Cet article présente la technique d'analyse de données des modèles linéaires hiérarchiques, qui permet de travailler sur des données multiniveaux de plus en plus fréquentes dans les recherches en management. Dans un premier temps, ses principes statistiques sont exposés ainsi que les principales décisions à prendre par l'utilisateur. Dans un second temps, un exemple d'application est commenté.

Cet article pédagogique présente l'utilisation des modèles linéaires hiérarchiques comme technique d'analyse de données collectées par policy capturing. Les principes généraux de la policy capturing sont présentés avant de s'intéresser plus en détail à l'analyse avec les modèles linéaires hiérarchiques des données ainsi collectées. L'article présente ainsi un exemple d'utilisation des modèles linéaires hiérarchiques présentés dans ce même numéro (voir Arrègle, J.-L. [2003], Les modèles linéaires hiérarchiques : 1.- principes et illustration, M@n@gement, 6[1]: 1-28).

Il est indéniable que les entreprises familiales possèdent des caractéristiques de gestion qui leurs sont propres, nées de l’imbrication de la famille et de l’entreprise. Il est aussi indéniable que les sources propres de compétitivité de ces entreprises manquent encore d’assises théoriques fortes. Dans ce papier, nous cherchons à renforcer ces assises, en recourant à la théorie du capital social, elle-même fondée sur l’approche par les ressources. Appliquée aux firmes familiales, cette théorie contribue à expliquer l’existence de sources particulières de compétitivité. Plus précisément, l’existence d’un capital social familial, qui a été démontrée dans les recherches passées sur la famille, influence la création et le développement d’un capital social propre à l’entreprise familiale, qui est lui-même source potentielle d’avantages pour la firme.

The papers that comprise this Special Issue represent a variety of attempts at exploring the potential contributions to careers scholarship that might emerge from applying concepts and models from the so-called "new sciences," a term widely used to denote a large area of enquiry in the physical and complexity sciences. This article introduces the special issue. It explains its origins, and defines the territory that it covers, specifically, the kinds of career on which the articles focus, the meaning of the term "new science," and the kind of connections that we believe can be made between the two. Finally, we briefly introduce each of the papers in the Special Issue.

We respond to the points raised by Baruch in his critique of our introduction. We believe the critique is helpful because it directs our attention to some important questions that need addressing when applying ideas from one branch of science to another. We argue that there is value in looking elsewhere for ideas, provided that it is done carefully and with rigour.

This paper reflects on the first author's attempts to adapt traditional social science methods to her own purpose. The research involved developing a methodology to explore the subjective career, concerned with people's internal, self-referential views of their unfolding career experiences. The paper describes a series of problems encountered along the way, stemming directly or indirectly from the rigidity of traditional science assumptions. In contrast, the authors find encouragement in contemporary ideas about "new science," and its imagery of a self-organizing, non-linear and interdependent world. The journey leads to philosopher Paul Cilliers' principles of complex social systems, which provide an alternative, and more affirming, platform for the kind of research undertaken.

This paper seeks to open up for discussion the emotional world of researchers in a manner that encourages and supports reflective practice. Drawing on the work of Clifford Geertz (1968) we focus on the irony inherent to research --elaborated via the concept of covertness-- whereby ethnographic researchers construct mutual fictions in their relationships with respondents, which obscure the authenticity and sincerity of the emotional exchange between researcher and researched. Specifically we discuss examples of interpersonal dynamics which generate uncomfortable emotions and identity work on the part of researchers. Ultimately, we advance understanding of how emotions and identity work influence the collection and interpretation of data. The methodological implications for conducting ethnographic research are discussed.

While admiring the plausible attempt of developing career theory further, via New Science ideas and framework, I argue that career theory should first start with establishing a career theory based on the behavioral and management sciences. I suggest caution when transforming ideas that may fit minerals and plants into the realm of human thinking, feeling, and behaving.In particular, career theory should reflect the changing nature of socio-economic systems and work environments, and these may not be best reflected in New Science concepts.

In recent years companies have begun to implement a series of human resource management (HRM) practices that are referred to in the literature as high-performance or high-commitment. Among others these practices include employee involvement, training and organisational incentive plans. In this study we attempt to determine how and to what extent the adoption of this type of practices affects the firm's performance record. We focus specifically on the impact HRM has on operational performance. Moreover, we test if the impact of high-commitment practices on firm performance is contingent on the strategy followed by the firm. We try to detect possible differences in the relationship between HRM and the different kinds of operational results (efficiency, quality, and time). For this aim we use a database covering an initial sample of 965 factories each with a workforce of over 50 employees. We begin with a review of the literature before going on to present the descriptive statistics for the variables to be used and, finally, testing the relationship between HRM and operational performance through the estimation of several ordered probit models. Our results reveal the presence of a positive, statistically significant correlation between the adoption of high-commitment practices and improvements in quality and time-based performance. We also find that this effect is universal and not dependent on the strategy used by the firm.

This article aims to convey the promise and potential of visual methods in organizational research. It begins by reviewing the status of visual research in the social sciences in order to explore its potential contribution to organizational research, distinguishing four categories of visual data used by organizational analysts. Using examples from our own ongoing research, we argue that the collection and analysis of visual images has the potential to enhance organizational research by encouraging a focus on aspects of organizational culture that are less easily captured through the collection and analysis of written or spoken words alone. We review the challenges posed by use of visual methods, including issues of access, ethics and copyright law and the importance of theoretical perspective in informing data analysis. Finally, we argue that visual methods have the potential to enable development of a more reflexive approach to organizational research, using examples from our own research to illustrate how this can be developed.

L'objectif principal de l'action stratégique consiste en la création et en la préservation dans le temps de l'avantage concurrentiel. Cet article estime que cet objectif peut être atteint par l'engagement des seules actions n'entraînant pas de réactions. Quatre caractéristiques liées aux actions (irréversibilité, spécificité, innovation et intensité) et trois caractéristiques associées aux réactions (occurrence, imitation et délai) sont testées dans le secteur de la presse magazine en France (presse "news" et presse économique). Les résultats montrent que les actions irréversibles, innovantes et intenses provoquent beaucoup de réactions, alors que les actions spécifiques n'entraînent que peu de réponses. Ce qui émerge, cependant, est l'importance du délai de réaction, permettant aux firmes de se soustraire, pour un temps, à la concurrence.

The papers that comprise this Special Issue represent a variety of attempts at exploring the potential contributions to careers scholarship that might emerge from applying concepts and models from the so-called "new sciences," a term widely used to denote a large area of enquiry in the physical and complexity sciences. This article introduces the special issue. It explains its origins, and defines the territory that it covers, specifically, the kinds of career on which the articles focus, the meaning of the term "new science," and the kind of connections that we believe can be made between the two. Finally, we briefly introduce each of the papers in the Special Issue.

We respond to the points raised by Baruch in his critique of our introduction. We believe the critique is helpful because it directs our attention to some important questions that need addressing when applying ideas from one branch of science to another. We argue that there is value in looking elsewhere for ideas, provided that it is done carefully and with rigour.

In the 80's, globalisation was much vaunted as offering the Western world a dazzling new array of business opportunities. In the 90's, however, the negative impact on the labour market has become all too evident. A look at Germany's labour statistics shows a frightening picture of massive job destruction in the wake of globalisation. As firms contend with heightened international competition and incomparably low wages in the former Eastern bloc and Asia, they have turned almost ubiquitously to cost-cutting through shedding labour inside Germany itself. Jobs either disappear altogether or are relocated. Through computerisation, strategic alliances, lean production and so on, the process of rationalisation and wage reduction proceeds at an alarming pace. In addition to the problems caused by globalisation, there are also serious issues with respect to German management, which are unquestionably major contributory factors to the country's current difficulties, especially mass unemployment. The second part of the paper considers a variety of issues in this context including the rampant and socially destructive preoccupation with cost cutting and rationalisation, negative managerial behaviour and lack of innovation. If Germany is to prevent serious economic decline, the problems need to be tackled on several fronts simultaneously. Attitudinal changes on the part of both management and workers, a modified taxation regime, better public relations about Germany as an industrial location and various other strategies offer some hope to a country that is clearly undergoing a globalisation crisis. There are certainly some viable alternatives to downsizing and a look at the strategies used by other industrial countries gives further insight into positive solutions.

