This comparative study of top executives' work aimed at examining the stability of top managerial behaviour reveals a relatively different pattern of behaviour compared with the study by Henry Mintzberg. The main differences are a much larger workload, a contact pattern to a larger degree oriented towards subordinates in group-settings, a greater emphasis on giving information, and less preoccupation with administrative work. One important finding is that fragmentation of time -in previous studies highlighted as a central tenet of managerial work -was not as prevalent in the new study. The different results can be attributed (with caution) to the impact of the management discourse about leadership and corporate culture, and to factors such as organizational structure and geographical dispersion of companies. However, there are also significant similarities between the two studies which indicate that claims of the emergence of a radically different managerial work are much exaggerated. Instead the empirical data shows that new work-practices are combined with older practices, both in a complex and context-specific ways. Therefore, there is a need for better integration between theoretical development and empirical investigations in this field of inquiry.

This paper describes and explains how balancing organizational structures can build traits for organizational resilience. Organizational resilience is a holistic and complex concept. In this paper, we move beyond focusing on sudden and disruptive events in favour of anticipating the unexpected in daily organizing. Organizational resilience is understood here as building traits of risk awareness, preference for cooperation, agility and improvisation and is analysed by means of a longitudinal qualitative case study. The paper contributes to the field by showing how balancing organizational structures can foster organizational resilience traits. We show that power distribution and normative control can create preparedness for unexpected events and foster action orientation at the same time as supporting organizational alignment.

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corporate social responsibility, corporate responsibility, globalization, national business systems, corporate annual reports, CEO letters, text analysis, Sweden,

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Based on a direct observation study of eight CEOs of large corporations, this paper examines how control is exercised in an era of financial transparency. In particular, the impact and effects of the increasing power of shareholders (corporate governance, shareholder value) with regard to managerial practices are investigated. The results show that CEOs were to a great extent influenced by expectations from exchange market actors and that such expectations, in a modified form, were passed down the hierarchy. Senior managers were given discretion in their work, but their performance (on the basis of how well they met expectations) was closely watched. The exercise of control by setting and monitoring expectations resulted in some managers working to exhaustion, and also in conformity and non-constructive communication. At the end of the paper, the effects of shareholder value management are discussed in relation to the societal level regarding issues of governance ethics, organizational development and work–life balance. It is concluded that reciprocal expectations and their intended and unintended consequences deserve further study in order to increase the understanding of the dynamics of modern capitalism.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how new public management (NPM) reform from the national level is implemented as practice in a local unit within the police sector in Sweden.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative case‐study approach is applied using semi‐structured interviews, participant observations and analysis of documents.FindingsThe paper illustrates different kinds of resistance at the organizational level. The dominant form of resistance was found to be cultural distancing. The paper demonstrates a tendency among police officers to deal with a changing and more complex work context by embracing a traditional work role.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper shows that reforms that add complexity may fail because of potential contradictions and the limited capacity and motivation of employees to deal with the complexity in the manner prescribed by NPM.Practical implicationsThe paper shows that the popular trend to adopt multi‐dimensional forms of control (for instance the balanced‐scorecard approach) may fail if there is a lack of consensus about what goals and measurement are important and/or there is a lack of dialogue about how the new goals should be implemented in practice.Originality/valueResearch about NPM‐reforms in the police sector is rare. The original contribution of this paper is to study NPM‐reforms with a focus on the role of complexity in relation to resistance.