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Management theory has paid scant attention to the nature and reconciliation of the tension between exploration and exploitation, in spite of its central importance to strategic renewal. This paper uses Hurst's (1995) ecocycle to frame the tension and employs complexity theory to examine how the tension manifests itself across levels and time. Improvisation is advanced as a process to reconcile and manage the tension between exploration and exploitation.

“I'm glad you're angry,” said the Vice President of Marketing to the packed meeting. “It shows that you are starting to change. Anger is one of the early stages.” He then proceeded to tick off the well‐known human reactions to disruptive change—shock, anger, and denial.

The purpose of the paper is to present a provocative view of what Peter Drucker would be writing about today in his self‐described role as a social ecologist.

The paper uses Drucker's qualitative framework to ask what changes that contravene conventional wisdom have already happened, whether they are relevant and meaningful and what opportunities they present.

The paper suggest that the concepts of ecological rationality and embodied cognition form the basis for a new framework to challenge the hegemony of the existing concepts of rationality based on frameworks drawn from neoclassical economics.

The primary implication is that an ecological framework of “both … and” is needed to embrace and contain the “either/or” of economics. This will sweep the liberal and fine arts back into management, render the concept and role of power in organizations discussable and place ethics, prudence and judgement at the centre of the management challenge.

The paper presents a provocative perspective that, if valid, with be extremely disruptive of the current Western management paradigm.

Using the backdrop of an (apparently) extended visit to the West Indies, analogies with key concerns of internal audit are drawn. An unusual and refreshing way of exploring the main themes ‐ a discussion between Bill and Jack on tour in the islands ‐ forms the debate. Explores the concepts of control, necessary procedures, fraud and corruption, supporting systems, creativity and chaos, and building a corporate control facility.

Using the backdrop of an (apparently) extended visit to the West Indies, analogies with key concerns of internal audit are drawn. An unusual and refreshing way of exploring the main themes ‐ a discussion between Bill and Jack on tour in the islands ‐ forms the debate. Explores the concepts of control, necessary procedures, fraud and corruption, supporting systems, creativity and chaos, and building a corporate control facility.

The Academy of Management held its 1988 annual convention at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California, August 5–11. The setting was highly appropriate, since some of the topics presented and discussed clearly bordered on fantasy.

This paper examines strategies to meet the communication challenge of change brought on through planned transitions, by the stress of a crisis, or as a result of the social transformation in work and the nature of work. It explores the cycles of change to create a foundation for understanding the communication of change to individual people in an organisation. It examines the impact of reengineering as a change vehicle, the role of trust in reengineering, and some reasons reengineering appears to have shortcomings for individuals coping with change. A reengineering case study is also presented. Successful communication of change demonstrates an understanding of the cycle of change, the importance of trust in the communication process, the essential personal nature of change, the necessity for continuous face‐to‐face communication, and a recognition that current global changes are symptoms of a shift in the human condition.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a collection of articles representing the best papers and invited contributions from attendees at the 4th Annual Global Drucker Forum, an international conference focused on future challenges facing management.

The recent financial crisis has presented twin challenges confronting the next generation of management: a transformation toward a new environment in which market‐driven efficiency and the concern for a functioning society are better aligned, and the nature of management practice that successfully addresses this alignment. Dimensions of these challenges are discussed in five articles in this special issue. This summary of the articles and underlying themes is provided by a professor whose teaching and research focus on strategy and entrepreneurship in free markets.

The articles in this issue discuss the need in organizations for adaptive flexibility, new ways of thinking, leadership behaviour at the individual and system level, and systems thinking to overcome short termism. Themes underlying these challenges include the challenges of managing in the present for the future, the need to create a learning organization, and the complexity of managing holistically.

The paper suggests themes that might benefit from future management research.

This paper summarizes cutting‐edge issues for management that were discussed at a recent international conference, and synthesizes six authors' research contributions that address dimensions of these issues.

Recent studies indicating long term dependence in stock market indices have found a mean reversion process. However, studies using rescaled range (R/S) analysis have not found evidence of a mean reversion or ergodic process. Instead, evidence from these studies indicate either long term persistence in a nonperiodic cycle or short run Markovian dependence with no long term persistence. The purpose of this paper is to study the issue of long term dependence using rescaled range analysis. The empirical results obtained in this study support the persistent dependence/nonperiodic cycle results and suggest that the dependence arises from the general economic cycle.