Carin Holmquist

Identifying Cultural Bases in Different Organizational Contexts : Case studies of three Swedish multinational companies

In this article we discuss how culture is perceived by managers in three Swedish multinational companies. The cases show that empirical notions of culture build on perceived differences in organizational, national and technical characteristics. Theory that applies to the different bases of cultural perceptions generated in the case studies is presented and discussed. We conclude with a framework describing culture as a system of meanings, carried by individuals, that interprets a group’s situation to itself. This system has functional, social and spatial bases simultaneously, although one base may dominate.

The suicide of the social sciences: causes and effects

The social sciences have undergone profound changes. The causes of these changes are many, and in this article we discuss the most important ones. First, we discuss the shift to a situation where the American tradition is the norm and European and national traditions are vanishing. Secondly, we discuss the shift from a focus on the empirical context to a pure internal research focus. These and other changes cause dramatic effects for the social sciences. In our article we analyze these effects on the topics, results, methods and values of the social sciences. We especially focus on the career system and the PhD education. Our conclusion is that changes implemented to gain higher quality have instead caused decreasing quality to a point where the social sciences as a whole are at risk.

Old Age as a Market Advantage: The Example of Staffing Agencies in Sweden

This chapter is about age, gender, and labor market activities and takes its standpoint from those enterprises that offer seniors as providers of services. Elderly people (defined as over 50) in Sweden are working less than the middle-aged. The reasons for this are much discussed: some people blame the elderly for this situation while others blame the organizations—the employers. As ageism is a common phenomenon and age has negative associations, an enterprise that specializes in offering older individuals as workers into the market does not seem to be a viable proposition. The aim of the chapter is to describe and analyze the enterprises that market themselves as employers of older individuals, seniors, in Sweden. A starting point for the discussion and conclusion is why the owners of these enterprises decide to present their businesses as “staffing agencies” and not through the services and products that they provide. Positive characteristics are emphasized in these presentations, but they also include negative stereotypes of age. Gender stereotyping dominates the way in which the enterprises present and market themselves, but both for men and women the negative stereotyping of age is challenged. The majority of the owners of these staffing agencies are not seniors themselves. Their target group seems to be young and middle-aged customers. The chapter ends with a discussion of the findings, especially about how the negative associations with old age are transformed to something positive in the study context.