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When Culture Takes Over- Culture as a Substitute for Leadership

Senada AlagicEdin Salic

Lund University, School of Economics and ManagementDepartment of Business Administration

Master ThesisSpring 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

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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.

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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____________________________________________162.4.1 Socialization through training programs________________________________________________182.4.2 Learning – a part of socialization______________________________________________________192.4.3 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_____________________________________________________233.3.1 Interviews________________________________________________________________________233.3.2 Respondents______________________________________________________________________243.3.3 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

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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____________________________________________________________________51

6. Conclusion_______________________________________________________________53

6.1 Socialization into leadership____________________________________________________53

6.2 Leadership subordinate to the culture____________________________________________54

References_________________________________________________________________56

Appendix__________________________________________________________________62

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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 | P a g e


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 discussionSince 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

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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?

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1.3 Research PurposeThe 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 RelevanceAfter 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 QuestionThe 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 StructureThe 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

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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.

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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 cultureLeadership 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

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transactional leadership goes in line with Harvey (1996) who argues that a leadership style

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

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between organizational socialization and leadership where organizations might try to socialize

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 managementLeadership 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).

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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

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 socializationOrganizations 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.

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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

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

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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,

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

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consequences with organizational socialization. According to Feldman (1981) achieving a

close fit between the newcomer and the organization might lead to unthinking and compliance

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

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to be important for both employees and organizations because by neglecting to socialize

newcomers can contribute to negative impacts.

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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.

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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 20 | P a g e


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.

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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 Tele2During 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.

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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

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was collected through semi-structured interviews with four trainees and six managers from

Tele2.

3.3 Gathering of empirical dataIn 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

24 | P a g e


without distractions. Thereby the risk of missing something relevant that the respondent said

was also reduced.

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.

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3.4 Gathering of theoretical dataAfter 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 AnalysisIn 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.

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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

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

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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.

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.

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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 WayWhen 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

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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 ProgramOne 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:

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“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

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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

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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

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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

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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 traineesThe 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

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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

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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 LeadershipWhen 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.

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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

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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

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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 InitiativesWhen 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)

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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 SummaryAs 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.

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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 Tele2According 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 42 | P a g e


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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 cultureA 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

49 | P a g e


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

50 | P a g e


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 game-

changing 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.

51 | P a g e


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

52 | P a g e


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 SummaryIn 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.

53 | P a g e


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 leadershipIn 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.

54 | P a g e


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

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 cultureLeadership 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

55 | P a g e


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

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.

56 | P a g e


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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


2) How did you start your career at Tele2?

3) How does a typical workday look like for you?




6) Do you define leadership within Tele2 as successful?62 | P a g e


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


2) How did you start your career at Tele2?

3) How does a typical workday look like 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?

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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?

64 | P a g e

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