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This article presents a series of abstracts of various papers presented at the conference on "Qualitative Approaches to Organizations," including "The Impact of Organizational Culture on Approaches to Organizational Problem-Solving," "The Meaning of Work, Non-Work and the Taken-for-Granted," "On Strategy and Structure: The Locus of Entrepreneurship in the Modern Corporation."

Digital technologies have enhanced the capacity for organisations across many sectors to produce, publish, and disseminate research in a variety of formats, and a great deal of it is sought and used in public policy and practice‐related research, yet this diversity is often overlooked in studies of research use. While the need for diverse research sources and formats for public policy and practice is increasingly acknowledged, there have been few studies which articulate and categorise what this diversity looks like in practice, and how research is filtered and selected based on genre, source, and other facets. This article reports on a large‐scale online survey and semi‐structured interviews with research users across multiple sectors in Australia on the materials they access and use for policy and practice work. The results indicate that research users are active information seekers who require online access to diverse genres and formats produced by a range of sources and sectors. However, respondents also faced many barriers to research use, including the cost of subscriptions for academic journals, discoverability of reports and data, poor management of publications by organisations including government, and the time required for filtering and evaluation. Based on these findings I argue that policy research requires a far greater variety of genres and sources than is generally recognised with implications for the way research use and the research publishing system is understood and managed in Australia. Points for practitioners: Policy research and implementation requires diverse online sources and resources from multiple sectors, including reports, discussion papers, evaluations, and data, produced by organisations (grey literature), as well as journals and books.However, this paper finds there are major barriers to discovery, filtering, and access to diverse research publications for practitioners, resulting in poor productivity and policy outcomes.To improve the use of evidence for policy and practice, we must invest in efficient discovery, access, and management systems for diverse research publications. Summary at a glance Research publications used for public policy and practice in Australia are far more diverse, dynamic, and multisector than is generally recognised with implications for the way we understand and manage the research publishing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of complex systems through the application of Model‐Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) will require the creation and maintenance of multiple models, created using multiple languages. Hence, structuring the models such that there is efficient support for incremental development requires some foresight. Having models with multiple or unclear purposes may introduce situations where parts of the organisation will ask for modification for representing a desired future system state, whereas other parts of the organisation require it to remain unchanged in order to represent the present state. This paper introduces a structure with associated terms and characteristics of the different model types in order to provide guidance to an organisation. In particular, it extends previous work on model tenses, capturing different time perspectives/purposes on the models, to also include model usage for keeping track of the actual state of a realised system instance. For example, the concepts of Digital Twin and Digital Shadow are discussed and conceptualised. As such, the contributions made in the paper allows an organisation to reason about the completeness of their modelling methodology and its applicability to support incremental development. Above all, the paper spells out clearly that for a complex heterogeneous system, any request for an update to "the model" will prompt the response "Excuse me Sir/Madam, which model?". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the essay "A Longitudinal Study of Climates." The actual unit of analysis was small teams working together: not a representative sample of the organization, as would be required to measure the organization's climate. The essay did not measure organizational climate. It mixes levels of analysis by asking small teams to give their views on the organizational climate. Clusters of people who share common perceptions of their company might arise from such things as having similar personalities, values, interests etc. The clusters have to have some sensible socio-psychological identity if they are to represent a meaningful scientific concept.

We experimentally investigate behavior in sequential one-shot transactions which are governed by non-binding contracts. In a second, incomplete information treatment, contracts are binding for some players. While according to traditional game-theoretical analysis no trade is expected in the first treatment, full trade should result in the latter. However, we find that trade is even higher in the non-binding contract treatment. On the one hand, non-binding contracts—although they are cheap talk—do guide behavior, especially at the beginning of a business relationship, while reciprocal reactions prevail later on. On the other hand, in the treatment with binding contracts cooperative behavior appears to be crowded out. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does it take to be prejudiced against a particular group? And is prejudice always epistemically problematic, or are there epistemically innocent forms of prejudice? In this paper, I argue that certain important forms of prejudice can be wholly constituted by the differential accessibility of certain pieces of information. These accessibility relations constitute a salience structure. A subject is prejudiced against a particular group when their salience structure is unduly organised around that category. This is significant because it reveals that prejudice does not require the presence of any explicit cognitive or emotive attitude, nor need it manifest in behaviour: it can be solely constituted by the organisation of information, where that information may be accurate and well‐founded. Nonetheless, by giving an account of 'undue organisation' in epistemic terms, I show that this account is compatible with an understanding of prejudice as a negatively valenced epistemic category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a central theme in social science research in the field of work and organization, the study of gender has achieved contemporary significance beyond the confines of early discussions of women at work. Launched in 1994, "Gender, Work and Organization" was the first journal to provide an arena dedicated to debate and analysis of gender relations, the organization of gender and the gendering of organizations. Building on the success of last year's conference at Keele University which attracted approximately 200 international scholars, the Gender, Work and Organization Conference 2003 provides an international forum for debate and analysis of a variety of issues in relation to gender studies. The Conference will be held at Keele University, Staffordshire, in Central England, Great Britain's largest integrated campus university. The University occupies a 617-acre campus site with Grade II registration by English Heritage and has good road and rail access. Many architectural and landscape features dating from the 19th century are of regional significance. International travellers are served by Manchester and Birmingham airports.

