Understanding organizational wrongdoing

The topic is white collar crime in its organizational form. The research question is why otherwise law-abiding people engage in wrongful behavior within legitimate organizations and what kinds of dynamics are involved in wrongful organizational processes. This is a theoretical inquiry the method of which is to bring together relevant literature on organizational behavior regardless of the branch of science. In addition to criminological and sociolegal writings, I mostly refer to works of social psychology and organization theory. At first, I discuss the terminological multiplicity related to organizational white collar crime. In conclusion from a critical analysis of the dominant terms and definitions, I argue for the concept of organizational wrongdoing. The approach of organizational wrongdoing captures unethical, illegal and criminal organizational behavior. Thus, it is not retricted by legislative categories but ethical reasoning. The approach aims at grasping a behavioral entity, and state law crimes do not constitute an ontology of behavior. In order to understand organizational wrongdoing, the dominant criminological theories applied to white collar crime are discussed. To a surprisingly large extent, they lack a sophisticated organizational perspective and do not offer viable frameworks for building a plausible theory of organizational white collar crime. In order to fill the gap, I incorporate the social psychological dynamics of organizational behavior and present several findings on collective behavior that criminological theorization must come to terms with. ------ This publication has been first presented and accepted as a master's thesis at the Faculty of Law, University of Turku. It has been published on the series: Criminal Law and Judicial Procedure, Series B: 15, in print format. The publication was digitized in 2015 and published online.

Applying organizational core values in everyday delivery work - case Accenture

The purpose of this thesis is to study organizational core values and their application in practice. With the help of literature, the thesis discusses the implementation of core values and the benefits that companies can gain by doing it successfully. Also, ways in which companies can improve their values’ application to their everyday work are presented. The case company’s value implementation is evaluated through a survey research conducted on their employees. The true power of values lies in their application, and therefore, core values should be the basis for all organizational behavior, integrated into everything a company does. Applying values in practice is an ongoing process and companies should continuously work towards creating a more value-based organizational culture. If a company does this effectively, they will most likely become more successful with stakeholders as well as financially. Companies looking to turn their values into actions should start with a self-assessment. Employee surveys are effective in assessing the current level of value implementation, since employees have valuable, first-hand information regarding the situations and behaviors they face in their everyday work. After the self-assessment, things like management commitment, communication, training, and support are key success factors in value implementation.

Field Sales Management Control: Towards a Multi-Level Theory

The purpose of this dissertation is to increase the understanding and knowledge of field sales management control systems (i.e. sales managers monitoring, directing, evaluating and rewarding activities) and their potential consequences on salespeople. This topic is important because research conducted in the past has indicated that the choice of control system type can on the other hand have desirable consequences, such as high levels of motivation and performance, and on the other hand leadto harmful unintended consequences, such as opportunistic or unethical behaviors. Despite the fact that marketing and sales management control systems have been under rigorous research for over two decades, it still is at a very early stage of development, and several inconsistencies can be found in the research results. This dissertation argues that these inconsistencies are mainly derived from misspecification of the level of analysis in the past research. These different levels of analysis (i.e. strategic, tactical, and operational levels) involve very different decision-making situations regarding the control and motivation of sales force, which should be taken into consideration when conceptualizing the control. Moreover, the study of salesperson consequences of a field sales management control system is actually a cross-level phenomenon, which means that at least two levels of analysis are simultaneously involved. The results of this dissertation confirm the need to re-conceptualize the field sales management control system concept. It provides empirical evidence for the assertion that control should be conceptualized with more details atthe tactical/operational level of analysis than at the strategic levelof analysis. Moreover, the results show that some controls are more efficiently communicated to field salespeople than others. It is proposed that this difference is due to different purposes of control; some controls aredesigned for influencing salespersons' behavior (aim at motivating) whereas some controls are designed to aid decision-making (aim at providing information). According to the empirical results of this dissertation, the both types of controls have an impact to the sales force, but this impactis not as strong as expected. The results obtained in this dissertation shed some light to the nature of field sales management control systems, and their consequences on salespeopl

