This document discusses constructing a formal cladistic classification of manufacturing systems based on techniques used in biological taxonomy. It presents a seven-stage framework for developing a manufacturing "cladogram" or phylogenetic tree. A cladistic classification could provide a standardized way to study organizational diversity and evolution. It may help clarify different types of emerging manufacturing systems and their relationships. Mapping the evolutionary history and relationships between manufacturing systems could provide insights to help organizations adapt to changes in their operating environment. The document also reviews different approaches to classification in biology and assumptions required to apply cladistics to developing a classification of manufacturing organizations.
Toward a Phylogenetic Reconstruction of Organizational LifeIan McCarthy
Classification is an important activity that facilitates theory development in many academic disciplines. Scholars in fields such as organizational science, management science and economics and have long recognized that classification offers an approach for ordering and understanding the diversity of organizational taxa (groups of one or more similar organizational entities). However, even the most prominent organizational classifications have limited utility, as they tend to be shaped by a specific research bias, inadequate units of analysis and a standard neoclassical economic view that does not naturally accommodate the disequilibrium dynamics of modern competition. The result is a relatively large number of individual and unconnected organizational classifications, which tend to ignore the processes of change responsible for organizational diversity. Collectively they fail to provide any sort of universal system for ordering, compiling and presenting knowledge on organizational diversity. This paper has two purposes. First, it reviews the general status of the major theoretical approaches to biological and organizational classification and compares the methods and resulting classifications derived from each approach. Definitions of key terms and a discussion on the three principal schools of biological classification (evolutionary systematics, phenetics and cladistics) are included in this review. Second, this paper aims to encourage critical thinking and debate about the use of the cladistic classification approach for inferring and representing the historical relationships underpinning organizational diversity. This involves examining the feasibility of applying the logic of common ancestry to populations of organizations. Consequently, this paper is exploratory and preparatory in style, with illustrations and assertions concerning the study and classification of organizational diversity.
New Product Development as a Complex Adaptive System of DecisionsIan McCarthy
Early research on new product development (NPD) has produced descriptive frameworks and models that view the process as a linear system with sequential and discrete stages. More recently, recursive and chaotic frameworks of NPD have been developed, both of which acknowledge that NPD progresses through a series of stages, but with overlaps, feedback loops, and resulting behaviors that resist reductionism
and linear analysis. This article extends the linear, recursive, and chaotic frameworks by viewing NPD as a complex adaptive system (CAS) governed by three levels of decision making — in-stage, review, and strategic—and the accompanying decision rules. The research develops and presents propositions that predict how the configuration and organization of NPD decision-making agents will influence
the potential for three mutually dependent CAS phenomena: nonlinearity, selforganization, and emergence. Together these phenomena underpin the potential for NPD process adaptability and congruence. To support and to verify the propositions, this study uses comparative case studies, which show that NPD process adaptability occurs and that it is dependent on the number and variety of agents, their corresponding connections and interactions, and the ordering or disordering effect of the decision levels and rules. Thus, the CAS framework developed within this article maintains a fit among descriptive stance, system behavior, and innovation type, as it considers individual NPD processes to be capable of switching or toggling between different behaviors — linear to chaotic — to produce corresponding innovation outputs that range from incremental to radical in accord with market expectations.
Innovation in manufacturing as an evolutionary complex systemIan McCarthy
The focus of this paper is on innovation in terms of the new product development processes and to discuss its main features. This is followed by a presentation of the new ideas emerging from complex systems science. It is then demonstrated how complex systems provides an overall conceptual framework for thinking about innovation and for considering how this helps to provide understanding and advice for the organisation of new product development in different circumstances. Three case studies are quoted which illustrate the application of these new ideas.
Why do some patents get licensed while others do not?Ian McCarthy
To understand why some patents get licensed and others do not, we estimate a portfolio of firm- and patent-level determinants for why a particular licensor’s patent was licensed over all technologically similar patents held by other licensors. Using data for licensed biopharmaceutical patents, we build a set of alternate patents that could have been licensed-in using topic modeling techniques. This provides a more sophisticated way of controlling for patent characteristics and analyzing the attractiveness of a licensor and the characteristics of the patent itself. We find that patents owned by licensors with technological prestige, experience at licensing, and combined technological depth and breadth have a greater chance at being chosen by licensees. This suggests that a licensor’s standing and organizational learning rather than the quality of its patent alone influence the success of outward licensing.
