Assisted Reflection – Data Analysis with internal and external Communities of Practice As the global mindset research project has a dual ambition of producing value for practice as well as for

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Information from all data sources as well as from internal and external communities of practice for member checks have been sorted according to the structure outlines in the below matrix in the form of pictures, quotes from interviews, video recordings, archival data and field notes:

Code

Data sources

Strategic global mindset

Global mindset as meta-competence and capability

Management practices of

‘group mindset’:

Organizational enablers

Management practices of

‘group mindset’:

Organizational barriers

Management practices of

‘group mindset’:

Individual enablers

Management practices of

‘group mindset’:

Individual barriers Interviews,

survey data, photos, field notes etc.

Example 1, 2, etc.

Example 1, 2, etc.

Example 1, 2, etc.

Example 1, 2, etc.

Example 1, 2, etc. Example 1, 2, etc.

Figure 4.13: Data coding scheme. Source: Author

4.5.2 Assisted Reflection – Data Analysis with internal and external Communities of Practice

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be more attuned to internal politics and power struggles to offer a different view (how is the data coloured by local marketing efforts?).

Internal knowledge dissemination fora used for fact probing and member checks in this study include among others the Solar Strategic Management Team (CEO, CFO, corporate and subsidiary managers), Corporate HR as well as Group HR (all HR departments in Solar), the Solar Business Academy Board, an

internal/external knowledge-sharing forum focusing on the development of the Solar corporate academy, as well as the Corporate Communications functions. External member check fora include the Global Leadership Academy (the whole group of member companies, Appendix A), individual workshops for Global

Leadership Academy members, the global pharmaceutical company Lundbeck, the Global Mindset ‘Think-Box’ hosted by Network of Corporate Academies (NOCA)/The Danish Association of Managers/The Think Tank DEA as well as private consultancy, Corporate Developments, representing practitioners engaged in global mindset practice and development. External academic member check fora include paper presentation, organization of professional development workshop at the Danish Academy of Management, Nordic

Academy of Management, British Academy of Management, US Academy of Management well as the industrial PhD program committee⁷ and obligatory work-in-progress seminar with external discussants arranged under the auspices of the Doctoral School of Organization and Management Studies at Copenhagen Business School.

Complete outsiders in external communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) as well as internal complete members of the field are participating in quality assurance throughout the entire research process. As such, the study operates with research conditions similar to insider/outsider research design. A well-conducted insider/outsider research design may result in the uniquely insightful vantage of a third person (Björkman &

Sundgren, 2005; Coghlan & Brannick, 2009) and as such carve out a path for securing external “reality checks”. Combining an insider role with an outsider position may be approached in different manners. Gioia, Price, Hamilton & Thomas (2010) operate with an insider/outsider research design where insider researchers team up with outsider researchers to gain a detached second opinion in their data analysis, while Bartunek and Louis (1996) have described insider/outsider team research as joint relationships between outsider researchers and field setting members. As this study does not operate with permanently designated outsider researchers, the research conditions resemble the Bartunek & Louis-approach using internal and external checks and balances as an integral part of the research methodology. Since taping and transcribing interviews, photos, and video recordings are types of data gathering techniques whose results more easily lend themselves to a “second opinion” from an outsider, these data types have been given special focus in the data collection process. In summary, the researcher position vis-à-vis the field of study closely resembles that

7 The Industrial PhD Programme Committee (EFU) is appointed by the Danish Council for Technology and Innovation (RTI) and currently numbers 25 members. It is the job of the Committee to evaluate Industrial PhD applications and recommend the assessment (approval/conditional approval/rejection) to the Danish Council for Technology and Innovation.

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of Björkman and Sundgren (2005), remarking that “the main researchers are insiders, partially adapting to the outsider role, as each researcher is participating in an external community of inquiry (Argyris et al., 1985), the research community, and is constantly using “complete outsiders” from this society to challenge insider assumptions” (p. 401).

