This article introduces Luhmann’s theory of social systems as a prominent example of communication as constitutive of organization (CCO) thinking and argues that Luhmann’s perspective contributes to current conceptual debates on how communication constitutes organization. The theory of social systemshighlights that organizations are fundamentally grounded in paradox becausethey are built on communicative events that are contingent by nature. Consequently,organizations are driven by the continuous need to deparadoxify their inherent contingency. In that respect, Luhmann’s approach fruitfully combines a processual, communicative conceptualization of organizationwith the notion of boundary and self-referentiality. Notwithstanding themerits of Luhmann’s approach, its accessibility tends to be limited due tothe hermetic terminology that it employs and the fact that it neglects the role of material agency in the communicative construction of organizations.
Financial attributes are potentially important influences on the viability of apprenticeship as a mode of vocational education and training. Two financial aspects are considered: apprentices’ pay, which determines the division of training costs between the trainee and the employer; and corporate ownership, which may influence the incentive
to employers to provide training, insofar as it promotes or deters short-termist practice concerning investment in employees’ skills.
Evidence is taken from fieldwork interviews with senior managers in 56 companies, spread across two sectors (metalworking, retailing) in three countries (Germany, Britain, Switzerland). The companies are matched by products and technologies, differentiated by bargaining status and type of ownership.
The importance of apprenticeship relative to recruitment as a source of skills is found to vary greatly across companies. The pay of apprentices differs markedly between
countries (highest in Britain, lowest in Switzerland) in association with the attributes of labour markets, trade unionism, and education systems. Listing on a stock market
and having dispersed ownership are associated with more frequent financial upheaval and a lower training effort than are other ownership types.
This paper constructs and analyzes open-loop equilibria in an infinitely repeated Tullock contest in which two contestants contribute efforts to accumulate individual asset stocks over time. To investigate the transitional dynamics of the contest in the case of a general cost function, we linearize the model around the steady state. Our analysis shows that optimal asset stocks and their speed of convergence to the steady state crucially depend on the elasticity of marginal effort costs, the discount factor and the depreciation rate. In the case of a cost function with a constant elasticity of marginal costs, a lower discount factor, a higher depreciation rate and a lower elasticity imply a higher speed of convergence to the steady state. We further analyze the effects of second prizes in the contest. A higher prize spread increases individual and aggregate asset stocks, but does not alter the balance of the contest in the long run. During the transition, a higher prize spread increases asset stocks, produces a more balanced contest in each period and increases the speed of convergence to the steady state.
Die erfolgreiche Internet-Enzyklopädie Wikipedia demonstriert das Potential alternativerProduktionsmodelle für bedeutende Innovationen, die mit traditionellen Methoden nicht erreichbarsind. Sie arbeitet einerseits mit einem barrierefreien Zugang und setzt andererseits – etwa bezüglich Umfang und Aktualität – neue Maßstäbe. In der Rechtsentwicklung wird dies noch kaum berücksichtigt. Die laufende Regulierung des Internets zielt fast ausschließlich darauf ab, die herkömmlichen, auf umfassenden immaterialgüterrechten basierenden Produktionsmodelle zu stärken. Alternative Produktionsmodelle wie Wikipedia sind dadurch bedroht und damit auch die Innovationen, die sie hervorbringen.
This paper investigates the effects of different types of talent management strategies on organisational performance. We introduce four different strategies and show how they affect organisational performance. For this purpose, we use a particularly detailed dataset of 138 Swiss companies. We find that talent management focusing on retaining and developing talents as job satisfaction, motivation, commitment and trust in leaders. Moreover, talent management practices with a strong focus on corporate strategy have a statistically higher significant impact on organisational outcomes such as company attractiveness, the achievement of business goals, customer satisfaction and, above all, corporate profit, more so than any other areas that talent management focuses upon.
As the bonus culture in the financial sector once again comes under attack, this column challenges the typical defence that banks need to pay top dollar to attract the best talent.
In this paper, we examine the process of global corporate social responsibility(CSR) standardization. By drawing on neo-institutionalist theories we distinguishbetween the breadth and depth dimension of CSR standardization. Based on our empirical study of the “Equator Principles”, a CSR standard in the field of international project finance, we exemplify that CSR standards indeed candisseminate rapidly and widely within an industry (breadth dimension). However,we also show that their impact is contingent upon discursive negotiation processesthat affect whether the formal adoption of a standard is perceived as meaningfuland legitimate, in turn engendering the actual organizational implementation ofpractices (depth dimension).
