The coming crisis of western management education

The aim of this paper is to explore the contention that Western Management Education has entered a period of “crisis” and to examine the implications of such a development. Drawing on historical studies of management education in America and Europe, four modes of management “formation” are identified, each of which has been dominant in a particular period. From its preparadigmatic beginnings management education has been successively transformed under an “old” and latterly a “new” paradigm. Current changes in and critiques of the “new” paradigm imply that Western Management Education is entering a postparadigmatic mode. The implications of this postparadigmatic turn are considered in relation to management practice, management knowledge, and management “formation.” An earlier version of this paper was presented to the Annual Conference of the British Academy of Management, Aston University, Birmingham, September 16–18, 1996.     

Practicality, Positionality, and Emancipation: Reflections on Participatory Action Research with a Watershed Partnership

In the last few decades, there has been a trend towards increased stakeholder and public participation in natural resource management in North America. To a certain extent, the rationale for this trend is found in the complexity and uncertainty of environmental issues, which confront us with the coexistance of multiple legitimate values and perspectives in society. Recognizing this “epistemological plurality” has important implications for both policy and science. In this paper, I critically reflect on my experiences as a doctoral student engaged in participatory action research (PAR) with a watershed partnership in Ontario, Canada. In providing this biographical account, I seek to make a contribution to ongoing discussions regarding the nature, challenges and benefits of this methodological approach for academic research, as well as to emerging debates on PAR in the context of environmental governance and “post-normal” approaches to natural resource management.

The Japanese dilemmas of modernity: Negative ideology or neopositive ideology?

Japan's postwar economic “miracle” has attracted much attention. The question is whether the miracle arises from the “unique” and enigmatic nature of the Japanese culture. This paper presents Weber's views of modernity and Habermas's reconstruction of Weber's negative view of modernity. Then the paper turns to Habermas's theory of communicative action, especially, his two-level concept of society integrating the lifeworld and system, and his critical theory of modernity, which analyzes and accounts for its sociopathologies. Then the paper proceeds to argue that Japan's modernity was born, not out of disenchantment, but out of reenchantment, with the concimitant consequence in neopositive ideologies through which the system colonized the lifeworld, leading to imprisonment in a “soft” iron cage.     

From Cybernetics and VSD to Management and Action

This paper uses Stafford Beer's Viable Systems Diagnosis (VSD) to suggest that the development of a model for actionable theory in organizations would take the form of a three-step process. The first step involves the definition and explanation of an appropriate theory base, the second theory interpretation into a coherent set of action principles and the third contextual action in organizations. We contend that even for a well-informed and widely read manager gleaning the theoretical basis for this process from the recognized Beer trilogy “Brain of the Firm,” “The Heart of the Enterprise” and “Diagnosing the System” is difficult to justify in terms of time, understanding, and action. We maintain that a sound set of action principles emanating from Beer's primary work must be considered before tackling the noted trilogy. We use Beer's initial text “Cybernetics and Management” to trace some fundamental operational research and the interdisciplinary tripartite science of cybernetics. We commence our action model process with some introductory thoughts into operational research, cybernetics, VSD, and contextual action. Our first step toward action involves some primary definitions and principles of cybernetic theory and the prospect of controlling overwhelming variety. Our second step provides our set of coherent potential action principles fundamental to cybernetic theory. The paper is written in a journalistic rather than academic style reflecting the need to couch the interpretation of the theory in a language that the well-informed manager may readily translate into third step contextual practice.     

Enhancing Collaborative Learning in a Blended Learning Environment: Applying a Process Planning Model

The research reported here was undertaken in a blended learning environment where contact tuition is “blended” with computer-supported (online) learning. The context is a developing country (South Africa). After completion of two full cycles of an action inquiry the planning for the third cycle was undertaken according to an existing process planning model which was originally developed for the design and planning of team-based action learning and action research (ALAR) projects. The illustration of the application of the model focuses on the aspect of student collaboration in a blended learning environment and shows how the original process planning model was adapted and applied during the re-planning phase of the project. The final deliverable is a set of action plans for future collaborative learning that could strengthen student-centred learning experiences in a context which still bears the scars of an unfortunate segregated past.     

