System or Process? A Meta-theoretical Reflection on the Nature of the Firm

The paper revisits the fundamental question of the nature of the firm by contrasting two philosophic worldviews suggested by process philosophy and the Luhmannian systems theory. Whereas the former worldview takes reality to be internally related, the latter ones underscores the tendency of social systems, such as firms, to disregard much of this interrelatedness. The productive tension between these worldviews suggests that the firm provides a context where systemic imperatives meet the rich concrete reality of human life. The role of the firm is to house those aspects of this reality that are too organic to be accommodated by the abstract “language of prices” corresponding, in institutional economics terms, to the reliance on market governance. The major examples of these aspects explored in the paper are dynamic capabilities and business ethics, both of which hold the potential to improve the firm’s sustainability, both economic and social. The proposed contrast between the process-philosophic and systems-theoretic worldviews thus illuminates not only the nature of the firm but also the managerial relevance of corporate sustainability instruments.

     

关键核心技术及其攻关策略研究——基于产业链供应链安全稳定视角

突破关键核心技术，提升我国重要产业链供应链的安全稳定性，是事关国家安全和高质量发展全局的重大战略任务。考虑我国这类后发国家的发展现实，分别从产业发展和国家间竞争视角诠释了关键核心技术的概念和特点，厘清了“卡人”和“被卡”“我无人有”与“我有人优”等不同类型的关键核心技术；分析了提升产业链供应链安全稳定性的途径及其相应的关键核心技术攻关任务，明确需要同时推进“卡人”和“被卡”两类关键核心技术攻关。最后，提出了通过开发自主品牌高档新产品、替代性新产品、颠覆性新产品和全新产品等多类新产品带动不同类型关键核心技术攻关的策略。     

内地与香港主流意识形态比较研究

内地以中国特色社会主义理论为主流意识形态，香港将自由主义视为主流意识形态，它们都具有多元、异质的特点，都注重发挥其合法性功能和培育其经济价值观念。内地与香港主流意识形态的不同点在于主流意识形态的指导思想不同，对主流意识形态功能与作用的看法不同，主流意识形态与其它社会思潮的关系不同。     

智能制造企业创新关联网络结构对技术生态位的影响

以中国智能制造上市企业2015～2020年发明专利授权数为样本,运用社会网络分析方法揭示智能制造企业创新关联网络演化规律。通过回归分析,研究智能制造企业创新关联网络结构与技术生态位“态”和技术生态位“势”的关系。研究发现：智能制造企业创新关联网络关系显著,且关联趋向紧密。网络度数中心度与技术生态位“态”、技术生态位“势”均呈显著的倒U关系;关系强度与技术生态位“态”、技术生态位“势”均呈显著的倒U关系;结构洞与技术生态位“态”的关系呈正线性相关关系。智能制造企业起步阶段,政府要发挥政策引导作用,鼓励更多企业投入到智能制造企业相关领域,促进其创新关联网络的发展。在发展阶段,提高网络度数中心度、结构洞和关系强度,避免由于过于分散降低智能制造企业创新能力。在成熟阶段,剔除冗余联系,获取有效的网络资源,优化网络结构,进一步保证智能制造企业的创新能力。     

Mutual causality in developing countries

Deviation-amplifying mutual causal systems provide a framework for the analysis of a number of problems that characterize developing countries. This paper presents several examples of such cause-effect loops and shows that the difficulty with developing countries is a “vicious circle of vicious circles” or a “system of deviation-amplifying mutual causal systems.”     

Complexity and systems thinking in futures research: From “neutral” scenarios to value considerations

Futures research can be defined as the study of the present from a point of view of a special interest in comprehending the future. The basic features of futures research include multidisciplinarity and normativity, as well as interest in studying “trend breaks” and new phenomena in social development. In practice these requirements are seldom fulfilled, and a search for a new “paradigm” for futures research has been going on for some years. The implications of the newly arisen “complexity” discussion seem to offer some new perspectives to tackle the short-comings of futures research. Especially the idea of multiverse of realities, “holistic” systems thinking, and irreversibility and randomness seen as inherent parts of social development can be considered as highly valuable to the methodological development of futures research. When taking into consideration these implications it is justified to speak of a transition from the ordinary scenario thinking to the idea of “making the future” in futures research.     

Operationalising “Double-Loop” Learning in Service Organisations: A Systems Approach for Creating Knowledge

Learning organisation literature has widely discussed the connections between “double-loop” learning and its significance to organisational performance, but paying little attention to tools and systems that can operationalise “double-loop” learning in organisations. This paper investigates the impact of applying a systems approach for service operations design, expressed as the Vanguard Method (Seddon, Freedom from command and control: a better way to make the work work, 2003), in order to activate “double-loop” learning in service organisations. Two case studies were conducted in the banking mortgage operations and adults’ social care services in the UK, using the dimensions of the learning organisation questionnaire (DLOQ), semi-structured interviews, observations, and documents. The findings of the cross-case analysis support the link of applying the Vanguard Method with operationalising “double-loop” learning through three main factors, namely systematic-operations improvement, organisational capacity development, and outside-in mode of work; that are all embedded into the seven dimensions of the DLOQ. The value of this paper is the introduction of a service operations design tool that can activate “double-loop” learning performance in the fast changing knowledge era. It also provides an impetus for service organisations to creatively influence employees’ competencies to effectively improve internal systems.     