Questo lavoro utilizza la teoria del capitale sociale per comprendere le peculiarità del processo di acquisizione della conoscenza sui mercati esteri da parte delle start-ups. L'ipotesi sostenuta e' che lo sviluppo del capitale sociale nelle relazioni di business estere può favorire l'acquisizione di conoscenza che, a sua volta, accelera la crescita estera di tali imprese. Il campione analizzato include 112 start-ups italiane ad alta tecnologia, mentre l'unità di osservazione sono le relazioni diadiche da essi intraprese con il proprio cliente estero più importante. I risultati ottenuti confermano l'ipotesi che l'acquisizione di conoscenza risente del tipo di relazioni sociali instaurate con i clienti esteri più importanti, sia in modo positivo che negativo, a seconda della specifica dimensione del capitale sociale coinvolta.

We went to Las Vegas and deconstructed everything. The purpose of our deconstruction was more than critique, we see deconstruction as something that happens to Las Vegas, and we also think it is always reconstructing. As an introduction to our special issue, I seek to provide some background into deconstruction as a artful analysis, and as a process that happens all around us.

I contrast Barthes' and Debord's theories of striptease and spectacle by tracing the alternative "striptease" narrative in several competing texts in cyberspace and in novels. I look at how the striptease becomes narrated as part of the Las Vegas spectacle, legitimating commerce and consumption, but also a rags-to-riches storyline. I begin by analyzing the possession of the body by commerce and consumption, and end by suggesting that stripers cross the boundary between life on the "Strip" and in community.

Les pratiques partenariales, via le recours à la coopération et à la coordination de plusieurs partenaires, doivent permettre d’optimiser le processus de création de valeur de l’entreprise. Pourtant, malgré leur popularité et les avantages nombreux qui leur sont traditionnellement reconnus, elles amènent des niveaux de performance hétérogènes. Pour mieux comprendre ce phénomène, je me focalise dans cet article sur l’impact de l’expérience sur le fonctionnement des relations de partenariat logistiques et in fine sur leur réussite. En mobilisant la théorie de l’apprentissage organisationnel, j’explore plus précisément trois composantes de cette expérience: l’expérience des partenariats passés ou simultanés, la succession d’expériences de coopération menées avec un même partenaire, et la connaissance approfondie de ce partenaire. Sur la base de 219 questionnaires adressés à des entreprises de l’industrie agro-alimentaire, on observe l’impact positif de l’expérience de la gestion des partenariats, de l’expérience du travail en commun et de la connivence interpersonnelle. En revanche, l’ancienneté et la profondeur des relations semblent influer négativement sur la réussite du partenariat.

Since ethnography has been recognized as a proper method for organizational analysis, many textbooks and articles have acknowledged its characteristics and specificities and sought to account for them. Curiously, many of these works have not considered (or have explicitly avoided) one important issue concerning organizational ethnography, namely the negotiation of access to the field. Drawing on a one-year organizational ethnography on the production and reproduction of inequalities in accessing health services in Italy, this paper focuses on the organizational and ethnographical dynamics involved in accessing the field. In particular, it shows that the negotiation of access may per se be an important moment of observation in that it reveals some of the principal characteristics of the organizational processes that the ethnographer is about to study. Moreover, drawing on ethnographic observations, the paper shows that there are no substantial reasons for assuming that negotiating access to the field takes place in a dimension unconnected with the actors' everyday logics and practices of action. Accessing the field is thus framed as a trajectory, a never-ending process of engaging with multiple actors and organizational dynamics which can lead in different directions, depending on the ethnographer's ability to follow organizational processes and to demonstrate his/her ability to take part in them.

Data from a cross-industry sample confirm the effects of different organizational structures on dynamic capabilities in alliance settings. Our work integrates the literatures pertinent to organizational structure and the learning and creativity processes that characterize dynamic capabilities in alliances. Our results suggest that centralized structures in alliances hinder creativity and learning, and that formalization impedes learning in alliances. Supporting the arguments put forward by authors such as Burns and Stalker (1961), our results suggest that mechanistic structures in alliance teams hinder the development of dynamic capabilities, whereas organic structures are more conducive in these interorganizational settings.

During the last years, a consensus is emerging that to survive in the competitive turbulence that is engulfing a growing number of industries, firms will need to pinpoint innovative practices rapidly, to communicate them to their suppliers and to stimulate further innovation. In order to be competitive, companies are forced to adopt less hierarchical and more flexible structures, and to define strategies able to combine reduced costs, high quality, flexibility and a quick answer to customer requirements. Nowadays, there are very few companies with enough resources to form its value chain on their own. Therefore, some changes are taking place within individual companies and in their relations with other organizations, creating new structures in which relationships between customers and suppliers are suffering considerable changes. One of these changes is concerned with the formation of networks in which there is a division of labour that allows each company to exploit their distinctive advantages, and be more competitive globally. In a network model, a set of juridically independent companies establish cooperative long term links in order to achieve a higher level of competitiveness. The enterprises that belong to a network have not all the elements needed for manufacturing a product or providing a service under their absolute control. Therefore, the success of this kind of structures is conditioned by the coordination degree obtained along the realization of inter-organizational activities, which requires an efficient communication system among the partners. The Information Technology (IT) represents a supportive element that facilitates the transfer of information across organizational boundaries. In this paper we analyze the inclusion of the Interorganizational Information Systems (IOS) concept within the network model and discuss the role IT plays in enabling organizational transformation towards emergent forms of organization.

A reading of Las Vegas is provided in this paper using an optic of critical theory and the heuristic power of Homer's tale of Odysseus and his crew's encounter with the sea creatures called the Sirens. This analysis reveals Las Vegas to be a city remade for visual consumption where the streetscape becomes a fantascape and the arts that are on display are amusement goodsÂpatterned and predigested products for consumption. This paper also argues that the present glitz, glitter and newness of Las Vegas appears all the more meaningful in the light of the archaic. The juxtaposition affords us an opportunity to see ourselves in spite of ourselves, or to be decentered from our historical position of privilege.

In 1978, Lefty RosenthalÂa former Chicago bookmakerÂbecame Director of Entertainment at the Stardust Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Roemer (1994: 111), in his book about Vegas, says, ÇLefty had traveled a road paved with controversy and dispute. I guess you could say Lefty was representative of Las VegasÈ. What makes the Rosenthal story interesting and relevant to organizational theory? We intend to analyze whether Lefty is "representative" of Las Vegas, and in doing so, we examine the issue of representation. Specifically, we analyze the story, as told by Roemer (1994) and Pileggi (1995), from a historical point of view and, then, from a Jungian archetypal point of view. However, we would like to be somewhat post-Jungian, and following the Anti-Oedipus of Deleuze and Guattari (1977), we will put forward a revised Jungian account for the material genealogy of Las Vegas. We conclude the paper by commenting upon the "demise of representation" (Knights, 1997) and its implications for organizational theory.

The current article considers the importance of the links existing between social relations and relations of trust, on the one hand, and economic and business relations on the other, in networks of firms, particularly networks of small firms that have formed involuntarily. Among these links, it is important to discover the way tacit and explicit information flows are established within the network and the conditions for them to occur. We examine these questions in a network of firms from the shoe industry using the methods and concepts of social network analysis. With this in mind, we have analysed the complex network of small firms by breaking it down into subnetworks in order to better understand its general structure. Our findings show that economic relations (cooperation, commercial exchanges) and social relations (trust, friendship, kinship, information interchanges) between the firms in the network are embedded within each other. The firms of the network exchange tacit information only with those firms with which they maintain stronger social and business links. Information and knowledge are treated as a strategic resource that is only shared with those companies that are not direct competitors.

