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The relationship between industry structure, aggregate R&D activity, and the pace and quality of the resulting innovation process is currently the subject of a lively debate across NATO in general and even more so among its European members. This paper tackles this issue from a standpoint belonging to the tradition of industrial economics, adapting it to the specific context of the defence sector. This is done with a view to stressing the need of increasing the degree of concentration in order to increase standardization and interoperability of defence systems and facilitate the exploitation of scale economies. In the traditional jargon of industrial organization theory, this amounts to vindicating the Schumpeterian view according to which increasing concentration (eventually all the way up to pure monopoly) monotonically fosters innovation incentives, while mitigating effort duplications affecting large and long-lasting R&D projects. One additional implication, equally relevant, is that the concentration process can indeed be facilitated, in the short to medium term, by systematically resorting to the creation of research joint ventures and/or R&D cartels so as to boost spillover effects and reduce excess investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the mobilizational plane of Spain's Podemos party's populist proposal to transform popular outrage into political power. Drawing on thirty-four semi-structured interviews with current and former party members, it sheds light on how and why a group of formerly horizontalist activists decided to rely on a charismatic figure as both a symbol and a strong leader. This decision is explained in relation to the Laclau-inspired theoretical reflections on leadership and representation of Íñigo Errejón, Podemos' chief theorist in the early stages and intellectual author of the party's first organizational model. This paper also follows the evolution of Errejón and his circle as they move from advocating the need for strong leadership to blaming themselves for 'failing' to erect effective counterweights to centralized and personalized power. We see that they attribute this failure to their lack of a proper theory of organization, which, in turn, is tied to their belief that a charismatic leader could make up for the lack of well-developed organizational structures and lead Podemos to power before the 'populist moment' passed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When in 2015–2016, several hundred thousand new asylum-seekers arrived in Germany, this put local administrations to a test. In contrast to scholars who identified a "crisis of the administration" or a situation of "state failure", this article argues that the events in some cases served as a motor for administrative change. Drawing on the sociology of organizations, the paper shows that this period is better understood as a time of fundamental uncertainty rather than a crisis of the administration, and that the local state proved capable of dealing with uncertainty. In line with theories of organizations and based on qualitative interview data collected in three German cities, the paper identifies two ideal-typical strategies for reducing uncertainty – externalization or change through imitation. The text demonstrates how two of the three municipalities moved towards change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is a follow-up of [R.J.: Foundations of compositional model theory. IJGS, 40(2011): 623–678], where basic properties of compositional models, as one of the approaches to multidimensional probability distributions representation and processing, were introduced. In fact, it is an algebraic alternative to graphical models, which does not use graphs to represent conditional independence statements. Here, these statements are encoded in a sequence of distributions to which an operator of composition – the key element of this theory – is applied in order to assemble a multidimensional model from its low-dimensional parts. In this paper, we show a way to read conditional independence relations, and to solve related topics, above all the so-called equivalence problem, i.e. the problem of recognizing whether two different structures induce the same system of conditional independence relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a typology of boundaries faced by public police organizations. Following trends in police organization structure and developments in organization theory, the paper focuses on the work-unit level as the locus of organizational boundary activity. Treating boundaries as sites of negotiation that arise when overlap occurs between units inter- and intra-organizationally, the paper focuses on operational aspects of public policing in creating typological categories. The typology elaborates three boundary types: scarcity, proximity, and technical/systemic. These can each be subdivided into two further categories: physical and virtual. Using examples from recent fieldwork in British Columbia's Lower Mainland District, the paper provides examples of each boundary type and suggests common strategies for boundary negotiation. In using the typology to understand public police as organizations within a complex web of similarly organized actors, the paper emphasizes the particular importance of informal and personal contact networks for comprehending boundary activity in public police work. The implications of this finding for the challenges of twenty-first century-policing are explored, and a future research agenda is outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares how officials in Rousse, Bulgaria, and Transcarpathia, Ukraine, interact with ‘foreigners’: officials from agencies of the European Union (EU), other member states, and foreign consultants. The goals are: a) to compare the extent to which officials in the two communities participate in transnational networks of European bureaucracies, the so-called ‘transnational fusion bureaucracy’; b) to assess the ways in which the bottom-up actions of those officials relate to the broad, top-down policy goals of the EU; and c) to analyse the effects of those interactions on the business environments