Body of Knowledge Guide
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From Helfat et al (2007, 37, 121): Capability refers to the capacity to perform a particular task...
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Absorptive capacity is used to measure firm's ability to value, assimilate, and apply new knowledge...
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Abstract, or systematic, frameworks, are essential to effective communications and sharing...
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Accuracy refers to correctness in all details. For example, in order to make accurate observations...
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Adapting makes something suitable for a new purpose. Adaptation is a learning process with an...
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See causality.
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Adaptive learning, or adaptive learning and management, is a process to sense changes, threats,...
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Advantage thinking is thinking and activities that build the strategic thinking competency to find...
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In organizational theory and management science, agency refers to the capacity of the individual...
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The simplest agency model involves a single individual, called the agent, who acts on behalf of...
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In systems science an agent is something that has the ability to interact with its environment....
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Reconciling process excellence and innovation. Developing an organization that does both...
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Ambitious goals is one of the four key elements making up the purpose of an organization. The...
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Analysis is how knowledge is gained. Analytical process taking apart the thing to be understood or...
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An analytical thinking orientation focuses the efforts to understand and design systems on the...
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See complexity.
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See strategic management activities for explanations of the four stages of strategic management...
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Archetypes are common patterns or models of something, like a concept. In systems science...
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Stacey on Aristotle's causality -- Aristotle introduced a theory of causality, for the first time...
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The most common usage of the word ""art,"" which rose to prominence after 1750, is understood to...
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An aspect is a perspective, the way in which something can be viewed, whether tangible like a...
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The comprehensive inquiry is the most extensive of the business organization inquiries. It is used...
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See information asymmetry.
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See leadership
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Something that is authentic is of undisputed origin, genuine, true, trustworthy, truthful, honest,...
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See Authenticity inquiry.docx
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The autonomous strategy process is variation increasing, produces a degree of instability, changes...
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Autopoiesis is a natural process which includes the potential for transformation, the creation of...
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"<p>""Business can be defined as a process that converts an outside resource, namely knowledge,...
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Business Architecture, Inc.
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See causal loop diagram.
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See quality.
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""Behavior can be viewed as responses in search of pretexts (i.e. stimuli -- reasons, excuses or...
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See good-to-great.
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BHAG is an acronym for ""big hairy audacious goal"", a term coined by Jim Collins. It has elements...
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Systems, or models, are defined by what is within and outside of the system. What separates the...
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The concept of bounded rationality keeps the concept of rationality from becoming practicably...
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""Business can be defined as a process that converts an outside resource, namely knowledge, into...
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Business architecture described -- Business design and strategy are inextricably linked, with...
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A business concept, as defined by Gary Hamel, is a business model during its conceptualization...
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Business design and strategy -- Business design, or business organization design, is the other side...
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The business design construct is a template to guide the inquiry to understand and design the...
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The term business ecosystem stands in contrast to the term environment. The term environment...
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Business intelligence describes the criteria for or abilities related to intelligence that enables...
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What follows is the template for a business organization. In its generic form, as presented here,...
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Elements - the parts of the business model -- Business model elements, or simply elements,...
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Business model innovation refers to business, business organization, business concept, business...
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Establishing meaningful objectives is essential to strategy development. Objectives are set to...
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A business organization is one or more businesses controlled in common by a person or group of...
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Aspects - a basis for holistic inquiry -- The business organization, being the object of strategy,...
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See business design.
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Business organization inquiry serves to develop understanding of and designs for the business...
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Transformation moves an business organization from one business model to another, developing new...
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A business plan describes a business, its history, vision, goals, objectives, strategies, market,...
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Business policy is essentially the study of knowledge, skills, and attitudes constituting general...
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Business processes made up of the activities of the business organization. The activities are...
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""There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer."" -- Drucker, Peter...
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Practical understanding or shrewdness relate to business, or a business. To understand or...
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Business strategy pertains to a business unit as opposed to the corporation made up of many...
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A business within the broader business organization, or corporation.
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See business intelligence.
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Think of cadence as takt time adapted to activities beyond routine production. In the product...
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Resource-based view of capability -- Capabilities are a firm's capacity to deploy resources (Amit...
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From Helfat et al (2007, 5): Two dimensions to the term ""capacity"" -- ""capacity"" refers to...
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Categorization of phenomena is essential to making sense of the world. Without categorization, all...
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Causal loop diagrams show the cause and effect relationships between the variables of a system....
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Cause and effect relationships -- Causality is the relationship between cause and effect. Simple...
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For related topics -- See teleology for a discussion of causality directed at management practice...
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The relationships between the parts of a system are described as cause and effect. Cause and...
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Change is other than equilibrium. Empirically, change is the normal state of economics, businesses...
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A chaordic organization is a form of organization formulated by Dee Hock and others in forming the...
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Chaos theory is the branch of mathematics that deals with chaotic systems-where apparent...
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See chaos.
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Complex systems with unpredictable behavior. Slight variations in starting conditions cause...
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Human choice and freedom are philosophical issues -- in regard to whether and how they exist. The...
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Classical economics (Fonseca, 2002, pp 11 - 12) -- Classical economic theory does not deal with...
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In the world of business organizations, coevolution refers to the systems nature of the...
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Strategy done right produces fit, coherence, between three fundamental elements - a business with a...
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Commodities are a type of economic offering. They are sold to a market and exist outside of the...
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What communication is and how it actually takes place is subject to debate. Here are a couple of...
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Communicative interaction describes the interactive process that exists amongst members of an...
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A business organization is a form of community. The more an organization takes on the...
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Human beings live in communities and whatever they do is a joint performance conducted by them in...
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The community of purpose specifically includes the top leadership team of the business organization...
