A Chemistry of Organization: Combinatory Structural Analysis and Design

This paper is a response to the call for models of organization design as a science revealing the inner composition of organization and specifying the laws to be respected when crafting it. It maintains that the needed science is a chemistry of organization, addressing the combination of 'organizational elements' playing a role analogous to that of chemical elements in composing a variety of substances. Drawing both on classic organization design theory and on configurational and complementarity-based approaches, the paper specifies a set of basic organizational elements and a set of combinatory laws regulating their effective combinations. Testable propositions are derived on the necessary and sufficient conditions that the composition of organizations should have respect for achieving high levels of efficiency and innovation. These propositions are tested empirically on a sample of firms, using an innovative application of Boolean algebra

Management Research Based on the Paradigm of the Design Sciences: The Quest for Field-Tested and Grounded Technological Rules

Academic management research has a serious utilization problem. In this field mainstream research tends to be description-driven, based on the paradigm of the 'explanatory sciences', like physics and sociology, and resulting in what may be called Organization Theory. This article argues that the relevance problem can be mitigated if such research were to be complemented with prescription-driven research, based on the paradigm of the 'design sciences', like Medicine and Engineering, and resulting in what may be called Management Theory. The typical research products in Management Theory would be 'field-tested and grounded technological rules'. The nature of such rules is discussed as well as the research strategies producing them. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2004.

Indicators for Establishing SME Product Development Networks

264-276The results of research into SME product development networks are presented. The paper provides insight to the process of establishing such networks and the use of indicators in the design and monitoring of this process. It is based on five extensive case studies and in addition on several in-depth interviews with SME entrepreneurs and business managers. The practical experiences in these case studies and the indicators used by practitioners in network development are briefly described. These experiences together with theoretical insights were combined into a comprehensive set of indicators, describing the progress and effectiveness of the network formation and operation process. The discussion closed with more generic conclusions about establishing inter-organisational networks and monitoring network development processes in practice. Implications for further research have also been put forward

ACHIEVING NATIONAL ALTRUISTIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY IN HUMAN EGGS FOR THIRD-PARTY REPRODUCTION IN CANADA

To avoid the commercialization of reproduction the Canadian Assisted Human Reproduction Act AHR Act 2004 prohibits the purchase of human eggs We endorse this legal prohibition and moreover believe that this facet of the law should not be allowed to have as an unintended consequence an increase in transnational trade in human eggs In an effort to avoid this consequence and to be consistent with the AHR Act we advocate a system of national altruistic selfsufficiency This article briefly outlines a number of strategies to increase the domestic altruistic supply of thirdparty eggs and decrease the domestic demand for thirdparty egg