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Jan Löwstedt

About me

Professor Jan Löwstedt came to Stockholm Business School during the Spring of 2009 after having chaired positions in Business Administration at Mälardalen University and Blekinge Institute of Technology and serving as a professor in organization theory at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE).

He earned his Ph.D from SSE in 1989 where he later was appointed Director of Centre for People and Organization (PMO) and a member of the board of the research institute EFI. He has been a member of the editorial board for Human Relations and the board the Governmental Agency for School Development (MSU). He has been conducting international comparative research projects and collaborative work in teaching in relation to CEMS (European Community of Management Schools) master programs in management. He has been Guest Research Fellow at Templeton College, Oxford University, ESADE, Barcelona and Guest Professor at HEC, Paris.

Research

Jan Löwstedt has a special interest in organizational change processes and the interplay between people and organization. His current research projects are focusing questions about, the Integration of Organizations in M&A’s, Knowledge in Action In and Between Organizations, Work and Organization in Schools and the Interplay between Industrial Development, Innovation and Organizational Change. Earlier work was focusing Organization, Technology and Technological Change and the Thought-Full Organization (eg. Managerial and Organizational Cognition).

Selected publications
He is the author of more than a hundred pieces of scientific work; books, scientific articles conference papers and research reports reporting the results from empirical work in most types of organizations including Industrial Enterprises, Professional Service Firms, Governmental Agencies, Local Government, Schools, etcetera. Examples of two recent books are Producing Management Knowledge. Research as practice edited together with Torbjorn Stjernberg (Routledge, 2006) and From Intensified Work to Professional Developmend edited by Löwstedt et. al (Peter Lang 2007). His publications have been awarded Best Paper of the Year Award by Organizational Development Journal as well as Outstanding Research-Based Paper on Management Consulting at Academy of Management Annual Conference.

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Managing Asset Orchestration

    2018. Svante Schriber, Jan Löwstedt. Journal of Business Research 90, 307-317

    Article

    The organizational ability to adapt to dynamic environments through asset orchestration is at the core of dynamic capabilities research. However, the theory remains vague regarding how firm assets are orchestrated, and the present study addresses this gap. We develop an asset-level framework distinguishing four modes with which dynamic capabilities influence assets and apply it on longitudinal, in-depth qualitative case data. Revealing managerial considerations regarding how assets are orchestrated over time, we propose the terms sequencing and balancing to denote how similar and different orchestration modes, respectively, are combined in the processes. We relate these concepts to managerial coordination and to achieving timely and appropriate organizational response to environmental dynamism. Avenues for future research and prescriptions to practitioners are suggested.

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  • Accomplish change or causing hesitance – Developing practices in professional service firms

    2017. Love Börjeson, Jan Löwstedt. Scandinavian Journal of Management 33 (3), 185-194

    Article

    The scholarly proclaimed truce between professionals and managers in professional service firms (PSFs) is presently being threatened by changes in the business environment, calling for coordination superordinate to the single professions. The issue of managing professionals in PSFs consequently needs to be re-addressed. We do so by using correspondence analysis to explore the interrelatedness between change initiatives and responses to these changes, in an interview-based case study. Our results suggests that managers can successfully change management related practices without particular consideration of the professionals in the firm, but also that professionals can successfully change professional practices in an unassuming and “practice-like” fashion: with actions rather than with words. Managers who wish to change professional practices, however, need to negotiate the content, scope and purpose of the change initiative with the professionals in the firm.

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  • Ethics Training in the Indian IT Sector

    2016. Verma Pratima, Siddharth Mohapatra, Jan Löwstedt. Journal of Business Ethics 133 (1), 73-93

    Article

    Ethics training—an important means to foster ethical decision-making in organisations—is carried out formally as well as informally. There are mixed findings as regards the effectiveness of formal versus informal ethics training. This study is one of its first kinds in which we have investigated the effectiveness of ethics training as it is carried out in the Indian IT sector. We have collected the views of Indian IT industry professionals concerning ethics training (N = 266), and employed positivist (regression analysis and hierarchical linear modeling) and interpretive research (content analysis). We first have argued that the importance of the perception towards ethics has bearings not only on the individual ideologies but also on the organisational ethical values. In doing so, first we have conceptualised a theoretical framework: Perception of Ethics Training in Employees and Organisations (PETINEO). Second, we have studied the correlations between various components of this model. Third, we, under the rubric of PETINEO, examined the effectiveness of ethics training programmes for the Indian IT companies. Fourth, we have elaborated upon the results of our study. Our results suggest that the combination of both formal and informal means to undertake ethics training has superior impact on ethical decision-making in the Indian IT industry as compared to the use of any one of them in isolation.