La réutilisation des données qualitatives (RDQ) est une méthodologie assez peu mobilisée en sciences de gestion. Cet article s'interroge sur le statut, la légitimité, les potentialités et les limites qu'elle peut y avoir. Après avoir examiné la place accordée à la RDQ au sein des méthodes en sciences de gestion, nous procéderons à sa délimitation et au repérage de la variété de ses formes, nous précisons les questions épistémologiques soulevées avant d'envisager les conditions de son utilisation.

This paper questions the persistent prescription, which has now also received a fillip from "new science", for corporations to be more like organisms, especially in response to turbulence in the business environment such as exists in present times. We contend that another outcome of the prevailing turbulence, the trend towards the organizational career being outmoded, is particularly ironic because the organizational career, we argue, has been the organizing device that helps corporations become organism-like and more. It has done so in three significant ways: in developing the capacity to outlive their constituent individuals, just as multi-cellular organisms outlive their cells; in developing purposefulness-- the capacity to choose and set goals of one's own accord; and in developing even higher flexibility than organisms. Finally, alluding to misgivings about prospective organism-like physical artifacts, the paper suggests deeper studies on the social artifact, the corporation, as being already too organism-like.

This paper questions the persistent prescription, which has now also received a fillip from "new science", for corporations to be more like organisms, especially in response to turbulence in the business environment such as exists in present times. We contend that another outcome of the prevailing turbulence, the trend towards the organizational career being outmoded, is particularly ironic because the organizational career, we argue, has been the organizing device that helps corporations become organism-like and more. It has done so in three significant ways: in developing the capacity to outlive their constituent individuals, just as multi-cellular organisms outlive their cells; in developing purposefulness-- the capacity to choose and set goals of one's own accord; and in developing even higher flexibility than organisms. Finally, alluding to misgivings about prospective organism-like physical artifacts, the paper suggests deeper studies on the social artifact, the corporation, as being already too organism-like.

This paper documents the downsizing experience in China since 1954 to 1998. Over years, China's reform initiatives on the central government have been changed. They were attempts in adjusting the extent of functional integration or differentiation of the state organs of the central government in relation to the remainder of the body politic. Post-Mao administrative reforms were taken to deal mainly with the problem of political erosion of administrative authority, thus facilitating the state to recover its administrative functions. Although western countries look for ways to shrink the state in order to integrate the state with politics, China seeks to institutionalize the state so as to suppress politics. Charting the course of administrative reforms in China requires an understanding that China's transformational experience is institutionally associated with the character of the regime.

Cet article présente la théorie des communautés de pratique et de l'apprentissage développée par Etienne Wenger dans son ouvrage Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. L'ouvrage défend une perspective sociale de l'apprentissage, inséré dans les pratiques collectives au sein des communautés de pratique. Il offre une grille de lecture originale des phénomènes d'apprentissage collectif, de création de significations et d'identité. L'article propose dans un premier temps une synthèse des apports théoriques de l'ouvrage de Wenger centrés sur le concept de communauté de pratique et ses liens théoriques avec l'apprentissage collectif. Il présente ensuite les parties de l'ouvrage traitant de la conception d'architectures d'apprentissage dans des organisations considérées comme des constellations de communautés de pratique interconnectées. Pour terminer, nous cherchons à appliquer le dispositif conceptuel de Wenger au management par projet afin d'en discuter à la fois les apports et les limites dans ce contexte précis. Il apparaît que la théorie des communautés de pratique fournit des concepts utiles pour interpréter certaines tensions inhérentes au management par projet. En revanche, l'assimilation de la notion de projet à celle de pratique pose des difficultés d'ordre théorique. La confrontation de ces deux concepts ouvre une réflexion sur un enrichissement mutuel entre la théorie des communautés de pratique et les travaux sur le management par projet.

Comment et dans quelles circonstances un individu acquiert-il le sentiment de faire partie d'une équipe ? Ce sentiment se traduit-il par une volonté de coopérer avec les autres membres ? Pour répondre à ce questionnement, cet article s'appuie sur la théorie de l'identité sociale et son prolongement, la théorie de la catégorisation sociale, ainsi que sur des travaux plus récents issus de ces courants qui approfondissent la question de l'influence des processus d'identification sur les pratiques de coopération. Ces grilles de lecture conceptuelles sont mobilisées pour analyser et discuter les résultats d'une recherche longitudinale, multi-sites et multi-méthodes qui s'est déroulée de novembre 1997 à mars 1999 au sein d'une entreprise du secteur électronique. Les résultats, fondés sur la comparaison de différentes équipes opérationnelles, permettent de mieux comprendre comment se déroule le processus d'identification, l'évolution au fil du temps du potentiel de coopération qui en découle, ainsi que l'influence du design de l'équipe sur les pratiques de coopération. Ces résultats sont discutés et des pistes de recherche sont proposées en conclusion.

This article introduces the special issue on collaboration. It addresses the various perspectives on intra- and interorganizational collaboration, highlighting tensions, both in practice and research. It then presents the articles composing this special issue.

This article introduces the special issue on interorganizational relationships. It presents the articles composing this special issue.

In this paper, we present and discuss the notion of interorganizational synthesis. Interorganizational synthesis refers to synthesis in the relationships between all organizations involved in a collaborative project. Synthesis is critical if organizations are fully to leverage the benefits of interorganizational collaboration in complex environments. Reviewing other research in management, in areas such as culture, rationality, and language, we show that collaboration is a far more complex task than economic or contractual theories suggest. We then present ten critical building blocks that must be accounted for in the design of interorganizational relations if synthesis is to be realised. Each of these blocks is discussed and the potential risks, and management implications, are also presented.

We examine the influence exiles have on the cultures left behind. As people break from the familiar routines of country or organization, they look forward to their intended destinations, but also backward to the homes they are leaving. It is that backward glance that we suggest may have powerful reverberations.

Partnering constitutes an important strategy for organizations to deal with increasing environmental flux. Empirical failures, however, still outweigh the theoretical promises of partnerships. At the same time, the field is characterized by a burgeoning albeit heterogeneous body of literature. This paper therefore aims to develop a comprehensive multidisciplinary lens on supply chain partnerships. By approaching partnerships as an inherently dynamic phenomenon drawing from organizational change literature, such a lens takes on a transformational nature. The lens integrates various bodies of literature by pointing out their specific change perspective as well as the transition zones between their underlying assumptions. Consequently, the transformational lens is employed to explore two case studies of supplier-producer dyads in the food industry. The findings illustrate the simultaneous presence of higher management driven change and continuous change at the middle management level. The findings also aid in drawing propositions for further empirical examination and refinement of the relationship between the underlying assumptions of the transformational lens. The transformational lens contributes by facilitating a more complete picture of partnerships than would be achieved by considering each of its constituent bodies of literature in isolation, and sheds new light on the temporal aspect of partnerships.

Reinventing government (REGO) reforms, once dismissed by some as a passing fad, have made inroads in the public sector. However many barriers to REGO reforms, both inside and outside of government, still exist. The authors discuss some of these barriers and also offer suggestions to overcome the resistance to change. They conclude that REGO reforms must be embraced if the public sector is to take advantage of the possibilities offered by the Information Age and advancing Information Technology (IT).

