Managing the Work Situation

Lars Klemsdal is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of Oslo. His research interests include processes of organizing, management of organizational change and development, institutional change during public sector reforms, and sociological and organization theory. He is particularly concerned with foundational issues concerning agency and theories of knowledge in organization and management contexts. He works mostly through micro-sociological, pragmatist, and phenomenological approaches. He has served as part of the associate editor team of Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies from its foundation in 2011 until 2016. He is currently serving as an associate editor of Journal of Organizational Sociology.

Introduction

1. A Working Life with an Excess of Expectations

Part 1: Situations

2. Situational Sensemaking

3. Agency in Context

4. The Context of (Work)Situations

Part 2: Organization(s)

5. Organization as an Outcome of Situational Sensemaking

6. Organization(s) as Input to Situational Sensemaking

Part 3: Management

7. (De)Coupling of Management and Managers

8. Managing the Organization of the New Town Hall

9. Situation Management

Conclusion