What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

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Alfred Weber's Theory of the Location of Industries@@@Coastwise Cruising, from Erith to Lowestoft

Complexity Theory: An Overview with Potential Applications for the Social Sciences

Chaos: Making a New Science

Complexity science and its methodological applications have increased in popularity in social science during the last two decades. One key concept within complexity science is that of self-organization. Self-organization is used to refer to the emergence of stable patterns through autonomous and self-reinforcing dynamics at the micro-level. In spite of its potential relevance for the study of social dynamics, the articulation and use of the concept of self-organization has been kept within the boundaries of complexity science and links to and from mainstream social science are scarce. These links can be difficult to establish, even for researchers working in social complexity with a background in social science, because of the theoretical and conceptual diversity and fragmentation in traditional social science. This article is meant to serve as a first step in the process of overcoming this lack of cross-fertilization between complexity and mainstream social science. A systematic review of the concept of self-organization and a critical discussion of similar notions in mainstream social science is presented, in an effort to help practitioners within subareas of complexity science to identify literature from traditional social science that could potentially inform their research.

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Self-organization and social science

Self-organization of industrial clustering in a transition economy: A proposed framework and case study evidence from China

Aluminum alloys are widely used in engineering structures due to light weight and corrosion resistance but aluminum has low yielding and flow strengths. Here we reported super-strong Al-30 vol%SiC composites with a flow strength of about 1.18 GPa up to a uniform strain of 16.0%. Micromechanical tests revealed a flow strength of 0.73 GPa associated with the nano-spaced SiC nanowires strengthening, and additional flow strength of 0.45 GPa associated with high-density stacking faults (SFs) that are rarely formed and stabilized in Al due to high stacking fault energy (SFE). More surprisingly, SFs possess excellent thermal stability up to 320 °C and can be regained by thermal cooling even after they are eliminated during annealing at 600 °C. Microscopy characterizations and theoretical analysis revealed that thermal mismatch induced high stress during cooling promotes the formation of SFs, and the segregation of Si into SFs and dislocation cores enables the thermal stability of wide SFs. This work demonstrated an approach to creating high-density and thermo stable SFs in high SFE metals via microstructure-enabled thermal stress. 

Synergistic strengthening of Al–SiC composites by nano-spaced SiC-nanowires and the induced high-density stacking faults

Environmental technology and the stringency of environmental policies have a certain effect on green growth in the country, and the sustainable development of the environment under the influence of green growth requires the effective application of the environmental technology based on such institutional policies related to the environment. In this paper, the mutual effect of green growth on the ecological environment is fully analyzed to identify an intrinsic link between them. Based on the intrinsic link, policies related to environment protection and environmental technology are conducive to facilitating green growth while at the same time playing a continuous role in the improvement of the environment. Driven by the factors of scientific and technological innovation, it can boost the harmonious development of the economy and the environment. The empirical evidence has demonstrated that the appropriate environmental policy and environmental technology model can be identified with full understanding of the environmental policy and environmental technology. At the same time, the industry drive and technological innovation can also be taken as a strong support for the environmental policy and the environmental technology in accordance with the market demand through research from the perspective of the government, the market, and the general public. The stringency of environmental policies has substantially increased the requirements of environmental technology, and the innovation of environmental technology, the structure of economic organizations, and the level of development have a great effect on the green growth in the country.

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The Impact of Environmental Technology and Environmental Policy Strictness on China's Green Growth and Analysis of Development Methods

As the world's leading and largest producer of stationery metal parts, GJWJ has entered India for more than 20 years and occupies more than 70% of the Indian stationery manufacturing market. This paper takes the expatriates of GJWJ in India as the research object to identify the problems of cross-cultural adaptation of these expatriates and explore some influencing factors through questionnaires and interviews. It is found that expatriates’ education, work experience, English proficiency, social support, social contact and religious factor are all related to psychological adaptation and sociocultural adaptation;among these related factors, expatriates’ education, work experience, English proficiency and religious factor have significant influence and predictive effect on cross-cultural adaptation;there are some problems of expatriates in cross-cultural adaptation during the assignment, such as problems in psychological adaptation, in religious beliefs, in cross-cultural training, in cultural integration, in work management and in social support.

Yiming Wu

Papers

Self-organization of industrial clustering in a transition economy: A proposed framework and case study evidence from China

Synergistic strengthening of Al–SiC composites by nano-spaced SiC-nanowires and the induced high-density stacking faults

The Impact of Environmental Technology and Environmental Policy Strictness on China's Green Growth and Analysis of Development Methods

Study on Cross-cultural Adaptation of Expatriates: A Case of GJWJ in India