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  • Tangible resources and the development of organizational capabilities

    2015. Svante Schriber, Jan Löwstedt. Scandinavian Journal of Management 31 (1), 54-68

    Article

    Capabilities theory concerned with how firms develop organizational capabilities to improve firm competitiveness prioritizes intangible resources as antecedents of capabilities. This theory takes organizational capabilities to consist of routines that evolve over time by being enacted in their organizational contexts. Extant theory has largely left tangible resources as antecedents unstudied, thereby neglecting potentially important insight into how capabilities develop. This paper uses an explorative approach and qualitative data from product development in two world-leading Nordic firms to study tangible antecedents of organizational capabilities development. Our findings contribute to research by expanding the scope of antecedents to organizational capabilities, with implications for explaining the competitiveness of firms.

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  • Caring as an essential component in Rosen Method Bodywork - Clients' experiences of interpersonal interaction from a nursing theoretical perspective

    2013. Riitta Hoffren-Larsson (et al.). European Journal of Integrative Medicine 5 (6), 561-570

    Article

    Introduction: Users of complementary (CAM) therapies frequently report satisfaction although scientific support for the efficacy of many therapies is lacking. This study investigates a relatively unexplored CAM therapy; Rosen Method Bodywork (RMB) from a new perspective. The treatment includes gentle physical touching of tense muscles as well as - the interpersonal interaction. The aim was to explore if caring is a part of the interpersonal interaction in RMB treatments by analyzing clients' experiences from a nursing theoretical framework. Methods: The study design is exploratory and qualitative. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews with eleven RMB clients with positive and negative experiences from the treatments. The interviews were content analyzed using the theoretical stages in a nursing theory to build the structure for categorizing the data. Results: Treatments where study participants declared satisfaction included supportive caring aspects. In these cases, trusted interpersonal relations and a secure environment were established, where the participants felt accepted regardless of their problems. The interpersonal interaction seems to contribute to participants' increased awareness of their own capacities and motivation to independently develop new ways to manage health-related problems. In contrast, participants who were dissatisfied with RMB described opposite experiences. This seems to result in termination of the therapy or a change of therapist. Conclusions: The results indicate that caring is an essential contextual component in RMB treatments. In future research, not only for RMB, but for similar CAM therapies, more attention should be paid to caring as an important part of the interpersonal interaction and the therapeutic experience. This article belongs to the Special Issue: 'IG000020'.

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  • Managing clinical integration

    2012. Soki Choi (et al.). Journal of Health Organization & Management 26 (4), 486-507

    Article

    Purpose - This paper explores critical factors that may obstruct or advance integration efforts initiated by the clinical management following a hospital merger. The aim is to increase our understanding of why clinical integration succeeds or fails.

    Design/methodology/approach - We compare two cases of integration efforts following the Karolinska University Hospital merger in Sweden. Each case represents two merged departments of the same specialty from each hospital site. We conducted 53 interviews with individuals representing various staff categories and collected documents to check data consistency.

    Findings - The study identifies three critical factors that seem to be instrumental for the process and outcome of integration efforts – clinical management’s 1) interpretation of the mandate, 2) design of the management constellation and 3) approach to integration. Obstructive factors are: a sole focus on the formal assignment from the top; individual leadership; and the use of a classic, planned, top-down management approach. Supportive factors are: paying attention to multiple stakeholders; shared leadership; and the use of an emergent, bottom-up management approach within planned boundaries. These findings are basically consistent with the literature’s prescriptions for managing professional organisations.

    Practical implications - Managers need to understand that public healthcare organisations are based on multiple logics that need to be handled in a balanced way if clinical integration is to be achieved – especially the tension between managerialism and professionalism.

    Originality/value - By focusing on the merger consequences for clinical units, this paper addresses an important gap in the healthcare merger literature.

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  • Executive Management in Radical Change – The Case of Karolinska University Hospital Merger

    2011. Soki Choi (et al.). Scandinavian Journal of Management 27 (1), 11-23

    Article

    Based on the merger of two Swedish university hospitals, this paper examines top management's work in implementing radical change initiatives. Our case confirms the limitations of the classic top-down approach to radical change in professional organizations. We also identify an important paradox: contrary to contemporary change literature prescription, initial managerial success seems to impair the change process further down the organization. A key finding is that when mergers are used as tools to effect radical change in politically ambiguous environment, management appears to be limited to initiate change and to take the role of the scapegoat due to inherent factors in the change process. By elucidating management's difficult role vis-à-vis multiple stakeholders, this paper contributes to one aspect of managerial agency discourse that is rarely discussed in detail.