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Comparative advantage is a relative advantage. ""Comparative advantage dictates that we should...
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Competencies reflect the know how of the organization, the demonstrated capacity to perform....
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Competition is the independent effort of multiple businesses to secure the business of a third...
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Competitive advantage is what enables a business organization to thrive. It is the objective of...
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Competitive advantage comes about from general elements described in competitive advantage and from...
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Another term for business strategy.
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The quality or state of being complementary. For example, in biological science, ""The...
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A business organization is a purposeful complex adaptive system. It has its purpose within an...
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Complex responsive processes is one of several views of how complex organization becomes what it...
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Complex systems include a broad array of things that are networked together. Their common...
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The term complexity has no standard definition, in layperson terms or scientific terms. Many...
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Classical or neoclassical economics both take a systemic view of economics where the system tends...
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See systems science.
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Complexity theory enables understanding the realities of the evolutionary, dynamic, and complex...
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The comprehensive inquiry is the holistic inquiry of the business organization, covering all its...
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See framework.
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Configuration refers to how the components, parts, or elements of a system fit together. Highly...
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Consciousness relates to a person knowing what they are doing and what to expect from their...
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See organizing.
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Consilience, or the unity of knowledge (literally a ""jumping together"" of knowledge), has its...
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The business organization can be described as a constellation of variables -- variables whose...
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A constitutive idea, or hypothesis, is a statement of what actually happens in reality. For...
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Same as bounded design. See idealized design.
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A construct is a representation of a concept, such as a conceptual representation of a business...
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Context is the setting or circumstances of the actions. Each organization has a unique and...
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...strategists ""observe the winners and look for what makes them win. The most basic method in...
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Three classifications of conversational processes -- Conversation, the dynamics of the process of...
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A core competency is a competency critical to the strategic success of a business organization....
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Corporate strategy pertains to the overall enterprise consisting of more than one business unit....
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Coupling refers to the joining together and complementarity of the elements, or variables, of an...
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See strategic management activities for explainations of the four stages of strategic management...
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Schumpeter (Schumpeter, 1942) theorized that profit motivates the innovation which is the precursor...
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From: Tharp, Twyla, (2008), Creativity Step by Step, Harvard Business Review, April 2008, 47-51...
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The term cultural web comes from Johnson, Gerry, (1987), Strategic Change and the Management...
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Culture explains why an organization does what it does. It is the sum total of shared ideas,...
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The business model elements, their structure, and their interrelationships that form the culture of...
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Culture emerges from the fundamental organizational processes of the business organization. These...
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A ""culture of discipline"" is Jim Collins' description of what ""great"" companies have that makes...
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Facts, measurements, or statistics used for reference or analysis. Stored observations. Symbols...
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Philosophy - any fact assumed to be a matter of direct observation or any proposition assumed or...
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David Ricardo (18th April, 1772-11th September, 1823), a political economist, is often credited...
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Decision, or decision making, is the process of making a choice in the face of uncertainty, doubt...
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Reflecting on how decisions are actually made, how decisions actually happen, provides a...
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See March, 1994, pp 57-58. When individuals and organizations fulfill identities, the follow rules...
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Decision theory is an interdisciplinary area of study with how decision makers make decisions, how...
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Deduction, or deductive reasoning, is reasoning in which the conclusions must follow logically from...
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The primary function of a definition is to help us to distinguish one phenomenon from another. (...
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Descriptive refers to the quality describing. A description of something, a description of what ""...
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""Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition and...
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The philosophical doctrine that all events, including human choices and decisions, have sufficient...
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Development is an increase in capability and competence. Development is primarily a matter for...
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There is the Kantian dualistic view of dialectic and the Hegelian paradoxical view. Kant -- In the...
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At the heart of any theory of strategy and organizational change is how it treats opposing ideas...
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Difference refers to one side of the organization dynamic interplay of stability and change,...
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Discipline has two distinct meanings -- Controlled behavior -- Great discipline is required to...
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See pluralism.
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Discontinuous change, or discontinuous technological change, refers to external changes that...
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Discourse is the conversational form in a community of practice. Discourse is of central...
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Discovery involves the obtaining of knowledge, learning of, or find out of something previously...
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Disruptive innovation changes the shape of markets and industries. There are three things that can...
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...disruptive innovation is a technological innovation, product, or service that eventually...
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A distinctive competency is a competency unique to a business organization, a competency superior...
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Diversity, true diversity, is required for the creation of novelty by an organization. This...
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Double loop learning is a learning process which introduces the possibility to change the decision...
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In general, the view that the world consists of or is explicable as two fundamental mutually...
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""A dynamic capability is a learned and stable pattern of collective activity through which the...
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See complexity.
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Dynamics refers to patterns of movement over time, for example, whether the pattern is regular or...
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Dynamism - the rate and unpredictability of technical change in the environment (Dess and Beard...
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See offering.
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See economic rent and economic value added.
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What firms earn over and above the cost of capital employed in their business (Kay, 1999) ...""...
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Economic value is the difference between the perceived benefits gained by a customer who purchases...
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EVA, economic value added, is a phrase coined by the Stern Stewart consultancy to describe its...
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See wisdom.
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Economics is ""The social science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of...
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Economies of scale occur when firms are able to lower their unit costs due to being larger. This...
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The state of an organization from which both stability and novelty arises. Systemic view -- From...
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Effectiveness is doing the right thing. The effectiveness of behavior necessarily takes the value...
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Efficiency is doing things right. The efficiency of a course of action is usually measured either...
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See causality.
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Source: Wikipedia contributors, ""Efficient Cause,"" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en....
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This is a characteristic of a complex system. See complex adaptive system.
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Emotional intelligence is an ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the...
