Technology
Research Group
Market
Nature
People
Enterprising by Projects and
Organizational Knowledge
Enterprising by Projects and
Enterprising by Projects and Organizational Knowledge,
epok, focuses on the study of project organization and
knowledge processes within firms and organizations.
Organizational Knowledge
Enterprising by projects and organizational knowledge
has become an important recipe for success in recent years.
Firms and organizations, both in the private and public
sectors, increasingly use projects as a means of carrying
out their activities. In addition, there is a growing recognition that acquiring and using knowledge is critical
to competitiveness.
While projects were formerly seen as an “exceptional”
mode of organization, to be used in very special circumstances, today, the use of projects and project-based
organization often constitute the basic way of operating. Project organization may be a means to counteract
bureaucracy and inertia, and promote the development of
increased attention focus, entrepreneurship, and similar
characteristics that are considered virtues in a fast changing and highly competitive environment. However, there are
many dangers involved too. Projects are often late, sometimes plagued by conflict, short sighted, inhibiting learning,
etc. Developing a strong ‘project competence’ is therefore
vital for many firms. In our view, this often simultaneously
involves developing the capability for managing knowledge.
For instance, firms have to consider how to manage interproject learning and how projects may be used as a way
to lead innovation and strategic change processes.
The objective of epok is to make a fundamental contribution to our understanding of project organization, the
management of project-based firms, and knowledge
management. To do this we rely mainly on in-depth
studies of larger firms and organizations. Our academic
ambition is to be among the leading research groups in
our area in terms of publications, involvement in
international conferences, editorships, etc.
The epok research projects include empirical studies
of ABB, BT Products, Coop Sweden, Ericsson, GE,
Intentia, Tetra Pak, AstraZeneca, Pharmacia Diagnostics,
Volvo Car Corporation, Saab, Scania, Siemens, Skanska,
Hennes & Mauritz, Posten, The Premium
Pension Authority (PPM).
Funding for epok research projects is provided by the
Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Linköping University, Jan
Wallander’s and Tom Hedelius’ Foundation for Social
Science Research, L E Lundberg Foundation for Science
and Education, The Swedish Foundation for International
Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT),
The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, The Swedish
Research Council, The Swedish Council for Working Life
and Social Research (FAS), and The Swedish Agency for
Innovation Systems (Vinnova).
epok international collaborations include the CoPS
(Complex Product Systems) research group at SPRU,
University of Sussex/Brighton, UK, the Centre for
Innovation & Change Leadership, Suffolk University,
US, and the Unit for Study of Innovation, Knowledge
and Organizational Knowledge (IKON) at Warwick
University, UK.
epok members are involved in teaching over a wide
range of university courses at different levels within the
Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Faculty of Technology.
Feedback from our research is also provided through our
participation in the Executive Master Program in Project
Management (PMEX) and courses offered by Linköping
Project Center (LPC) - both subsidiary to the School of
Management at Linköping University.
The epok research themes comprise the following five
subject areas and involve fifteen research projects in total.
More information about each research project is available
on the home page of those participating in each project as
shown on the following page.
Theme 1
Project Management, Commitment, Trust, Control
a. Project models for product development.
b. Commitment and control in drug development projects.
c. Trust and control in rural development.
d. Managing public projects.
Theme 2
Project teams, Coordination, Communication
a. Knowledge integration in complex projects.
b. Diversity and cooperation. Roles and tools.
c. Problem-solving in multidisciplinary project teams.
Theme 3
Managing project-based firms, Project Competence, HRM
a. Project-based firms. Managing knowledge and individuals.
b. Project competence. Perspectives on competitiveness.
c. HRM in projects and projectified firms.
Theme 4
Projects, Technology and Innovation
a. Project organizing and innovation.
b. Technology strategies, organization and
innovations in large firms.
Theme 5
Organizational Capabilities, Knowledge transfer
a. The evolution of organizational capabilities in retailing.
b. Car distribution organization.
c. Replicating firms. Knowledge transfer in chain
organizations.
Contact
Fredrik Tell
Associate Professor
Lars Lindkvist
Professor
Jonas Söderlund
Associate Professor
Research Projects
in Themes
1, 2 and 4
Research projects
in Themes 1-5
Research Projects
in Themes
1, 2 and 3.
