Andreas Diedrich

Exercising Social Responsibility in Downsizing: Enrolling and Mobilizing Actors at a Swedish High-Tech Company

This paper critically examines the claim made by previous research that companies exercise corporate social responsibility (CSR) by responding to stakeholder interests. It is based on a field study of the events following the announcement of collective redundancies at a Swedish high-tech company. Although more than 10,000 workers were dismissed, the company was accepted as being socially responsible. The study reveals that this outcome was the result of a process whereby corporate representatives managed to enrol and mobilize a network of actors into being faithful to, and defending, their definition of social responsibility. This indicates that a company can assume an active role in the construction of the same network of actors that it is asked to respond to and impose upon other actors its own definition of what it means to be socially responsible. As a result, the translation of CSR within the network of actors may reinforce the powerful position of the company, rather than curb it.

‘Who’s giving us the answers?’ Interpreters and the validation of prior foreign learning

This paper critically discusses the role of the interpreter in the validation of the prior learning of recent immigrants arriving in Sweden by drawing on a perspective from the sociology of translation. The recent immigrants’ difficulties with speaking the local language is usually described as the main problem when it comes to validating their prior learning. As a result, the use of interpreters is proposed to facilitate the assessment process. The current literature largely sees the interpreter’s role in the validation of prior foreign learning as unproblematic. The interpreter is described as a neutral means of transmitting the knowledge, skills and experience of the immigrant in an objective way to the assessor. In this paper I criticise this view of the interpreter as a neutral, objective tool. I argue that the role of the interpreter is not given, but enacted during the validation process. Furthermore, the study shows that, far from transmitting information from the immigrant to the assessor, the interpreter is profoundly implicated in the construction of the knowledge that materialises in the assessment results.

Translating validation of prior learning in practice

This article contributes to the critical literature in the field of validation of prior learning by framing the idea of validation as a tool for integrating immigrants in the labour market as concerning issues of organizational change. Using a perspective from the sociology of translation, I examine how the idea of validation is translated in practice as part of a labour market project run by municipal and state organizations in Western Sweden from 2006–2008. The project aimed at developing methods for validating recent immigrants’ prior learning to support more than 500 immigrants into employment. Based on an ethnographically inspired field study, I focus on how the validation procedure materializes as a result of the organizing practices in the project. The article suggests that the difficulties currently experienced in the work with validation of recent immigrants’ prior learning in Sweden may be explained by its emphasis on procedural efficiency over a more comprehensive understanding of the heterogeneous nature of the immigrants’ skills.

Sorting people out: The uses of one-dimensional classificatory schemes in a multi-dimensional world

This paper examines how people are classified as part of a labour market project aimed at establishing a process for recognizing prior learning among immigrants to Sweden in order to integrate them more quickly with the labour market and society. The paper suggests that, in Sweden, this work prioritizes procedural effectiveness over a more comprehensive understanding of the competence and qualifications of the immigrant worker. By exploring the process of classification in which cognitive structuring of the perceived world results in organizational, administrative and structural enactment, the study provides further insights into how practices of classification are a central part of organizational life. The concept of intersectionality contributes by showing how individuals are situated at the intersection of a variety of classificatory schemes, and together with classification, intersectionality points to how organizational categories are never given, but a result of bureaucratic power procedures strengthening, weakening and/or negotiating away categories used to sort people out.

Organizing life cycle management in practice: challenges of a multinational manufacturing corporation

PurposeThe environmental life cycle management (LCM) literature proposes many factors considered critical in order to successfully conduct LCM. This study contrasts these vague and general factors proposed as critical to LCM in existing literature, with detailed accounts of LCM in practice.MethodsA literature review of three related research fields, i.e., LCM, life cycle thinking, and sustainable supply chain management, is contrasted with a study of how LCM is enacted in practice in a large multinational manufacturing company recognized for its LCM work. A qualitative study, with mainly a managerial focus, is conducted based on interviews, workshops, part-time observations, and document studies.Results and discussionThe literature review demonstrates that the three related research fields provide different accounts of LCM: all apply a holistic environmental perspective, but with different emphases and using largely different research methods. The empirical study shows that integration was a common topic at the studied company and that solutions were often sought in tools and processes. Middle management support proved important, and challenging, in these integration efforts. Challenges identified also included further integrating LCM into departments such as purchasing and sales.ConclusionsThe constant focus on integration at the studied company implies that LCM work is an ongoing effort. Several integration paths are identified: (1) inclusion of sustainability aspects in tools and processes, (2) finding ways to work around certain organizational levels, and (3) using networks and social interaction to create commitment and integration. Although the concept of LCM implies a holistic approach, LCM in practice reveals a lack of a comprehensive overview of LCM-related initiatives and of involved sustainability practitioners within the studied organization.

From implementation to appropriation: understanding knowledge management system development and introduction as a process of translation

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the complexities emerging in the attempts to develop a sophisticated IT-based knowledge management system (KMS) for sharing knowledge. Using actor-network theory, the authors conceptualise this as continuous processes of translation, whereby heterogeneous human and non-human (e.g. technologies, methods and plans) elements are drawn together and mobilised to produce stable networks through associations between them. Design/methodology/approach – The case study method was adopted using a narrative approach that studies the ways of organising work in organisations. Shadowing, field notes, diary studies and participant observation were the main data collection methods used. Findings – The development and introduction of a KMS is a contingent and local process shaped by messy translations whereby the original idea, human and other non-human elements are reconfigured. By considering humans and non-humans symmetrically, the intended and unintended actions, and the role of une...

Classifying difference in organizing, or how to create monsters

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the operation of classification mechanisms in organizational life, and how they construct the skills and knowledge of initially marginalized client groups. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on an ethnographically inspired case study of a Swedish labour market procedure, which was designed to validate the skills and knowledge of non-western immigrant job-seekers. Qualitative data were generated through observations, in-depth interviews and document analysis. Findings – The study found that, contrary to policy-makers’ intentions, the validation procedure ended up dissociating the non-western job-seekers’ heterogeneous experiences, skills and knowledge from the organizing processes of the labour market, displacing them beyond the boundaries of legitimate knowledge, and reproducing their marginalized position on the labour market. As non-western skills and knowledge were found unclassifiable according to the validation procedure, they were d...