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Quoted from: Bennis and Nanus, 1985, pp 61 - 63 Positive self-regard is related to maturity, but...
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In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience in...
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Empiricism is a doctrine that all knowledge is derived from sense experience. It is associated...
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See environment under views of.
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See organizing process and evolutionary algorithm.
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Measuring enterprise value is challenging. There are no perfect measures. Several measures...
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An entity is something that has a distinct, separate existence, though it need not be a material...
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An entrepreneur often sees new patterns where others see existing patterns or chaos -- seeing the...
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From a systems perspective, or that of a business organization, the environment is everything of...
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The environment of business-organizations are subject to ongoing change. This change maybe be slow...
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An organization's envisioned future is made up of its vision and ambitious goals in pursuit of that...
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Epistemology can be called the theory of knowledge. It is a branch of Western philosophy that...
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A condition in which all acting influences are canceled by others, resulting in a stable, balanced...
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Kant distinguished between knowledge and ethics. 'While the power of representing truth is...
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In the view of complex responsive processes, evaluative themes are the basis of our choices of...
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See evolutionary algorithm.
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See Zollo, 2002 for a description of the knowledge evolution cycle. See dynamic capability for how...
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The evolution, as defined by the algorithm below, is at the heart of evolutionary economics, the...
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Conventional, or neo-classical, economics has its roots in physics. Its assumptions and attributes...
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Source: Burgelman, 2002. This is a conceptual framework for studying the role of strategy-making...
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Strategy-making and evolutionary organization theory -- (Source: Burgelman, 2002, p 6-7)....
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Existential philosophy stresses the importance and robustness of individual choice. See...
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Experiences are a type of economic offering. Experiences are staged for guests. Experiences are...
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Explicit choices are found in calculated decisions about alternative investments and competitive...
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Explicit knowledge is where the elements making up the knowledge are stated clearly and precisely...
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Exploitation refers to learning and knowledge development intended to increase organizational...
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Exploration refers to learning and knowledge development intended to increase organizational...
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See boundary.
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An externality exists when a person's actions affect others' welfare and the first party does not...
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Feedback loops describe the cause and effect relationships between the parts of a system. Feedback...
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Feedback-based adaptation technologies (March, 2007) -- These technologies less structured and not...
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See feedback loop.
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Feelings and communicative actions in the medium of feelings are always part of any human...
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The term fifth discipline comes from Peter Senge's book The Fifth Discipline, (1990), where he...
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'Figure-ground' refers to the ability to separate elements of a scene or picture based on contrast...
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The end or purpose for which a thing is done or produced. This is the ultimate cause -- the source...
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A firm is ""the system of specialized relationships which comes into existence when the direction...
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Coase's theory of the firm (Coase, 1937) -- Coase examined the question of why business...
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See enterprise value.
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See single loop learning.
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In philosophy, first principles are a set of basic, foundational propositions or assumptions that...
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Michael Porter's description for what is at the core of a successful strategy, where strategy is...
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See organizational forms for the organizational demographics perspective on form. ""Forms"" and ""...
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Source: Wikipedia contributors, ""Formal Cause,"" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en....
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See causality.
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In order to achieve 'dynamic capabilities' an organization must go beyond routines. The notion of...
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'Frame-breaking routine' is an oxymoron. See routine and frame-breaking approach.
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Mental constructs, conceptual frameworks, etc. are a necessary tool....scaffolding for us to build...
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See choice.
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""Freedom is what you have when you do the right things."" -- Alex Korn
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Function from an organization science perspective -- various solutions to a particular complex of...
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Function architecture encompasses all the business model elements associated with the function...
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Function is one of the four primary aspects of the business organization - purpose, function,...
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The function inquiry focuses on the business organization's function in fulfilling its purpose in...
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In the context of organization science, functional analysis consists of establishing a...
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Game theory is the study of how people choose actions in an attempt to maximize their payoffs in...
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See March, 1994, pp 198 - 296. The ""garbage cans"" in the garbage can model are choice...
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A theoretical frequency distribution of variable data, usually represented by a bell-shaped curve...
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Management itself may be defined as leadership in the informed, efficient, planned, and purposeful...
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General systems theory (GST) was outlined by Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1968). Its premise is that...
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See strategic management activities for explainations of the four stages of strategic management...
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See double loop learning. See learning levels of for a framework of types of learning.
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Recognizing the superiority of free markets' ability to create leads to the understanding, which is...
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Gesture-response is a model of communication defined by Mead (1934). It is a social behaviorist...
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Jim Collins defined what it takes to be a great company, vs. a merely good company. His overall...
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Goods are a type of economic offering. They are made from commodities, embody services, tangible,...
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Growth is to increase in size or number. This is in contrast to development, which is an objective...
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Jim Collin's term for a strategic focus that winning organizations develop to guide their decision...
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See cadence.
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Mission - Why we exist Values - What we believe in and how we behave Vision - What we want to...
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See learning levels of.
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In line with the systems behavioral principle of multidimentionality -- solutions are formed which...
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A brief history of causality and philosophy - philosophical views of causality -- This historical...
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Holism is the philosophical approach to understanding complexity that recognizes that ""The whole...
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See holistic thinking.
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Holistic thinking is the inquiry of a complex whole. In the case of business organizations,...
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The concept of humanism has changed over the centuries. Aristotelian philosophy dominated...
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A hypothesis is a proposed explanation made on the basis of evidence from a phenomenon examined....
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An idea is a concept developed by the mind. If it is a concept of what ought to be, it is called...
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Management processes which serve to encourge, create, develop, and nurture ideas for the...
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Kantianism -- any of the three undemonstrable entities (a personal soul, a cosmos, and a supreme...
