«Vi vil børste vekk asken, men holde liv i ilden.» En kvalitativ studie av et mentorprogram for unge idrettsledere1

Norwegian sports today are characterized on the one hand by a need to innovate organizationally and rethink current practices, and on the other hand to respect national traditions and values of sporting culture. This dual responsibility poses a particular challenge to sports leaders of tomorrow. Whereas other studies have examined sports management education or sports leadership qualities as solutions to this challenge, this chapter examines the potential of a mentoring program to improve leadership skills. It draws upon qualitative interviews with participants, mentors and organizers of the 2019/2020 Mentor Program for Young Sport Leaders offered by the Norwegian Federation of Sports (NIF) and the Norwegian Association of Student Sports (NSI). Our findings reveal that this program enables young sports leaders to become more aware of their personal strengths and weaknesses. At the same time, the transfer value they represent to the organization is conditioned by prior experience, attendance motives and mentee-mentor relations. Consequently, this program reproduces known pros and cons found in earlier research on mentoring programs, yet offers something new in the sense that it allows young leaders to be part of the solution to issues in Norwegian sports by defining the relevant problems.

Gårsdagens suksess – morgendagens begrensning? Strategisk relevant handlingsrom: En rikere forståelse av leders handlingsrom

Managerial discretion is said to be a fundamental condition for effective leadership. Studies of managerial discretion have to a large degree focused on the magnitude of managers’ discretion and how different factors influence managers’ perceived level of discretion (Hambrick, 2007; Hambrick & Finkelstein, 1987; Hutzschenreuter & Kleindienst, 2013). In this chapter, we argue that it is insufficient to study the size of managers’ room for discretion. We also need to understand the content included in leaders’ discretionary rooms. In a study of ten successful logistics companies, one of which was studied more in-depth, we find that the managers perceive their room for managerial discretion as large. However, the alternatives considered are to a large extent operational and short-term, at the expense of more long-term, strategically relevant alternatives facing future challenges. Hence, we develop the concept “strategically relevant managerial discretion”, which, in addition to the alternatives that managers are aware of and that are acceptable for the mangers’ stakeholders, also includes a new dimension: to what extent the alternatives are strategically relevant for future challenges. We conclude the chapter by pointing out interesting directions for future research, including a call for empirical studies of the conceptual model developed in this chapter.

Business Model Transformation of Legacy Newspapers in The Age of The Digital Attention Economy

This chapter explores ways in which legacy newspapers may transform their business and operational models to ensure profitability and protect journalistic ideals. This transformation is explored through the lens of Norwegian media company Amedia, an early innovator. Our analysis sheds light on the ways in which the industry has come to understand the digital attention economy as defined through key innovations initiated by Google and Facebook. At Amedia, these innovations paved the way for a major corporate turnaround in which data harvesting and AI play major roles. The turnaround is still ongoing after seven years, but preliminary conclusions can be drawn. Within an ecological view of organizational adaption, this chapter proposes six theses about design requirements and transformation for legacy newspapers and concludes with four key findings: a) survivability will be difficult without the implementation of a new AI-operational model and business model built on software, b) a space is emerging that supports profitable quality journalism with strong commitments to veracity and fairness, c) most outlets still need advertising revenue to achieve profitability, and d) roles and skill-sets of top managers and journalists are undergoing major changes.

Forgrønning av motorsport gjennom innovativ eventledelse. En casestudie av Zürich E Prix 2018

This chapter argues that event management and co-creation of green values require a different approach to and evaluative criteria for success than traditional ones. To substantiate this claim we turn to motorsports, which in relation to green values traditionally has been an adversary. With the advent of Formula E, a world championship for all-electric racing cars looking like those in Formula 1, this relation has been changed. Since its inauguration in 2014, the championship has continuously operationalized its vision of combining door-to-door racing with eco-friendly technology. One of the solutions has been to rethink event organization when hosting races, racing only in cities to reduce the ecological footprint from participants, spectators, sponsors and the media. The effects of this strategy were confirmed in 2019 when Formula E became the only motorsport championship in the world to be granted ISO20121 certification. Part of the explanation was that the urban localization of races makes it possible to integrate event offerings (e.g. partnership with universities, investor celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, and entrepreneurs like Elon Musk) with the championship’s aim of contributing to smart city development and a green shift. Based on a qualitative case study of the 2018 Zürich E Prix, the Swiss Formula E event, this chapter therefore introduces lessons for event managers on how to combine the characteristics of track-based racing, commercial requirements, and urban development.

