Denna rapport är en sammanfattning av de huvudresultat och praktiska implikationer från forskningsprojektet ”Att leda och samarbeta i team på distans - effekter av Covid-19 i projektbaserade organisationer” (200 354). Projektet har finansierats av AFA Försäkring och har pågått 2021–2024.

COVID-19 pandemin föranledde många organisationer att övergå till att arbeta i hybridformat. Denna övergång blev särskilt kännbar i projektbaserade kunskapsintensiva företag, som bygger på att medarbetarna samarbetar i team. Teamen är centrala för innovation, upplärning och kompetensutveckling, och utgör grunden för företagens fortlevnad. Projektet undersöker vilka konsekvenser övergången till hybridarbete får för hur teamen samarbetar, organiserar sitt arbete, och leds.

Projektet syftar till att utvinna ny teoretiskt och praktiskt relevant kunskap om hur samarbete och teamkänsla i projektbaserade kunskapsintensiva företag påverkas av att arbetet utförs via digitala verktyg istället för i fysisk närhet. Vi studerar hur arbetet organiseras och leds, hur rekrytering och insocialisering av nya medlemmar sker, hur teamen arbetar med kunskapsutveckling, lärande och innovation, samt hur känslan av tillhörighet påverkas av att arbeta på distans via digitala verktyg.

Vi har genomfört en kvalitativ flerfallsstudie av åtta konsultbolag inom management/strategi, teknik/IT, policy och HR, vilket genererat 65 intervjuer med konsulter i olika roller. Intervjuerna har givit nya insikter hur övergången till hybridarbete påverkar hur arbetet organiseras och leds, samt för kunskapsutveckling och innovation. Observationer har utförts på workshops och strategidagar i ett av fallföretagen. Vi har även samlat in dokument om processer, policies, etc, från fallföretagen.

Våra resultat visar att hybridarbete skapar spänningar och stress hos kunskapsarbetare, vilket gör det svårt att utveckla en tydlig professionell identitet. Organisationer som använder lärlingsmodellen är särskilt sårbara, då juniora medarbetare behöver mer vägledning från seniora kollegor. Hybridarbete påverkar också ledar- och följarrelationer, där digitala verktyg ersätter fysisk närhet och förändrar hur identiteter och tillhörighet konstrueras. Pandemin har dessutom skapat utmaningar för teamarbete, med både fördelar och nackdelar för distansarbete, och har påverkat socialiseringen av nyanställda negativt.

With the purpose of  analysing Swedish companies' adherence and adoption of the information security standard ISO 27001 and to examine the communicative constitution of preventive innovation in organisations, we have created a corpus of corporate texts from Swedish company websites. The corpus was analysed from multiple interdisciplinary perspectives in close cooperation with management researchers and SweClarin researchers using SweClarin tools and resources as well as standard language technology tools. Some analyses require deep reading, which was performed by management researchers, often guided by results from language analyses. Initial results have been presented at a management studies conference. In this paper, we focus on presenting the research issues, the methods used in the project, the results, and the experience of SweClarin researchers supporting researchers in  social sciences. Our contribution is to show how it is possible, through the integration of human insights and digital methods, to increase the credibility and validity of a digitally acquired data set and subsequent research findings. In our view, a combination of human deep reading (management researchers), contextual lexical verification (management studies) and language technology (content and sentiment analysis) can help to sensitise computational text analysis for medium-sized data sets.

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, organizations have been facing a worldwide anomaly, in which taken-for-granted work practices, norms, and identities are challenged. Building on a literature review and qualitative interview study, the current paper explores how consultants in management consultancies form and reform their identities as they adjust to working remotely via digital tools. We find that working virtually negatively influences both socialization and belonging in the consulting project teams. This, in turn, leads to unintended consequences, such as cultural changes, a loss of uniqueness, and increased risk of commodification. Thus, the anomaly that Covid-19 has presented us with, seems to normalize the hitherto “unique” management consultancies, thereby decreasing their status and competitiveness.

Covid-19 has disrupted social norms, cultural practices, and established ways of working – from going to work and meeting physically, to working remotely or in hybrid formats. This change has been particularly salient in project-based professional service firms (PSFs), which are based on team collaboration. However, the shift towards remote and hybrid work means that both the teams and their members increasingly find themselves in a state of liminality, working betwixt and between. The current study explores how professionals in project-based PSFs experience and navigate liminality caused by remote teamwork. Based on an interview study with 32 management consultants, we find that the pandemic has forced the consultants into a state in which they have to deal with three liminal states simultaneously. Thus, they experience and must navigate triple liminality: liminality as a process, liminality as a position and liminality as a place. We contribute to the literature on the future of work, particularly in PSFs, and the still scant but growing literature on liminality in professional services. 

