Human Systems Management

This paper explores the ambiguous role that the notion of organisational capital has played in economic theory. It suggests that because economists have paid little attention to dynamic processes which differentiate between the growth of technological and organisational knowledge, they have been slow at developing theories adequately relating the boundaries of the firm to their ability to innovate. Also, recent contributions by economists have been converging towards representing firms as learning organisations, whose capacity to survive and evolve is both enhanced and limited by the codes they use to interpret their environments. These learning codes allow firms to select competencies and choose their boundaries, the essential role of organisational capital.

This article analyzes corporate culture transformation programs in the US telecommunications industry. It specifically looks at (1) why a massive investment in corporate culture transformation has been deemed necessary by top management, (2) ways corporate culture change programs have been implemented, and (3) some consequences of these programs for telecommunications workers and companies. The analysis is based primarily on ethnographic observations and interviews with workers and managers involved in corporate culture transformations. It also relies on the relevant literature, and corporate documents. The article concludes by suggesting what these programs portend for the international scene generally and Europe specifically. In addition, it discusses which approaches to corporate cultural change appear effective, and which appear counterproductive.

Given the significance of globalised technology for innovation in contemporary and future organisations in the Asia-Pacific region, the role of technology transfer is a central variable in current organisational capital. International technology involves not only the traditional problems of communicating between technocultures (that is, between scientists/engineers and business managers) but also those of intercultural communication (communication between people with different national/cultural identities).

This paper explores the interfaces among technocultural and national identities as they relate to the international technology transfer process. Theoretical discussion is supplemented by analysis of the international technology transfer activities involving Australian participation in the aerospace and telecommunications industries.

This paper intends to explore in detail a theoretical path based on the complexity paradigm, establishing the basic premises to found firmly an approximation that tries to reconcile structure and event. In such a sense, the analysis of organizations will find its basic elements in complexity, uncertainty, and self-organization. Its starting point is located in the reconceptualization of strategy, as one of the most important axis of action in and around organizations. This will be done from the discussion of our proposal of Strategic Analysis of Organizations. We must depart from the discussion of the strategy concept in its amplest meaning. This will allow us to clarify its meaning and unravel its conceptual richness at a corporate level through the strategic analysis of its circuits of power, related with corporate strategy and industrial relations strategy. Also, we analyze the imbrications between the two identified circuits.

Decisions made by firms over investment in technological and production systems embody conceptions of productive efficiency that are themselves becoming sources of competitive advantage. It is argued in this paper that three dominant models of productive efficiency inform such decisions in the 1990s. There is the model of efficiency that fits with mass production, emphasising division of tasks, standardisation, repetition and cost minimisation. There is the model that underlies the successor system of lean production, first practised by Toyota in Japan, where the emphasis is on just-in-time, total quality management, and employee integration. While some authors limit the options available to firms to these two, this paper argues that there is a third, western alternative which traces its roots to sociotechnical innovation; in the current period it finds expression in business process re-engineering associated with the introduction of information technologies and quality assurance, and takes the form of such organisational innovations as cellular manufacturing, client-centred service cells and ‘high performance’ work systems. The conceptual framework is illustrated in the field of industrial relations, where competing models of structured employee-management relations have profound implications for the competitive posture adopted by firms.

This paper elaborates and illustrates a model of action research that currently informs a major project to design and implement team based manufacturing cells in three Australian companies. The basic assumptions of action research and its distinctive variants are summarised and the particular approach of the SMART project is presented. It is argued that this approach is both distinctive and of importance as a research model for investigating and promoting integrated process innovation, particularly within Australia and other less industrialised countries.