Research on knowledge hiding has rapidly increased over the past decade, but findings have thus far not been systematically synthesized. This, therefore, has not only hampered the clarity surrounding the construct but also restricted growth in this line of research. The current study thus attempts to integrate the scattered KH literature through a systematic literature review to understand the growth of the KH construct, thereby synthesizing the extant research findings, as well as uncovering areas that require future research. Accordingly, 92 research papers were systematically searched, critically evaluated, and synthesized to make the available knowledge and evidence more accessible to scholars and practitioners. The synthesis not only answers some fundamental, yet blurred questions around the construct, but also provides a composite sense of diverse findings recorded in the extant literature that would assist in drawing conclusions and future decision‐making around knowledge hiding behaviors. It also maps out the relatively neglected areas that require more attention going forward and consequently proposes that the next decade should look forward to more compare and contrast studies from a socio‐economic, cultural, product‐specific, and industrial sector perspective. The study is expected to motivate academicians and researchers to advance the field theoretically by providing a constructive platform for future studies, in the process, advance the literature in this field. Further, it builds a worthwhile case for organizations to recognize the existence of knowledge hiding and judge the associated risks, benefits, and harms to make informed decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Methods Results Conclusions Dementia affects more than 55 million people worldwide. Use of restraints for hospitalized older adults with dementia is a social issue that should be addressed systematically and should not depend on the characteristics of nurses. This study reviewed the literature on organizational factors associated with reducing use of restraints in older adults with dementia admitted to acute care hospitals.A scoping review was performed. Three databases were searched for papers that met our eligibility criteria. Factors related to restraint reduction were extracted, and results were deduced. Through inductive analysis, subthemes were categorized according to similarities and differences, which were then integrated into broader themes.Sixteen studies were eligible for inclusion. The prevalence of restraints ranged from 5.1% to 80.0% depending on how the meaning of restraint was interpreted. The most common indications for restraints were history of falls and fall risk. Interdisciplinary screening for restraints was associated with reduced prevalence of restraints, with a 0.18‐fold (confidence interval [CI]: 0.12–0.24) reduction through use of a restraint decision flowchart and a 0.76‐fold (CI: 0.63–0.92) reduction through consultation with a psychiatrist. Interdisciplinary members included nurses, physicians, clinical psychologists, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, and therapists.Research is needed to introduce and develop an interdisciplinary restraint decision‐making system and to test its effectiveness. Important factors in implementing alternatives to restraints are the harmful effects of restraints, expertise in dementia, regular education on alternative methods, an inpatient environment that ensures patient safety, and the development of human resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The members of the Editorial Board of the "Journal of Organizational Behavior" (JOB) has nominated a large number of papers that appeared in the Journal during 1995. Re-assessment of the papers that received the most nominations was done by the Board and the winning paper received the overwhelming support of the Editorial Board.

