Introduction to Applied Ontology

A bstract . The effort to categorize nature dates at least to Aristotle and is still ongoing. The study of categories is termed "ontology"–a field whose use in the philosophy of social science has most recently been revived. Last April 1998, the State University of New York at Buffalo hosted a conference on "Applied Ontology: A Marvin Farber Conference on Law and Institutions in Society." The following papers were selected from the group of papers presented at the conference.     

Vision 20/20: Preparing today for tomorrow's challenges

This special issue includes five of the best papers presented at the 20th IPSERA conference. This conference was organized by Maastricht University and took place in Maastricht, The Netherlands. The conference theme was: ‘Vision 20/20: Preparing today for tomorrow's challenges’. In this editorial we discuss the future challenges in Purchasing and Supply Management and how one can prepare for these today. We make use of the concept of weak signals to detect a number of emerging future trends. All abstracts of the 110 conference papers were analysed using text mining and tag clouds. Also we introduce the five papers that were selected by the conference reviewers and track chairs as the best papers of the conference.     

Editorial introduction: HRM and performance: confronting theory and reality

This editorial introduction has twin purposes. The first is to make a wide audience aware of the new Dutch HRM Network. The second is to introduce a set of papers which make a contribution to the connections between HR policies/strategies and organizational performance. These purposes are linked by the fact that the papers come from the inaugural conference of the Network that was held in the Rotterdam School of Economics at Erasmus University at the end of 1999.     

The greening of industry network noticeboard

The Greening of Industry Network is an international partnership, a research and policy association, focusing on issues of industry, environment and society, and dedicated to building a sustainable future. Three offices coordinate Network activities: at Clark University, USA; at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, and at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. The Network's mission is to stimulate, coordinate and promote dialogue and research of high quality and relevance to ensure that the activities of industry–including business, labour, consumers, government and others–are consistent with building a sustainable future. Since 1991 the Greening of Industry Network has engaged participants from more than 50 countries to respond to the challenge of sustainable development. Through linked conferences, publications and communications, the Network seeks to create new relationships, visions and practices for sustainability. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

New ways of working (NWW): Workplace transformation in the digital age

In the introductory paper of this special issue on new ways of working (NWW) the editors first reflect on the meaning of the ‘new’, finding inspiration in Hannes Meyer's essay “The New World” (1926). The ‘new’ is always relative, of course, closely associated with technological innovation, in our case digitalization, and integrates spatiotemporal, technological and socio-cultural dimensions of life and organizing. This SI seeks to offer a reflection on and contribution to deeper understanding of ongoing flexibilization, virtualization and mediation of work practices. The authors go on to contextualize and discuss the contributions of the papers included in this special issue, focussing on significant technological, spatiotemporal, organizational and individual developments associated with new ways of working. Finally, they reflect on the possible relevance of the recent Covid-19 pandemic for the future of work, arguing that this pandemic accelerated NWW in many ways and – given the many paradoxical NWW dynamics and developments – that there could very well be unexpected and adverse consequences, including a turn away from formal ways of working.     

Controlling risks to ensure financial stability and reducing volatility

The 11th International Risk Management Conference was held at the University of Paris‐Dauphine and the EM LYON Business School (Paris Campus) in June 2018. The conference theme “1968–2018: From Z‐Score to Contemporary Risk Management, 50 Years of Risk Measurement and Management” was selected as a means to showcase the many ways that financial risk measurement has evolved and impacted financial risk management in banks and corporations as well as the tools used by asset managers and market regulators. The four papers included in this special issue of the Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting focus on a wide range of issues: How small differences in credit ratings effect the speed of adjustment in corporate leverage, the impact of using soft variables to assess default probabilities in European corporations, a new approach to measuring a company's intrinsic risk, and the effectiveness of short sale circuit breaker rules to limit stock price volatility. Our Foreword highlights the main findings of these papers and offers our assessment of the lessons they provide for financial managers and policymakers.     