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  • The Reproduction of Efficiecy Theory

    2011. Bo Hellgren, Jan Löwstedt, Andreas Werr. International Journal of Business and Management 6 (5), 16-27

    Article

    Mergers have become a generally accepted solution to a broad set of managerial problems in practice. However, research on mergers and acquisitions provides a rather sceptical view as to the success of mergers in solving business problems. The current paper aims at investigating the public discourse on mergers and acquisitions and its relation to the scientific discourse. The public discourse is studied by an analysis of Swedish media reports on the Astra Zeneca merger. More specifically we study the actors given voice in the discourse, the temporal evolution of the discourse and the arguments voiced. We conclude that the discourse is dominated by journalists, managers and financial analysts who all generate arguments based on a rather narrow “efficiency theoretical” basis. This is in conflict with current insights in research on mergers and acquisitions that has proposed more valid and complex models for understanding mergers. The reasons and consequences of this discrepancy between the public and the scientific discourses are discussed.

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  • Gaining External Knowledge

    2009. Andreas Werr, Jan Löwstedt, Jesper Blomberg. Journal of Knowledge Management 13 (6), 448-463

    Article

    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate interorganizational knowledge exchange from the perspective of the individual manager/professional. The paper aims to study the kinds of relationships managers/professionals in SMEs are involved in and the way in which they construct boundaries within and around these interorganizational relationships enabling and hindering knowledge acquisition.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on 31 interviews with managers and professionals in seven SMEs. Interviews focused on the interorganizational relationships they viewed as important sources of knowledge for themselves and their organizations.Findings – The study shows that managers/professionals gain vital knowledge from far more interorganizational relationships than those formally designed for knowledge acquisition. The most important sources of knowledge were relationships with suppliers and customers. The study also identifies five boundary dimensions – interests, interpretive frameworks, trust, private/organizational and priority – which respondents use in constructing boundaries within and around the relationships. These boundary dimensions represent important conditions for knowledge acquisition through the relationship.Research limitations/implications – The five boundary dimensions are generated based on a sample of SMEs in Sweden. They must thus be regarded as provisional and need to be validated in further research including larger organizations in different cultural contexts. Future studies should also focus on the dynamics of the boundaries and their interrelations as relationships evolve.Originality/value – This paper adds to research on interorganizational knowledge acquisition by taking an individual level perspective and identifying boundary dimensions through which the relationships and their knowledge flows are shaped.

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  • The research circle approach

    2008. Lars Holmstrand, Gunilla Härnsten, Jan Löwstedt. Handbook of collaborative management research, 183-201

    Chapter

    The research circle approach (RCA) is an example of collaborative research based on two explicit values: the belief in the power of knowledge and the need for democracy in the workplace. The RCA builds on a tradition of vocational education and has its roots in the modernization of Sweden. Four examples of quite different change efforts are used to present how research circle work is conducted and the kind of practical as well as scientific knowledge that is developed from working with this approach.

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  • How issues become (Re)constructed in media

    2002. Bo Hellgren (et al.). Brittish Journal of Management 13 (2), 123-140

    Article

    In this article, we put forward a novel way of exploring difference and contradiction in merging organizations. We examine how the media (re)constructs meanings in a major cross-border merger. Based on an analysis of press coverage, we attempt to specify and illustrate how particular issues are (re)constructed in media texts through interpretations of ‘winning’ and ‘losing’. We also show how specific discourses are drawn on in this (re)construction. In the merger studied, discourse based on economic and financial rationale dominated the media coverage. Discourse promoting nationalistic sentiments, however, provided an alternative discursive frame to the dominant rationalistic discourse. We argue that the two basic discourses are enacted in three analytically distinct discursive practices in the media: factualizing, rationalizing and emotionalizing. We suggest that the ability of different actors such as top managers to make use of different discursive strategies and resources in promoting their ‘versions of reality’ in the media (or public discussion) is a crucial avenue for research in this area.

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  • Structures and processes in administrative change

    1991. Jan Löwstedt. Scandinavian Journal of Management 7 (2), 143-150

    Article

    A central debate in organizational theory concerns factors which bring about change. Nils Brunsson argues that reform can be regarded as part of organizational stability and routine rather than of change. One effective way of stopping reforms is to try to implement them, he writes. In this reply a framework of administrative change is presented and used in questioning Brunsson's conclusions. The main criticism concerns the role which an organization's members are given in organizational change, and the unspoken assumption that they always act cynically.

    Author Keywords: Reform; administrative change; organizing; actors; adaptation

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