Preventive innovation differs from ordinary innovation. The innovation diffusion literature claims that the economic benefits of preventive innovation to adopters, such as ensuring information security, are mainly intangible and often time-delayed and sometimes only adopted for incidents that may never occur. Adopter communication about preventive innovation therefore seems to be crucial.

Using the example of the information security standard ISO/IEC 27001, we examine how communication of preventive innovations is shaped by its adopters. By analyzing texts about the information security standard ISO/IEC 27001 on Swedish corporate websites using computational linguistics tools and classical content analysis, we could identify, first, different adoption approaches of preventive innovation driven, second, by three modes of data governance: agency, stewardship and brokerage. Third, we provide evidence that the communication of preventive innovation depends on its data governance mode, but, fourth, also on the economic benefits of preventive innovation for adopters.

Our contribution to the innovation literature is twofold. First, the concept of preventive innovation originally presented by Rogers (1995) is revived and further developed. Comparing it to its original scope, we show that preventive innovation can be meaningful for adopting organizations not only when they go through all possible adoption phases identified by Rogers (1995). Also an economic benefit from preventive innovation is possible. Both aspects, adoption approach as well as economic opportunity strongly shape the production of meaning in communication about preventive innovation. Second, we show that computational linguistics can support qualitative research in the study of meaning production in communication, especially when dealing with large amounts of data, for instance, gained from corporate websites.

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, organizations have been facing a worldwide anomaly, in which taken-for-granted work practices, norms, and identities are challenged. Building on a literature review and qualitative interview study, the current paper explores how professionals in project-based PSFs form and reform their identities as they adjust to working remotely via digital tools. We find that working virtually negatively influences both socialization and belonging in the project teams. This, in turn, leads to unintended consequences, such as cultural changes, a loss of uniqueness, and increased risk of commodification. Thus, the anomaly that Covid-19 has presented us with, seems to normalize the hitherto “unique” PSFs, thereby decreasing their status and competitiveness. 

The organization of innovation labor is undergoing major changes in technology-based and engineering-intensive industries worldwide. Those changes reflect fluctuating market demands and increasing task uncertainty, and they are characterized by three related developments: externalization of the workforce, development of new types of employment relations, and greater use of technical consultants. These trends have led to the technical and engineering consulting (TEC) industry becoming a major player in the organization of innovation labor and thus also in the development and transfer of engineering knowledge. Determining what underlies the growth of this industry and the performance of TEC firms requires a better understanding of their nature and capabilities. Our paper builds on an in-depth case study—spanning multiple organizational levels and incorporating 50 interviews with a leading Scandinavian TEC firm's top managers, middle managers, consultant managers, individual consultants, and clients as well as field observations and diary studies. These data lead us to posit two central capabilities associated with innovation labor in technical and engineering consulting: swift transition and knowledge cycling. The interplay between these capabilities, each of which arises from interactions between the firm level and the individual level, seems crucial for the successful development, organization, and supply of innovation labor and engineering knowledge.

The number of professional service firms has increased rapidly in the recent decades. This thesis focuses on a type of professional service firm that has, thus far, been under-researched, namely the technical and engineering consulting (TEC) firm. TEC firms are important actors with regard to innovation, knowledge development, and the transfer of knowledge among problemsolving contexts. This thesis addresses the organization and development of engineering knowledge and the roles of the TEC firm and the technical consultants in the transfer of knowledge among assignments, projects, client organizations, and industries.

This thesis consists of a compilation of four papers and an extended summary. It builds on four qualitative studies and takes a multilevel perspective by utilizing an embedded case-study design to examine both the organizational level and the individual level as well as the interaction between the two levels. The thesis draws upon interviews with managers, consultants, client representatives, and industry experts and analysts. Moreover, it presents findings from an in-depth study of a competence development program for technical consultants.

