When Culture Takes Over
- Culture as a Substitute for Leadership
Senada Alagic
Edin Salic
Lund University, School of Economics and Management
Department of Business Administration
Master Thesis
Spring 2012
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank our supervisor Sverre Spoelstra for his guidance in our thesis as well
as for his for his genuine interest and contributions to our research. We would also like to
thank all of the respondents at Tele2 for their participation and interest in our research.
Finally, would like to thank Mirta Salamon who made it possible for us to conduct the
research at Tele2.
Lund, 21th of May, 2012
Senada Alagic and Edin Salic
2|Page
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Abstract
Title When culture takes over - Culture as a substitute for leadership
Seminar date May 30th 2012
Course BUSN49 Degree Project in Managing People, Knowledge and Change – Master
Level
Authors Senada Alagic and Edin Salic
Supervisor Sverre Spoelstra
Key words Leadership, Culture, Socialization, Trainee program
___________________________________________________________________________
Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to examine how trainees in a big Swedish
telecommunications company are being socialized into becoming the future leaders of the
company
Theoretical framework In our theoretical framework we have focused upon existing
research that theorizes the relation between leadership, culture and socialization, with
particular focus on the way this relation has been established within transformational
leadership research.
Methodology The study is based on qualitative research and the inductive method has been
used. We have conducted semi structured interviews with participants and interpreted their
answers.
Findings Our study is based on a company’s socialization of trainees into leadership. We
have conducted interviews with current trainees and managers about this process and their
view of leadership.
Discussion The theoretical distinction between transformational and transactional leadership
has been an essential theory in our discussion that has assisted us to discuss the interplay
between leadership, culture and socialization. Through socialization individuals are adapting
to the culture and become transactional leaders. This, however, could be perceived as
management rather than as leadership. Transformational leadership is substituted by the
culture.
Conclusion In this case study we have found that the trainee program which is aiming to
create the leaders of the future is creating the managers of the future. The reason for this is
that the strong culture is influencing the socialization process which in turn is facilitating the
creation of transactional leaders. We also found that organizational culture is substituting
leadership in this organization which might be preferable for the organization. Culture has
taken over the role of leadership within the organization.
3|Page
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Table of contents
1. Introduction _____________________________________________________________ 6
1.1 Background _________________________________________________________________ 6
1.2 Problem discussion ___________________________________________________________ 7
1.3 Research Purpose ____________________________________________________________ 9
1.4 Relevance __________________________________________________________________ 9
1.5 Research Question ___________________________________________________________ 9
1.6 Structure ___________________________________________________________________ 9
2. Theoretical Framework ___________________________________________________ 11
2.1 The relationship between leadership and culture _________________________________ 11
2.2 Leadership and management __________________________________________________ 13
2.3 The link between organizational culture and socialization___________________________ 14
2.4 The role of organizational socialization __________________________________________ 16
2.4.1 Socialization through training programs _______________________________________________ 18
2.4.2 Learning – a part of socialization _____________________________________________________ 19
2.4.3 Socialization into leadership _________________________________________________________ 19
2.5 Summary __________________________________________________________________ 20
3. Methodology____________________________________________________________ 21
3.1 The choice of Tele2 __________________________________________________________ 21
3.2 Research process ___________________________________________________________ 22
3.3 Gathering of empirical data ___________________________________________________ 23
3.3.1 Interviews _______________________________________________________________________ 23
3.3.2 Respondents _____________________________________________________________________ 24
3.3.3 Location _________________________________________________________________________ 24
3.4 Gathering of theoretical data __________________________________________________ 25
3.5 Analysis ___________________________________________________________________ 25
3.6 Reflection _________________________________________________________________ 26
3.7 Validity and Reliability _______________________________________________________ 27
4. Findings ________________________________________________________________ 28
4.1 The Tele2 Way _____________________________________________________________ 28
4.2 The Trainee Program ________________________________________________________ 29
4.3 The career of trainees ________________________________________________________ 34
4.4 The View of Leadership ______________________________________________________ 36
4|Page
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
4.5 Work and Own Initiatives _____________________________________________________ 39
4.6 Summary __________________________________________________________________ 40
5. Discussion ______________________________________________________________ 41
5.1 The culture and the socialization of trainees into Tele2 _____________________________ 41
5.2 Is organizational socialization important? ________________________________________ 44
5.3 Is it possible to be socialized into becoming a leader? ______________________________ 45
5.4 Leadership within a strong culture _____________________________________________ 48
5.5 Is leadership subordinate to the culture? ________________________________________ 49
5.6 What is leadership and does it exist? ___________________________________________ 50
5.7 Summary __________________________________________________________________ 52
6. Conclusion ______________________________________________________________ 53
6.1 Socialization into leadership __________________________________________________ 53
6.2 Leadership subordinate to the culture __________________________________________ 54
References ________________________________________________________________ 56
Appendix _________________________________________________________________ 61
5|Page
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Chapter 1
1. Introduction
In this chapter the background to the study is presented. The background emerges into a
problem identification that is discussed. Thereafter the research purpose and its relevance are
presented which is followed by our research question of the thesis. Finally, the structure of
the thesis is presented.
1.1 Background
This thesis is a study of a company that intends to socialize trainees into future leadership
roles. We are interested in this trainee program because there is something paradoxical about
the idea of leadership socialization. Leadership, as it is often understood, consists of shaping
and directing culture, rather than to be subordinate to culture. Since socialization is a process
in order to make the newcomer a part of the culture the very idea of leadership socialization
appears as a tautology. Management, on the other hand, is something that is more associated
with existing organizational culture. Socialization into management may therefore be seen as
a more likely objective of a trainee program.
Managers often refer to themselves as leaders without knowledge of the concept. One
explanation of this might be that leadership is a positively value added word that works well
for an individual’s self identity. According to Sveningsson and Larsson (2006) it might be
preferable for an individual’s self identity to be perceived as a leader instead of a manager.
The practices of a manager and practices of a leader are generally seen to be quite different.
There is extensive academic literature of the difference between leadership and management
(Zaleznik, 1992; Spitzer, 2003). While leadership is presented to be about visions, charisma
and engagement, management is often portrayed in more bureaucratic terms. This theoretical
distinction of leadership and management does not seem to be as clearly defined in the
practical work life in organizations. Perhaps the distinction is mostly an academic
understanding that organizational members bear in mind but do not always distinct in
practice. As we will also illustrate in our findings, management and leadership are in fact
6|Page
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
sometimes used as synonyms. The respondents in our study are mixing the use of leadership
and management even though they are outlining leadership as something that is exceeding
over the managerial expectations.
Leadership is a popular concept that means different things for different people. The meaning
of leadership has not always been the same but the most basic aim has: to influence people.
According to Bass and Avolio (1993) there are differences between transformational and
transactional leaders. Transactional leaders act in accordance to the organizational culture
while transformational leaders influence the culture. Some authors use this distinction and
only refer to transformational leaders as leaders while transactional leaders are perceived as
managers (Sveningsson and Alvesson 2010; Spoelstra, 2009). There are also authors that are
not making a clear distinction between leadership and management (de Jong and Den
Hartong, 2007). On top of different views of leadership and management, there might be
ambiguity in researching the subject because it can be uncertain to determine if someone is a
leader or a manager.
Research in this field might also be obstructed by the uncertainty that exists in knowledge
intensive firms. According to Alvesson (2004) knowledge intensive firms are engaged in a
complex environment where the intangible nature of their work contributes to ambiguity. This
means that the actions of both managing or leading people are uncertain and the people who
are doing these practices may not always know for certain what kind of actions that may lead
to a good result in the future, nor which actions led to an already occurred result (Alvesson
and Sveningsson, 2003). This means that a trainee program that aims to create future leaders
is an uncertain process as well since it aims to create leaders through a process that is filled
with ambiguity. Since such programs exists and there is a lot invested in these trainees the
perceptions of their process into becoming future leaders are put in focus in this thesis.
Therefore it is of interest to examine the process of becoming a future leader and how
leadership is perceived in this process.
1.2 Problem discussion
Since a trainee program is attracting young people that are in the beginning of their career the
organizations may have great opportunity of influencing them. During the initial time at a
company young organizational members are exposed to the culture and socialized into the
7|Page
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
company. The trainee program in the examined company is however not only socializing the
employees into the culture but also creating “the leaders of the future”, which the company is
using as a slogan for its global executive trainee program. As we will also illustrate in our
findings, management and leadership are in fact sometimes used as synonyms. Therefore the
aim can be referred to the creation of transformational leaders who are taking charge of the
organization. But are these leaders the ones that are created in this trainee program? As we
have already mentioned, this might be seen as a contradiction because socialization is about
protecting and being a part of the current culture while leadership is about taking lead and it
might in this sense be understood as a way to change the culture. Our understanding is that
socialization is about socializing newcomers into the culture and can be referred to
followership while the leader is the change agent and autonomous agenda-setter. The problem
and paradox of being socialized into a leader is identified and we can question whether it is
possible to create leaders through a trainee program. By examining the trainees and managers
perception of these questions we will look at how people within the company really look at
this issue and how they understand it.
There might be a problem in the transition from being a trainee to other roles in the company
if these positions are very different from each other. A trainee might expect to get the same
attention and push in the career on other position as during the trainee program but other
positions might not emphasize development and require results instead. The question is if the
trainees are suited for these positions after the trainee program? Even though the program is
aiming to create future leaders of the company it is unsure if the program itself is developing
these kinds of leaders. According to Kotter (1990) a leader is someone who is influencing and
leading people in a certain direction. But are trainees better suited for such actions than other
employees and are these actions integrated in the trainee program?
The culture is a vital part of organizations since it might influence people’s behavior and
thereby their actions. Organizational socialization and corporate culture are integrated and go
hand in hand but the one thing they might not do is to encourage people to be deviate. A
leader who has incorporated the culture might be constrained from leading people in
directions that are not in alignment with the current culture. Therefore we can ask ourselves if
these kinds of leaders are leading people where they want to lead people, or if they just lead
people in an already defined direction which is in line with the culture. Is the leader leading
the path or is the path leading the leader?
8|Page
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
1.3 Research Purpose
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the relation between socialization and leadership by
looking at the way trainees in a big Swedish telecommunication company are being socialized
into becoming the future leaders of the company. By looking at the Global Executive Trainee
Program, which is emphasizing the creation of future leaders, we are looking at the current
trainees’ perception of the process. This perception is also contrasted by managers
understanding of it. This is of interest because we see a contradiction between being
socialized into a company and becoming a future leader since leadership can be a way of
shaping the corporate culture but socialization is a way of protecting it.
1.4 Relevance
After extensive research on current academic texts we can conclude that there are not much
academic writings to be found on this topic. Researchers have not yet aimed to study how
trainees get socialized into leadership roles and how leadership is perceived in organizations
that that runs this kind of programs. This makes our study of interest for organizations that are
conducting such trainee programs and want to look at the future leadership within similar
contexts such as the case company we are targeting.
1.5 Research Question
The following research question has been developed for our study:
-
To what extent is it possible to socialize trainees into leadership and how is leadership
perceived in this process?
1.6 Structure
The thesis starts off with a theoretical framework in which we discuss relevant academic
literature in the subject. Initially we present theories of the relationship between leadership
and culture which are very closely related. A separation between leadership and management
9|Page
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
is made in this chapter. We end the chapter by presenting theories of organizational
socialization, which are of relevance to our study due to the trainee program.
The theoretical framework is followed by the methodology. In this section we explain why we
chose the specific case company and how we conducted our interpretive study. We also
outline how we analyzed our material and have a reflection of this. Our understanding of the
validity and reliability is also outlined in this section.
In the following section we presented the empirical findings from our case company. In this
section we do not only outline the participants’ understandings, but also how we interpret
their answers. One thing that is found is that the culture plays an important part in the
company. The trainee program is very much in alignment with the culture and the trainees are
socialized into it. The perception of leadership, at the end of the chapter, describes the
different views of leadership within the organization.
After the findings comes the discussion in which we analyze our findings by using the
previously presented theoretical framework. The chapter begins with the culture and the
socialization into it. Thereafter we discuss the problems with socialization into leadership.
This is questioned within a strong culture and leadership within the case company is
questioned. In the discussion we create a solid ground for our conclusions.
The last section of the thesis is the conclusions in which we present our contributions to the
literature. Our main conclusions and contributions to the literature are that it is not always
possible to be socialized into leadership because there might be more expected of a leader
than what the socialization contributes. We also conclude that leadership might be replaced by
the culture in mature organizations and work as a substitute for it. This might even be
preferable because the culture might be a powerful tool.
The thesis ends with our reference list and appendix where our semi-structured interview
questions are presented. This part is of relevance for those who want to learn more of the
topic, our research and continue with a research on the topic.
