Suchergebnisse

When organization members strive to radically change routines, they face a puzzle: How can they bring about change in performances when these are guided by pre-existing ideas on how to perform the routine, that are themselves recursively reproduced? Drawing on insights from longitudinal case studies of two initiatives to change patient processes in hospitals, this paper suggests that two types of "spaces"—bounded social settings characterized by social, physical, temporal, and symbolic boundaries—are important mechanisms through which actors engage in deliberate efforts to alter both performances (performative aspect) and abstract understandings (ostensive aspect) of a given routine. Specifically, whereas reflective spaces are set apart by social, physical, and temporal boundaries and involve interactions that are geared toward developing novel conceptualizations of a routine, experimental spaces enable the integration of new actions into routine performances by locating them within the original routine, while establishing symbolic and temporal boundaries that signal the provisional and localized nature of experimental performances. As both types of spaces contribute to achieving change in complementary ways, they need to be enacted iteratively in relation to each other. The study offers a model of intentional routine change that articulates the role of spaces in interrupting and reorienting their recursive dynamics.

AbstractBusiness schools are increasingly willing to teach total quality management concepts, but the controversy regarding the applicability of these concepts to business education systems appears to be heating up. The questions addressed in this paper are the following: Why should business schools change their ways? What would be involved in applying TQM in a business school environment? Is it feasible? Is it desirable?RésuméLa qualité totale s'enseigne de plus en plus dans les écoles de gestion. La question de l'applicabilité des concepts qu'elle sous‐tend dans les écoles de gestion elle‐même soulève cependant la controverse. Cet article se penche sur les questions suivantes: Pourquoi les écoles de gestion devraient‐elles revoir leur approche? La qualité totale dans une école de gestion, ça pourrait ressembler à quoi? Est‐ce possible? Est‐ce désirable?

ABSTRACTThis paper examines some approaches to decision problems under uncertainty. Starr's [29] domain criterion is presented and modified to take into account different philosophies concerning the desirability of winning versus the importance of avoiding losses. The concept of expected value of distribution information is defined and its computation is illustrated with a numerical example. Target values are then introduced into the model and a parametric procedure is used to maximize the chances of achieving a certain level of the given objective. Finally, we show how the concepts developed in this paper might provide further insight into some decision situations reported in the literature.