The ability of current statistical classifications to separateservices and ma...Ian McCarthy
This paper explores the performance of current statistical classification systems in classifying firms and, in particular, their ability to distinguish between firms that provide services and firms that provide manufacturing. We find that a large share of firms, almost 20%, are not classified as expected based on a comparison of their statements of activities with the assigned industry codes. This result is robust to analyses on different levels of aggregation and is validated in an additional survey. It is well known from earlier literature that industry classification systems are not perfect. This paper provides a quantification of the flaws in classifications of firms. Moreover, it is explained why the classifications of firms are imprecise. The increasing complexity of production, inertia in changes to statistical systems and the increasing integration of manufacturing products and services are some of the primary and interrelated explanations for this lack of precision. We emphasise, however, that such classification problems are not resolved using a ‘technical fix’. Any statistical classification method involves a number of tradeoffs.
Technology Management - A Complex Adaptive Systems ApproachIan McCarthy
There are systems methods and evolutionary processes that can help organisations understand the innovative patterns and competitive mechanisms that influence the creation, management and exploitation of technology. This paper presents a specific model based on the evolutionary processes of variation, selection, retention and struggle, coupled with fitness landscape theory. This latter concept is a complex adaptive systems theory that has attained recognition as an approach for visually mapping the strategic options an evolving system could pursue. The relevance and utility of fitness landscape theory to the strategic management of technology is explored, and a definition and model of technological fitness provided. The complex adaptive systems perspective adopted by this paper, views organisations as evolving systems that formulate strategies by classifying, selecting, adopting and exploiting various combinations of technological capabilities. A model called the strategy configuration chain is presented to illustrate this strategic process.
Understanding the effects of outsourcing: unpacking the total factor producti...Ian McCarthy
Research on why firms should outsource and how they should do it has proliferated in the past two decades, but few consistent findings have emerged concerning the benefits of outsourcing. We argue that this is in part due to the lack of an adequate framework for measuring the effects of outsourcing. To address this, we present such a framework based upon the Cobb–Douglas productivity function. We explain how our framework can be used to unpack one component of the Cobb–Douglas productivity function, the ‘total factor productivity’, which represents the other numerous sub-variables that affect outsourcing productivity, beyond the capital and labour expenditures. We also demonstrate the framework using a simple illustrative example.
Toward a Phylogenetic Reconstruction of Organizational LifeIan McCarthy
Classification is an important activity that facilitates theory development in many academic disciplines. Scholars in fields such as organizational science, management science and economics and have long recognized that classification offers an approach for ordering and understanding the diversity of organizational taxa (groups of one or more similar organizational entities). However, even the most prominent organizational classifications have limited utility, as they tend to be shaped by a specific research bias, inadequate units of analysis and a standard neoclassical economic view that does not naturally accommodate the disequilibrium dynamics of modern competition. The result is a relatively large number of individual and unconnected organizational classifications, which tend to ignore the processes of change responsible for organizational diversity. Collectively they fail to provide any sort of universal system for ordering, compiling and presenting knowledge on organizational diversity. This paper has two purposes. First, it reviews the general status of the major theoretical approaches to biological and organizational classification and compares the methods and resulting classifications derived from each approach. Definitions of key terms and a discussion on the three principal schools of biological classification (evolutionary systematics, phenetics and cladistics) are included in this review. Second, this paper aims to encourage critical thinking and debate about the use of the cladistic classification approach for inferring and representing the historical relationships underpinning organizational diversity. This involves examining the feasibility of applying the logic of common ancestry to populations of organizations. Consequently, this paper is exploratory and preparatory in style, with illustrations and assertions concerning the study and classification of organizational diversity.
New Product Development as a Complex Adaptive System of DecisionsIan McCarthy
Early research on new product development (NPD) has produced descriptive frameworks and models that view the process as a linear system with sequential and discrete stages. More recently, recursive and chaotic frameworks of NPD have been developed, both of which acknowledge that NPD progresses through a series of stages, but with overlaps, feedback loops, and resulting behaviors that resist reductionism
and linear analysis. This article extends the linear, recursive, and chaotic frameworks by viewing NPD as a complex adaptive system (CAS) governed by three levels of decision making — in-stage, review, and strategic—and the accompanying decision rules. The research develops and presents propositions that predict how the configuration and organization of NPD decision-making agents will influence
the potential for three mutually dependent CAS phenomena: nonlinearity, selforganization, and emergence. Together these phenomena underpin the potential for NPD process adaptability and congruence. To support and to verify the propositions, this study uses comparative case studies, which show that NPD process adaptability occurs and that it is dependent on the number and variety of agents, their corresponding connections and interactions, and the ordering or disordering effect of the decision levels and rules. Thus, the CAS framework developed within this article maintains a fit among descriptive stance, system behavior, and innovation type, as it considers individual NPD processes to be capable of switching or toggling between different behaviors — linear to chaotic — to produce corresponding innovation outputs that range from incremental to radical in accord with market expectations.