10 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Chapter 2
2. Theoretical Framework
The following chapter presents theories that are of relevance in order to answer the purpose
of the study. It starts off with a section on the relationship between leadership and culture and
the differences between leadership and management. Then it proceeds with presenting the
relationship between organizational culture and socialization in order to end the chapter with
an elaborate on organizational socialization and its impact. The theories that are presented in
this chapter are later used in the discussion since they are of relevance in order to analyze
our empirical findings, but also to contribute to a deeper understanding of whether it is
possible to socialize trainees into leadership and aspects that affect this process.
2.1 The relationship between leadership and culture
Leadership is the process of influencing people towards achieving a certain kind of desired
goal or outcome (Kotter, 1990). While organizational culture is often referred as a set of
values, beliefs and expectations that members share, which in turn influences people’s
behavior and thinking about certain things; it also guides people in certain directions (Van
Maanen and Schein, 1979).
According to Bass and Avolio (1993), two influential scholars in the literature on
transformational leadership, there is interplay between culture and leadership; leaders create
mechanisms for cultural development and the strengthening of norms and behaviors which are
expressed within the organizational culture. The organizational culture can develop from its
leadership but at the same time the culture can affect its development of the leadership in the
organization (Bass and Avolio, 1993). The authors make a distinction between transactional
and transformational leaders in this context. Transactional leaders follow existing norms,
procedures and rules; they work within their organizational culture. This indicates that culture
can affect how decisions are made within the organization. When the culture is strong
transactional leaders take the lead in supporting the culture since they spend much time and
effort in thinking about the values and heritage of the organization. The definition of
transactional leadership goes in line with Harvey (1996) who argues that a leadership style
11 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
has to be consistent with the corporate culture. The behavior of top management becomes
symbols of the organizations culture. This means that the culture’s concept of leadership and
the manager’s style of leading have to be consistent. Harvey (1996) further argues that one’s
leadership style can be influenced by (1) cognitive/learning of how the leader should behave
and act, (2) their cultural heritage, how culture influences their values, (3) expectations, what
is expected of the leader from other employees, and the organization.
According to Sveningsson and Alvesson (2010) transactional leadership is similar to
management and Burns (1978) argue that transactional leadership is not the right way to go if
the organization wants to create strongly engaged and inspired employees especially towards
the direction of development and change. Burns (1978) further discusses that in order to
create these employees transformational leadership is needed. Transformational leaders
change their organizational culture, they first learn to understand the culture and then to
realign it with a new vision and a revision of the shared norms, values and assumptions of the
organization. Cultural norms arise and change dependent on what leaders put their focus on
(Bass, 1985). This means that managers can have direct impact in shaping the corporate
culture. We share the theoretical statement of Sveningsson and Alvesson (2010) that
transactional leadership is more similar to management while transformational leadership is
more what we define as leadership. As we can see, transactional leaders are more influenced
by the culture while transformational leaders take charge of it instead.
It is essential to recognize that the close relationship between culture and leadership may be
natural since they are both aiming to influence people and are thereby overlapping. According
to Schein (1988), culture and leadership are two sides of the same coin but learning the
culture can be difficult. Leaders have to understand what impact culture does have on them
and what aspects of corporate culture help or harm performance (Watkins, 2003). By
“learning the ropes” in the organization, new leaders are learning the culture. Leaders need to
understand the culture in order to understand politics, roles and to make sense of their work.
Without understanding the culture leaders may be ineffective in influencing others (Holton,
1996). New leaders will gradually be assimilated within the organization and adopt the
dominant beliefs of the organization as well as try to meet the role expectations of other
members (Denis, Langley and Pineault, 2000). This can explain that there exists a link
between organizational socialization and leadership where organizations might try to socialize
12 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
new leaders to become the future leaders of the organization by adopting the organizational
culture in their leadership style. But this can facilitate the creation of transactional leaders,
which has been discussed above, where the new leader adopts his leadership style to the
organizational culture.
When the leaders’ operating style and the subordinates’ expectations of the leadership style
are compatible, groups and organizations will operate more successfully. Leaders and
subordinates who are culturally like-minded and similar will demonstrate shared values, more
lasting relationships, less conflicts and more satisfaction (Fujii, 1977). When the leader and
subordinate come from different cultures, the leader must adapt his or her leadership style to
the cultural context in order to influence others because heterogeneity makes it difficult for
the leader to be effective (Harvey, 1996). This can be relate to the organizational culture,
since organizational norms and values are often approved upon, widely shared among others
and supported by a majority of organizational members (Van Maanen and Barley, 1984) it
makes it difficult for the individual to do things that that are contrary to and not in line with
the organizational culture. We believe that a strong corporate culture can enhance an
organization in different aspects such as performance and attractiveness. But it can also hinder
the implementation of changes because management and staff may find it difficult to abandon
the ideals and values in corporate culture. But at the same time it might not always be
preferable to change the culture. Why change something that already works?
2.2 Leadership and management
Leadership is a socially constructed phenomenon that emerges through interactions and
actions of both leaders and followers (Smircich and Morgan, 1982). This means that
leadership is a phenomenon dependent on people; it is the process of interaction between
leaders and followers in order to accomplish different tasks. This also means that a leader
needs followers in order to be a leader. Leadership for some people could be viewed as a
subset of managerial activities, others see leadership and management as overlapping roles
while others describe these two as different roles (de Jong and Den Hartong, 2007).
Zaleznik (1992) suggest that leaders’ roles exceed over the managerial requirements and in
contrast to managers they are active and do not only search for a low emotional involvement
13 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
with people but attract stronger feelings of identity and emotions. Managers on the other hand
are primarily focused on an impersonal decision-making process when it comes to contact
with followers (Zaleznik, 1992). In that sense leaders aim is to influence the followers even
more than managers. Spitzer (2003) discusses that true leaders have the ability to mobilize
energy of others to execute the business strategy while managers fail to truly engage
organizational members. According to Harvey (1996) resource managers must take these
differences into account when training leaders and find candidates with innate leadership
qualities which are further trained in specific leadership characteristics.
The difference
between leadership and management can be compared to the differences between
transformational and transactional leadership which has been discussed earlier. According to
Spoelstra (2009) transactional leadership should not be considered as a form of leadership.
The reason for this is that in a transactional exchange process between a leader and follower
the actors do not change and their core values, identity and level of motivation are stable. But
in a transformational exchange between a leader and a follower change might occur.
Transformational leadership, he argues, goes in line with what we refer as leadership while
transactional leadership is what we call management.
2.3 The link between organizational culture and socialization
Organizations have cultures that are attractive to a certain type of individuals (O'Reilly,
Chatman, and Caldwell, 1991). An individual will chose a career that fits or is similar to that
person’s self-concept and the greater the similarities between an individual’s self-concept and
the individual’s perception of the organization, the more will he or she prefer the organization
(O'Reilly, Chatman, and Caldwell, 1991). This means that organizational culture can be
important in determining how well a potential employee fits into the organizational context.
Because of the purpose of our study we assume that norms and values have become important
elements for the individual in choosing which organization to work for as well for
organizations to choose the appropriate employee. This means that corporate culture might
influence the well-being of the newcomers and is therefore an important parameter to consider
when recruiting new employees.
Organizations’ socialization tactics is a process in helping to establish a person-organization
fit between newcomers and organizations (Cable and Parsons, 2001). In today’s competitive
14 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
business environment and tight labor market person-organization (P-O) fit has become a key
in order to maintain a committed and flexible workforce (Bowen, Ledford, and Nathan, 1991).
It has become more important to look at if the individual that is being hired fits with the
characteristics of the organization, particularly the culture, and not just to look at what the
particular job requires (Cable and Parsons, 2001). Organizations tend to hire people with the
same values to those dominant in the organizational culture (Bass and Avolio, 1993).
According to (Chatman 1991) newcomers which values match the organizations will more
quickly adapt to the organization, remain longer in the organization and complete the
socialization process better. Organizational socialization tactics may help P-O to evolve
because socialization is the process by which newcomers acquire the behavior, attitudes and
knowledge that is needed in order to become an organizational member (Bauer, Morrison, and
Callister, 1998). This means that recruitment of employees that already shares the same values
as the organization may facilitate the adaption process into the organization. Socialization
ensures continuity of organizational values and norms but at the same time socialization
provides newcomers a framework of how to behave and think in their work environment and
with other employees (Bauer, Morrison, and Callister, 1998). As we can see there exist a
relationship between organizational socialization and culture where the organizational culture
becomes important when it comes to recruiting future employees but also when it comes to
socializing newcomers into the organization. Organizational socialization will be further
discussed in the last part of this chapter.
New employees are more likely to internalize organizational values when they socialize with
other organizational members (Chatman, 1991). Some organizations have training-programs,
mentor-programs or different kinds of social activities where newcomers are put in situations
where they are encouraged to establish a relationship with other members (Van Maanen
Barley, 1984). In this paper we assume that these programs and social activities contribute to
the person–organization fit because through social interaction with other organizational
members, newcomers learn more about norms, values, and the culture of the organization.
The socialization processes helps to align newcomers personal values with organizational
values which contributes to that newcomers are less likely to quit and more likely to be
committed to the organization (Cable and Parsons, 2001). Values are seen as internalized
normative beliefs that can guide behavior. Person-organization fit can increase satisfaction,
15 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
commitment, and performance (O'Reilly, Chatman, and Caldwell, 1991). According to
Caldwell, Chatman, and O´Reilly (1990) normative commitment is more evident in
organizations with strong cultures. Therefore employees may prefer to work in an
organization with a strong culture. In the next part of this chapter we will elaborate on
organizational socialization and its impact. Organizational socialization is of relevance to our
study due to how our case company socializes newcomers, in our case trainees, into the
organization.
2.4 The role of organizational socialization
When newcomers enter a new organization they may experience psychological distress which
they try to reduce by acquire organizational values, norms, rules, roles and tasks (Nelson and
Quick, 1991). By learning both functional and social aspects of their new organization and
position, newcomers’ process of adjustment will go smoother. We can assume that it is of
interest for both the company and individual that the newcomer adjusts to the organization
and in this process we can see that the organizational culture becomes an important tool.
When the individual has adjusted to the organization he or she can connect to the organization
and be a part of it on an affective level. According to Fisher (1986) organizational
socialization is defined as the ongoing learning process through which employees acquire
knowledge and skills about their organizational role, it is a process of adjustment to their
work context as well as alignment of their efforts to organizational goals (Baker and Feldman,
1990). This socialization process has a huge impact on the adjustment of individuals,
especially newcomers, to their work, groups and the organization. A newcomer transforms
from an “outsider” to “full membership” and learns appreciated organizational values,
abilities, expected behavior and social knowledge (Feldman, 1981; Taormina, 1997). The
socialization process is important because it is a long lasting process which has a strong
impact on employees’ attitudes and behavior but at the same time it is one way to maintain the
organizational culture (Bauer, Morrison, and Callister, 1998). In this thesis we assume that the
employees who are socialized into the organization become carriers of the culture since they
learn the values, norms and assumptions of the organization which is a strong part of the
organizational culture. But it is also important to outline that there might exist some
consequences with organizational socialization. According to Feldman (1981) achieving a
close fit between the newcomer and the organization might lead to unthinking and compliance
16 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
to the organizations goals and values. This means that the individuals might be prevented
from an outside perspective with a vital critical aspect if they are too close to the organization.
Newcomers may find differences between expectations and their actual experience in the new
organization which can affect organizational socialization outcomes and result in poor
attitudes and negative behaviours (Cawyer and Friedrich, 1998). Newcomers enter an
organizational setting with a set of expectations regarding their new organization and their
role within it. Newcomers who are focused on career are likely to focus more on the
establishment of their roles in the organization (Major, Kozlowski, Chao and Gardner, 1995).
In order for the newcomer to perform in a new role and in a new organization it is important
that the newcomer is motivated and understands what others expects from him or her (Louis
1980). According to Louis (1980) individuals leave organizations when their initial
expectations or needs of their work prior to entering the organization do not match the actual
experience of the job. This might indicate why person-organization fit is important as well as
organizational socialization.
Ashfort, Sluss and Saks (2007) discuss that organizational socialization can be divided into
two parts: socialization tactics and newcomer proactive behavior. Socialization tactics refer to
the organization-driven process which means the organizations’ way of socializing
individuals (Van Maanen and Schein, 1979). The reduction of uncertainty newcomers
experience on organizational entry may be influenced by the organization since socialization
tactics shape and limit the access of the information that is received by newcomers. While
proactive behavior refers to individual-driven or self-socializing; where the newcomer’s
proactive behavior improves the speed of the adjustment process (Ashford and Black 1996).
According to this we can assume that if there is no organization-driven socialization the
individual might only be socialized into the organization if he or she takes own initiatives. But
at the same time, if the organization is the only part that pushes for the socialization the
individual might not be willing to really become a part of the organization. Therefore we
believe that both socialization tactics and individuals proactive behavior are vital for a
successful organizational socialization since they overlap. Organizational socialization seems
to be important for both employees and organizations because by neglecting to socialize
newcomers can contribute to negative impacts.
