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This thesis analyses a new trade union model for umbrella company workers and the changes in the field of trade unions in Sweden. By conceptualizing trade unions as collective actors within strategic action fields I describe and explain how a small independent trade union and challenger in the field, Säljarnas Riksförbund, has managed to construct a new trade union model for umbrella company workers that differs from the traditional model used by the incumbent Unionen, the largest trade union in Sweden. Säljarnas Riksförbund challenges what a trade union club is and Unionen’s position in the field. Through two iterations of interviews with key representatives and document analysis of central documents, this case study provides empirical findings of how the new trade union model differs from the traditional model and how it poses a challenge for Unionen. There are three main findings, 1) The new trade union model has a divided organizational structure and works both as a part of the employer organization and the trade union and acts for both organizations, 2) The new trade union model operates primarily toward the state, unemployment insurance funds, and umbrella company workers. 3) The new trade union model organizes its members based on the constructed form of work, umbrella company work which challenges the traditional principle of organizing based on industrial or occupational belonging. The study finds that the incumbent and challenger did not perceive the stakes in the field similarly, the internal governance units have not hindered the emerging challenge, and a change in a related field has not only destabilized the field in question but also invaded it. An episode of contention is emerging and the rules in the field are in flux., This study explores how trade unions organize umbrella company workers in Sweden. It focuses on a new trade union club that has been created by Säljarnas Riksförbund together with the umbrella company Frilans Finans. These two labor market parties established the first collective agreement and the first trade union club for umbrella company workers in Sweden. This is studied in relation to Unionen, the largest trade union in Sweden, which previously decided not to conclude a collective with the same umbrella company. The question is how and why did Säljarnas Riksförbund chose to conclude a collective agreement whereas Unionen did not? Säljarnas Riksförbund has taken the initiative from Unionen to become the trade union for umbrella company workers. Against this background, I pose three questions with the aim of understanding and exploring how this new trade union club is organized, how it works, and how it changes the field of trade unions. By designing this thesis as a case study and conducting two rounds of interviews with key representatives of each organization and analyzing the central documents of these organizations this thesis provides answers. The analysis shows that the new trade union club in fact is a new trade union model, a new way of organizing members, and a new way of acting as a trade union. This new model is an alternative model to the traditional one and thus challenges what a trade union is and what it does. The analysis shows that Säljarnas Riksförbund, through their alternative union model poses a challenge to the traditional trade union model of organizing employees and to Unionen’s position in the field. The new union club is both a member of the employer’s company and the trade union. The new union club maintains a dialogue with the employer through processes within the company itself and works for both organizations toward the state, unemployment insurance funds, and umbrella company workers. The new trade union model organizes umbrella co

There is ample debate around the conceptualizations of rural development as well as its implementation and impacts. Contemporary understandings underline the importance of social movements in social change, which has become a fundamental part of development. The Rural Development Tuki Association (RDTA) is such a social movement from Dolakha district in Nepal that originated within a Swiss-funded development project in the 1970s. The organization was a prime actor in social change and influenced the development of the villages in their district. There is a lack of applied research focusing on the history, evolution and context of social movements.The junction between social movement studies and organizational theory originated the theory of ‘strategic action fields’ that is used to analyze and understand the dynamics that underlie the emergence, stabilization and contestation of movements and organizations. The findings that are to inform this framework were collected during a field visit to Dolakha district through six informal gatekeeper-selected interviews and the analysis of documents provided by the organization itself. All this data was analyzed through content analysis and complemented by an extensive literature review on rural development, rural advisory services and Nepal’s political history to better understand the wider context within which the actions retold by members or related individuals took place.The RDTA originated as a novel approach to delivery of rural development services to village communities aiming to increase their self-reliance and agency in development. The ‘Tuki’ were selected members of village communities that received training and were then to share the newly acquired expertise with their peers like an expert-farmer or farmer-to-farmer extension system would. At first the villages struggled to accept the new authority and governance at the time made it impossible for the Tuki to formally organize. There was considerable conflict betw

There is ample debate around the conceptualizations of rural development as well as its implementation and impacts. Contemporary understandings underline the importance of social movements in social change, which has become a fundamental part of development. The Rural Development Tuki Association (RDTA) is such a social movement from Dolakha district in Nepal that originated within a Swiss-funded development project in the 1970s. The organization was a prime actor in social change and influenced the development of the villages in their district. There is a lack of applied research focusing on the history, evolution and context of social movements.The junction between social movement studies and organizational theory originated the theory of ‘strategic action fields’ that is used to analyze and understand the dynamics that underlie the emergence, stabilization and contestation of movements and organizations. The findings that are to inform this framework were collected during a field visit to Dolakha district through six informal gatekeeper-selected interviews and the analysis of documents provided by the organization itself. All this data was analyzed through content analysis and complemented by an extensive literature review on rural development, rural advisory services and Nepal’s political history to better understand the wider context within which the actions retold by members or related individuals took place.The RDTA originated as a novel approach to delivery of rural development services to village communities aiming to increase their self-reliance and agency in development. The ‘Tuki’ were selected members of village communities that received training and were then to share the newly acquired expertise with their peers like an expert-farmer or farmer-to-farmer extension system would. At first the villages struggled to accept the new authority and governance at the time made it impossible for the Tuki to formally organize. There was considerable conflict betw

This bachelor thesis explores how the changing political economic conditions of the built environment in Spain and Barcelona has affected the social struggle. Using a theoretical framework built on David Harvey’s conceptualization of the circuits of value in conjunction with Neil Flingstein and Doug McAdam’s sociological model of Strategic Action Fields, I will weave together the macro processes of capital accumulation and the micro processes of strategic collective action in a structure/agency based analysis. With a critical realist approach I aim to get closer to a practically adequate understanding of why the social struggles in Barcelona took form the way they did and what affects it has had on the outcome. By examine the development of the built environment in Spain from the 1950’s until the crisis in 2008 and connecting that to the strategic collective actions of the financial institutions, the governance units and the housing movement in Spain and Barcelona after the crisis, this study aims to shed light onto how that the flows of capital towards the secondary circuit has opened up for new forms of resistance against exploitation and accumulation by dispossession.

