including a tendency to treat “change” as a given and unspecified entity rather than examining what changes, how, and with what organizational consequences.

Making organization

I am Professor of Science, Technology, and Organization, with a background in social psychology from the University of Copenhagen and a PhD in Organization and Management Studies from Copenhagen Business School.

My research examines organization and organizational change in theory and practice. A longstanding interest is formal organization - its changing meanings in organization theory and the role of formal arrangements and principles in the practical management and governance of organizations. I also study the organizational consequences of new technologies and strategies, particularly changes in roles, responsibilities, coordination, and risks. A third interest is the history of organization theory, including changes in its concepts, tools, and ways of understanding organization.

Empirically, I have studied these questions in healthcare, manufacturing, innovation partnerships, and banking, including the consequences of electronic patient records for medical work and the organization of anti-money laundering. My current research examines the history of organizational charts and diagrams as “tools of the intellect” for developing concepts of organization and for planning and managing organizations. I draw particularly on organization theory, STS, pragmatism, and historical epistemology, and use qualitative and archival methods, including ethnography, interviews, documents, and artifacts.

I teach and supervise within organization and management studies, currently, "Management of teams and processes" and "Research management".

I have served as research leader or core member of four externally funded collaborative research projects and supervised 18 PhD students. My leadership experience includes seven years as Head of Department and my current role as Head of Studies for the master’s programmes in Organization, Strategy, Leadership and People. I also serve as a member of the Social Sciences Research Council under Independent Research Fund Denmark.

Recent research projects

“Seeing Organization: The Socio-Material History of the Organizational Chart”

The project addresses the role of the organizational chart in society and explores the chart’s entanglement with changing modes of representational practices, shifts in organization and management theory, and transformations in work, production, capital, and regulation.

“Formal Organization – Past, Present, and Future”

The project addresses formal organization as a contested topic in organization and management theory, organizational sociology, and psychology and discusses the implications of this disagreement.