Customer Expectations and Organizational Buying Behavior in the Flexible Packaging Markets

Tämä työ on tehty yhteistyössä kansainvälisen metsäteollisuusyrityksen Stora Enson kanssa. Työ on osa Stora Enson strategiaa kehitettäessä uusia ja innovatiivisia pakkausmateriaaleja ja ratkaisuja joustopakkausmarkkinoille. Työn päätavoitteina oli selvittää, millaisia odotuksia tuotemerkkienomistajilla ja jatkojalostajilla on joustopakkauksista ja kuinka pakkausten ostopäätökset syntyvät monitahoisessa liikeympäristössä. Työn teoreettinen viitekehys jaettiin kahteen osaan. Asiakasodotuksia lähestyttiin tutkimalla eri palvelu- ja tuotelaadun ulottuvuuksia, ja teollisuuden ostokäyttäytymistä tutkittiin organisaatioiden ostokäyttämistä kuvaavien mallien avulla. Työn empiirisessä osuudessa käytettiin laadullista tutkimusmenetelmää käsittäen asiakashaastatteluja lähinnä Yhdysvalloissa. Haastateltavat yritykset koostuivat maailman johtavista kuluttajatuotteita valmistavista yrityksistä sekä jatkojalostajista. Tutkimustulosten mukaan odotukset pakkauksista liittyvät lähinnä tuotteen suojaamiseen sekä myynnin edistämiseen. Pääodotuksina on myös saada mahdollisimman edullisia papereita, mahdollisimman hyvillä barrier- ja paino-ominaisuuksilla. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat myös, että paperiyhtiöt ovat epäonnistuneet tekemään itseään tunnetuksi teollisuudelle ja heidän odotetaan olevan tulevaisuudessa aggressiivisempia ja innovatiivisempia. Tuotemerkkienomistajat ostavat pakkaukset ja pakkausmateriaalit normaalisti mieluiten jatkojalostajiensa kautta, mutta silti he toivovat yhteistyötä paperintoimittajien kanssa kunhan vain myös jatkojalostajat sisällytetään toimintaan mukaan.

Alaistaito osuustoiminnallisessa yrityksessä

Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on kuvata ja ymmärtää osuustoiminnallisen yrityksen alaistaitoja henkilöstön näkökulmasta. Alaistaitoja pyritään ymmärtämään psykologisen sopimuksen, luottamuksen ja organisaatioon sitoutumisen kautta. Tavoitteena on kartoittaa henkilöstön käsityksiä alaistaidoista. Lisäksi pyritään ymmärtämään mitä osuustoiminnallisuus on henkilöstön näkökulmasta ja minkälaisia yhteyksiä sillä on henkilöstön alaistaitoihin. Tutkimus on luonteeltaan laadullinen tutkimus, jossa tutkimusmetodina on käytetty teemahaastattelua. Tutkimuksen aineisto on kerätty kahdellatoista yksilöhaastattelulla tutkimuksen kohteena olevan organisaation henkilöstöstä. Tutkimustulosten perusteella voidaan todeta, että toimihenkilöiden hahmottamat mahdollisuudet olla osallisena johtamistyössä sekä esimiesten odotukset ja toiveet alaisten toteuttamista alaistaidoista ovat samansuuntaisia. Eroavaisuudet toimihenkilöiden ja esimiesten alaistaito käsityksistä liittyvät työyhteisöön ja esimieheen suuntautuvaan vuorovaikutukseen sekä ammatillisen kasvun menetelmiin. Osuustoiminnallisuus luo pohjaa yhteisöllisyydellä ja sitoutumisen kautta.

