Work, authority and participation : the scenario of circular organizing

Two antagonistic tendencies in the way work is organized can be observed in Europe and the North-American continent. First, there is the growing tendency toward more efficient and flexible modes of organizing by way of a clear (re)distribution of authority. At the other hand, the importance of participation and cooperation in the workplace is growing, also in view of ideas about empowerment, organizational democracy, and self-management. The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibility of organizing work in a circular manner, based on a synthesis of traditional and participative work relationships. Circularity implies that an ultimate authority in the workplace is absent and each member of the organization can participate directly or through representation in decision-making. Design precepts for organizing in a circular manner are discussed, and some implications for the role of authority and participation in the (postmodern) workplace are explored.labour economics ;

Management as a profession:a grand societal challenge

The future of management as a profession is dependent on the rise of new forms of management, including both circularity and distributed leadership. This requires a transition away from the widespread belief that management is something done by a few individuals at the top of an organisation. As part of this transition, there is a need to shift attention from human agents towards management technologies. Professor Georges Romme, from Eindhoven University of Technology, explains how the quest for management as a science-based profession can be revitalised

Crafting and Assessing Design Science Research for Entrepreneurship

Recognizing the importance of various types of artifacts for entrepreneurship, design science (DS) has been proposed as an inclusive approach that combines relevance and rigor. By enabling researchers to go beyond their traditional roles as observers and analysts of established artifacts to help design new artifacts, DS can improve the relevance of entrepreneurship research. However, there is a paucity of knowledge on how this type of research can be published in leading entrepreneurship journals. In this editorial, we seek to provide practical guidance on how to craft and assess DS studies that target ETP and other top-tier journals

An Integrative Design Methodology to Support an Inter-Organizational Knowledge Management Solution

Design research develops knowledge to respond to real-world challenges and solve authentic problems. In this paper, we adopt a pragmatic and semantic design approach to combine the best of two separate design discourses: the discourse about developing science-based design rules and the discourse on user-centered, participative, and experience-based design. We develop a methodology that combines both discourses and perspectives. Subsequently, this methodology is illustrated by means of a case study of designing and developing a portal for mapping competencies in the multi-stakeholder environment of an IT cluster. This case study suggests design research can become more effective if it adopts a deliberate focus on articulating design rules as well as engaging users in trying out prototypes, to create artifacts that support and drive the dialogue between user-practitioners and design-oriented researchers

Taking Nothing for Granted in Management Education: A Systemic Perspective on the Role of Reflective Questioning

Questioning is one of the most critical behaviors in management education and learning. In this article we explore the antecedents, processes, and outcomes of reflective questioning, as a key element of management learning and education. Reflective questioning involves raising tentative, nonrhetorical questions. By reviewing and synthesizing the literature, we develop a model of reflective questioning in the form of a causal loop diagram. This model implies that reflective questioning can be taught through particular forms of management education, but is also contingent on the psychological safety of the group setting, the individual need for cognition, and challenging tasks and experiences

Mechanisms in Open Innovation: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature

A large body of literature explores the role of context, structure, actors, and outcomes of open innovation (OI), yet pays little attention to the mechanisms underlying these relationships. In this review paper, we synthesize the OI literature using a context-mechanism-outcome approach to identify and classify the various mechanisms observed in empirical OI studies. Our findings demonstrate that the OI literature draws on a wide variety of mechanisms originating from the fields of management, sociology, economics, and psychology. The fifteen mechanisms most frequently observed in the literature fall into four categories: governance and policies; environmental dynamics and interactions; knowledge, skills, and capabilities; and learning by doing. Moreover, by examining the levels of analysis of these mechanisms, we observe substantial differences in how these mechanisms operate at the individual, project, firm, network, and society level. Finally, we identify various avenues for future research arising from our synthesis of the literature