of the two communities. As a result of comparing the two regions, this paper argues that similar processes of integration in the transnational fusion bureaucracy occur in the internal periphery of the European Union (Rousse) and in areas outside the EU borders (Transcarpathia). In doing so, it questions the extent to which both regions participate in an emerging ‘transnational fusion bureaucracy’ emphasising difference in intensity of the considered processes, as well as the different responses by the two bureaucracies to inputs and opportunities provided by the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Music is by and large an underexplored social resource in the organization theory framework. There is small but intriguing literature on the uses of music in organizations, stretching back to the days of the engineering revolution, and a body of texts examining the innovation of musical instruments, but music remains primarily a marginal phenomenon in organization theory. Drawing on a variety of literatures, this paper suggests that music plays a key role in creating possibilities for agency. Studies of the use of music in manufacturing settings and in retailing provide empirical evidence of how music is not detached from broader social interests and concerns but rather is a constitutive element in the social fabric. The paper concludes that music and the scholarly field of musicology are two domains to be further explored in organization theory and management studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper brings to light stories of Heather Höpfl. Its purpose is to show how Heather was and is present for us. We also illustrate Professor Dr Heather Höpfl’s contribution to organization theory, specifically her discourse of the maternal organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of the Irish state's administrative system is an unaccountably neglected area of systematic academic inquiry. This is all the more difficult to account for in view of the dynamic relationship between government actors and the public bureaucracy in realizing political goals. This paper identifies some distinguishing institutional features and dominant trends in Irish politico-administrative governance, and suggests avenues for future inquiry. The paper begins with an examination of the literature on administrative system change, with a focus on the New Public Management literature. Following this, the Irish case is profiled, identifying the evolution of ministerial departments and of state agencies by successive Irish governments, including patterns of agency creation and termination over time. Particular attention is given to the period 1989–2010, which has been one of quite rapid and complex organizational change within the state's bureaucratic apparatus. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a day in the life of the Walnut Lake Curling Club. The reflexive analytic story is crafted from ethnographic research undertaken in 18 curling clubs across rural Canada. Contrary to a growing tendency toward individualized and privatized leisure, curling clubs in rural Canada remain sites for shared leisure. Building on recent efforts to position leisure sites as third places, the paper enhances an understanding of curling clubs' construction, dynamism and fluidity. Ethnographic approaches are offered as presenting opportunities to comprehend how third places are constructed, particularly within the changing context of leisure in rural life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the Australian phenomenon of Enterprise Registered Training Organizations (RTOs). These are organizations that do not have training as their main business but that are accredited to deliver training and award qualifications, primarily to their own workers. Although Enterprise RTOs have been in existence in one form or another for around 15 years they have not been previously examined in the scholarly literature. The paper uses qualitative and quantitative data from two recent research projects to describe the nature and experiences of these RTOs and their workers. The findings are analysed using a framework recently used in an evaluation of the pilot of a similar English scheme: quality concerns, resource intensiveness, impact on the training market, and restriction to larger firms. The paper concludes that enterprise RTOs have been beneficial to workers and companies alike, although not without problems, and that the Australian system appears to present fewer risks than the proposed English system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using critical aesthetics, this paper shows the essential ideological and control linkages between ethics and aesthetics in organizations. Using Kateb's concept of aesthetic cravings, the paper explores the role of emotional and psychological attachments in organizational reality construction and their implications for organizational change and organizational control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers Deleuze and Guattari's notions of the smooth and the striated as a basis for rethinking the events of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans in September 2005. It is argued here that popular narratives of Katrina, and perspectives on disaster from the field of organization studies, have tended to be conditioned by a long-standing and restrictive dualism between 'man' (organization) and 'nature' (disorganization), and an associated, anthropocentric moral framework. By contrast, Deleuze and Guattari are seen to offer a set of concepts relating to spatial and material patterns of organization which allow us to move beyond such a conceptual dualism towards other ways of thinking the events of Katrina. Furthermore, they are also understood to have provided the basis for some radical reflections on the role of the State in the reproduction of a particular material and conceptual logic of disaster management and planning. According to an application of their concepts of the smooth and the striated, Katrina is described here, not according to notions of natural disorder, but as a Deleuzo-Guattarian 'war machine', operating according to an alien mode of organization to that of the State. It is this