17 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
2.4.1 Socialization through training programs
There are different ways of socialization tactics. One of them is training programs which are a
form of socializing newcomers into the organization. These training programs can play a
critical role during socialization by providing new employees with important information and
to introduce newcomers to their job, other employees, and the larger organization (Klein and
Weaver 2000). Training programs can take two forms or a combination of both, formal
training programs but also informal orientating activities by peers and supervisors. These
programs should help newcomers become more socialized and obtain more knowledge of the
organizations stories, rituals, myths and traditions (Chao, O'Leary-Kelly, Wolf, Klein,
Gardner, 1994). Having knowledge about these can help the newcomer to learn what types of
behaviours are appropriate or not in specific interactions and situations (Schein, 1968).
Attending the program should also help to increase the newcomers’ awareness and
understanding of the organizations both formal and unwritten goals and values. The
organizations goals and values are important in effective socialization because they constitute
a link between the newcomer and the larger organization (Chao et al, 1994). This goes in line
with what we presented in the first part of this chapter, that different kinds of training
programs contributes to person-organization fit which is also something that will be further
discussed in the analysis.
Asforth, Sluss and Saks (2007) discuss that organizational socialization tactics are positively
related to a number of positive organizational outcomes. This includes positive work attitudes
and behaviours such as work motivation, cooperative behaviour, low turnover and
organizational commitment (Feldman 1981). Commitment to the organization is seen as
successful adjustment (Baker and Feldman, 1990). According to Klein and Weaver (2000)
goals and values are related to this commitment. The reason for this is that newcomers cannot
experience an emotional bond with the organization unless they are aware of the
organizational goals and values. Training programs, networking and learning, that has been
discussed earlier, might facilitate in the process of creating a bond with the organization.
Having the organizations goals and values presented and explained in a training program can
facilitate the acceptance and the newcomer may become more socialized on the goals and
values and commit to the organization rather than just comply with organizational practices.
18 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
2.4.2 Learning – a part of socialization
Another important part of the socialization process is the functioning with the work group.
When newcomers enter the organization they need to learn and understand the way things are
done within their workgroups (Chao et al, 1994). Newcomer learning is proposed to be an
important mediator in the socialization process (Asforth, Sluss and Saks, 2007). According to
Feldman (1981) newcomers focus on learning their tasks regarding their work such as
understanding task duties, assignments and learn what to prioritize in order to perform their
job and clarify their role in the organization. When a newcomer enters an organization it is
essential that they learn how to function in their organization. This requires learning the
organizations values, norms, networks and politics (Feldman, 1981). One way to learn about
the organization is to look at how already socialized members within behave. Superiors and
colleagues represent important knowledge sources which is critical to newcomers
socialization (Taormina, 1997), which indicates the importance for newcomers to engage in
relationship building (Adkins, 1995). The organizational socialization tactics facilitate how
and what newcomers learn (Van Maanen and Schein, 1979) but the socialization process is
also affected by how proactive individuals are in interacting with other organizational
members (Reichers, 1987). According to this we assume that interacting with others can help
newcomers to identify themselves with the organization but also help them to obtain skills
and role behaviors and a sense of the policies and procedures of the organization.
2.4.3 Socialization into leadership
According to Manderscheid and Ardichvili (2008) the process of socialization is quite similar
to leaders’ process of transition from one position to another, since transition is the process of
learning and unlearning. A successful socialization occurs through a process of interaction
between newcomers and organizational insiders, and more frequent interaction between those
can result in a much faster socialization (Major, Kozlowski, Chao and Gardner, 1995). During
the first year getting established with and accepted by the organization is important elements
for newcomers who have decided on a management career. During this period the newcomer
shapes his or her attitude towards the organization (Buchanan, 1974). This can be referred to
individuals’ proactive behaviour which has been discussed earlier in this chapter. But the
organizations expectations on the individual may also play an important role in the
newcomers’ socialization process. According to Berlew and Hall (1966), expectations of the
19 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
organization affect the behaviour and performance of young managers and when the young
manager meet the performance expectations of the organization he or she will be rewarded
with approval, promotion or salary. Manderscheid and Ardichvili (2008) discusses that it is
important to new leaders to connect with their subordinates. According to Weiss (1977)
individuals may develop certain work behavior patterns by observing and practicing the
behavior of their superiors or other co-workers. As mentioned earlier in this theoretical
chapter social interaction and engaging in other social activities is important for newcomers as
well as for new leaders. This leads us to the fact that organizational socialization plays an
important role in this. We assume that social interaction and other social activities may lead to
that the individual learns the organizational culture and get more integrated in the
organization but whether this leads to that an individual will be socialized into becoming a
new leader can be discussed.
2.5 Summary
In this chapter the relationship between leadership and organizational culture has been
presented where there has been made a distinction between transactional and transformational
leadership. We have argued that transactional leadership is closely related to management
while transformational leadership is closer to what we call leadership. A transactional leader
learns the culture and acts in line with it. In that sense the transactional leader is subordinate
to the culture. A transformational leader first learns to understand the culture in order to
change it. The transformational leader can use the culture to his or her favor and might take
charge of it and change it. The relationship between organizational culture and socialization
has also been presented where culture can be used in order to recruit the employees with
similar values to the organization. But the culture can also be used in order to socialize
newcomers to the organization. Socialization can be done differently and it can be questioned
if socialization into leadership is possible. We end the chapter by presenting theories of
organizational socialization, which are of relevance to our study due to the trainee program.
20 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Chapter 3
3. Methodology
The following chapter aims to give the reader a depiction on how our research was
conducted. The research process will be described, how we conducted the interviews and the
processing of the data in order to give the reader the possibility to critically examine our
work and to create an understanding of the choices we have done. The chapter end with a
critical reflection of the research process.
3.1 The choice of Tele2
During our master studies an interest in leadership has increased and we had early thoughts
about writing our thesis within the topic. Even though several courses touched upon the
subject we did not really get any practical implications of leadership and therefore we thought
it would be interesting to study it. Coincidently we were at a presentation in Lund in January
2012 which was held by the Kinnevik group and it touched upon leadership. At this
presentation the chairman of Kinnevik, Christina Stenbeck, was present and also top
managers from other firms within Kinnevik such as Tele2 and Millicom which we found
inspiring. The aim of this presentation was introduce the trainee programs within Kinnevik to
business students at Lund University. The trainee programs were highlighted as very
proactive and they were aiming to create the “future stars” and “leaders of tomorrow”. Since
leadership was already in our interest, the trainee programs within the Kinnevik group became
very interesting for us. A good image of Kinnevik had an impact on our choice of company
because we find the company as proactive and forward looking which we thought was
important when it comes to leadership since we believe that leadership is proactive and
forward looking by its nature. After the presentation we got the opportunity to talk personally
with Christina Stenbeck and the current trainee at Kinnevik and we decided to send a research
proposal to the Kinnevik group. The research proposal reached a trainee at Tele2 and
thereafter a HR manager, both of them being very helpful, and we were promised that
participants for our study would be arranged.
21 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
3.2 Research process
A qualitative method has been used in order to generate new theories and to gain a deeper
understanding of the topic, compared to a quantitative method which often focuses on testing
theories, collecting numerical data and looking for correlations (Bryman and Bell, 2005). The
qualitative method allows us to find answers on how and why something is done in a certain
way (Bryman and Bell, 2005). A qualitative method was more suited for our type of study
since the research is focused on interpretations. According to Merriam (2002) qualitative
research aims to understand interpretations in a particular time and context. This means that
we were not aiming to find objective truths but to get insights to the participants’ thoughts.
When we chose the topic we were confronted with a lot of questions such as how we should
conduct this study, what/which type of organizations we should contact and how many
interviews we should conduct. According to Bryman and Bell (2005) there are two main
processes that you can choose from in order to look at the relationship between theory and
practice, deductive and inductive. We chose to use inductive analysis in order to qualitative
code our data because we wanted to avoid being controlled by a fixed idea (theoretical
framework) of how the outcomes and results should look like (Bryman and Bell, 2005). We
also tried to be open to the knowledge that came up from the study and we used the base
“what is going on here?” This means that we did not seek for a conclusively “yes” or “no” but
more explorative and exemplary knowledge which an inductive method allowed us to do
since we wanted to come closer to the purpose of our study. We asked questions like; “What
is leadership for you”, “Can you define yourself as a leader?” and “Is there a difference in
your view of a trainee compared to other employees?” The rest of the semi structured
interview questions can be found in the appendix of this paper.
The possibilities for collection data for a qualitative study are many, our research design are
built up upon both primary and secondary data in our research. Secondary data is existing
data/material that has been collected by other researcher while primary data is data/material
that we have collected by ourselves (Bryman and Bell, 2005). In the design of our theoretical
framework we used secondary data where we collected the data from different researchers,
from different time-frames. The secondary data has been collected from different databases
such as: LibHub/Summon and Google Scholar. The primary data which is our empirical data
was collected through semi-structured interviews with four trainees and six managers from
Tele2.
22 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
3.3 Gathering of empirical data
In order to produce a reliable thesis both primary data and secondary data has been used. The
primary data has been gathered through interviews with participants from Tele2. The
qualitative method was used in order to access the interviewees’ thoughts. Since we used
inductive approach the study relied a lot on the inquiry of empirical data. The interviews were
conducted with both trainees and with Tele2´s management. The interviews with Tele2´s
management gave us the knowledge and insight of how they think about the trainee program
and leadership in general at Tele2. While the interviews with the trainees gave us the
knowledge about how they experience the trainee program and how they see leadership in this
process.
3.3.1 Interviews
In order to answer our research questions and the purpose of the study we decided to conduct
interviews with the participants at Tele2. The interviews had a conversational style and
followed a semi-structured interview questions which allowed us for a more open exchange of
information (Bryman and Bell, 2005). We had about 15 predetermined questions that we
thought were relevant due to our experience of the topic but instead of strictly following our
interview questions we let the participants answers direct the interview which means that we
asked supplementary follow up questions depending on the participants’ answers. Through
our interviews, we aimed to access the feelings and experiences of the employees. By using
the qualitative method we gave the participants an opportunity to express themselves and
provide us with more detailed and versatile information than the quantitative method would
allow us to do (Bryman and Bell, 2005). The interviews lasted from 45 minutes to 1 hour and
they were mainly conducted in English. Two of the interviews were conducted in Swedish in
order for the participants to express themselves better since these participants were native in
Swedish language, just like us. When conducting the interviews one of us was asking the
questions while the other one took extensive notes on the participants’ responses to the
questions and at the same time we tape-recorded the interviews. This contributed to that the
interview could take place without distractions and the flow of the conversation floated
without distractions. Thereby the risk of missing something relevant that the respondent said
was also reduced.
23 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Throughout the interview the participants had the opportunity to ask questions if something
was unclear and we assured us the possibility to contact the participants if we had any
questions after the completed interviews.
3.3.2 Respondents
The respondents were all current employees at Tele2 with different positions. We got access
to them through one main contact person within Tele2, a HR manager who was one of the
respondents. By having one main contact person within the company we relied on her to find
other participants for our study. We asked for a few trainees and the rest of the respondents to
be managers at different positions. In total we conducted interviews with 10 different persons;
4 trainees, 1 HR Manager, 1 Top manager and 4 managers from different departments within
the company. All of the participants were promised to be anonymous in our thesis. Two of the
respondents were female and the rest were male. The group of respondents also varied in
hierarchical position, time being employed and age. Tele2 was more or less the first employer
of all the trainees but for the rest of the respondents this aspect varied. Some of the managers
had work life experience from other firms and some of the managers had other cultural
backgrounds than Swedish, coming to Sweden in order to work at Tele2. The diversity of
participants and different perspectives was used in order to get a holistic picture of the topic.
3.3.3 Location
The interviews were held in Tele2s headquarter in Kista, Stockholm, during the last week of
March 2012. The interviews were already arranged when we came to the location and they
were all conducted individually in small and quite rooms with closed doors. At each interview
we declared the purpose of the interview and we informed the respondents that they will
remain anonymous in our paper because we did not want that this factor would determine the
choice of participation in the interview. The promise of anonymity hopefully gave the
participants an opportunity to express themselves freely. Furthermore, we informed the
respondents that they will get the opportunity to take part of our thesis when it was complete.
24 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
3.4 Gathering of theoretical data
After the interviews were done the gathering of secondary data began which consists of
printed and electronic sources, reports, books and scientific articles. Secondary data is the
theoretical framework which consists of theories from different authors and from different
time-frames that involves organizational socialization, corporate culture and leadership.
Secondary data was also used to support and contribute to the analysis of the collected
primary data and to contribute to the objectivity of the research.
