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This paper examines virtual organizations, operating in global cyberspace. This paper uses Armstrong’s (2005) conceptual orientation that mythmaking is fundamental to humanity and Warner's (1994) Neo-Barthesian (Barthes, 1957) methodology of distinguishing between “monster myths” which conceal political motives and secretly circulate ideological positions and her contrasting notion of “educative” myths which are not always delusions but are vigorous ways of leading one to "make sense of universal matters" (Warner, 1994, p. xiii) to recover the purposeful illusions behind the beguiling spells cast by the “modern myths” of virtual organizations. This paper finds that virtual organizations are impractical organizations involving a visible myth that masks the invisible purposes of the hegemonic (Torfing, 1999) control narratives of elites and global corporate capital.

Post 9/11 events not only exposed the visible and invisible aspects of the often intertwined self‐interest of political, economic and especially religious elites, but also presented a practical and ideological vacuum susceptible to “once and for all” opportunistic fantasies of ultra and Neo‐conservative, cum religious, fanatics. The purpose of this paper is to counter balance the constant flow of Neo‐liberal and religious‐fundamentalist propaganda that is having a destructive effect on hard‐won civil ideals and democratic freedoms.

This paper presents a study of the relationship between visible and invisible power in the context of a historical study of the great age of tolerance and co‐existence between Jews, Muslims and Christians. The paper uses Benvenisti's “double history” methodology to recover what is visible on the surface and the “buried history” of what is invisible to discern the implications the Spanish Convivencia has for contemporary debates over political and religious “purity”.

This paper discovers dangerous signs of a continuing ahistorical hubris amongst elites and others that denies the historical evidence for the possibility of mutual accommodations between political and religious communities. This paper locates the need to recover lost, or discounted, multiple histories and (in)visible portents of a future other than the triumphalism of Western, especially “exceptionalist” US interests.

This paper demonstrates the need for more research into the use/misuse of historical evidence within (in)visible power mechanisms designed to serve ideological and hegemonic interests.

In our uncertain age, this paper is notable for developing a historically grounded vision of a real‐politic new world order based on mutual accommodation and respect.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the “ethics and transparency‐accountability” paradox in which the oft‐repeated mantras of ethical luminosity, such as transparency and accountability, appear designed to assure one that all is well when such confirmation is, possibly, no more than part of an illusion – a superficiality purporting to confirm that what is seen is the only reality of public ethics.

Utilizing an analytical approach based on the comparative analysis of historical and contemporary isomorphisms this paper suggests that despite post‐modern voices about fracture, the multiplicity of “realities” and possible futures, there still remains an almost paradigmatic conviction that “visibility” is politically more efficacious than “invisibility.” Rendering situations visible supposedly exposes violations of ethical standards, professional norms and protects one from “criminogenic” elites. This paper questions whether light always cast out darkness and whether “Dark Times” demand relentless transparency?

This paper finds that constructing “realities” has always involved a manipulation of what is seen and not seen – what is real and what is illusionary. “Shadows” and “disorder” are also important in understanding how visibility, invisibility and ethics are parts of the pervasive apparatus of political and economic hegemony. This paper also finds that the translucence of accountability policies, supposedly encompassing the pillars of professional propriety/integrity, might be encompassed within Offe's “procedural ethics”.

The social implications of this paper involve the development of a public administration able to calibrate whether the fluxing of visibility/invisibility/ethics is constructive or destructive of social capital and legitimacy.

This paper concludes that a public administration solely focused on transparency not only misdirects attention and political resources, but also is actually self‐defeating, leaving citizens less informed and more subjugated than before.

This paper aims to explore the contemporary fascination with seemingly new, benign and transcendent virtual organizations.

The paper extends Gerlach and Hamilton's investigations and critique into virtuality within the genres of business restructuring and science fiction.

The paper unravels a purposeful, enveloping consciousness that masks both neo‐liberal fictions and postmodern fantasies dominating the virtual organization discourse. This paper finds that practical examples of de‐physicalized, technologically transcendent virtual organizations, crucial to this virtual consciousness, do not exist or are fundamentally different from expectations. The paper finds that the presumed new epoch of global capitalism, based on the productivity unleashed by virtual organizations, is illusory. The paper concludes that once virtual consciousness is penetrated not only are the material and ideological aspects of virtual organizations unmasked but it is possible to locate a pragmatic, conjoint, physicalized type of “virtualized” organization that is not new, benign or transcendental. This type of co‐destiny, virtual organization (such as terrorist organizations and organized crime), is more reflective of enduring concerns and contemporary purposes fundamental to what organizations make visible or render invisible.

This paper presents an innovative and critical examination of the collusion between neo‐liberal and postmodern thought and the practicalities, or otherwise, of designing virtual organizations. This paper should also be valuable to those concerned with the “virtuality” of terrorist and criminal organizations and the relationship between the visible and invisible aspects of organization.

Flexible organisations are widely perceived to be essential in sustaining competitive advantage in an uncertain world, where innovation is explosive and coming from unexpected directions, where consumer preferences change rapidly and where global competition is increasingly the rule. Empowered teams are a major part of the current shift towards flexible organisations, but so far relatively little attention has been paid either to the impact that this will have on accounting controls or on the appropriateness of traditional measures of performance. This paper explores alternative models of teamworking and uses evidence from three actual cases to point to both problems and potential solutions.

There are different models to measure the effect of intellectual capital on firm performance. These models depend on different dimensions of intellectual capital, the interrelations between them and the effects on performance. It is important to analyze several specificities in small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in developing countries. This paper aims to test diverse models to verify the previously mentioned relations applied to wood manufacturer SMEs of Oberá (Argentina).

A global model including the variables used in the previous literature is used. The paper establishes hypotheses for testing this model and us PLS technique to estimate the parameters of the model in a sample of 113 wood manufacturer SMEs in Oberá (Argentina).

The only dimension of intellectual capital directly affecting performance is structural capital. The other dimensions exert an indirect effect through structural capital.

The model does not use all the possible variables to characterize intellectual capital. The causality elements cannot be verified in a temporary horizon because the data are cross‐sectional. In addition, when making reference to data of a particular period of time, there may be causes that imply relations of accidental type. Moreover, the measures used were subjective. This paper only studies the SMEs of the Argentine wood industry.

The paper offers several suggestions to implement strategies for local SMEs and to support aid to projects for developing countries.

The paper tests different models to analyze the impact of dimensions of intellectual capital on performance in SMEs of developing countries and provides information on the wood manufacturer SMEs in Argentina.