Trust in inter-organizational relationships

Trust in inter-organizational collaborative relationships has attracted substantial research interest among academics and practitioners. Previous studies have concentrated on the benefits of trust to business outcomes and economic performance, as it is considered to be a source of competitive advantage. Despite this increased level of interest, there is no consensus, much less overall agreement, about how it should be conceptualized or about the number of dimensions it incorporates. On the inter-organizational level there is an obvious challenge in defining both the trusting party and the objects of trust. Thus, the notion of trust as an under-theorized and poorly understood phenomenon still holds. Hence, the motivation of this study was fuelled by the need to increase our knowledge and understanding of the role and nature of trust in inter-organizational collaborative relationships. It is posited that there is a call for more understanding about its antecedents and consequences, as well as about the very concept in inter-organizational collaborative relationships. The study is divided into two parts. The first part gives a general overview, and the second part comprises four research publications. Both qualitative and quantitative research methodology is utilized. A multi-method research design was used because it provides different levels of data and different perspectives on the phenomenon. The results of this study reveal that trust incorporates three dimensions on both the individual and the organizational level: capability, goodwill, and self-reference. Trust develops from the reputation and behavior of the trusted party. It appears from this study that trust is clearly directed towards both individual boundary spanners and the counterpart company itself – i.e. not only to one or the other. The trusting party, on the other hand, is always an individual, and not the organization per se. Trust increases collaboration benefits and lowers collaboration drawbacks, thus having a positive effect on relationship performance. The major contribution of this study lies in uncovering the critical points and drawbacks in prior research and thereby in responding to the highlighted challenges. The way in which these challenges were addressed offers contributions to three major issues in the emerging theory of trust in the inter-organizational context: firstly, this study clarifies the trustor-trustee discussion; secondly, it conceptualizes trust as existing on both individual and organizational levels; and thirdly, it provides more information about the antecedents of trust and the ways in which it affects relationship performance.

Intra-organizational knowledge transfer in a Finnish multinational company

The ability of a multinational company to effectively transfer knowledge from one unit to another can create a great source of competitive advantage and is crucial for long-term success. However, in their attempts to disseminate existent knowledge across national boundaries, organizations encounter several obstacles. Especially challenging is the transfer of tacit knowledge, the most valuable kind, as it is embedded in the minds and the behavior of people. The purpose of this study is to identify the main factors and challenges to be considered in intra-organizational knowledge transfer and consequently develop a framework that could be utilized to improve the process. The research is of qualitative nature and it adopts an exploratory approach. The study was further conducted as an intensive single-case study through studying a Finnish multinational company, and the researcher adopted a role as a participant observant in the research setting. Other data collection methods include semi-structured interviews and an online survey. The research findings show that knowledge transfer is currently challenging within the international sales organization of the case company. The majority of knowledge is currently concentrated in the company headquarters, and it is not always systematically distributed to the regional offices abroad. The main factor affecting knowledge transfer seems to be the organizational culture, which does not support or encourage knowledge sharing. The company is struggling in having a common place for information and employees that lack proper social networks have difficulties accessing relevant knowledge. Some recommended improvement suggestions include the institutionalization of knowledge transfer by turning it into an articulated organizational goal, and the implementation of a reward system that includes soft factors, such as teamwork and knowledge sharing behavior. Furthermore, the organizational culture should be more open and supportive in order to reinforce trust. Individuals in regional offices should be given better support by offering them dedicated mentors and increasing the amount of expatriation. Finally, knowledge should actively be codified and stored in commonly shared platforms where it is easily accessible by all employees.

Cloud service purchase behavior

This study aims to open up some typical models of organizational buying behavior. As the cloud computing and cloud services seem to be the today´s hype, the study seeks to further facilitate the understanding of organizational buying behavior regarding cloud services by interviewing a decision maker of this field in the purchaser´s side and also for comparison a cloud service provider´s representative from the vendor´s side.

