How Organizational Learning Is Supported by Performance Management Systems: Evidence from a Longitudinal Case Study

Abstract

Performance management is meant to encourage organizational change by providing better and more relevant feedback to managers. But there is no denying the complexity of learning and change. How performance management helps this process goes beyond the simple availability of performance information. In this study, we examine the learning processes in a large Belgian public organization through interviews of managers, directors, and administrators. By using 4Is framework of organizational learning—from Intuitions to Interpretation to Integration to Institutionalization—we identify critical blocks and enablers of learning and change. Critical impediments include off-topic discussions of performance information, lack of opportunity to share and discuss management practices, and limited motivation to change entrenched processes of work. Performance management also provides reliable enablers of organizational learning, such as giving credibility-by-results to new management practices, focusing discussions on processes that lead to measurable results, the ability to follow new innovations closely as they are implemented, and the possibility of creating a learning culture supported by performance information. Finally, we discuss how perceived credibility of performance information is crucial to organizational learning and how it is reinforced by use and dialogue.     

Inevitable Answers: The Joke and its Relation to Social Equilibrium in the Novels of Ivy Compton-Burnett

The majority of existing studies of Ivy Compton-Burnett’s comedy class her as either a ‘camp’ novelist, or a social satirist in whose novels jokes are used for either oppression or subversion. The present essay proposes a new reading of the social uses of jokes in Compton-Burnett’s novels. In these domestic fictions, family life is characterized by constant strife, most commonly of a verbal nature. As part of their daily struggle for power and position, her characters use aggressive jokes to keep each other in check. This process does not distinguish primarily between oppressors and oppressed, but between successful and unsuccessful egotists. As an ideal result, a social equilibrium emerges that is at least vaguely habitable to all. This way, Compton-Burnett’s comedy is essentially conservative; the ultimate function of the jokes employed by her characters is not to permanently transform social structures, but to maintain the delicate balance of power within the family.     

BNFL National Stakeholder Dialogue: a case study in public affairs

This case study explores the very early days of the British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) National Stakeholder Dialogue. The dialogue is arguably the most intensive, consistent and difficult engagement with stakeholders ever undertaken by a UK company. It involves a wide range of individuals and organisations interested in or concerned about nuclear issues and aims to inform BNFL's decision‐making process around the improvement of their environmental performance in the context of their overall development. The process is designed and convened by The Environment Council, an independent third party with expertise in stake‐holder dialogue. The aim of this paper is to examine how the dialogue came about, why stakeholder dialogue was used as a process, some of the problems encountered by the process and the link that can exist between public affairs and stakeholder dialogue. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

转型社会的权利面向

中国社会已经由传统向现代全面转型。社会转型要求法律重构,带来权利的发展和变化。对权利的研究应该从静态的权利本位、本质和内容等的探讨转向权利面向(发展、变化和方向)动态的把握。自由和平等的价值冲突是转型社会权力面向的基本动因;以社会和谐为基点的共和理念是权利面向的基本理念;社会各方面的平等对话是权利面向的合理性基础。     

RHETORIC OF THE LAWYER AND PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATION

The article focuses on the difference between strategic rhetoric and philosophical conversation. It first tries to distinguish between sophistical manipulation and valid strategic argumentation. In order to do that, the author tries to give a new meaning to the old Aristotelian tripartition between logos, ethos, and pathos. Then, he uses Chaim Perelman’s theory of argumentation to show that the standard of rationality in practical reasoning is a specific one. After having clarified the very concept of strategic argumentation, the author distinguishes it from the notion of philosophical conversation. He tries to show that if the latter is completely replaced by the former, the danger exists that victimization and morals “a la carte” will generate a defeat of critical thought.     

中西文化交往中的对话与全球化挑战下的整合

以传统文化的现代化和西方文明的本土化面貌出现的中国文化发展问题,经过一个多世纪的反复与纠缠,在社会全面发展的今天取得了巨大的现实成就,这就为中国文化面向世界、面向未来的发展奠定了坚实基础。作为现代化之延伸的全球化并不可怕,文化的差异性与民族个性不会因此而必然走向衰落;而文化怀古倾向却极有可能导致文化传统的衰萎。彻底抛弃“中西之争”、“古今之辨”的陈旧思维模式,在古今中外的多种文化资源之间形成高度辩证的联结。21世纪的中国文化必须通过新的整合与创造,努力完成价值系统从前现代向现代的转换,同时超越西方式现代性的弊端,构建起先进的本土文化。     

从何以可能到现实路径——关于当前哲学对话问题的沉思

哲学对话的重要性,已经取得学界的共识。在当前的中国语境之下,如何加强不同哲学,尤其是中、西、马哲学之间的对话和交流?问题的厘清必须从中、西、马哲学的对话何以可能谈起,从何以能对话(前提根据)、为什么对话(目的意义)到以什么对话(话题内容)的分析进路,不仅是对话问题的展开逻辑,而且内在地蕴含着对如何来对话,即中、西、马哲学对话的现实路径这一问题的解答。     

体面劳动在中国

国际劳工组织自1999年提出"体面劳动"的理念后,一直在全球推行体面劳动。体面劳动所涵盖的内容既是国际劳工组织的战略目标,也是中国一直致力于实现的目标。     

Struggling in the Street and at the Table

Two scholar practitioners of conflict intervention and social movements present case histories of mediated conflicts involving complex choreographies of contention and negotiation. Both processes, while differently structured and facilitated, have led to improvements in the dynamics of identity‐based conflicts in urban communities. The authors raise theoretical questions and propose improvements to practice.