Inter-Organizational Paradox Management: How national business systems affect responses to paradox along a global value chain

This study discusses the relationship between inter-organizational paradox management, national business systems and global value chains. Using case study evidence from a global value chain in the footwear industry (in Germany and China), we analyse how different businesses in the chain responded to the paradoxical tension arising from the competing demands to provide a living wage to workers and to uphold financial performance. Our findings highlight organizational responses to this paradox along the value chain, showing how these responses were shaped by the interplay of different types of pressures exerted by national business systems and the value chain itself. While these pressures were aligned in the German part of the chain, they were not aligned on the Chinese side. The study makes two contributions: (1) we develop a taxonomy outlining how the alignment of different types of pressures influences whether organizations choose either proactive or defensive paradox management; and (2) we argue that theorizing the impacts of cross-national distance on paradox management can be enhanced by adopting a multidimensional approach to institutional variety that extends beyond culture-based arguments.

Politics, Governance, and Leadership: What Can We Learn From the Academy of Management’s Response to EO13769?

Organization design seeks to balance potentially conflicting objectives while achieving a broader mission. EO13769 created a challenge for the president of the Academy of Management in leading through these conflicts, as President Anita McGahan describes: how to be true to her own moral values while leading an organization with well-established design constraints, and members with diverse opinions. This article shares the perspectives of 12 scholars on the lessons we can learn from Professor McGahan’s leadership of a constraining organization through a challenging time.

Bullshit and Organization Studies

Bullshit is a ubiquitous communication practice that permeates many dimensions of organizational life. This essay outlines different understandings of bullshit and discusses their significance in the context of organization studies. While it is tempting to reject bullshit as corrosive to rational organizational practice, we argue that it is necessary to understand its organizational significance and performative nature more systematically. We outline different social functions of bullshit focusing on two particular types of managerial practices in which bullshit is likely to play a significant role: commanding and strategizing. On this backdrop, we consider bullshit in terms of the messages, senders and receivers involved, focusing especially on the dynamics between these dimensions in the context of organizations. The final part of this essay debates the reasons why bullshit, which is recognized by organizational members, is rarely called and rejected explicitly.

ToxDB: pathway-level interpretation of drug-treatment data

Motivation: Extensive drug treatment gene expression data have been generated in order to identify biomarkers that are predictive for toxicity or to classify compounds. However, such patterns are often highly variable across compounds and lack robustness. We and others have previously shown that supervised expression patterns based on pathway concepts rather than unsupervised patterns are more robust and can be used to assess toxicity for entire classes of drugs more reliably.

Results: We have developed a database, ToxDB, for the analysis of the functional consequences of drug treatment at the pathway level. We have collected 2694 pathway concepts and computed numerical response scores of these pathways for 437 drugs and chemicals and 7464 different experimental conditions. ToxDB provides functionalities for exploring these pathway responses by offering tools for visualization and differential analysis allowing for comparisons of different treatment parameters and for linking this data with toxicity annotation and chemical information.

Database URL:http://toxdb.molgen.mpg.de

Decoupling Responsible Management Education

This article examines under what conditions business schools may decouple the structural effects of their engagement in responsible management education from actual organizational practices. We argue that schools may be unable to match rising institutional pressures to publicly commit to responsible management education with their limited internal capacity for change. Our analysis proposes that decoupling is likely if schools (a) are exposed to resource stringency, (b) face overt or covert resistance against change processes, (c) are confronted with competing institutional pressures, and (d) perceive institutional demands as ambiguous. We discuss two implications of this proposition. On one hand, decoupling can cause dissonant legitimacy perceptions, leading to cynicism around responsible management education within business schools. On the other hand, a temporary inconsistency between talk and action may help schools to articulate future ambitions for responsible management education, which, over time, could inspire recoupling effects.

The Dynamics of Standardization: Three Perspectives on Standards in Organization Studies

This paper suggests that when the phenomenon of standards and standardization is examined from the perspective of organization studies, three aspects stand out: the standardization of organizations, standardization by organizations and standardization as (a form of) organization. Following a comprehensive overview of existing research in these three areas, we argue that the dynamic aspects of standardization are under-represented in the scholarly discourse. Furthermore, we identify the main types of tension associated with standardization and the dynamics they generate in each of those three areas, and show that, while standards and standardization are typically associated with stability and sameness, they are essentially a dynamic phenomenon. The paper highlights the contributions of this special issue to the topic of standards as a dynamic phenomenon in organization studies and makes suggestions for future research.