Project management is a rapidly expanding subfield of management and organization studies. This paper seeks to make sense of this development and the current state of project management research. It reviews the literature published over the last five decades in 30 leading management and organization journals. In total, 305 articles were included in the data set. The paper proposes a categorization of the published articles into seven 'schools of thought': Optimization School, Factor School, Contingency School, Behaviour School, Governance School, Relationship School and Decision School. The schools vary in terms of their main focus and use of the project concept, major research questions, methodological approaches and type of theorizing. It is suggested that a better awareness on how to make use of the schools and the identified perspectives would stimulate cross-fertilization, unification and thus enhance a pluralistic understanding of projects and project management at the same time as it would prepare research to frame more accurately the problems of contemporary projects. In that respect, the paper offers ideas on how to navigate at the crossroads between specialization and fragmentation, between the search for novel topics and improvements of existing knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organisations have been driving sustainability, where some efforts have focussed on the organisation itself and some on how organisations contribute to society, such as addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although organisations have been working to address the SDGs, there has been limited integration of the SDGs in organisation systems. This paper aimed at analysing how organisations have been addressing the SDGs. A survey was developed to investigate the impacts and contribution of organisations to sustainability, where 294 responses were obtained for the questions on organisations' impacts to the sustainability. The data were analysed using descriptive analysis: Friedman test to rank the impacts on the SDGs and divided into quartiles; a ratio analysis between positive impacts and negative impacts; and correlations. The results show that organisations' impacts on the SDGs are quite generalisable to all types of organisations, with three exceptions (SDGs 4, 5 and 16). The results also served to develop an SDG impact categorisation. The correlation analysis showed that organisations address the SDGs through a compartmentalised approach. The results helped to propose the 'organisations' impacts on the SDGs framework' focussing on the contribution of organisations to sustainability. This research shows that organisations can contribute directly to some of the SDGs, but not to others. Therefore, the discourse must change from integration of SDGs on organisations to the contribution that organisations can have on the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do people perceive the minds of organizations? Existing work on organizational mind perception highlights two key debates: whether organizational groups are ascribed more agency than experience, and whether people are really perceiving minds in organizational groups at all. Our current paper and its data weigh in on these debates and suggest that organizations can indeed be ascribed experiential minds. We present a "member and goals" framework for systematically understanding the mind perception of organization. This framework suggests that people can perceive the organizational mind through its elemental building blocks: members (people who form the organization) and goals (its aims). Four studies reveal that people ascribe agency and experience to organizations based on whether the members of organizations and the goals of the organization are characterized by agency or experience. Study 1 finds that past work on mind perception often examines for‐profit corporations, which consist of agentic members (corporate professionals) and agentic goals (market competition). Studies 2 and 3 reveal that when an organization with members and goals high (vs. low) in experience, people imbue its mind with perceived experience—equal to that of a person—and that even emotions low in warmth (i.e., anger) can imbue an organization with such perceptions. Study 4 shows the moral consequences of emphasizing experience: after organizational wrongdoing, experiential organizations are seen to deliver more sincere apologies and are more forgiven. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wellbeing is an organizing principle that ensures simultaneous flourishing of people and nature. It binds together an ethic of nature and ethics of people/community into a practical framework for creating integrated socio‐ecological wellbeing. This paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications of this position and presents illustrative cases of innovative wellbeing‐oriented organizations, both business and social. The paper explains why we need wellbeing organizations anchored in the wellbeing economy movement. A concept of resilient wellbeing organization is presented and illustrated with working models of existing organizations attempting to live up to the wellbeing values and practices. The paper ends with some thought on regulatory enabling of wellbeing organizations and makes practical implications for policy makers and managers, and suggestions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how sensemaking theory offers a new perspective on HR's role during strategic change. As change in organisations today is less of a programme and more of a continuous cycle of business transformation, there has been a shift in focus to its underpinning, cognitive process of sensemaking. However, HR's role in developing sensemaking praxis in organisations is not widely researched to date. This paper addresses that gap. We draw on Eisenhardt and Sull's 'simple rules' whereby complex strategy praxis is reduced to a highly translatable, small number of key rules (2001). Through a diary study of middle managers engaging in strategic change, we investigate their real‐time, lived sensemaking praxis. We conclude that HR have a significant contribution to play in developing an organisation's sensemaking praxis through four Simple Rules of Sensemaking: (1) plan creative discourse opportunities, (2) ensure leader‐middle manager parity, (3) mutually direct sensemaking through ongoing re‐planning and re‐prioritisation, and (4) ensure leadership effort continues beyond the initiation of strategic change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will cover challenges and learnings from implementing layer of protection analysis (LOPA) in a Global organization. The challenges include a wide range of different processes, multiple functional organizations and different country guidance and regulations. The learning will include methods used for streamlining LOPA and communicating consistent LOPA guidance. LOPA is better used as a comparison tool than as an absolute measure of risk. For LOPA results to be comparable, common standards need to be used within the LOPA technique. The paper will cover some of the methods used to embed LOPA practices including: (1) Guidance using worked examples. (2) Templates for similar equipment. (3) Using an internal LOPA governance board to review complicated LOPAs. (4) Use of common software.(5) Strong interfaces between LOPA and safety instrumented function development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article comments on Professor I.I. Cummings' paper which offers a vision of what organizational behavior (OB) research will be in the 1980s. There was an increase in sophistication in data collection and analysis in OB; There is a need to recognize that the "relevance" of the work is not inherent in the procedures used or the findings that ensue from them. If enduring, meaningful relevance to a variety of contexts is sought, constructs are needed that lend themselves to operations of inquiry. Constructs should be used that go beyond the convenient, here-and-now operations in use.