The greening of industry network noticeboard

The Greening of Industry Network is an international partnership, a research and policy association, focusing on issues of industry, environment and society, and dedicated to building a sustainable future. Three offices coordinate Network activities: at Clark University, USA; Chulalongkorn University, Thailand; and the University of Twente in the Netherlands. The Network's mission is to stimulate, coordinate and promote dialogue and research of high quality and relevance to ensure that the activities of industry–including business, labour, consumers, government and others–are consistent with building a sustainable future. Since 1991 the Greening of Industry Network has engaged participants from more than 50 countries to respond to the challenge of sustainable development. Through linked conferences, publications and communications, the Network seeks to create new relationships, visions and practices for sustainability.     

Port Cities

Reviewed in this essay: Han Meyer City and Port: Urban Planning as a Cultural Venture in London, Barcelona, New York, and Rotterdam. Changing Relations between Public Urban Space and Large Scale Infrastructure Richard Marshall (ed.) Waterfronts in Post‐Industrial Cities Raymond W. Gastil Beyond the Edge: New York's New Waterfront     

Trust and HRM in the new millennium

This paper introduces the topic of trust in the workplace. The rationale for the growth of interest in trust is explored, as are the implications for HRM policy makers and researchers. Here, we also outline the main thrust of the eight papers incorporated in this special edition. First, we explore the topic of HRM and trust, before moving to issues relating to trust and workplace change. Next we discuss team dynamics, manager–employee relationships and trust and, finally, the characteristics associated with trust and situational, dispositional and affectual factors.     

Studying governance within the British public sector and without

Abstract

In the critical arena of public management and policy debates several schools currently try to make sense of governance structures and processes, although one has so far had the strongest impact in terms of academic and policy influence in particular in the United Kingdom: network governance.

Network governance has been associated with Stakeholder Capitalism – as represented for instance by the European (usually German) social-democratic settlement – and as the direct opposite of the New Public Management (as the epitome instead of Shareholder Capitalism). In this essay it will be argued that the alleged novelty of the reforms being currently implemented under the aegis of the ‘modernization’ or (network) governance rhetoric (by the Blair government, for instance) must be questioned, since they are the direct inheritors of the NPM tradition. Through the development of a multiparadigmatic model of ethical and organization theories it will be shown that alternatives to network governance are not only thinkable but also (institutionally) practicable.     

Linking arrangements and new work designs

New plants, with new operating philosophies and sociotechnical design features, are increasingly evident in North America. They represent a radically different approach to the design of manufacturing plants. They are an exciting challenge to organization designers.Self-maintaining work teams are usually the basic unit of design for these new plants. The ability of such teams to self regulate is the explanation for much of the plants' adaptability. That flexibility in itself drastically changes the superior-subordinate relationship that dominates traditional organization design. A large number of other changes in the design of work organization flow from that fundamental change. The roles of supervisors are significantly modified and sometimes eliminated. Operators take on coordinating responsibilities beyond their direct line tasks. Their additional roles take them beyond their work-team boundaries and involve them in activities that cut across teams and across the plant.Changing the basic design unit also changes a host of other design features. Integration across the organization is carried out in a variety of ways, some of it by individuals, much more of it through cross-teams with responsibility for areas that concern all the plant's members, such as personnel systems, safety systems, and materials management.Some of the most important integration is involved in sustaining the plant's innovative work practices. Constant vigilance is needed to ensure that plant practice is aligned with the espoused philosophy of the plant and with the values that underlie that philosophy. The vigil is practically expressed in a range of committees and systems that direct continuous attention to the design features of the organization—attention in the short run to everyday decisions and attention in the long run to the concepts that drive the decisions made by work teams and managers.These coordinating and integrating functions constitute the linking arrangements of a new STS plant's design. Linking arrangements need careful attention early in the design phase because they are innovative and unique to each specific situation, which means that it takes time to think them through. Once in place, linking arrangements need on-going attention because new plants remain imbedded in societies that still have quite traditional ideas about the organization of work—ideas that keep innovative arrangements under heavy pressure to become traditional too.     