L'objectif de cet article est de montrer que les logiques de calcul et de construction identitaire sont intimement liées dans les rapports coopératifs au sein d'équipes projet. Pour cela, nous avons construit deux formes de coopération en se fondant sur une dichotomie classique en sciences sociales. La coopération complémentaire se développe dans une rationalité calculatoire du fait du besoin de ressources complémentaires, où des engagements interindividuels assurent la congruence des intérêts individuels. L'école des relations humaines et les théories de l'identification sociale dénoncent la sous-socialisation de la coopération complémentaire. Une forme de coopération, que nous avons qualifiée de communautaire, peut apparaître. Cette coopération est fondée sur l'existence d'un processus d'identification sociale, où les individus s'identifient aux attributs qu'ils perçoivent comme communs aux membres du groupe. Si ces deux formes de coopération s'opposent quant à leur fondement et leur organisation, le processus coopératif s'avère ambivalent. Nous proposons alors une reconceptualisation de la coopération en définissant trois dimensions transversales. A travers l'étude approfondie de deux équipes projet, nous explorons le contenu de chaque dimension transversale aux deux formes de coopération. Cette analyse permet de définir des modalités de génération d'une forme de coopération par une autre dans le cas d'équipes projets ; ces modalités de passage d'une coopération à une autre relèvent pour chaque dimension du même mécanisme. L'ambiguïté quant à la finalité de l'action coopérative permet la variance des schémas interprétatifs, facilite la construction de compromis, et ainsi le passage d'une forme de coopération à une autre. La définition progressive, dans l'action, par les acteurs de leur fonction et statut dans le groupe, dans une dynamique d'enrôlement, constitue un deuxième mécanisme récursif de génération d'une forme de coopération par une autre. Enfin, les normes du périmètre du collectif et leur variation impactent les modes d'engagements interindividuels en définissant ce qui est hors du groupe et ce qui est dans le groupe ; le directeur de projet a un rôle central dans sa définition et sa variation et ainsi dans le passage entre les deux coopérations.

The article considers the discourse surrounding culture change programmes in two British manufacturing organisations. The analysis of organisational discourse is pursued as a means of revealing the indeterminacy of organisational experiences and the problems inherent to the introduction of generic change approaches such as TQM (Total Quality Management) and BPR (Business Process Reengineering). An examination of the discourse used in the case companies will show an intricate set of structural, cultural, economic, and personal pressures passing through the TQM/BPR concepts. Organisational actors from all hierarchical levels are shown to be "disciplined" by the change discourse to various degrees. Three discursive movements are examined: the imposition/ introduction of a hegemonic discourse, the resistance to this discourse, and the appropriation of the discourse by line managers to reconstitute their actions and those of senior management. The outcome of these movements is a contested set of stories, full of contradiction and ambiguity. If the change discourse is to be embodied in local practices it cannot remain purely monologic, but has to engage in a dialogic relationship with existing and emerging concepts and meanings.

Most musings on the strategic management of new organizational forms -- e.g., loosely coupled systems, information-technology-enabled networks, and virtual organizations -- exhibit two fundamental research weaknesses. First, the "new organizational formists" are insufficiently grounded in research on old organizational forms and old organizational strategies. Second, most studies of new organizational forms are insufficiently grounded in data from the new organizational forms they purport to explain. This leads to a situation in which chroniclers of an important change in organizations are too-often ignored because they are atheoretical and aempirical. This study of John Brown Engineering & Construction's adoption of an explicit information technology strategy provides a specific research context in which to consider three related phenomena. The first phenomenon is the continual movement in organizational forms, from firms, to bureaucracies, to institutions, and -- most recently -- to loosely coupled systems, information-technology- enabled networks, and virtual organizations. The second phenomenon is the continued accumulation of strategic options: cost leadership, differentiation, strategic alliances, vertical integration, diversification, globalization, and merger and acquisition strategies. The third phenomenon is the notion of "schizoid incoherence," a condition common to sensemakers, decision-makers, and strategy makers in which there are numerous possible directions to take.

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar cómo influye la exploración y la explotación de conocimiento en el resultado de las adquisiciones y el papel que el conflicto juega en esa relación. Proponemos que el nivel de conflicto tanto preadquisición como postadquisición tiene dos caras. Por un lado, una cara negativa, desarrollada en muchos trabajos, que implica que el conflicto reduce el nivel de explotación de conocimiento generado tras una adquisición. Por otro lado, una cara positiva, ausente hasta ahora de la literatura, que defiende que el conflicto impulsa el nivel de exploración en una adquisición. A través de una muestra de 74 adquisiciones demostramos que la creación de valor está relacionada con el nivel de exploración y el nivel de explotación de la adquisición y que el conflicto que se produce en una adquisición tiene un efecto positivo sobre la exploración.

This paper builds on the relational exchange and power-dependency literature to explore the role played by specific relational antecedents that lead to the hoarding of slack resources. We hypothesize about the impact of four different aspects characterizing supplier-customer relationships on the level of slack resource hoarded by the suppliers: 1/ the interdependence equilibrium between supplier and customer, 2/ the reciprocal power of supplier and customer, 3/ the relational norms that structure the relationship, and 4/ the performance of the supplier. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 98 French automotive component suppliers. Our findings allow us to distinguish between potential and available slack, and suggest that a supplierÕs level of available slack resources increases when its dependence on the customer is higher, when its power is lower, and when the relational norms governing the relationship with the customer are stronger. Moreover, the statistical results point out that the level of potential slack resources held by a supplier is explained neither by the relational behavior of the firm nor by the power-dependence equilibrium between the partners, however a high performance supplier enjoys a higher level of potential slack.

This paper builds on the relational exchange and power-dependency literature to explore the role played by specific relational antecedents that lead to the hoarding of slack resources. We hypothesize about the impact of four different aspects characterizing supplier-customer relationships on the level of slack resource hoarded by the suppliers: 1/ the interdependence equilibrium between supplier and customer, 2/ the reciprocal power of supplier and customer, 3/ the relational norms that structure the relationship, and 4/ the performance of the supplier. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 98 French automotive component suppliers. Our findings allow us to distinguish between potential and available slack, and suggest that a supplierÕs level of available slack resources increases when its dependence on the customer is higher, when its power is lower, and when the relational norms governing the relationship with the customer are stronger. Moreover, the statistical results point out that the level of potential slack resources held by a supplier is explained neither by the relational behavior of the firm nor by the power-dependence equilibrium between the partners, however a high performance supplier enjoys a higher level of potential slack.

This paper seeks to open up for discussion the emotional world of researchers in a manner that encourages and supports reflective practice. Drawing on the work of Clifford Geertz (1968) we focus on the irony inherent to research --elaborated via the concept of covertness-- whereby ethnographic researchers construct mutual fictions in their relationships with respondents, which obscure the authenticity and sincerity of the emotional exchange between researcher and researched. Specifically we discuss examples of interpersonal dynamics which generate uncomfortable emotions and identity work on the part of researchers. Ultimately, we advance understanding of how emotions and identity work influence the collection and interpretation of data. The methodological implications for conducting ethnographic research are discussed.

In 1978, Lefty RosenthalÂa former Chicago bookmakerÂbecame Director of Entertainment at the Stardust Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Roemer (1994: 111), in his book about Vegas, says, ÇLefty had traveled a road paved with controversy and dispute. I guess you could say Lefty was representative of Las VegasÈ. What makes the Rosenthal story interesting and relevant to organizational theory? We intend to analyze whether Lefty is "representative" of Las Vegas, and in doing so, we examine the issue of representation. Specifically, we analyze the story, as told by Roemer (1994) and Pileggi (1995), from a historical point of view and, then, from a Jungian archetypal point of view. However, we would like to be somewhat post-Jungian, and following the Anti-Oedipus of Deleuze and Guattari (1977), we will put forward a revised Jungian account for the material genealogy of Las Vegas. We conclude the paper by commenting upon the "demise of representation" (Knights, 1997) and its implications for organizational theory.

The complexity science metaphor provides an opportunity for imaginative innovations in the field of career counseling. Chaos, complexity, and self-organization are particularly important in light of the demands placed on individuals confronting the "new career" culture. This article describes the key conceptual structures of the complexity science metaphor for counseling, in general, and elaborates on the connections between those conceptual structures for the field of career counseling practice and theory at the dawn of the new career era.

