I det här kapitlet behandlas det som kallas organisatoriskt lärande, vilket kan ses som ett sätt att studera organisationers utveckling i termer av lärande och kunskapsutveckling. Vi kommer här ge en kortfattad bakgrund till forskningsintresset för det organisatoriska lärandet och därefter presentera och analysera tre teoretiska modeller, som ofta refereras till i litteraturen. Syftet med kapitlet är att skapa en förståelse för forskningsfältet organisatoriskt lärande i stort och bidra med insikter kring likheter och skillnader i de tre valda teorierna. Kapitlet avslutas med några reflektioner om vad organisatoriskt lärande har för relevans för organisationspedagogik, och på vilka sätt frågor om organisatoriskt lärande kan ses som pedagogiskt intressanta frågor.

Collective creativity in organizations is generally considered to involve the convergence of divergent perspectives into a synthesis. While research has identified interactions that enable convergence, divergent perspectives are often taken for granted, and we know less about how they are fostered. To provide a more holistic understanding, this study examines the dynamic interplay between divergent and convergent interactions through a learning lens. It integrates insights from paradox research and collective learning theory with ethnographic research on a large art and theater project. In this project, characters, scenes, set designs, and organizational practices evolved through two interdependent cycles of collective learning. Through consensus learning, individuals incorporated each other’s ideas, resulting in interwoven collective expressions that reinforced the norm of collaboration and thereby promoted convergence. Through conflict learning, individuals asserted their own ideas, resulting in more fragmented collective expressions that reinforced the norm of autonomy and thereby promoted divergence. This paradoxical and organic learning process encompassed cognitive, material, and affective dimensions. The findings suggest that accepting fragmentation is essential for fostering divergent perspectives, while a culture of dialogue plays a critical role in synthesizing these perspectives.

Collective creativity in organizations is generally considered to involve the convergence of divergent perspectives into a synthesis. While research has identified interactions that enable convergence, divergent perspectives are often taken for granted, and we know less about how they are fostered. To provide a more holistic understanding, this study examines the dynamic interplay between divergent and convergent interactions through a learning lens. It integrates insights from paradox research and collective learning theory with ethnographic research on a large art and theater project. In this project, characters, scenes, set designs, and organizational practices evolved through two interdependent cycles of collective learning. Through consensus learning, individuals incorporated each other’s ideas, resulting in interwoven collective expressions that reinforced the norm of collaboration and thereby promoted convergence. Through conflict learning, individuals asserted their own ideas, resulting in more fragmented collective expressions that reinforced the norm of autonomy and thereby promoted divergence. This paradoxical and organic learning process encompassed cognitive, material, and affective dimensions. The findings suggest that accepting fragmentation is essential for fostering divergent perspectives, while a culture of dialogue plays a critical role in synthesizing these perspectives.

Purpose - With the rise of the gig economy, management positions are increasingly staffed with flexible labor, so-called interim managers. They plunge into organizations for a limited period, operating in a liminal position as partly insider, partly outsider. Although several contributions to their client organizations are acknowledged, it is unknown how the interim manager’s knowledge from previous assignments is made useful in the new context under these particular working conditions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of how the interim manager’s knowledge is transferred to the client organization while operating from a liminal position.

Design/methodology/approach - This paper presents an interview-based multiple case study of six interim assignments where knowledge transfer is considered a social and context-dependent process.

Findings - The findings unveil the multifaceted nature of the liminal position, which consists of task orientation, time limitation, political detachment and cultural distance. These facets contribute to knowledge transfer in terms of new shared understandings and joint interests, which in turn might create new practices that augment continuous knowledge-sharing patterns.

Originality/value - The results contribute to the research on flexible work arrangements by shedding light on how the liminal position, predominantly depicted as an obstacle for the individual, might facilitate knowledge transfer. Through the process of knowledge generation, it is shown how a short-term engagement might enable the organization to increase its knowledge over time.

In the past decade, management positions have increasingly been filled with flexible labor, so-called interim managers. They enter organizations for a limited period, usually six to twelve months, to implement changes, manage crises, or cover vacancies. In this way, organizations gain rapid access to the managerial competence they need. This doctoral thesis focuses on what happens in an organization when an interim manager is hired to implement a specific change, exploring this in terms of organizational learning. What is most remarkable about interim management is, namely, that the arrangement involves several aspects that provoke and contradict established knowledge regarding managers’ tasks and roles, as well as conditions for organizational learning. Therefore, the purpose of the thesis is to increase understanding of the implications of interim management for organizational learning.

The theoretical framework consists of three interconnected dimensions: experiential organizational learning, knowledge transfer, and aspects of power. The framework is developed to illustrate the social and context-dependent processes that take place during an interim assignment, in which the organizational members’ actions and interactions are central to the development of new knowledge.

The thesis adopts an explorative, qualitative approach, with results presented in three articles and summarized in an overarching meta-analysis. The first article discusses a literature review on interim management and analyzes it through the lens of organizational learning. The study provides a new conceptual understanding of interim management, laying the foundation for the two following empirical studies. The second and third articles report on empirical studies focusing on the interim manager’s liminal position and the power dynamics of interim management, respectively. The empirical data collection consists of a multiple case study of six interim assignments. Three of the cases were studied retrospectively, capturing the experiences of several organizational members, and the other three were studied longitudinally to provide a deeper view of how the micro-processes of interaction unfolded over time.

The meta-analysis reveals three integrated interaction processes that characterize organizational learning in interim management: shifts in perspective, new points of contact, and filtered knowledge transfer. These processes emerge in interplay with a number of micropolitical assumptions that underpin how organizational members act to safeguard their own interests, expressed through power and resistance. The analysis further shows that a common denominator among the micropolitical assumptions is that they shape the trust placed in the interim manager. A particular type of trust is distinguished as apolitical trust, grounded in the perception of the interim manager’s outsider status and neutral attitude in relation to the organization’s internal conflicts of interest. The thesis contributes to a new understanding of this emergent phenomenon in the labor market, whereby external managers are brought in to carry out a specific task due to their expertise but are also used as a tool to manage the consequential power dynamics.

Under det senaste decenniet har allt fler chefspositioner kommit att bemannas med flexibel arbetskraft, så kallade interimschefer. De hyrs in under en begränsad tidsperiod, vanligtvis sex till tolv månader, för att genomföra förändringar, hantera kriser eller täcka vakanser. På så vis anses organisationer få snabb tillgång till nödvändig kunskap och erfarenhet för ett specifikt behov. Den här avhandlingen fokuserar på vad som händer i en organisation när en interimschef anlitas för att genomföra en specifik förändring, och undersöker detta i termer av organisatoriskt lärande. Det mest anmärkningsvärda med interimsstyrning är nämligen att arrangemanget innefattar flera aspekter som utmanar och motsäger etablerad kunskap om chefers uppgifter och roller, liksom förutsättningar för organisatoriskt lärande. Avhandlingens syfte är därför att öka kunskapen om interimsstyrningens betydelse för organisatoriskt lärande.

Det teoretiska ramverket består av tre dimensioner: erfarenhetsbaserat organisatoriskt lärande, kunskapsöverföring och maktaspekter. Ramverket är utvecklat för att åskådliggöra de sociala och kontextberoende processer som äger rum under ett interimsuppdrag, där organisationsmedlemmarnas handlingar och interaktioner är centrala för utvecklingen av ny kunskap.

Avhandlingen har en utforskande, kvalitativ ansats, där resultaten presenteras i tre artiklar och sammanfattas i en övergripande metaanalys. Den första artikeln presenterar en litteraturöversikt om interimsstyrning och analyserar den genom ett organisatoriskt lärandeperspektiv. Studien bidrar med en ny begreppslig förståelse av interimsstyrning och lägger grunden för de två efterföljande empiriska delstudierna. Dessa artiklar sätter fokus på interimschefens liminala position respektive interimsstyrningens maktdynamiker. Det empiriska materialet baseras på en flerfallstudie av sex interimsuppdrag, där tre av fallen studerades retrospektivt, där erfarenheter från flera organisationsmedlemmar inhämtades. De tre andra fallen studerades longitudinellt, vilket möjliggjorde en kontinuerlig uppföljning av uppdragens utveckling och dynamik över tid.

Metaanalysen lyfter fram tre integrerade samspelsprocesser som kännetecknar det organisatoriska lärandet i interimsstyrning: perspektivskiften, nya kontaktytor och filtrerad kunskapsöverföring. Processerna framträder i samspel med ett antal mikropolitiska föreställningar som ligger till grund för hur organisationsmedlemmar agerar för att skydda sina egna intressen, genom uttryck för makt och motstånd. Analysen visar vidare att de mikropolitiska föreställningarna formar tilliten till interimschefen. En särskild typ av tillit urskiljs som apolitisk tillit, baserad på uppfattningen om interimschefens utanförskap och neutrala hållning i relation till organisationens interna intressekonflikter. Avhandlingens resultat bidrar till ny förståelse av detta framväxande fenomen på arbetsmarknaden, där externa chefer inte bara anlitas för sin expertis, utan också används som verktyg för att hantera de mikropolitiska maktdynamiker som uppstår till följd av uppdraget.

Purpose - Interim managers (IMs) are consultants who take on managerial positions during limited periods to perform changes, handle crises or cover vacancies. The increasing use of these short-term outsiders shapes new conditions for organizational learning in contemporary work life. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to research-based knowledge and theoretical understanding of the relationship between interim management and organizational learning.

Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents a literature review on interim management published within the years 2000-2020 and analyzes it through the lens of organizational learning.

Findings - An interim management assignment is characterized by a period of uncertainty, a limited time frame, knowledge from the outside and rather invisible outcomes. The concepts of shared mental models, dialogue, knowledge creation and organizational culture shed light on possibilities and constraints for organizational learning in these arrangements. The findings highlight the IM's position as central for transforming the organizational culture, put a question mark for the establishment of the IM's knowledge, show the need for defining outcomes in terms of learning processes and indicate tensions between opportunities for dialogue and the exercise of power.

Originality/value - The study provides a new conceptual understanding of interim management, laying the foundation for empirical studies on this topic from an organizational learning perspective.