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Global SMART Organization Design Meeting 2021 – Here we come!

14 - 16 September 2021

NOTE: We have experienced some problems with our registration system. If you have received a receipt on e-mail after registration, you are good to go. If you think you have registered, but didn’t receive a receipt – please contact hanne.finnestrand@ntnu.no

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We strive for a hybrid conference design. This means that we will have:
   1.    On-site workshops, presentations and deliberations in Trondheim, Norway. This setting is aimed for all members that are able to participate in-person in Trondheim.

   2.    Online workshops, presentations and deliberations. This setting is aimed at worldwide members who cannot travel to the conference site due to pandemic travel restrictions.

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Pre-recorded empirical cases

We will prepare pre-recorded empirical cases for part 1 and part 2, and make sure that worldwide members can join the on-site workshops by means of online video participation.

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Online participants will also have the opportunity to watch live streams of key notes, speakers and cases.

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Let’s meet across the globe in joint deliberations!


Theme

The theme of our conference will be ‘Participation in the age of Blurring Organizational Boundaries’. From recent global network meetings, (2017-2019), it is apparent that within and between organizations, boundaries between individual tasks, teams and (networks of) organizations are becoming increasingly blurry. The use of novel (digital) technologies results in increased interconnectedness and opportunities for collaboration. These developments clearly challenge traditional ways of organizing work, but they also challenge traditional ways in which workers organize themselves and their participation in design of work process and work conditions. Thus, in the Global SMART organization design meeting, Trondheim 2021, we will address two sub themes in this age of blurring organizational boundaries:

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   •    Shifting Industrial relations
   •    Impermanent organizations.

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Moreover, experiences from the coronavirus pandemic have indisputably made a huge impact on work practices and eventually organization design. Although the pandemic is not the main focus of the 2021 meeting, it will guide the discussions with the different cases. What have we learned? And where do we go from here? So, we welcome you to Trondheim – Norway – Scandinavia. Join us for a rewarding experience of in-person or on-line participation!

Program

Programme

14. September

Grand Opening

GMT : 1800-2200

CEST: 20:00-24:00

Sydney: 04:00-08:00

New York: 1400-1800

San Francisco: 11:00-15:00

NTNU Campus Gløshaugen & Hybrid

Welcome

Welcome Speech

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We welcome you to NTNU campus Gløshaugen for welcoming drinks and snacks, to meet new and old friends in our community in a hybrid setting. The hybrid setting enables all of us to engage with each other both online and on-site.

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There will be held a welcome speech by the Dean of Faculty of Economics and Management at NTNU, professor Monica Rolfsen.

The Venue

The venues

Clarion Hotel Brattøra 

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Liam Lysaght

1190 NOK/night

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For booking:

Call: +47 73 92 55 00 or

Mail: groups.cl.trondheim@chocie.no

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Use booking code: GR020950

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Alternatives:

 

Clarion Hotel Brattørawebsite

NTNU Campus Gløshaugen

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Eirik Refsdal

The Grand Opening will be held at the Gløshaugen campus at NTNU. The Gløshaugen campus is the oldest campus at NTNU and houses researchers and students within in technical and natural sciences programs.

NTNU website

The Team

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Hanne Finnestrand

Associate Professor of Organization development at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway. She holds a PhD in Action Research and Organization development from the same university. Finnestrand’s research area is action research in the fields of organization development, industrial relations, and socio-technical systems design. She is currently deputy editor of the Springer journal Systemic Practice and Action Research and on the editorial reviewer board of the Emerald journal The Learning Organization .

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Johan E. Ravn

Professor of Leadership and organization at Nord University, Norway and senior research scientist at the SINTEF foundation. Research interests include organization, leadership, collaborative industrial relations, and sociotechnical systems theory, and he has conducted action research in many manufacturing systems. He has published and been guest editor in several journals, and in September 2019 he co-organized a special issue on “Socio-Technical Systems Thinking in Manufacturing” for the open access journal European Journal of Workplace innovation.

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Matthijs Moorkamp

Assistant Professor of Organizational Design and Development at the Nijmegen School of Management of Radboud University. He obtained a PhD from Delft University of Technology. His research focuses on organizational design in temporary organizations that operate in crisis contexts, such as the expeditionary organizations of the (Dutch) armed forces and crisis management organizations. Matthijs was part of the multidisciplinary research team that evaluated national crisis response organization that was established after the disaster with flight MH17. 

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Laila Øyangen

Administrative apprentice at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

Laila is responsible for the administrative work for the conference in Trondheim. 

If you have any practical questions don´t hesitate to take contact with her by email or phone.

