New professors in strategy and management

Tina Saebi and Alexander Madsen Sandvik are entering the summer with a new title: professor.

`They have both been important and highly valued contributors over many years, ´ says Vidar Schei, Head of the Department of Strategy and Management.

Academic community

`Tina and Alexander work on topics that are central both to academia and to working life, including innovation, business models, leadership and motivation. Their promotions are very well deserved and a source of great pleasure, ´ says Schei.

Both Saebi and Sandvik are affiliated with the research centre DIG.

Alexander Madsen Sandvik, newly promoted professor at the Department of Strategy and Management. Photo: Ingunn Maarnes-Gjærde

For Alexander Madsen Sandvik, the promotion marks a milestone.

`It is fantastic to receive the title of professor. At the same time, this is also about being part of an excellent academic community. You receive the title as an individual, but it also feels a little strange, because so much of what we do is based on collaboration with outstanding colleagues, ´ he says.

family and collaborators

Tina Saebi also emphasises the importance of her family and collaborators throughout her academic career.

`It feels fantastic. And I feel very grateful to the many people who have offered support and encouragement along the way. We have received a great deal of support from the head of department, colleagues and the administrative team at SOL. Most importantly, our families have contributed to helping us reach this point.”

Hidden work in academia

Saebi’s research focuses on business model innovation and digitalisation. One of the projects she is currently working on addresses what she describes as the hidden labour of academia.

`It is about all the things we do to make academia work, but which are often not visible and are not directly rewarded. These are tasks that academics often take on because they feel they are necessary to keep things running, ´ says Saebi.

Tina Saebi, now professor at the Department of Strategy and Management, NHH.

Saebi joined NHH as a postdoctoral fellow in 2012 and became Associate Professor of International Strategy in 2016. She holds a Master of Science in International Business Studies and a PhD in Economics from Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Leadership, technology and working life

Sandvik’s research interests are mainly within leadership and organisational behaviour. His work includes transformational leadership, servant leadership, motivation, creativity, knowledge work, culture, climate, work performance and organisational citizenship behaviour.

`At the moment, I am thinking a lot about leadership and people, and about what can make people thrive at work, particularly in their work environment, ´ he says.

Sandvik is also trained as a computer engineer and says he is increasingly interested in the intersection between leadership and technology.

programming

`I am trying to brush up on my old programming skills, and I would like to explore leadership and AI more deeply, ´he says.

For Sandvik, the core of his research is how leadership can contribute to better workplaces.

He holds a master’s degree from NHH. He completed his PhD at the Department of Strategy and Management in 2011, with a dissertation on the leadership of knowledge workers.