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An ideal is a conception something that is perfect; a standard of perfection or excellence. It is...
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Kantianism -- God, seen as an idea of pure reason unifying the personal soul with the cosmos.
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There are two definitionsnew of idealism relevant to strategic management. The first is the...
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The idealist is a restless fellow who sees evil in complacency; he regards the realist as a...
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Idealists describes a category of philosophers including Kant, Hegel, and Heidegger. Idealists...
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Idealized design answers the question, ""Ideally, what do we want the business organization to be...
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Epistemology - the object of knowledge as known by the mind, in contrast to datum. Source: ideatum...
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Identity is the fundamental characteristics of the organization and its members -- those...
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Identity-difference thinking is complex responsive processes thinking, complexity thinking, from a...
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Jim Collins' view of ideology -- The organization's ideology and envisioned future make up the...
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Implicit choices are buried in many features of organizational forms, procedures, rules, norms, and...
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Implicit knowledge is where the elements making up the knowledge are implied or not directly...
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The philosophical doctrine that unpredictability is possible. Events can occur, especially human...
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The notion of individual, or the individual, vs. the social, is a Kantian systems and cognitive...
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See identity.
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Without doubt. Descartes philosophy of Man centers around the notion of 'indubitability' - I am...
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The induced strategy process carries out the strategic intent of the firm, seeks to reduce...
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Induction, or inductive reasoning, is the primary way people process information. It is a...
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The industrial organization branch of economics focuses on markets, industries, and the position,...
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Organization classifications -- organizations can be classified many ways. Industry is the...
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See form.
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Inference is the act or process of deriving a conclusion based solely on what one already knows....
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Information consists of processed data, the processing directed at increasing its usefulness. Like...
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Asymmetry of information is when one party has greater knowledge, or ability to gain or shield...
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Information technology has been a key factor in the increasing complexity of social systems. See...
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See complexity.
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Realists believe that perception reflects reality, without explaining how this is known. Descartes...
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Definition -- "" 'Innovation', then is an economic or social rather than a technical term. It can...
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From Schreyögg, 2007, 923: Innovation routines are higher-order search routines to bring about...
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An organization's innovation trajectory is the direction the recent and current innovation is...
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From Pontin, 2006, Attributes of successful innovators -- Successful innovators are famously...
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See organizational learning.
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Inquiry, or enquiry, is an act of asking for information. For inquiry to be successful, it must be...
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Insight is the capacity to gain an accurate and deep understanding of a subject. It is this deep...
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From an ecological perspective of organizations, institutions are a cultural factor in organization...
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From Robert Morris's review of The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative...
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""Intellectual rigour is an important part, though not the whole, of intellectual honesty - which...
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An attempted short definition of intellectual rigour might be that no suspicion of double standard...
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Criteria for intelligence -- a development history, landmarks for learning and mastery a relevant...
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See police culture for a contrast between intelligence and police culture.
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Intelligence can be categorized in levels that are useful to understanding its formation and...
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See boundary.
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Intuition is the ability to understand something immediately without reasoning, an immediate...
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A new combination of components, ideas, or processes. Something produced or created as a product...
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In meta-ethics, the is-ought problem was raised by David Hume (Scottish philosopher and historian,...
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See quality.
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Iterative inquiry is a form of synthesis. This inquiry process synthesizes an understanding of the...
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The ability to judge, make a decision, or form an opinion objectively, authoritatively, and wisely...
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At its core, knowledge is truth, meaning that it conforms with reality. Though this may appear...
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Knowledge is the basis for development of technology. Technology development is the basis for...
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""Effective knowledge use implicitly means changing the way people think about knowledge, which...
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Knowledge worker is a term coined by Peter F. Drucker in 1954 (Drucker, 1954). A knowledge worker...
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See Occam*s razor.
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Leadership is the ultimate advantage. Without leadership, all other factors of competitive...
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See quality.
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Learning is a process. Single loop learning is a circular four step process - 1) learning is...
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When an organization's focus is on learning prior to execution, and then leaps ahead to learn again...
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Levels, or types, of learning inform us as to the process of learning that may, or needs to, be...
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A learning organization is one that prompts its own evolution in order to adapt to its ecosystem....
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See learning and learning levels of.
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Level 5 leadership is Jim Collins' term for the leadership demonstrated by leaders of what he...
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The levels of understanding framework is linked in with the systems thinking mindset that focuses...
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See bounded rationality.
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The living present describes a much more dynamic present than the conventional view of the present...
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If one assumes that organizations' decision making actors have limited rationality (see bounded...
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Logic, from Classical Greek λόγος logos (the word), is the study of...
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See modularity.
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See learning levels of.
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...where preparation and opportunity meet...
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The multidivisional form of organization that evolved out of the early 1900s, classic examples...
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In organizational theory, the term 'macro' refers to global or population-wide levels of existence...
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See economics.
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The directing the affairs of a business organization -- guiding, leading, envisioning, regulating...
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What makes a management technique a fad is not the technique itself. The techniques typically are...
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Management is a social technology. Its innovation has brought about some of the most profound and...
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Peter F. Drucker, paraphrased the key points that he felt Alfred P. Sloan was making in My Years...
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""The management scientist's mandate is to use rational, systematic, science-based techniques to...
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According to Bartlett and Ghoshal (1993), a ""managerial theory of the firm"" would be more attuned...
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A market is the group of existing or potential buyers of an offering. Source: Roth, Alvin E., (...
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Competitive advantage lessons from the market economy (from Kay, 2004) -- The market economy...
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A phrase popularized by Theodore Levitt in a 1960 Harvard Business Review article, in which...
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Source: Wikipedia contributors, ""Material Cause,"" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en....