encounter, between two irreducibly different modes of organization, which is seen to account for both its extreme 'catastrophic' effects, and for some of the unusual organizational phenomena occurring in its aftermath. In contrast to some recent papers in the field of organization studies that have tended to treat Deleuze and Guattari's work in abstract and theoretical terms, this paper proposes to make a distinctive contribution to this Deleuzo-Guattarian 'turn' by situating, or putting to work, their thought in the context of Katrina as an empirical event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of corporate social responsibility today is widely acknowledged to have become a pragmatic one. That is to say that considerations over how corporate social responsibility should be have become prioritised over discussions concerning whether it should be. In this paper I evaluate whether this recently attained pragmatic disposition gives cause for enthusiasm. This evaluation begins by outlining the manner in which the notion of corporate moral personhood, read here largely through the conceptual framework of corporate conscience, has been opposed, in principle, to Milton Friedman's contractually derived critique of corporate social responsibility. Having identified the nature of the opposition offered by advocates of the conscientious framework to Friedman's contractual framework the paper then demonstrates, via Nietzsche, the manner in which these supposed opponents can actually be understood as fundamentally interconnected. The paper then turns, penultimately, towards a discussion of the manner in which the pragmatic opposition to Friedman is primarily based upon the popularisation of the belief that he is wrong to define the social responsibilities of business in the way that he does. The paper is brought to a close through an evaluation of moral pragmatism, as it has been recently conceived, within this particular context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state bureaucracy played a prominent role in Zimbabwe's "Operation Murambatsvina/Restore Order", the world-(in)famous urban "clean-up" operation. The planning system was in the forefront of the operation, conspicuously sharing the limelight with the security and law enforcement agencies. The paper examines how planners provided the operation's techno-legal articulation, which was liberally deployed by the state to explain, rationalize, and glorify the operation. The discussion critically analyses some of the most scathing criticism against planning, namely that planners were cold-hearted, negligent and spineless. Based on an interrogation of the evidence in light of the viewpoints of a cross-section of practitioners, victims and activists, the paper argues that it is difficult for the planning profession to dodge these accusations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reconsiders the usual contrast between “old” and “new” organizational forms, exploring what happens when postbureaucratic control meets bureaucratic formalization. It develops earlier work on “organized dissonance,” first, by recasting postbureaucratic practice as a hybrid of contrary forms. The paper then situates feminist bureaucracy as a usual, rather than exceptional, case of postbureaucratic practice. Through qualitative analysis, it demonstrates how members of a feminist community merged opposing forms of control to manage three tensions endemic to postbureaucratic organizing: (1) homogeneity–heterogeneity, (2) moral–instrumental aims, and (3) formalized/universal–unobtrusive/particular control. Simultaneously, the analysis models an approach to theorizing organizational forms that moves beyond stylized typologies of structural features and toward grounded frameworks that honor the dialectical texture of communication practice. Ultimately, the paper repositions feminist contributions to the study of organizational form by minimizing claims to distinctiveness, emphasizing shared interests across forms of organizing, and considering what all scholars of form might learn from feminism's rich legacy of “practicing” postbureaucracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study was to examine work–family culture in four organizations in Finland (n=1,114). Specifically, we attempted to clarify whether perceived work–family culture would vary according to gender, economic sector and type of organization. Furthermore, we investigated whether these perceptions would be related to employee self-reported well-being. The study data were gathered during 2001 by a questionnaire filled in by personnel from four different organizations, i.e. a municipal social and healthcare department (n=496), a municipal education department (n=232), a paper mill (n=183) and an IT organization (n=199). The first two organizations represented the public sector and the latter two the private sector in the Finnish economy. The results showed, first, that work–family culture was assessed more positively within the public sector organizations than in the private sector. Second, the work–family culture was experienced least positively in the paper mill and most positively in the municipal education department. Third, there were also variations between same-sector organizations, i.e. the paper mill and the IT organization. Finally, it emerged that poorer perceptions of work–family culture were related to decreased work–family balance, job satisfaction and positive job-related mood experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present set of papers show that leaders in the field of organizational behavior management are grappling with issues of human language and cognition. That is a good and necessary step for the field, but the solutions proposed are worrisome: adopting principles from non-behavioral psychology, adopting principles from introspection that have not been empirically validated, returning to methodological behaviorism, or appealing to non-empirical interpretations using traditional behavioral principles. In this paper I argue that these are the wrong solutions, being taken for the right reasons. There is a need for an analysis of language and cognition, but it will be found neither in other forms of psychology