Il est indéniable que les entreprises familiales possèdent des caractéristiques de gestion qui leurs sont propres, nées de l’imbrication de la famille et de l’entreprise. Il est aussi indéniable que les sources propres de compétitivité de ces entreprises manquent encore d’assises théoriques fortes. Dans ce papier, nous cherchons à renforcer ces assises, en recourant à la théorie du capital social, elle-même fondée sur l’approche par les ressources. Appliquée aux firmes familiales, cette théorie contribue à expliquer l’existence de sources particulières de compétitivité. Plus précisément, l’existence d’un capital social familial, qui a été démontrée dans les recherches passées sur la famille, influence la création et le développement d’un capital social propre à l’entreprise familiale, qui est lui-même source potentielle d’avantages pour la firme.

El objetivo de este trabajo es tratar de clarificar el impacto que tiene sobre el desempeño empresarial la implantación de una estrategia de Supply Chain Management (SCM) teniendo en cuenta los efectos de su localización regional. Para ello, se va a emplear una muestra de 358 empresas manufactureras españolas en el periodo comprendido entre 1994 y 2001 bajo un modelo de industria básico. Los resultados muestran como el impacto de la SCM sobre la performance empresarial depende de la localización empresarial elegida. En concreto, se muestran las ventajas competitivas relacionadas con la SCM de las distintas comunidades autónomas españolas.

Over the past decade a number of analysts have argued that we have seen the end of the traditional managerial career. In this paper we examine how various types of downsizing affect the organizational career systems. We take the career system perspective of Sonnenfeld and Peiperl (1988) and examine how delayering, earlier retirement and other common forms of downsizing disrupt or reinforce these career systems. This analysis together with that of Evans, Gunz and Jalland (1997) provides us with a framework to help managers understand the impact of downsizing on careers and select modes of downsizing that will sustain or reorient the career systems of their organizations.

Organizational downsizing has been a major organizational strategy emphasized by managers to improve performance since the late 1980s. Despite the popularity of downsizing in organizations, the implementation of downsizing has resulted in various negative effects on employee morale. This paper examines the relationship between downsizing and trust. The paper first provides a review of the philosophy and strategies for downsizing. It then examines the impact of various downsizing strategies on employee trust and organizational trust. Lastly, the paper offers a discussion about the implications of these strategies for individuals, organizations, and society.

Las Vegas is studied as an arguably prototype postmodern space to develop some understanding of (post)modern consumption. Analyses indicate that while Las Vegas has several characteristics that may help a deeper understanding of the modern and of conditions that signal transformations toward the postmodern, it is far from being a postmodern space. The hegemony of the market and the insistence of the commercial hinder the development of the postmodern. However, insights into the nature of Las Vegas as excess, the change in the status of motion and speed (which are now ends in themselves rather than means to arrive at a destination), and the consumer inclinations for immersion into themes observed in Las Vegas provide explanations that will help a better understanding of contemporary cultural trends.

Questo lavoro utilizza la teoria del capitale sociale per comprendere le peculiarità del processo di acquisizione della conoscenza sui mercati esteri da parte delle start-ups. L'ipotesi sostenuta e' che lo sviluppo del capitale sociale nelle relazioni di business estere può favorire l'acquisizione di conoscenza che, a sua volta, accelera la crescita estera di tali imprese. Il campione analizzato include 112 start-ups italiane ad alta tecnologia, mentre l'unità di osservazione sono le relazioni diadiche da essi intraprese con il proprio cliente estero più importante. I risultati ottenuti confermano l'ipotesi che l'acquisizione di conoscenza risente del tipo di relazioni sociali instaurate con i clienti esteri più importanti, sia in modo positivo che negativo, a seconda della specifica dimensione del capitale sociale coinvolta.

The current article considers the importance of the links existing between social relations and relations of trust, on the one hand, and economic and business relations on the other, in networks of firms, particularly networks of small firms that have formed involuntarily. Among these links, it is important to discover the way tacit and explicit information flows are established within the network and the conditions for them to occur. We examine these questions in a network of firms from the shoe industry using the methods and concepts of social network analysis. With this in mind, we have analysed the complex network of small firms by breaking it down into subnetworks in order to better understand its general structure. Our findings show that economic relations (cooperation, commercial exchanges) and social relations (trust, friendship, kinship, information interchanges) between the firms in the network are embedded within each other. The firms of the network exchange tacit information only with those firms with which they maintain stronger social and business links. Information and knowledge are treated as a strategic resource that is only shared with those companies that are not direct competitors.

El objetivo de este trabajo es contribuir a un mayor entendimiento sobre las implicaciones de la organización del trabajo, en particular "equipos de trabajo", en el performance de la empresa. El estudio que se presenta es eminentemente empírico, donde aplicándose una metodología integradora, tanto cualitativa como cuantitativa (con el objeto de minimizar las carencias que ambos métodos presentan de forma aislada), se busca analizar la relación existente entre trabajo en equipo y performance, a través del estudio concreto de las dos plantas productivas de una compañía industrial española filial de una de las más importantes multinacionales alemanas pertenecientes al sector metal, tomando como indicadores de dicho performance la productividad laboral, la calidad y el absentismo productivo, con el objeto de recoger aspectos de actitud y comportamiento además de los puramente económicos. Los resultados revelan que la eficacia del grupo depende, previsiblemente, del clima tecnológico y del clima que crea la dirección a través de su influencia en el diseño de las tareas, en la composición del grupo, y en el contexto organizacional, siendo muy importantes también el diseño organizativo y la cultura de la empresa.

In an ever-changing environment, firms must also constantly change the way they do things in order to compete successfully. The Spanish textile leaders of 1992 (in comparison to 1978) have altered their organizational boundaries, favoring more complex and flexible structures, outsourcing production and procurement activities -in order to decrease production costs- and integrating their sales force and distribution channels -in order to gain knowledge from their customers. Based on a study we conducted using data from semi-structured interviews with twenty CEOs and secondary sources within leading Spanish textile companies, we found that larger firms adapted through learning whereas medium-size enterprises were subjected to ecological selection.

This paper presents the results of a survey of 74 owner-managed small companies in Alicante (Spain), exploring the existence and performance implications of new venture competitive strategies. A factor analytic procedure and cluster analysis confirmed the existence of multiple strategies which new venture firms follow. Four strategic clusters of firms were uncovered: 1/ Differentiation, 2/ Innovation, 3/ Product Offering, and 4/ Aggressive Growth with Narrow Special Products. A Scheffé posteriori contrast test revealed different "performance patterns" between these clusters.

Few institutions have as much experience with organizational downsizing as the United States military. The historic pattern has been one of a small professional military in peacetime, rapidly supplemented by a mobilization of civilians during war, followed by a rapid demobilization with the war's end. Decisions about military force sizing are critical political and strategic decisions. This article discusses the downsizing of the United State's Cold War military force. Each of the three major reviews of the military structure --Base Force, Bottom-Up-Review, Quadrennial Review-- are briefly discussed. Some of the claimed consequences of downsizing of the military are considered in the concluding section.

This paper seeks to open up for discussion the emotional world of researchers in a manner that encourages and supports reflective practice. Drawing on the work of Clifford Geertz (1968) we focus on the irony inherent to research --elaborated via the concept of covertness-- whereby ethnographic researchers construct mutual fictions in their relationships with respondents, which obscure the authenticity and sincerity of the emotional exchange between researcher and researched. Specifically we discuss examples of interpersonal dynamics which generate uncomfortable emotions and identity work on the part of researchers. Ultimately, we advance understanding of how emotions and identity work influence the collection and interpretation of data. The methodological implications for conducting ethnographic research are discussed.

This paper proposes the concept of "safe risk" as a tool for understanding social transformations in contemporary spectacular society. The paper reviews theories of risk that have emerged in scholarly research. "Safe risk" is proposed as a concept which extends our understanding of the institutional production and consumption of risk. I argue that safe risk production is fundamental to tourism and leisure industries as illustrated by the casino-resort industry on the Las Vegas Strip. The concept of safe risk also provides insights into the nature and emergence of communities and civility in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Three safe risk themes are addressed: financial safe risk or "safe money"; the consumption of sexual imagery through "safe sex"; and the production of casino-environments and residential areas as "safe places". Safe risk production is interpreted using critical theory and postmodern theory. The paper establishes the importance of safe risk as an organizationally produced and consumed image. It provides insights into why safe risk and other simulations may be more attractive than reality even though the consumption of safe risk entails real hazards and dangers. And the paper concludes by suggesting that safe risk analysis should become an important focus in postmodern studies and management and organization theory.