Tel. +46 13 28 40 65
[email protected]
Tel. +46 13 28 25 99
[email protected]
Tel. +46 13 28 16 16
[email protected]
Marie Bengtsson
PhD Candidate
Karin Bredin
PhD Candidate
Gunilla Söderberg
PhD Candidate
Magnus Vik
Assistant Professor
Christer Samuelsson
PhD Candidate
Theme 5c:
Replicating firms
Theme 3b,3c:
Project competence, HRM
Theme 1d: Managing public projects
Theme 1b: Commitment and control
Theme 5a:
Capabilities in
retailing
Tel. +46 13 28 15 58
[email protected]
Tel. +46 13 28 17 29
[email protected]
Tel. +46 13 28 15 85
[email protected]
Tel. +46 13 28 24 40
[email protected]
Tel. +46 13 28 66 51
[email protected]
Ramsin Yakob
PhD Candidate
Anders Parment
Assistant Professor
Linnéa Wahlstedt
PhD Candidate
Cecilia Frohm
PhD Candidate
Malin Tillmar
Assistant Professor
Theme 4a:
Project organizing
and Innovation
Theme 5b:
Car distribution
organization
Theme 2b: Diversity
and cooperation
Theme 2a:
Knowledge
integration
Theme 1c: Trust
and control
+46 13 28 21 73
[email protected]
Tel. +46 13 28 16 40
[email protected]
epok publications comprise a number
of dissertations, books and articles.
A selection of recent articles and books
are provided below. An extended list of
references to our publications is found
on the epok website.
International journal publications
Frohm, C., Lindkvist, L. & Tell, F. (forthcoming) Exploring
the dynamics of knowledge integration. Acting and interacting in project teams. Management Learning.
Bredin, K. & Söderlund, J. (2005) Perspectives on
Human Resource Management: An Explorative Study
of the Consequences of Projectification in Four Swedish
Firms. International Journal of Human Resources
Development and Management.
Lindkvist, L. (2005) Knowledge communities and knowledge collectivities. A typology of knowledge work
in groups. Journal of Management Studies.
Tel. +46 13 28 66 52
[email protected]
Tel. +46 13 28 58 49
[email protected]
Magnusson, T., Tell, F. & Watson, J. (2005) From CoPS to
Mass production? Capabilities and innovation in power
generation equipment manufacturing. Industrial and
Corporate Change.
Söderlund, J. (2005) Developing project competence:
empirical regularities in competitive project operations.
International Journal of Innovation Management.
Lindkvist, L. (2004) Governing project-based firms.
Promoting market-like processes within hierarchies.
Journal of Management and Governance.
Sydow, J., Lindkvist, L. & DeFillippi, R. (2004) Project organization, embeddedness and repositories of knowledge.
Editorial for Special Issue of Organization Studies
Söderlund, J. (2004) Building theories of project
management: past research, questions for the future.
International Journal of Project Management.
Tell, F. (2004) What Do Organizations Know? Dynamics
of Justification Contexts in R&D Activities. Organization.
Söderlund, J. (2002) “Managing complex development
projects: arenas, knowledge processes and time,”
R&D Management.
Tel. +46 13 28 15 88
[email protected]
Dahlgren, J. & Söderlund, J. (2001) Managing inter-firm
projects - on pacing and matching hierarchies.
International Business Review.
Prencipe, A. & Tell, F. (2001) Inter-project learning:
processes and outcomes of knowledge codification in
project-based firms. Research Policy.
Lindkvist, L., Söderlund, J. & Tell, F. (1998) Managing
product development projects: On the significance of
fountains and deadlines. Organization Studies.
Books in Swedish
Söderlund, J. (2005) Projektledning och projektkompetens: Perspektiv på konkurrenskraft, Malmö, Liber.
Söderlund, J. & Bredin, K. (2005) Perspektiv på HRM:
Nya organisationsformer, nya utmaningar. Malmö, Liber.
Berggren, C. & Lindkvist, L. (2001) (Red) PROJEKT Organisation för målorientering och lärande.
Lund, Studentlitteratur.
The epok group
Linköpings universitet, February 2005 Layout: Form&Fakta Printed by Linköpings tryckeri AB 2005
Enterprising by Projects and Organizational Knowledge is a research group which
focuses on the study of project organization and knowledge processes within firms and
organizations. All of its members belong to the Business Administration division within
the School of Management, at Linköping University.
Research by epok members is conducted within five themes: 1) Project Management,
Commitment, Trust, Control, 2) Project teams, Coordination, Communication,
3) Managing project-based firms, Project Competence, HRM, 4) Projects, Technology
and Innovation and 5) Organizational Capabilities, Knowledge transfer.
epok research results are published in books and leading international journals.
Feedback from epok research is provided via university courses, and through its
members’ involvement in Linköping Project Center (LPC), The Executive Master
Program in Project Management (PMEX), and the Swedish Project Academy.
Visit the epok website: www.epokresearch.se
epok
School of Management
Linköping University
581 83 Linköping
Sweden
Enterprising by Projects and
Organizational Knowledge