nor in traditional Skinnerian thinking on the topic. I suggest instead that OBM look at the data that exists in contemporary basic behavior analysis on the topic, particularly in the area of Relational Frame Theory. That work is a vigorous area of research, and its applied implications are significant, growing, and known to be relevant to organizations. The solution to the malaise these papers reflect is most likely to be found in post-Skinnerian behavior analysis itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper notes an increasing concern with organisational violence, but also that much of the work considers violence to be a problem requiring functionally effective solutions. We argue for a more radical view of violence, which sees it as inherent to all manner of organising processes, including writing, editing and publishing. The paper considers violence in the establishment and maintenance of order, as constituted in acts of organising, inherent to Self-Other relationships, in the politics and dynamics of difference, and in issues of identity formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers relations between violence and organization as seen through the lens moulded by Rene Girard. This is because more than any other writer of his generation Girard postulates the primacy of violence in his sociological theorising. In this paper we first outline Girard's theory. Next we discuss this in relation to Freudian theories of organization. We then draw out some of the implications of his theory for the understanding of topics within Organization Theory, such as bureaucracy and sexual harassment. Finally we suggest a research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out the research and thinking associated with the development of a proposal to use a Regional Identity Collaborative model as a long-term solution to accelerate the development and growth of industrial companies. The issue of industry support for development and growth was identified in research interviews and discussion with companies in the Moorabbin project - a regional industry development research project being conducted in the Moorabbin area of Melbourne, Australia. The paper is presented in the context of using systems thinking and learning organization theory in a regional structure. The paper uses the results and experiences of the Moorabbin project research to define the perimeter of the situation in the region. It then draws on people and organizational learning behaviour to develop a Regional Industry Collaborative model to support companies in the region. The paper concludes with a review of the potential of the trial implementation of the model and identifies some of the impediments and critical success factors for the implementation of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary. The nature and form of local governance in the UK became the focus for a wide range of academic and policy debates during the 1980s and 1990s. The growth of non-elected localist agencies working alongside local authorities had a major influence on the effectiveness of, and the local policy-making processes behind, policy areas such as urban regeneration. This paper contributes to these debates by arguing that one often neglected or underemphasised aspect of our understanding of local governance is that of the social relations of organisational activity. Drawing on organisational theories and linking them to contemporary debates on local governance, the paper suggests that an exploration of the internal dynamics of non-elected institutions, working in and though wider social, economic and political contexts, provides a more sophisticated understanding of contemporary local political processes than studies which focus on the powers, resources and responsibilities of organisations per se. The study suggests that, in the context of partnership-building and institutional co-operation at the local level, the types of organisational dynamics highlighted in the paper may take on even greater significance in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon the literature on strategy formulation in organisations, this paper argues for a focus on strategy as process. It relates this to the need to think strategically about assessment, a need engendered by resource pressures, developments in learning and the demands of external stakeholders. It is argued that in practice assessment strategies are often formed at the level of practice, but that this produces contradiction and confusion at higher levels. Such tensions cannot be managed away, but they can be reflected on and mitigated. The paper suggests a framework for the construction of assessment strategies at different levels of an institution. However, the main conclusion is that the process of constructing such strategies should be an opportunity for learning and reflection, rather than one of compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I suggest, on the one hand, that organization theory offers an interpretation of the reality of arts producing organizations and, on the other, that the empirical analysis of these realities can supply new input for organization theory. As a practical example of artistic production I refer to an international chamber music festival. Close inspection of chamber music will reveal characteristics that apply to any type of organization. I begin by looking at the nature of arts management and the arts manager. I go on to analyse the characteristics of the production process in the performing arts, which can be seen as communication taking place on three levels: between audience and performers (concept of `prosumer'); within the performing group (`listening ability'); between the author of the written text and the performer/ interpreter (`concept of value'). I finish by showing how in a symbolic-cultural framework the features identified in the paper can feed back into organization studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the biological work of Boorman and Levitt's Genetics of Altruism to develop a model of diffusion in organizations specifically when the innovation being diffused is controversial. By "controversial", I mean an innovation whose value (and subsequent