The Art and Science of Procurement: Revisiting Leonardo da Vinci: Editorial of the 2019 IPSERA Conference Special Issue

The IPSERA 2019 conference called for papers examining ‘the Art and Science of Procurement’ to explore the breadth of procurement research in a time of increasing focus on science and the scientific method. Taking a systems approach, a conceptual framework of procurement is presented as a multi-level field of study embracing art and science. Selected papers from the conference are summarised and positioned in the framework to explore how procurement research takes both art and science perspectives. This editorial concludes that, in the spirit of the IPSERA 2019 conference hosted in Milan on the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death, revisiting more eclectic, holistic thinking might benefit the field of procurement to encourage both art and science in future research.     

Roundtable

Abstract

This paper introduces a selection of papers on contemporary developments in public sector management which come from a research conference held in 2004. This paper starts by introducing the New Public Management (NPM) and governance paradigms as alternative high level approaches. Such approaches are well known in the UK and are also of international interest. It then considers whether there are further possible reform paradigms not captured by these rather State centric models. The paper then briefly introduces each of the papers selected from the Conference proceedings. These papers contribute to the literature on the NPM, on the NPM versus governance debate and also generate and apply novel theoretical perspectives.     

An introduction to the special feature section: Price,wage and employment adjustments in 2007–2008 and some inference for the current European crisis

The four papers in this issue are part of a collective effort coordinated by the ECB and European National Central Banks, the Eurosystem's Wage Dynamics Network Survey. They provide new and systematic evidence on wage and price flexibility in Europe and attempt to explain their determinants.     

The HR ecosystem: Emerging trends and a future research agenda

Human resource leaders are experimenting with new approaches to organizing and utilizing workers that are not limited to the traditional boundaries of the firm, but rather expand to an ecosystem of work and organization. This special issue introduction article introduces a set of papers from management scholars discussing the ecosystem of work and organization and offers a roadmap for future research on HR ecosystems. An ecosystem perspective invites us to rethink our current frameworks to better link theory to practice. It also challenges us to shift our level of analysis from the organization to the ecosystem, asking: how is work organized and conducted within this complex and evolving context? These papers uncover trends related to (1) technological mediation, (2) impermanence and adaptation, and (3) shared governance. Our hope is that by framing these trends found within the research in this special issue that scholars will be provided a better road map in moving forward with their own research on the role of HR within the ecosystem of work and organization.     

From European Union to European Monetary Union: the new member states and accession countries of Central and Eastern Europe in 2004

The 10 new member states and candidate countries from Central and Eastern Europe have made the institutional reforms embodied in the acquis communautaire, including developing institutions of social dialogue which are supposed to ease the path to entry into the European Monetary Union (EMU). This review assesses the challenges facing the Central and Eastern European countries in achieving the targets set for EMU entry and questions whether the existing institutions of social dialogue will be able to bear the strain of achieving those targets.     

The Ethics of Shifting Ties: Management Theory and the Breakdown of Culture In Modernity

Despite a long tradition of documenting unethical practices in organizations, the sociology of organization literature has seldom addressed the question of management ethics. One early work in the field, Melville Dalton's Men Who Manage (1959), did develop a contingent approach to ethics that is seen as a precursor to contemporary discussions in modern and postmodern organization theory. In this essay, Dalton's work is interpreted in terms of a premodern or traditional view of moral theory. It is concluded that Dalton and those who have followed him have reduced morality to politics and have provided an intellectual rationale for the contemporary dark ages of moral behaviour with its worship of the cult of the individual.     