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The philosophical theory that physical matter and its motions is the only reality and that...
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Meaning is viewed in the context of the communication process. Models of communication view...
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To measure refers to ascertaining the characteristics of something. There are at least two...
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Technologies of foolishness (March, 2007) -- Technologies of foolishness are an answer to the need...
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Mechanistic refers to a type of thinking based on the Newtonian view of nature and nature's...
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In addition to their being mechanisms for accomplishing a great variety of objectives and, perhaps...
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Mental models are images, representations, or schemes of how we perceive and understand the world...
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See ethics.
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The branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the nature of the world. It is the study of...
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A methodology is a set of methods, principles, and rules for engaging in an inquiry -- such as the...
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In organizational theory, the term 'micro' refers to local levels of existence or study, in...
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Micro-diversity of interaction results in variation having the potential to result in...
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See economics.
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Mind is related to consciousness, an awareness of one's own existence. In a conscious being, it is...
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See purpose and mission statement. Mission is part of policy in the policy-strategy-resource...
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Mission statement characteristics ( Ackoff, 1999a, pp 125-127) -- It should contain a formulation...
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A model is an abstraction of reality. No matter how well constructed, models are always wrong....
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From Hamel, 2002, pp 153-154 -- All business organizations have four models. Theoretically, if the...
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Modularity is a key aspect of business architecture. The more a product or system is broken down...
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Philosophy -- An indivisible, impenetrable unit of substance viewed as the basic constituent...
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Philosophy, in metaphysics, any of various theories holding that there is only one basic substance...
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See wisdom.
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""The state of the spirits of a person or group as exhibited by confidence, cheerfulness,...
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The study of the whole form or structure of anything.
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Firms, like other economic organizations, serve to coordinate the actions of groups of people and...
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Multidimensionality is a complex system characteristic. See complex adaptive system.
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See M-form.
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What is organizing itself in the ongoing gesture-response of complex responsive processes is the...
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Natural philosophy was the term whose usage preceded our current term science in the sense that...
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The view of the world that takes account only of natural elements and forces, excluding the...
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""If x is a necessary cause of y; then the presence of y necessarily implies that x preceded it....
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See classical economics for an explanation of neoclassical economics. Classical or neoclassical...
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Signals that do not contain meaningful data or other information.
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A highly complex system that lacks linearity between two qualities, especially input and output. A...
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Normative and prescriptive in relation to strategy refers to the ""rules"" of strategy formation,...
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Normative ethics is comprised of ethical theory and applied ethics. See ethics.
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Norms and values make up ideology which governs and guides behavior. ""Only in the rarest of...
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See noumenon.
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Reality, as opposed to the phenomenal, the appearance of reality to people in the form of...
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noumenon (singular), noumena (plural) Related to Kantianism, things as they really exist, as...
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Novelty refers to the creatively new, that which has never existed before. Organizations evolve...
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The thing in question, the situation, the phenomenon being examined. See objective, subject, and...
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To present a phenomenon as an object, making it objective, externalizing it. To present or regard...
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Objective and subjective are ontological classifications. It is not by any means a given that...
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'Objective position' refers to the notion that a manager in an organization, or strategist, can be...
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Occam's razor (sometimes spelled Ockham's razor) is a principle attributed to the 14th-century...
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Offerings provide value to the environment of a business organization. The organization fulfills...
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See offering.
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The study of the existence of being. The subject of ontology is the study of the categories of...
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A distributed model of innovation where the enterprise reaches out beyond its own boundaries to...
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See model hierarchy.
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Operational pertains to the ongoing activities of the business to produce and deliver its offerings...
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The definition of operational thinking as defined here comes from the systems school of thinking....
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Organizations and organisms -- organizations are often compared to organisms. Though this analogy...
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'Organization' refers to something made up of elements, or members, with varied functions and...
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See organizational architecture.
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John Roberts (2004, pp 16-18) defines the organization variables that make up an organization...
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Organizations must evolve in order to survive. Those that evolve the most successfully will have a...
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The activities of strategic management require capable individuals. The activities serve both to...
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See organizational theory.
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Put Mintzberg's types here. X-ref to M-form, managerial theory of the firm, firm theory of.
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See organization design.
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The field of study of organizational action, how and why organizations act the way they do....
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See form for an explanation distinguishing 'form' or 'organizational form' from terms like M-form,...
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Weick's commentary (Weick, 1979) -- The phrase organizational behavior is troublesome because one...
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In The Think Factory, productivity improvement specialist Susan D. Conway describes how successful...
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Wheatley, Kotter, and Mourkogiannis all present systemic views of organizational change as...
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See organizational forms.
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Carroll...
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Organizational dynamics refers to the patterns of movement over time in the interactions between...
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Organizational economics focuses on the firm itself, rather than the markets and industries....
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See form for an explanation distinguishing 'form' or 'organizational form' from terms like M-form,...
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See organizational forms and identity.
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Organizational inertia is the tendency of a mature organization to continue on its current...
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Primary source: James F. Courtney, David T. Croasdell, and David B. Paradice,Inquiring...
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Organizational populations -- (Carroll...
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Organizational processes - these are the processes of organization itself, which manage the...
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Term applied to a type of strategic focus -- Jamshid Gharajedaghi's term for what is at the core...
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'Organizational strategy' is contrasted with organizational dynamics. Organizational strategies...
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Organizational structure refers to the elements of the organization that serve to give it its form...
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Organizational theory is the study of organizations -- seeking to understand their nature and...
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Organizational types often refers to the primary purpose of the organization, such as -- voluntary...
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Source: Carroll...
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The subject is organizations; The verb is organizing. (Scott...
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To organize is to assemble ongoing interdependent actions into sensible (readily perceived, showing...