adoption) is socially determined and not rationally deter- mined - that is, there is no exogenous superior or inferior quality to the innovation that determines its eventual adoption. The purpose of this paper is to model the conditions under which the innovation may come to dominate the organization. The results parallel those of Roorman and Levitt's: (1) In a large undifferentiated organization, no controversial innovation can survive unless it begins with a large proportion of believers in the innovation. (2) However, there are structural conditions under which even a very small minority of innovators can take over a large organization. Contrary to intuition and some of the literature on innovation, these conditions that lead to unexpected innovative adoptions are enhanced by the organization's viscosity, that is, the lack of free movement and exchange of ideas and people throughout the organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proponents of conflict methodology have recently asserted that consensus methodologies are ineffective in the study of elite-controlled, large-scale organizations. They have proposed utilization of a variety of techniques which place researchers in a condition of hostile contrast to subject organizations. The purpose of this paper is to introduce and assess the conflict methodology position. It, therefore, identifies the organizational subjects of conflict research, examines the assertion that consensus methodologies are ineffective in the study of elite-controlled, large-scale organizations, and provides a definition of conflict methodology. The paper concludes by assessing the implications, problems, and possible contributions of conflict methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plurality of process outputs is a genericity of Nature. In this paper, Natural Law receives a new mathematical formulation founded on two axioms: ‘Everything is a set.’ and ‘Every process is aset-valuedmapping.’ I present a brief introduction to the algebraic theory of set-valued mappings, which culminates in two particular morphisms: the metabolism bundle and the imminence mapping. These are relations defined on the collection of processes of a natural system, and serve to characterize material entailment and functional entailment. Generalized metabolism is material entailment of (by-)products, and generalized repair is functional entailment of (side-)effects. Metabolism–Repair networks, hence equipped with set-valued processors, expand their role from models of biological entities to generic models of all natural systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) has a significant impact not only on European foreign policy-making, but also, more widely, on the transformation of the European political order, and represents a further step in the evolution of a European administrative space. Analysing the EEAS as an instance of European administrative space will inform on the shape of the Euro-polity, in that more independent European administrative capacities in area of core state-powers could be interpreted as an indicator for a shift of the EU’s political order. Based on direct observation, document analysis and expert interviews with EEAS officials, the paper presents a first overview of the outcomes of this capacity-building exercise, suggests a comprehensive conceptual framework for analysis and concludes that the EEAS can be seen as an instance of the European administrative space. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since 9/11, Islamic organisations have been expected to function as integration facilitators, as 24-hour contact partners for politics and media, and as counter-terrorism activists. How does this affect these organisations? And what are their desires for their members in this context? In contrast to existing studies, this research closely examines the perspective of Islamic umbrella organisations vis-à-vis their changing political and institutional environments. It analyses their organisational behaviour from an innovative research perspective based on organisational sociology. Through a comparative analysis of three major Islamic umbrella organisations in Germany, distinct patterns of organisational behaviour emerge. While politicians wish for organisational adaptation to their expectations, the study also reveals a potential for decoupling and protest behaviour due to conflicting member interests and a perceived lack of external resource opportunities. Organisational protest is mainly directed at the securitisation and islamification of integration debates, and the often rather symbolic politics of cooperation and recognition. At the same time, legitimacy and efficiency considerations can explain why Islamic organisations attempt to overcome internal disputes when trying to satisfy political expectations. The paper also outlines open research questions and critically discusses possible future developments within this emerging organisational field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political discourse on Islam in Germany has intensified in the twenty-first century, with the result that Islamic umbrella organizations have increasingly been involved in political processes. This paper describes how these organizations have responded to this change in the discourse and to their new role as points of contact for political actors. Their self-concepts and interaction strategies are analyzed from an innovative theoretical perspective, using a combination of approaches of organizational sociology which focus on legitimacy concerns and concepts of political science which help to assess the influence of the political environments both within and outside Germany. This research perspective enables us to understand the various tensions facing Muslim organizations in Germany—a country which has only recently “discovered” its religious pluralism and is still struggling to accommodate its “newcomers”. Based on over 19 interviews with representatives of Islamic umbrella organizations, the changing public debates are critically analyzed from the perspective of these organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper aims at showing that beyond its economic nature the firm is an organized