Timurs Umans

Ethnic and gender diversity, process and performance in groups of business students in Sweden’

This article investigates the complex interrelation between ethnic and gender diversity, process and performance among groups of business students. The article is based on an empirical survey of business students working on a complex assignment in groups of two to five in a small Swedish university. The results indicate that gender diversity leads to positive group outcomes, while ethnic diversity appears to create negative group outcomes. Intervening process variables, such as group communication, conflict and effectiveness in problem solving, were not found to be influenced by diversity, or to influence group outcomes. While the non‐influence of intervening variables can probably be explained by methodological difficulties, the negative outcome for ethnic diversity indicates a need to help students better manage ethnic diversity in order to reap its benefits.

Organizational Ambidexterity at the Local Government Level: The effects of managerial focus

Abstract The aim of this article is to explore how managerial focus influences organizational ambidexterity in different organizational forms at the local government level. An entrepreneurial, leadership, or stakeholder managerial focus will each find reflection in the simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation of resources, and the influence will differ with the organizational form, i.e. whether a local government administration (LGA), or a local government corporation (LGC). Hypotheses are tested on Swedish public organizations operating in the waste management and water and sewerage industries. The findings indicate that LGCs have higher levels of organizational ambidexterity, and that the determinants differ from those in LGAs.

Experiences of well-being among female doctoral students in Sweden.

The aim of this study was to explore how female PhD students experience and perceive their well-being. Focus groups were conducted with female PhD students employed at a Swedish university. The study was performed using a phenomenological hermeneutic approach based on the concept of the lifeworld, used as both a philosophical perspective and a methodology. Three main themes emerged from the analysis: being true to oneself, being in the sphere of influence, and performing a balancing act. By unfolding these themes, the study shows that perceptions and experiences of well-being in female PhD students are a multifaceted phenomenon and materialize through interaction of different aspects of “self” (agent) and “others” (structure). As well as illustrating these perceptions and experiences, the study also presents female PhD students’ conceptualization of their well-being, expressed in terms of a white-water rafting metaphor.

Mechanisms of corporate governance going international : testing its performance effects in the Swedish economy, 2004

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how internationalisation of corporate governance mechanisms influences firm performance.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on the ...

Team-based global organizations: The future of global organizing

This chapter draws on a panel discussion of the future of global organizing as a team-based organization at EIBA 2014 in Uppsala, Sweden. We began by discussing contemporary developments of hybrid ...

The New Generation of Auditors Meeting Praxis: Dual Learning’s Role in Audit Students’ Professional Development

ABSTRACT This paper explores whether and in what way “dual learning” can develop understanding of the relationship between structure/judgement and explores audit student’s perceptions of the audit profession. The Work Integrated Learning (WIL) module, serving as a tool of enabling dual learning, represents the context for this exploration. The study is based on a focus group and individual interviews conducted with students performing their WIL. Our data and its analysis indicates that when in a WIL context, students develop awareness of the use of standards and checklists on the one hand, and the importance of discretional judgement on the other. Based on these results, we theorise as to how dual learning manifests itself in students’ experiences and understanding of the relationship between structure and judgement.

Family Firm Identities and Firm Outcomes: A Corporate Governance Bundles Perspective

We address the issue of family firm heterogeneity and its implications for corporate governance and firm outcomes. We apply social identity theory to differentiate between clan and financial family firm identities and to explain how the domination of each identity leads to distinct governance needs and choices. We propose that family firms dominated by a clan identity will employ a unified bundle of internal corporate governance mechanisms, enhancing non-financial performance outcomes. A financial family firm identity will, on the other hand, result in implementation of a dispersed corporate governance bundle, enhancing the firm’s financial outcomes.

Top management teams’ shared leadership and ambidexterity : the role of management control systems

The study explores how top management teams’ shared leadership is related to organizational ambidexterity in public-sector organizations, theoretically and empirically considering how this relationship is contingent on the management control system. Using a sample of 85 Swedish municipal housing corporations, we find that shared leadership has a positive relationship with organizational ambidexterity in public-sector organizations. Moreover, increasing use of new public management control systems, based on combined reward and performance controls, positively moderates this relationship. The study also finds that traditional public management control systems, based on combined planning and administrative controls, do not moderate the relationship between top management teams’ shared leadership and organizational ambidexterity. Accordingly, this article contributes to the public and strategic management literature, as well as to managerial practice. Points for practitioners The article suggests that sharing leadership within top management teams can result in a balanced resource allocation in municipal corporations. To be more effective in achieving this balance, public sector managers might consider emphasizing new public management-inspired management control systems and de-emphasizing those of a more traditional type.

Auditors’ professional and organizational identities and commercialization in audit firms

The purpose of this paper is to explain how auditors’ professional and organizational identities are associated with commercialization in audit firms. Unlike previous studies exploring the consequences of commercialization in the firms, the study directs its attention toward the potential driver of commercialization, which the authors argue to be the identities of the auditors.,The paper is based on 374 responses to a survey distributed to 3,588 members of FAR, the professional association of accountants, auditors and advisors in Sweden. The study used established measures of organizational and professional identity and introduced market, customer and firm process orientation as aspects of commercialization. The study explored the data through descriptive statistics, principle component analysis and correlation analysis and tested the hypotheses with multiple linear regression analysis.,The findings indicated that the organizational identity of auditors has a positive association with three aspects of commercialization: market orientation, customer orientation and firm process orientation. Contrary to the arguments based on prior literature, the study has found that the professional identity of auditors is also a positively associated with commercialization. This indicates a change of the role of professional identity vis-a-vis commercialization of audit firms. The positive association between professional identity and commercial orientation could indicate the development of “organizational professionalism.” The study also found differences between the association between professional identity and commercialization in Big 4 and non-Big 4 firms. While in Big 4 firms, professional identity is positively associated only with the firm’s process orientation, in non-Big 4 firms, professional identity has a positive association with all three aspects of commercialization.,The paper provides insight into how auditors’ identities have influenced commercialization of audit firms and into the normalizing of commercialization within auditing. The study also developed a new instrument for measuring commercialization, one based on market, customer and firm process orientation concepts. This paper suggests that this instrument is an alternative to the observation through proxies.

Increase in board monitoring and firm performance: An alternative perspective

While it is long recognized that boards contribute to firm performance by engaging in both monitoring and resource provision, little research has systematically examined the relationship between th...