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The subject is organizations; The verb is organizing. (Scott & Davis, 2007) From Karl E. Weick...
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Source: Weick, 1979, pp 130 - 133 The four elements of organizing are ecological change, enactment...
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"" The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the...
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An ongoing process of balancing conflicting priorities. This becomes especially important with...
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This type of thinking derives from Newtonian physics and the scientific method. It is a a...
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Passion is one of the most essential elements of a business organization that sustains its...
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Path dependence is a concept related to complexity theory that recognizes that where you are going...
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The notion of perennial philosophy (Latin: philosophia perennis) suggests the existence of a...
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-- add in here, what are effective performance measures, how are they formed, what purpose do they...
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A perspective is a point of view. Multiple points of view are essential to effective systems...
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See phenomenon.
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The appearance of reality to people in the form of sensations, as opposed to reality itself, the...
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phenomenon (singular), phenomena (plural) A fact, occurrence, or circumstance observed or...
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A chronological list of philosophers and philosophical thought with major eras or periods of time...
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See teleology.
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Philosophy concerns itself with -- what is the best way to live (ethics), what sorts of things...
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See technology.
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Plans are important to organizations, but not for the reasons people think. Cohen and March (1974...
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Pluralism defined -- Philosophy - a theory that there is more than one basic substance or...
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Source and adaptation from: Richard A. Posner, Remaking Domestic Intelligence, Hoover Institute,...
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Policy, an accordion word, which applies to determining payment for overtime at one extreme to the...
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Source: Wikipedia contributors, ""Political economy,"" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en...
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See model hierarchy.
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Hannan, 1977, 935-936 - ""Just as the organizational analyst must choose a unit of analysis, so...
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Porter's Five Forces Model of competition (Porter, 1980), defines the competitive space of a...
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The positional view of strategy, also called the external view, contends that competitive advantage...
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Normative and prescriptive in relation to strategy refers to the ""rules"" of strategy formation,...
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Power is constraint; conflicting constraints translate in human terms to power relations. Power...
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The actual actions performed in business organizations to make and implement strategy, as opposed...
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See knowledge.
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Precision refers to the exactness of expression or level of detail.
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Prescriptive refers to giving directions or guidance. A prescription regarding something is based...
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The view of the present as the dividing line between the past and the future, where the past stays...
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A firm is a price taker when it responds to changes in industry supply and demand by adjusting...
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Prices are not just ways of transferring money. Their primary role is to provide incentives to...
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WSJ Article on Private Equity Growing the 'Private' Club By ORIT GADIESH and HUGH MACARTHUR May 25...
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See decision making, localized problem solving, rationality, etc.
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Systemic view of processes -- Processes are often equated with systems, or parts of systems, as a...
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Process architecture encompasses all the business model elements associated with the process aspect...
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Process is one of the four primary aspects of the business organization - purpose, function,...
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Process excellence is when a process's output is what is intended by the process, i.e. the process...
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The process inquiry focuses on the business organization's processes that produce the function. It...
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A process orientation focuses the efforts to understand and design systems on the activities of the...
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Profit, simplistically, is what is earned above and beyond the costs of the business. Role of...
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Source: B. Joseph Pine II, James H. Gilmore, The Experience Economy, Harvard Business School...
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What is organizing itself in the ongoing gesture-response of complex responsive processes is the...
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Psychodynamics is an open systems oriented systemic theory of strategy. Here the focus is on...
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Each approach to strategy has as part of its basis a view of individuals and groups, thus an...
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What is ""out there"" for humans to experience is a mass of rapidly changing data. In order to...
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Purpose is the reason for being of an entity - an organization, a person, or other purposeful...
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Purpose architecture encompasses all the business model elements associated with the purpose aspect...
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Purpose is one of the four primary aspects of the business organization - purpose, function,...
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The purpose inquiry focuses on the purpose of the business organization within its environment. It...
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Quality is ultimately about process control, to achieve process excellence - efficiently and...
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See skepticism.
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raison d'être -- ""reason or justification for being or existence"" -- raison d'être. Dictionary....
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See March, 1994, pp 2-3. A rational procedure is one that pursues a logic of consequences. It...
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Descartes approach to reasoning, a commitment to reasoning from first principles, came to be called...
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Rationalist refers to a type of thinking about organization, and autonomous humans choice, based on...
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See causality.
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Rational technologies (March, 2007) -- There are the well-established rational technologies in...
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Relating to organizations and decision making, rationality doe not necessarily mean that...
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Realism, idealism, and skepticism deal with whether reality can be known, how knowledge is formed,...
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See realism. Also, see idealist for a contrast between the idealist and realist.
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See organizing and the discussion of consensual validation.
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In Kantianism, reason is the means by which we bring order to our perceptions of the world, and,...
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An organization's reason for being, or raison d'être, is the reason that justifies the organization...
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Reasoning is how we draw conclusions about a subject, i.e. a set of premises. There is inductive...
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See dichotomy.
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Reductionism is a philosophical approach to understanding complexity that asserts that the nature...
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""...the theory that every complex phenomenon, esp. in biology or psychology, can be explained by...
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Hammer and Champy (1993, 2001) define reengineering, or business reengineering, as ""the...
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See reflexivity.
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Something that is reflexive is directed back on itself. Reflexivity occurs in a social system when...
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Regulative ideas are to be distinguished from constitutive ideas. A constitutive idea, or...
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A reified symbol throws together the gesture with an aspect of the context, that is an abstract-...
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To reify refers to taking the abstract or conceptual, such as the perspective of an organization as...
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See causal loop diagram.
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Resource-based view of capability -- Penrose -- Resources consist of a bundle of potential services...
