261 Posts found for Source: European Business Forum (EBF)

Mother Nature has spent millennia perfecting its communication systems. How can large complex organizations draw on these lessons?

Content: Article | Authors: Paul Jackson, Vincent-Wayne Mitchell | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

The fashion for business metrics has led to many advances. But “balanced scorecards” have their faults. Can we improve on the system?

Content: Member-Contributed Content | Authors: Brian D. Smith, Keith Ward | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Management

At the heart of the laissez-faire theory is the idea of rational economic actors maximizing their utility by freely choosing among alternatives. From this core premise, theorists posit that all private choices are free of coercion, since the actor is always free to choose another course. In the purest Chicago version of the theory, the only force that interferes with the magnificent, optimizing process is … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Robert Kuttner | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Economics

J. Jacobs in her famous book Systems of Survival (1992) distinguishes between two ethical systems that she calls ‘moral syndromes’. The public domain is characterised by the guardian syndrome, the private domain by the commercial syndrome. The guardian syndrome involves values such as avoidance of trade and commerce, pursuit of discipline and loyalty, and respect for tradition and hierarchy. There is also a certain degree … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Erik-Hans Klijn, Geert R. Teisman | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Ethics

In concluding that only systematic risk matters, finance theory assumes that frictions in capital markets are negligible. The absence of frictions implies that all market participants become as costlessly and equally informed as everyone else — that is, no individual is more informed than others or, to use a technical term, there is no information asymmetry. This assumption, combined with several other assumptions, implies … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: David Phillips, Philip Wright | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Economics, Finance

Socrates established that while there is value in finding affirmation for existing assumptions and beliefs, the most useful learning occurs through falsification. Falsification requires the discipline of reason and hypothesis testing. What are the assumptions behind this proposal? What data or evidence would we need to prove those assumptions to be false? What do we believe to be true that is actually untrue? What do … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Lynda Gratton | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Knowledge, Learning, Thought

Discussions of tacit knowledge typically proceed from Polanyi’s observation “…that the aim of a skilful performance is achieved by the observance of a set of rules which are not known as such by the person observing them.” Erroneously, this is often taken as a rationale for defining tacit knowledge as knowledge that is not capable of articulation and codification. This, however, disregards the second part … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Lars Håkanson | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Knowledge

In some ways, corporations are like liberal democracies. The shareholders of a company are like the people in whose interest the enterprise is run. The executive is like the government and the key to making it run successfully are the institutions that provide the checks and balances: the judiciary, the army, and bodies like the Federal Reserve Board in America have their counterparts in the … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Amit Varma | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Accountability, Corporate Governance, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Ida Tarbell’s reporting into Standard Oil led not only to the break-up of a large oil monopoly. It also precipitated a shift in US attitudes to competition and big business.

Content: Article | Author: Morgen Witzel | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: History

With rivals poised to pounce, is there a way for Thales to remain a standalone company?

Content: Case Study | Authors: Ashok Som, Thomas Oberbillig | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Strategy | Industry: Aerospace & Defense | Company: Thales

A dozen contributors explore whether nationality still has a role to play in business success. Contributors include:
– Karl Moore & David Amar
– Mads Mordhorst
– Winfried Ruigrok & Peder Greve
– Paul N Gooderham & Atle Jordahl
– Majken Schultz
– Vikas Kumar
– Àngel Castiñeira
– Malla Paajanen & Mikko Laukkanen

Content: Article | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: International

The last few years have seen a mountain of legislation aimed at improving transparency around executive pay. So why is the controversy no closer to being settled?

Content: Article | Author: Jordan Otten | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Corporate Governance

Very few organisations can match the highly sophisticated five senses of humans. Many companies do not listen to their environment; they simply wait to speak. This means that 80 per cent of information flows outwards from the organization and only 20 per cent flows inwards. For humans, these figures are reversed.

Companies should have a team of “information-gathering personnel” who are constantly feeding information into the … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Paul Jackson, Vincent-Wayne Mitchell | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Communication, Organizational Behavior

We can ask ourselves if it is more advantageous for companies to be national or transnational. But a better question is how we can have firms that respond to the great “glocal” problems (pollution, poorness, respect for human rights) in their daily agendas. Can companies go from being “global capitalists” to being “glocal citizens”?

Content: Quotation | Author: Ãngel Castiñeira | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: International, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Psychologists often use the term “psychological reactance” to explain why people, when feeling that their personal freedom is being threatened, react negatively to attempts to persuade or influence them. One can argue that reactance also occurs when consumers receive highly personalised communication from firms and brands. If a newly purchased brand suddenly pretends to be your best friend and uses personal information about your date … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Helge Thorbjørnsen | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Marketing / Sales, Personality / Behavior

Understanding human systems requires looking from many angles. Based on his 50 years of research into organizational dynamics, the author describes some useful approaches.

Content: Article | Author: Edgar H. Schein | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Change Management, Management, Organizational Behavior

An important American thinker in the early part of the twentieth century, James Burnham saw owners and managers in a perpetual struggle for power. In important respects, his ideas still resonate.

Content: Article | Author: Morgen Witzel | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Corporate Governance, History, People

Change must be distinguished from “new learning” in that it implies some unlearning that is intrinsically difficult and often painful. Motivation to change does not arise until the change target feels secure enough to accept the disconfirming data. The change target feels “psychologically safe” if he or she can accept a new attitude or value without complete loss of self.

Once the individual feels safe, he … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Edgar H. Schein | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Change Management, Organizational Behavior

The degree to which individuals are subject to outside influences is a function of their freedom to move, which in the case of career influences, depends very much on the labor market. In the study of coercive persuasion I learned how powerful the group can be. But in an open society I learned that individuals are equally powerful, if they can choose their own settings. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Edgar H. Schein | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personality / Behavior

You do not really understand an organization until you try to change it.

Content: Quotation | Author: Kurt Lewin | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Change Management, Organizational Behavior