3.5 Analysis
In order to make sense out of our empirical data we first began to transcribe all of our
interviews, the interviews were used as the basis of our data analysis. After transcribing the
interviews we read through them and took some notes that could be useful in a later stage.
This was done because we wanted to obtain a general sense of the data but also to have the
ability to reflect upon it and be as open minded as possible. During this process we wanted to
gain a better understanding of the participant but also on the content of the interview. During
the reading process we wrote down notes in the margins of our transcribed interviews and
some general thoughts and ideas of them which we then discussed through together. We also
had the questions “How do trainees get socialized in the organization” and “How is this
process perceived?” in mind because they helped us with the purpose of the study at the same
time they helped us to get started.
Throughout the process we focused on discovering themes and subthemes in the transcribed
interview text by having Ryan and Bernard (2002) article in mind. This coding process
included looking for 1) repetition of topics, 2) unfamiliar words, 3) metaphors, 4) similarities
and differences but also looking for 5) missing things. The identification of themes or patterns
enabled us to organize it into categories and clarify the connection between the categories.
One theme that we did not focusing upon prior the interviews but it became very evident
during our process is the strong culture. This is a theme that will be present throughout the
whole paper and it will be discussed in the discussion chapter together with other salient
themes like; leadership, socialization, the trainee program, networking etc.
After reading through the transcribed interviews and working through the data things became
much clearer. By working with the data the interpretation of it and identification of patterns
25 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
became easier than if just reading it through. Bogdan and Biklen (1982) suggest that the end
product might be better if transcribed interviews are read through a few times before starting
analyzing them.
3.6 Reflection
It was important for us to be reflexive when writing our thesis, particularly when conducting
the interviews and coding the empirical data. Because when conducting the interviews and
coding the empirical data it was essential to question, consider, twist and turn what the
participants said or react during the interview and really think about and reflect over what
does this mean? According to Alvesson and Sköldberg (2009), if we put ourselves in a
reflective situation we might develop the ability to break out of a particular framework and
think critically. This guided us through the process and we tried to be open-minded and not
take early conclusions. But in practice it is always difficult to be totally unbiased about
something or to have no opinions about it since we are brought up with a set of beliefs and
values during our lives which could have influenced our research process. But our purpose of
this study was not to be unbiased because the idea of interpretative study, which we
conducted, is that pre-understandings are important because they enable us to see things in the
study. To be aware of our assumptions helped us to determine what we wanted to study, the
choice of method, structure and interpretation of data. Therefore it is unsure if we managed to
not take early conclusions when interviewing the participants.
According to Creswell (2003) the researcher is a part of the inquiry and he or she is involved
in the intensive experience with participants when gathering data. This means that the
produced data might, to some extent, be dependent on the researcher. The researcher presents
the questions according to his or her pre understanding and matchers the answers to his or her
purpose and is thereby an important part of the data production (Kvale, 1996). Therefore it
was important for us to be aware of our biases and assumptions which helped us during the
process. We learned to determine which data was important and which was not. One of our
biases that might affect the inquiry and analysis of our study is that we might see the case
company as a potential future employer. By being aware of this bias we were able to evaluate
our research and make sure that we didn’t skip the critical aspect within.
26 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
3.7 Validity and Reliability
Validity means if the study measures what it intends to measure (Bryman and Bell, 2005).
Qualitative studies are difficult to assess since they are subjective and lies with the reader.
Due to our pre-understandings, assumptions and values guided us through the process which
in turn might have affected the results. To ensure that through the interviews we got the
answers to what we intended to get answer for, we prepared each question according to the
research questions and the purpose of our thesis. Validity shows whether the findings are
accurate and are thereby seen as strength in qualitative research (Creswell, 2003). Due to the
intangible nature of qualitative research it is of essence to claim accurate findings and prove
the validity of the research.
Reliability means how reliable the material is. The concept of reliability is whether the same
results will be given if the research would be repeated at different times and by other
researchers (Bryman and Bell, 2005). Qualitative studies are difficult to assess since they are
subjective and lies with the reader and since the trainees will not always be trainees and new
ones will come into the company but the managers may also change positions, so if one
conducts the same research at a later stage the research results may not end up looking exactly
the same. This means that the research is not totally reliable. But within the interpretative
framework it is not the main concern to repeat a study; it is to gain understanding of
individuals’ experience. But in order to improve reliability of this research we conducted
interviews with respondents who fulfilled our criteria, trainees at Tele2 and managers. Since
we taped the interviews we have high reliability on that because we have data that cannot be
adjusted. The reliability of the research is thereby high for the particular time and context.
27 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Chapter 4
4. Findings
In the following chapter the empirical findings from the interviews with participants from
Tele2 will be presented. These findings make a base for the discussion and they are a crucial
part of the study since they help us answer our research question. In order to follow specific
quotes from the anonymous participants we have labeled the interviewees by their position
and a number. The participant consists of one HR manager, four trainees, one top manager
and four other managers.
4.1 The Tele2 Way
When interviewing participants from Tele2 on the topic of leadership it was unavoidable to
not notice the strong corporate culture in the company. A lot that that came up from the
interviews can be linked to the corporate culture and the participants did not have difficulties
to describe their everyday actions in accordance to the culture. The values that are a strong
part of the culture at Tele2 are called “the Tele2 Way” and it consists of different values that
can be perceived as guidelines for the organizational members:
“Tele2 is a very strong culture based company where the values are used - the Tele2 Way. We
want our managers to walk the talk at Tele2. [...] You need to have leaders that are good
role-models because it is important to trust the top leaders.” (HR Manager)
The Tele 2 Way and values-based leadership is something that Tele2 recommend us to
include when writing about leadership because it is evident in the company. Leaders are the
ones that are really expected to have incorporated “the Tele2 Way” since they are influencing
others within the company. But as the interviews have showed, all of the participants are
incorporating the culture. The trainee program is not an exception. It may in fact be the part of
the company in which the culture is embraced in its fullest potential. Among many applicants
the candidates that already fit into the culture are the ones that are accepted to conduct the
trainee program. In the job advertisement of the trainee program the values within the Tele2
28 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Way are described in text with very similar words and close synonyms in order to find people
that already fit into the culture.
“We want our trainees to have even more of the challenge, action, and pro-active behaviour.
When you recruit them they do not know the development process of them. But Tele 2 wants
them to become the leaders of tomorrow.”(HR Manager)
This statement shows that it is important for future leaders in the company to have
incorporated the strong culture. The culture and values in the company are attributed to its
founder, Jan Stenbeck who was perceived as a strong leader. After the death of Jan Stenbeck
in 2002 the culture and values have still been present in the company as a reflection of Jan
Stenbecks leadership, even though the more senior managers perceive a stagnation of the
strong leadership. Without a strong leader who embodies the culture and values it is not as
easy to find the perfect worker as it was before. When the participants were asked about the
values they were referring to them as their heritage and a metaphor of the values being a part
of their DNA was used. It is not something they sit down and think about but it is always
there in the back of their head. This cultural surrounding had a major part in many of the
participants’ decision to apply for a position within Tele2 and it can therefore be seen as an
important part of the company. The trainees’ decisions to apply for the trainee program is also
influenced by the strong culture and the heritage of Jan Stenbeck because they are all very
career oriented and believe that hard work in this trainee program will be good for their
career.
4.2 The Trainee Program
One of the trainees was formulating the trainees´ situation and giving a general picture which
the rest of the trainees also describe. He knew that he wanted to work in Kinnevik because of
the fast growing career curve and the opportunity to follow top leaders. This is described as
though but at the same it is also fun. He sees this trainee program as an investment which he
thinks will pay off in the future. The trainees already knew that the program would last for
one to one and a half year and they all are willing to prove themselves during this time in
hope of getting good positions afterwards. When questioning how the workload looks like the
same trainee answers:
29 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
“It is a few hours to it [laughter]. This week has been really calm. I have been able to leave at
six which from my point is extreme. My boss told me now today: ‘Oh you have one of those
slow weeks. I will make sure to find something for you’” (Trainee 1)
It is important to stress out that all of the interviewed trainees work far more than the general
40 hours per week in Sweden. The long working hours includes the managers as well who all
work more hours than the general worker in Sweden but the trainees that were interviewed are
the ones that work the most. Besides of face-time and office hours they also take their job
home and do work tasks from their home computer. This is sometimes done in order to catch
up work but they also do this in order to be prepared for upcoming tasks. They all know what
they are doing and they really want to prove themselves. The HR manager describes them as
being very work oriented. She describes how she can find emails in her inbox sent by the
trainees at odd hours such as weekends, late at night and also very early in the morning. This
is described in a sense in which the trainees really prioritize their work, even on their spare
time. No one of the participants, trainee or manager, describes the workload and long working
hours as a problem. But there is a difference in the managers’ view of the trainees´ work and
one manager is outlining the trainee-program as not being hard or difficult enough:
“I think it’s too soft. I mean if you compare it to MTG and being a management trainee there,
then it is too soft. It’s still hard work if you compare it to other jobs. And I mean, since they
go into this with the expectations of working really hard and we tell them to work so hard.
And then we make them work only fairly hard. I think there is a potential of making them work
harder to their advantage because they only have these 18 months and then they want to have
a senior position with a lot of responsibility. We can push them harder to get them on the
right track. If you get a trainee position you are a great person and therefore you have the
capacity to do hard work. [...] They do good things but there could be more difficult tasks and
more analytical work and responsibility. If they got more responsibility they would suit the
management positions more. [...] They don´t get a really good chance to stand out, or moving
so much.” (Top manager)
The trainee program being too soft is not perceived as the trainees fault, but the company’s.
The same manager explains how it is tough to make a career and just because you are
accepted into a trainee program the path is not cleaned for you if you want to become a leader
within the company. In order to recognize the best ones they should get challenged in order to
30 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
really see which ones of the trainees that should become these future leaders. It is not
something that shows results directly but something that adds value to the company over time.
The results are not known for certain and all of the trainees are not expected to meet the hard
expectations by this manager:
I think it´s a good program, definitely, and that we should keep it. But I think it’s a very long
term perspective. You have to be prepared that all of them will not be here after ten years. If
you take one class of trainees now and we have ten of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if three
leave within a year.... One of them sits in a car and dies, and the other ones leave Sweden or
something and one makes it to the top, and that takes ten years. (Top manager)
This view is contrasted by other managers and there is no real consensus of the managers’
view of the trainee program in this aspect. Most of the managers do not find that the trainee
program is too easy and some of them do in fact perceive a problem when trainees leave the
organization, which happens. Since there is a lot resources invested in the trainees they would
like them to stay within the company and further develop within. But it is recognized that the
company and industry is not developing as quickly as for few years ago and that might be the
reason why some opportunities are not given to the trainees when they finish the program.
The really career oriented trainees leave the company if they are not given the expected
opportunities and there is no problem for them to find good jobs elsewhere because they are
very attractive on the job market.
“I think there are different reasons. If looking at a guy who had my job, not the guy before me
but one year back, as myself he loved the job but when he got out to the organization he found
it as slow and not enough action. So that’s why he left. But I also know that many will get
opportunities and really high salaries in other companies. Other companies offer about 20%
more in salary.” (Trainee 2)
The attractiveness for the employees at Tele2 is also recognized by one manager who explains
how the main competitor of Tele2 has called him five times since he started working for
Tele2 and offered him job at their company. These offers have also included higher salary and
probably less working hours, which would make his working hours even more paid. The
reason why this manager chose to stay within Tele2 is because of the culture which he is
aligning with. As he explains the only things you know in Tele2 is that you are expected to
work hard and one day you will get fired. In that sense the culture also seem to have a
31 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
function of making the employees loyal to the company. All of the interviewees find the
culture as something good. But when being asked how the culture within Tele2 distinct from
their main competitors the interviewees could not really explain it because they do not have
any experience from working there. Most of the participants totally ignores the culture by
their main competitor and only shows an interest in a strong alignment with “the Tele2 Way”.
One manager is outlining it as an internal problem in Tele2 if people leave for their main
competitor, which happens:
“If people leave to, for example Telia, then the alarm clock should ring because Telia for us is
‘Televerket’ and it is very boring and very slow and old and bad. That is what all of us are
saying. But still, a lot of people are going to Telia.” (Manager 1)
People within Tele2 appreciate “the Tele2 Way” and it can be seen as one part of becoming a
leader within Tele2, but it is far from sufficient. All managers stress out that skills are the
main factor that should decide who is promoted to a managerial position within the company.
The managers rather sees a skilled person from the outside taking a managerial position
within the company than someone from the inside who lack managerial skills, if this would be
the case.