Sotilasyksikön integraatio – koulutuskulttuurien kohtaaminen ja konfliktit

Tutkimuksen kohteena on yksi sotilasyksikkö, Reserviupseerikoulun Esikunta- ja viestikomppania. Kyseisessä yksikössä koulutetaan reservinupseereita sotilaspo-liisi-, huolto-, johtamisjärjestelmä- ja komentopaikkatehtäviin. Sotilaspoliisilinja ja huoltolinja ovat liittyneet yksikköön vuoden 2014 lopulla. Tämä integraatio on saanut aikaan tiedonintressin koulutuslinjojen kulttuureihin liittyen. Tarkoituksena on selvittää miten linjojen koulutuskulttuurit poikkeavat toisistaan ja mitä kulttuurien integraatiossa tapahtuu. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on myös antaa suosituksia yksikölle mahdollisten kulttuuriristiriitojen ja konfliktien hallitsemiseksi. Tutkimus on luonteeltaan sosiaaliantropologista kauppatieteellistä kulttuurintutki-musta. Taustatieteinä ovat liiketaloustiede, antropologia, sosiologia ja osittain or-ganisaatiopsykologia. Tutkimusote on laadullinen ja aineiston hankinnan mene-telminä on käytetty yksikön kouluttajien haastatteluja ja osallistuvaa havainnointia. Tutkimusaineisto on analysoitu teoriaohjaavaa laadullista sisällönanalyysiä käyttäen. Analyysin tavoitteena oli tunnistaa erot integroituvissa koulutuskulttuureissa, ymmärtää eroista johtuvien konfliktien logiikkaa ja tarkastella kulttuurien vuotamisen logiikkaa. Esikunta- ja viestikomppanian koulutuskulttuurien erilaisuutta analysoitiin seuraavien teoriateemojen kautta: oppilaskäsitys, suhtautuminen upseerioppilaisiin, artefaktit (koulutusmenetelmät), arvot, asenteet ja kouluttamisen syväoletukset. Koulutuskulttuurien kohtaamista analysoitiin psykologisen omistajuuden, reviirikäyttäytymisen ja kulttuurin vuotamisen teorioiden kautta. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että kulttuurilla todella on merkitystä sotilasorganisaa-tion integraatiotilanteessa. Esikunta- ja viestikomppanian koulutuskulttuureissa on havaittavissa huomattavia eroja, mutta myös samankaltaisuuksia. Kulttuurien erot johtavat ristiriitaisuuksiin, konflikteihin, reviirikäyttäytymiseen ja saavat ihmiset osoittamaan mieltään eri tavoin. Toisaalta kulttuuripiirteillä on myös taipumusta vuotaa ympäristöön nopeuttaen uusien organisaation osien sopeutumista. Johtajan rooli kulttuurien hallinnassa on keskeinen. Johtajan oma kulttuuriorientaatio voi johtaa konflikteihin, mutta toisaalta myös ratkaista niitä. Tärkeimpänä johtopäätöksenä on, että suuressa sotilasyksikössä kannattaisi laatia strategia eli suunnitelma kulttuurin johtamista varten silloin, kun integraatio on tapahtumassa. Strategian avulla voidaan ottaa kantaa useisiin kulttuurillisiin ristiriitoihin, joita siis Esikunta- ja viestikomppaniankin tapauksessa ilmenee. Koko yksikön henkilöstä kannattaisi sitouttaa ja ottaa mukaan strategian laadintaan. Strategia selventäisi esimerkiksi yksikön arvoja, visiota, missiota, tehtäviä, erilaisten linjojen erityisasemaa ja poikkeuksia, haluttua ja toivottua toimintaa ja asennetta, palkitsemiskäytäntöjä, toisin sanoen kulttuurin eri tekijöitä. Strategia ei ole vain liiketaloudellinen tulosyksikön pitkän tähtäimen pakollinen työkalu, vaan myös sotilasorganisaation kulttuurin johtamisen väline.