Implementing a digital engineering infrastructure is a strategic endeavour for any organisation. In this paper an investigation in the feasibility of federated Product Lifecycle Management is presented, starting from a presentation of the guiding architecture pattern and an evaluation of implementation alternatives. Interoperability standards from Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) are introduced along with presentation of tool infrastructure for automatic generation of OSLC interfaces. Implementation experience validates that this is a viable and attractive alternative for implementing digital engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the building of the Panama Canal (particularly from 1870‐1914) and looks at lessons that modern day Systems Engineers can apply from this significant infrastructure project. There were great successes and failures during the attempts to build a canal. The Systems issues include the importance of understanding the environment, recognizing the need to think beyond the physical object ‐ Panama Canal project had significant health issues, need for infrastructure / "realization systems", and even the need for a political revolution in Panama to enable it to be built. The importance of the organization building the system, and its leadership was also important. It is always instructive to look back at significant historical projects and learn the lessons (positive and negative). There is much to learn from a project and a system as big and important as the Panama Canal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID‐19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was politicised in the United States (US) by Donald Trump in an effort to deflect blame as the virus spread. In this paper, we empirically investigate media coverage of the WHO in the US to better understand how negative evaluations of international organisations (IOs) spread. To do so, we perform quantitative text analysis on an original corpus of over 11,000 news articles on the WHO from the New York Times and the Washington Post between 1980 and 2020. Our text‐as‐data analyses yield several noteworthy findings. First, we show that media coverage of the WHO in the US has become more negative over time. Second, we show that negativity increases during global health crises. Third, we provide evidence that explicit criticisms also increase during crises. Fourth, we show that "blame‐shifting" by Trump and allies was clearly observable in the US news media. Finally, we show that negative stories about the WHO are shared more than positive ones on social media. Our results provide unique evidence, suggesting that the WHO has become more politicised in the US, which we argue creates opportunities for politicians seeking to blame IOs during crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cost‐effectiveness analysis is increasingly relevant in humanitarian action. The cost of response has increased exponentially in the past decade, alongside concurrent donor budget restrictions. However, there remains limited comprehension and application of these methods in this field. This paper documents methods developed for use within Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organisation, in response to a lack of understanding of this topic within the humanitarian community and limited evidence of the cost‐effectiveness of humanitarian action. These methods encompass costs to both implementing institutions and participating communities. Activity‐based cost analyses are conducted to assess resources per programme activity. Cost‐effectiveness is evaluated using successful programme outcomes, and uncertainty is appraised via sensitivity analysis. This paper aims to advance knowledge, stimulate discussion, and promote the adoption of cost‐effectiveness methods for building the evidence base for humanitarian action, including consideration of community costs, to enable analytical outputs that are useful for managers and policymakers alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been much discussion of a policy nature about the function of dealers in equity securities markets, the efficiency of different methods of providing dealer services and the regulatory constraints under which dealers should operate. Some empirical work has been carried out to determine what factors underlie dealer costs and to assess the efficiency of different market organizations and regulatory constraints, but that work has not been based on a very explicit theoretical foundation [see Demsetz (1968), Institutional Investor Study, Ch. 12 (1971), Tinic (1972), Tinic and West (1972), and Benston and Hagerman (1974)]. The purpose of this paper is to develop a more explicit and rigorous model of the individual dealer and to discuss the implications for the cost of trading of different market organizations of dealers. It is hoped this model will provide a better framework for empirical work and for discussion of the policy issues involved. The paper is restricted to the supply side. For steps in the direction of specifying the demand for dealer services see Copeland (1976) and Epps (1976). Dealers facilitate trading by investors because they are willing to trade for their own account as principals when investors' agents (or investors acting for themselves) cannot immediately find other investors with whom to trade. Following Demsetz (1968) one can, therefore, think of dealers as providing the service of immediate trading or immediacy. The cost of immediacy developed in this paper is the sum of: (1) holding costs, the price risk and opportunity cost of holding securities; (2) order costs, the costs of arranging trades, recording and clearing a transaction; and (3) information costs which arise if investors trade on the basis of superior information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many factors which significantly affect the software maintenance work carried out in organizations. This paper concentrates on one of those factors which is the training that IT staff receive in software maintenance techniques. This paper examines the approaches to training