When asked if the trainees get a better chance to incorporate the culture and thereby have an
advantage when it comes to understanding the company, the answers differ. Most of the
managers that have come into Tele2 from other companies mean that there is no difference
and that a trainee is not a better carrier of “the Tele2 Way” than others. Most of the trainees
and some managers have a different understanding. They believe that a trainee gets a better
opportunity to incorporate the culture:
“The trainees work with the most senior people in the company and get the Tele2 Way
because of their positions. They are much more exposed to that than other people and how
much of the culture you get depends on who you are a trainee for. [...] When you are young
you are much more adaptable and influenced by the culture. I mean, the first job you take you
will get very much influenced by.” (Top manager)
Since the managers in the company have the understanding of young people being more
receptive of influences of their environment and all of the participants with managerial
positions believe that the trainee program is a good way to attract talented individuals into the
32 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
company, a lot of expectations are put on the trainees. But the expectations are not formulated
exactly the same for all of the trainees, they are rather individual. Therefore the culture and
“the Tele2 way” is a common ground for all trainees. One of the trainees describes how she is
influenced by the culture and especially the leadership style of the manager she is the trainee
for. She describes how her manager inspires her and the leadership style of this manager is
very symbolic for her, which she is adapting. A reason for this is that she finds it impressing
how her manager can influence other people by words, which she have seen from a very close
perspective. Therefore managers are more or less symbols for her that she is learning from.
But the culture and values are not the only control mechanism within the company. It is
recognized that the values work as guidelines for the organizational members but they are not
sufficient by them. Therefore more tangible regulations are needed:
“Every company has strong corporate culture. Every decision you make can be influenced by
the values. But if you do not regulate it will always be people who do stupid things.
Regulations are often clear, but values are not and everybody does not always follow
them.“(Manager 2)
During the trainee program the trainees are socialized into the company and they get
opportunities to develop. There are a few advantages the trainees have in comparison to other
employees. The participants argue that the positions of trainees give them the opportunity to
get a “helicopter view” of the organization. This means that the trainees can look at things
from a top management perspective but also get the opportunity to grasp it on operational
level which the trainees find is good for their development. Another advantage the trainees
have that the managers recognize is that everybody knows who the trainees are. When a
trainee asks for something from managers they usually have to put their tasks away and do
what the trainee is asking for. The reason for this is of course that they have the mandate of
the senior top manager that they are trainees for. The trainees take the opportunities that are
given to them in their position and try to be one step in ahead. This can be seen as an
alignment with the culture and from their perspective they are incorporating values such as
being competitive and challenging which is a part of “the Tele2 Way”.
All of the trainees are trying to be one step ahead. One of the trainees describes how she is not
only meeting the expectations of the company, but her own expectations as well. This is done
by putting herself in new and sometimes uncomfortable situations in order for her to master
33 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
them. Besides of the expected work she also finds other exciting tasks and put them on top of
her workload. Thereby she is going the extra mile and the time she spends on the job is
between 50-80 hours a week. The same strive of being one step in front is done by all
trainees. For example, one trainee is responding to Tele2:s growing business in Russia by
studying Russian on her spare time. This is not seen as something unusual and even though it
was her own initiative, Tele2 supports her by providing her a private teacher. One male
trainee is taking on tasks that others do not find as important and executes them instead, such
as support calls to customers. Thereby he is learning the core business at the floor level and
getting information about the real, everyday problems that are faced by the telephone support.
Also the other male trainee is striving to not only have solutions for today’s challenges but
also tomorrows. By being a step in front ahead of his manager he can make his work as
smooth as possible. The notion here is that if he does a good work as a trainee people will
appreciate him more and know that he is ready to work hard.
4.3 The career of trainees
The trainee position gives them opportunities to obtain and develop a broad network within
the company which the interviewees perceive as one of the main factors that help the trainees
climb the hierarchical latter and make a career. The trainees themselves stress out how it is
important to take the opportunity to build a good network when you are in the trainee program
because it is useful after the end of the program. The opportunity to build a strong network is
seen as unique for the trainees because they get to know people at important positions that can
help them in their future career. This is something that is not usual for young professionals
that are new in a company. The good career opportunities are something that might affect
other career oriented individuals within the company negatively. Since there are expectations
on the trainees to make a career within the company some interviewees believe that they
might get prioritized to promotions before other organizational members who are not former
trainees:
“There are two sides of the coin. The best ones come to Tele2 but also the best one leaves.
We are treated differently and trainees are prioritized and get the best roles. The trainees are
the ones that get the management positions […] The benefit of the trainee program is
networking which can benefit them in the future. More of us not being trainees should get the
34 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
same opportunity. You have to do a lot of hard work to get the same positions as trainees”
(Manager 1)
Some other interviewees also share the perception of the trainees being prioritized before
other organizational members, which makes problem for other managers who also want to
make a career. But other interviewees argue that there is no difference of the view of trainees
and other organizational members. However, the big challenge for the trainees is the day
when the go from being a trainee to becoming a former trainee because they do not get the
same attention as before. Several of the interviewed managers who have followed former
trainees are witness of this. Some trainees get used to people pushing them and helping them
but the day they are not trainees anymore this changes. According to some of the managers
this is the real test in which you can see if a person has the potential of becoming a future
leader or not.
“Bad leaders do not stay long, some of the trainees are great during the trainee time but
when they become managers they cannot function as that. Being a manager is not the same as
thinking about what it is to be a manager.” (Manager 1)
When looking into the company there is a high percentage of former trainees in top
management and some of the interviewed trainees’ managers have conducted the trainee
program. Therefore the participants perceive a successful trainee program over the years.
Many of the former trainees have made a successful career so far and they work as good
examples for current trainees. On the question if trainees are suited to become future leaders
in the company one manager answers:
“I am very sure about that and of course it depends on the trainee himself, or herself [...] The
ones that are in the program aspire to become the heads of the organization. During the
history of Tele2 a lot of the current executive guys have actually been trainees before as
well.” (Manager 3)
The reason for the trainees being suited for leadership roles in the company is outlined as two
main reasons. One of the reasons is that they get a good general view of the whole
organization which is needed when they come up to the executive roles. One manager
explains how a former trainee might be easier accepted because people know that he or she
have dealt with the same problems as people on the bottom. Therefore the former trainees that
35 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
become executives have a better understanding of the organization. The other reason why
trainees are suited for executive roles within the company is that the trainee program is
already attracting career oriented people. In that sense it is unsure if the success of former
trainees is because of the trainee program.
“Personally, I don´t have expectations of trainees making a fast career but I have the feeling
that they put these expectations on themselves. The ones that come in are very talented and
career oriented. It is young people who are in the beginning of their career curve and the
trainee program gives them opportunities. But I don’t know if the trainee program is the
reason. It is very individual and dependent on the trainee.” (Manager 4)
People that come into the company through the trainee program already have the personal
traits that are seen as vital for a successful career development. Some managers mean that the
main reason for the trainee program is to get talented people into the company. One manager
explains how the trainees move across the organizational borders within Tele2 which is
helping the operational managers to build networks and get a general understanding of other
departments as well.
4.4 The View of Leadership
When asking the participants about leadership and what leadership is to them they all touch
upon things that has to do with people. All participants agree on this and when being asked
what bad leadership is usual answers include actions that ignore and are disconnected from
people that are meant be lead. People are the general common ground when it comes to good
leadership but the participants, managers and trainees differ in their specific explanations of
what good leadership is. One manager explains how emotions are a vital aspect of leadership.
Leaders have to appeal to people and in Tele2 in specific these emotions are connected to the
values. According to this manager a good leader in Tele2 is someone who is walking the talk
and having a helicopter view but does not mind to get their hands dirty and do operational
work. These things are complemented by excellent skills and high intelligence of the leader.
One trainee is taking the same standpoint and describes a good leader as someone who is
engaged in symbolic work. By being a symbol and walking the talk a good manager is
embodying the preferable worker in Tele2 which the organizational members are adapting.
36 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Another manager is really emphasizing the importance of symbolic leadership. When being
asked if he engages in symbolic leadership he answers:
“Yeah, I mean, what other leadership is there than symbolic. [...] You can read about
different leadership styles but there is no other leadership than symbolic.“ (Top manager)
In this statement the respondent emphasizes how fundamental symbolic leadership is.
According to him leadership that is not connected to symbolic influences is not connected to
people and therefore it is not real leadership. Real leadership on the other hand is something
that is affecting people. Not being disconnected from the people is a repeating theme when it
comes to leadership. One manager outlines this as a problem in the organization and argues
that top executives should be closer to the people within the company. One of the trainees has
already recognized this problem and he explains how he has engaged in work that will erase
this problem. By taking initiatives to put a face on the top executives in the organization and
make them more present on the operational level people will get a better understanding of the
leadership within the company.
Some managers argue that the most vital aspect of leadership is not just to appeal to people,
but make room for their own success and development. One of these managers explains how
he is trying to engage as a coach in the workplace which he has experiences from outside of
work. According to this manager this leadership style is very useful for him because it helps
competent people reach their potential. It is important to make the employees engaged and
empowerment is seen as important. If someone leaves his organization it is not seen as a
problem because it makes room for other people to grow. This manager also recognizes that
people don’t have to be formal managers to be leaders in the company. But at the same time
he outlines that leadership is something all managers want to engage in.
The majority of the interviewed managers believe that they in some sense are engaged in
leadership in Tele2. Most of them are however describing their leadership practices in a
narrow range. One manager is not recognizing several leaders within the company. According
to him a company only have one true leader and that is the CEO. When asking him if he
identify himself as a leader the answer is:
“I don’t think so [laughter][...] I think that a leader for me is, in the corporate world,
someone who runs a business. And then you can be a leader in a smaller way. When you look
37 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
at it from the corporate view there is only one leader and there should only be one leader.
You can have a lot of opinions, that´s good, but there should be one leader. So that´s my view
of leaders. But then of course if you look at it from a management book perspective everybody
can be a leader in their own work and yes, I would like to say that I want to be a leader of my
team. And I think I do that.” (Manager 2)
Throughout this statement this manager outlines how leadership is a concept in which there is
a discrepancy of how it is used in the literature and how it works in practice. According to
him everybody cannot be engaged in leadership practices because followers are equally
important as leadership and there should be more followers than leaders. Instead of more
leaders and different visions uniformity within the organization is vital. People have to share
the same visions in order to work efficiently together and thereby reach common goals. The
one and only leader in an organization is depicted as someone with very strong and
charismatic characteristics. This manager uses images when depicting the ideal leader by
talking about the character “Spartacus” from the movie “300”. According to him a leader
should have some of his characteristics and be the one the followers really depend on.
Another manager is also recognizing a discrepancy of the popular perception of leadership
and how it actually works in practice. According to him leadership was a “buzzword” a few
years back which made everybody want to be a leader. But in practice a leadership position or
a manager position is not something that suits all people:
“Not everybody wants to be a manager, not everybody wants to take on a leader challenge. It
is always a bit scary. If you do it in big leaps it is very scary. First time you have to fire
people and start ordering, it is not so easy. It is very challenging, so not everybody wants to
do that. [...] I mean, you need to be aware of that you have to take risks and take on
challenges and of course everybody doesn’t want to do that. It also depends on how
courageous you are and how much risk you are willing to take. Some people are willing to do
this and they might even go and start their own company.” (Top Manager)
According to this statement management, and especially leadership, includes some
uncertainty as well which some people might not be comfortable with. This is restricting some
people from taking such positions simply because they are not willing to take on the risks. But
in order to be promoted to such position the same manager also outlines another important
condition. People that are promoted to management and leadership positions also have to rely
38 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
on timing and be the right candidate in at the right time. However, one can not only sit and
wait for such an opportunity. He or she must rather create this opportunity. How this is done
is however uncertain and therefore all people cannot get these promotions. It is very
dependent on the individual and the ones that create such opportunities are the ones that take
own initiatives.
4.5 Work and Own Initiatives
When asking the participants if they get the chance to do any proactive work, all of them
perceive that they have a fairly high amount of chances to do proactive work. Their proactive
work is often seen as planning things ahead and taking own initiatives. But since it is a
business these things are not the priority, but only done when there is spare time over. When
something happens in the business environment that Tele2 has to respond to quickly, all other
things are put aside in order to solve the situation. One manager explains how he can work
very long hours when something is wrong in the system because it is very much prioritized
then.
The trainees also believe that they get the chance to do proactive work and take own
initiatives. But their job is a mix of doing these fun things and also sometimes do work that no
one else is willing to do. This can include minor tasks such as getting small things ready for a
presentation or finishing tasks that others don´t see as important. All of the trainees believe
that they get a lot of responsibility and trust, which they find exciting and motivating. One of
the trainees is describing the responsibility and trust he got at a major presentation at two of
the main universities in Sweden in the beginning of 2012. His manager held a presentation
together with two other top managers within Kinnevik to university students:
“That one I was responsible for, arranging the whole thing. My manager just said ‘Oh we are
going to have this in Lund and Uppsala’. First of all I found some dates that works for all.