Going Green from the Inside: Insider Action Research at the Volvo Car Corporation

Various forms of action research have been proposed as remedies for the one-sided focus on theoretical interests existing in Business School research. Among other conceptual elaborations, Insider Action Research (IAR) suggests that action research needs to be supported by an insider's view of activities in order to achieve any substantial contribution to practice and theory. Even though the IAR model is potentially capable of overcoming a number of practical, political, and epistemological problems, it has been explored relatively little in terms of practical examples and lessons. This paper presents the account of an Insider Action researcher at the Volvo Car Corporation, aimed at studying the development of environmental strategies and “eco-benign” automobiles “from the inside”. The paper suggests that even though IAR remains a promising model, the political ingenuity and savoir-faire of the insider action researcher must not be underrated.

Action Learning as a Mindset—The Evolution of PICCO

This paper investigates action learning as a maintenance of mindset. It is an account of a personal evolution from a 4-year work in progress Action Research (AR) study exploring organizational viability. That study, involving two separate organizations and four cycles of AR, has seen the researcher and to some extent the organizations develop action-learning mindsets. The paper is an attempt to step outside the study and its associated learning from an organizational perspective and to link the threads of learning from the mindset of an action researcher. The paper suggests that adopting the mindset of an action researcher favors the transfer of learning from one organizational situation to another. Advocating that action researchers do not restart their initial methodologies, it is contended that the second organization has gained advantage of learning from the first. It is concluded that action learning mindsets articulate cumulative wisdom from organizational and methodological perspectives.     

STUDIES ON HORIZONTAL COMPETITION AMONG HOMOGENOUS RETAILERS THROUGH AGENT-BASED SIMULATION

1. Introduction A supply chain is a network composed osuppliers, manufacturers, retailers, etc., whichcooperate to offer a kind of goods or servicesThese supply chain members cooperate andcompete with each other to maximize theiown profits. For example,…     

Reflection on the Purposes of Research,Action, and Scholarship: A Case of Cross-Cultural Participatory Action Research

Beginning with some basic principles of participatory action research, the author draws upon personal experience to identify the ways in which the experience of the practice of participatory action research creates forms of publication somewhat different in intent and nature from conventional forms of research. The experience selected involves cross-cultural research, and the particular problems of representation of the other in such settings are engaged. The overall experience is then drawn upon to identify some of the key qualities of action research which differ both from other forms of research and from some of the advocacies for action research.     

Environmental Paradigms,Biodiversity Conservation,and Critical Systems Thinking

In 1994 Gerald Midgley addressed the issue of the boundary implications of two different paradigms of thought about the environment, namely, humanis and the ecological perspective The distinction that he makes is important because it draws attention to the value implications of an uncritical acceptance of boundaries around human interests that serves to marginalize the environment. It is argued here, however, that Midgley does not go far enough. Just as an uncritical acceptance of humanis marginalizes the environment, so an uncritical acceptance of the environmental perspectiv runs the risk of prioritizing some elements of the environment over others, e.g., the interests of individual animals over species or over ecosystems. This paper seeks to correct this limitation in Midgleys account by developing a more sophisticated framework of environmental paradigms: a framework that can be used to clarify the values of stakeholders in critical systems interventions involving the management of biodiversity.     

