Charlotte Holgersson

I hold a position as Associate Professor at the Department of Industrial Economics and Management, KTH Royal Institute of Technology. My research is located in the intersection between organization and management studies and gender studies. I am interested in the empirical and theoretical exploration of gender ordering in organizations, in particular issues of management, change and sexuality. One of my main empirical concerns over the years has been the perpetuation of men’s dominance on top positions in organizations but I am also interested in processes of change and several of my research projects focus both gender equality and diversity practices in organizations.

I defended my doctoral dissertation at the Stockholm School of Economics in 2003 on the recruitment of managing directors, ”Rekrytering av företagsledare. En studie i homosocialitet” (Recruitment of managing directors. A study of homosociality). I have been a research fellow at theCouncil of Women World Leaders, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard university (www.worldleaders.org) and atScancor (Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research), Stanford University (www.scancor.org).

I am presently heading the research program"Men in focus - exploring homosocial cultures in organizations and developing methods to prevent sexual harassment" (Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare) that involves Professor Monica Lindgren, Professor Johann Packendorff, PhD Lotta Snickare, and Professor Anna Wahl and Assoc. professor Annika Vänje (Dalarna University). The research program runs from 2021 to 2027.

Recent research projects that I have been involved in:

• "Promoting a hospitality industry free from human trafficking and prostitution – The effects on employees’ work environment " (BFUF) together with project leader Assoc. professor Mana Farshid, KTH.
• "The career-organization nexus - emergence of gender inequality among Swedish managers" (Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation and Tore Browaldh Foundation) together with Assoc. professor Anders Broström, KTH, Assoc. professor Ali Mohammadi, Copenhagen Business School, and Professor Karl Wennberg, Linköping University.
• "To create a better work environment in the home care sector - participatory organizational change in practice."(Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare) together with Professor Gerd Johansson (PI), Assoc. professors Christofer Rydenfält, Inger Arvidsson & Roger Persson, Lund University and Professor Britt Östlund, KTH.

• "The employable migrant"(Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare) together with Assoc. professor Laurence Romani (SSE), Post Doc PhD Viktor Vestberg (LiU), Assoc. professor Sofia Nordmark (LiU) and Professor Annette Risberg (CBS).

Between 2014-2019, I was involved in a large research project”What is going on? Inquiries into the contradictions of leading cultural diversity” (Ragnar Söderberg Foundation, 2014-2018) together with project leader Assoc. professor Laurence Romani, Stockholm School of Economics, and Assoc. professor Sara Louise Muhr, Lund University and Copenhagen Business School. For more information, please visit https://www.hhs.se/en/Research/Institutes/CASL/research-areas/leading-cultural-diversity/

Between 2017-2022 I have supporting the gender equality and diversity efforts at KTH as Expert Advisor to the KTH Equality Office, headed by Prof. Anna Wahl, Vice-President for Gender Equality and Values. I have previously acted as advisor to Prof. Gustav Amberg, Vice-President responsible for Faculty Development and Gender Equality at KTH. In this role, I assisted in the development of an equitable Tenure Track-system and to gender equality and diversity efforts at KTH.

Some of my publications are:

Holgersson, C., & Hvenmark, J. (2023). Gender in nonprofit organizations: A critical review and research agenda. Nonprofit Management and Leadership.  https://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21560

Persson, J., Johansson, G., Arvidsson, I., Östlund, B., Holgersson, C., Persson, R., & Rydenfält, C. (2022). A framework for participatory work environment interventions in home care–success factors and some challenges. BMC health services research, 22(1), 345.

Wahl, A.; Holgersson, C. (2021) Med Agnes i ryggen. Om separatistiska metoder i jämställdhetsarbete (When Agnes has your back – on separatist methods in gender equality work).Tidskrift för genusvetenskap, 42(1), 55-76.

Holgersson, C. & Östlund, C. (2021).Invisible workers – on digitalization in home care work from a gender and technology perspective. In Brodin, H., Keisu, B.-I. & Tafvelin, S. (Eds.)Gendered norms at work: new perspectives on work environment and health. Cham: Springer.

Holgersson, C. & Romani, L. (2021).Mångfaldsarbete på arbetsplatsen – Lärdomar från sex engagerade företag. Boréus, K., Neergaard, A. & Sohl, L. (Eds.)Ojämlika arbetsplatser: Hierarkier, diskriminering och strategier för jämlikhet. Lund: Nordic Academic Press. (Unequal workplaces: Hierachies, discrimination and strategies for equality)

Rydenfält, C.; Persson, R.; Arvidsson, I.;Holgersson, C.; Johansson, G.; Östlund, B.; Persson, J. (2021).Exploring local initiatives to improve the work environment – a qualitative survey in Swedish home care practice. Accepted for publication inHome Health Care Management & Practice. 22(1), 345.