social institution. The theory of the firm does not succeed in unifying in a single analytical framework both its institutional and organizational dimensions. In contrast, organization theory – notably organizational sociology – deals with the intertwining of these two existential elements of firms. The cross-fertilization which occurs between these two social sciences can be used to propose a real socio-economic theory of the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, organization theory's attempts to understand architecture firms have focused by and large on debates about increasing managerialization and economization of the profession. This paper suggests an alternative approach by conceptualizing architecture as practice that does not adhere only to a narrow economic logic of value creation but also focuses on the production of aesthetic value. We will introduce the concept of style to understand how architecture practice routinely breaks routines and follows the rule of rule breaking. We will analyze architecture practice as a form of organized heresy - a hegemonic engine for the production of difference. In order to illustrate our points we will draw on qualitative empirical fieldwork with an architecture firm (synonym Earth Architects). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper applies concepts from the sociology and anthropology of organizations to understand limits to the implementation of a more effective safety culture in the workplace. It highlights unintended consequences of combining bureaucratic control and shared governance and identifies sources of inertia within already existing safety cultures. The data come from focus group interviews with workers in a research and development facility of a multinational corporation in the Western U.S. It is found that safety protocols, rules, and rhetoric, combined with efforts to give workers more responsibility for safety in the workplace, create tendencies toward worker alienation, shame with regard to injuries, complacency, and fear of bureaucratic processes. Therefore it appears that some efforts to create safety culture in the workplace may unintentionally undermine the goal of manufacturing safety. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 aimed, among other things, to increase parents' rights in relation to the education of their children. In addition to the creation of the Additional Supports Needs Tribunals for Scotland, parents were given new rights to challenge local authority decisions through mediation and independent adjudication. In line with the wider social policy thrust of encouraging proportionate dispute resolution, low-level resolution of disputes at school and local authority level was also encouraged. This paper uses key informant interviews to explore the views of new dispute resolution arrangements, and whether the balance of power has indeed tipped in favour of parents. Local education authority officers expressed some concerns about the new measures, and were particularly critical of the tribunal on the grounds that it was expensive and stressful, although the role it might play in tightening up procedures was also recognised. Advocacy groups and parents' organisations, on the other hand, welcomed the new measures but were concerned about the rules restricting access to the tribunal and the fact that the outcome of mediation and adjudications were not legally binding. They were also concerned about limited access to information and advocacy. Overall, key informants believed that the new measures had advanced parents' rights to some extent, although further changes were needed to achieve a radical shift away from the post-war dominance of bureaucracy and professionalism in Scotland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand volunteer retention and recruitment in complex organizations, this paper focuses on volunteers' attachment to a multipurpose and multi-branch organization. Using the Red Cross in Flanders (Belgium), a service organization with multiple locations offering a variety of programs, we investigate whether volunteers' attachment is primarily directed toward the organization as a whole, or whether volunteers are more prone to develop localized attachment to the program or branch in which they participate. Our findings suggest that managers recruiting volunteers to large complex organizations should be cautious in using the overarching organizational mission to attract volunteers. Rather, attention should be put on specific programs and activities using volunteers. It is only through longer-term service that volunteers appreciate the organization's mission and principles and find their allegiance to the organization as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to use agency theory as the theoretical framework for an examination of the government-university relationship and to assess the main strengths and weaknesses of the theory in this context. Because of its logically consistent framework, agency theory is able to manifest many of the complexities and difficulties that governments face in their attempts to govern universities. Agency theory also offers unique explanations for the government's choice and use of certain governance procedures, low performance by universities and cost growth in the higher education sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines diversification and corporate performance relationship in the framework of agency theory. Contrary to most of the findings from Western developed countries and emerging markets, the study reports a statistically significant U-shape relationship. The finding is also inconsistent with the notion that managerial discretion contributes to the diversification decision and results in discount firm value. The robustness test confirms these results after controlling for other firm level variables. These conclusions suggest that the understanding in Western literature about diversification performance provided by the agency theory may not be automatically applicable to the case of China's companies, and a highly diversified corporate practice could still be beneficial in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most literature on knowledge