Arbeidsinkludering: En organisatorisk diamant

Increased work-life exclusion of individuals with limited working abilities or special needs as a result of physical, mental or linguistic limitations is a significant societal challenge. Work inclusion is highlighted as the most effective measure for solving this challenge. In this context, work inclusion is defined as the inclusion of individuals with reduced work capacity or increased facilitation needs in ordinary workplaces. Research on work inclusion has mainly focused on what it takes for vulnerable individuals to succeed in organisational life. However, there is limited knowledge on the potential effects of work inclusion for organisations as a whole. This chapter seeks to expand the knowledge regarding these potential effects. Therefore, we take a closer look at how work inclusion affects ordinary employees motivation, commitment, leadership abilities, work environment and organisational success. By combining existing litterature from different fields of research, we have developed a preliminary theoretical framework and a model that illustrates the positive internal effects of work inclusion. This chapter will therefore contribute to greater understanding of how work inclusion can be a strategic tool for providing positive development for organisations.

Frelsere eller parasitter? Ledermotiver for bruk av IT-konsulenter

The high degree of digitalization in Norway depends on external IT-consultants working on internal projects in private firms as well as in public organizations. This is partly because of organizations’ need for key skills, and partly because of the need for the flexibility. The consultants are employed in flexible non-standard employment contracts with their customers, but usually have standard employment contracts with their “real” employer: the consulting firm. While managers in the customer (focal) firms highly appreciate the key competences and flexibility in these arrangements, they are also concerned about losing control of their own strategic choices, due to their own lack of competence. They also worry about how internal budget and decision procedures fuel the use of consultants, on behalf of building internal competencies by recruiting more of their own standard employment staff.

Selvledelse som mulighet i kunnskapsorganisasjoner: Trengs andre selvledelsesstrategier?

Self-leadership is an increasingly current topic, not only for the sake of scholarly study and research, but not least for practical application in modern organizations. The fundamental idea of self-leadership is that employees can take on responsibility for many of the influence processes normally carried out by leaders and leadership systems. Knowledge workers is a category of employees who might be particularily in need of self-leadership, as their work is typically unstructured, cognitively taxing, and requires the right kind of mix between alone time and extensive collaboration. How to prioritize the right types of tasks, make sure to involve the right people at the right time and protect oneself from collaboration overload, generosity burnout or other types of overwork, are examples of dilemmas facing knowledge workers in their everyday working lives. Research and theoretical contributions addressing the particular concerns and needs related to knowledge workers’ self-leadership, however, are limited. In this chapter, we discuss some of the most pressing issues in relation to self-leadership by knowledge workers and present several strategies that may assist and equip them with suitable self-leadership skills and capabilities. One of the main takeouts from this review is that behavioral and structural strategies should be prioritized over cognitive ones. Moreover, senior and experienced workers should make more use of the autonomy available to them by making sure they work in a sustainable manner, as well as role-modeling such behaviors and serving as coaches and mentors for more inexperienced workers.

Oppdragsbasert ledelse: Ledelse og styring gjennom intensjoner

In recent decades we have seen examples of how some organizations lack the capabilities necessary to maneuver in times of uncertain, rapidly changing and unstable environments. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the importance of the ability to make quick responses to changing environments became evident. In a military context, dealing with such unstable circumstances has been commonplace for some hundred years. Based on this observation, we seek to answer the following questions: What can we learn from the military concept mission command that can have an impact on leadership in civilian organizations? In order to answer these questions, we first discuss and define the concept of mission command. Using document analysis and participatory observation, we define mission command as a leadership concept and examine examples of mission command leadership styles in civilian organizations. Furthermore, we discuss whether classic leadership theory includes important characteristics of mission command. Main findings include what civilian organizations can learn from how military units have maneuvered in uncertain and complex environments, and secondly, how mission command is based on an understanding of how leadership is an organizational capability. This article focuses on the leader as part of an organizational system, and not the “heroic perspective” of the leader in person. We conclude by suggesting developing intention-based leadership as a theoretical concept for civilian use of the military leadership philosophy.

Hvordan påvirker tillit og psykologisk trygghet implementering av radikale endringer? En casestudie av digital tjenesteteknologi

Studies of radical change pay more attention to early phases of the change processes than to later phases and implementation. Research that can contribute to a deeper understanding of factors that influence the implementation of such changes is therefore called for. The purpose of this chapter is to increase the insight and understanding of how trust and psychological safety impact implementation of radical changes. To meet this purpose, we raise the following research questions: 1) What are the differences and similarities between the concepts of trust and psychological safety? 2) How does trust and psychological safety influence implementation of radical changes in organizations? To answer the first question, we start by conducting a review of the literature on trust and psychological safety in part one. Although both concepts are widely used, the observable level of precision and understanding of the concepts varies. Our review reveals that the concepts are popular and quite closely related, yet there are also important differences worth noticing. To answer the second research question, we apply the insight from part one to discuss a conceptual case, well-known to many organizations in current business life; the implementation of radical new service technology. The discussion reveals that both trust and psychological safety play important, but somewhat different roles in top-down and bottom-up organized radical and adaptive change processes respectively.