In Pursuit of the Re-Engineering Agenda in Public Administration

The article examines the findings from longitudinal case study work conducted in the 1992-96 period in two organizations in the United Kingdom health care and post office sectors. The study highlights the many cultural, political and technical issues that emerge in the strategy and implementation of IT-enabled re-engineering projects. The radical re-engineering perspective and model for change presented by Hammer and Champy (1993) are compared against empirical findings. These suggest that the Hammer and Champy advice contains many limitations. The cases show the specific circumstances in which radical re-engineering can be effective, in managerial terms, but also point to conditions under which a unitary perspective on the organization often cannot address adequately many critical political and cultural issues. Moreover, the case histories point to the dangers of an over reliance on a methodological holism that can rarely be delivered in complex large-scale organizations, given the scale of change envisaged; and the difficulties engendered by over-emphasizing the need for transformation, and 'starting again', and downplaying the role of history and continuity in both the study and management of organizational change.     

Psychological proximity and the construal of crime: A commentary on ‘Mapping fear of crime as a context‐dependent everyday experience that varies in space and time’

Fear of crime is a dynamic psychosocial phenomenon, and sophisticated methodologies are necessary in order to explore its multidimensionality and complexity. The experience sampling method (ESM) that is used by Solymosi and colleagues (2015) is a promising methodological way forward in fear of crime research. While acknowledging the advantages of ESM, in this commentary we discuss a potential disadvantage of the method, namely the possibility that ESM can increase the psychological proximity of crime. Drawing upon construal‐level theory of psychological distance, we argue that ESM might sensitize people to think about crime through the lens of personal risk, with a knock‐on effect on the construal of crime.     

Patents and enantiomers: Generics v Lundbeck

Legal context: This article examines a decision of the English Patents Courtin relation to the validity of a patent claiming a single enantiomer(a particular molecular form) of a known pharmaceutical compound. Key points: The court held that while it would have been obvious to theskilled person at the priority date to prepare the single enantiomerof the drug claimed in the patent, the actual method of preparationtaught by the patent was not obvious. The attack on groundsof lack of inventive step therefore failed. However, the factthat the patent taught only one method of preparation, but soughtto claim the single enantiomer however prepared meant that theclaims (other than the method claim) were invalid on the groundsof insufficiency. Practical significance: This case demonstrates the formidable difficulties in obtaininga valid patent for a single enantiomer of a known pharmaceutical.While claims to a method of preparation can be valid, providedthe usual requirements of novelty, inventive step, etc. aremet, a patent claiming a single enantiomer of a known compoundper se will be likely to be invalid on the grounds of obviousnessor insufficiency.     

Editor's Introduction

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -