A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Effects of staff bonus systems on safety behaviors

  2014. Malin Mattson, Ingemar Torbiörn, Johnny Hellgren. Human Resource Management Review 24 (1), 17-30

  Article

  Bonus systems are a common means in trying to motivate employees to perform well. However, there is still disagreement regarding the effects of bonus systems. Some theories even suggest that such systems could cause an increase in risk-behavior. This makes further research regarding bonus systems warranted, especially when applied in high-risk organizations. This study aims to explore potential effects on safety-related behavior associated with bonus systems currently used at Swedish nuclear power plants. Fifteen semi-structured interviews with employees were performed based on an eclectically composed framework from motivational and organizational theories. Results do not indicate any negative effects on safety-related behaviors, but rather that safety behaviors may be promoted insofar as bonus rewards are linked to performance goals concerning safety. Differences in bonus system design appeared to affect behavioral outcomes. The comparative and qualitative approach of this study contributes valuable information by highlighting the types of factors that may serve to stimulate greater incentive for employees to engage in safe behavior.

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• Om acceptans i klara och oklara situationer

  2013. Ingemar Torbiörn, Malin Mattson, Johnny Hellgren. Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv 19 (4), 37-49

  Article

  Artikeln behandlar vår benägenhet till acceptans i situationer där vi saknar endera av förståelse och tillit, så kallade oklara situationer. Acceptans eller icke-acceptans antas generellt spegla ett samspel mellan dessa bägge komponenter. Hypotesen att vi tenderar att acceptera mer i oklara än i så kallade klara situationer får stöd liksom hypotesen om samspel som grund för acceptans eller icke-acceptans. En slutsats är att oklara situationer förtjänar särskild uppmärksamhet i arbetsliv och organisationer, särskilt säkerhetsrelaterade sådana.

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• Arbets- och organisationspsykologi

  2012. Gunnar Aronsson (et al.).

  Book

  Boken anlägger ett brett perspektiv på individen i arbetslivet som spänner över både arbets- och organisationspsykologi. Författarna tar upp de ramar som modernt arbetsliv skapar och hur individen rör sig innanför dessa. De beskriver arbetets roll i livet, samspelet på arbetsplatsen och vilken betydelse det kan ha för individen. Likaså behandlas fenomen som organisationsförändringar, ledarskap och motivation. Författarna har en gedigen erfarenhet av undervisning och forskning inom ämnet vilket gör boken både pedagogiskt upplagd och uppdaterad inom de senaste rönen. Boken är skriven för studerande i psykologi och beteendevetenskapliga utbildningar samt i företagsekonomi med organisationsinriktning. Boken är även lämplig för HR-specialister, chefer och andra med intresse av hur samspelet mellan individ och organisation bidrar till att skapa hållbara arbetsvillkor och effektiva organisationer.

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• Elements of uncertainty and risk in intercultural contact.

  2006. Ingemar Torbiörn. Nordic perspectives on safety management in high reliability organizations: Theory and applications., 183-193

  Chapter

  Intercultural exchange is discussed from a perspective of risk in terms of generally unwanted outcomes of contact. Elements of risk are identified at individual and organizational levels and it is held that risk emanates from basically the same psychological or human factors.At organizational levels risk is taken to manifest as frictions or costs of transaction. At the individual level the commonplace phenomenon of substitution is proposed to mediate risk. The occurrence of substitution, i.e. acceptance without understanding or acceptance of what would normally not be accepted, may increase as well as reduce risk. The same holds for the non-occurrence or lack of substitution. The phenomenon is discussed regarding it´s relation to trust as well as to qualities of intercultural situations. It is argued that insofar as situations may be influenced or set, substitution may be favored or disfavored in order to reduce risks in intercultural contacts.

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• Staffing policies and practices in European MNC´s

  2005. Ingemar Torbiörn. International Human Resource Management

  Chapter

  The chapter deals with one of four traditional parameters of International Human Resource Management (IHRM), namely the staffing of international operations. Here IHRM is not taken to mean staffing, but staffing is used, and discussed, as a criterion indicative of IHRM strategies, as well as of company concern about cultural contexts, organisational needs or situational options. Thus the object of the chapter is not staff as such but what company use of staff may tell, in particular about what may hold for European MNC´s. Assuming a particular relevance of staffing for international firm performance, and based on a model explaining staffing patterns at firm levels, MNC´s practices are discussed as indicative of, first IHRM-strategies, then of factors commonly held, to be determinants of staffing. Staffing patterns of European MNC´s are concluded to mainly reflect configurative strategies as well as ad-hoc reactivity, both approaches reflecting a culturally and structurally varied context of MNC´s domiciles and host markets. Here, further, the validity and relevance of a dichotomuos staffing criterion of IHRM is questioned. This may hold for European MNC´s in particular.

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