La réutilisation des données qualitatives (RDQ) est une méthodologie assez peu mobilisée en sciences de gestion. Cet article s'interroge sur le statut, la légitimité, les potentialités et les limites qu'elle peut y avoir. Après avoir examiné la place accordée à la RDQ au sein des méthodes en sciences de gestion, nous procéderons à sa délimitation et au repérage de la variété de ses formes, nous précisons les questions épistémologiques soulevées avant d'envisager les conditions de son utilisation.

Downsizing is sometimes necessary, but it always can be done better or worse. This essay reviews evidence about some of what to avoid, as well as about what to approach, in such dour (if not tragic) exercises. Whatever that case, downsizing also always involves normative or value issues, both in the choice between alternative vehicles for adverse personnel actions as well as in the global question: Why downsize? As a sampler, three points illustrate what is best avoided in downsizing experiences. Thus, they should strive hard to "let in the sunshine," but commonly trend toward secretive cabals at the highest levels. Moreover, cutback commonly is used as an all-purpose tool, with major costs. Relatedly, downsizing often penalizes the relatively blameless, which implies both value and ethical shortfalls. What downsizing should emphasize gets illustrated by five exemplars. Thus, buy-in should be sought, early and late, and especially at operating levels; the range of adverse personnel actions should be enlarged; appropriate problems should be targeted, but downsizing often sets in motion counterproductive dynamics; useful infrastructures should be built, but seldom are; and downsizing hosts should be oriented toward learning from the past, in principle and especially in practice.

Corporate downsizing has been implemented by a large number of American firms in an effort to become more flexible and responsive to increased competition. The results associated with these downsizings have not been as stellar as researchers and practitioners had hoped. In fact, fewer than half of downsized firms reported achieving any reduction in costs (Hitt, Keats, Harback and Nixon, 1994). In addition to these dismal financial indicators, the effects of downsizing on the remaining employees have been substantial, including increased stress, reduced career opportunities and decreased company loyalty. This article looks at the possibility that person-based compensation systems such as skill/competency based pay or broad banding may alleviate some of the problems associated with both the poor financial performance and the negative impact on survivors of downsizing. By encouraging employees to acquire new skills and knowledge, person-based pay programs may foster the development of a highly flexible workforce. Employees with wider skills may prove valuable to downsized firms coping with large losses in organizational knowledge and memory.

Data from a cross-industry sample confirm the effects of different organizational structures on dynamic capabilities in alliance settings. Our work integrates the literatures pertinent to organizational structure and the learning and creativity processes that characterize dynamic capabilities in alliances. Our results suggest that centralized structures in alliances hinder creativity and learning, and that formalization impedes learning in alliances. Supporting the arguments put forward by authors such as Burns and Stalker (1961), our results suggest that mechanistic structures in alliance teams hinder the development of dynamic capabilities, whereas organic structures are more conducive in these interorganizational settings.

Over the past decade a number of analysts have argued that we have seen the end of the traditional managerial career. In this paper we examine how various types of downsizing affect the organizational career systems. We take the career system perspective of Sonnenfeld and Peiperl (1988) and examine how delayering, earlier retirement and other common forms of downsizing disrupt or reinforce these career systems. This analysis together with that of Evans, Gunz and Jalland (1997) provides us with a framework to help managers understand the impact of downsizing on careers and select modes of downsizing that will sustain or reorient the career systems of their organizations.

The papers that comprise this Special Issue represent a variety of attempts at exploring the potential contributions to careers scholarship that might emerge from applying concepts and models from the so-called "new sciences," a term widely used to denote a large area of enquiry in the physical and complexity sciences. This article introduces the special issue. It explains its origins, and defines the territory that it covers, specifically, the kinds of career on which the articles focus, the meaning of the term "new science," and the kind of connections that we believe can be made between the two. Finally, we briefly introduce each of the papers in the Special Issue.

We respond to the points raised by Baruch in his critique of our introduction. We believe the critique is helpful because it directs our attention to some important questions that need addressing when applying ideas from one branch of science to another. We argue that there is value in looking elsewhere for ideas, provided that it is done carefully and with rigour.

This paper seeks to understand the dynamics of career systems by exploring how the study of other complex systems can shed light on the complex careers that are becoming increasingly the norm. We begin by defining career systems as a set of work roles and the influx of people occupying those roles, within an organization or in "boundaryless" industries. Then, we explain numerous patterns in career systems --described as "self-organization"-- through rigorous metaphors drawn from studies of "self-organized criticality" (Bak, 1995) and adaptation in interconnected networks (Kauffman, 1993). Implications for strategic human resource management and careers research are identified.

In this article, we explore tradition in the context of collaboration. We take a view of tradition as rooted in reference groups, which are conceptually distinct from membership groups. Through research in two particular collaborations supporting technology business development in the UK, we find that tradition, as a potential cause of failure or inertia, is inter-organizationally significant. We argue that insight into the nature of tradition --in particular its dynamic interplay with culture in the formation of identity-- allows participants to develop some useful language that supports more effective reflective practice in collaboration.

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar cómo influye la exploración y la explotación de conocimiento en el resultado de las adquisiciones y el papel que el conflicto juega en esa relación. Proponemos que el nivel de conflicto tanto preadquisición como postadquisición tiene dos caras. Por un lado, una cara negativa, desarrollada en muchos trabajos, que implica que el conflicto reduce el nivel de explotación de conocimiento generado tras una adquisición. Por otro lado, una cara positiva, ausente hasta ahora de la literatura, que defiende que el conflicto impulsa el nivel de exploración en una adquisición. A través de una muestra de 74 adquisiciones demostramos que la creación de valor está relacionada con el nivel de exploración y el nivel de explotación de la adquisición y que el conflicto que se produce en una adquisición tiene un efecto positivo sobre la exploración.

Over the past decade a number of analysts have argued that we have seen the end of the traditional managerial career. In this paper we examine how various types of downsizing affect the organizational career systems. We take the career system perspective of Sonnenfeld and Peiperl (1988) and examine how delayering, earlier retirement and other common forms of downsizing disrupt or reinforce these career systems. This analysis together with that of Evans, Gunz and Jalland (1997) provides us with a framework to help managers understand the impact of downsizing on careers and select modes of downsizing that will sustain or reorient the career systems of their organizations.

This paper explores collaboration in one innovative project in a production company. The focus is on one particular relationship - that between change agents and project participants with the emphasis on the relations of power between the life forms of ordinary project participants and the change discourse applied. Drawing on Wittgenstein's concept of "language games" and Foucault's concept of "power", this case demonstrates how the change discourse constructs its own image of who the participants are, and how these constructions shape the main content of the change project. Rather than becoming employee-driven and guided with reference to employee identities and life forms, project participants and project activities are constructed by concepts, methods and techniques that are opposed to the extant identities and life forms within the company.

This article introduces the special issue on collaboration. It addresses the various perspectives on intra- and interorganizational collaboration, highlighting tensions, both in practice and research. It then presents the articles composing this special issue.

Communities of practice have been presented as the panacea of organizational learning. Building up on three case studies in different organizations characterized by different internal contexts, this article pushes the logic one step further by arguing that communities of practice can also be unique collaboration spaces within bureaucracies. Their main property is the ambiguity of their relationship with organizational control mechanisms and structures. Communities play with the rules, they can be adaptable and resilient and as such can build resilience within the organization. But this ambiguity, being the foundation of their capacity to introduce cooperation within organizations, is also difficult to maintain. Cultivating communities of practice thus becomes a delicate task for managers who must be able to adopt complex and contradictory behaviours. Five roles that can be fulfilled by management are analysed: stimulation, facilitation, support, control and recognition. Far from the generic recommendations that can be found in the literature to date, the findings indicate that the degree of intervention from management is highly dependent on the internal organizational context. This article thus provides a contingent framework to the cultivation of communities of practice.

