Management, Organisation & Work
What does sustainable leadership mean? What creates value in an organisation? And how do organisations and companies make the most of their resources? Not only financially, but also from a human perspective that aims at the future.
Within this research theme, we address issues that are key to the understanding of work, governance and management in business, the public sector and in non-profit organisations. Highlighting challenges and showing concrete solutions are important parts of the department’s work. Here, research focuses on everything from workplace health, service work, social service work and professional development within education to leadership culture and organisational development in both the public and private sectors.
A common question for many of the projects is how best to use the organisations’ resources. What happens in a workplace when trust-based governance is replaced by control and targeting of objectives? How are the employees affected by organisational reforms? And how can managers in the service sector become equipped to lead the work in a sustainable way? The interdisciplinary research in this thematic field is broad and complex, and includes business administration, sociology and ethnology, among other areas. The main purpose of the research is to develop and deepen the understanding of work and organisations from a service perspective.
- Larsson, M. & Alvehus, J. (2022) Blackboxing leadership: Methodological practices leading to manager-centrism. Leadership (Online).
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Alvehus, J., Dahl, P.-J., & Sandström, I. (2022). Från policy till praktik: Gränsobjekt i Gestaltad livsmiljö. In A.-K. Bergman & M. Adenskog (Eds.),Den (ut)forskande staden. En FoU-innovation i offentlig sektor (pp. 83–107). Helsingborg: FoU Helsingborg.
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Alvehus, Johan, & Hallonsten, Olof (2022). Institutional logics and functionalist differentiation theory: Challenges and pathways forward. Organization Theory, 3(3), 1–22.
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Alvehus, J., & Crevani, L. (2022). Micro-ethnography: Towards an approach for attending to the multimodality of leadership. Journal of Change Management, 22(3), 231–251.
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Alvehus, J. (2022). The Logic of Professionalism: Work and Management in Professional Service Organizations. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
- Alvehus, J., Avnoon, N., & Oliver, A. L. (2021). ‘It’s complicated’: Professional opacity, duality, and ambiguity—A response to Noordegraaf (2020). Journal of Professions and Organization, 8(2), 200–213.
- Alvehus, Johan (2021). Docility, obedience and discipline: Towards dirtier leadership studies. Journal of Change Management: Reframing Leadership and Organizational Practice, 21(1), 120–132.
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Åkerström, Malin, Jacobsson, Katarina, Andersson Cederholm, Erika & Wästerfors, David (2021). Hidden Attractions of Administration: The Peculiar Appeal of Meetings and Documents. Routledge (Routledge Studies in the Sociology of Work, Professions and Organisations).
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Alvehus, Johan, Eklund, Sanna & Kastberg, Gustaf (2020). To strengthen or to shatter? On the effects of stratification on professions as systems. Public Administration, 1–16 (Online first).
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Andersson Cederholm, Erika & Hall, Patrik (2020). Performing ambiguous policy: How innovation events simultaneously perform change and collaborative order, The Sociological Review 68(6): 1403-1419.
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Empson, Laura & Alvehus, Johan (2020). Collective leadership dynamics among professional peers: Co-constructing an unstable equilibrium. Organization Studies 41(9): 1234–1256.
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Alvehus, Johan & Ericsson, Daniel (2020, red.). Om undran inför företagsekonomin. Stockholm: Santérus.
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Loodin, Henrik & Kruzela, Pavla (2020) Individuell utveckling genom kollegial handledning. Hälsofrämjande metoder inom välfärdens kontaktyrken. Lund University (Media-Tryck).
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Alvehus, Johan & Bay, Charlotta (2020). Critical theories. I U. Eriksson-Zetterquist, M. Hansson, & F. Nilsson (red.) Theories and Perspectives in Business Administration (s. 325–349). Lund: Studentlitteratur.
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Alvehus, Johan, Kastberg, Gustaf, & Eklund, Sanna (2020). Organizing Professionalism – New Elites, Stratification and Division of Labor. Public Organization Review, 20(1): 163–177.
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Park, Sung Hyun, Dahlgaard-Park, Su Mi & Kim, Dong-Chun (2020). New paradigm of lean six sigma in the 4th industrial revolution era. Quality Innovation Prosperity 24(1): 1–16.
Recent publications
Special Issue Introduction: Making Sense of Institutional Changes in the Welfare Professions
Special Issue Introduction: Making Sense of Institutional Changes in the Welfare ProfessionsAlvehus, J. & Loodin, H., 20...Blackboxing leadership: Methodological practices leading to manager-centrism
Blackboxing leadership: Methodological practices leading to manager-centrismAlvehus, J. & Larsson, M., 2023, I: Leadersh...Urholkade sociala relationer i distansarbete under coronapandemin
Urholkade sociala relationer i distansarbete under coronapandeminEspersson, M., Lidén, A. & Westrup, U., 2023 mars 13, (...Institutional Logics and Functionalist Differentiation Theory: Challenges and pathways forward
Institutional Logics and Functionalist Differentiation Theory: Challenges and pathways forwardAlvehus, J. & Hallonsten, ...Från policy till praktik: Gränsobjekt i gestaltad livsmiljö
Från policy till praktik: Gränsobjekt i gestaltad livsmiljöAlvehus, J., Dahl, P-J. & Sandström, I., 2022, Den (ut)forska...Micro-ethnography: Towards An Approach for Attending to the Multimodality of Leadership
Micro-ethnography: Towards An Approach for Attending to the Multimodality of LeadershipAlvehus, J. & Crevani, L., 2022, ...The Logic of Professionalism: Work and Management in Professional Service Organizations
The Logic of Professionalism: Work and Management in Professional Service OrganizationsAlvehus, J., 2021 dec. 8, Bristol...
The Research Portal at Lund University
Learn more about our research and publications.

Contact person
Professor Johan Alvehus