Showing papers by "Copenhagen Business School published in 1991"
TL;DR: In this paper, it is questioned whether it is possible through continously refined models of systems development to reach a stage of unproblematical system use.
48 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the social definitions of symbolic domains and transitions between them are analyzed on the basis of a study of the interaction between a group of managers and the political minister, and the authors claim that rites of transition facilitate switches between symbolic domains.
Abstract: Different work settings in a governmental organization are socially defined as symbolic domains. Each domain represents distinct ways of framing and inter preting talk and action. Members of the organization must be able to keep all symbolic domains in mind and switch back and forth between them, as they cross different work settings. The paper claims that rites of transition facilitate switches between symbolic domains directing the entry to and the exit from symbolic domains. The social definitions of symbolic domains and the transitions between them are analyzed on the basis of a study of the interaction between a group of managers and the political minister.
32 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a number of methodological and theoretical problems connected with a theory of institutional change are pointed out and a critical theory of meaning is sought in order to develop neo-institutionalism from a research program into an actual set of descriptive and interpretative theories.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to point to a number of methodological and theoretical problems connected with a theory of institutional change. Nine philosophical-methodological questions are asked dealing with a wide range of problems rarely raised in neo-institutional political theory. The questions concern the concept of the state, of institutions, and of language and discourse, and deal with the dialectic between individuals and institutions, choice and rationality, formal organizations and institutions as well as prescriptive versus normative analysis. A critical theory of meaning is sought in order to develop neo-institutionalism from a research program into an actual set of descriptive and interpretative theories.
20 citations
TL;DR: It is possible that cortical nerve cells containing VIP and PHI release the peptides in the perivascular space during periods of activity and thereby contribute to local vasodilatation associated with changes of neuronal function.
Abstract: This study describes the distribution of peptide sequences derived from the prepro-vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (preproVIP) molecule in perivascular nerves of rat brain arteries and arterioles. The peptides were identified by immunohistochemistry using highly specific antibodies. Five peptide sequences (preproVIP 60-76, peptide histidine isoleucine (PHI), preproVIP 111-122, VIP, and preproVIP 156-170) were identified in the perivascular nerves throughout the arterial cerebral circulation. The density of the immunoreactive fibers was highest in the nerves of the larger extracerebral arteries, declining in smaller branching arteries. All peptide sequences were identified in the nerves of small pial arterioles overlying the cortical convexity, whereas capillaries and veins contained no immunoreactive material. Dendritic processes of neocortical neurons immunoreactive for VIP and PHI could be followed towards the brain surface where the processes penetrated into the pial layer, often close to the pial vasculature. Some of the processes were also observed to enter the Virchow-Robin space, close to the arterioles. It is possible that cortical nerve cells containing VIP and PHI release the peptides in the perivascular space during periods of activity and thereby contribute to local vasodilatation associated with changes of neuronal function.
16 citations
15 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss some strategies that are involved in the examination and cross-examination techniques used in the adversarial system of a criminal trial in the U.S., with material drawn from the mock trial of Lee Harvey Oswald.
Abstract: This paper isolates and discusses some strategies that are involved in the examination and cross-examination techniques used in the adversarial system of a criminal trial in the U.S., with material drawn from the mock trial of Lee Harvey Oswald. I argue that communication in the courtroom cannot be described in terms of traditional discourse analysis, since the real communication takes place not between the speakers, but between counsel and jury. Semantic, syntactic and pragmatic features are examined in order to explain how counsel establish credibility for themselves and their witnesses, and how they use particular question types to achieve calculated responses from witnesses, which are again used to flash meta-messages to the judge and jury.
13 citations
01 Jan 1991
12 citations
TL;DR: Workplace democracy is brought up for discussion by the modern project and the postmodern condition in this paper, where three fictitious eye-witnesses, who all seem to have succumbed to a modern repressive tolerance, protest against the description of the democratic condition and challenge the three modernists by emphasizing the necessity of paradoxes and ruptures to acquire liberty.
Abstract: Workplace democracy is brought up for discussion by the modern project and the postmodern condition. The modern project is represented by three fictitious eye-witnesses, who all seem to have succumbed to a modern repressive tolerance. Only one 'postmodern eye-witness' protests against the description of the democratic condition and challenges the three modernists by emphasizing the necessity of paradoxes and ruptures to acquire liberty. One facet of the liberating dialogue suggested by the postmodernist is to deconstruct the social system through divorce.