This article introduces the special issue on interorganizational relationships. It presents the articles composing this special issue.

Après avoir exploré l'utilisation du concept de situation en management dans la lignée du travail de Girin, nous montrons que ce concept permet d'analyser de manière pertinente des activités managériales structurantes comme la construction du sens et la prise de décision. Le concept permet de comprendre comment s'organise la maîtrise de phénomènes dont l'essence et les frontières sont mal définies, qui doivent être gérés sous contraintes de temps et de connaissances. Nous montrons que l'enquête (dans la philosophie pragmatiste de Dewey), à travers une succession de cadrages (dans la sociologie interactionniste de Goffman), apparaît comme une composante essentielle de l'activité managériale. Deux études de cas illustrent le concept de situation : la première porte sur la protection d'une nappe phréatique face à un risque de pollution et sur la construction progressive d'une gestion de cette situation ; la deuxième porte sur la conduite d'une salle de commande de centrale nucléaire ayant pour objectif de prévenir tout type d'incident. Dans ces deux cas, la situation et l'organisation co-émergent dans une série d'interactions où l'organisation produit des situations qui en retour la modifient. Après une discussion théorique des apports du concept, nous proposons une analyse définissant des leviers de l'action managériale.

This paper examines the role of structural embeddedness as an organising phenomenon within interdependent networks. While conceptual and philosophical in nature, data from a longitudinal ethnographic case study of an icon tourism destination is used to illustrate new framings of this concept. This method of research enables deeper insights to be attained that add both explanation and understanding to our current appreciation of the interdependent organizing phenomena. The case data illustrate how the network has structural attributes of heterogeneity, interconnection and reciprocity that contribute to its anti-hierarchical state. This enables an infinite number of structural possibilities to occur, some of which can be developed to form strategic capabilities that belong to the network. Assisting this process, is a symbiotic and mutual participation from the interdependent actors which critiques the notion of structural redundancy. The paper illustrates how the aggregated patterns have formed in the network and how reciprocal obligation has built long term exchange patterns that contribute to forming the embedded macroculture.

As a macro-spectacle, Las Vegas represents a singular display of the problems which arise in attempting to distinguish meaningfully between "reality" and "fiction". In this article we provide an example of a discursive method to explore the interplay between "social relations" and "images" as critical facets of the realities and fictions which constitute the "Las Vegas Spectacle". Social relations are examined using the systematic application of critical discourse analysis and the specific images analyzed are Las Vegas films. An intrinsic feature of the various representations of Vegas is the notion of "compulsive consumption". The implications of the "Vegas phenomena" (i.e., the centrality of spectacle, consumption, and the collapse of fiction and reality) for the study of organizations and processes of organizing are also discussed.

We examine the influence exiles have on the cultures left behind. As people break from the familiar routines of country or organization, they look forward to their intended destinations, but also backward to the homes they are leaving. It is that backward glance that we suggest may have powerful reverberations.

This article briefly outlines the problems facing public organizations, particularly hospitals, as they attempt to survive in a turbulent environment. One solution to coping with organizational crises is downsizing. However, there are often negative effects on personnel when an organization reduces the work force or experiences major change. A model describing stages of organizational and individual crisis and coping is presented, along with suggestions for organizational development (OD) interventions to deal with these stages. One organization's experience illustrates the negative consequences of organizational downsizing on members.

This article argues that case studies conducted within an ethnographic framework always contain an element of subjectivity and emotionality given the close relationships that researchers establish with participants in the field, and that while these elements can be a source of bias, they can also be transformed into valuable sources of insight as long as they are acknowledged and examined. Through the example of a lived field experience, this paper discusses how the subjective and emotional quality of the relationship established between researcher and participant, once examined, brought a deeper level of understanding and a greater degree of objectivity to findings obtained during an ethnographic case study carried out in an entrepreneurial firm. The methodological implications of the roles played by subjectivity and emotions in this type of research are also discussed.

Three metatheoretical positions, known as individualism, holism, and systemism, are salient in management research programs. The world views of individualism and holism in particular are a matter of controversy between social scientists, leading to serious shortcomings in the prevailing research programs. As we argue in this paper, neither view is adequate. A cogent alternative to both is systemism, which integrates the valuable insights of individualism and holism without their drawbacks. The paper illustrates the specific implications of each of these world views for knowledge management research.

Partnering constitutes an important strategy for organizations to deal with increasing environmental flux. Empirical failures, however, still outweigh the theoretical promises of partnerships. At the same time, the field is characterized by a burgeoning albeit heterogeneous body of literature. This paper therefore aims to develop a comprehensive multidisciplinary lens on supply chain partnerships. By approaching partnerships as an inherently dynamic phenomenon drawing from organizational change literature, such a lens takes on a transformational nature. The lens integrates various bodies of literature by pointing out their specific change perspective as well as the transition zones between their underlying assumptions. Consequently, the transformational lens is employed to explore two case studies of supplier-producer dyads in the food industry. The findings illustrate the simultaneous presence of higher management driven change and continuous change at the middle management level. The findings also aid in drawing propositions for further empirical examination and refinement of the relationship between the underlying assumptions of the transformational lens. The transformational lens contributes by facilitating a more complete picture of partnerships than would be achieved by considering each of its constituent bodies of literature in isolation, and sheds new light on the temporal aspect of partnerships.

En dépit de l'engouement suscité, les résultats des manœuvres d'acquisition restent décevants. Cette déception est à rapprocher du manque d'attention portée à la dimension managériale des acquisitions au profit d'analyses stratégiques d'inspiration essentiellement économique. Si un certain accord existe aujourd'hui sur l'importance du management post-acquisition, des divergences subsistent quant aux principes qui doivent guider celui-ci. En utilisant la méthode des cas, la présente recherche permet de tester la pertinence des propositions en concurrence, lorsque l'acquéreur adopte une politique d'insertion de type symbiotique. La proposition selon laquelle une démarche d'inspiration rationaliste ne permet pas de gérer de façon adéquate les acquisitions de symbiose est corroborée. L'explication de ce résultat tient à la nature même des politiques de symbiose, lesquelles visent à développer des pratiques et/ou des offres innovantes dans un cadre coopératif. L'innovation conjointe revêt dans les cas observés un caractère émergent qui s'accorde mal avec une démarche d'inspiration rationaliste.
Editors' note. This article has been translated in English
Symbiotic Acquisitions: The Drawbacks of a Rational Approach
Despite their popularity, acquisitions have proved disappointing. The reason for this is that economic analyses have prevailed over the managerial dimension of the acquisitions. Although there is currently some agreement about the importance of post-acquisition management, divergences remain as to what the guiding principles should be. Our work, based on the case study method, tests the relevance of competing propositions when the acquiring firm adopts a symbiotic type of insertion policy. The proposition that a rational approach is unsuitable for managing symbiotic acquisitions is corroborated. This result can be explained by the nature of symbiosis policies, which are aimed at developing innovative practices and/or product lines in a cooperative framework. In the cases observed, such joint innovation has an emerging character which is inconsistent with a rational approach.

This article introduces the special issue on collaboration. It addresses the various perspectives on intra- and interorganizational collaboration, highlighting tensions, both in practice and research. It then presents the articles composing this special issue.

This article introduces the special issue on interorganizational relationships. It presents the articles composing this special issue.

In this paper, we present and discuss the notion of interorganizational synthesis. Interorganizational synthesis refers to synthesis in the relationships between all organizations involved in a collaborative project. Synthesis is critical if organizations are fully to leverage the benefits of interorganizational collaboration in complex environments. Reviewing other research in management, in areas such as culture, rationality, and language, we show that collaboration is a far more complex task than economic or contractual theories suggest. We then present ten critical building blocks that must be accounted for in the design of interorganizational relations if synthesis is to be realised. Each of these blocks is discussed and the potential risks, and management implications, are also presented.

