Research Methods for Non-Representational Approaches of Organizational Complexity. The Dialogical and Mediated Inquiry

This paper explores the methodological implications of non-representational approaches of organizational complexity. Representational theories focus on the syntactic complexity of systems, whereas organizing processes are predominantly characterized by semantic and pragmatic forms of complexity. After underlining the contribution of non-representational approaches to the study of organizations, the paper warns against the risk of confining the critique of representational frameworks to paradoxical dichotomies like intuition versus reflexive thought or theorizing versus experimenting. To sort out this difficulty, it is suggested to use a triadic theory of interpretation, and more particularly the concepts of semiotic mediation, inquiry and dialogism. Semiotic mediation dynamically links situated experience and generic classes of meanings. Inquiry articulates logical thinking, narrative thinking and experimenting. Dialogism conceptualizes the production of meaning through the situated interactions of actors. A methodological approach based on those concepts, “the dialogical and mediated inquiry” (DMI), is proposed and experimented in a case study about work safety in the construction industry. This interpretive view requires complicating the inquiring process rather than the mirroring models of reality. In DMI, the inquiring process is complicated by establishing pluralist communities of inquiry in which different perspectives challenge each other. Finally the paper discusses the specific contribution of this approach compared with other qualitative methods and its present limits.Activity; Dialogism; Inquiry; Interpretation; Pragmatism; Research Methods; Semiotic Mediation; Work Safety

Editors' Introduction

A brief overview of the current status of the scholarship on Heidegger and contemporary art and of the contributions included in the special issue

Why Delannoy numbers?

This article is not a research paper, but a little note on the history of combinatorics: We present here a tentative short biography of Henri Delannoy, and a survey of his most notable works. This answers to the question raised in the title, as these works are related to lattice paths enumeration, to the so-called Delannoy numbers, and were the first general way to solve Ballot-like problems. These numbers appear in probabilistic game theory, alignments of DNA sequences, tiling problems, temporal representation models, analysis of algorithms and combinatorial structures.Comment: Presented to the conference "Lattice Paths Combinatorics and Discrete Distributions" (Athens, June 5-7, 2002) and to appear in the Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference

El pensament harmònic de Julián Bautista en teoria i pràctica : de l'«Estudio comparativo de los principales Tratados de Armonía» (1934-1935) a «Suite all'antica» i «Barrio de Córdoba»

