Management as a Symbolizing Construction?

In this article, we outline the concept of management as a symbolizing construction. According to Niklas LUHMANN, organizations process by referring to decisions. But decisions are not simply "given" and in principle invisible. This is the reason why organizations institute formalities like protocols, signatures or other insignia of the official that symbolize the decision—without actually being a decision. These symbols allow for making decisions "process-able." And just like a protocol or a signature, management symbolizes decisions as well. Management provides an organizational practice with symbols of decision making without being the "unity" of the decisions, as decisions perpetually have to be reconstructed, redefined and rearranged in the communication of all organizational units. Therefore management symbolizes on the one hand more than it can achieve. On the other hand the importance of management as a symbolizing construction lies in allowing the reconstruction, redefining and rearrangement of decisions by making them visible and recognizable. Heroic managers, meetings, management tools and procedures are solutions to the paradox of decision making. By symbolizing decidedness they create credibilities that conceal the self-referential construction of organizational communication and the paradox of its decision praxis

Labrundinia separata: redescripción de adultos y descripción de inmaduros (Diptera: Chironomidae: Tanypodinae)

Se redescriben e ilustran los adultos macho y hembra, y se describen los inmaduros de Labrundinia separata (Edwards). Los ejemplares estudiados fueron colectados como inmaduros en los bosques de Notophagus del norte de la Patagonia Argentina y criados, hasta adultos, en laboratorio. Esta especie es comparada con sus congéneres más similares.Adults male and female of Labrundinia separata (Edwards), and the immatures are described and illustrated. The studied specimens were collected as immatures in the Notophagus forest of northern Argentinean Patagonia, and reared to adult in laboratory. The species is compared with the most similar cogeners.Fil: Siri, Augusto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Limnología "Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Limnología; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; ArgentinaFil: Donato, Mariano Humberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Limnología "Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Limnología; Argentin

Decision-making in general practice - the effect of financial incentives on the use of laboratory analyses

This paper examines the reaction of general practitioners (GPs) to a reform in 2004 in the remuneration system for using laboratory services in general practice. Data from Norway make it possible to distinguish between income motivation and service motivation. The purpose of this paper is to study whether income motivation exists, and if so, the degree of income motivation among general practitioners (GPs) in Norway regarding the use of laboratory services in general practices. We argue that the degree of income motivation among GPs is stronger when the physicians are uncertain about the utility of the laboratory service in question. We have panel data from actual physician-patient encounters in general practices in the years 2001-2004, and use discrete choice analysis and random effects models. Our results indicate that there may be an income motivation among GPs regarding using laboratory services as, after the reform, the GPs chose to use laboratory services less frequently where the fees had been most reduced. In addition, estimation results show that an increase in the fees will lead to a small but significant increase in use. The reform led to minor changes in the use of laboratory analyses in GPs’ offices, and we argue that financial incentives were diluted because they were in conflict with medical recommendations and existing medical practice. The patient’s age has the most influence on GPs’ choice regarding use of laboratory services. The results support the hypothesis that the impact of income increases with increasing uncertainty about diagnosis and treatment. The policy implication of our results is that financial incentives alone are not an effective tool for influencing the use of laboratory services in GPs’ offices.Financial incentives; laboratory analyses; diagnostic uncertainty; medical practice.

Entrepreneurial Career Capital, Innovation and New Venture Export Orientation

This paper explores the role of entrepreneurial human capital, entrepreneurial social capital and innovation in explaining new ventures' levels of export orientation. We use Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data from 9,342 early-stage venture entrepreneurs in 36 countries. Our results suggest that both entrepreneurial human capital and entrepreneurial social capital are important in explaining new ventures' export orientation. Entrepreneurial human capital increases the probability for new ventures to offer new products or services. New ventures with unique products or services are more likely to export, indicating that entrepreneurial human capital both has a direct positive relationship with new ventures' export and an indirect positive relationship through the venture's new product or service offerings. We also find that compared to moderate exporters, new ventures with higher export orientation levels are more likely to possess entrepreneurial human and entrepreneurial social capital and to be more innovative.

Turbulence structure in clear and cloudy regions of the 7 July 1987 Electra mission

The 7 July mission of the 1987 FIRE Marine Stratocumulus Intensive Field Observations was chosen for analysis because of a well-defined transition from stratocumulus to clear conditions sampled by the aircraft on this day. It is hoped that by studying this case something can be learned about the processes responsible for the maintenance and breakup of stratocumulus layers, a primary objective of FIRE. The preliminary analysis is based on data from the Electra flight of this day. The properties of turbulence elements, i.e., updrafts and downdrafts, are examined to gain information on the nature of the turbulent exchanges through the boundary layer and across the inversion. Since such exchanges in large measure determine the stability and structure of cloud layers, a study of draft properties should be informative. The results will also be useful in the development of boundary layer models that are based on draft circulations (e.g., Randall, 1988; Hanson, 1988)

New results on mixture and exponential models by Orlicz spaces

New results and improvements in the study of nonparametric exponential and mixture models are proposed. In particular, different equivalent characterizations of maximal exponential models, in terms of open exponential arcs and Orlicz spaces, are given. Our theoretical results are supported by several examples and counterexamples and provide an answer to some open questions in the literature.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.3150/15-BEJ698 in the Bernoulli (http://isi.cbs.nl/bernoulli/) by the International Statistical Institute/Bernoulli Society (http://isi.cbs.nl/BS/bshome.htm

Narrating commercialisation: Swedish university researchers and outreach

This paper is a qualitative study of commercialisation activities in Swedish universities from the perspective of researchers. Our goal is twofold: (i) to elucidate researchers’ understanding of the meaning of concept of commercialisation and (ii) their reasons for engaging in this activity. By providing insight into researchers understanding and rationale for engaging in commercialisation activities, we hope to contribute to deepening understanding of commercialisation and ultimately improving practice. Our findings are that there is a significant amount of activity with respect commercialisation of research taking place within the Swedish universities studied. We found that contrary to the received view which has it that the social sciences and the humanities are also involved in commercialisation activities although researchers in this part of the academy rarely reported themselves as engaging in the commercialisation. We also found that regardless of disciplinary background, firm formation is the aspect of commercialisation to which researchers are most ambivalent.Commercialisation, humanities, social science, firm formation, third stream, outreach

Assessing the cost competitiveness of China’s Shipbuilding Industry

Cost has a significant impact on competitiveness within the shipbuilding industry. In China, low costs have created favourable conditions for domestic shipyards competing in the international market. However, China’s shipbuilders have been facing rising cost pressures in recent years, which may affect their industrial competitiveness. In this article, we assess China’s shipbuilding cost and its impact on the competitiveness of China’s shipbuilding industry. We make comparisons with China’s major competitors, South Korea and Japan, over the period from 2000 to 2009. First, we analyse principal factors that affect shipbuilding cost. Second, we examine the changes in China’s shipbuilding cost over the time period. Finally, we use shipbuilding cost and market share as the basis for analysing the competitiveness of the shipbuilding industry. The results reveal the sources and limiting factors of China’s cost advantage, as well as changes in its shipbuilding cost and competitiveness.Shipbuilding cost; industry competitiveness; China’s shipbuilding industry