for software maintenance found in case studies in 31 UK organizations. In particular, this paper identities the formal and informal approaches to software maintenance training that were used within the organizations studied, examines how such training was carried out and discusses the perceived benefits of the different training approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces a series of papers exploring personnel issues at the level of the organization. The papers suggest that the economic and social context of an organization have significant effects on personnel decisions and practices. The papers reflect the need to devote more attention to macro personnel issues and increase efforts to evaluate the effects of personnel decisions and practices on the organization. Organizational research focuses on organization units; it is concerned with the size and structure of the unit, the deployment of personnel among alternative uses, factors influencing labor costs and productivity, the consequences of employee morale and the effects of personnel decisions on organization outcomes such as market share or investment return.

Disasters often produce elements of shock that may render pre‐established plans for action limited or otherwise inapplicable to the current situation. Improvisation is considered to be a common response among organisations that operate in such turbulent environments. Despite the prevalence of such plans for action, existing research is reticent with regard to the processes concerning how improvisation relates to pre‐established organisational goals. This study explores how improvisation can be employed by organisations to attain specific objectives, amidst the emergent nature of the initiative. Using case study narratives of three small organisations that were critical to the response after Typhoon Haiyan struck Leyte, Philippines, in November 2013, the paper demonstrates that improvisation can be absorbed as a conscious mechanism that can aid the attainment of pre‐established goals. Furthermore, it conceptualises the buffering effect of improvisation to elucidate the process via which it purposefully directs an organisation to preserve and fulfil its aims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outsourcing is a strategy being considered appropriate to cope with the current turbulent times. In the information systems (IS) area, outsourcing has fastly become an essential part of an organization's IS strategy. By signing outsourcing agreements, firms expect to reduce their overall information technology (IT) costs, focus on their core competencies, and gain superior technical resources. This paper offers a conceptual model for the area of outsourcing, which is based primarily on the concept of meta-abilities. The principal argument offered by this paper is that organizations need to develop meta-abilities in order to facilitate the process of outsourcing. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review about the adoption of promising practices by organizations. The objective of the study was to gather empirical evidence to explain why the UK rate of promising practices adoption is poor compared with that of its competitors. The paper illustrates how a vastly dispersed collection of empirical data results can be integrated through a rigorous review process. The conclusion is that, although there is evidence to suggest that an adoption gap exists, the root causes of this gap cannot at present be diagnosed from the available evidence. Directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Complexity negatively impacts the process of continually improving performance management systems (PMSs). The extant PMS literature considers complexity to be a result of the external environment rather than a user response to that environment. However, this paper argues that organizations generally face internal complexity when adopting PMSs. Introducing PMSs into an organization can have varied effects in those organizations based on the complexity of an organization's associated members and its interactions. This study aims to understand the emergence of complexities while implementing and using PMSs in organizations. From the complexity theory perspective, four system properties (ontological, teleological, genetic and functional) are used to understand complexity in PMSs. The paper builds on a systematic literature review consisting of 76 papers and analyses them in the light of exploring sources of complexity when implementing and using PMSs. From the outset, complexity is understood to be a result of the conflict between existing organizational practices and mechanisms and the organizational controls associated with PMSs. The key findings abstracted six sources of complexity in this study: role, task and procedural types of complexity associated with the social dimension, and methodological, analytical and technological types of complexity associated with the technical dimension. The study findings contribute to the current discussion regarding why PMSs typically lag and are not responsive and resilient in emerging contexts. While understanding and exploring all organizational controls that moderate a PMS is useful, organizations should construct the necessary capabilities, depending on their context and adapt to the changes associated with PMSs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the birth of a secret creative self within suppressive or silencing organizations, such as cults, by focusing on concrete instances in which members of such organizations challenge the organization's leadership and norms. Building on Goffman's concept of the backstage, it considers how cult members create both physical and mental backspaces to allow the birth of a secret creative self within the cult. Through the stories of former cult members, it sheds light on how the "occupied self," as Goffman called it, can use these backspaces to preserve and restore a sense of personal autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been increasing interest on how organisations address the four dimensions of sustainability. Despite