Diet-induced gene expression of isolated pancreatic islets from a polygenic mouse model of the metabolic syndrome

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS

Numerous new genes have recently been identified in genome-wide association studies for type 2 diabetes. Most are highly expressed in beta cells and presumably play important roles in their function. However, these genes account for only a small proportion of total risk and there are likely to be additional candidate genes not detected by current methodology. We therefore investigated islets from the polygenic New Zealand mouse (NZL) model of diet-induced beta cell dysfunction to identify novel genes and pathways that may play a role in the pathogenesis of diabetes.

METHODS

NZL mice were fed a diabetogenic high-fat diet (HF) or a diabetes-protective carbohydrate-free HF diet (CHF). Pancreatic islets were isolated by laser capture microdissection (LCM) and subjected to genome-wide transcriptome analyses.

RESULTS

In the prediabetic state, 2,109 islet transcripts were differentially regulated (>1.5-fold) between HF and CHF diets. Of the genes identified, 39 (e.g. Cacna1d, Chd2, Clip2, Igf2bp2, Dach1, Tspan8) correlated with data from the Diabetes Genetics Initiative and Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium genome-wide scans for type 2 diabetes, thus validating our approach. HF diet induced early changes in gene expression associated with increased cell-cycle progression, proliferation and differentiation of islet cells, and oxidative stress (e.g. Cdkn1b, Tmem27, Pax6, Cat, Prdx4 and Txnip). In addition, pathway analysis identified oxidative phosphorylation as the predominant gene-set that was significantly upregulated in response to the diabetogenic HF diet.

CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION

We demonstrated that LCM of pancreatic islet cells in combination with transcriptional profiling can be successfully used to identify novel candidate genes for diabetes. Our data strongly implicate glucose-induced oxidative stress in disease progression.

Researching Strategy Practices: A Genealogical Social Theory Perspective

This paper explores the meaning and significance of the term `social practice' and its relation to strategy-as-practice research from the perspective of social theory. Although our remarks are also applicable to other practice-based discussions in management, we discuss strategy practices as a case in point and thus contribute to the strategy-as-practice literature in three ways. First, instead of simply accepting the existence of a unified `practice theory', we outline a genealogical analysis revealing the historical-contingent conditions of its creation. This analysis shows that social practices in general and strategy practices in particular can be approached from either a neo-structuralist and/or neo-interpretative perspective. Second, based on this theoretical argument, we discuss different characteristics of strategy practices and emphasize those aspects not yet fully considered by strategy-as-practice research (e.g. the physical nature of practices). Third, we show that, when studying strategy practices, given an understanding of the alternative theoretical approaches available, the practice of strategy research itself needs to be adjusted so as to accommodate a stronger emphasis on an ethnographic approach that is directed towards uncovering the contextual and hidden characteristics of strategy-making.

As If it Were Relevant

This article discusses the concept of research relevance from a systems theoretical perspective. Based on the claim that many scholars still think of relevance as something that can be achieved and enhanced by choosing the “right” measures (e.g., “user-friendly” writing style), the authors argue that such a perspective obscures the self-referential status of “science” and “practice” as social systems in society. Our systems theoretical discussion, which is based on the work of German sociologist Niklas Luhmann, shows that, strictly speaking, science cannot produce relevant knowledge prior to application. Instead, practice has to make scientific knowledge relevant by incorporating it into the specific logic of its system. We argue that such an integration of knowledge is only possible by first acting as if the offered knowledge were relevant and to then modify and extend it according to the idiosyncrasies of the system. We characterize these as-if assumptions as fictions and show their significance for rethinking the concept of relevance.

[Experimental conditions for the reproduction of a submucous steal phenomenon in the dog stomach]

The influence of pentagastrin on gastric blood flow has been investigated using 9 mu-microspheres in dogs. As soon as 6 min after the onset of a pentagastrin infusion blood flow rises in all gastric probes in fasted animals. In dogs, fed two hours previously, such a response can only be seen in the corpus-mucosa areas. Blood flow in the antrum mucosa specimen falls beneath its initial value. This gastric steal-phenomenon takes place at the level of the submucous plexus, as has been shown earlier.

