الصفحة 1
الصفحة 1
Towards a Systemic Theory of Irregular Migration : Explaining Ecuadorian Irregular Migration in Amsterdam and Madrid
This book provides an alternative theoretical framework of irregular migration that allows to overcome many of the contradictions and theoretical impasses displayed by the majority of approaches in current literature.
Structures and Dynamics of Autopoietic Organizations : Theory and Simulation
Knowledge, learning, and memory are major concepts in management science and organization theory. First and foremost, they are attributed to individuals rather than organizations. Steffen Blaschke reconsiders the three major concepts in the light of social systems theory. He complements autopoietic organization theory with a clear-cut distinction between individual and organizational knowledge, learning, and memory. Following suit of agent-based modelling, he provides an operationalization of autopoietic organization theory in terms of computational simulation. The author subjects organizational structures and dynamics to a range of simulation scenarios, thereby questioning the effects of work groups and communities of practice as well as personnel turnover and layoff on knowledge, learning, and memory.
Alternatives Considered But Not Disclosed : The Ambiguous Role of PowerPoint in Cross-Project Learning
This study investigates the role of PowerPoint in organizational communication, particularly in terms of a functional dilemma between its application for documentation as opposed to presentation purposes. The theoretical part of the analysis combines insights from both organizational communication studies (J. R. Taylor et al.) and social systems theory (N. Luhmann et al.). The empirical analysis shows that PowerPoint documents created for cross-project learning purposes contribute to an invisibilization rather than a visibilization of decision processes and their contingency.
A Theory of Marketing : Outline of a Social Systems Perspective
Marketing has become one of the most influential forces in contemporary market economies. Yet despite ubiquitous empirical presence, uncountable textbook definitions, and sixty years of scholarly work, a coherent sociological understanding of this powerful concept is still amiss. Drawing on Luhmannian social systems theory, historical analysis, and four qualitative studies, the author theorizes on the marketing function as a self-contained system of communications. It is argued that marketing systems prosper within a host organization if and as long as they successfully influence observers' preferences towards particular brands. On these conceptual foundations a comprehensive brand- and communication-centered theory is developed that fulfills Alderson', Cox' and Bartels' foundational requirements for a general theory of marketing in an unprecedented way.