El compositor madrileny Julián Bautista (1901-1961) va escriure el 1934-1935 l'Estudio comparativo de los principales Tratados de Armoníaa partir de Jean-Philippe Rameau, possiblement amb motiu de les oposicions a la Càtedra d'Harmonia del Conservatorio Nacio nal de Música y Declamación de Madrid, que guanyà el 8 de juliol de 1936, només deu dies abans de l'alçament militar que encetà la Guerra Civil Espanyola i que provocà el posterior exili argentí del músic, el 1939. En aquest text inèdit, de 78 pàgines mecanografiades, Bautista analitza 24 tractats d'harmonia que abracen dos segles sencers i que procedeixen de teòrics belgues i francesos, com també d'alguns autors italians, alemanys i espanyols. Per aquest motiu, esdevé una font important per jutjar la recepció dels tractats estrangers a Espanya durant la Segona República.Alguns dels comentaris i avaluacions duts a terme per Bautista en l'Estudio comparativo palesen que el seu enteniment teòric de l'harmonia i del sistema tonal es vinculà estretament a la seva faceta de compositor. A fi d'indagar les suposades relacions entre el seu coneixement teòric i la pràctica compositiva, s'examinen els seus plantejaments harmònics en dues obres dels anys trenta: la Suite all'antica per a orquestra (1931-1938) i la segona cançó del cicle vocal Tres ciudades (1937).Der aus Madrid stammende Komponist Julián Bautista (1901-1961) verfasste zwischen 1934 und 1935 sein Estudio comparativo de los principales Tratados de Armonía a partir de Jean-Philippe Rameauvermutlich anlässlich seiner Bewerbung um den Lehrstuhl für Harmonik am Staatlichen Konservatorium für Musik und darstellende Kunst von Madrid, der ihm am 8. Juli 1936 übertragen wurde, nur zehn Tage vor dem Militärputsch, der zum Bürgerkrieg und, wenig später (1939) als Folge davon, zum argentinischen Exil des Musikers führen sollte. In diesem unveröffentlichten, 78 maschinenschriftliche Seiten umfassenden Text analysierte Bautista vierundzwanzig Traktate über Harmonielehre aus zwei Jahrhunderten von überwiegend belgisch-französischen Musiktheoretikern sowie einigen italienischen, deutschen und spanischen Autoren, weshalb der Essay eine wichtige Quelle für die Beurteilung der Rezeption ausländischer Musiktraktate in Spanien während der Zweiten Republik darstellt.Viele der von Bautista im Estudio comparativo geäußerten Kommentare und Bewertungen belegen, dass sein theoretisches Verständnis der Harmonik und des Tonsystems eng mit seiner Fassette als Komponist verknüpft war. Mit dem Ziel, die vermuteten Beziehungen zwischen seinen Theoriekenntnissen und seiner eigenen Kompositionspraxis aufzudecken, wird die harmonische Planung zweier Werke aus den 1930er Jahren untersucht: die Suite all'antica für Orchester (1931-38) und das zweite Lied des Vokalzyklus Tres ciudades (1937).The Madrid-born composer Julián Bautista (1901-1961) wrote his Estudio comparativo de los principales Tratados de Armonía a partir de Jean-Philippe Rameau in 1934/35, supposedly on the occasion of his application for a professorship of Harmony at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música y Declamaciónin Madrid, awarded on 8 July 1936, just ten days before the military uprising that led to the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent exile of the musician to Argentina (1939). In this unpublished text, comprising 78 typed pages, Bautista analysed twenty-four treatises on harmony spanning two centuries and mostly written by Belgian-French theorists as well as some Italian, German and Spanish authors, thereby providing an important source for judging the reception of foreign treatises in Spain during the Second RepublicMany of the comments and assessments made by Bautista in his Estudio comparativo show that his theoretical understanding of harmony and the tonal system was closely linked to his nature as a composer. With the aim of detecting the supposed relationships between his theoretical knowledge and his own compositional practice, will be examined two works of the thirties: the Suite all'antica for orchestra (1931-38) and the second song of the vocal cycle Tres ciudades (1937).El compositor madrileño Julián Bautista (1901-1961) redactó, en 1934-1935, su Estudio comparativo de los principales Tratados de Armonía a partir de Jean-Philippe Rameau, supuestamente, con motivo de las oposiciones a la cátedra de Armonía del Conservatorio Nacional de Música y Declamación de Madrid, ganados el 8 de julio de 1936, solo diez días antes del alzamiento militar que dio lugar a la Guerra Civil española y, en consecuencia, al posterior exilio argentino del músico (1939). En este texto inédito, de 78 páginas mecanografiadas, Bautista analizaba veinticuatro tratados de armonía que abarcan dos siglos y, en su mayor parte, proceden de teóricos belgo-franceses, así como de algún autor italiano, alemán y español, por lo cual constituye una fuente importante para juzgar la recepción de la tratadística extranjera en España durante la Segunda República.Muchos de los comentarios y de las valoraciones realizados por Bautista en el Estudio comparativo demuestran que su entendimiento teórico de la armonía y del sistema tonal estuvo estrechamente vinculado a su faceta de compositor. Con el fin de indagar las supuestas relaciones entre su conocimiento teórico y su propia práctica compositiva, se examinan los planteamientos armónicos en dos obras de los años treinta: la Suite all'antica para orquesta (1931-1938) y la segunda canción del ciclo vocal Tres ciudades (1937).Le compositeur madrilène Julián Bautista (1901-1961) rédigea en 1934-1935 son Estudio comparativo de los principales Tratados de Armonía a partir de Jean-Philippe Rameau supposément en raison du concours pour la chaire d'harmonie du Conservatoire National de Musique et Déclamation de Madrid, gagné le 8 juillet 1936, dix jours seulement avant le soulèvement militaire qui déboucha sur la guerre civile espagnole et le postérieur exil du musicien en Argentine (1939). Dans ce texte inédit de 78 pages dactylographiées, Bautista analysait vingt-quatre traités d'harmonie qui couvraient deux siècles et provenaient dans leur majorité de théoriciens belgo-français ainsi que de certains auteurs italiens, allemands et espagnols, ce qui constitue une source importante pour évaluer la réception de la tratadistique étrangère en Espagne sous la Deuxième République. Nombreux commentaires et évaluations réalisées par Bautista dans son Estudio comparativo démontre que son jugement théorique sur l'harmonie et le système tonal était étroitement lié à sa facette de compositeur. Dans le but de rechercher les relations supposées entre sa connaissance théorique et sa propre pratique de la composition, on examine les approches harmoniques dans deux oeuvres des années trente : la Suite all'antica pour orchestre (1931-38) et la deuxième chanson du cycle vocal Tres ciudades (1937)

Regional Republicans: the Alsatian socialists and the politics of primary schooling in Alsace, 1918-1939

This article deals with political discussions about the place of language and religion in interwar Alsatian primary schools viewed through the lens of the local Socialist Party (SFIO). After Alsace's return to France in 1918, primary schools exemplified the problematic process of reintegrating the province, and parties from across the political spectrum discussed the appropriate language of instruction and whether Alsatian schoolchildren should receive religious education. For the Alsatian Socialists, the answer lay in the broad reform needed to ease reintegration and was motivated by their self-proclaimed republicanism. Thus the party argued for secularity, which would place the province on the same terrain as all other parts of France, and for bilingualism, which would allow the retention of Alsatian regional cultures. In making this argument, the Alsatian SFIO revealed that not everyone in interwar France associated regional language with religion or believed that republican ideas needed to come packaged in the French language. Moreover, the SFIO's actions offer insight into the development of regional political cultures and the varieties of grassroots republicanism in interwar France