This path-breaking book unifies central parts of organization and management theory that have thus far been fragmented and unconnected. It integrates prior research on organizational types and transitions, and also spawns a number of new incipient theories about organizational transformations. The book develops the framework of a symbolic economy in which organizations are viewed as fundamentally concerned with symbol-processing devices.

The volume explains essential systems concepts and their central role in current ideas about organizational competence. Papers in the volume apply systems concepts to: modelling practical management problems; reconceptualizing the nature of organizations and their internal processes; improving managerial sensemaking capabilities in complex environments; devising simple rules for reducing and managing organizational complexity.

Main headings: Unpacking the concept of imaginary organizations. - Managing imaginary organizations. - Investigating imaginary organizations.

The main contribution of this book is the living composition, the model of living organizations. It is a new and original interpretation of the theory of living, self-producing systems (autopoiesis theory). Living composition is defined here as strategic components and their relationships. A living organization is thereby a self-producing system that is composed of ten different non-physical strategic components that are continually produced by the organization itself. The components and their relationships are defined so that they enable and facilitate interconnected openness and closure,...

In January 1995, the first Complexity Seminar was held at the London School of Economics, in the UK. This was quite a momentous occasion as it proved to be the turning point for the series of seminars, which had started in December 1992. That seminar and those that followed it, had a profound effect on the research interests of Eve Mitleton-Kelly, the initiator and organiser of the series and editor of this volume, and thus laid the foundation for what became the LSE Complexity Research Programme, which proceeded to win several research awards for collaborative projects with companies. But...

Autopoiesis in Organization Theory and Practice considers the potential of autopoiesis theory to provide a new unifying framework for the study of organizations as systems and of organizational phenomena as emergent phenomena. The papers in this volume integrate open systems theory with the pioneering work of Maturana and Varela (1980, 1992) on autopoiesis in biological systems. Viewing organizations as living systems opens a powerful new perspective for describing, explaining, and even predicting organizational phenomena across the full spectrum of organizations and environments, from stable...

This book focuses on the concept and role of relational practices as a way to understand and study processes of organizing. Relational practices are conceived as an ongoing, everyday process resulting in more participative ways of organizing. Participative organizing works from and with the multiplicity of interactions inherent in processes of becoming; it reflects upon and experiments with how the diversity of participants and interactions can provide the potential for defining and redefining organizational realities. A" Through reflective essays and empirical research examples, this book...

Organizations have increasingly been introducing web-based applications for HRM purposes, and these are frequently labeled as electronic Human Resource Management (e-HRM). Much is expected of e-HRM in terms of improving the quality of HRM, increasing its contribution to company performance and freeing staff from administrative loads. The editors of this volume have been involved in a series of research projects, academic workshops, and conferences exploring the application of information technologies to various HR practices. Along with the "Special Issues of the International Journal of HRM,"...

International Business is vital to nations, to their economies. It brings wealth, it creates jobs, it opens views, it changes mindsets, and it creates economic and social stability. International Relations is important to nations too. It establishes relationships between nations, it exchanges political views between nations, it creates stability. International Business and International Relations are intertwined empirically as politicians need to boost economies through supporting entrepreneurship, international entrepreneurs need politicians and government representatives to get access to...

This volume concentrates on different forms of honesty and dishonesty in management and their consequences for managers, firms and society. Honesty can be defined as the refusal to pretend that facts of reality are other than what they are, while dishonesty - including lying, stealing, cheating, distortion, concealing of important information, failing to fulfil promises, and abruptly abandoning a business relationship - presents its opposite. Dishonesty can be blatant, massive, strong and active, or subtle, minimal, weak and passive. The volume is divided into four parts. The contributions of...