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The team

Suggested pre-readings

Pre-readings
On the Nordic / Norwegian model: political economy, organization of work life, industrial relations, other institutional arrangements
 

  1. Gustavsen, B. (2007). "Work Organization and the 'Scandinavian Model'." Economic and Industrial Democracy 28(4): 650-671.
    (Gustavsen was a major figure in the Norwegian (and European) action research/STS field. This article says something about the practices of tripartism and innovation work within the Norwegian model)
     

  2. Andersen, T. M., Holmström, B., Honkapohja, S., Korkman, S., Tson, S. H., & Vartiainen, J. (2007). The Nordic Model. Embracing globalization and sharing risks. ETLA B.
    (provides a general description of the Nordic model(s), mainly in terms of political economy, flexicurity)
     

  3. Vihriälä, V. and T. Valkonen (2014). The Nordic model–challenged but capable of reform. Copenhagen, Nordic Council.
    (general description: political economy, flexicurity – overlaps somewhat with the one above)
     

  4. Torvatn, H. Y., Sørensen, O. H., Talja, H., & Eriksen, B. (2015). Good Nordic management practices: State of the art (Vol. 2015525). Nordic Council of Ministers.
    (Interesting piece of comparison – between the Nordic states and between the Nordic as a whole and the EU and US, as regards focus and type of managerial practices)
     

  5. Skorstad, E. J. and J. C. Karlsson (2017). "The worker collectivity and Anglo-Saxon theories of collectivity." Economic and Industrial Democracy.
    (Lysgaard’s “worker collectivity” from 1960 is widely regarded as one of the best pieces of Norwegian industrial sociology, but it was never published in English. This piece to some degree accounts for it, and revisits the same industrial site – with a similar research focus. There is something to learn about Norwegian industrial relations here – not of the most collaborative kind. According to a well-read colleague, there are some striking parallels between Lysgaard’s “worker collectivity” and Crozier’s “Bureaucratic phenomenon”  from the same period – someone should look into this, perhaps.)

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Some classical sociotechnical writings that illustrate the Norwegian/Scandinavian STS tradition

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  1. Trist, E. L. and K. W. Bamforth (1951). "Some Social and Psychological Consequences of the Longwall Method of Coal Getting." Human Relations 4: 3-38.
    (The classic point of departure)
     

  2. Trist, E. L. (1981). The evolution of socio-technical systems. Toronto, Ontario, Ontario Quality of Working Life Centre, occasional paper.
    (How do the 30 first STS years look when looking back at them? Trist’s summary and account is worth the read)
     

  3. Herbst, P. G. (1974). Designing with Minimal Critical Specifications. In Herbst, P. G. (1974). Socio-technical design: strategies in multidisciplinary research. London, Tavistock Publications
    (Some Herbst should be read. His most famous one-liner, “The product of work is people”, is perhaps known? The pathology of the engineer’s model begins “when man begins to treat man as part of the physical environment”. After the Tavistock years, Herbst lived (and died) in Trondheim)
     

  4. Elden, M. (1986). "Sociotechnical systems ideas as public policy in Norway: Empowering participation through worker-managed change." The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 22(3): 239-255.
    (There are some interesting demarcations done here, for instance between democratization and humanization. In a way it really brings a kind of political/institutional perspective to STS and AR. It highlights how the Norwegian STS tradition a) also had an institutional focus, b) was interacting with and backed by the state, the employers’ organization and organized labor, and c) was not claiming to be “ethically neutral”.)

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Newer Norwegian STS approaches

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  1. Amble, N. (2013). "Autonomy and control when working with humans—A reflection on sociotechnical concepts." Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies 3(4): 45-62.
    (The interesting part here is the juxtaposition between the Karasek model (of work demands/work control) for work design and the STS approach – how there is a lack of a collective perspective in Karasek)
     

  2. Klemsdal, L., J.E. Ravn, N. Amble & H. Finne. (2017). "The Organization Theories of the Industrial Democracy Experiments Meet Contemporary Organizational Realities " Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies 7(S2): 1-15.
    (A part of the article tries to account for how the Norwegian STS perspective split up into one strain of work environment studies, and another focused on dialogue and development processes)
     

  3. Claussen, T., T.Haga & J.E. Ravn. (2019). "Socio-technics and beyond: an approach to organisation studies and design in the second machine age." European Journal of Workplace Innovation 4(2): 99-122.
    (the editorial of last year’s special issue of EJWI (European Journal of Work Innovation) centered on STS)
     

  4. The rest of the special issue of EJWI centered on STS can be accessed here:
    https://journal.uia.no/index.php/EJWI/issue/view/83

Practical information

Practical information


How to get to Trondheim

By plane

Trondheim Airport Værnes is approximately 30 km north east of Trondheim.

Getting from Trondheim airport to the city centre. 

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By train

Train to Trondheim: Trondheim Central station is situated at the outskirts of the city centre, within walking distance to the hotel.

Getting around in Trondheim

Use local buses to explore Trondheim.

 

Mobile app to purchase tickets:

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Mobile app to plan your bus trip:

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Map of NTNU Campus Gløshaugen

 

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Corona virus 

There are few Covid19 cases in Trondheim these days, and things look very promising for a restriction-free STS meeting 2021. We still have to keep in mind that the situation may change. You can read more about the ongoing corona situation in Norway here.

Contact

 Administrative and practical issues:

Laila Bergsrønning Øyangen

laila.b.oyangen@ntnu.no

+47 73559126

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General issues:

Hanne Finnestrand

hanne.finnestrand@ntnu.no

+47 99024720

Contact
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