Six & Sorge provide a mixed-method comparison of two Dutch consultancies ( engineering and HR) to isolate the effect of 'trust enhancement policies' (employed by the latter). There's plenty of data and charts to chew on, with trust enhancement policies the winner on the day ('InnovAction' anyone?). Relational Signalling Theory gets by, but misses ability as a building-block of trust.
Telemig's senior management wield corporate identity as a political resource in Rodrigues & Child. The means and successes of various identities are presented (nice table), and conflicts are outlined. A model is offered (average diagram). End result: there's political meat on those bland interpretative 'identity' bones. Well yeah.
Ringberg & Reinhlen take on knowledge transmission, bringing in the mind ('positivists' and 'constructionists' are in for a thrashing; both might be surprised to know how wedded they are to stable, history-free semantics). Mind and culture get the flow-chart treatment, giving us a spread of transfer types with a suggested management focus on the cognition of receivers, levels of collaboration and information 'types'. Knowledge theories often need 'more brain' but for others in the area this is sure to irk.
International entry-mode choice, real option theory and transaction cost economics (.pdf) are getting well off the sociological. And Brouthers, Brouthers & Werner are all about it. Another Dutch org under the microscope.
Lee & Park let things get pretty numerical pretty quick. International alliances are encouraged by 'international' senior management, especially when the choices get dicey.
Jansen & co. have a fine-tuner based on surveys from a financial services firm (Dutch again): organizational ambidexterity (new stuff in both old and new areas) thrives on vision. It is indifferent to integration, and team performance-pay helps.
Stoelhorst wraps up with 'Why is management not an evolutionary science?' - a six book review essay. This is the broader interest piece in the issue. Quick way there: good idea with a tricky history; offers good tools, but how 'evolutionary' are they? Read this one.