And I know that it works for my manager because I have his agenda. He called Christina and
made sure it worked for her. And then when we had the dates he just said ‘Okey, do as we did
last year’. I called around to the guys that had it last year and looked what they had [...] And
of course I had a big responsibility because no one will check it. My manager won´t sit down
and check it and say ‘Have you done this and this and this’. He will expect to just go up on
the stage, do his thing and then just leave.” (Trainee 1)
39 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
The trainees believe that they are expected to deliver results, which they are striving to do.
They feel that the responsibility and trust that is put on them has increased since they started
the program and they like it. But since the trainee program is individual the trust and
responsibility is not formulated from the beginning, but they earn it as they prove themselves.
One of the trainees describe how this trainee program is unstructured which suits her because
there are more possibilities to take own initiatives. She argues that a less structured program
provides more opportunities and do not restrict you. One manage is emphasizing that the
trainee program in Tele2 is not just an trainee program in order to come into the company, but
an executive trainee program in which they are searching for candidates for top management
positions in the future.
4.6 Summary
As outlined in this chapter the culture, “the Tele2 Way”, plays a vital role in the organization.
The culture is impregnated within the trainee program in which candidates that already fit the
values are being recruited into it, they expected to be more in alignment with it than other
employees and it influences the way they think and behave. The respondents also perceive
that the trainees get a better chance to incorporate the culture and they also have other career
advantages such as networking. But the culture is also important for other employees and as
we have discovered “the Tele2 Way” is one of the most important reasons attracted the
participants to Tele2. When it comes to leadership the respondents have similar but yet
different perceptions of what good leadership is. The common denominator is that leadership
has to do with people and the respondents are perceiving leadership in accordance to
transformational leadership. But in practice, leadership is done in accordance to transactional
leadership which we are outlining as something different. Becoming a leader within the
organization is however perceived as something dependent on the individual.
40 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Chapter 5
5. Discussion
In this chapter we analyze the empirical findings through our theoretical framework. A
discussion about the central findings is also made. Material from the theoretical framework
and empirical findings are used and the discussion makes a ground for our conclusions.
5.1 The culture and the socialization of trainees into Tele2
According to O'Reilly, Chatman, and Caldwell (1991) an individual will chose an
organization that fits or is similar to that person´s self-concept. This means that the greater the
similarities between an individual’s self-concept and perception of the organization the more
will he or she prefer the organization. This can be related to what the majority of the trainees
said when asking them why they choose Tele2. The heritage of the founder Jan Stenbeck and
the norms and values of the company played a significant role in applying for the trainee
program at Tele2. This can indicate that norms and values are important elements for the
individual in choosing which organization to work for. According to Cable and Parsons
(2001) it has become important to establish a person-organization fit between newcomers and
organizations, to look at if the individual that has been hired fits with the characteristics of the
organization. This can be related with the hiring process of the trainees’ at Tele2, where the
HR-manager pointed out that it was important to look at if the values of the candidate are in
line with the values of the organization. This indicates that the characteristics of the candidate
have to fit with the culture and not just particularly what the job requires. But this also leads
us to the fact that the culture seems to play an important role in the recruiting process of the
trainees as well as in the work process at Tele2. Since values are often defined as a
fundamental key element in organizational culture (Barley, Meyer and Gash, 1988).
Hiring trainees that have the same values as Tele2 might facilitate the socialization process
since they already have the same mind-set. This also reduces the risk of having employees
that are striving in different directions and are not align with the goals and values of the
organization. Although it seems quite convenient to hire someone who has the same values as
41 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
the organization there might also be some consequences with a strong person-organization fit.
Recruiting individuals that shares the same mind-set as the organization can lead to strong
corporate culture with strong ties. The result might be a strong corporate culture that is
difficult to get in to and it might also be hard to express different ideas within that are not in
the line with the culture. The problem with this is that the organization might get stuck with
current ideas which restrict it from realizing other potential ideas that might be good for the
organization.
When newcomers enter a new workplace they might see a lot of challenges. New organization
and colleagues may require new thinking and behaving. Getting used to a new culture and
new work is strenuous and takes time. According to Nelson and Quick (1991) newcomers try
to acquire organizational values, norms, rules, roles and tasks in order to reduce the
psychological uncertainty that they might feel when entering a new organization. This is
defined as the organizational socialization process, the ongoing learning process where the
newcomer acquire new knowledge and skills about his or her new role in the organization, but
at the same time adjust towards it (Baker and Feldman, 1990). The socialization process is
something that is evident in Tele2 since we noticed in the interviews that the individuals try to
find ways in which they can identify themselves with “The Tele2 Way”. This might shape the
newcomers into being a part of the organization and share the same values and assumptions as
everybody else within the organization. The adjustment through the socialization process
makes the individual be a part of the culture.
As mentioned in the theoretical framework there are two parts of organizational socialization;
socialization tactics and newcomers proactive behaviour. This means that it is not only the
organization that pushed the culture on the individuals, but the individuals do also actively
incorporate the culture by themselves. As mention above individuals within Tele2 actively try
to find ways in which they can identify themselves with “The Tele2 Way”, which can be
referred as proactive behaviour. On the other hand socialization tactics are efforts made by the
organization in order to socialize newcomers where different kinds of training programs are
one way of socializing newcomers into the organization (Klein and Weaver 2000). These
training programs are similar to the trainee program at Tele2. The trainee program at Tele2
gives the trainees a different opportunity than other employees to get socialized into the
organization. They get a helicopter view of the organization and a holistic picture of issues
that employees on operational positions might not get the same chance to get. The trainee
42 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
program seems to be very important at Tele2 since it is a long lasting process which has a
strong impact on the trainees’ attitudes and behaviour. This can also be linked to Chao et al
(1994) who discusses that attending a training program can help to increase the newcomers’
awareness and understanding of the organizations formal and unwritten values and goals. We
can conclude that “the Tele2 Way” is integrated within the trainee program.
When the trainee enters the organization it is essential for him or her to learn how to function
in the organization. The norms, values, networks and politics of the organization plays an
important role in this process (Feldman, 1981). One way to learn about ones function in the
organization is to look at how already socialized employees behave, such as superiors and
colleagues (Taormina, 1997). This is something that also appeared at Tele2 since the trainee
program gives the trainees the opportunity to work close with a leadership team member by
assisting his or her daily work for twelve months. By working close to a leadership team
member it may help the trainees to obtain knowledge about their function in the organization
but also a sense of how policies and procedures work in the organization. This indicates that it
is important for trainees to engage in relationship building in order to get more knowledge
about their function in the organization. Networking is a huge part of the trainee program
which facilitates the socialization process. Interaction with a leadership team member may
also create knowledge about which type of behaviour is appropriate in different kinds of
situations. Socialization with other organizational members and social activities can
contribute to the person-organization fit because through interaction trainees can learn more
about the culture of Tele2. This can also be linked to what the top manager mentioned during
the interview, that the trainees are much more exposed to “the Tele2 Way” than other
employees because of their positions; they work close with senior people but they are also
new into the organization and thereby much more adaptable and influenced by the culture.
This confirms that there is an understanding within the organization that the trainees get a
better chance than other employees to incorporate the culture. However this creates problems
for some employees because they feel that trainees are prioritized before them. The
understanding here is that trainees get better opportunities just because they are former
trainees even though they are not always better suited for a specific opportunity. This might
create a feeling of “we” and “them” within Tele2 and the question is if this is desirable. The
positive side with this is that it might create competition within the organization that might
43 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
make people perform better but the negative effect is that people within might get suspicious
to each other.
We can draw upon that the more an organization tries to influence an individual the more
individuals values will match the organizations since socialization is a process which
influence people to think and act in a certain way, often in the best interest of the
organization. In this case we can see that the socialization process at Tele2 seems to have a
huge impact on the adjustment of trainees to their work and the organization. From the first
day in the organization trainees learn how to think and behave according to the culture. This
leads us to the fact that the organizational culture seems to be an important tool in the
socialization process since the culture seems to shape and have impact on the activities at
Tele2. As mentioned above the values of the organization seem to have influenced the
recruiting process of the trainees but the values also seem to influence the actions of the
trainees. The majority of the trainees stressed that they often think about the values of Tele2
in their daily work before they take action. Thereby we can assume that trainees that get
socialized into Tele2 also become the carriers of the culture. But is this in line with becoming
the leaders of the future?
5.2 Is organizational socialization important?
According to the theoretical framework newcomers enter an organizational setting with a set
of expectations regarding their new organization and their role within. This can be related to
what the trainees said during the interviews. But they also knew what the organization
expected from them as trainees at Tele2 which facilitated them in their daily work in order to
perform. This can be linked to Louis (1980) who discusses that in order for the newcomer to
perform in a new role and in a new organization it is important that the newcomer is
motivated and understands what others expect from him or her. Some of the trainees are
expecting to be promoted to a management position after completing the trainee-program.
This leads us to the question, what happens if their expectations are not being fulfilled?
During the interviews we found out that some of the former trainees have left the organization
because they did not get the position that they expected. This is in line with Louis (1980) who
argues that individuals leave organizations when their initial expectations or needs of their
work prior to entering the organization do not match the actual experience of the job. This is
44 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
also something that some of the interviewed managers have noticed, according to the top
manager the challenge for a trainee is going from being a trainee and not being a trainee.
During the trainee-program the trainees are getting a lot of attention but after the program is
being completed the trainee does not get the same attention. The idea with the trainee program
at Tele2 is to create future leaders of the company so if the trainees leaves after completing
the program it causes problems for the organization since the company puts a lot of resources
on the trainees in order for them to becoming future leaders.
It might also be of interest to discuss whether it is important to socialize everyone in the
organization. If every organizational member gets socialized and shares the same mindset the
organization might miss out on different perspectives. From the conducted interviews the
participants portrayed a leader as someone who is above the rest, not only in hierarchical
position but also in their perceptions. There are a lot of expectations on a leader and the
question is if the leader should also share exactly the same mindset as everybody else. The
socialization process pushes the individuals to share the same mindset but the leader is
expected to be different and in some ways better than everybody else. Already here we can
see a discrepancy in the socialization into leadership.
The trainee program at Tele2 is leadership-oriented where the trainees are expected to become
the future leaders of Tele2. As mentioned earlier in the paper, trainees are working close to a
leadership team member. This leads us to the fact that the trainees might get influenced by
who they work for; they might behave according to what they see around them and thereby
get influenced by the manager’s leadership style that they follow. This can also be linked to
what some of the trainees mentioned, that they get influenced and inspired by their managers.
According to the HR-manager Tele2 is a very strong culture based company that are based on
their values, “the Tele2 Way”, where managers are expected to walk the talk at Tele2, walk
the Tele2 Way. This might also be something that is expected from the trainees in the future
that their leadership style is in line with “the Tele2 Way”, the organizational culture.
5.3 Is it possible to be socialized into becoming a leader?
In order to determine if it is possible to be socialized into becoming a leader it is necessary to
define what leadership is since the answer depends on what you mean by a leader. This is
45 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
important to discuss because there was a variety of a different perception of leadership among
the interviewed participants.
According to Bass and Avolio (1993) the kind of leaders that are following the existing
cultural norms, procedures and rules are transactional leaders. We can see a lot of these kinds
of leaders within Tele2. As within the academic literature, the participants feel that an
understanding of the organizational culture is important in order to influence other people.
Employees are socialized in “the Tele2 Way” and they are expected to live these values which
guide them in their work. In the same line the trainee program is emphasizing “the Tele2
Way”. As the HR managers stresses out, Tele2 wants their trainees to be even more in
alignment with the values in the company. When former trainees reach a top management
position they are expected to engage in symbolic leadership, which the interviewed top
manager emphasized as the only and true leadership practice. In order to become good
symbolic leaders it is perceived by the participants as important to have a genuine
understanding of “the Tele2 Way”. In this sense the transactional leader within Tele2 is one
that incorporates the culture and acts according to the values. Therefore it is possible to be
socialized into becoming a transactional leader through learning the norms and values within
the company. The trainee program is a good opportunity for a trainee to learn these norms and
values and thereby be socialized into a transactional leader.
But the transactional leader is not the type of leader that the interviewed participants put their
focus on. The participants outlined that a leader is not just someone who is only following the
cultural norms and values, even though it was perceived as a condition for a good leader to
have an understanding of the culture. Instead, the leader was portrayed as someone who sets
the agenda, takes charge when he comes into contact with people, sets visions and goals and
directs the organization. These characteristics go in line with the definition of a
transformational leader (Bass and Avolio, 1993). In practice we did not see lot of this
transformational type of leadership within Tele2. Candidates that are socialized into the
company and future leadership positions are not empowered to set up visions and direct the
organization as a transformational leader would do. The socialization within Tele2 through its
trainee program was instead in line with transactional leadership. According to Sveningsson
and Alvesson (2010) transactional leadership is more referred to a management practice and
not a leadership practice. Tele2 seem to put a lot of trust in their current top manages and
46 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
want the trainees to adopt their leadership styles and practices. Thereby new managers are
created through copying the practices of current managers within the organization.
