The Values of a Balanced Culture

Organizational values, as the criteria that guide decision-making, play a central role in the implementation of management by missions (MBM). Most social organizations today develop a set of values. These sets of values are normally treated as fixed and even as untouchable. However, over time, some values change and evolve both in the organizational environment and within the organizations themselves. Some values may fall into the background, while others should come to the forefront. As a result, leaders need to adapt to these changes and create corporate cultures that best align with their corporate purpose over time. In this chapter, we propose a framework to help organizations create balanced sets of values in four categories: business, relational, development and contribution values.

A study on relational factors in information technology outsourcing: analyzing judgments of small and medium-sized supplying and contracting companies' managers

Purpose Understanding the relational factors in information technology outsourcing (ITO) processes is essential for managers to exercise successful governance over their relationship. Based on this premise, this paper aims to present a study about relational factors using judgments of managers from small and medium-sized supplying and contracting companies involved in ITO relationships, helping to understand the differences between what they believe to be relevant for maintaining the relationships. Design/methodology/approach The analytical approach consisted of applying fuzzy sets theory elements, converting the managers' judgments into crisp values through a defuzzification process, and the multicriteria method ELECTRE IV that created the rankings of the relational factors according to the defuzzified judgments. The approach was applied with 16 managers from supplying companies and 34 from contracting companies, in both cases located in a large Brazilian pole of information technology. Findings The main findings indicate that suppliers are initially more concerned with contractual aspects, being in the highest positions in the ranking: detailed contract, service level agreement and costs. Only after these elements, suppliers prioritize aspects less linked to the contract. For contractors, customer relationship management is the most important, followed by costs and commitment by managers, which indicates more openness to issues-oriented to relational development. Originality/value The approach adopted in this article is differentiated by prioritizing relational factors that are not always directly perceived in ITO relationships. Another important consideration is that most studies focus only on the perspective of supplier selection by contracting companies. In this paper, both suppliers' and contractors' judgments on the importance of ITO relational factors were analyzed, creating rankings that supported understanding the difference between the two perspectives.

Moral orientations in psychology: contrasting theoretical perspectives

BackgroundThe relational development systems (RDS) metamodel embodies a newly recognized scientific paradigm that stands in contrast to the nature-nurture split. It suggests that the bidirectional relationship between an organism and its environment must be the central focus of scientific inquiry.Main bodyRDS theorists suggest scientists have a moral obligation to benefit human kind. However, the potential for interventions that appear efficacious to simultaneously instigate an undesirable outcome suggests that moral clarity might not always exist in scientific practice. Contrasting RDS perspectives with life history theory highlights a pertaining disparity in approaches.ConclusionWhile the RDS metamodel posits many premises necessary to contemporary research, it may not yet be pragmatic to impose moral obligation on the sciences.

Towards a network-based view of effective entrepreneurial ecosystems

We conceptualize entrepreneurial ecosystems as fundamentally reliant on networks and explore how and under what conditions inter-organizational networks lead an entrepreneurial ecosystem to form and evolve. It is widely accepted that entrepreneurial ecosystems possess a variety of symbiotic relationships. Research has focused considerable efforts in refining the structure and content of resources found within these networked relationships. However, merely focusing on actor-level characterizations dilutes the notion that social relationships change and are complex. There has been little conceptual treatment of the behavioral and governance factors that underpin how quality interactions composing an entrepreneurial ecosystem develop and change over time. In response, we provide a longitudinal ethnographic study examining how ecosystems are managed and evolve in their relational configurations and governance at critical junctures. Using mixed methods and data collected over 3 years, we reveal a cyclical process of relational development central to the initiation, development, and maintenance phases of a valuable entrepreneurial ecosystem. We contribute to a conceptualization of effective ecosystems as reliant on networks, we reveal the behavior and governance characteristics at play in the entrepreneurial ecosystem during each phase of its evolution.

‘They’ve Been with Me the Whole Journey’: Temporality, Emotional Labour and Hairdressing Work

The role of time in organisational and relational development remains an understudied component of work and employment. In response, this article draws attention to the ways that temporality informs relations between workers and clients in service work. Drawing on data from interviews and observations with hair stylists in salons located in the North East of England from 2016 to 2018, we provide a nuanced account of emotional service work by considering the role of the temporal dynamics of recurrence and experience. Describing that which we label ‘relational trajectories’, we show the role of time in developing more authentic service performances. We conclude that acknowledging time allows for a more refined conceptual understanding of how emotional labour is performed based on an appreciation of how relations develop and change. Emotional labour is positioned as highly nuanced and adaptive in its responses to the specificities of relational trajectories that unfold over time.

Models of semiotic borders in psychology and their implications: From rigidity of separation to topological dynamics of connectivity

In this article, I discuss some implications deriving from different models of the notion of border, starting from interdisciplinary contributions and in particular from semiotics, psychoanalysis, cultural psychology, and topology. The starting point is a reflection on the notion of sign, as a device used to realize at the same time both a first form of discretization and to instantiate a system of relations with the environment. The article goes on to describe the importance of borders for the construction of human experience and for the processes of psychic and relational development. Lastly, the differences between three different forms of conceptualizing borders are discussed: rigid boundaries, permeable boundaries, and topological boundaries of the Möbius strip type. For each of the three models, the different implications will be presented and discussed.

Enacting the Demand/Withdrawal Pattern and Physical Well-Being

The frequency and focus of conflict varies during relational development, however, disagreements occur during every phase. One maladaptive communication pattern that has received considerable attention is the demand/withdrawal sequence – a pattern that generally involves one individual demanding that his or her partner change, and that partner then responding by withdrawing from the interaction. This chapter reviews research that examines how the demand/withdrawal sequence is related to measures of emotional provocation, physiological arousal, and physical health. We first explicate the features of the pattern and theories that have guided previous research. Then we examine research that investigated how the pattern is related to emotional, physiological, and health-related outcomes. We conclude with a discussion of future research directions.