Employee Profile

Øyvind Kvalnes

Professor - Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour

Room number A3Y-023
Phone +4795204496
E-mail oyvind.kvalnes@bi.no

Biography

The philosopher Øyvind Kvalnes is a professor at the Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour, BI Norwegian Business School. He is an experienced facilitator, lecturer and researcher. In 1998 he defended his PHD-thesis entitled “Living with Moral Luck”. For ten years he was the CEO of Humanistisk Akademi in Oslo, a small unit of philosophical consultants. He has written a range of books in applied philosophy, both in English and in Norwegian. His main interests outside academia are family, football and music. Research areas
Ethics, moral psychology, communication climate, collaboration, fallibility.

Area of Expertise

Publications

Scientific publications In the media Other

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2023)

Communication climate at work: Fostering friendly friction in organisations

Palgrave Pivot.

This book explores how members of an organization or group speak to and with each other. An expansion of the author’s previous research on fallibility in organizations, the concept of communication climate is related to those of voice climate and psychological safety, both of which focus on the risk of speaking up and raising concerns at work. In this book the author addresses the scope for criticism, dissent and disagreement, but also for praise and encouragement. He places friendly friction at the core of what characterizes a healthy communication climate. Beginning with a clear explanation of how and why communication climate is important in organizations, the author introduces the concept of critical quality moments, i.e. situations where a verbal intervention can crucially change the course of events for the better. The book then goes on to describe seven elements that characterize well-functioning communication climates before exploring the concept of communication ethics, and the balance between freedom of speech on the one hand, and speech responsibility on the other. Concluding with suggestions for further research, this book addresses issues that are at the core of establishing collaboration and excellence at work, making it highly relevant to executive students at business schools, researchers in organizational behavior and decision-makers in organizations. This is an open access book.

Carlsen, Arne & Kvalnes, Øyvind (2023)

Home Alone and All Together: Lightness of agency in social inquiry

Organization Studies, 44(8), s. 1333- 1352. Doi: 10.1177/01708406231166806

Research has provided limited knowledge of how people in organizations experience growth of agency during circumstances that seem hopeless and stuck, and how such growth emerges. Drawing from the study of the turnaround processes at a nursing home and the Pragmatism of Dewey and Mead, we contribute with a theory of how agency is produced in social inquiry. We suggest that the puzzling accounts of lightness in the experiences of people at this nursing home help explain how a field of social inquiry may be charged with creative and agentic force. We show how agency emerged through a series of action sequences related to inviting people into inquiry through the opening of a troublesome situation, the resulting voicing of needs and ideas for improvement, as well as the subsequent experimenting and surfacing of tales of meaningful progress from such actions. Furthermore, our empirical observations suggest that the emergence of collective desire to meet the needs of the Generalized Other is a central, yet understated, part of agency produced through social inquiry. Lightness of agency may be accentuated, paradoxically, by the weight of a more generalized situation – in this case that of institutionalized care for elderly – that the local inquiry exemplifies and in which it resonates.

Sandseter, Ellen Beate Hansen & Kvalnes, Øyvind (2022)

Mod i børns leg - at skabe rammer for at tage risici

Brostrom, Stig & Mellon, Karsten (red.). Mod i pædagogikken

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2020)

Digital Dilemmas: Exploring Social Media Ethics in Organizations

Palgrave Pivot.

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2019)

Moral Reasoning at Work: Rethinking Ethics in Organizations

Palgrave Pivot.

Kvalnes, Øyvind & Nordal, Salvor (2018)

Normalization of questionable behavior: An ethical root of the financial crisis in Iceland

Journal of Business Ethics, s. 1- 15. Doi: 10.1007/s10551-018-3803-8

In this paper, we explore the 2008 financial crisis in Iceland through the lens of Donaldson’s concept of normalization of questionable behavior. We study the report published by the Special Investigation Commission, an investigation initiated by the Icelandic Parliament near the end of 2008. The report provides a detailed and systematic account of the processes leading up to the crisis. Our aim is to determine the extent to which the behaviors of professionals in the Icelandic Financial sector can be explained as a gradual fading of moral concerns to the point that they perceived the sale of high-risk Products to unassuming customers for their own short-term benefit to be morally unproblematic. In doing so, we consider both character and circumstance explanations of moral misbehavior. We expand on Donaldson’s initial description of normalization of questionable behavior by applying the concept of moral neutralization, which is defined by criminologists Sykes and Matza as the process of convincing oneself that an option that initially conflicted with one’s own moral beliefs is actually morally acceptable. We find indications that individuals in the Icelandic financial sector did engage in moral neutralization in their attempts to frame their own actions in an acceptable light. In our study, we identify one way of neutralizing away moral dissonance not captured in the original theoretical framework. Icelandic bankers justified their behavior by claiming that they did not break any relevant rules or regulations when they engaged in what were later labeled questionable activities. Our name for this kind of justification is claim of having breached no rule.

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2017)

Aktivitetsfellen

Dagens næringsliv

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2017)

Ethics in projects

Sankaran, Shankar; Müller, Ralf & Drouin, Nathalie (red.). Cambridge Handbook of Organizational Project Management

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2017)

Fallibility at work: Rethinking excellence and error in organizations

Palgrave Macmillan.

