Einola, Katja

I work at the Department of Management & Organization at Stockholm School of Economics and am an associate at the Center for Responsible Leadership. I am also an affiliated researcher at Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki.

I currently teach courses in leadership, project management and organization theory and engage in organizational development projects in Sweden and Finland related to my research and practical expertise.

My research stands on three intertwined pillars:

1. Leadership. The main focus of my work on leadership so far has been to tone down what I consider the quite ideological, narrow-minded and leader-centric nature of much leadership scholarship. In my experience, the practice of leadership offers much more nuance as people in leadership roles  need to improvise and find inspirational ways in their efforts to align people towards shared goals. In my view, we need radically new thinking patterns, alternative narratives and much disciplined imagination as we need to collectively face the challenges of today’s world. Leadership as a field of study and practice is an important part of this puzzle.

2. Deployment of digital technology and human/AI interaction. AI on one hand is a technology that builds on a long path of digital transformation of our society, but on the other hand a radical innovation with slowly creeping effects no one is in control of  and the impact of which many managers understand poorly. To contrast the current hype on AI (either for or against), I am interested in how people who work with AI in organizations experience it as this technology is introduced in workplaces.

3. Modern teamwork that blends digital tools with work in and outside office space. In my view, the working from home phenomenon, if poorly understood and managed, can represent a risk for, for instance, multisite R&D organizations in the long run. People focus more on how they want to organize their own work in the short term, and less on the collectivity and how the team members create something new together and achieve a culture of 'we-ness', needed to maintain success in the long run.  

Before completing my PhD in 2017,  I worked in  tourism and telecommunications/IT industries. I have lived in Spain, Brazil, Canada and Finland before settling down in Sweden.  I am fluent in six languages and have twenty years of professional experience in various roles in sales, marketing, project and program management as well as consulting in both small and large multinational firms.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2023

Einola, K., Khoreva, V., & Tienari, J. (2023). A colleague named Max: A critical inquiry into affects when an anthropomorphised AI (ro) bot enters the workplace. Human Relations.

Kaasila-Pakanen, A. L., Jääskeläinen, P., Gao, G., Mandalaki, E., Zhang, L. E., Einola, K., ... & Pullen, A. (2024). Writing touch, writing (epistemic) vulnerability. Gender, Work & Organization, 31(1), 264-283.

2022

Einola, K., & Khoreva, V. (2022). Best friend or broken tool? Exploring the co-existence of humans and artificial intelligence in the workplace ecosystem. Human Resource Management.

Alvesson, M., & Einola, K. (2022). The gaslighting of authentic leadership 2.0. Leadership, 17427150221125271.

Alvesson, M., Einola, K. & Schaefer, S. (2022). Dynamics of wilful ignorance in organizations. British Journal of Sociology.

2021

Alvesson, M., Einola, K. & Schaefer, S. (2021). Philosophical minds or Brotgelehrte? Organization Studies. 

Einola, K., & Alvesson, M. (2021). The perils of authentic leadership theory. Leadership. 17(4), 483-490. 

Gardner, W. & Karam, E and Alvesson, M. & Einola, K.(2021). Authentic leadership theory: a case for and against. The Leadership Quarterly.

2020

Einola, K., & Alvesson, M. (2020). When ‘good’ leadership backfires: Paradoxes of the leader/follower relation. Organization Studies. 

Einola, K. & Alvesson, M. (2020). Behind the numbers: questioning questionnaires. Journal of Management Inquiry. 

2019

Alvesson, M., & Einola, K. (2019). Warning for excessive positivity: Authentic leadership and other traps in leadership studies. The Leadership Quarterly. 30 (4), 383-395. This article won the best article award in 2019.

Degbey, W. Y., & Einola, K. (2019). Resilience in virtual teams: Developing the capacity to bounce back. Applied Psychology: An International Review.

Einola, K., & Alvesson, M. (2019). The making and unmaking of teams. Human Relations, 72(12), 1891-1919. 

2018

Alvesson, M., & Einola, K. (2018). Excessive work regimes and functional stupidity. German Journal of Human Resource Management, 32, 3-4, 283-296 

2017

Einola, K. (2017). Making sense of successful global teams. Doctoral Dissertation. University of Turku.