Innovationen in Organisationen historisch betrachtet

Der Autor betrachtet den Wandel von Organisationen und ihre Netzwerkstruktur aus einer historischen Perspektive. Die wechselseitige Verknüpfung der miteinander verbundenen Einheiten lässt sich seiner Meinung nach als Balance zwischen Abhängigkeit und Selbstständigkeit sowie zwischen Steuerung und Selbstorganisation charakterisieren. Dabei zeigt sich gerade im historischen Rückblick, dass ein höheres Niveau von Selbststeuerung und Selbstständigkeit insgesamt eine angemessenere Steuerung ermöglicht, die stets zum Wettbewerbsvorteil der Organisation beiträgt. Der Autor untersucht die Bedingungen des organisatorischen Erfolgs und identifiziert dabei eine langwährende, zyklisch verlaufende Pendelbewegung zwischen Zentralisation und Dezentralisation des Entscheidungs- und Führungshandelns. Er geht ferner auf militärische Verbände als älteste Großorganisationen der Welt und auf industrielle Organisationen im Frühkapitalismus ein. Weitere Ausführungen beziehen sich auf organisatorische Innovationen als Management von Dualität, die Mobilisierung von Wettbewerbsvorteilen und auf die Bedeutung des Change-Managements. Der Autor verdeutlicht seine Ausführungen anhand von Fallbeispielen der Kundenorientierung und der Kostenreduktion aus der unternehmerischen Praxis. (ICI2

Local Seed Business in the Context of Integrated Seed Sector Development

Quality seed is a key input for agriculture, with a direct impact on agricultural production and productivity. Integrated seed sector development (ISSD) is an inclusive approach that recognizes and builds upon a diversity of seed systems in the sector. We use the ISSD approach to guide us in the design and implementation of seed sector interventions that are complementary to farmers’practices, with the main aim of increasing farmers’ access to quality seed of superior varieties. In working with the ISSD approach, we recognize a number of guiding principles. In this paper, we describe these principles, and provide examples of how we work with the system of local seed business (LSB) in the ISSD programs in Ethiopia and Uganda. We recognize that LSBs offer an important service to communities by providing access to quality seed of crops and varieties that cannot be obtained reliably through other sources. The guiding principles help us to work towards the development of sustainable LSBs. Within the context of ISSD Africa we will continue to investigate and design interventions to address challenges in seed sector development, focusing on aselect number of themes that are relevant to the LSB context

Information management, organizational design, and organizational theory

Management information systems tend to an overload of information. The crucial question becomes: What information to select? A great challenge is to weld information systems into practical tools for the management of organizational units. This confronts us with problems of acceptance and practical applicability for unit management and their people. A system of management information is explained that contributes to a strong awareness of responsibility for results in the units of an organization. The requirements that such a system of management information must meet are described in relation with an organizational design that strengthens the system's positive effects. Further, a few concepts from organizational theory are considered with the purpose to understand and to steer such developments in organizations. A network model of organizations is discussed; more specifically, attention is paid to the changing tension balance of autonomy interdependency between organizational units. Finally examples of organizational configurations are provided that have been successful in using their informational resources. These configurations are linked to the proposed concepts.

Facial paralysis due to a spitting cobra bite

Summary: The global burden of snakebites is growing, particularly its nonfatal sequelae. Therefore, the World Health Organization reinstated snakebites to its list of Neglected Tropical Diseases. We describe the case of a 4.5-year-old boy who was bitten by a spitting cobra, resulting in considerable local swelling accompanied by a right-sided facial paralysis due to neurotoxicity by cobra venom. Presently, surgical methods to recover facial paralysis include nerve repair, nerve grafting, nerve transfers, static slings, muscle transfers, and functional muscle transplantations. However, mime therapy consisting of neuromuscular retraining resulted in a good functional result with a moderate contour deficiency of the right cheek and a subtle paresis of the zygomatic muscles at 1 year and 9 months follow-up. The natural history of facial paralysis in our case shows that this condition can be transient and may resolve with mime therapy as a conservative measure

Equipoise and the RCT

Clinical decisions in reproductive medicine are often made in uncertainty. To reduce uncertainty and to improve clinical decision-making, RCTs are increasingly called upon. A key concept underpinning the ethics of RCTs is equipoise. Here, we aimed to dissect the basic reasoning behind the concept of equipoise and we proposed a line of thinking delineating under which conditions it is ethical to design and execute an RCT. This might prevent a priori negative trials, reduce research waste and aid in the design of meaningful ones. It is these trials that will provide insight on how to safely and effectively assist subfertile couple