Notes that as interest in the study of complex systems has grown, a new vocabulary is emerging to describe discoveries about wide‐ranging and fundamental phenomena. Argues that a…
Abstract
Notes that as interest in the study of complex systems has grown, a new vocabulary is emerging to describe discoveries about wide‐ranging and fundamental phenomena. Argues that a shared language based on the vocabulary of complexity can have an important role in a management context. Considers the need to identify value‐added knowledge and suggests that language and metaphor are the key tools for such identification. Looks at the distinction between value‐added investments in knowledge and in infrastructure and the extent to which complexity metaphors can contribute in these areas. Presents several case studies illustrating the role of complexity metaphors.
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What is systemicity and what is its relationship to third-generation cybernetics, will be explored here. I begin where my published work in social complexity theory let off: What…
Abstract
What is systemicity and what is its relationship to third-generation cybernetics, will be explored here. I begin where my published work in social complexity theory let off: What is the benefit of studying experienced emergence versus attributed emergence? And how do we account for researcher reflexivity in the study of emergence? Is systemicity really an ontological given; that is, an inevitability of any rigorous relational position? Or, is it more an accompaniment to a layered (physical, life, social) epistemology? Or, is systemicity an invitation to acknowledge the ontological limits of perception, cognition, and truth? And finally, assuming that systemicity represents third-generation cybernetics, where and how in organizational studies do we recognize our own reflexivity and relation to what we study, to whom we address our ideas, and how we communicate?
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Briefly reviews knowledge management (KM) and its development from concept to core competence. Shows how knowledge management is the tool that really enables organizations to…
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Briefly reviews knowledge management (KM) and its development from concept to core competence. Shows how knowledge management is the tool that really enables organizations to “work smarter.” Works through the steps of the KM project lifecycle. Details the KM proposal development process and the elements and method for a truly successful KM project application. Emphasises the importance of knowledge validation. Reviews some organizations that are using KM successfully.
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Michael Gibbert, Marius Leibold and Sven Voelpel
The paper proposes an approach through which incumbent enterprises can rejuvenate the value of their IC through “real time” co‐option of customer competence. In contrast to extant…
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The paper proposes an approach through which incumbent enterprises can rejuvenate the value of their IC through “real time” co‐option of customer competence. In contrast to extant research evidence, the integration of customer competence is viewed not only as a means to renew the overall competence of the organization, but also as a method for ensuring that the IC of an enterprise does not become obsolete in a turbulent environment. The paper first describes the dilemma for incumbent firms regarding the continued relevancy (or “freshness”) of their IC. An evaluation of major concepts of customer capital as part of IC is then provided, and subsequently an approach for real time validation of IC through co‐option of customer competence is proposed, with application in a global telecommunications corporation. Finally, conclusions are drawn and further research efforts suggested.
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This month's Stack is comprised of two books on complexity theory, two on IBM's Lou Gerstner, and an odd man out on straight strategy.
The key ideas of cybernetics have remained unknown or misunderstood by contemporary technological societies. The purpose of this paper is to consider how best to assist…
Abstract
Purpose
The key ideas of cybernetics have remained unknown or misunderstood by contemporary technological societies. The purpose of this paper is to consider how best to assist individuals outside the cybernetics and systems communities in learning key concepts of cybernetics.
Design/methodology/approach
The main approach used to make this case is consideration of how individuals can come to understand circular systems and circular causality. The paper makes a case that if we want to assist interested others in learning cybernetics, we can best do so either by identifying where interested others already have experiences that they can reinterpret in terms of causality through investigation, analysis, and conversation or by designing experiences such as interactive models and simulations that become the basis of each user’s inventing an understanding of circular causality, and then, through analysis and conversation, refining that understanding. It provides examples, in particular, the example of how learning to sail a small boat involves the sailor in creating an intuitive (and possibly formal) understanding of wind, water, and boat as elements of a circular system. The paper considers the ethics of assisting others in learning cybernetic concepts such as circular causality.
Findings
The paper provides an approach to understanding cybernetic concepts that can be used with students and adults of all ages.
Research limitations/implications
This paper ties together theoretical and practical considerations from a constructivist viewpoint.
Practical implications
Through the development of the example of the Greek helmsman, the kybernetes, the paper provides a point of departure for those in the cybernetics and systems communities involved in designing teacher-based or web-based materials for cybernetics.
Originality/value
The paper has value as a guide to practice.
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While the literature has emphasized the literal and the narrative within organizations, this article will consider the visual and the imaginal. Organizations are known and…
Abstract
While the literature has emphasized the literal and the narrative within organizations, this article will consider the visual and the imaginal. Organizations are known and experienced through images, and these images must be considered if organizational culture is to be understood or changed. We look at the imaginal inventory provided by classical mythology, with special reference to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and explore the potency and persistence of myth in imaginal terms and introduce the concept of the “voice of the shuttle”, which imprints events within the metaphorical weave of the mythical narrative. This “voice”, always present in organizations, leaves significant and revealing images on the cultural fabric. We try to understand these images through the experiences of an organizational participant and of students trying to make sense of their college culture.