Firms adopt various corporate responsibility (CR) meanings and practices. Uncovering the underlying causal mechanisms that lead to this variety is, I argue, critical for contributing to the theoretical debate about how CR is a product of both a firm’s agency (i.e., reflexive action) and contexts that embed it (i.e., embedded agency), as well as the practical debate about how to identify and develop new, more effective and socially positive CR meanings and practices. The extant institutional studies of CR – specifically, studies drawing on the comparative institutional and institutional logics perspectives – have begun to theorise this variety as an outcome of firms’ different forms of agency that is embedded in different institutional (i.e., norms, rules, laws and customs) and field settings (i.e., power struggles between these firms and their stakeholders). While these two streams of literature have yielded some important insights into what can cause variety in some forms and foci of CR meanings and practices, they have remained fragmented and separate and so do not offer a complete explanation for why we observe variety in CR meanings and practices. I argue that this incompleteness results from that these institutional perspectives are limited to explain causal mechanisms of CR as a firm’s culturally and structurally embedded agency – or how institutional and field settings and a firm’s agency interplay as distinct yet interdependent entities in informing its CR meanings and practices. In this study, I fill this research gap both conceptually and theoretically. First, drawing on the insights from the institutional logics perspective, the theory of strategic action fields (SAFs) and the morphogenetic approach, I develop a conceptual framework that offers an alternative, more comprehensive approach to thinking and organising empirical observations on CR as a firm’s culturally and structurally embedded agency. Then, I apply three research questions derived from my co

This bachelor thesis explores how the changing political economic conditions of the built environment in Spain and Barcelona has affected the social struggle. Using a theoretical framework built on David Harvey’s conceptualization of the circuits of value in conjunction with Neil Flingstein and Doug McAdam’s sociological model of Strategic Action Fields, I will weave together the macro processes of capital accumulation and the micro processes of strategic collective action in a structure/agency based analysis. With a critical realist approach I aim to get closer to a practically adequate understanding of why the social struggles in Barcelona took form the way they did and what affects it has had on the outcome. By examine the development of the built environment in Spain from the 1950’s until the crisis in 2008 and connecting that to the strategic collective actions of the financial institutions, the governance units and the housing movement in Spain and Barcelona after the crisis, this study aims to shed light onto how that the flows of capital towards the secondary circuit has opened up for new forms of resistance against exploitation and accumulation by dispossession.

Collaborative circles theory explains how innovative small groups develop and win acceptance of their creative work but assumes a single type of circle and would benefit from considering how circles are affected by the strategic action fields in which they operate. We do so by synthesizing research on art, science, philosophy, and social movements to identify five field characteristics that influence circles and their creative potentials (i.e., attention space, consensus, social control, resources, and organizational and geographical contexts). We then use primary and secondary data on science circles (the Resilience Alliance and Phage Group), combined with previous research on circles and group creativity, to show how field-level differences explain systematic variations in the structure and dynamics of art and science circles. We close by arguing that there exists of a family of circles operating in different fields, formulating a refined definition of circles, and postulating four propositions informing future research.

peer-reviewed, This paper gives insights into research conducted within the Writing Centre Exchange Project (WCEP), a research collaboration among three university writing centres in Sweden, Germany and Ireland, which focuses on organisational perspectives on writing centre work. WCEP rests on the theoretical framework of institutional work. Previous research, conducted in US writing centres, developed a model of institutional work in writing centres that includes specific Strategic Action Fields (SAFs) and collaborative learning as a means to interact with stakeholders. By using this model, WCEP has targeted ongoing institutional work intended to establish and sustain missions, goals and activities in and around writing centres. Drawing on participatory action research, WCEP explores the extent to which the institutional work at the three European writing centres correlates with the model. The main findings show that indeed the same strategic action fields are relevant, but furthermore, different subcategories emerge depending on the local context. This paper explores some of the subcategories that differ and draws conclusions for the institutional work of writing centre directors.

peer-reviewed, This paper gives insights into research conducted within the Writing Centre Exchange Project (WCEP), a research collaboration among three university writing centres in Sweden, Germany and Ireland, which focuses on organisational perspectives on writing centre work. WCEP rests on the theoretical framework of institutional work. Previous research, conducted in US writing centres, developed a model of institutional work in writing centres that includes specific Strategic Action Fields (SAFs) and collaborative learning as a means to interact with stakeholders. By using this model, WCEP has targeted ongoing institutional work intended to establish and sustain missions, goals and activities in and around writing centres. Drawing on participatory action research, WCEP explores the extent to which the institutional work at the three European writing centres correlates with the model. The main findings show that indeed the same strategic action fields are relevant, but furthermore, different subcategories emerge depending on the local context. This paper explores some of the subcategories that differ and draws conclusions for the institutional work of writing centre directors.