Engineering culture : culture and control in a high-tech organization

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1987.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY.Bibliography: leaves 267-272.by Gideon Kunda.Ph.D

Creativity out of chaos

Creativity is said to be highly desired in post-modern and post-industrial organizations Creativity and anarchy on the one hand, and managerialism, on the other, can be seen as different forms of knowledge, two opposed ideals. In many organizational as well as societal reforms we currently observe it is the managerialist ideal that wins over the anarchic. In this paper, we wonder if people fear anarchy? We reflect on the possible reasons for the fear, and we also try to explain why we believe that anarchic organizing should not be avoided or feared

Everyday Secrecy:Boundaries of Confidential Gossip

Gossip is an everyday part of organizational life and has been increasingly researched. However, some gossip has a particular character, whereby it is to some degree secret. Drawing on studies of both gossip and secrecy, in this paper we explore this ‘confidential gossip’ via a participant observation case study. This was based on an internship with Quinza, a British media company, and had a covert element which is discussed and justified. Specifically, we show how the boundaries around confidential gossip are marked in organizational interactions. The paper contributes to existing knowledge about organizational gossip by showing the particular significance of secrecy which makes confidential gossip a more potent source of group inclusion and exclusion

The mechanics of mitotic cell rounding

When animal cells enter mitosis, they round up to become spherical. This shape change is accompanied by changes in mechanical properties. Multiple studies using different measurement methods have revealed that cell surface tension, intracellular pressure and cortical stiffness increase upon entry into mitosis. These cell-scale, biophysical changes are driven by alterations in the composition and architecture of the contractile acto-myosin cortex together with osmotic swelling and enable a mitotic cell to exert force against the environment. When the ability of cells to round is limited, for example by physical confinement, cells suffer severe defects in spindle assembly and cell division. The requirement to push against the environment to create space for spindle formation is especially important for cells dividing in tissues. Here we summarize the evidence and the tools used to show that cells exert rounding forces in mitosis in vitro and in vivo, review the molecular basis for this force generation and discuss its function for ensuring successful cell division in single cells and for cells dividing in normal or diseased tissues

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Plan y dedicación: oleadas de las ideologías de control normativo y racional en el discurso administrativo

El presente documento desafía la noción corriente según la cual el discurso administrativo norteamericano se ha desplazado progresivamente desde un plano coercitivo a uno racional y, finalmente, a una retórica de control normativa. Los datos históricos sugieren que desde la década de 1870 este discurso administrativo ha sido elaborado en oleadas que han alternado entre las retóricas racional y normativa. Esbozamos las oleadas y contracciones que se han presentado en la retórica del mejoramiento industrial, la administración científica, las relaciones humanas frente al capitalismo de bienestar, el racionalismo de los sistemas y la calidad frente a la cultura organizacional. Las teorías clásicas acerca del cambio ideológico han mostrado ser inadecuadas para explicar el modelo general y la duración de las oleadas. En este trabajo proponemos y encontramos apoyo preliminar para una teoría que combina las imposiciones culturales y las fuerzas materiales. Específicamente, la tendencia para que las oleadas innovadoras de teorización administrativa alternen entre la retórica de control racional y la normativa parece estar arraigada en antinomias culturales básicas para todas las sociedades industriales occidentales: la oposición entre la solidaridad mecanicista y la orgánica y entre el comunalismo y el individualismo. La duración de cada nueva ola se muestra en forma paralela a los amplios ciclos de expansión y contracción económica