Innovation in manufacturing as an evolutionary complex systemIan McCarthy
The focus of this paper is on innovation in terms of the new product development processes and to discuss its main features. This is followed by a presentation of the new ideas emerging from complex systems science. It is then demonstrated how complex systems provides an overall conceptual framework for thinking about innovation and for considering how this helps to provide understanding and advice for the organisation of new product development in different circumstances. Three case studies are quoted which illustrate the application of these new ideas.
Why do some patents get licensed while others do not?Ian McCarthy
To understand why some patents get licensed and others do not, we estimate a portfolio of firm- and patent-level determinants for why a particular licensor’s patent was licensed over all technologically similar patents held by other licensors. Using data for licensed biopharmaceutical patents, we build a set of alternate patents that could have been licensed-in using topic modeling techniques. This provides a more sophisticated way of controlling for patent characteristics and analyzing the attractiveness of a licensor and the characteristics of the patent itself. We find that patents owned by licensors with technological prestige, experience at licensing, and combined technological depth and breadth have a greater chance at being chosen by licensees. This suggests that a licensor’s standing and organizational learning rather than the quality of its patent alone influence the success of outward licensing.
The ability of current statistical classifications to separateservices and ma...Ian McCarthy
This paper explores the performance of current statistical classification systems in classifying firms and, in particular, their ability to distinguish between firms that provide services and firms that provide manufacturing. We find that a large share of firms, almost 20%, are not classified as expected based on a comparison of their statements of activities with the assigned industry codes. This result is robust to analyses on different levels of aggregation and is validated in an additional survey. It is well known from earlier literature that industry classification systems are not perfect. This paper provides a quantification of the flaws in classifications of firms. Moreover, it is explained why the classifications of firms are imprecise. The increasing complexity of production, inertia in changes to statistical systems and the increasing integration of manufacturing products and services are some of the primary and interrelated explanations for this lack of precision. We emphasise, however, that such classification problems are not resolved using a ‘technical fix’. Any statistical classification method involves a number of tradeoffs.
Technology Management - A Complex Adaptive Systems ApproachIan McCarthy
There are systems methods and evolutionary processes that can help organisations understand the innovative patterns and competitive mechanisms that influence the creation, management and exploitation of technology. This paper presents a specific model based on the evolutionary processes of variation, selection, retention and struggle, coupled with fitness landscape theory. This latter concept is a complex adaptive systems theory that has attained recognition as an approach for visually mapping the strategic options an evolving system could pursue. The relevance and utility of fitness landscape theory to the strategic management of technology is explored, and a definition and model of technological fitness provided. The complex adaptive systems perspective adopted by this paper, views organisations as evolving systems that formulate strategies by classifying, selecting, adopting and exploiting various combinations of technological capabilities. A model called the strategy configuration chain is presented to illustrate this strategic process.
Understanding the effects of outsourcing: unpacking the total factor producti...Ian McCarthy
Research on why firms should outsource and how they should do it has proliferated in the past two decades, but few consistent findings have emerged concerning the benefits of outsourcing. We argue that this is in part due to the lack of an adequate framework for measuring the effects of outsourcing. To address this, we present such a framework based upon the Cobb–Douglas productivity function. We explain how our framework can be used to unpack one component of the Cobb–Douglas productivity function, the ‘total factor productivity’, which represents the other numerous sub-variables that affect outsourcing productivity, beyond the capital and labour expenditures. We also demonstrate the framework using a simple illustrative example.
Achieving contextual ambidexterity in R&D organizations: a management control...Ian McCarthy
Research on how managers control R&D activities has tended to focus on the performance measurement systems used to exploit existing knowledge and capabilities. This focus has been at the expense of how broader forms of management control could be used to enable R&D contextual ambidexterity, the capacity to attain appropriate levels of exploitation and exploration behaviors in the same R&D organizational unit. In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework for understanding how different types of control system, guided by different R&D strategic goals, can be used to induce and balance both exploitation and exploration. We illustrate the elements of this framework and their relations using data from biotechnology firms, and then discuss how the framework provides a basis to empirically examine a number of important control relationships and phenomena.