Collectiveness within startup teams – Leading the way to initiating and managing collective pursuit of opportunities in organizational contexts

While traditional entrepreneurship literature addresses the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities to a solo entrepreneur, scholars increasingly agree that new ventures are often founded and operated by entrepreneurial teams as collective efforts especially in hightechnology industries. Researchers also suggest that team ventures are more likely to survive and succeed than ventures founded by the individual entrepreneur although specific challenges might relate to multiple individuals being involved in joint entrepreneurial action. In addition to new ventures, entrepreneurial teams are seen central for organizing work in established organizations since the teams are able to create major product and service innovations that drive organizational success. Acknowledgement of the entrepreneurial teams in various organizational contexts has challenged the notion on the individual entrepreneur. However, considering that entrepreneurial teams represent a collective-level phenomenon that bases on interactions between organizational members, entrepreneurial teams may not have been studied as indepth as could be expected from the point of view of the team-level, rather than the individual or the individuals in the team. Many entrepreneurial team studies adopt the individualized view of entrepreneurship and examine the team members’ aggregate characteristics or the role of a lead entrepreneur. The previous understandings might not offer a comprehensive and indepth enough understanding of collectiveness within entrepreneurial teams and team venture performance that often relates to the team-level issues in particular. In addition, as the collective-level of entrepreneurial teams has been approached in various ways in the existing literatures, the phenomenon has been difficult to understand in research and practice. Hence, there is a need to understand entrepreneurial teams at the collective-level through a systematic and comprehensive perspective. This study takes part in the discussions on entrepreneurial teams. The overall objective of this study is to offer a description and understanding of collectiveness within entrepreneurial teams beyond individual(s). The research questions of the study are: 1) what collectiveness within entrepreneurial teams stands for, what constitutes the basic elements of it, and who are included in it, 2) why, how, and when collectiveness emerges or reinforces within entrepreneurial teams, and 3) why collectiveness within entrepreneurial teams matters and how it could be developed or supported. In order to answer the above questions, this study bases on three approaches, two set of empirical data, two analysis techniques, and conceptual study. The first data set consists of 12 qualitative semi-structured interviews with business school students who are seen as prospective entrepreneurs. The data is approached through a social constructionist perspective and analyzed through discourse analysis. The second data set bases on a qualitative multiplecase study approach that aims at theory elaboration. The main data consists of 14 individual and four group semi-structured thematic interviews with members of core entrepreneurial teams of four team startups in high-technology industries. The secondary data includes publicly available documents. This data set is approached through a critical realist perspective and analyzed through systematic thematic analysis. The study is completed through a conceptual study that aims at building a theoretical model of collective-level entrepreneurship drawing from existing literatures on organizational theory and social-psychology. The theoretical work applies a positivist perspective. This study consists of two parts. The first part includes an overview that introduces the research background, knowledge gaps and objectives, research strategy, and key concepts. It also outlines the existing knowledge of entrepreneurial team literature, presents and justifies the choices of paradigms and methods, summarizes the publications, and synthesizes the findings through answering the above mentioned research questions. The second part consists of five publications that address independent research questions but all enable to answer the research questions set for this study as a whole. The findings of this study suggest a map of relevant concepts and their relationships that help grasp collectiveness within entrepreneurial teams. The analyses conducted in the publications suggest that collectiveness within entrepreneurial teams stands for cognitive and affective structures in-between team members including elements of collective entity, collective idea of business, collective effort, collective attitudes and motivations, and collective feelings. Collectiveness within entrepreneurial teams also stands for specific joint entrepreneurial action components in which the structures are constructed. The action components reflect equality and democracy, and open and direct communication in particular. Collectiveness emerges because it is a powerful tool for overcoming individualized barriers to entrepreneurship and due to collectively oriented desire for, collective value orientation to, demand for, and encouragement to team entrepreneurship. Collectiveness emerges and reinforces in processes of joint creation and realization of entrepreneurial opportunities including joint analysis and planning of the opportunities and strategies, decision-making and realization of the opportunities, and evaluation, feedback, and sanctions of entrepreneurial action. Collectiveness matters because it is relevant for potential future entrepreneurs and because it affects the ways collective ventures are initiated and managed. Collectiveness also matters because it is a versatile, dynamic, and malleable phenomenon and the ideas of it can be applied across organizational contexts that require team work in discovering or creating and realizing new opportunities. This study further discusses how the findings add to the existing knowledge of entrepreneurial team literature and how the ideas can be applied in educational, managerial, and policy contexts.