As we have argued in the theory chapter, one can question if a transactional leader is a real
leader. Since a transactional leader is a leader within cultural boundaries he or she is
constraint and cannot manage the organization in other directions than in line with the current
culture. Therefore the transactional leader can be described as a follower of the culture. If we
imagine a situation in which a transactional leader has to deal with an issue, he or she would
only take decisions that are in line with the current culture. In the example of Tele2, this kind
of leader would respond to competition by lowering the prices, which an interviewee outlined
as a recent action within the company. On the other hand the transformational leader would
also consider different options. These options could perhaps include decisions that are
strongly opposite to “the Tele2 Way” such as making the products exclusive and not being
cheap. A decision like this is not seen as optimal for Tele2 and therefore the transformational
leadership is not preferable. Despite this, the transformational leadership style seems to be
something that the participants would like to engage in and they define this as the real
leadership.
Transformational leadership was only targeted through letting people be proactive and taking
own initiatives. If we look into the trainee program where the candidates are intended to
become future leaders they perceive that there is opportunities to take own initiatives and
being proactive. As we have noticed, the trainees’ own initiatives and being proactive must be
in accordance to “the Tele2 Way”. This leads us to the question whether these actions are
socializing them into transformational leadership practices such as managing change, setting
up visions and controlling the organization. On top of that participants perceived the greatest
opportunity for trainees is the chance to work closely with top managers and networking.
Since the trainees are young and might be strongly influenced by people that they are
collaborating with they are likely to develop into a transactional leader. The reason for this
might be that the top manager they are collaborating with has already made a career that the
trainees also want to make. By perceiving the top managers’ career as an example they might
incorporate his or her leadership style in order to also make a career. Therefore they might not
take totally independent decisions but decisions in line with the culture and in accordance
with their top manager. Thereby they are not only understanding the culture and being
47 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
transformational leaders but rather transactional leaders who take decisions and act in
accordance to the culture.
The trainees’ development of becoming a leader, as stressed by all the participants, is very
dependent on the individual. Former trainees become attractive because they have showed
that they manage to work hard and in combination with the good network opportunity they
might get management positions. But if they become a transformational leader is still
uncertain. Perhaps the aim of the trainee program is not to create transformational leaders of
tomorrow, but to create transactional leaders of tomorrow or managers who incorporate the
organizational culture in their style. This leads to the fact that “leaders of the future” becomes
“managers of the future” since “leaders of the future” can be compared to transformational
leadership. This might also explain why Tele2 is recruiting individuals which values goes in
line with the values of the organization to the trainee program.
5.4 Leadership within a strong culture
A new direction in leadership might not seem to be preferable in a company that haves a
strong culture. All of the participants depicted the culture in Tele2 as something good that
attracted them to the company and it was never mentioned that some aspects of it should be
changed. Therefore a transformational leader who wants to reshape the culture might not be
suited in this kind of company. Instead, people who come in to the company should find
themselves in alignment with the current practices and emphasize the already existing culture.
A new agenda-setter might be risky for a company such as Tele2 since they would no longer
rely on already working practices. There should be a special interest on the managers’
incorporation of the culture because they have the authority to take decisions and in some
sense direct a small part of the company. A manager that has incorporated the culture might
take decisions according to “the Tele2 Way” which ensures the company that it will not be
directed on another direction than the direction that the whole organization follows. In that
sense the trainee program works as insurance that the incorporation of the culture is taking
place.
As noticed during the interviews, former trainees become attractive for future management
positions since they have learnt “the Tele2 Way” on the entry level and been influenced by
top managers of the organization. Therefore they are likely to follow the same practices as the
48 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
ones that are already followed by current top managers. This works as insurance that the
strong culture is not being changed and it can be seen as a type of normative control over
future managers. When the culture is incorporated by managers they are managing within the
cultural boundaries. In the same sense a leader that has incorporated the culture might lead
only within the cultural frames. But is this leadership? Perhaps the leadership is not in the
hands of the managers per se, but rather a part of the culture that is indirectly controlling the
followers through the managers.
It is maybe not desirable that all of the top managers within the company functions as leaders
because they might emphasize different and conflicting visions and goals. In large
organizations the values and the culture might be one of few mechanisms that is the common
ground throughout the whole organization. As one of the managers stressed out there should
only be one leader within a company that everyone is following. But on the other hand
leadership is a positively value added word and a lot of people likes to be perceived as leaders
even though their leadership style are not in accordance to transformational leadership. This
leads us to the question whether it is leadership that adds value to the organization or if it is
the culture that does it. Perhaps the culture becomes a substitute for leadership. At this point
we are very close to Kerr and Jermier (1978) who are discussing substitutes to leadership,
which is important to acknowledge. Instead of leadership employees might be led by other
things. In more recent research it is argued that some substitutes to leadership might even
have positive effects on organizational members and the organization such as job satisfaction
and leader effectiveness. As it is argued the leader might have time to do other things when
using substitutes (Jernigan and Beggs, 2010). The job satisfaction, on the other hand, is very
similar with our findings where the culture attracts the employees to Tele2 and makes them
remain within the organization. But in accordance to our findings the culture, as a substitute to
leadership, is not used by leaders, it has rather taken over the role of leadership within the
organization.
5.5 Is leadership subordinate to the culture?
As we have discovered in the case of Tele2 leadership and culture are very closely aligned.
According to the interviewees the founder of the company, Jan Stenbeck, played a significant
role in shaping the organizational culture. His leadership is in fact the ground for the culture
49 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
and this is incorporated in the “the Tele2 Way” which today’s organizational members still
embraces. The purpose of the socialization process in Tele2 might be to incorporate Jan
Steinbeck’s leadership style, which in turn has become the culture of Tele2. According to
Harvey (1996) a leadership style has to be consistent with the corporate culture and according
to Schein (1988) leadership and culture are two sides of the same coin. This means that the
two concepts cannot be fully separated from the other. But we can however question if there
exist leadership in the organization today.
While the culture is very present in Tele2 the leadership does not seem to be as present.
Instead, the leadership seems to only be a reflection of the organizational culture. According
to Harvey (1996) ones leadership style can be influenced by the cultural heritage of the
organization. This seems to be the case of Tele2. We did not see any signs of the participants
that were opposing “the Tele2 Way”. It was seen as strength that the participants wanted to
stick with. This can be understood as they put very high importance on the culture and were
not interested in strong leadership because it might include changes in “the Tele2 Way”.
Perhaps the reason for a silent leadership within Tele2 is not only a strong culture, but also the
context in which the company is engaged in today. In line with the interviewees’ perceptions,
Tele2 was an actor in a fluctuating environment with lot of possibilities a few years ago. This
has however changed and the same amount of opportunities does not seem to be coming up
anymore. Therefore a different type of leadership style might be more suitable in today’s
environment, a leadership style that is not as present as before. The proactive and gamechanging characteristics of a leader are not the best solution for Tele2. Instead reliability on
the already functioning culture is of interest. Why change a thing that works?
5.6 What is leadership and does it exist?
Leadership seems to be a concept that is frequently used. Sometimes leadership is used too
much which makes it lose its substance. In the case of Tele2, leadership can either be seen
everywhere, but in small ways through the culture, or nowhere at all because it is not salient
anywhere. This leads to the question of what leadership really is and if it really exists in every
organization.
50 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Leadership can be perceived as a socially constructed phenomenon. According to Smircich
and Morgan (1982) leadership can emerge through interactions and actions of both leaders
and followers. But management might also be created through this process. An image of
leadership might be created even though the actual practice is closer related to management.
In a company with a strong culture the leadership might not be needed and it might be
replaced by the culture instead. The managers work as facilitators of the culture who
emphasizes the current norms and practices among the followers. The reason for the
leaderships replacement with culture is, as previously discussed, the close correlation between
leadership and culture. In this sense leadership is not needed in every organization. But can
leadership exist without culture? According to Bass and Avolio (1993) there exists and
interplay between leadership and culture. The leadership might have been significant in an
early life stage of Tele2 but it has now been replaced by the culture.
The absence of leadership might also be realized by the trainees since they do not seem to be
expecting to become a transformational leader who manages change and influences the
organization. Instead, they talk about management practices and how they are finding
themselves within “the Tele2 Way”. The purpose of the trainee program might be to create
followers at high hierarchical management positions, and not leaders. As discussed, it seems
to be more preferable for Tele2, in today’s environment, to have employees who follow the
culture on high management position and not individuals who are engaging in changes.
Thereby all organizations might not need leadership, especially not organizations that are
satisfied with their mature state. The risk here is that such an organization might get too
comfortable with their current situation and miss out on vital adjustments to environmental
changes. However, this might not be a major problem for Tele2 because this is embedded in
“the Tele2 Way” which includes action orientation and quick responds to environmental
changes.
Another example of why leadership might not be needed at Tele2 can be explained through
the close interaction between culture and followership. Followers need someone to follow and
in the academic literature this has usually been depicted as to follow a leader. But in line with
our findings the thing followers follow must not be a leader; it can be a culture instead. “The
Tele2 Way” might have replaced the leadership within Tele2 through taking over in
influencing of the followers. The leadership on the other has been left over. Leadership is still
51 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
present in Tele2, but only as a symbol in the minds of the employees. It does however maybe
not have any actual functions within the organization. Therefore we can use the metaphor of a
blind gut to describe today’s leadership within Tele2. The blind gut is a body organ that
humans have, but it does not have any function. Since it is located in the body it probably had
a function once but it was a long time ago and it is not needed anymore.
5.7 Summary
In this chapter we have discussed the link between organizational culture and socialization
process of trainees into Tele2 which is aiming to create “the leaders of tomorrow”. But as we
have found this process is not creating transformational leaders of tomorrow. Instead it is
creating managers that subordinates to the culture and thereby creating transactional leaders
of tomorrow. This is a paradox since the organization is talking about leadership in line with
transformational leadership while practicing leadership in line with transactional leadership.
The reason for this seem to be that the transformational leadership, which is leadership, is a
positively value added word that the organization might want to use in order to attract and
motivate employees. Instead of present leaders within the organization the culture has taken
over the role of leadership. The effect of this is that leadership might only be present in the
minds of the organizational members, but in practice they are following the organizational
culture, and not a tangible leader.
52 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Chapter 6
6. Conclusion
In this chapter we present our conclusions of the research. The concluding remarks are
embedded with our own contributions to the literature and suggestions of future research are
also presented. The chapter works as a sum up of the whole paper in which the most vital
parts are presented.
6.1 Socialization into leadership
In accordance to our findings and the discussion of it we can conclude that trainees cannot be
socialized into transformational leaders. Since the socialization process of the trainees in order
for them to become “the future leaders” of the company seems to be influenced by the strong
organizational culture, the trainees leadership style is pushed to go in line with the
organizations values. Acting in accordance to the culture and in line with other organizational
members may inhibit the leader’s function since the leader might work best when he or she
has a different perspective than others. This is vital for the transformational leader in order for
him or her to enable change and take charge of the organization or parts of it.
The socialization process of the trainees at Tele2 may instead create transactional leaders. A
transactional leader is however not a leader in our definition since his or her style is more
similar to management. A transactional leader can also be described as a “leader” in the minds
of the organizational members but in practice a follower of the organizational culture. The
transactional leader that is created through the trainee program at Tele2 might have
difficulties in employing transformational leadership practices if he or she only relies on the
socialization. Therefore the development into a transformational leader within the
organization is dependent on the individual and it might be difficult to manage. From the
organizations side it can be more or less impossible to manage future transformational
leaders. This could be a potential subject that needs to be further studied in academic research.
On the other hand, the aim of the trainee program does not seem to be to create
transformational leaders who are changing the practices within the organization. The aim is to
53 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
find people who are fitting the management positions and becoming followers of the culture.
The reasons seems to be that transformational leadership is absent on management level.
Leadership might be something that is centered very high up in the organization and not
shared among multiple individuals. In the case of Tele2 the leadership seems to have become
a part of the culture. Culture has taken over the role of leadership and thereby leadership has
become subordinate to the culture.
6.2 Leadership subordinate to the culture
Leadership in Tele2 seems to have been a vital part of the organization in early days. The
founder Jan Stenbeck is perceived as a strong leader who has incorporated the leadership
within the culture. This means that his leadership style is still present in the organization even
though he has passed away. After his death there does not seem to be any individual who has
fully taken over the leadership role in Tele2, instead all organizational members seem to
follow his example. In this sense leadership is no longer something that an individual or a
group of individuals are practicing, but a part of the culture. The culture has taken over the
leadership and it is practiced through the organizations values, “the Tele2 Way”. This
conclusion goes in line with Kerr and Jermier (1978) who are discussing that substitutes for
leadership may exist. We have found that the corporate culture might be a substitute to
leadership and it can take over the role that leadership has in a mature organization. By
incorporating leadership in the organizational culture, leadership that was initially influencing
the organizational members, might still influence them even as the leader is not present in the
organization as a tangible person.