[Determination of the optimal L-thyroxine dosage for treating nontoxic goiter]

303 patients with non-toxic goitre (aged 14-85 years) were studied to determine the extent to which the level of thyroid-hormone dosage until a negative TRH test is reached can be defined in terms of age, body surface area and goitre size. In all instances detailed examination had determined regular hormone intake. The required L-thyroxine dose (until negative TRH test) was 100 micrograms/d in 75.6% of cases, 125 micrograms/d in 9.2% and 150 micrograms/d in 8.6% of cases. In 2.6% of cases was a satisfactory suppression reached at 50 microgram/d and in 4% at 75 micrograms/d. There was no correlation of the level of L-thyroxine dose to body surface area, age, T3 level, delta-TSH or goitre size. There was a slight correlation between T4 level and optimal L-thyroxine dose, but not significant because of the wide range of normal. The results indicate that the only way to obtain optimal L-thyroxine dosage in the treatment of goitre is by doing a TRH test in the given patient.

Die Schilddrüsenhormone in der Spätschwangerschaft unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der freien Hormone

Bei 91 klinisch euthyreoten Schwangeren im 3. Trimenon und bei 38 nichtschwangeren euthyreoten Frauen wurden die Schilddrüsenparameter TT4, TT3, rT3 (nur bei den Schwangeren), T3-Uptake (T3U), TBG, TSH, FT4I (TT4/T3U), TT4/ TBG sowie die freien Schilddrüsenhormone FT4 nach dem Verfahren von Corning und FT3 nach dem Verfahren von Lepetit (letztere nur bei 58 Schwangeren) bestimmt. Zusätzlich wurde bei den Schwangeren ein oraler Glukosetoleranztest (oGTT) durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von FT4 und FT3 sprechen für eine ausgeglichene thyreometabolische Stoffwechsellage in der Spätschwangerschaft bei leicht erniedrigten FT4-Spiegeln und eindeutig im Normalbereich liegenden FT3-Werten. Der diagnostische Wert des TiyTBG-Quotienten bei stark erhöhten TBG-Spiegeln muß angezweifelt werden. Bei Schwangeren mit einem Gestationsdiabetes können als erniedrigt festgestellte FT4-Spiegel evtl. als Hinweis auf einen veränderten Thyroxinstoffwechsel angesehen werden.

Contingent negative variation and alpha attenuation responses in children with different abilities to concentrate

In three paralleled groups, each of seven children (age, 11 years) with reliable high, average and low ability to concentrate, measured by psychological tests, the contingent negative variation (CNV) and the concomitant alpha attenuation responses were studied in warned reaction time experiments. Stimuli were tone (S1) and patterned light (S2). In half of the trials, S2 was a square, in the other half a triagle, stimuli being projected in random order onto the fixation point. In two experiments the children had to react (a) to each type of S2, and (b) selectively to one type of S2. Significant group differences were found. In comparison to the children with low ability to concentrate, the children with average and especially those with high ability to concentrate showed: (1) stronger central occipital alpha attenuation responses to the warning stimulus, but no differences in the early CNVs; (2) more occipital alpha reduction and enhanced development of central negativity before the imperative stimulus; (3) task-specific modulation of these responses, i.e. larger pre-S2 rise in negativity in the simple reaction task, and stronger pre-S2 reduction of alpha amplitudes in the discriminative reaction task.

Hyperactive behavior and EEG arousal reactions in children

EEG arousal reactions and parameters of spontaneous EEG activity were studied in two extreme groups of behavior problem children (11 hyperactives and 11 non-hyperactives), selected on the basis of a rating of motor restlessness the core symptom of the "hyperactivity syndrome". The EEG was recorded in three reaction time experiments: a tone light conditioning paradigm and two series with random stimulation. An automatic analysis of EEG parameters was employed to describe the time functions of alpha amplitudes in the single trial. The main findings are: 1. In periods free from stimulation, hyperactive children have higher alpha and beta amplitudes, more alpha waves and a smaller amount of beta waves. This indicates a lower state of EEG arousal in the hyperactives. 2. The amplitude reduction to tone (in the single trial) develops more slowly in the hyperactive group. This group difference increases over the experimental situations. 3. The arousal responses to tone, in terms of the level of maximum amplitude reduction, become comparably weaker in the hyperactives across the experiments. 4. Under all experimental conditions the hyperactives exhibit shorter arousal responses to the light stimulus than the non-hyperactive children. 5. Reaction time performance of the groups is clearly different, hyperactives showing the longer latencies. 6. Although conditional changes in the arousal reactions to both stimuli are reliably demonstrable in all children, the groups show no difference in the corresponding measures. These findings are discussed under the aspects of activation and of attention behavior of the subjects.