Foundations of Project Management Research: An Explicit and Six‐Facet Ontological Framework

This article proposes a new, explicit, and integrated ontological framework to stimulate project management research. It suggests that the ontological question should be viewed as a six‐facet diamond that represents a set of root assumptions about projects. The article conveys the idea that whenever a project management researcher emphasizes a specific facet, he or she knowingly or unknowingly leaves the other five facets in the dark in his or her research. This article calls for attention on the ground ontological assumptions of project management research in order to transcend the abstract epistemological and methodological debates and concentrate on what really divides the different theoretical positions.     

发生认识论:传播机理解析与商务传播模式建构

本文从传播过程最简单且最基本环节（香农-韦弗模式）分析出发研究传播机理，力图深层解读“信源-信宿”单一结构的内涵，并运用香农-韦弗随机变量的思维方式将传播输出看成是信源与信宿各自拥有变量的复合，说明传播过程和认识过程两者同构且互逆。据此认为，关于传播机理的发生认识论解析对商务传播模式的构建，起码具备逻辑起点定位、选择性要项把握等方面的重要价值；商务传播过程本身就是商务活动过程的一部分，同构且互逆。     

Unenlightened Economism: The Antecedents of Bad Corporate Governance and Ethical Decline

The paper expands on Goshal’s criticism of what management as a scientific discipline teaches and the effects on managerial and societal ethics. The main argument put forward is that the economisation of management has a detrimental effect on the practice of management and on society in large. The ideology of economism is described and analysed from an epistemological perspective. The paper argues that the economisation of management not only introduces the problems of economics (three are identified and discussed) but destroys the very essence of management because economics is focused on efficiency and management should be focused on effectiveness. What is more, the basic axioms of mainstream economics stand in stark contrast to the philosophy of the Enlightenment and therefore endanger the foundations of Western societies. Management theory (via corporate governance) is the Trojan horse carrying economism into society.     

Broadening the utilitarian epistemology of agritourism research through children and families

ABSTRACT

The genesis of agritourism is rooted in diversifying income for farmers, and accordingly, epistemological framing of agritourism research has focused on understanding the direct economic value of farm visits. The literature has identified multiple measures of tourism values and we propose that a similar broad epistemological perspective is needed to expand the analysis of the full spectrum of benefits that agritourism can provide to farmers and food systems. We describe the potential, yet unmeasured, benefits of agritourism and propose to empirically examine the educational and marketing potential of agritourism through building agricultural literacy among young visitors and encouraging family-level support of local food systems. We offer this as one example of how to expand of the epistemological approach to agritourism research, which will allow for a more holistic account of its benefits.     

Excerpt from the report of the united nations' fourth world conference on women,Beijing, September 4–15, 1995

This response locates feminist methodological strategies, first, as both “outside” and “inside” familiar processes of the sciences and, second, in relation to a formulation of the democratic ethos.     

The constitutive element of probabilistic agency in risk: a semantic analysis of risk,danger, chance,and hazard

Defining central concepts with accuracy is crucial to any scientific discipline. A recent debate over risk definitions in this journal illustrates the far reaching consequences of divergent definitions. Aven and Renn define risk as a social construct while Rosa defines risk as an ontological fact. Both claim that their definition reflects the common usage of the word risk. Through a semantic analysis this paper points to a constitutive element of what is termed probabilistic agency in the risk concept. In this respect, risk is distinct from danger, and because Rosa’s main argument is based on the apparent synonymy between risk and danger, the premises for his risk ontology are not valid. The paper furthermore argues that Aven and Renn’s attempt to bridge between epistemology and ontology is based on a distinction between a conceptual level of risk and its practical application which is impossible to uphold if a risk definition is to be in accordance with the ordinary usage of the word. The paper concludes by arguing that risks are only real within a subjective ontology.     

谈中国共产党人对社会主义认识的深化

要想建设社会主义,必先认识社会主义;只有正确认识什么是社会主义,才能更好地建设社会主义。从1949年中华人民共和国建国至2007年党的十七大召开,中国共产党人对社会主义的认识经历了一个肯定、否定、否定之否定的过程：邓小平同志把对社会主义的认识从原教旨社会主义提高到市场经济社会主义新的认识水平,而党的十七大报告则把中国共产党人对社会主义的认识又提升到一个新的高度——更加关注民生的社会主义。     

Measuring organizational knowledge: a conceptual and methodological framework

Knowledge is fundamental to strategic success. Limited progress has been made, however, in measuring organizational knowledge. We employ research on resource‐based theory and organizational epistemology to suggest a perceptual approach to measuring knowledge. We present a research protocol to identify a domain of organizational knowledge resources within industries. Using a sample of organizations from the hospital and textile industries, we interviewed CEOs to identify the feasible set of knowledge resources. We presented this set to managers at those organizations to measure their perceptions of the value‐added of each knowledge resource for their organizations. The results demonstrate that the importance of knowledge resources varies by industry and organization, and calls to question efforts to generate an inventory of generic knowledge resources that is applicable across industries. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The scientific limits of understanding the (potential) relationship between complex social phenomena: the case of democracy and inequality

This paper outlines the methodological and empirical limitations of analysing the potential relationship between complex social phenomena such as democracy and inequality. It shows that the means to assess how they may be related is much more limited than recognised in the existing literature that is laden with contradictory hypotheses and findings. Better understanding our scientific limitations in studying this potential relationship is important for research and policy because many leading economists and other social scientists such as Acemoglu and Robinson mistakenly claim to identify causal linkages between inequality and democracy but at times still inform policy. In contrast to the existing literature, the paper argues that ‘structural’ or ‘causal’ mechanisms that may potentially link the distribution of economic wealth and different political regimes will remain unknown given reasons such as their highly complex and idiosyncratic characteristics, fundamental econometric constraints and analysis at the macro-level. Neither new data sources, different analysed time periods nor new data analysis techniques can resolve this question and provide robust, general conclusions about this potential relationship across countries. Researchers are thus restricted to exploring rough correlations over specific time periods and geographic contexts with imperfect data that are very limited for cross-country comparisons.