Collaborative Research in Organizations: Foundations for Learning, Change, and Theoretical Development

"Adler, Shani, and Styhre, with contributions from many of the management researchers associated with the FENIX experiment, have documented the essence of collaborative research in organizations. The eighteen chapters in the book provide a window into the complexity of designing and managing collaborative research efforts in organizations . . . and present an approach that is worth reading about, reflecting upon, and exploring further. At Volvo Cars, this collaboration has been an added value to our practice." --From the foreword by Hans-Olov Olsson, CEO and President, Volvo Car Corporation "Through collaboration, we can deliver research outcomes not possible from solo or single team scholarship. . . . The experiments in collaborative research chronicled in this book are timely and important." --From the foreword by Andrew M. Pettigrew, Professor of Strategy and Organization, Warwick Business school, Associate Dean, Warwick University, U.K. "> This book responds in a timely manner to a most important subject area. > The editors have a proven track record and are well recognized in their > fields around the world. The cases exhibit broad coverage and the depth is > quite impressive." --> Kenneth L. Murrell, University of West Florida Collaborative Research in Organizations: Foundations for Learning, Change, and Theoretical Development leverages and sustains the role of management research while increasing the theoretical development of complex organizational and management issues. The true partnership ideal and emergent inquiry process make collaborative research complex and difficult to organize, lead, and manage. This book addresses these needs by revisiting traditional research ideals. Collaborative Research in Organizations is organized in four sections. Part I, Framing the Challenge, provides grounding in the historical context, the emergent need, and the challenges of working in the borderland between academy and industry. Part II, Lenses and Mechanisms, presents a range of collaborative research approaches, concepts, frameworks, and mechanisms, positioning collaborative research as something other than one of many qualitative approaches. Part III, Illustrations, are intended to provide specific examples of collaborative research projects in a variety of companies and industries that show how collaborative research is realized. Most of the illustrations are based on collaborations between FENIX Program researchers at the Stockholm School of Economics and Chalmers University of Technology and leading Swedish organizations leveraging the Scandinavia tradition of boundary-spanning learning endeavours. Part IV, Lessons, highlights the common denominators between the different studies, addresses some of the critiques of collaborative research, and identifies critical challenges for future inquiry.

Table of Contents:
Foreword I - Andrew Pettigrew, Professor, Associate Dean, Research, Warwick Business School Foreword II - Hans-Olov Olsson, CEO, Volvo Car Corporation. Part 1 Framing the Challenge 1. Rebuilding Management: A Historical Perspective - Armand Hatchuel, Hans Glise 2. Researching our Way to Economic Decline - Ken Starkey and Susan Tempest/ Nottingham University Business School 3. Traveling in the Borderland of Academy and Industry - Bengt Stymne/StockholmSchool of Economics 4. Collaborative Research: Strategic Intents and Actual Practices - Niclas Adler and Flemming Norrgren/Chalmers University of Technology · Academic commentary - David Knights/Keele University · Executive commentary - Mikael Dohlsten/Astra Zeneca Part 2 Collaborative Research: Some Lenses and Mechanisms 5. Collaborative Research: Alternative Roadmaps - A.B. (Rami) Shani and Corey Willson/California Polytechnic State University; Albert David/Ecoles des Mines de Paris; 6. Collaborative Research through an Executive Ph.D. Program - Sven Kylén and Flemming Norrgren/Chalmers University of Technology; Bengt Stymne/StockholmSchool of Economics 7. The Dual Role of the Insider Action Researcher - Jonas Roth/AstraZeneca R&D; Robert Sandberg and Charlotta Svensson /FENIX 8. Jam Sessions for Collaborative Management Research - Hans Björkman and Tobias Johansson/FENIX 9. Structural Learning Mechanisms in Collaborative Research - Michael Stebbins/California Polytechnic State University; Judy L. Valenzuela/Kaiser Permanente · Academic commentary - William Pasmore, Professor, Case Western Reserve University & Delta Group · Executive commentary - Per-Olof Nyquist, Vice President, Head of Ericsson University Part 3 Illustrations: Realizing Collaborative Research 10. Rethinking and Transforming Product Development - Jon Mikaelsson/Chalmers University of Technology; A.B. (Rami) Shani/California Polytechnic State University 11. Knowledge Facilitation in Action - Jonas Roth and Lena Berg/ AstraZeneca R&D 12. User Involvement and Experimentation in Collaborative Research - Peter Magnusson/FENIX 13. Managing Organizational Creativity - Mats Sundgren and Alexander Styhre/Chalmers University of Technology 14. The Cheetah Strategy - Saving Projects in Crisis - Mats Engwall and Charlotta Svensson/FENIX 15. Service Innovation - A Collaborative Approach - Hans Björkman/FENIX 16. The Collaborative Development of Leader at Site - Sven Kylén, Jan Wickenberg, and Mats Sundgren/Chalmers University of Technology 17. Product Innovation in a Solutions Business - Robert Sandberg and Andreas Werr/FENIX 18. Self-Designing a Performance Management System - Allan M. Mohrman and Susan Albers Mohrman/University of Southern California · Academic commentary - Anne Huff, Professor, Director, AIM, London Business School · Executive commentary - Lars Rebien Sörensen, CEO, Novo Nordisk Part 4 Collaborative Research in Organizations: Lessons and Challenges - Niclas Adler/Stockholm School of Economics; A. B. (Rami) Shani/California Polytechnic State University; Alexander Styhre/Chalmers University of Technology Index About the Editors About the Contributors

About the Author :
Niclas Adler, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden and, Director of the Fenix Program. He is a former Executive Director of the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship and board member in seven technology-based and venture capital companies. His most recent work has focused on business creation and renewal in established structures, alternative approaches in organizing complex product development and, action research methodologies in the pursuit of actionable knowledge creation. He is the author of numerous journal articles. A.B. (Rami) Shani, Ph.D., Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Change at California Polytechnic University, USA, a Senior Research Fellow at the FENIX Centre and an Adjunct Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden. His most recent work has focused on the theoretical and application of collaborative research in organizations, creating sustainable work systems, creating the learning organization and, action research methodologies in the pursuit of actionable knowledge creation. He is the co-author or book co-editor of Collaborative Research in Organizations: Foundations for Learning (SAGE,2004) , Change and Theoretical Development; Learning by Design (Blackwell, 2003); Creating Sustainable work Systems: Emerging Perspectives and Practice (Routledge, 2003); Behavior in Organizations: An Experiential Approach, 8e (McGraw-Hill-Irwin, 2004); and Parallel Learning Structures: Creating Innovations in Bureaucracies (AW, 1990). Alexander Styhre, Ph.D., Associate Professor at the Department of Project Management and Research Program Director at the Fenix Research Program, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. His research interest is focused on knowledge-intensive organizations and strategic human resource management practices. Styhre is widely published in refereed journals .

Review :
"Adler, Shani, and Styhre, with contributions from many of the management researchers associated with the FENIX experiment, have documented the essence of collaborative research in organizations. The eighteen chapters in the book provide a window into the complexity of designing and managing collaborative research efforts in organizations . . . and present an approach that is worth reading about, reflecting upon, and exploring further. At Volvo Cars, this collaboration has been an added value to our practice." "Through collaboration, we can deliver research outcomes not possible from solo or single team scholarship. . . . The experiments in collaborative research chronicled in this book are timely and important." "This book responds in a timely manner to a most important subject area. The editors have a proven track record and are well recognized in their fields around the world. The cases exhibit broad coverage and the depth is quite impressive."