Marja Eriksson is in charge of the Academy of Finland funded project "Leadership, Power and Fear".

Researcher profile:

Taking the part of the people

Marja Eriksson is fascinated by unofficial organisations and interaction among people.

Text: Janica Brander
Photo: Jonne Renvall
Translation: Virginia Mattila

Studies, career launch and then a family. That's how many a female student plans her future. However, Marja Eriksson, professor of corporate management, took a different route.

"I was in working life for seven years and started a family before I began to study management and organisation at the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration."

The creation in the late 1970s of legislation known as the YT-LAKI and the managerial experience accumulated made Professor Eriksson keen to acquire more education.  In the School of Economics and Business Administration she was encouraged to consider a career in academia and she enjoyed discussion circles in which economy was contemplated from the sociological and environmental perspectives.

Even as an undergraduate she had a taste for multi-disciplinarity. Her mater's thesis was concerned with managing a theatre and she delved deep into the world of prima donnas and producers.

"I realized that in all organisations creativity and enthusiasm are the keys to success."

Answers and public discussion

In the early 2000s the IT bubble burst. Managers threatened workers with redundancies and the personnel went in fear of their jobs. Professor Eriksson has become familiar with fear through training she had provided when people, for example, admitted their fears of being ridiculed at work.

In 2007 fear became Professor Eriksson's daily companion. That is when the Academy of Finland funded project "Leadership, power and fear" began, which his set to run until 2010. Professor Eriksson leads the multi-disciplinary project which endeavours to outline leadership problems in Finnish expert organizations.

"We also want to initiate discussion on the subject. Old habits die hard so the issue must be constantly kept in the forefront." 

The many faces of fear

The image of a cultivated and refined atmosphere in expert organizations is partly erroneous. Professor Eriksson's research groups have gathered data on the fear which predominates in people's experiences at work. Stories have been contributed especially by academic women.

Leading by fear may be pushing people around. Likewise leaders who do not stand up for their subordinates and subject them to rumours from outside are leading by fear.

The third dimension of the phenomenon is the culture of fear. In organisations dominated by fear workers live in constant expectation of the worst and learn to look for signs of impending catastrophe.

In expert organizations fear and bullying acquire their own specific forms.

"Withholding information, cutting people out of the community and crude competition," Professor Eriksson enumerates the features of academic intimidation.

Humane economy

In Professor Eriksson's opinion there would be no economy without people, communities and the interaction taking place within them.  Rates on the Stock Exchange and economic prognoses, however, are frequently deemed more important than, also in academia.

Professor Eriksson will venture no prognosis regarding her own future. But she does have some hopes

"My hope is that the present economic crisis will serve to draw researchers' attention to people and ethical issues."