Technical Note ：SINGLE-PERIOD TWO-PRODUCT INVENTORY MODEL WITH SUBSTITUTION： SOLUTION AND PROPERTIES

In this paper, we study a single-period two-product inventory model with stochastic demands and downward substitution. The optimal order quantities are presented and some properties are provided. Comparing with newsboy model, we prove that both the profit and the fill rate can be improved by using the substitution policy. This work was supported partly by NSFC/RGC Joint Research Program under grant 79910161987 and the National Science Foundation of China (79825102, 70231010, 70321001). Lianqiao CAI is lecturer of School of International Business, Beijing Foreign Studies University. He received his B.S. and M.S. from School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, in 1995 and 1998, and Ph.D of Management Science from Tsinghua University in 2002. His research areas include supply chain management, optimization techniques. Jian Chen is Professor and Chairman of the Management Science Department and co-director of the Research Center for Contemporary Management, Tsinghua University. He has over 80 papers published in some leading international journals and first class Chinese journals, and has been a principal investigator for over 20 grants or research contracts with National Science Foundation of China, governmental organizations, and companies. His main research interests include supply chain management, E-commerce, modeling and control for complex systems, decision support systems and information systems, and forecast and optimization techniques. He serves as associate editor of the “IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Part A” and “IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Part C”, and on the Editorial Board of “The International Journal of Electronic Business” and “System Research and Behavioral Science”. He is the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution Award of IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society in 1996, and the Young Scientist Award of China in 1992. He was Secretary General of the 1996 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics in Beijing, Co-chair of the IPC of 1998 International Conference on Systems Science and Systems Engineering, Chair of the First Asian eBiz Workshop in 2001, Co-chair of the Asian eBiz Workshop in 2002 and 2003, and Co-chair of the international conference on Global Supply Chain Management in 2002. Houmin Yan received his B.S. and M.S. from the Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, in 1982 and 1985, respectively, and his Ph.D. from the Faculty of Management, University of Toronto in 1993. From Jan. 1994, he is with the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, the Chinese University of Hong Kong as an Assistance, Associate and Full Professor. He was a tenured Associate Professor at School of Management, the Univ. of Texas at Dallas. His main research areas are operations management, stochastic models, simulations, and supply chain management. He has published in journals such as Operations Research, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, Journal of Optimization: Theory and Applications, IIE Transactions and IEEE Transactions. He consults several high-tech companies, such as Motorola, C&K Systems, and Oriental Power, on issues spanning from production planning and scheduling, supply chain management to business process re-engineering. He is a member of INFORMS.     

Developing the methodology of TSI: From the oblique use of methods to creative design

During the last 13 years, a dialogue has been conducted in the Critical Systems literature on the subject of choice betwen methods. However, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, researchers went in two separate directions. One direction involved an exploration of the “creative design of methods.” This is when the problem situation is understood in terms of a series of systemically interrelated research questions, each of which might need to be addressed using a different method, or part of a method. A synthesis is generated that allows each individual research question to be addressed as part of a whole system of questions. The other research direction involved the development of “Total Systems Intervention” (TSI), a meta-methodology that, amongst other things, encourages the creative exploration of the problem situation prior to the choice of methods. One of the latest innovations in TSI is a theory of the “oblique” use of methods. This is the use of methods for purposes other than those they were originally designed for. However, it is argued here that all the case studies that have been subject to an “oblique” interpretation can be better explained if they are seen as examples of the creative design of methods. We can therefore bring together the two strands of research that have hitherto been pursued separately in the Critical Systems literature. it is suggested that TSI can be enhanced by an understanding of the creative design of methods because the latter allows us to explain the purposive, flexible, and responsive way in which TSI is most successfully used in practice.     

The business team standard: A means of improving the effectiveness of individual businesses in a multibusiness corporation

The paper describes a project carried out within a major chemicals corporation to improve the performance of the individual businesses. This was to be done by clarifying some of the organisational uncertainties in its structure and improving the way that specialists form coalitions to address market challenges together. The approach used was based on “systems thinking”, which is an intellectual framework of knowledge that attempts to view organisations as wholes and which studies the processes of change in any part in the context of the whole organisation. Some of the important concepts of systems thinking are explored as they might be applied within a business organisation. Specifically the tool used was the Viable System Model of Stafford Beer, which the authors interpreted and developed into a set of statements (“a Standard”) which describe best practice in such organisations. Managers have used this to explore possible gaps in their organisations and, with this understanding, find ways to improve performance.     

Europe as a Knowledge Society: Integrating Universities,Corporations, and Government

Europe is introduced as a knowledge society, with an emphasis on the strategic role of European Commission Framework Programmes as central to the European Project. This introduces changes to traditional nationally based and discipline oriented approaches to the roles of universities, corporations, and governments, which are illustrated through the case of the Centre for Working Life research at Kingston Business School. It is argued that discussion of the new production of knowledge needs to be complemented by encouragement of participative action research.     