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Resource rigidity is one dimension of organizational rigidity, one of the factors of organizational...
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See resource-based view.
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The resource-based view of the firm and strategy, in contrast to the product, or positional, view...
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Responsive processes refers to a view of organizational dynamics and a way of thinking about those...
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See organizing process and evolutionary algorithm.
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See selection.
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The definition is ... from Elroy Dimson at the London Business School: Risk means more things can...
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Routines are repeated patterns of response involving interdependent activities that become...
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Routine rigidity is one dimension of organizational rigidity, one of the factors of organizational...
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See ""Structure-Conduct-Performance.""
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Scarcity means that what everybody wants adds up to more than there is. (Sowell, 2007, p 3)
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In the field of psychology schema (pl. schemata) refers to patterns or thought structures that...
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Common schools of management include classical, neoclassical, and total quality management. See...
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""The investigation of natural phenomena through observation, theoretical explanation, and...
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The science of Man is about how we see ourselves - and how we wish to see ourselves - and the world...
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Source: Stacey, 2000, pp 61-64 Engineers developed scientific management in the early 20th century...
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""The principles and empirical processes of discovery and demonstration considered characteristic...
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The term search comes from the realm of evolutionary economics. It relates to an organization...
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One of the elements of the evolutionary algorithm -- variation, selection, retention. Source:...
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""Me"" is the concept of an individual's recognition of themselves as a single agent among, but...
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Source: (Mitchell, The 2,000 Percent Solution, Authors Choice Press of iUniverse, 1999, 2003, p 221...
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Self-organization is a process in which local interaction between parts of an organization...
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Wheatley's Views on self-organizing systems (Wheatley, 2005, pp 36-44) -- Wheatley's views on self...
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See self-organization. Order in complex systems -- ""Order is the unique ability of living systems...
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The creative process produces spontaneous novelty. It is inextricably linked with destruction,...
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See knowledge.
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The cybernetic sender-receiver model of communication is a cognitive model consistent with systems...
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See Weick, 1979, pp 134. ""How can I/we know what I/we/they think/feel/want until I/we/they see/...
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Services are a type of economic offering. Both goods and commodities are configured to enable the...
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Single loop learning is so called because the causal loop diagram of this learning process has one...
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Six-sigma is a method for achieving process excellence. Six-sigma described -- Source: At 3M, A...
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See skepticism.
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In contrast to realism, which posits that the human mind has an innate ability to see reality as it...
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The notion that the characteristics of multiple people interacting are distinct from individuals....
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""...social architecture is that which provides context (or meaning) and commitment to its...
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See organizations, elements of organizing.
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See organizational forms.
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Social responsibility is the notion that a company is responsible to society in an explicit way to...
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The scheme used here for defining a social system is the one presented by Jamshid Gharajedaghi (...
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See technology.
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See value for a discussion of societal value related to social responsibility.
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In this method, a series of questions are posed to help a person or group to determine their...
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Stakeholders are the social actors (meaning groups of individuals or other organizations) who play...
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Concise Statement of Strategy -- Collis, 2008 provides a guide for a concise statement of strategy...
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Involving or containing randomness -- one or more random variables. Involving chance. Conjecture...
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Stocks and flows is a systems thinking tool at the core of operational thinking. It depicts the...
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Peter Guber (Guber, 2007) notes that storytelling is central to business executives and...
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Strategic pertains to the activities of the business which defines how it will compete and...
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Strategic assessment is done to understand the existing business organization. There are two types...
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Strategic capabilities refer to the capabilities of the members of the organization that enable the...
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Strategic choice is a systemic theory of strategy. This theory is built on a notion of interaction...
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Where there is strategic planning, there is a need for strategic control. ""The impetus for...
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(Source: Burgelman, 2007) Strategic dynamics describes the nature of change affecting a company....
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A concept of the market of factors from which competitive advantage may be sought and purchased,...
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In order to lead the business to its greatest competitive advantage, there must be a mechanism to...
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The business model elements, their structure, and their interrelationships that form the strategic...
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The strategic focus is the ""sweet spot"" where an organization's distinctive competencies are used...
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Gary Hamel's and C.K. Prahalad's term for what guides and shapes an organization to achieve...
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It is ambiguous where strategic leadership ends and strategic management begins. There is...
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See environment for the interpretive perspective of the organization and its strategic management...
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The strategic management principles and activities is one of the three fundamental elements making...
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See strategic management competency for an explanation of the body of knowledge and for an overview...
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A strategic management competency is the competency of a business organization to achieve and...
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See strategic management competency for an explanation of the discipline and for an overview of...
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See strategic management competency for a perspective of how the strategic management framework...
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The strategic management methodology is the method for embedding a strategic management competency...
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See strategic management activities.
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The strategic management process described herein does not fit the notion of a linear process and...
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Strategic phenomena -- (Stacey, 2003, pp 2-6, 12-13) Understanding the phenomena of interest to a...
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Strategic planning, in most of its various forms, tends to do just what the name implies - plan a...
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A strategic thinking definition (Abraham, Stan, Stretching strategic thinking, Strategy...
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... or transformation of the firm. Pettigrew's View -- ""There is no pretence to see strategic...
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The strategist is the one who forms strategy -- he or she is in charge of the overall strategic...
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Strategy is an ambiguous term due to its multiple definitionsnew and application to diverse...
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The objective of strategy is to create advantage, sustain advantage, and renew advantage in order...
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Strategy execution plans and deploys the business design and related strategy, exploits the...
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While strategy execution makes the future, strategy formation determines both where to explore and...
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Strategy formation creates strategy, designing new businesses and organizations to carry out those...
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Criteria for a theory of why firms choose and successfully implement strategy (Porter, 1991) -- A...
