lindgren-packendorff.com

In new paper published in Web-of-Science ranked Project Management Journal, Johann Packendorff, Lucia Crevani and Monica Lindgren inquire into what a process ontology as applied to leadership studies may imply, theoretically and methodologically. Drawing on the current research in general leadership, the paper propose that a process ontology is relevant and rewarding for project leadership studies. We argue that project leadership can be studied as the ongoing social production of direction through the construction of actors’ space of action, involving continuous construction and reconstruction of (1) past project activities and events; (2) positions and areas of responsibility; (3) discarded, ongoing, and future issues; and (4) intensity, rhythm, and pace. Through an ethnographic case study of an organizational change project, we show how space of action and hence the project direction are in constant flux and becoming. Read more on the article homepage!.

The emotions associated with project-based work has been given only scant attention in scholarly literature. In a new article published in the international top-ranked journal Human Relations, Monica Lindgren, Johann Packendorff and Viviane Sergi explores the emotional processes that take place as the project management discourse is invoked in daily work in theaters and opera houses. More about the article can be found at the journal’s homepage.

We hereby issue a Call for papers for an upcoming special issue in New Technology, Work and Employment (NTWE) on project work in technology-intensive settings. Monica Lindgren and Johann Packendorff are guest editors together with Svetlana Cicmil (Univ of the West of England) and Damian Hodgson (Manchester Business School). Deadline for first submissions is Nov 28th, 2014, and the publication is scheduled for the middle of 2016.

NTWE is published by Wiley since 1986 and ranked with impact factor in Web of Science. It is a grade-3 journal in the 2010 ABS journal guide. The full call for papers can be downloaded here.

Johann Packendorff was keynote speaker at Leadership Day 2014, an annual event for the highest managers in the Stockholm Municipality. The title of the speech was ”From co-workership to co-leadership”, and pointed at cultural values and practical measures needed to involve employees in the leadership of organisations. The event was held in the Globe Arena Annex in Stockholm. #ledarskapsdagen

In the latest issue of the Web of Science-ranked South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences (SAJEMS), Johann Packendorff and Monica Lindgren contribute with an article on different research traditions and foci on projectification. In the article, it is argued that an increased focus on the processes of projectification would be beneficial to project research. By introducing a distinction between narrow and broad conceptualisations of projectification, this research area is extended from its current concern with the increased primacy of projects in contemporary organisational structures into an interest for cultural and discursive processes in a society in which notions of projects are invoked.

The 7th Making Projects Critical workshop, organized by Johann Packendorff, Monica Lindgren, Svetlana Cicmil and Damian Hodgson, was successfully held at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 23-24 January. 36 participants from 12 countries had two intense days of presentations, discussions and social networking. The entire workshop programme can be downloaded here.

Monica Lindgren and Johann Packendorff is part of a new edited book published by the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, edited by Martin Kreuger, Lucia Crevani and Kristina Larsen. Read the book (in Swedish)!

At the 11th IRNOP conference, organized by BI School of Business in Oslo, Norway, 17-19 June 2014, the paper ”Towards process studies of project leadership” was presented. In the paper, Lucia Crevani, Monica Lindgren and Johann Packendorff claim the need for process ontologies in the study of project leadership work and show how such studies can be made.

Monica Lindgren will represent the Scandinavian Journal of Management at the Meet the Editors session at the EGOS 2013 Colloquium in Montréal, Canada, in July 4th. Along with editors from Academy of Management Review, Human Relations and Strategic Organization, she will advise junior scholars on how to improve their publishing strategies and skills.

KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, will host the 7th Making
Projects Critical 23-24 January 2014. MPC workshops have been arranged since
2003 by Svetlana Cicmil (University of the West of England), Damian Hodgson
(Manchester Business School) and Monica Lindgren and Johann Packendorff
(KTH Royal Institute of Technology) – gathering an international network of researchers interested in critical perspectives on project management. Read the Call for Papers!