Facilitating corporate entrepreneurial behavior: A study of corporate entrepreneurial behavior in corporate banking

This study discusses the pronounced importance of corporate entrepreneurial behavior, CEB, facilitation and enablement as a key dimension in the rapidly changing business environment within companies. The research target is a large finance company in Finland, where regulations, compliance and processes restrict and refine extensively business approach. The purpose of this study is to foster the understanding of corporate entrepreneurial behavior and requirements and identify the supporters and inhibitors of facilitation of it. Furthermore, this study examines who should be driving the implementation and offer concrete outcome for the company to get the facilitation started and berth it as part of the organizational culture and values. The theoretical background is constructed from literature related to concept of corporate entrepreneurial behavior, factors supporting and hindering the facilitation based on previous studies and innovation management. Furthermore theoretical framework of middle managers entrepreneurial behavior in facilitation process was researched. Additionally top down and bottom up approach of conversational space building within the organization in order to foster innovation and involving mindset and behavior was in the core literature. The empirical research conducted for the study consists three parts; innovation audit questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and secondary data from previously made research within the case company. Questionnaire and interviews were targeted to eight middle managers within the company, the head of branch regions in corporate segment. The secondary data was collected from over 300 employees in the case company by an external company. Research results were analyzed mainly by themes and source division in adaption with the theoretical framework. The study finds that facilitation of CEB should be a strategic choice and requires strong management support and examples. Behavior should be involved with organizational culture, values, structures and processes. The companies´ willingness to take risks and encourage employees at all levels to participate and be involved by taking ownership and responsibility is in the core. CEB is found to be a key dimension in increasing employee satisfaction and engagement, competitive advantages and economic growth of companies. There is increased interest towards CEB in the case company but there is lack in the mutual consensus of it. CEB is not in the strategy although the mindset and support from management is in place. There is no concrete enablement and space for innovation and CEB although the platform would be receptive. Further research is needed to build shared vision of CEB and how to make it a part of the organizational culture and values in addition to building the conversational space.

Corporate Entrepreneurship in Healthcare Organizations: An explorative study of employees’ corporate entrepreneurial behavior, job satisfaction and turnover intention

The Finnish healthcare industry is currently facing significant challenges due to economic crises, aging population and major structural reforms, which have resulted in decreased job satisfaction and increased levels of turnover. This proposes that healthcare organizations need to come up with new, creative means to tackle these issues. Several researchers have argued that corporate entrepreneurship may be the necessary means to achieve this. As previous research has mainly focused on examining this concept from organizational perspective, this study looks at how it occurs on the level of individual employees. The purpose of this study is to examine how corporate entrepreneurship is manifested in individual behavior, and how this type of behavior is associated with the individual’s job satisfaction and turnover intention. Additionally, this study will examine the differences in corporate entrepreneurial behavior between private and public sector organizations, as previous research suggests that these two may be characterized differently. Data was collected with the help of a literature review as well as a survey study, which was sent out to a number of employees of four different healthcare organizations, out of which three were public and one was a private sector organization. Six distinct behavioral characteristics were recognized in previous research, which make up the measure for corporate entrepreneurial behavior. Principal components were formed from the different areas of the survey (corporate entrepreneurial behavior, job satisfaction, turnover intention), after which the association of these components were examined with linear regression analysis, which proved that corporate entrepreneurial behavior is positively correlated with both job satisfaction and intention to leave the organization. Differences between sectors were analyzed with analysis of variance and cross tabulation analysis, but neither of these suggested that any significant differences would occur. These results suggest that employees who behave entrepreneurially tend to be more satisfied with their jobs, but also consider leaving their current organizations more often than others. This may be due to the fact that healthcare organizations are not fertile for entrepreneurial behavior, which will drive entrepreneurial individuals looking for employers who may be more supportive of this type of behavior. With growing levels of dissatisfaction as well as little room for entrepreneurial behavior, the studied organizations may actually be in the process of losing those employees who have the ability and desire to behave in such manner, and who could very well be those who will eventually come up with solutions for the major challenges that these organizations are facing.