An introduction to autopoiesis—Implications and applications

Maturana and Varela have developed a theory to explain the particular character of living systems. Such systems, they claim, have an “autopoietic,” or self-producing, organization. This term is now used widely, although often without a proper understanding of the detail of the theory. Moreover, the concept has been applied to other systems, such as societies and institutions, in a rather naïve manner. It is a very important theory, with far-reaching consequences both for science and for social intervention, but it must be correctly appreciated and applied. The aim of this paper is to aid that process by, first, elucidating the theoretical ideas and, second, critically evaluating its implications and applications.     

公共交通设施规模对绿色经济效率的影响

公共交通与人们的生产和生活息息相关，是城市经济发展的“动脉”。基于“公交优先”背景，利用2004~2016年中国265个地级及以上城市的面板数据，实证考察公共交通设施规模对绿色经济效率的影响作用。结果表明：公共交通设施规模与绿色经济效率之间存在显著的“U型”曲线关系；相对西部地区，两者之间的“U型”曲线关系在东部和中部地区表现更为明显；相对中等城市，两者之间的“U型”曲线关系在大城市表现更为明显，而在小城市呈“倒U型”曲线关系，且不显著。本研究为交通基础设施影响城市经济发展提供了新的证据和视角。     

Conceptions of ideology: An exegesis and critique

Conceptions of ideology exhibit an awesome diversity. From an exegesis of nine different conceptions, this paper argues that it is the historical materialist view of ideology that reflects its specificity as a critical concept. From exegesis, the paper moves to diagnosis, using the critical idea that it is the systematic concealment of social contradictions that defines the ideological dis-ease. Thus, the positivist hard systems approach is found to suffer from the ideology of economic individualism. The structuralist hard systems approach suffers from the ideology of sociological unitarism. The soft systems approach suffers from the ideology of naturalism, thereby laying itself open, by default, to ideological penetration, especially of the sociological unitarist type. In programmatic terms, this unmasking of ideologies in the interest of enlightenment is one of the necessary functions for the liberation of systems theory.     

The institution as an “Ideological system”: How morals maketh organization

A dominant current view of institutions sees them as task-performing entities and hence views improvements and change as functional in nature. Systems views of managing change in institutions are particularly guilty of adopting this view. Recommendations for change take the form of improving the task and organization structures to make the functions more efficient and effective in performance. This paper argues that such a functionalist view of an institution is limited and can be dangerous when considering recommendations for change. A different view of an institution is proposed. This view is interpretivist and uses the notion of organizational culture to show how institutions may be usefully viewed through the notion of “ideological system.” The theoretical framework for this notion is that of institutional members sharing and developing a common interpretive schema and exploiting this in their making of judgments about appropriate and inappropriate actions and change. This framework is then developed into the view that ideologies express the morals of institutional life and that so-called functional activities can be seen as essentially moral in action and intention. It is the symbolic nature of such moralities that allows the institutional life to be understood by its members and decisions to be made about what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior. The argument is made that this view of organizations is fundamentally important in analysis so that prioritization decisions can be understood and appropriate recommendations for change can be made. This paper shows how systems approaches can be used from this framework but that a different notion of institution, and hence change, needs to be adopted. An interpretative approach to organizational analysis is then developed and presented. Reference is made to various cases to illustrate the argument.     

Assumptional analysis: An elucidation and appraisal for systems practitioners

The purpose of this paper is to review the ‘assumptional analysis’ methodology developed by R. O. Mason and I. I. Mitroff. The importance of this approach is that it was primarily constructed to deal with ill-structured problems at the strategic level in social systems. The 1980s has seen systems practitioners demonstrating an increased interest in exactly this type of problem. The principles and procedures of the approach are set out, its use in three organisations described, and an assessment of its potential contribution to systems practice provided.     

Morality materialized: Notes on public prevention as a policy system

Public prevention is discussed as a policy system that owes its coherence to a number of “constitutive principles” rather than to an institutional fabric of its own. Notions from Luhmann's autopoietic social systems theory are combined with some recent developments in discourse analysis to outline this discussion theoretically. As to the constitutive principles, first, it is argued that public prevention is negatively constituted by its divorce from the regular healthcare system. Second, it is demonstrated that the constitutive principles of the public prevention system itself stem from the basic insecurities of this type of social policy. Public prevention strategies always have to impose themselves on existing (social) policy fields, and, more importantly, they often intrude upon people's private lives. That is why they tend to locate responsibility “outside,” moralizing the environment and moralizing things.     