Unspeakable September 11th: Taken for‐granted assumptions,selective reality construction and populist politics

The interplay of private and public reactions to the crisis of September 11th in New York is analyzed as an example of well‐functioning populist politics. Using material from observations, interviews and a content analysis of The New York Times obituaries, the sequence of reactions to the catastrophe of September 11th 2001 in New York City is described. The wish for nearness and reassurance was followed by a wish ‘to do something’. The latter, by necessity frustrated for most, was turned into identification with the new heroes who could ‘do something’: fire‐fighters, steel‐workers, and the politicians who presented themselves as organizers of their efforts. Analysis then concentrates on how these ‘private wishes’ were used for ‘public politics’ of a populist kind. Cultural norms and assumptions about family, community and masculinity were utilized for the mobilization of political attitudes of patriarchal protection, patriotism and retaliation. Social differences of victimization were denied (where in fact it can be shown that the financial upper class paid the highest toll) with the effect of creating the perfect ‘populist moment’ out of the situation on the basis of actual needs and sentiments. La combinaison des réactions individuelles et publiques à la crise new‐yorkaise du 11 septembre est analysée comme exemple de politique populiste réussie. A partir d'informations provenant d'observations, d'entretiens et d'une analyse de contenu des nécrologies parues dans The New York Times, la succession de réactions à la catastrophe du 11 septembre 2001 est décrite dans la ville de New York. Le souci de rapprocher et rassurer a été suivi d'une volonté de ‘faire quelque chose’. Cette dernière, frustrée par nécessité pour la majorité, s'est changée en identification aux nouveaux héros qui pouvaient ‘faire quelque chose’: pompiers ou métallurgistes, et politiciens qui se présentaient comme organisateurs de leurs efforts. L'analyse se consacre ensuite à la façon dont ses ‘aspirations privées’ ont été utilisées en faveur d'une ‘politique publique’ de type populiste. Normes culturelles et postulats sur la famille, la communauté et la masculinité ont été exploités pour mobiliser des attitudes politiques de protection patriarcale, de patriotisme et de revanche. Les différences sociales des victimes ont été effacées (alors qu'en fait, on peut montrer que la classe financière supérieure a payé le plus lourd tribut), créant ainsi, à partir des circonstances, le parfait ‘moment populiste’ fondé sur des besoins et sentiments réels.     

Call centres and beyond: a thematic evaluation

This introduction aims to place the articles in this special edition in the context of the wider literature on call centres. The discussion is arranged around four themes: the characteristics and organisational features of call centre work, the choices and strategies that are available to manage the work, the effects of this type of work on employees and, finally, the responses and reactions of call centre staff to their work experiences. The articles selected, which are drawn from a conference sponsored by this journal, are then summarised.     

Response for ILA worldviews panel papers

Leadership is about knowledge, skills, and abilities for transformation. It is also increasingly about worldviews or visions of life—beliefs, values, and principles. But worldviews are also ways of life, for beliefs direct us, values guide us, and principles motivate us to certain kinds of action and behavior. How, then, do worldviews have an impact on leadership for transformation? If worldviews are glasses or filters by which we view the world, mental models of the bigger picture, frameworks by which we make sense of the world, and narratives by which we orient our lives, then how do they influence human thoughts, ideas, and behaviors when it comes to transformative leadership? This was the subject matter of an International Leadership Association Conference panel discussion held in November 2009 in Prague, entitled Leadership for Transformation: The Impact of Worldviews. It is also the subject matter of this issue's symposium, in which we bring you the four papers and the response presented at the conference. Members of the panel were characterized by gender, disciplinary, religious, and global diversity. Nathan Harter, organizational leadership professor at Purdue University in the United States, begins the discussion with some preliminary remarks about worldviews. Ali Mohammed Mir, medical doctor and director of programs of Population Council, Pakistan, speaks of leadership from an Islamic perspective. Michael Jones, accomplished composer, pianist, and leadership educator, writer, and speaker from Orillia, Canada, reflects on how a “marriage of mythos and logos” can transform leadership today. Lisa Ncube, originally from Zimbabwe and currently assistant professor of organizational leadership at Purdue University, speaks about Ubuntu as an alternative leadership philosophy emerging from Africa. John Valk, associate professor of worldview studies at Renaissance College, University of New Brunswick, Canada, speaks of leadership for transformation from a Christian worldview perspective. Jonathan Reams, associate professor in the Department of Education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, responds to all of the papers and opens a venue for further discussion. We hope that you will find this symposium engaging. We hope it will give food for thought and that it might stimulate further thinking regarding the role worldviews play in leadership for transformation.