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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of two typical relationship management approaches (trust relationship with suppliers and reciprocity) on manufacturer resilience in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. Moreover, this paper aims to deepen the understanding of environmental uncertainty's moderating effect on the association between the trust relationship with suppliers (TRS) and reciprocity. Design/methodology/approach: Structural equation modeling has been used to test the hypotheses on 361 Chinese manufacturing firms' managers and independent directors during the COVID-19 crisis. Findings: The results reveal that reciprocity positively enhances three dimensions of manufacturer resilience, namely, preparedness, responsiveness and recovery capability. Reciprocity positively mediates the relationships between TRS and preparedness, responsiveness and recovery capability. Moreover, environmental uncertainty moderates the association between TRS and reciprocity. Practical implications: This study highlights the critical role of reciprocity, the relational governance approach, in enhancing manufacturer resilience in practice. This paper suggests that during emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, managers should adopt trust and reciprocity in supplier relationship governance to strengthen the resilience of manufacturing companies and adapt effective strategies according to the environment. Originality/value: This study is unique in developing new scales of manufacturer resilience through interviews and surveys with Chinese manufacturers and theoretical research. Based on the social capital theory and social exchange theory, this study shed light on the role of trust and reciprocity. It also bridges relational governance theory with the literature on manufacturing firm resilience literature to help manufacturers better understand the transdisciplinary links between relationship management and resilient operations in emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Special Issue "Knowledge Management Systems and Organizational Dynamics" emerges as an articulate contribution consistent with the scope and focus of I Kybernetes. Overall, the paper adds to the existing theoretical evidence by linking inter-firm knowledge flows and new venture development, on the one hand, and by examining the dynamics between VC firms and the collective contribution for the growth of start-ups, on the other. Companies showing a relative "unconscious" attention to KM and implementing KM practices without particular awareness;. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose As social networking services are popular, the need for recognizing reliable people has become the main concern. Quantifying the relationships between the users of social networks is also one of the important challenges with the increasing number of users. So, trust plays an important role in social networks in order to recognize trustworthy people. The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach to recognize trustworthy users and protect users from abuse by untrustable users.Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors suggest a method to measure the trust value between users of social networks based on call log histories such as abundance, novelty, and sincerity and quality of service (QoS) requirements such as accessibility, response ability, tend to respond, and agility. After that, the authors calculate error-hit, precision, and recall to evaluate the trust value.Findings The results indicate that the proposed approach has better performance in terms of error-hit, precision, and recall than FIFO, combined, QoS-based, and call log-based method.Originality/value In this paper, the trust issue in social networks is pointed out and a new approach to evaluate the trust value is proposed based on call log histories and QoS requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how behavioral descriptions in psychology and group dynamics can be related to four goal-setting processes and to four mode of existence. Design/methodology/approach – Some person A can approach a person B with an inclination to realize one of four goal-setting processes: (1) A sets goals for B; (2) A sets no own goals; (3) A pursues own goals alone; (4) A and B develop mutual goals. Depending on their choice of inclinations an interaction of A and B can lead to four modes of coexistence: (1) Conflict – A and B fight; (2) Hierarchy – A submits to B; (3) Independence in niches – A and B do not interact; (4) Cooperation – A and B work together. The paper investigates how these theoretical options – four inclinations for different goal-set processes and four modes of coexistence – show in behavioral descriptions in psychology and group dynamics. Findings – Psychic states studied in psychology (e.g. by Freud, Berne, Horney) can be related to one of the four inclinations. Interaction patterns studied in group dynamics (e.g. by Steiner, Schindler, Bion) describe aspects of the four modes of coexistence. Practical implications – Behavioral descriptions of various schools of psychology and group dynamics can be classified according to theoretically derivable basic options of goal-orientated behavior. Originality/value – The paper shows the application of a theoretical framework covering all options of goal-orientated behavior available in the behavioral sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study dynamic evolution of passenger emotional contagion among