E-Book Overview
The main contribution of this book is the living composition, the model of living organizations. It is a new and original interpretation of the theory of living, self-producing systems (autopoiesis theory). Living composition is defined here as strategic components and their relationships. A living organization is thereby a self-producing system that is composed of ten different non-physical strategic components that are continually produced by the organization itself. The components and their relationships are defined so that they enable and facilitate interconnected openness and closure, i.e. the 'sensing' (interactive openness) and 'memory' (self-referentiality) of an organization. These characteristics and related knowledge flows enable the capability to learn and co-evolve with the broader business ecosystem. This book also presents consistency/intentionality platforms and evolution models that help to evaluate the learning and renewal capability of an organization and to improve its enabling infrastructure. The living composition model has multiple implications for managers, consultants, and academics. It helps to identify the characteristics and development potential of the enabling structures of an organization, and to evaluate various development methods and activities in a larger framework. The sources of organizational learning and renewal are diverse and difficult to understand. This book shows how organizational learning and renewal can be explained by the theory of self-producing systems.
E-Book Content
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ORGANIZATIONS AS LEARNING SYSTEMS ‘LIVING COMPOSITION’ AS AN ENABLING INFRASTRUCTURE
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ADVANCED SERIES IN MANAGEMENT
Series Editor: Professor Ron Sanchez Copenhagen, Denmark and Lund, Sweden The intent of the Advanced Series in Management is to produce foundational books for a new era of management theory that will be long-lived in serving future generations of management researchers and practitioners. To this end, the Advanced Series in Management has three goals: 1. publishing volumes that develop new conceptual foundations for management theory; 2. countering the trend towards increasing fragmentation in management theory and research by developing a new theory base for management that is interconnected and integrative; 3. developing new management theory that has clear, direct usefulness for the practice of management. The volumes in the Advanced Series in Management are intended collectively to elaborate a broadened and more integrated theory base for understanding and addressing the challenges facing contemporary managers. Volumes in the Advanced Series in Management therefore seek to stimulate and shape the development of management thought in ways and directions that reach beyond the content and perspectives of established management theory. The Advanced Series in Management intends to be, in effect, the series of academic management books that is willing to break away from the pack and to publish titles that advance new frameworks for management thinking.
Related Publications: Number 1: MORECROFT, SANCHEZ, HEENE Systems Perspectives on Resources, Capabilities, and Management Processes Number 2: SKÖLDBERG Tracks and Frames: The Economy of Symbolic Forms in Organizations Number 3: HEDBERG, BAUMARD, YAKHLEF Managing Imaginary Organizations: A New Perspective on Business
Forthcoming titles include: SANCHEZ Beyond the Boundaries of the Firm: Integrating Theories of the Firm and Theories of Markets
Related Elsevier journals Business Horizons European Management Journal Journal of Management Leadership Quarterly Long Range Planning Organizational Dynamics Scandinavian Journal of Manageme