utilization is premised on rationalist theories of organizations: bureaucracies draw on knowledge instrumentally, either to expand their power or to adjust policy output. This paper develops an alternative account of the functions of knowledge, arguing that organizations are just as likely to value knowledge as a source of legitimation, or as a way of substantiating their policy preferences. The prevalence of these different forms of knowledge utilization will depend on (a) features of the organization (its perceived stability and source of legitimation); and (b) features of the policy area (degree of contention and mode of settlement). The article applies this framework to explore the European Commission's use of knowledge in immigration policy, especially through the European Migration Network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese lawmakers and law-enforcers have viewed the hierarchical structure as the defining feature of organized criminal organizations. Such a flawed framework has hampered China's recent efforts to fight organized crime. Based upon organization theory, this paper argues that by adapting to the changing institutional environment, Chinese criminal forces have chosen a variety of organizational structures ranging from hierarchy to the market and the network. The recently uncovered cases point out that networks have become a more popular organizational form than the traditional hierarchies (such as secret societies) and contractual relationships in illicit markets. By offering a classification of organizational formations of organized crime in today's China, the author suggests network analysis as a new tool to help China's law enforcement effectively respond to surging organized crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on research aimed at investigating the ways in which teachers in Portugal and in England are experiencing recent changes in the policy environment which have affected their sense of professionalism and their professional identity. Data were collected through questionnaires and focus group interviews. Findings suggest the existence of some strengths in teachers' views on their professionalism, namely the importance of vocationalism, continuing learning and collaborative cultures, the relevance of project-oriented work at school and an integrated perspective of the curriculum. However, a number of limitations also emerged, such as feelings of ambivalence and conflict, associated with increased bureaucracy, qualities of school leadership, cultures of loneliness and the lack of understanding and ownership of the process of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations face trade-offs when they adopt strategies in changing resource environments. The type of trade-off depends on the type of resource change. This paper offers an organizational trade-off model for quantitative resource changes. We call it the "Cricket and Ant" (CA) model, because the pertaining strategies resemble the cricket and ant's behavior in La Fontaine's famous fable. We derive theorems in this CA model in First Order Logic, which we also use to demonstrate that two theory fragments of organizational ecology, i.e., niche width theory and propagation strategy theory, obtain as variant cases of CA; their predictions on environmental selection preferences derive as theorems once their respective boundary conditions are represented in the formal machinery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discursive practices of physical education reflect not only the expectations and constraints of discourses in the wider society, educational organizations and bureaucracies, but also the pervasive influences of working with and within sport. Within physical education, and specifically in the lives, work and careers of physical education teachers, in what ways are gender dualisms breaking down and in what ways are powerful gendered discourses still influential? This paper will outline results from research on teachers' work, careers and leadership in physical education, with a particular focus on gendered patterns. A mixed methods research design was used with 556 female and male participants in the quantitative phase and 17 participants in the qualitative phase. Some of the results challenged gender dualistic ways of thinking about physical education teachers' work, careers and leadership while other results indicated ways in which powerful dominant discourses still shape gendered patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our understanding of the later Roman empire is often posed in terms of an opposition between the imperial centre and the periphery of Greek cities, between the imperial bureaucracy and civic elites. These opposed positions are seen as bounded aggregates, discrete categories and tightly bound groups that make up the social structure of the Roman empire. Network theory, however, provides us with an alternative approach for understanding social relations, one in which individual ties and relationships are the most important factor. This paper explores the social networks of the orator Libanius to show that the 'bounded aggregates' of imperial centre and Greek civic elite may not have been as central as we often think they were to the later Roman empire. [They] try to avoid imposing assumptions about the boundaries of aggregates. They do not assume that analysis can proceed on the basis of a few discrete categories such as proletariat and bourgeoisie or core and periphery. They do not assume that tightly bound groups are the fundamental building blocks of large-scale social systems... it is the network members' crosscutting membership in multiple social circles that weave together social systems.1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages with Herman Melville's short story Bartleby the Scrivener, as well as contemporary discussions thereof, so as to consider a peculiar concept of excess suggested to us by its main character. Our discussion focuses upon three of the most prominent contemporary Bartlebys: 'The Politicized Bartleby' of Slavoj Zizek, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri; 'The Originary Bartleby' of Gilles Deleuze; and 'The Whatever Bartleby' of Giorgio Agamben. On the basis of these interpretations we derive a concept of excess as the residual surplus of any categorical interpretation, the yet to be accounted for, the not yet explained, the un-interpretable, the indeterminate, the always yet to arrive, precisely that which cannot be captured, held onto nor put in place. This particular discussion of Bartleby is connected to a more general discussion of a management and organization studies that has become increasingly reliant upon literary texts. On this topic, we pass a not altogether optimistic commentary, itself informed by the excessive demand of adequately interpreting Bartleby. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary western organizations appear to be caught in neophily, i.e., a cult of newness and novelty. As traditional means of organizational transformation - and profit maximization in particular - have broadly proven insufficient or to have completely failed, contemporary capitalism has turned the Old into an antiquated object of hatred. As the Old, and thus the past, is split off, the New - because it is new - is guaranteed to be better. Organizational structures and processes that previously served as more or less reliable containers for both labour and capital are now regarded as old wineskins that have served their purpose and belong on the 'scrapheap of history'. This paper emanates from the working hypothesis that betrayal and cynicism, in the context of organizational transformation, cannot sufficiently be understood from a perspective limited to individual psychopathology but has to take the organization as a whole into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the conditions under which capability, transaction and scale considerations interact in determining organizational boundaries. It is argued that this interaction contributes to explaining the individual firm's performance and growth whenever cognitive competence is limited, radical uncertainty is present, some inputs and processes are indivisible and complementary, and some relevant knowledge is tacit, non-transmittable and characterized by set-up processes with high fixed costs. Under the above conditions, which are becoming increasingly important with the spread of the knowledge-based economy, the growth of the firm can be regarded as a consequence of managerial ability to set a strategy that exploits the mutually reinforcing advantages provided by the organizational coordination of capabilities, transactions and scale of processes, while limiting counteracting forces deriving from errors of strategy that are due to cognitive inertia and myopia, unclear allocation of rights and responsibilities, errors in identifying aims, imprecision in performance measuring, difficulty in focusing incentives, influence activities and problems of internal communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The successful management of strategic change requires an understanding of which moves are possible in specific contexts, and thus of how specific contexts variously require, forbid, or permit certain organizational or policy actions. Appreciation of such modal issues of necessity and possibility thus becomes essential in understanding organizational and technological dynamics. This paper introduces the concept of modal narratives: forms of analytically structured narrative that explore questions of necessity, possibility and contingency. After a brief review of two common types of modal narrative—counterfactuals and scenarios— the potential of a third form is suggested: the superfactual. An extended example of a superfactual is provided in the Project Hindsight case, and the implications for strategic action are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I argue that literacy, as an aspect of language, is closely related to power. With the example of Karagwe, I show that different literacy practices relate differently to power. In Karagwe dominant literacies that are officially prescribed and standardised have a main function to sort people and maintain authority. As they are spread through schools, schooled literacies are very much geared at sorting pupils. Dominated literacy practices often have decorative and cultural functions and often do not follow standard norms, for example in spelling. In some cases there are local norms. Dominated literacies are more or less stigmatised. A third group of literacy practices, semi-dominant, are spread mainly through seminars and development agencies, such as different nongovernmental organisations. These literacy practices, which are important for the improvement of daily life and economic conditions, focus both on formal features and on the content in the texts. I argue that literacy in Karagwe is an important tool for maintaining authority while it is at the same time a tool for people to contest and resist authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper argues that a Relational Frame Theory account of complex human behavior including an analysis of relational frames, relational networks, rules and the concept of self can provide a potentially powerful new perspective on phenomena in the applied science of industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology. In this article, we first provide a brief description of I/O psychology itself. We then expand on the core features of RFT described earlier in this collection, including how it addresses rule-governance. Finally we illustrate, using relevant examples, the ways in which these concepts can be used to understand behavior in the I/O arena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers organizational behavior management (OBM) a behavior analytically consistent way to expand its analysis of, and methods for changing, organizational behavior. It shows how Relational Frame Theory (RFT) suggests that common, problematic, psychological processes emerge from language itself, and they produce psychological inflexibility. Research suggests that an applied extension of RFT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, has led to new interventions that increase psychological flexibility and, thereby enhance, organizational behavior and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]