This thesis contributes to the professional service firm literature by uncovering the knowledgebased advantages accrued by TEC firms through the organization and development of engineering knowledge. This thesis identifies two capabilities, swift transition and knowledge cycling, and argues that the link between these capabilities creates the foundation for the successful organization of engineering knowledge. The thesis demonstrates that the capabilities developed by TEC firms are formed through the interaction between the organizational level and the individual level. In addition, this thesis illustrates that capabilities differ among TEC firms. These differences stem from the organizational processes of the firm and the individual skills of the technical consultants. Based on these differences, the thesis identifies two ideal types of firms: resource-capitalizer and project-capitalizer. Furthermore, it develops the notion of knowledge cycling which demonstrates how the mobility inherent in the technical consultants’ work facilitates the transfer and development of knowledge within and among problem-solving contexts. This process highlights the roles of the individual consultant, the TEC firm, and the client organization in the transfer of knowledge within and among assignments, projects, client organizations, and industries. Finally, this thesis provides insight into how formal training can develop the consultants’ ability to transfer knowledge among problem-solving contexts by enhancing their liminality competence.

Antalet professionella tjänsteföretag har ökat snabbt de senaste decennierna. Denna avhandling fokuserar på en specifik typ av professionella tjänsteföretag som har fått begränsad vetenskaplig uppmärksamhet, nämligen teknikkonsultföretag. Teknikkonsultföretagen har fått en alltmer framträdande roll i många sektorer och branscher då de, genom det sätt på vilket de bidrar till att organisera och utveckla ingenjörskunskap, är viktiga för innovation, kunskapsutveckling och kunskapsöverföring mellan organisationer. I denna avhandling studeras organiseringen och utvecklingen av ingenjörskunskap med särskilt fokus på teknikkonsultföretagens och teknikkonsulternas respektive roller för kunskapsöverföring mellan uppdrag, projekt, kundorganisationer och industrier.

Denna avhandling består av fyra artiklar och en kappa. Avhandlingen grundar sig i fyra kvalitativa studier och tar ett flernivåperspektiv genom att studera både den organisatoriska nivån och den individuella nivån och deras interaktion. Den bygger på intervjuer med chefer, konsulter, kundrepresentanter, samt branschexperter. Dessutom presenteras resultat från en djupgående studie av ett kompetensutvecklingsprogram för teknikkonsulter. Avhandlingen bidrar till forskningen om professionella tjänsteföretag genom att visa på de kunskapsbaserade fördelar som teknikkonsultföretag tillförskansar sig genom det sätt på vilket de organiserar och utvecklar ingenjörskunskap. Denna avhandling identifierar två organisatoriska förmågor, swift transition och knowledge cycling, och argumenterar för att länken mellan dessa förmågor skapar grunden för organiseringen av ingenjörskunskap.

Avhandlingen visar att de organisatoriska förmågor som teknikkonsultföretag utvecklar bildas genom samspelet mellan den organisatoriska nivån och den individuella nivån. Dessutom synliggör avhandlingen att organisatoriska förmågor skiljer sig åt bland teknikkonsultföretag beroende på företagets processer för att organisera och utveckla ingenjörskunskapen och teknikkonsulternas individuella färdigheter. Baserat på dessa skillnader identifierar avhandlingen två ideala typer av företag: (i) de som tar utgångspunkt i de enskilda konsulternas kunskaper och (ii) de som tar utgångspunkt i möjligheten att skapa kunskapssynergier genom integration av olika konsulters kunskaper. Vidare utvecklar avhandlingen knowledge cycling begreppet som belyser hur rörligheten, vilket är en central del i teknikkonsulternas arbete, påverkar kunskapsöverföringen och kunskapsutvecklingen inom och bland problemlösningskontexter. Denna process betonar rollerna hos den enskilda konsulten, teknikkonsultföretaget och kundorganisationen vid kunskapsöverföring inom och bland uppdrag, projekt, kundorganisationer och industrier. Slutligen ger föreliggande avhandling inblick i hur kompetensutveckling kan bidra till konsulternas förmåga att överföra kunskap mellan olika problemlösningskontexter, genom att möjliggöra utvecklingen av s.k. liminalitetskompetens.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how a technical consulting firm approaches the development of engineering consultants, to prepare them to deal with their liminal, i.e. mobile and transient work situation. More specifically, this paper addresses how a training program, designed for newly graduated engineers, can increase the consultants’ liminality competence.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reports on a qualitative case study of an introductory development program in a Scandinavian technical consulting firm. The study is based on observations of training sessions and meetings, and interviews with developers, leaders and participants of the program.

Findings

This study identifies three processes, which develop the engineering consultants’ ability to master their mobile and transient work situation: identifying the core of an assignment, embracing “in-betweenness” and broadening the scope of action.

Originality/value

This paper enhances the understanding of formal training in the context of technical consulting and adds to the knowledge of how engineering consultants can master their liminal work positions; in particular, the study identifies how liminality competence can be elevated through formal training.