ARTICLE 1

The application of innovative hybrid research methodologies across highly diverse national cultures

Résumé :

This paper presents a description of the use of innovative hybrid research methodologies in the application and development of a particular approach to action research known as Appreciative Inquiry or AI. The paper reports on the use of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies in the development and application of AI. The importance of the topic is reflected in the fact that AI has been recently identified as the most important recent innovation in the field of organization development in a survey of the leadership in the organization development field. (Warrick, 2002). AI has been identified as a new and alternative approach to action research, which reflects an emphasis on the core values of the field.

par Therese Yaeger, Ph.D.
Benedictine University (USA)
Peter F. Sorensen, Jr., Ph.D.
Benedictine University (USA)
Lee Lu
LS International (USA)
Ulf Bengtsson
Benedictine University (USA)

ARTICLE 2

Organizational theory as Soap Opera
From Deleuze to soap and back again

Résumé :

Soap opera is played out on the surface of the viewers’ physiognomy via the facades of social appearance and in dramas that are (often literally) skin-deep. The narrative(s) of soap opera have no beginning or end; they are all middle. Soap opera is, thus, paradigmatically rhizomatic. Organization as rhizome is taken up here as the point of departure. Deleuze’s descriptions of ‘firstness’ [the term coming from Peirce] --- that is, perception on the level of sensation and appearance --- matches the emergent logic of rhizomes, organization and soap opera. The actual manifestations of that logic, produce structures or ‘sets’ of conflicts, differences and plots – i.e. ‘secondness’. Deleuze rejects ‘firstness’ and ‘secondness’ in a ‘transcendental empiricism’ centering on the pursuit of total immanence and becoming. Is organization best studied as rhizomatic – that is, as a narrative of ‘firstness’ and/or ‘secondness’, or as reflexive or sublime ‘thirdness’?

par Hugo Letiche
University for Humanistics (Netherlands)
Ruud Kaulingfreks
University for Humanistics (Netherlands)
Geoff Lightfoot
University for Humanistics (Netherlands)

ARTICLE 3

An examination of research methods
in organizational studies

Résumé :

This paper provides a review of the strategies employed in organizational research for 1995 to 1997. We performed a content analysis on articles from the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Journal and Administrative Science Quarterly. Research methodologies employed are examined and results compared with those reported by Podsakoff and Dalton (1987). Results indicate changes in the use of research settings (a more even distribution of study settings), means of data collection (more secondary data), and types of analyses conducted (increased use of multiple regression). Many of the findings are encouraging for future research on organizations. However, there are still areas in need of improvement. Implications of these observations for future research on organizations are discussed.

Par Ethlyn A. Williams
Florida Atlantic University College of Business (USA)
Terri A. Scandura
University of Miami
School of Business Administration (USA)

ARTICLE 4

Understanding Merger and Acquisition Dynamics: A Post-Combination Change Management Perspective

Résumé :

Managers continue to underestimate the change management challenges inherent in consolidating organizations. Essential elements in merger and acquisition (M&A) integration emerge from an understanding of the combination process, its technical and human dimensions, its cultural overtones, and the reality that all real value creation occurs well after the deal is signed. The article explores key M&A stages – pre-combination planning, consolidation and post-combination integration – and the ramifications for intervening with merging, acquiring and acquired companies.

par Anthony F. Buono
Bentley College
Waltham, Massachusetts (USA).

ARTICLE 5

Using Real Option Concepts to Guide the Nature and Measured Benefit of Consulting Interventions
Involving Investment Analysis de la metáfora de la complejidad y el caos

Résumé :

This paper investigates ways to estimate the value of real options implicit in investment projects. The research will first define real options and then explore a recently developed method of estimating the value of a real option. Next, the paper explores what consultants can do to improve the option value of the investments their clients are considering. Finally, the research will explore ways to incorporate estimates of the value of the option into the specified benefits of consulting engagements.

par Randall B. Hayes
School of Accounting, College of Business
Central Michigan University (USA)

ARTICLE 6

Chaos and Complexity
An Overview of the ‘New Science’ in Organization and Management

Résumé :

This conceptual contribution presents an English-literature based overview of the chaos and complexity paradigm with a prime focus on organization and management. Some basic concepts, methods and techniques for the diagnosis and design of so-called ‘chaordic enterprises’ are explored, in which emphasis is put on the analysis of wholes in terms of a synthesis of parts (i.e., holons), and in which the research goal is not to determine the largest common denominators, but rather to discover the weak signals as indicators of a new future. Also, it points to the analysis of (real time) dynamical instead of static phenomena, and it asks for the ability to trace emergent processes which substantiate on the basis of intensive interaction of the parts. Because the chaos-and-complexity field in organization and management is still in its infancy, the goal is to systematically document the development of the new paradigm to date, to evaluate its status as a scientific approach, and to highlight some methodological issues.

par Frans M. Van Eijnatten
Eindhoven University of Technology (The Netherlands)