calls for a holistic perspective, empirical research on sustainable organisations has been carried out on (1) engagement efforts, focussing inside the organisation, i.e., the system elements engage with sustainability, or (2) efforts to contribute to sustainability, focussing outside the organisation, i.e., how the organisation as a whole impacts sustainability. A survey was developed to investigate engagement of the system elements and their contribution to sustainability, from which 210 full responses were obtained. The data were analysed using descriptive analysis, Friedman test to rank the engagement of the organisation system elements with sustainability, ratio analyses (positive to negative) and ANOVAs regarding organisation type and size. The results show that the organisation system elements most engaged with sustainability are research and management, and strategy, and the least are operations and production, products, procurement, and supply chain. The impact ratios are highest from research, services, and management and strategy. The ANOVA test results demonstrate that the type of organisation does not affect how the system elements engage with and impact sustainability, with some exceptions. The paper proves that the inside and outside sustainability efforts of an organisation are not separated but intertwined through a series of connections. The results are integrated into for the "organisation system elements engagement and impact to sustainability" model. Organisations must take a holistic a systems perspective that considers the system elements engagement and how each of these contribute to sustainability and its dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the White Paper on the " Central Organisation for Defence" laid before British Parliament in October 1946. This outlined three alternative schemes by which a unified defence policy could be achieved; amalgamation of all three armed services under a single Minister; the establishing of a Combined General Staff; or the establishment of a single Minister for Defence, with a ministry to which the three service ministries and the Chiefs of Staff would be subordinate. In due course there was established a Ministry of Defence with a Minister, responsible to Parliament for the apportionment of resources between the three Services; for general administration of matters where a common policy for the three Services seemed desirable; and for the administration of inter-Service organisations such as Combined Operations Headquarters and the Joint Intelligence Bureau.

The 1997 Summer Special Issue of the Strategic Management Journal is introduced by the Editor-in-Chief, Dan Schendel. The Special Issue deals with what Guest Editors, Rebecca Henderson and Will Mitchell call 'reciprocal interactions' among environment, strategy, capabilities and performance. Why study of these reciprocal interactions may be useful to better understanding of performance outcomes is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation policy involves the dictates that guide the planning, conduct, and use of evaluation in any organization. It is – or at least should be – a central concern to those involved with evaluation. Evaluation policy shapes what evaluation practice looks like, while enabling or constraining what it can accomplish. This chapter offers a brief and selective history of evaluation policy in the United States. A description of the American Evaluation Association's activities regarding evaluation policy follows. The chapter then sets the stage for the other contributions in the current set of papers about evaluation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disability support is often provided at the interface with other human services such as health, education, and employment agencies. This can present many organisational problems for people receiving support and the organisations that provide it. Individualised funding is one attempt to ease problems of fragmentation and unmet needs, but perversely, it introduces further interface complexities as organisations consider how to manage their service provision and financial structures. Drawing on interviews with 28 managers, the focus in this paper is on organisational and interface changes and challenges following the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia, and the adaptive strategies of organisations to provide individualised and coordinated supports. The three themes derived from the thematic analysis, adopting a commercial mindset, finding a business niche, and working across complex interfaces, epitomise the benefits, constraints, and consequences of new market mechanisms for the delivery of supports, and how organisations are adjusting to a more commercial‐orientated sector while also creatively negotiating multiple funding and governance systems. The findings contribute to understandings of how individualisation is creating new dynamics of local disability support governance and collaboration in service provision. Whereas much of the literature on individualised funding has focused on the fragmentation of services, this study of organisation managers contributes to understandings of how individualisation also generates new dynamics of collaboration and tension in local disability support governance and service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do firms concomitantly rely on more than one organizational arrangement to procure/distribute a given input/product? In this paper, we systematically review and discuss the extensive path undergone by the literature exploring this issue: the so‐called plural forms. We address two main questions: how to explain the coexistence (and often the prevalence) of plural forms in many types of businesses? Are plural forms stable or a transitory phenomenon? We describe the most prominent motivations identified in the economics and management literature that drive firms to adopt plural forms and show that their vast majority are related to the mitigation of various types of agency/transaction costs. We also demonstrate that most of the available pieces of empirical evidence suggest