The geometry of Brownian surfaces

Motivated by Segal's axiom of conformal field theory, we do a survey on geometrical random fields. We do a history of continuous random fields in order to arrive at a field theoretical analog of Klauder's quantization in Hamiltonian quantum mechanic by using infinite dimensional Airault-Malliavin Brownian motion.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/154957806000000032 in the Probability Surveys (http://www.i-journals.org/ps/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Hochschild Cohomology Theories in White Noise Analysis

We show that the continuous Hochschild cohomology and the differential Hochschild cohomology of the Hida test algebra endowed with the normalized Wick product are the same.Comment: This is a contribution to the Special Issue on Deformation Quantization, published in SIGMA (Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications) at http://www.emis.de/journals/SIGMA

Knowledge Dynamics During Planning Practices

What are the dynamics of knowledge during planning practices? This research aims to analyze the nature of knowledge dynamics during planning practices. Pierre Bourdieu’s praxeology (1990, 2000) provides a fruitful framework to understand the role and the interactions between knowledge and practice. Habitus, a set of dispositions for action, offers a dynamic view of knowledge, which is permanently used, constructed and restructured during practice and for practice. This framework is mobilized through an empirical case study. Its highlights knowledge dynamics involved in planning practices: mapping the field, assigning value to practice, developing dispositions and building causal relationship on action.Bourdieu; Control; Habitus; Knowing; Learning

Knowledge Dynamics During Planning Practices

Ce papier analyse la dynamique des connaissances organisationnelles au cours de pratiques de planification. Il mobilise la notion d'habitus (Bourdieu 1990, 2000) et propose une phase empirique qualitative.Apprentissage organisationnel ; Connaissances ; Contrôle ; Planification ; Pratique

A Bourdieusian Perspective on Strategizing

The use and the study of ‘practice’ has been widely developed in organization and strategic management research as an intermediary level of analysis between individuals, organizations, market fields and institutions. Bourdieu’s work has been largely mobilized in these studies, particularly within the attempt to define practice, for example by Jarzabkowski (2004), Johnson et al. (2003), Whittington (1996, 2006), Chia and Holt (2006). However, as asserted by Chia (2004), “advocates of practice-based approaches to strategy research may have underestimated the radical implications of the work of practice social theorists such as Bourdieu […] who they rely upon to justify this turn to practice” (Chia 2004: 30). Yet, authors mainly base on the characteristics of practice and on the relation between practice and habitus to understand how individuals develop their practical capacity to strategizing, but they mainly remain at a descriptive stage. They do not take into account the complete possibilities of the framework, mainly because they neglect the concept of field, which is nevertheless essential to understand the link between individuals and action. As Bourdieu puts it, “the ‘subject’ of what is sometimes called ‘company policy’ is quite simply the field of the firm or, put it more precisely, the structure of the relation of force between the different agents that belong to the firm”(Bourdieu 2005: 69). This highlights the struggling nature of strategy as a practice, a struggle for power, a political fight over time between agents. The aim of this paper is to propose a comprehensive perspective on practice by taking into consideration the core notions of field and habitus. I propose to consider strategizing as a practice. This emphasizes the ‘doing’ of multiple agents; the embodied and tacit aspects; the symbolic violence and power issues at stake. As a consequence, strategizing refers to the practice of motivated agents engaged in struggles and to account more completely for the relation of forces (and their development) between them.Bourdieu; Domination; Field; Habitus; Managers; Practice; Strategy

Deformation Quantization by Moyal Star-Product and Stratonovich Chaos

We make a deformation quantization by Moyal star-product on a space of functions endowed with the normalized Wick product and where Stratonovich chaos are well defined

Stochastic Equivariant Cohomologies and Cyclic Cohomology

We give two stochastic diffeologies on the free loop space which allow us to define stochastic equivariant cohomology theories in the Chen-Souriau sense and to establish a link with cyclic cohomology. With the second one, we can establish a stochastic fixed point theorem.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009117905000000170 in the Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

The Social Dimensions of Idea Work in Haute Cuisine: A Bourdieusian Perspective

This paper analyzes idea work in haute cuisine through three case studies. Mobilizing Bourdieu’s praxeology, we consider idea work as a practice, an activity that takes sense and meaning in the social world. Thus, idea work reflects the position of the agent in the field and the struggles to maintain or improve this position. In grand restaurants, the chefs play a key role in idea work, even if they involve other people. Idea work is rooted in their personal experience, but is also shaped by the restaurant’ style and haute cuisine rules. Idea work relates to chefs’ reflection as well as emotions and feelings.Bourdieu; Creativity; Field; Habitus; Haute Cuisine; Gastronomy; Practice

Unpacking Knowing Integration: A Practice-based Study in Haute Cuisine

Within a practice-based approach of organizations, we explore the knowing integration phenomena at the roots of competitive advantage. While former knowing integration studies have pointed to the importance of boundary objects across occupational communities, knowing integration inside a community to ground competitive advantage remains to be explored. How do individuals integrate their knowing in practice, in complex and important situations in order to contribute to competitive advantage for the firm? We ground our analysis on the ethnographic study of performed tasks in new dishes creation in two gourmet restaurants. We trace individual knowing in this creation to highlight how a new dish emerges from knowing integration, based on our understanding of knowing as processual, social, and situated. We propose a model of knowing integration as a combination of three phenomena: comprehending, interpreting and explicitating. We show that integration leads to the development of new dishes while knowing remains largely individual. We therefore suggest that there exists a clear distinction between knowing integration and knowledge sharing or transfer. We also contribute to a clearer delineation between integration and explicitation, the latter being only one and secondary means to achieve the former. Our study advances practice-based studies of organizations by highlighting the central role of integration in knowing dynamics and by bridging micro and macro perspectives on practice.Combination; Competitive Advantage; Integration; Knowledge; Learning; Restaurants; Transfer