The Qualimetrics Approach

The Qualimetrics Approach PDF Author: Henri Savall
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1617354775
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 441

Get Book Here

Book Description
The impetus for this work emerged from Savall’s belief that there is a doubleloop interaction between social and economic factors in organizations, between behaviors and structures, and between the quality of life in organizations and their economic performance. When managers underestimate this dynamic interaction, the resulting tension ultimately manifests in lowered performance and increased costs, what he refers to as the “hidden costs” of organizational life. Only by delving into the depths of these organizational dynamics can we hope to fully understand – and create the basis for improving – organizational performance. The Qualimetrics Approach presents a different and challenging way of thinking about analyzing organizations, one that draws together quantitative information, financial analysis and qualitative insights into organizational dynamics. As Savall and Zardet argue, to gain a true understanding of what is happening in organizations, intervener-researchers must focus on all three perspectives, as ignoring any one of them will lead to incomplete understandings. Their approach underscores the importance of using qualitative data to validate quantitative depictions (“the numbers”) of organizational performance in understanding the construction of financial statements. The strength of Savall and Zardet’s approach is that it pushes us to go deeper, to fully understand the narratives underlying the numbers and the social construction of our financial assessments.

The Qualimetrics Approach

The Qualimetrics Approach PDF Author: Henri Savall
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1617354775
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 441

Get Book Here

Book Description
The impetus for this work emerged from Savall’s belief that there is a doubleloop interaction between social and economic factors in organizations, between behaviors and structures, and between the quality of life in organizations and their economic performance. When managers underestimate this dynamic interaction, the resulting tension ultimately manifests in lowered performance and increased costs, what he refers to as the “hidden costs” of organizational life. Only by delving into the depths of these organizational dynamics can we hope to fully understand – and create the basis for improving – organizational performance. The Qualimetrics Approach presents a different and challenging way of thinking about analyzing organizations, one that draws together quantitative information, financial analysis and qualitative insights into organizational dynamics. As Savall and Zardet argue, to gain a true understanding of what is happening in organizations, intervener-researchers must focus on all three perspectives, as ignoring any one of them will lead to incomplete understandings. Their approach underscores the importance of using qualitative data to validate quantitative depictions (“the numbers”) of organizational performance in understanding the construction of financial statements. The strength of Savall and Zardet’s approach is that it pushes us to go deeper, to fully understand the narratives underlying the numbers and the social construction of our financial assessments.

Production des Connaissances en Sciences Sociales en Afrique

Production des Connaissances en Sciences Sociales en Afrique PDF Author: Moulio Moungbakou
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 1942876912
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 223

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book addresses the epistemological, ethical and methodological challenges faced by African scholars in their research practices. The epistemological domain addresses three interrelated topics: how African university students ethnocentric choice of research topics hampers the production of knowledge; researchers adaptation of their research methods to improve validity; and the challenge of knowledge production on community museums plagued by gross inertia, irregularities, uncooperative gatekeepers and inadequate funding. The methodological domain foregrounds issues around scientific rigour, the criteria for what counts as quality research, and reporting standards. Contributors contend that the use of mixed methods provides the best scope for the effective study and evaluation of social issues. They also detail how better-funded projects tend to improve the respect of ethical standards especially as they pertain to the protection of subjects confidentiality. Self-financed researchers on the other hand tend to be less compliant, a challenge that afflict especially younger and inexperienced researchers. This volume thus contributes not only to a critical understanding of the challenges faced by social scientists in contemporary Africa, but also the prospects and mechanisms on how to improve knowledge production processes.

Intervention Research

Intervention Research PDF Author: Anthony F. Buono
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1641132906
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume continues to build on the relationship between the Research in Management Consulting series and the intervener-researchers at the Socio-Economic Institute for Firms and Organizations (ISEOR) in Ecully, France, extending that partnership to our recent work with the French Foundation for Management Education (FNEGE), a foundation dedicated to closing the gap between the teaching and practice of management in France. As part of the Foundation’s multifaceted activities—which range from seminars and an advanced training initiative for French doctoral students to joint programs with international organizations an associations—FNEGE partnered with ISEOR to sponsor a series of workshops on developing high quality intervention-research. This volume is one of the results from that endeavor. Although intervention-research helps to uncover valuable insight into organizational dynamics and performance, the challenge of capturing and disseminating that insight to both academics and practitioners is entrenched in the rigor-relevance debate. While we are witnessing increased calls for “actionable knowledge,” this ideal, unfortunately, remains a rather elusive concept as critics contend either that rigorous academic research falls well-short of relevance to the practitioner world or research that proves to be valuable to practitioners falls short of the rigor expected in academic life. This volume is intended to help bridge that divide. Drawing on the FNEGE-ISEOR intervention-research workshop, the volume contains 18 chapters that explore the intervention-research process, from initial conceptualization, to implementation, to publication. The volume is published in French and English

Law, Society, and Industrial Justice

Law, Society, and Industrial Justice PDF Author: Philip Selznick
Publisher: Quid Pro Books
ISBN: 1610274083
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Get Book Here

Book Description
LAW, SOCIETY, AND INDUSTRIAL JUSTICE is a foundational study of workplace justice, still engaging and referenced a half-century after its original publication. The 50th Anniversary Edition adds an extensive, substantive Foreword by Berkeley’s Lauren Edelman. She writes that the book “remains important for how it conceptualizes law, for how it conceptualizes organizations, and for the theory Selznick offers regarding the moral evolution of organizations as they become ‘institutions,’ or living entities infused with values.” It is “a profound book for many reasons,” as she critically examines. Norms and values still matter in organizational governance — even in what amounts to “private government” — as this classic work reminds us. “Selznick’s classic text invites the reader to understand the interplay of formal and informal structures that produce new organizational norms, which, at their best, would replace workplace arbitrariness with due process protections like those embodied in the Rule of Law. It is not just an extraordinary contribution to the fields of sociology and jurisprudence, it is the theoretically foundational precursor to entire subfields in sociology and law.” — Laura Beth Nielsen, Chair, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University; Research Professor, ABF “Philip Selznick laid the foundation for one of law and society’s most vibrant areas of inquiry: law and organizations. Although this book has often been underappreciated, its 50th anniversary is a good opportunity to reassess its significance. Indeed, the current #MeToo movement lends more urgency to Selznick’s highly relevant ideas about conceptualizing organizations as legal orders, the importance of changing norms and values, the role of law within organizations, and organizations’ influence on the law.” — Ashley T. Rubin, Sociology, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa “Selznick’s study is undoubtedly the most erudite and imaginative example of the natural-law approach to appear. ... It is a very fine, even extraordinary piece of legal scholarship. It displays much craftsmanship, depth of learning, and creativity. It is elegant in style and graceful in presentation. Every legal sociologist should read it.” — Donald J. Black, American Journal of Sociology “A contribution, brilliant and substantial, to the literature on private government.” — Winston M. Fisk, American Political Science Review “Very enlightening and reminiscent of a good lecturer able to pull all the strings together chapter by chapter. ... The volume can be recommended to all students of law, industrial organization, and industrial relations.” — Industrial and Labor Relations Review

The Dynamics and Challenges of Tetranormalization

The Dynamics and Challenges of Tetranormalization PDF Author: Henri Savall
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 162396282X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume continues the collaboration between the RMC book series and the French management research think tank ISEOR (Socio-Economic Institute for Firms and Organizations). Those familiar with Henri Savall’s and his colleague Véronique Zardet’s earlier work on the socio-economic theory of organizations will recognize their assessments of organizational dysfunctions and hidden costs – but in a different context. In their current work, the emphasis is on the tensions created by the wider environment – the idea of tetranormalization – and how those tensions shape and influence organizational life. Drawing on a wide range of examples from the news media and popular press, Savall and Zardet paint a disturbing picture of the underlying dynamics and challenges posed by a literal avalanche of standards and norms – which are often ambiguous and conflicting – that literally encompasses all that we do. Their analytic framework is composed of four “poles” – two social dimensions and two economic dimensions – that capture social norms and quality, safety and environment standards (the social dimension), and trade-related norms and accounting and financial standards (the economic dimension). Throughout the volume, Savall and Zardet’s analysis captures the myriad ways in which these dimensions interact, shaping the “rules of the game” that dictate how organizations compete and collaborate. Differentiating the “rules of the game” from “playing with” those rules, they delve into the subtleties and nuances that underlie these “poles,” providing further insight into how these forces are manipulated through lobbying and the seemingly 24/7 cycle of exposing, publicizing and rule-making surrounding social and economic as well as scientific and technological controversies. As Savall and Zardet argue, we are in the midst of a profound upheaval that will play havoc with our economic and social lives for some time to come. If we are going to exert influence on that reality, the challenges that we face moving forward must be conceptualized, constructed and implemented today, for, as they argue, “the road to durable prosperity will be a long haul.” Yet, moving beyond these challenges per se, they underscore that we are also presented with an exceptional opportunity – the very real opportunity to create a sustainable commitment to responsible and responsive organizational performance, one that can be fuelled and financed by our ability to translate the hidden costs that exist in all our organizations into productive, value-added activities and true wealth creation. Their analysis presents an intriguing challenge to traditional notions of corporate social responsibility, delving into the idea of “durably acceptable” responsibility, ways to facilitate greater stakeholder engagement, and how we can capture ongoing and sustainable improvement in organizational performance.