Holgersson, C. & Romani, L. (2020).Tokenism revisited: when organizational culture challenges masculine norms, the experience of token is transformed.European Management Review.17(3), 649-661.

Romani, L., &Holgersson, C. (2020).Cross-Cultural and Diversity Management Intersecting in Global Diversity Management: Tensions and Opportunities. In B. Szkudlarek, J. Osland, D. Caprar & L. Romani,The Sage Handbook of Contemporary Cross-Cultural Management, London: Sage.

Romani, L. &Holgersson, C. (2020).Inclusive leadership for sustainable work practices. In Zander, L. (Ed.)Research Handbook of Global Leadership. Making a Difference. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, US: Edward Elgar.

Rydenfält, C.;Holgersson, C.; Arvidsson, I.; Johansson, G.; Persson, R.; Östlund, B. (2020).Picking low hanging fruit – A scoping review of work environment related interventions in the home care sector.Home Health Care Services Quarterly. 39(4), 223-237.

Lokatt, E., Hagander, L.,Holgersson, C. , Lindgren, M. & Packendorff, J. (2019).An interprofessional perspective on healthcare work: Physicians and nurses co-constructing identities and spaces of action.Journal of Management and Organization, 1-17.

Holgersson, C. & Hvenmark, J. (2018).Nonprofit Leadership Literature from a Gender Perspective. In Eikenberry, A., Mirabella, R. & Sanberg, B. (Eds.)Reframing Nonprofit Management: Democracy, Inclusion, and Social Change. Irvine, CA: Melvin & Leigh.

Wahl, A., C. Holgersson, P. Höök & S. Linghag (2018).Det ordnar sig.Teorier om organisation och kön.3rd revised edition. Lund: Studentlitteratur. (It will work out. Theories on organization and gender) Link to Studentlitteratur: https://www.studentlitteratur.se/kurslitteratur/organisation-och-ledarskap/genusvetenskap/det-ordnar-sig

Romani, L., Holck, L., Holgersson, C., & Muhr, S. L. (2017).Diversity Management and the Scandinavian Model:Illustrations from Denmark and Sweden. InÖzbilgin, M., &Chanlat, J.-F. (Eds.).Managementand Diversity: Perspectives from Different National Contexts (pp. 261-280). Emerald.

Holgersson, C., & Wahl, A. (2017).Sweden: Work for Change and Political Threats. In Seierstad, C., Gabaldon, P., & Mensi-Klarbach, H. (Eds.). (2017).Gender Diversity in the Boardroom: Volume 2: Multiple Approaches Beyond Quotas.  (pp. 129-157). Springer.

Thögersen, S., & Holgersson, C. (2017).Corporate sexual responsibility: How companies can act against the purchasing of sex. In Grosser, K., McCarthy, L., & Kilgour, M. A. (Eds.).Gender equality and responsible business: Expanding CSR horizons. (pp. 97-106). Routledge.

Holgersson, C., Tienari, J., Meriläinen, S., & Bendl, R. (2016).Executive search as ethnosociality: A cross-cultural comparison.International Journal of Cross Cultural Management,16(2), 153-169.

van den Brink, M., Holgersson, C., Linghag, S., & Deé, S. (2016).Inflating and down playing strengths and weaknesses—Practicing gender in the evaluation of potential managers and partners.Scandinavian Journal of Management,32(1), 20-32.

Benschop, Y., Holgersson, C., Van den Brink, M., & Wahl, A. (2015).Future challenges for practices of diversity management in organizations.Handbook for Diversity in Organizations, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 553-574.

During the past 15 years, I have taught courses in business administration, mainly in management and organization theories and gender and organization theories, at different levels and have been invited to give guest lectures and seminars at other universities. I have also been involved in a large number of gender equality projects, management training programs and spoken at a wide variety of public events (e.g. KTH Öppna föreläsningar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncmAGibZ8qQ).

I am presently member of the board of the GODESS Institute at Hanken School of Economics (https://www.hanken.fi/en/departments-and-centres/department-management-and-organisation/godess) and I have been previously been chair of the Swedish Association of Gender Researchers (Sveriges Genusforskarförbund) and member of the board of Föreningen Forum för Feministisk Forskning (an association for feminist research, www.feministiskforskning.se), and board member and chairperson of the cultural magazine bang (www.bang.se) as well as member of the steering committee of the Swedish chapter of European Women’s Management Development International network (www.ewmd.org).