9 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the question of skills and demanded skills and qualifications of technical SMEs is discussed on the basis of empirical qualitative studies, and the differences in the specific technical skills demanded for handling the flexibility to new products and new technology in the workshop are very different from the definition of skills outside what is considered the core skills of the firm, e.g. skills to deal with managing growth of a firm or administrative information technology.
Abstract: On the basis of empirical qualitative studies, the question of skills and demanded skills and qualifications of technical SMEs are discussed. The differences in the specific technical skills demanded for handling the flexibility to new products and new technology in the workshop are very different from the definition of skills outside what is considered the core skills of the firm, e.g. skills to deal with managing growth of the firm or administrative information technology. In these latter issues, the professional evaluation of skills is replaced by personal trust. In technical SMEs in Denmark the owners demand a high level of skills of skilled labourers, not only in specific technical terms but also in terms of independence, responsibility and adjustment to new tasks and technology. These are aspects not focused upon in the educations and competences and more often associated to management skills than to ‘standard skills’ of the skilled labour.
7 citations
TL;DR: Patients suffering from attacks of migraine with aura display reduced regional cerebral blood flow during the first hours of the attack followed by a reactive hyperemia, and it is an open question whether the reduced rCBF causes cerebral ischemia, or whether the brain's O2 and glucose supply is sufficient to preserve normal energy metabolism and in consequence neuronal function.
Abstract: Patients suffering from attacks of migraine with aura (MA) display reduced regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during the first hours of the attack,1 followed by a reactive hyperemia.2 It is an open question whether the reduced rCBF causes cerebral ischemia, or whether rCBF and in turn the brain's O2 and glucose supply is sufficient to preserve normal energy metabolism and in consequence neuronal function.
5 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors outline the Danish economy and then see how knowledge and technology may be produced to explain the discrepancy between Denmark's economic level and its level of R&D.
TL;DR: In the sociological literature, it is easy to find several different ways of treating the class position of public employees, and people will start by saying a few words about the most prominent approaches in the field as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Historically oriented social science scholars point out that almost since the time of Marx there has been an ongoing controversy about the “middle classes,” that is, positions or occupations outside or in between the labor-capital polarity. In the sociological literature, it is easy to find several different ways of treating the class position of public employees, and people will start by saying a few words about the most prominent approaches in the field. The most striking feature in the majority of studies of the contemporary class structure is that public employees are not really visible. The basic assumption underlying Marxist class analysis is that the way production is organized divides people into different classes. The concept of class is thus related to the concept of the mode of production. Compared with the Marxist or Weberian theories of class, the cultural capital approach is of more recent origin. © 1991 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.
01 Sep 1991
TL;DR: A longitudinal study of one designer in an organisation while designing an in–house database system revealed that the design took place in a highly turbulent organisational context, the working situation was extremely fragmented, and the information available on the users' tasks was incomplete and contradictory.
Abstract: Most studies of decision making in user interface design have been based on post-hoc interviews. To convey the realm of user interface design practice we conducted a longitudinal study of one designer in an organisation while designing an in–house database system. We applied the participant observation method. The observations revealed that the design took place in a highly turbulent organisational context, the working situation was extremely fragmented, and the information available on the users' tasks was incomplete and contradictory. Under these circumstances the designer adopted an ad–hoc design strategy. No specifications and plans were made. Instead, prototypes were developed aiming at getting feedback from users; however the users were much more concerned with organisational consequences of the system. In the prototypes, the user interface was literally designed from the upper left corner of each screen. Little explicit evaluation was made and drafts became promoted to the real system. Thus, the de...
TL;DR: Puxty and Chua as mentioned in this paper advocate a form of critique in which opposing interpretations of social reality challenge orthodox views and contrast critique in this sense with positivistic conceptions of knowledge.
Abstract: Puxty advocate a form of critique in which opposing interpretations of social reality challenge orthodox views. They contrast critique in this sense with positivistic conceptions of knowledge. Berry formulates an idealist model of accounting facilitating the development of a society in which opposing interests are mutually accountable to each other. Puxty and Chua critique the narrow technical interest embodied in management control and call for research based on a broader range of human interests. Willmott proposes studies concerned with ending ’unnecessary experiences of exploitation and domination’ inherent in capitalist societies.