different flights emerging in mass flight delays, so as to quantitatively analyze emotional variation tendencies and influences of concerned factors and intervention measures.Design/methodology/approach An intervening variable of group emotion was introduced into emotional contagion model to simulate passenger emotional evolution among multi-flight groups. Besides, personalities, characters and social relationships were considered to represent individual differences in emotional changes. Based on personal contact relationships, emotional contagion model was proposed to evaluate cross-emotion transition processes among different groups under scenarios of information shortage. Eventually, evolutionary processes of passenger emotions were fused in an agent-based simulation based on social force correction model.Findings Simulation experiment results revealed that passenger emotions suffer from combined impacts of individual emotional changes and emotional interactions among adjacent flights through a comparison with actual survey. Besides, emotional interactions accelerate processes of emotion transitions, and have significant impacts on adjacent flights when different measures are taken. Moreover, taking intervention measures simultaneously seems more effective than implementing intervention successively.Originality/value The proposed method makes up for deficiency of ignoring effects of emotional interactions among adjacent flights. It contributes to providing control methods and strategies for relevant departments and improving the efficiency and ability of handling passenger collective events in mass flight delays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper seeks to present a proposal to change the form in which knowledge is produced in Colombia. Design/methodology/approach - Discusses the key issue - to transform the way in which the production of knowledge is currently taking place at the university level. Findings - To be able to increase the production of knowledge in this country there is a need to create bonds among industrial, governmental, and academic institutions. It is believed that this can be done by the development of a system capable of continuously forming researchers at a doctoral level. Originality/value - The paper puts forward a proposal for the construction of such a system based on the developments of organizational cybernetics. The proposal is based on the concept of autonomy which is crucial to solve this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- When reviewing the prospectus of mainstream universities that offer psychology majors, one would be hard-pressed to find any cybernetic approaches included in their course material. This is an unfortunate observation as most psychological problems arise in a relational context. Reasons for this status quo are presented. The purpose of this paper is to reduce obstacles for prospective learners in cybernetic psychology, with the hope that cybernetic psychology may be assimilated and seen as an equal footing paradigm in mainstream psychology teachings. Design/methodology/approach -- A popular cybernetics web site is often used by students who are learning cybernetic psychology. Using the responses from students who frequent the online resource, solutions are presented based on the questions that students have asked the author of the site. Findings -- Students are taught different therapy paradigms in terms of models; the psychodynamic model, the medical model, the person-centred model; the systems model and so forth. Their position to the model is external and they can critically evaluate the different models and apply each model in an interpretation and analysis of various psychology case studies. Cybernetic psychology becomes problematic when that line of thinking is used. Practical implications -- Cybernetic psychology stands as an ethical choice for therapy. Reducing the boundaries for cybernetic therapies to be assimilated in the mainstream context, especially if offered by universities as an equal footing paradigm, which would be in keeping with the WHO's call for responsible ethical therapy interventions. Originality/value -- There is limited information on how to perform cybernetic psychology. This is understandable owing to the nature of cybernetics; however, reliable and stable approaches should still be available for students who are new to this epistemology. There needs to be an entering point into this way of thinking so that cybernetic psychology remains accessible to newcomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- To establish the essential centrality of a circular relationship between acting and understanding, and a role learning plays in this circularity, with special reference to Aristotle's phronesis and sophia. The purpose of this paper is to establish a position. Design/methodology/approach -- The argument is made through critical, cybernetic analysis and argument. Findings -- The argument reconceptualises key relationships in the approach to understanding the world, and in education. Research limitations/implications -- Research implications are not explored: the argument attempts to lay groundwork for other and later work. Originality/value -- The argument establishes a cybernetic circular causality to replace the currently preferred linear causality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – A key cybernetics concept, information transmitted in a system, was quantified by Shannon. It quickly gained prominence, inspiring a version by Harvard psychologists Garner and Hake for "absolute identification" experiments. There, human subjects "categorize" sensory stimuli, affording "information transmitted" in perception. The Garner-Hake formulation has been in continuous use for 62 years, exerting enormous influence. But some experienced theorists and reviewers have criticized it as uninformative. They could not explain why, and were ignored. Here, the "why" is answered. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – A key Shannon data-organizing tool is the confusion matrix. Its columns and rows are, respectively, labeled by "symbol sent" (event) and "symbol received" (outcome), such that matrix entries represent how often outcomes actually corresponded to events. Garner and Hake made their own version of the matrix, which deserves scrutiny, and is minutely examined here. Findings – The Garner-Hake confusion-matrix columns represent "stimulus categories", ranges of some physical stimulus attribute (usually intensity), and its rows represent "response categories" of the subject's identification of the attribute. The matrix entries thus show how often an identification empirically corresponds to an intensity, such that "outcomes" and "events" differ in kind (unlike Shannon's). Obtaining a true "information transmitted" therefore requires stimulus categorizations to be converted to hypothetical evoking stimuli, achievable (in principle) by relating categorization to sensation to intensity. But those relations are actually unknown, perhaps unknowable. Originality/value – The author achieves an important understanding: why "absolute identification" experiments do not illuminate sensory processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the relationship between cybernetics and psychology. Design/methodology/approach – The paradigms of cybernetics are reviewed and then applied to psychology. Findings – Applying the paradigms of cybernetics to psychology provides a conceptually coherent account of what is a psychological individual. Originality/value – It is of value to bring conceptual coherence to the discipline of psychology, which, thus far in its history, has lacked it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - A US patent was recently granted for an artificial psychology dialog player with two artificial personalities and aging simulation. The purpose of this paper is to expose the usefulness and scientific roots and support the commercial viability of the patent based on a new cybernetic model of personality. Design/methodology/approach - The design of the artificial personality utilizes a new four-dimensional cybernetic model, where sentences are classified along the dimensions according to their motivational and cognitive content. The model is a dynamic nonlinear system described in box diagram form. The idea behind the model is rooted in the cybernetics concept of requisite variety and the model''s characteristics predict systematic variation with age. The model explains phenomena hitherto found vague. Its predictions regarding age dependence of human behaviour over adult age is tested by online humour appreciation surveys. The methodology is to establish the validity of the model by referencing its a priori predictions against a posteriori empirical classification of survey data by applying statistical consistency tests. Findings - The prediction was tested using score data from three online humour appreciation surveys. The results from all surveys confirm the prediction and validate the personality model. The model is indeed useful and the statistical consistency tests support the validity of the model. A novel formulation of Maturana''s closed nervous system based on the model with the possibility of empirical validation was also found. Research limitations/implications - The media of the analysis was only humorous sentences, while the predictions of the model can be applied to other media such as other types of expressions and semiotic symbols, which are outside the scope of this investigation. Only age-related changes were investigated. Personality-related preferences are planned for investigation at a later stage. Practical implications - A general age link of types of humor was not available until now, the validation of this link brings closer the realization of improvement in man-machine interaction. Other applications include marketing and the use of the model as an educational tool. Originality/value - The model of personality has a new structure represented as a stable continuous nonlinear system. It employs a feedback mechanism to describe homeostasis (multiplier feedback), a cybernetic regulator that is not based on the familiar negative feedback control structure. Its value as an alternative tool of analysis and prediction cuts across wide disciplines such as psychology, animal behaviour, physical science, computing, engineering and commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - To provide direct access to original documents relevant to the emergence of applied constructivist and cybernetic epistemology in the behavioral sciences. Design/methodology/approach - This paper employs hermeneutic analysis Findings - Direct evidence of the cybernetic, interactional theory articulated by Gregory Bateson provides the theoretical foundation for the problem formation, problem resolution model set forth by research associates at the Brief Therapy Center of the Mental Research Institute. Originality/value - This is a rare, never previously published address by a principal founder of communication/interactional theory [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]