In the past few years, a new wave of downsizing has been observed. This wave began during the economic recession of the early 1990s and has continued during the subsequent years of economic growth. While the espoused purpose of this wave of downsizing is to reduce costs and increase "competitiveness," empirical research raises doubts about whether these goals have actually been achieved. Downsizing may also have serious negative consequences for the employees who lose their jobs, for their families, and for the employees who survive the restructuring process. Despite these outcomes, downsizing appears to have become institutionalized among executives as a taken-for-granted way of managing organizations. The cognitive rigidity that this suggests makes it important to discuss alternatives to corporate downsizing. The Volkswagen (VW) Company is an important example of such an alternative, because of its innovative policy of preserving employment in Germany. This paper describes the genesis and implementation of that personnel policy, showing that discontinuities in the corporate environment do not always have to be dealt with by means of mass layoffs. Profits and social responsibility do not necessarily have to be competing goals, but can sometimes be jointly accomodated by using appropriate human resource management programs.

This article aims to convey the promise and potential of visual methods in organizational research. It begins by reviewing the status of visual research in the social sciences in order to explore its potential contribution to organizational research, distinguishing four categories of visual data used by organizational analysts. Using examples from our own ongoing research, we argue that the collection and analysis of visual images has the potential to enhance organizational research by encouraging a focus on aspects of organizational culture that are less easily captured through the collection and analysis of written or spoken words alone. We review the challenges posed by use of visual methods, including issues of access, ethics and copyright law and the importance of theoretical perspective in informing data analysis. Finally, we argue that visual methods have the potential to enable development of a more reflexive approach to organizational research, using examples from our own research to illustrate how this can be developed.

This paper presents the results of a survey of 74 owner-managed small companies in Alicante (Spain), exploring the existence and performance implications of new venture competitive strategies. A factor analytic procedure and cluster analysis confirmed the existence of multiple strategies which new venture firms follow. Four strategic clusters of firms were uncovered: 1/ Differentiation, 2/ Innovation, 3/ Product Offering, and 4/ Aggressive Growth with Narrow Special Products. A Scheffé posteriori contrast test revealed different "performance patterns" between these clusters.

In this preface to the special issue on "Doing Case Study Research in Organizations" we define case study research, review common themes and discuss future directions. We note the value of personal research stories and reflexivity in enriching understanding of case study research practice and draw attention to the opportunities associated with broadening the definition of what may constitute valuable data. We also discuss approaches to obtaining access and review some ethical dilemmas of case study research. Finally, we underline the need for further reflection on the role of computer analysis aids, on modes of writing and communication, and on ensuring quality in a context of epistemological diversity.

During the last years, a consensus is emerging that to survive in the competitive turbulence that is engulfing a growing number of industries, firms will need to pinpoint innovative practices rapidly, to communicate them to their suppliers and to stimulate further innovation. In order to be competitive, companies are forced to adopt less hierarchical and more flexible structures, and to define strategies able to combine reduced costs, high quality, flexibility and a quick answer to customer requirements. Nowadays, there are very few companies with enough resources to form its value chain on their own. Therefore, some changes are taking place within individual companies and in their relations with other organizations, creating new structures in which relationships between customers and suppliers are suffering considerable changes. One of these changes is concerned with the formation of networks in which there is a division of labour that allows each company to exploit their distinctive advantages, and be more competitive globally. In a network model, a set of juridically independent companies establish cooperative long term links in order to achieve a higher level of competitiveness. The enterprises that belong to a network have not all the elements needed for manufacturing a product or providing a service under their absolute control. Therefore, the success of this kind of structures is conditioned by the coordination degree obtained along the realization of inter-organizational activities, which requires an efficient communication system among the partners. The Information Technology (IT) represents a supportive element that facilitates the transfer of information across organizational boundaries. In this paper we analyze the inclusion of the Interorganizational Information Systems (IOS) concept within the network model and discuss the role IT plays in enabling organizational transformation towards emergent forms of organization.

Les réseaux interorganisationnels (RIO) sont désormais devenus des éléments incontournables de la vie économique. Depuis une vingtaine d'années, ils sont largement étudiés par les chercheurs en gestion, en économie ou encore en sociologie. Si les nombreuses recherches sur cette forme d'organisation ont permis d'aborder certains mécanismes de fonctionnement du RIO, nombre d'auteurs ont souligné le faible effet cumulatif des contributions. Ce constat est particulièrement vrai pour l'étude de l'opportunisme dans les RIO. Dans cet article, nous proposons de considérer la dimension socio-cognitive de l'opportunisme et considérons la question suivante : quels comportements de leurs partenaires les acteurs impliqués dans un réseau interorganisationnel considèrent-ils comme opportunistes ? Pour ce faire, nous étudions un RIO international du secteur du transport en combinant étude de cas et analyse de réseaux. Les résultats remettent en cause les approches traditionnelles de l'opportunisme et poussent plus loin le raisonnement des approches hétérodoxes. Les conséquences d'une approche socio-cognitive de l'opportunisme pour l'action stratégique des firmes sont également envisagées.

This paper deals with the special structure of a particular example of interorganizational cooperation (IOC), a structure that helps to overcome many of the problems found in an IOC, thereby enabling it to function smoothly and to achieve its goals. This study is a case analysis in which we examine the underlying issues, relationships and causes that can be generalized beyond the case. The main finding is the structural principle of double rule and multiple roles in which, for every individual within the IOC, there are several formal decision-making positions --i.e., several roles-- at different hierarchical levels. The advantage of this unique structure and its contributions to the success of this example of IOC are discussed.

Dramatic changes in 21st century careers have generated the need for a new set of theoretical lenses that view careers in a more dynamic, fluid way. Several characteristics of this new complexity lens that directly apply to dynamic career systems include discontinuities in career progression, non-proportionality of effects of effort, sensitive dependence on initial conditions, viewing a system in terms of constraints and triggers for change, and the impact of mutual causality of structural emergence. Two extensive case studies are presented and explained using these concepts, providing an expanded understanding of careers in management and in entrepreneurship.

This paper seeks to understand the dynamics of career systems by exploring how the study of other complex systems can shed light on the complex careers that are becoming increasingly the norm. We begin by defining career systems as a set of work roles and the influx of people occupying those roles, within an organization or in "boundaryless" industries. Then, we explain numerous patterns in career systems --described as "self-organization"-- through rigorous metaphors drawn from studies of "self-organized criticality" (Bak, 1995) and adaptation in interconnected networks (Kauffman, 1993). Implications for strategic human resource management and careers research are identified.

This paper considers the connections between pleasure and death, and the erotic force of desire which bridges them, using the work of Jean Baudrillard and Georges Bataille among others. It begins with a consideration of why people risk or desire their own annihilation, raising the issue of why Las Vegas is a place, symbolically, to which people go to die, functioning this way in particular in feature films, two of which are analysed here. The paper argues that in the valorization of the fake which becomes more real than the real, cities like Las Vegas kill the real, and are thus not sites of real pleasure or fulfilment but are mausoleums where the real is sold short. Participants in the Vegas experience participate in a spurious sense of self. The paper discusses the processes of seduction through which this is achieved, and argues that death is always present in Las Vegas because of the kitsch nature of the place, a quality of death-in-life, or living death. In the end, the only way to break through to the real is through sacrifice, a tragic endeavour involving the loss of the spurious sense of self but which may involve the loss of self altogether by risking death. Two films are analysed -- one from the US and one from the UK, to illustrate how this redemptive sacrifical process may function.

Organizational downsizing has been a major organizational strategy emphasized by managers to improve performance since the late 1980s. Despite the popularity of downsizing in organizations, the implementation of downsizing has resulted in various negative effects on employee morale. This paper examines the relationship between