To assist this process, priority has been given to production of material that easily lend themselves to inspection and sensemaking by others, videos, pictures, tape recording as well as communicating ideas in writing on an ongoing basis (including both paper presentation at conferences as well as publication in offline and online practitioner fora (e.g. articles in mass circulation newspapers such as Jyllands-Posten⁸ and Global Leadership Academy member newsletter). In this respect, communication styles tailored at the different audiences is essential: although it would be great to have larger groups of managers in the case study organization discuss academic papers or review larger piles of interview transcripts, this is hardly realistic considering both time and knowledge resources. To facilitate practitioner reflection and

contribution, priority has been given to convert academic papers into ‘business reports’ or memo style briefs or PowerPoint presentations using visual communication as much as possible. Fact-probing and sharing of ideas through written knowledge production can be seen and an internal member check and self-check strategy allowing the researcher as well as other internal (practitioner) audiences to inspect the thoughts of the researcher while at the same time opening up to reactions from (academic and practical) external others (selected examples are illustrated in the intro and ‘exit research photocol’). So, in the course of the project, considerable effort has been made to convert less easily accessible forms of data collection such as research diary entries into academic papers, presentations and articles in order to open up the work of the researcher to internal and external ‘others’ (cf. bibliography, Nielsen, R.K.). These efforts also include the production of a conceptual analysis of global mindset (cf. Part I) in order to equip the researcher with a pre-understanding of global mindset not exclusively tied to the case study organization, and to make it possible to see how Solarian data contributes to the extant literature on global mindset.

The interplay between collection of data in the case study organization and instances of assisted reflection and sensemaking with internal and external communities of practice, are depicted in the following data model:

8 Jyllands-Posten is one of the three main Danish morning newspapers. Columns have appeared in the business section 4-5 times a year (cf. bibliography, Nielsen, R.K.).

Figure 4.14: Research process: Data collection time line with assisted reflection from external/internal member check feedback loops (academic fora not included). Source: Author.

Year 2: 12-24 months

Pre-project design and application phase: Case company match making and exploratory dialogue Preliminary literature review and identification of research gaps Joint formulation of research question Post-project: Next practice Communication and dissemination of final project outcome Host company decision- making, operationalization and implementation Agenda for future research and (journal) publication Year 3: 24-36 months Year 1: 0-12 months ’Hanging around’ (informal conversations and random encounters)//Keeping up to date with intranet, press releases etc.// Formal meetings with host company advisors 3-4 times a year and ongoing correspondence, teleconferences and research project newsletters ’Hanging around’ (informal conversations and random encounters)//Keeping up to date with intranet, press releases etc.//Formal meetings with host company advisors 3-4 times a year and ongoing correspondence, teleconferences and research project newsletters.

’Hanging around’ (informal conversations and random encounters)//Keeping up to date with intranet, press releases etc.// Formal meetings with host company advisors 3-4 times a year and ongoing correspondence, teleconferences and research project newsletters Internal member check: Case company project debriefing External member checks: Practitioner seminars and workshops on global mindset (Børsen and Lundbeck Pharma A/S)

Internal member check: Solar Business Academy Board meeting

External member check: Practitioner seminar on global mindset /Global Leadership Academy External member check: Practitioner workshop on global mindset/ Global Leadership Academy

External member check: Practitioner workshops on global mindset: Corporate Developments Consulting/The Association of Human Resource Managers in Denmark/FLS Schmidt/ ‘Think-Box’ on Global Mindset (NOCA/DEA/Lederne)

Internal member check: Solar Management Team External member check: Practitioner seminar on Solar group mindset/Global Leadership Academy

Participant observation and mini-survey: Solar Management Team Exploratory and field expert interviews Participant observation: International and local Solar Group Leadership Programme (DK, NO, SV, D)

Participating observation: Solar Business Academy Board meeting and Solar Strategy Kick-off 2011 Participant observation: Navigator survey presentation

Participating observation: Group HR meeting: ’Group mindset ‘workshop//Employer branding company program

Participant observation: GLP evaluation and knowledge sharing // project management Participant observation: Navigator survey presentation // Career development company program // Solar Strategy Kick-off 2013 Middle manager interviews

Participant observation: Solar Business Academy Board meeting Internal member check: Group HR meeting

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