the stability of plural forms over time. We conclude by demonstrating the path that has been trailed by the most recent developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of people to deal constructively with the needs of work and of family depends on the kind of work they do; the organization that employs them; and the economic, social, and national context in which they live. This article compares the responses to this issue in the United States, Britain, and Sweden. In the United States, the effort has been to allow women to meet male work demands. In Britain, the emphasis has been on providing flexible arrangements for mothers who work. In neither case has there been any attempt to change the rules for career success or to deal with gender roles in the family. Sweden, however, has made the effort to try to equalize gender roles. This makes many aspects of life easier, hut women still are seldom found in top positions. These differences in national context determine the kinds of responses that organizations can make to the family needs of their employees. Their implication for the United States response is discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We start from the proposition that organizations' social and environmental policies and practices are influenced as much by stakeholders as by organizational management. Various types of organization–stakeholder relationship are outlined, from market-based (e.g. ethical consumerism) to participative (e.g. consultation and coalition). This organization–stakeholder network constitutes the problematic system of concern. The concept of responsibility and its attribution is critically considered, as is the likelihood of value-conflicts between members of this wider system. The tendency for ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) to be managed hierarchically within organizations, characterized by an over-reliance on enforced codes of conduct is critiqued on ethical and practical grounds. It is argued that individuals require a capacity for moral judgement in applying codes and, more generally, when resolving conflict and dilemmas within the wider system of organization–stakeholder relations. An appropriate approach from ethical theory is therefore offered. The paper concludes with a summary of aspects of CSR to which the systems discipline could usefully contribute. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reconsiders the role of systems thinking in science and addresses an issue raised by Peter Checkland some 25 years ago, that of the relationship between systems thinking, analysis and the scientific method. The paper argues that the scientific method is most usefully interpreted as a dialectic between analysis and synthesis supported by the triadic logic of C.S. Peirce, and that the role of systems thinking is to frame this dialectic. Three generic forms of the system concept are identified—closed systems, input-output systems and open systems. Consequently, systems thinking is shown to play a central role in mainstream science. The paper concludes that a system is best defined as a cognitive construct for making sense of complexity and the organization of knowledge and that contemporary system thinking is best identified as the ethical, scientific pursuit of knowledge using the socio-ecological (open) systems frame. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of ambidextrous organization, which is allowing exploration and exploitation to coexist within an organization, has attracted considerable interest and is useful in understanding the corporate transformation process. We aim to advance the framework of ambidextrous organization by incorporating the aspect of exploration persistency. Our in‐depth case study revealed the contrasting persistence of exploration for new technology and new business between Fujifilm and Kodak through analysis of patent data from 1982 to 2012. Also, we discuss how the degree of exploration persistency is influenced by the effects of exploitation and knowledge accumulation within ambidextrous organization. In this paper, exploration persistency is defined as the degree to which an organization continues exploration in a consistent direction along a particular path and the amount of resources the organization applies to or invests in the exploration activity until the organization realizes that it is headed in the wrong direction. We examine the different fates of Fujifilm and Kodak through the lens of exploration persistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coping with complexity is at the heart of the systems approach. Several methodologies can be discerned which have proved to possess extraordinary power in dealing with complex issues. System dynamics is a general-purpose methodology for modelling and simulation employed in order to deal with dynamic complexity. Cybernetics has brought forth structural models to enable organizations to deal with the complexity of their environments. The main proposition of this paper is that these two methodological strands show potential synergies. A proposal for leveraging the complementarities of system dynamics and organizational cybernetics is made. The paper also argues that it is necessary to conflate qualitative and quantitative modelling and design approaches, as well as to improve the quality of models and strategies by strengthening the processes of validation. At a higher level of abstraction, the author postulates that, for the sake of relevance, this methodological synthesis is to build upon both the positivist and interpretivist traditions. On this basis, a framework called integrative systems methodology is proposed to help actors at different levels to achieve the requisite variety. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues of accountability, legitimacy and trust have remained at the forefront of debate surrounding non‐profit organisations and their activities. The purpose of this study is to review the literature on non‐profit accountability from the lens of organisational legitimacy. Specifically, we ask what we can learn from the literature on non‐profit organisation (NPO) accountability and consider what further work needs to be done to strengthen NPO legitimacy. We attempt to go beyond mere gap‐spotting and seek to challenge the current status quo within this body of literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the extent to which the insights of what is called the New Sciences (Catastrophe, Chaos and Complexity Theory) for organizational life are novel, and to what extent they do not take managers much further forward than other theories which have questioned a classical or reductionist view of management. The link to the conference theme is provided by a new model which sets out to define four levels of complexity (sic), dependent on the system exclusivity (degree of complexity) and endurance (degree of change). The past ten years have seen a growth of interest in the insights which ‘management complexity’ claims to provide for modern management. This author has felt uncomfortable that many of these insights are in fact little different from insights of previous writers, and that the lack of evidence for their applicability in natural science systems, let alone organizational situations, means that they have little proven value beyond (in some cases powerful) metaphors. The paper takes a number of the characteristics of complex systems (the phrase will include catastrophic and chaotic systems), and the insights which are claimed for management complexity, and will relate these to other (non-complexity) writings, in some cases going back over decades. It uses a case study relating to the author's own experience in teaching on MBA programmes to demonstrate the value of complexity ideas, but will evaluate these against alternative insights, again demonstrating the relationships between complexity and change. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I describe a conversation model appropriated from Jean François Lyotard's (1988) work The Differend. The heuristics provided aim to support generative conversations within knowledge organizations. Generative conversations occur when different bodies of knowledge meet and develop new knowledge. Conversation is a process in which organizationally structured bodies of knowledge meet the individual subject. This paper argues that the majority of organizational conversations are regulative. They limit what can be spoken or written by any subject. Generative conversation is creative and encourages a linking of concepts and ideas that enables the emergence of new themes. Lyotard's (1984 and 1988) work provides a model of discourse (conversation) that specifically addresses the linking of phrases by participants. Building on this work this paper provides heuristic support for the practice of generative conversations aimed at opening the space necessary to create new knowledge within organizations. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the Confucian ideal in constructing a humanized organizational culture. Through the review of the two influential organization theories, systemic and mechanistic, this paper suggests that the Confucian ideal can promote a humanized organizational culture. The core notions of Confucianism are explicated and a deliberate inquiry towards the Confucian ideal is suggested. It needs to be grounded on a precise understanding of the core Confucian notions. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the substantial body of literature concerned with the ways in which digital media are transforming contemporary society and institutional life, we have relatively little understanding of the ways in which new technologies feature in day to day organizational conduct and interaction. There is however a growing corpus of empirical research which places the situated and contingent character of new technologies at the heart of the analytic agenda, but as yet, these studies are relatively little known within sociology. They include ethnographies of command and control centres, financial institutions, the news media, and the construction industry. They address the ways in which tools and technologies, ranging from paper documents through to complex multimedia systems, feature in work and collaboration. In this paper, we discuss these so-called ‘workplace studies’ and consider their implications for our understanding of organizational conduct, social interaction and new technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents updates on conferences on systems research and practice activities. Information on the 2005 International Conference on Natural Computation and International Conference on Fuzzy Systems and Knowledge Discovery; Participants in the 5th International Conference on Knowledge, Culture and Change in Organisations.

Recent explorations of agri‐environmental governance which draw on the assemblage perspective highlight the relational aspects, the process dimension and the generative elements of certain sustainability endeavours. This article argues that the implications of this approach are little discussed especially what concerns the transformation potential of agri‐environmental programmes. We focus on the notion of reconfiguration as a significant facet of transformation. We align with recent research in transition studies to claim the need for conceptualizing reconfiguration. We draw on empirical research pursued with the Donau Soja organization to refer to a number of unfolding reconfigurations, in respect to the spatial, the technological and the political dimensions. We focus on the political reconfiguration and discuss some of the spillover effects of scientific research projects and proposals, programmatic papers, policy positioning and lobby work which accompany the everyday work and governance of the Donau Soja organization. We argue that greater attention to the unmeasured and unmeasurable effects of the DS assemblage also implies giving greater attention to the long‐term effects of such programmes. Moreover, the numerous changes unleashed by the organization demand research to re‐evaluate what counts as failure and success in agri‐environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]