PurposeTo explore how selected principles of Chinese philosophy and complexity theory can be synthesized into a model for human and organizational behavior that is more accurate and appropriate to global markets than either traditional eastern or western models.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a model of human and organizational behavior based on similarities between elements of Chinese philosophy and complexity theory.FindingsSeveral of the respective principles of Chinese philosophy and complexity theory – the Chinese transformational cycle and complexity's cycle of attractors, for instance – are strikingly similar, suggesting that their commonalities are universals of human experience resting underneath their surface differences. By playing those similar principles off against each other, one can develop a model of human and organizational behavior that transcends both east and west, a model highly valuable to business people operating in global markets.Practical implicationsThis model provides a new way for both eastern and western business people to think about their organizations and markets that seems highly accurate to current conditions.Originality/valueThis is the first paper to explore a possible synthesis of strikingly similar principles from Chinese philosophy and complexity theory and how such a synthesis could be applied as a model of human and organizational behavior.
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to propose a typology of enchantment approaches that are related to storytelling practices in organizations: enchantment by design and enchantment by emergence. Design/methodology/approach -The authors explore this enchantment framework in a storytelling drawing on examples of living storied spaces and narratives from hospital studies. Findings -This essay asserts three aspects about enchantment: that mainstream organizational narrative, rooted in classical structuralism and modernity, seems intent on disenchanting life within them. Second, despite such narratives, organizations, such as hospitals the authors studied, were never disenchanted because enchantment resides in many living storied spaces. Finally, many forms of "enchantment" and "disenchantment" are taking place in organization action and its storytelling. Practical implications -The paper equips managers with a deeper understanding of how storytelling in organizations can encourage enchantment or disenchantment within the organization and in its relations with their environments (community, nature, humanity). Originality/value -The value of the paper lies in its theoretical contributions, integrating enchantment-disenchantment perspectives with a theory of storytelling.
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore how the emerging, post-Newtonian twenty-first century worldview, integrating elements of holistic Chinese philosophy and individualistic Western Newtonianism, is also driving a new model of organization, the articulation of which Chinese managers and thinkers must take a leadership position. Design/methodology/approach -The author focuses, first, on the similarities between the worldviews of Chinese philosophy and post-Newtonianism; second, on how those changes in worldview support the emerging model of organization, whose management style one writer refers to as "unmanaging"; and, third, on the benefits available for Chinese business people who apply their acculturated understanding of principles that still seem foreign to Western business people. Findings -This essay asserts that the worldview emerging from twentieth century scienceprimarily quantum mechanics and complexity theory -will reinforce many of the basic assumptions basic to Chinese culture and philosophy. As a result, Chinese managers and thinkers have the opportunity to make critical contributions to an emerging model of organization, which Western management thinkers have been predicting for nearly half a century. Practical implications -The paper offers a series of theoretical tools, taken from fields of study ranging from the philosophy of science to organizational dynamics, with which Chinese managers and thinkers can develop a leadership position in the discussion that has begun about what the author calls the post-Newtonian organizational model. Originality/value -The value of the essay lies in its integration of twentieth century science, Chinese philosophy and the study of organizations to indicate how Chinese managers and thinkers can help shape a new, trans-cultural way of understanding organizations, markets and finally, the world.
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