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Structural thinking is a type of systems thinking that gets to the heart of the matter as to how...
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Conceptualization of social systems (Giddens, 1984, pp 23-26) - Structure(s) - the rules...
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Chandler define structure as the design of the organization through which strategy is administered...
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Structure architecture encompasses all the business model elements associated with the structure...
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Structure is one of the four primary aspects of the business organization - purpose, function,...
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The structure inquiry focuses on the business organization's resources that produce the enable the...
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The Structure-Conduct-Performance (S-C-P) paradigm of strategy assumes market structure would...
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The agent doing the examination of an object. Alone amongst terrestrial matter humans are both...
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qualitative - the way things look, feel, smell, etc. to an individual Subjectivity is an integral...
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""If x is a sufficient cause of y, then the presence of x necessarily implies the presence of y....
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See value system.
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survival -- includes persistence, evolution, and transformation (Burrell...
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""Meeting humanity's needs without harming future generations. It's an old ideal, broadly endorsed...
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Objective of strategy -- Sustainable competitive advantage is the ultimate objective of strategy....
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Sustaining innovation stands in contrast to disruptive innovation. Sustaining technology or...
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Symbols, the basis for communication (Stacey, 2001, 102) - A symbol is a thing that represents...
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See knowledge.
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Synthesis is the complement of analysis, which produces knowledge, which enables us to describe....
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A synthetic thinking orientation focuses the efforts to understand and design systems on the...
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A system is an abstraction used to explain organization. As such, system is a perspective of...
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Systems archetypes are representations of common complex system dynamics. They are represented by...
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The four fundamental aspects of social systems are essential to the inquiry process used to reveal...
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System attributes are the fundamental elements that make a particular system what it is. The...
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System characteristics describe the fundamental behaviors associated with a particular system type...
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System dynamics, a part of systems theory, is a method for understanding the dynamic behavior of...
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A system of record has the following attributes -- Decision record: Expectations, assumptions,...
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A system's purpose is a composite of multiple purposes. These purposes can be referred to as...
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One way of classifying systems is based on the purposefulness of the parts and the whole. Based on...
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System variables are defined for the purpose of inquiry upon a particular system type. Inquiry...
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With system-environment thinking, the dominant focus is on the relationship of the parts. Also...
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Systemic refers to the systemic process view of business organizations as systems. From this...
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Systemic process refers to a view of organizational dynamics and a way of thinking about those...
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See general systems theory.
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Changing a system is challenging due to its complexity. This complexity calls for a true...
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Systems inquiry -- Systems inquiry is inquiry to understand systems, especially the whole of...
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See general systems theory.
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See science for an explanation of science, sciences, and branches of science.
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See general systems theory.
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Systems theory, or general systems theory, deals with the study of whole systems -- their...
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The term systems thinking is used in a variety of manners and contexts. There are several...
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Kim (1994) describes four broad categories of systems thinking tools. Theses tools form the syntax...
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Same as implicit knowledge, knowledge resulting from experience but not necessarily explicitly...
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Takt time is the available production time per day divided by the number of items the customer is...
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Technology is the application of human knowledge to work. (Drucker, 1985, p 11)OED: "A discourse...
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Teleological cause is an answer to the question of ""why"" a particular phenomenon becomes what it...
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See organizational theory.
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Teleology is a philosophical doctrine that final cause exists- the end or purpose for which a thing...
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A theme is a pervading idea which serves to organize and align a strategy, objectives, offerings,...
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""A theory is a statement predicting which actions will lead to what results and why"" (Christensen...
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A phrase used by Peter F. Drucker to describe the assumptions used to build an organization. These...
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See firm theory of.
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Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human nature with their implications for organization and...
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Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human nature with their implications for organization and...
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See ""ways of thinking.""
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Threat perception is defined as a deep sense of vulnerability that is assumed to be negative,...
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See modularity.
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See propositional theme.
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Traditional thinking refers to the thinking that has traditionally permeated the mindsets, models,...
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Existing outside of nature or not explainable by the laws of nature, such as an innate capabilities...
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Kant, then, developed transcendental idealism as an alternative to realism, on the one hand, and...
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Transformation is an economic offering. The process to transform brings about a lasting change in...
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Transformations are a type of economic offering. Transformations are guided by elicitors for...
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See causality.
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This is the functional or unitary form of business-organization that first developed with the...
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Same as unbounded design. See idealized design.
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Understanding is the ability to comprehend something, including percieving its significance or the...
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'Unjustified variation' in contrast to 'rational variation.' ""The emphasis on unjustified makes a...
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In the broadest sense, the purpose of a business-organization is to produce value. Value produced...
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See value system.
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A value proposition is essentially the offer to provide value by a business to its market. The...
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See value system.
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A value system is the network of organizations and the value producing activities involved in the...
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An organization's values, along with its reason for being, make up its ideology. There is no...
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For new patterns to emerge in organization, there must be a source for variation -- a difference...
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A vicious circle is a system of elements whose cause and effect reinforce one another to produce...
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A virtuous circle is one where a recurring cycle of events in one event increasing the beneficial...
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A virtuous cycle is a cycle of growth where success in successive elements in the loop of the cycle...
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Vision is one of the four key elements making up the purpose of an organization. The...
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Applying Barney's (1991) VRIN framework can determine if a resource is a source of sustainable...
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See strategic management activities for explanations of the four stages of strategic management...
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Ways of thinking -- There are several types or ways of thinking. Each of these ways of thinking...
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Wealth is created by a business organization that provides a unique value to its environment by...
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Wisdom is a combination of judgment and understanding built upon knowledge and experience. Wisdom...
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The term worldview comes from the German Weltanschauung, which refers to the total system of values...
