Suchergebnisse

Two explanations for terrorist organizations' behavior are offered to determine the theoretical value of these notions & how different conceptualizations of terrorist activity influence policy making. Whereas the instrumental perspective perceives terrorism as an intentional activity designed to achieve a political objective that will benefit a terrorist organization, it is stated that the organizational approach views terrorism as behavior designed to perpetuate or promote a terrorist organization while providing certain incentives to group members. Examples of both types are provided. The impact that these perspectives have on government policy making & their theoretical advantages & shortcomings are explored. The implications of combining both conceptualizations of terrorist activity for future studies of terrorism are considered. J. W. Parker

An exploration of the successful & tranquil history of Soka Gakkai in the US (SGI-USA) argues that the lack of controversy is due to compliance with American social institutions & efforts to Americanize a Japanese religion. Although Soka Gakkai beliefs/rituals are extremely different from those of Western Christianity or Judaism, care has been given to not violate conventions of everyday culture that bond members of society. The willingness to comply with accepted rules of behavior allowed Soka Gakkai to circumvent direct challenges to its legitimacy that were the downfall of many other transplanted religious movements. It is contended that SGI-USA has evolved from being a distinctively Japanese religion to one that is increasingly similar to other American religious organizations. Reasons for this organizational isomorphism are discussed, & the history of SGI-USA is traced from its beginnings as a group that primarily served Japanese wives of American servicemen. Reforms that altered Japanese characteristics of the organization are described, along with changing demographics of the membership & its leadership suggesting that the isomorphic processes are likely to continue. J. Lindroth

W. R. Scott & J. W. Meyer (1983) argued that the contradictory demands placed on organizations by technical & institutional environments can lead to higher levels of internal conflict, & that organizations can deal with this dialectic tension by adopting more complex administrative systems. This dialectic view fails to fully appreciate the dualistic relationship between the kinds of technical & institutional environments that organizations must confront. Focusing specifically on unbounded technological systems -- multicomponent systems that can be linked together in network industries -- it is proposed that the relationship between technical & institutional environments can be better understood & more adequately managed through development of transient designs -- designs that serve as stepping stones for future product offerings. 1 Figure. M. Maguire

Es wird die These begründet, daß es einen wachsenden Bedarf gibt, kollektive Akteure normativ einzubinden, weil moderne Gesellschaftsordnungen unvergleichlich viel stärker vom Wohlverhalten ihrer Organisationen als ihren Individuen abhängig sind. Erläutert wird, wie sich Organisationsethik in formaler Hinsicht von Individualethik uinterscheidet. Es wird die Behauptung vertreten, daß Organisationen im Vergleich zu Individuen über eine ungleich höhere, vor allem auch viel besser steigerbare Moralfähigkeit verfügen: daß sie also besser in der Lage sind, im ethischen Wortsinne "gut" zu handeln und selbst gewisse idealistische Forderungen der Moralphilosophie in die Praxis zu überführen, die bisher mit wenig Erfolg an menschliche Personen gerichtet wurden. Abschließend wird darauf hingewiesen, wie sich korrelativ zum Hervortreten der Organisationsethik auch die Individualethik in charakteristischer Weise wandelt; und daß gewisse bekannte Erscheinungen der Gegenwart, z. B. die Pluralisierung der Lebensstile oder die erneute Hinwendung zur Gesinnungsethik, genau darin ihre Ursache haben. (GF)

Methods for overcoming obstacles to conducting highly intrusive research of corporate organizations are examined through a case study of an analysis of corporate ethics, focusing on: developing a research plan, broadening the scope to encompass espoused corporate values, reducing potentially inflammatory language, framing the payoffs for the organization, selling the overlapping interests of the corporation & the researcher, establishing relations with managers, & conducting interviews. The analysis emphasizes the necessity of establishing an appropriate balance between the objectives of science & social action. 2 Appendixes, 51 References. D. Generoli

Proposes an alternative to theories focusing on cumulative individual behavior to explain the generation of economic organizations, based on the general equilibrium theory Walrasian conception of the economy that stresses the interaction & connectedness of markets in & across economies. It is argued that market participants are embedded in organized environments that steer & constrain both firm-level & individual economic processes. Calculability, generalized through price systems, helps rationalize an economy's organization, causing firms to coordinate or not coordinate their activities in a business group, depending on price incentives. These system actions are mutually maintained & require participants to play by the rules of the organizational game. Economic organization theories that assume individual aggregation are summarized, along with the benefits of a neo-Walrasian conception, as opposed to bottom-up theories, for addressing the effects of economic organizations on the formation of a complex capitalist economy. It is maintained that both economic & noneconomic factors are important in understanding structural differences among capitalist economies. 90 References. J. Lindroth