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Municipalities working for Agenda 2030: Review and Agenda for future Research
Mälardalen University, School of Business, Society and Engineering, Industrial Economics and Organisation. (NOMP-group - New Organisation and Management Practices)ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4373-5950
Mälardalen University, School of Business, Society and Engineering, Industrial Economics and Organisation. (NOMP-group - New Organisation and Management Practices)ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2130-2158
(NOMP-group - New Organisation and Management Practices)ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8185-6879
(English)Manuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Considering the population density of urban areas, their levels of consumption and emissions, their influence on social equality and inclusion, and the resources and power allocated to urban actors, it is important to examine how municipalities organize work as they proceed to implement Agenda 2030 and to what effect. A systematic literature review is used to analyse 77 articles, published between 2017 and 2022, that examine the sustainability activities of municipal actors in Europe. Two themes are identified and explained: a) a paradigm shift in local government; b) the mobilization of socio-technical approaches (e.g., smart cities and regenerative land use). Also, the limitations of the literature and some areas for future research are discussed: research comparing practices across regions and countries; research analysing the interaction of different initiatives within a municipality; and research examining the role of municipal companies.

Keywords [en]
municipality, sustainable urban development, Agenda 2030, Europe
National Category
Social Sciences Other Social Sciences
Research subject
Industrial Economics and Organisations
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-65072OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mdh-65072DiVA, id: diva2:1820312
Funder
Knowledge Foundation, 20190129Available from: 2023-12-18 Created: 2023-12-18 Last updated: 2023-12-21Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Managing broad responsibility together in a municipal company: Communication as prophylaxis
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Managing broad responsibility together in a municipal company: Communication as prophylaxis
2024 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Municipal companies are important actors in the pursuit of the goals of Agenda 2030 and are often formally obliged by their owners to work towards achieving these goals, but without jeopardizing ongoing production and the delivery of vital public services. This has, however, shown to be challenging, and managers are often unsure how to develop new ways of organizing to meet such complex challenges and take on broad responsibility. What has been recognized is the importance of collaboration, which is a beneficial and distinct organizational form of its own that creates value greater than what individual organizations can do separately. Such ways of working are, however, hardly straightforward endeavours, since they usually involve members with contrasting goals and approaches, are inclined to fragmentation, and can sometimes even add to the challenges they set out to resolve. The aim of this thesis is to understand the practical challenges associated with collaborative efforts to manage broad responsibility in a municipal company. In response to this aim, responsible managing is studied both empirically and through a research literature review. The purpose of the literature review is to better understand the challenges of managing broad responsibility and what is currently being done to achieve the goals of Agenda 2030 at the municipal level. To understand how responsible managing is accomplished in practice, the enactment of responsible manging is empirically studied in a municipal company over a total of four years. Particularly, two cases have been studied using a participatory research approach: first, the case of a top management team managing responsibly together and second, the case of responsible managing in interorganizational collaboration in a municipal company. For both cases, a theoretical lens is used, resting on a social constructionist and processual-relational ontology, supported by practice-based studies in the communicative stream. This means that attention is focused on communication (both talk and text) in an approach that views responsible managing as a communicative practice, a form of emergent, relational, and situated practice and the means by which responsible managing emerges, is sustained, and transformed. The overall results show how situated communicative practices are influential for preventing the limitation of broad responsibility, fragmentation of the share responsibility, and the deprioritization of obligations over time. Based on this, a metaphor of dental prophylaxis is proposed. By conceptualizing responsible managing as a situated communicative practice and showing how responsible managing may be enacted, this thesis contributes theoretically to the field of organization and management.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Västerås: Mälardalen university, 2024
Series
Mälardalen University Press Dissertations, ISSN 1651-4238 ; 400
National Category
Social Sciences
Research subject
Industrial Economics and Organisations
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-65086 (URN)978-91-7485-629-3 (ISBN)
Public defence
2024-02-02, Gamma, Mälardalens universitet, Västerås, 10:00 (Swedish)
Opponent
Supervisors
Funder
Knowledge Foundation, 20190129
Available from: 2023-12-18 Created: 2023-12-18 Last updated: 2024-01-12Bibliographically approved

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Ahlström, Karin

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