This book addresses how organizations can deal with human fallibility in order to create space for excellence at work. Some mistakes in work settings put lives at risk, while others create openings for innovative breakthroughs. In order to deal constructively with fallibility, an organization needs a communication climate where it is normal to voice opinions, admit mistakes, and ask for help in critical situations. The book builds on interviews with practitioners in healthcare, aviation, IT, public governance, and industry. It connects narratives from these fields with theories from organizational psychology and philosophy, as well as from positive organizational scholarship. In the final chapter, an overall ethics of fallibility at work is outlined. Fallibility at Work contributes to research in multiple academic disciplines, but also reaches out to practitioners who are interested in the connections between error and excellence in organizations.

Müller, Ralf; Turner, Rodney J., Andersen, Erling S., Shao, Jingting & Kvalnes, Øyvind (2017)

Governance and Ethics in Temporary Organizations: The Mediating Role of Corporate Governance

Project Management Journal, 47(6), s. 7- 23. Doi: 10.1177/875697281604700602 - Full text in research archive

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2016)

Living with the unknown unknown: Uncertainty in projects

Project Management Journal, 47(3), s. 101- 108. Doi: 10.1177/875697281604700309

Müller, Ralf & Kvalnes, Øyvind (2016)

Project governance and project ethics

Müller, Ralf (red.). Governance and Governmentality for Projects: Enablers, Practices and Consequences

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2015)

Profesjon og interesse: Om moralsk nøytralisering blant tannleger

Den norske tannlegeforenings tidende, 125(5), s. 426- 432.

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2015)

Moral Reasoning at Work: Rethinking Ethics in Organizations

Palgrave Pivot.

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2014)

Leadership and moral neutralisation

Leadership, 10(4), s. 456- 470. Doi: 10.1177/1742715013504426

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2014)

Honesty in projects

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 7(4), s. 590- 600. Doi: 10.1108/IJMPB-07-2013-0027 - Full text in research archive

Müller, Ralf; Turner, Rodney, Andersen, Erling S., Shao, Jingting & Kvalnes, Øyvind (2014)

Ethics, Trust, and Governance in Temporary Organziations

Project Management Journal, 45(4), s. 39- 54. Doi: 10.1002/pmj.21432

Alm, Kristian; Andersen, Erling S. & Kvalnes, Øyvind (2013)

Tillit i prosjekter

Magma forskning og viten, 16(3), s. 26- 33.

Müller, Ralf; Andersen, Erling S., Kvalnes, Øyvind, Shao, Jingting, Sankaran, Shankar, Turner, Rodney, Biesenthal, Christopher, Walker, Derek H.T. & Gudergan, Siegfried (2013)

The Interrelationship of Governance,Trust, and Ethics in Temporary Organizations

Project Management Journal, 44(4), s. 26- 44. Doi: 10.1002/pmj.21350 - Full text in research archive

Kvalnes, Øyvind & Øverenget, Einar (2012)

Ethical Navigation in Leadership Training

Etikk i praksis, 6(1), s. 58- 71. Doi: 10.5324/eip.v6i1.1778

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2012)

Blurred Promises: Ethical Consequences of Fine Print Policies in Insurance

Journal of Business Ethics, 103(1), s. 77- 86. Doi: 10.1007/s10551-012-1224-7

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2012)

Beyond the Despairing Self: Kierkegaard and Human Fallibility at Work

International Journal of the Humanities: Annual Review, 9(4), s. 53- 60. Doi: 10.18848/1447-9508/cgp/v09i04/43202

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2010)

Feilbarlige ledere

Magma forskning og viten, 13(6), s. 35- 41.

Kvalnes, Øyvind & Hemmestad, Liv B (2010)

Loophole ethics in sports

Etikk i praksis, 4(1), s. 57- 67.

Ethical challenges in sports occur when the practitioners are caught between the will to win and the overall task of staying within the realm of acceptable values and virtues. One way to prepare for these challenges is to formulate comprehensive and specific rules of acceptable conduct. In this paper we will draw attention to one serious problem with such a rule-based approach. It may inadvertently encourage what we will call loophole ethics, an attitude where every action that is not explicitly defined as wrong, will be seen as a viable option. Detailed codes of conduct leave little room for personal judgement, and instead promote a loophole mentality. We argue that loophole ethics can be avoided by operating with only a limited set of general principles, thus leaving more space for personal judgement and wisdom.

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2023)

Plapremysteriet

Dagens næringsliv [Kronikk]

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2023)

Vennlig friksjon

Dagens næringsliv [Kronikk]

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2023)

Støre og smutthullsetikken

Dagens næringsliv [Kronikk]

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2023)

Hører jeg til her? Lederskap og inkludering på jobb

Dagens næringsliv [Kronikk]

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2023)

Sats på eldre ledere

Dagens næringsliv [Kronikk]

Kvalnes, Øyvind & Duckert, Fanny (2023)

Hvordan lede bomullsbarn

Dagens næringsliv [Kronikk]

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2023)

Ormstunger på jobb

Dagens næringsliv [Kronikk]

Kvalnes, Øyvind (2023)