The Similar Structures and Control Problems of Complex Systems

1 Introduction1 We consider the naturally evolving complex systems, such as biotic and social systems. In their evolving process, they always make up their weaknesses and develop their favorable factors. In such a way, their structures are gradually formed. In the structures of these systems, a feature is noteworthy, i.e., the local(partial) structure is similar to the global(overall). For social systems, for instance, in a country, the management organization of a province is similar to tha…     

Control,organization, and accounting: A genealogy of modern knowledge-power

Much social scientizing tends to be ahistorical, particularly with regard to its fundamental terms and constructs, which are implicitly defined atemporally as simply “being there,” the givens of discourse. The history of two such terms, “control” and “organization,” is investigated here. In an elaboration of Foucault's idea of power-knowledge relations, a two-stage history of the terms is set out linked to the historical emergence of accounting. In the first stage, the initial invention of the terms in the thirteenth century is aligned with the contemporaneous invention of the doubleentry system, with all these innovations embodying a new power of writing. However the constructs only develop their modern significance as forms of knowledge-power at a much later stage, following the establishment of a “disciplinary” power-knowledge nexus post-1800. Under this interpretation, accounting, control, and organization, far from being ahistorical givens of discourse, are constructs which help establish the modern world of “disciplinary,” that site where the power of expert knowledge must operate.     

Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Nurses in Turkish Hospitals

Electronic medical records (EMR) are generally used by nurses in hospitals. However, studies investigating views on and evaluations of EMR by nurses are limited in Turkey and in other countries around the world. In this study, nurses’ views on EMR systems were investigated in terms of “Nursing care management”, “Order entry”, “Information Management”, “Information quality”, “Service quality”, “Impact of EMR system on clinical care”. The purpose of this study was to investigate the views/perceptions on EMR used by nurses working at hospital clinics in Turkey. The research questions were: (a) What are nurses’ perceptions on EMR? (b) Were there relationships among nurses’ perceptions on EMR? (c) Were there differences among nurses’ perceptions on EMR according to hospitals in Turkey. This study is composed of field research conducted using questionnaires. To prepare the data-measuring instrument, the literature on EMR was reviewed. A Likert scale type was used in this questionnaire. The study was planned and conducted on nurses working at inpatient care units at four Turkish hospitals. At the end of this study, the questionnaire had been conducted on 517 nurses. Total response rate is 66.70 %. We found that the Information quality of EMR, impact of EMR system on clinical care and service quality were high level. Information quality has the highest mean score. EMR system is an important system for nurses’ hospital has the highest mean score in this study. Nurses feel about impact of EMR system on clinical care that generally ‘EMR system’s usefulness’, ‘improving quality of information due to EMR system’, ‘improving quality of nurses’ work’, ‘improving quality of information due to EMR system’. All of the six subscales of EMR were positively correlated with each other. This study revealed that there are significant differences among the mean scores for six subscales according to the ownership of hospitals. EMR systems were not well integrated into their workflow. In addition, half of all respondents had not been trained in using EMR systems. This study will added to evaluation views and assessments of nurses about EMR literature. The results will assist in determining “Information quality”, “Service quality”, of EMR, and “Impact of EMR system on clinical for nurses in Turkish health system”. This survey suggests that nurses favor the use of an EMR and suggests opportunities for EMR enhancement.     

Migration, Ethnicity and Privilege

Representation assumes that those who govern have knowledge of those for whom they govern. It is easy to presume knowledge of the “other”, but as we know this can be based in prejudice, cultural difference, or simply misinformation or simplification. Usually our explorations of this process have focused on populations identified as disadvantaged, disempowered or somehow “non-privileged”. However, the research process outlined here has revealed previously unexplored diversity within a population commonly described as privileged suggesting that good governance requires alertness to presuming to know both the unprivileged and the privileged. The research approach outlined in this paper has used a blend of historical reappraisal and qualitative techniques focusing on a population who have been conceptualized as doubly privileged. This population focus is that of older British; post World War II male migrants in South Australia. These people have been conceptualized as privileged because they are male, and they were part of the preferred ethnic group that Australian politicians and policy makers favoured post WW2. However, review of the historical data and qualitative interviews with some of these men show that the accepted narrative of a homogenous pre-WW2 British origin population is over simplistic. The historical research suggests that the presumption that post WW2 British migrant men were coming into an homogenous, privileging environment in migrating to SA is both ahistorical and crude. Furthermore the belief that post WW2 British migrant men were ethnically homogenous is undermined by the qualitative research, that reveals that their presumed homogeneity is much more fluid and nuanced than dominant conceptualisations have allowed. The impact of core ethnicities that continue to exist and compete in Britain, the social class focus and economic commodification of migrants in the machinations of powerful players in the state of South Australia all confound homogenizing, simplistic knowing of British migrant men in this state. Generically these findings caution social researchers with regard to presuming to know so called “privileged” populations as well as presumed non-privileged groups.