A MODEL FOR THE ＂MAXIMUM CAPACITY＂ OF ROOMS OR OF SPACE

A discrete optimum mathematical model to derive the “maximum capacity“ of people in a room or in a space used for public gatherings is developed. There are two outcomes in the model. One is focused on whether the person farthest from exits can escape from the room. The other concentrates On the evacuation time of all the people in the room. According to the results of the two outcomes, a more reasonable “maximum capacity“ can be worked out in a simple way.     

Group contingency test for two or several independent samples

This paper proposes a new and distribution-free test called “Group Contingency” test (GC, for short) for testing two or several independent samples. Compared with traditional nonparametric tests, GC test tends to explore more information based on samples, and it’s location-, scale-, and shapesensitive. The authors conduct some simulation studies comparing GC test with Wilcoxon rank sum test (W), Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (KS) and Wald-Wolfowitz runs test (WW) for two sample case, and with Kruskal-Wallis (KW) for testing several samples. Simulation results reveal that GC test usually outperforms other methods.     

Interval Time Series Analysis with an Application to the Sterling-Dollar Exchange Rate

Traditional econometrics has long employed ＂points＂ to measure time series data. In real life situations, however, it suffers the loss of volatility information, since many variables are bounded by intervals in a given period. To address this issue, this paper provides a new methodology for interval time series analysis. The concept of ＂interval stochastic process＂ is formally defined as a counterpart of ＂stochastic process＂ in point-based econometrics. The authors introduce the concepts of interval stationarity, interval statistics （including interval mean, interval variance, etc.） and propose an interval linear model to investigate the dynamic relationships between interval processes. A new interval-based optimization approach for estimation is proposed, and corresponding evaluation criteria are derived. To demonstrate that the new interval method provides valid results, an empirical example on the sterling-dollar exchange rate is presented.     

“EII META—MODEL” ON INTEGRATION FRAMEWORK FOR VIABLE ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS——CITY PLANNING METAPHOR BASED ON STRUCTURAL SIMILARITY

Enterprise systems must have the structure to adapt the change of business environment.When rebuilding enterprise system to meet the extended operational boundaries,the concept of IT city planning is applicable and effective.The aim of this paper is to describe the architectural approach from the integrated imformation infrastructure(In3) standpoint and to propose for applying the “City Planning” concept for rebuilding “inter-application spaghetti” enterprise systems.This is mainly because the portion of infrastructure has increased with the change of information systems from centralized systems to distributed and open systems.As enterprise systems have involved heterogeneity or architectural black box in them,it may be required the integration framework (meta-architecture)as a discipline based on heterogeneity that can provide comprehensive view of the enterprise systems.This paper proposes “EII Meta-model” as the integration framework that can optimize the overall enterprise systems from the IT city planning point of view.EII Meta-model consists of “Integrated Information Infrastructure Map(In3-Map)”,“Service·Framework” and “IT Scenario”.It would be applicable and effective for the viable enterprise,because it has the mechanism to adapt the change.Finally,we illustrate a case of information system in an online securities company and demonstrate spplicability and effectiveness of EII Meta-model to meet their business goals.     

Power,Conflicts, and Resolutions: A Change Agent's Perspective on Conducting Action Research Within a Multiorganizational Partnership

Partnership has become the watchword of government policy over the past 10 years. It is a politically expedient solution to a wide range of complex public policy issues. Although examined in the literature from the viewpoint of an external observer, there has been relatively little examination of what it means to be working in a partnership from the inside. Based on experience as a change agent and action researcher working within a multiorganizational partnership, this paper considers the dilemmas and resolutions experienced in this role. The paper provides a first person reflective account of the inherent ethical, political, and personal turmoils and issues around multilevel dynamics, role ambiguity, power games, political entrepreneurship, and shadows of the past. The paper exposes the key learning points to emerge and concludes that change agents need good support mechanisms and bestowed power in order to challenge vested and powerful interests.