The absence of a tangible leader might in fact be preferable for a mature organization. By not
tying the leadership to an individual or individuals the organization escapes the risks that
come with the human factor. This includes the risk of what happens if the leader stops acting
according to the organizational values. By having a culture that leads people the organization
is not dependent on individuals who in fact become replaceable. The culture is not taking on
new risks and changes might not be needed because of the mature state of the organization.
The scope of the organization the last few years, according to some participants, has in fact
been to only stick to profitable markets and get rid of markets that are not as profitable. This
goes in line with the maturity of the organization and the culture seems to be a powerful tool
54 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
that is leading people to accomplish goals together. Individuals within Tele2 are to some
extent sharing the same mindset through the culture and it also works as something that
attracts people to Tele2.
We can conclude that as an organization is maturing the importance of leadership might
decrease while the importance of the culture might increase. The leadership and culture might
in this case be negatively correlated to each other. In the case of Tele2 this negative
correlation seems to have come to a state in which the leadership is not needed and the
organization works well with the culture instead because leadership is nowadays a part of the
culture. This relationship between leadership and culture is also of relevance to other
organizations that has the same development and reaches this mature stage in which
leadership can more or less be abandoned. But since the leadership is still an important aspect
that works as an image in the minds of the employees, the effects of abandoning leadership
and relying more on the culture has to be studied. Few, if any, organizations that reaches such
mature state as Tele2 are openly declining the importance of leadership within the
organization since it is a positively value added word that they might want to use.
55 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
References
Adkins, C. L. (1995) "Previous work experience and organizational socialization: a
longitudinal examination", Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 38 No.3, pp. 839-54.
Alvesson, M. (2004) Knowledge Work and Knowledge-Intensive Firms. Oxford University
Press
Alvesson, M., and Sköldberg, K. (2009) Reflexive methodology: New Vistas for Qualitative
Research (2nd Edition). Sage Publishers
Alvesson, M. and Sveningsson, S. (2003) “Good Visions, Bad Micro-Management and Ugly
Ambiguity: Contradictions of (Non-)Leadership in a Knowledge-Intensive Organization”
Organization Studies, Vol. 24, Issue 6, pp. 961-988
Ashford, S. J., and Black, J. S. (1996), “Proactivity during organizational entry: the role of
desire for control” Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 81, pp. 199–214.
Ashforth, B. E.,
Sluss, D. M and Saks, A. M, (2007), ”Socialization tactics, proactive
behavior, and newcomer learning: Integrating socialization models” Journal of Vocational
Behavior, Vol. 70, Issue 3, pp. 447 – 462
Baker, H., and Feldman, D. (1990), "Strategies of organizational socialization and their
impact on newcomer adjustment", Journal of Managerial Issues, Vol. 2, pp. 198-212.
Barley, S. R., Meyer, G. W., and Gash, D. C. (1988), “Cultures of culture: Academics,
practitioners, and pragmatics of normative control” Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol.
33, pp. 24-60
Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectation. New York: Free Press.
Bass, B. M. and Avolio, B. J. (1993), "Transformational leadership and organizational
culture", Public Administration Quarterly, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 112-21.
56 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Bauer, T. N., Morrison, E. W., and Callister, R. R. (1998) ”Organizational socialization: A
review and directions for future research” In G. R. Ferris (Ed.), Research in personnel and
human resource management, vol. 16: 149-214.
Berlew, D. E. and Hall, D. T. (1966) "The socialization of managers: effects on expectations
of performance", Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 11 pp. 207-23.
Bogdan, R. and Biklen, S. K. (1982) Qualitative research for education: An introduction to
theory and methods. 2d ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon
Bowen D. E., Ledford G. E. and Nathan B. R. (1991) “Hiring for the organization, not the
job”, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 5, pp. 35-51.
Bryman, A. and Bell, E. (2005) Företagsekonomiska forskningsmetoder. Liber. Malmö
Buchanan, B. (1974) "Building organizational commitment: the socialization of managers in
work organizations", Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 19 pp. 533-46.
Burns, J. M. (1978) Leadership. New York: Harper & Row
Cable, D. M. and Parsons, C. K. (2001) "Socialization tactics and person-organization fit",
Personnel Psychology, Vol. 54 No. 1, pp. 1-23.
Caldwell, D. M., Chatman, J. A., and O´Reilly, C. A. (1990) “Building organizational
commitment: A multi-firm study” Journal of Occupational Psychology, Vol. 75, pp. 333-349
Cawyer, C. S., and Friedrich, G. W. (1998) "Organizational socialization: process for new
communication faculty", Communication Education, Vol. 47 No.3, pp. 234-45.
Chao, G., O'Leary-Kelly, A., Wolf, S., Klein, H. and Gardner, P. (1994) "Organizational
socialization: its content and consequences", Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 79 No.5,
pp. 730-43.
Chatman J. A. (1991) “Matching people and organizations: Selection and socialization in
public accounting firms” Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 36, pp. 459-484.
57 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Creswell, J. W. (2003) Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method
approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Denis, J-L., Langley, A. and Pineault, M. (2000) "Becoming a leader in a complex
organization", Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 37 No. 8, pp. 1063-99.
Feldman, D. C. (1981) “The multiple socialization of organization members”, Academy of
Management Review, 6, 309-318.
Fisher, C. D. (1986) “Organizational socialization: an integrative review” Research in
Personnel and Human Resources Management, Vol. 4, pp. 101–145.
Fujii, D. (1977) “A Dyadic, Interactive Approach to the Study of Leader Behavior”,
Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 37 pp. 5415-4516.
Harvey, M. G. (1996) “Developing Leaders Rather Than Managers for the Global
Marketplace” Human Resource Management Review, Vol. 6, Issue: 4 pp. 279-304
Holton, E. F. (1996) "New employee development: a review and reconceptualization", Human
Resource Development Quarterly, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 233-52.
Jernigan, E. and Beggs, J. (2010) “Substitutes for Leadership and Job Satisfaction: Is There a
Relationship?”, Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, Vol. 14,
No. 2, pp. 97-106.
de Jong, J. P. J. and Den Hartog, D. N. (2007) "How leaders influence employees' innovative
behaviour", European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 10 Issue: 1, pp. 41-64.
Kerr, S. and Jermier, J. M. (1978) “Substitutes for leadership: Their meaning and
measurement”, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, Vol. 22, Issue 3, pp. 375403.
Klein, H., and Weaver, N. (2000) "The effectiveness of an organizational-level orientation
training program in the socialization of new hires", Personnel Psychology, Vol. 53 pp. 47-66.
58 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Kotter, J. (1990) Force for Change: How Leadership Differs from Management. New York:
Free Press.
Kvale, S. (1996) Interviews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage
Louis, M. R. (1980) “Surprise and sense making: What newcomers experience in entering
unfamiliar organizational settings” Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 25, pp. 226-251.
Major, D. A., Kozlowski, S. W. J., Chao, G. T. and Gardner, P. D. (1995) “A longitudinal
investigation of newcomer expectations, early socialization outcomes, and the moderating
effects of role development factors” Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 80, pp. 418-431.
Manderscheid, S. V., and Ardichvili, A. (2008) "New leader assimilation: process and
outcomes", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 29, Issue: 8, pp. 661-677.
Merriam, S. B., (2002) Qualitative research in practice: Examples for discussion and
analysis. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Nelson, D. and Quick, J. (1991) "Social support and newcomer adjustment in organizations:
attachment theory at work?", Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 12 pp.543-54.
O'Reilly, C., Chatman, J. and Caldwell, D. F. (1991) “People and organizational culture: A
profile comparison approach to assessing person-organization fit” Academy of Management
Journal, Vol. 34, pp. 487-516.
Reichers, A. E. (1987) “An interactionist perspective on newcomer socialization rates”
Academy of Management Review, Vol. 12, pp. 278-287.
Ryan, G. W. and Bernard, H. R. (2000) “Data management and analysis methods”. In
Handbook of qualitative research, 2d ed., edited by Denzin, N. and Lincoln, Y. 769-802.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Schein, E. H. (1968) “Organizational socialization and the profession of Management”
Industrial Management Review, Vol. 9, pp. 1-16.
59 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Schein, E. H. (1988) "Organizational socialization and the profession of management", Sloan
Management Review, Vol. 30 No.1, pp. 53-65.
Smircich, L. and Morgan G. (1982) “Leadership: The Management of Meaning”, Journal of
Applied Behavioral Studies, Vol. 18, pp. 257-273
Spitzer, D. (2003) “The Energizing Leader” Leader to Leader, Volume: 2003, Issue: 29, pp.
22-27
Spoelstra, S. (2009) “Transformational leadership: scientific concept or management
concept?” Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings, Chicago
Sveningsson, S. and Alvesson, M. (2010) Ledarskap. Liber
Sveningsson, S. and Larsson, M. (2006) “Fantasies of Leadership: Identity Work”,
Leadership, Vol 2, Issue 2, pp. 203-224
Taormina, R. J. (1997) "Organizational socialization: a multidomain, continuous process
model", International Journal of Selection and Assessment, Vol. 5 No.1, pp. 29-47.
Van Maanen, J. and Barley S. R. (1984) “Toward a theory of organizational socialization” In
Staw, B. M. and Cummings, L. L. (eds), Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 6. pp.
287-365.
Van Maanen, J. and Schein, E. H. (1979) ”Toward a theory of organizational socialization”
Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 1, pp. 209–264.
Watkins, M. (2003), The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All
Levels, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
Weiss, H. (1977) “Subordinate Imitation of Superior Behavior: The Role of Modeling in
Organizational Socialization.” Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, Vol. 15,
pp. 89-105.
Zaleznik, A. (1992) “Managers and Leaders – Are they different?” Harvard Business Review,
Vol. 70, Issue: 2 pp. 126-135
60 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
Appendix
Interview guide, semi-structured interviews
Executive Trainees
1) Tell us about yourself
2) What made you apply for this position? - Are your expectations met?
3) What expectations do you think Tele2 has on you as a trainee?
4) How does an ordinary workday look like? How often do you come in contact with
leadership? - In what ways?
5) How do you experience the trainee program? Have you experienced leadership in the
program?
6) Which goals are you aiming to reach within 10 years?
7) What are you doing in order to reach these goals?
8) Do you feel that you have support to reach these goals? / Do you feel that Tele2 have
invested in you? (Compare yourself to other employees)
9) Do you have any role models within the company?
10) What is leadership for you?
11) Do you think leadership is important in Tele2? - Why/in what ways? Does it add
value? Give us an example of a situation where leadership was important.
12) Do you define leadership within Tele2 as successful?
13) From your perspective, what is the best way for potential leaders to become socialized
into a leadership role?
Managers
1) Tell us about yourself
2) How did you start your career at Tele2?
3) How does a typical workday look like for you?
4) Do you think leadership is important in Tele2? - Why/in what ways? Does it add
value? Give us an example of a situation where leadership was important.
5) What is leadership for you?
6) Do you define leadership within Tele2 as successful?
61 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
7) What kind of leadership can contribute to further success for Tele2? - Who & Why?
8) Can you define yourself as a leader? - In which ways?
9) How much of your time is about leadership practices?
10) What is the most important element of your leadership?
11) Do you empower & help people become future leaders in the company? -Who/ How/
Why etc.?
12) Is the difference in your view of a trainee compared to other employees? - (When it
comes to empowerment and future leadership)
13) Do you think that the trainee program is adding value to Tele2? - Why? What is
value?
14) How are young professionals socialized into a leadership role within Tele2? - Could
this be done better? How?
15) What distinct a good leader from a bad one? Which leaders do you want to promote?
Human Resource
1) Tell us about yourself
2) How did you start your career at Tele2?
3) How does a typical workday look like for you?
4) Do you think leadership is important in Tele2? - Why/in what ways? Does it add
value? Give us an example of a situation where leadership was important.
5) What is leadership for you?
6) Do you define leadership within Tele2 as successful?
7) How are leaders "created" within Tele2?
8) What kind of people do you want to promote to leadership positions?
9) What is the purpose and goal with the trainee-program? What do you want to achieve
with the trainee program? What goals are you aiming to reach for your trainees? What
do you expect out of your trainees?
10) In which ways are you involved in the trainee program?
11) Do you think that the trainee program is adding value to Tele2? - Why? What is
value?
12) What are you looking for when hiring trainees?
13) How do you help the trainees to reach their goals?
62 | P a g e
Lund University
Master Thesis
Alagic and Salic
14) Do you think the trainee programs have been successful over the years? / purpose =
the result?
15) How do Tele2 maintain the trainees within the company?
16) What is the difference of your view of a trainee compared to other employees?
17) How are young professionals socialized into a leadership role within Tele2? - Could
this be done better? How?
63 | P a g e