Organizational zemblanity

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. We introduce the concept of zemblanity to organization studies to refer to the enactment of disaster when, in systems designed to impede risk, key actors nonetheless construct their own misfortune. The case of the Costa Concordia provides an opportunity to discuss organizational zemblanity. Active as well as passive behaviours by the Costa Concordia's Captain created a vicious circle of inappropriate decision-making with traumatic effects. These were complemented by structural elements to be found both in the individual behaviours of others (mainly, the vessel's first line of command) and the lack of other effective organizational controls, both in terms of structures and routines. As our discussion illuminates, there are two overarching elements in play: an excess of individual discretion and a lack of proper organizational controls. We go on to consider the significant implications for both theory and practice that flow from our analysis

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies: Practices for Open Organizing Across VUCA Context

Open organizations are structures in which members of the public engage in work for the organization. Examples include open-source software, Amnesty International, Wikipedia, and Lego communities. Much research focuses on structural design characteristics of open organizations, such as pre-specified task divisions and integration teams. These practices require the organization to a priori structure in response to its mission. Increasingly, however, open organizations like CrowdDoing and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HyperloopTT) require public involvement across volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous (VUCA) contexts. These open organizations must respond to changing political, competitive, and socio-economic events. Structural clarity is more difficult, and contributors may participate in the creative development of new technologies, new policies, and new sources of funding. Working from practices supporting participant engagement in more stable environments, we qualitatively observe HyperloopTT to understand internal practices for open organizing in more VUCA contexts. We observe four practices allowing for the flexibility, versatility, and accommodations needed for open organizing in such settings. The HyperloopTT practices allow more porosity and self-determination — not simply in how people divide and integrate tasks but also in the exploration and experimentation of the work itself. More than task workers, we see a new class of open organizing participants: creative work designers

Neotypification and redescription of Amanita preissii (Basidiomycota), and reconsideration of the status of A. griseibrunnea

Amanita preissii (Fr.) Sacc. is redescribed. Re-examination of collections of A. griseibrunnea O.K.Mill. show that they do not differ significantly from A. preissii and the two species are combined. This species is common in the Perth IBRA subregion. Sequence data from the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, 28S nuclear ribosomal large subunit rRNA (28S) region, RNA polymerase II (RPB2) region, β-tubulin region and translation elongation factor 1-α (EF1-α) region have been deposited in GenBank

Amanita drummondii and A. quenda (Basidiomycota), two new species from Western Australia, and an expanded description of A. walpolei

Three species of Amanita Pers. are documented from Western Australia. Amanita drummondii E.M.Davison is described from the south-west region; it appears to be widespread but infrequent. Amanita quenda E.M.Davison is described from the Perth Metropolitan area. Amanita walpolei O.K.Mill. is redescribed to include additional collections, drawing attention to the presence of clamp connections in all tissues. A BLASTn search has shown that there are no exact matches of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of each species with those in GenBank

eHydrogenation: electrochemical Hydrogen-free hydrogenation

Hydrogenation reactions are staple transformations commonly used across scientific fields to synthesise pharmaceuticals, natural products, and various functional materials. However, the vast majority of these reactions require the use of a toxic and costly catalyst leading to unpractical, hazardous and often functionally limited conditions. Herein, we report a new, general, practical, efficient, mild and high-yielding hydrogen-free electrochemical method for the reduction of alkene, alkyne, nitro and azido groups. Finally, this method has been applied to deuterium labelling

Improvising Around and About Boundaries in Open Organizations

Individuals improvise, teams improvise, organizations improvise, and collectivities improvise. Improvisation has been convincingly approached in several extant studies. Nonetheless, the dissolution of organizational boundaries in the morphing into “open organizing” creates unexplored and uncharted territories in which improvisation unfolds. In fact, the encounter between organizations that are traditionally delineated by their boundaries with unknown yet active contributors (e.g., crowd members participating in online challenges, temporary “involvees”) creates the conditions for a novel form of improvisation. This novel form takes place at the (open) gates of the organizational boundary or across multiple organizational boundaries. As in other forms of improvisation, this peripheral improvisation is not immune from dark sides. Non-employed yet involved individuals may be exposed to liminality