Organizational Change and Global Standardization

Organizational Change and Global Standardization PDF Author: David M. Boje
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317633105
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Get Book Here

Book Description
Organizational Change and Global Standardization: Solutions to Standards and Norms Overwhelming Organizations takes an organizational change approach to the overflow of standards and norms, looking at how to deal effectively and ethically with four kinds of standards and norms businesses face when they go global: (1) accounting & finance (2) international & world trade,(3) social and (4) safety & quality & environment. It is part of a larger problem faced by not only business, but every sort of organization - how to live with the epidemic of standards and norms, often in conflict, many just unnecessary, and a few that are quite helpful and important. There are good reasons to have International Standards Organization (ISO), International Labor Organization (ILO), World Trade Organization (WTO), North Atlantic Treaty Association (NAFTA), International accounting Standards Boards (IASB), International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)), and many more standard-setting organizations issuing, auditing, proposing codes of ethics, and certifying standards and norms. However, there are important, poorly understood organizational change consequences to the contagion of standards and norms. This volume brings together a unique group of authors who are working on a pragmatic way for organizations to deal with an overflow of standards and norms that are often at heads, ambiguous, or simply created to produce more work for a burgeoning standards setting industry. The aim of Organizational Change and Global Standardization is to stimulate a critical analysis within the framework of analytical and pragmatic approach to an overwhelming bureaucratization of the managed and organized global activities.

Complexity and Management

Complexity and Management PDF Author: Ralph D. Stacey
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134538979
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book Here

Book Description
Complexity theory is generating increasing interest amongst strategic thinkers. This fascinating book covers issues such as predictability, creativity and relationships as it considers how complexity, and its central principles of emergence and self-organization, are being used to understand organizations. The book: introduces the variety of views put forward by different writers on complexity and management outlines and critiques the way that complexity theory is frequently interpreted purely in the context of systems thinking draws a new perspective on using complexity sciences to understand organizational stability and change by focusing on the emergence of novelty and creativity in the course of everyday processes calls for a radical re-examination of management thinking. Timely and controversial, Complexity and Management is essential reading for anyone interested in strategy, systems thinking, organization and management theory, and organizational change.

How the Leopard Changed Its Spots

How the Leopard Changed Its Spots PDF Author: Brian Goodwin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691217807
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 279

Get Book Here

Book Description
Do genes explain life? Can advances in evolutionary and molecular biology account for what we look like, how we behave, and why we die? In this powerful intervention into current biological thinking, Brian Goodwin argues that such genetic reductionism has important limits. Drawing on the sciences of complexity, the author shows how an understanding of the self-organizing patterns of networks is necessary for making sense of nature. Genes are important, but only as part of a process constrained by environment, physical laws, and the universal tendencies of complex adaptive systems. In a new preface for this edition, Goodwin reflects on the advances in both genetics and the sciences of complexity since the book's original publication.

Digital Transformation of Learning Organizations

Digital Transformation of Learning Organizations PDF Author: Christian Helbig
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030558789
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Get Book Here

Book Description
This open access volume provides insight into how organizations change through the adoption of digital technologies. Opportunities and challenges for individuals as well as the organization are addressed. It features four major themes: 1. Current research exploring the theoretical underpinnings of digital transformation of organizations. 2. Insights into available digital technologies as well as organizational requirements for technology adoption. 3. Issues and challenges for designing and implementing digital transformation in learning organizations. 4. Case studies, empirical research findings, and examples from organizations which successfully adopted digital workplace learning.

Organizational Change

Organizational Change PDF Author: Patrick Dawson
Publisher: SAGE Publications Limited
ISBN: 9781853962370
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book provides a critical analysis of contemporary theories and models for understanding change. It demystifies some of the new approaches which have emerged internationally, and develops a processual framework. New empirical material is used to highlight some of the major contemporary issues, which surround the introduction of new production and service concepts, such as, Just-in-Time production techniques, new technology, cellular manufacture and Total Quality Management. The majority of books available in the area of change management tend to be either in the form of practitioner-oriented “cookbooks”, couched in the “how to do it” style, or in a more focused form which emphasises particular aspects of certain types of change. The heavy reliance on anecdotes and metaphors in the formulation of neat prescriptive solutions to the problems of managing transitions has tended to cloud the process of organizational adaptation to rapidly changing global demands.