Johan Berglund – författare

This book about leadership targets all those seeking a better understanding of the mysterious phenomenon called leadership. The expected readers includes scholars exploring leadership, leaders and those who want to become leaders, as well as all those who are led or would like to be led.

In the book we expand our knowledge of leadership from two starting points. The first one is an implicit analytical assumption running throughout the book, i.e. that leadership constitutes a problem, not a solution. The second one is empirical and entails studies of leadership in contexts that are usually overlooked. Traditional businesses and public authorities are replaced with other settings, such as a monastery, an accident site and polar expeditions, in order to see beyond the preconditions of modern bureaucracy.

The authors try to figure out where we stand today and furthermore: where is leadership headed from here?

This book about leadership targets all those seeking a better understanding of the mysterious phenomenon called leadership. The expected readers includes scholars exploring leadership, leaders and those who want to become leaders, as well as all those who are led or would like to be led.

In the book we expand our knowledge of leadership from two starting points. The first one is an implicit analytical assumption running throughout the book, i.e. that leadership constitutes a problem, not a solution. The second one is empirical and entails studies of leadership in contexts that are usually overlooked. Traditional businesses and public authorities are replaced with other settings, such as a monastery, an accident site and polar expeditions, in order to see beyond the preconditions of modern bureaucracy.

The authors try to figure out where we stand today and furthermore: where is leadership headed from here?

From Chernobyl to Fukushima, have we come full circle, where formalisation has replaced ambiguity and a decadent style of management, to the point where it is becoming counter-productive? Safety culture is a contested concept and a complex phenomenon, which has been much debated in recent years. In some high-risk activities, like the operating of nuclear power plants, transparency, traceability and standardisation have become synonymous with issues of quality. Meanwhile, the experience-based knowledge that forms the basis of manuals and instructions is liable to decline. In the long-term, arguably, it is the cultural changes and its adverse impacts on co-operation, skill and ability of judgement that will pose the greater risks to the safety of nuclear plants and other high-risk facilities. Johan Berglund examines the background leading up to the Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011 and highlights the function of practical proficiency in the quality and safety of high-risk activities. The accumulation of skill represents a more indirect and long-term approach to quality, oriented not towards short-term gains but (towards) delayed gratification. Risk management and quality professionals and academics will be interested in the links between skill, quality and safety-critical work as well as those interested in a unique insight into Japanese culture and working life as well as fresh perspectives on safety culture.

From Chernobyl to Fukushima, have we come full circle, where formalisation has replaced ambiguity and a decadent style of management, to the point where it is becoming counter-productive? Safety culture is a contested concept and a complex phenomenon, which has been much debated in recent years. In some high-risk activities, like the operating of nuclear power plants, transparency, traceability and standardisation have become synonymous with issues of quality. Meanwhile, the experience-based knowledge that forms the basis of manuals and instructions is liable to decline. In the long-term, arguably, it is the cultural changes and its adverse impacts on co-operation, skill and ability of judgement that will pose the greater risks to the safety of nuclear plants and other high-risk facilities. Johan Berglund examines the background leading up to the Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011 and highlights the function of practical proficiency in the quality and safety of high-risk activities. The accumulation of skill represents a more indirect and long-term approach to quality, oriented not towards short-term gains but (towards) delayed gratification. Risk management and quality professionals and academics will be interested in the links between skill, quality and safety-critical work as well as those interested in a unique insight into Japanese culture and working life as well as fresh perspectives on safety culture.