Complex adaptive system mechanisms, adaptive management practices, and firm p...Ian McCarthy
As a fascinating concept, the mechanisms of complex adaptive system (CAS) attracted many researchers from a variety of disciplines. Nevertheless, how the mechanism-related variables, such as strategic resonance, accreting nodes, pattern forming, and catalytic behavior of organization, impact the firm product innovativeness is rarely addressed empirically in the new product development (NPD) literature. Also, there exist limited studies on the antecedents of the mechanisms of CAS in the NPD literature. In this respect, we identified and operationalized the adaptive management practices, which involve bonding, nonlinear, and attractor behaviors of management, as antecedents of mechanisms and firm product innovativeness. By studying 235 firms, we found that (1) strategic resonance and accreting nodes are positively related to firm product innovativeness, (2) bonding, nonlinear, and attractor behaviors of management positively influence the mechanism variables, and (3) market and technology turbulence impact the adaptive management practices. We also found that mechanisms of CAS partially mediate the relationship between adaptive management practices and firm product innovativeness.
Achieving Agility Using Cladistics: An Evolutionary AnalysisIan McCarthy
To achieve the status of an agile manufacturer, organisations need to clearly understand the concept of agility, relative to their industrial and business circumstances and to then identify and acquire the appropriate characteristics which will result in an agile manufacturing organisation. This paper is not simply another discussion on the definition of agility, or a philosophical debate on the drivers and characteristics of agility. This paper presents an evolutionary modelling technique (cladistics) which could enable organisations to systematically manage and understand the emergence of new manufacturing forms within their business environment. This fundamental, but important insight is valuable for achieving successful organisational design and change. Thus, regardless of the industrial sector, managers could use cladistics as an evolutionary analysis technique for determining ``where they have been and where they are now''. Moving from a non-agile manufacture to an agile manufacture is a process of organisational change and evolutionary development. This evolutionary method will enable organisations to understand the landscape of manufacturing possibilities that exist, to identify appropriate agile forms and to successfully navigate that landscape.
When customers get clever: Managerial approaches to dealing with creative con...Ian McCarthy
Creative consumers (defined as customers who adapt, modify, or transform a proprietary offering) represent an intriguing paradox for business. On
one hand, they can signify a black hole for future revenue, with breach of copyright and intellectual property. On the other hand, they represent a gold mine of ideas and business opportunities. Central to business is the need to create and capture value, and creative consumers demand a shift in the mindsets and business models of how firms accomplish both. Based upon their attitude and action toward customer innovation, we develop a typology of firms’ stances toward creative consumers. We then consider the implications of the stances model for corporate strategy and
examine a three-step approach to dealing with creative consumers: awareness, analysis, and response.
Understanding outsourcing contexts through information asymmetry and capabili...Ian McCarthy
Outsourcing is a strategic activity that has long been central to operations management research and practice. Yet, there are still many outsourcing management challenges that remain. In this article, we explore two of the outsourcing challenges that motivated this special issue and are central to the 10 articles included. To do this, we develop a theoretical model that examines how variations in capability fit and information asymmetry combine to present firms with four different outsourcing contexts. We then explain how each of the articles included in this special issue relate to our theoretical model and explore several avenues for future research.
Game on: Engaging customers and employees through gamificationIan McCarthy
Managers are frequently tasked with increasing the engagement levels of key stakeholders, such as customers and employees. Gamification - defined as the application of game design principles to change behavior in non-gaming contexts - is a tool that, if crafted and implemented properly, can increase engagement. In this article we discuss how gamification can aid customer and employee engagement, and delineate between four different types of customers and employees who act as ‘players’ in gamified experiences. We include illustrative examples of gamification and conclude by presenting five lessons for managers who wish to utilize gamification.
Unpacking the Social Media Phenomenon: Towards a Research AgendaIan McCarthy
In this paper, we highlight some of the challenges and opportunities that social media presents to researchers, and offer relevant theoretical avenues to be explored. To do this, we present a model that unpacks social media by using a honeycomb of seven functional building blocks. We then examine each of the seven building blocks and, through appropriate social and socio-technical theories, raise questions that warrant further in-depth research to advance the conceptualization of social media in public affairs research. Finally, we combine the individual research questions for each building block back into the honeycomb model to illustrate how the theories in combination provide a powerful macro-lens for research on social media dynamics.
Making a face: Graphical illustrations of managerial stances toward customer ...Ian McCarthy
Creative consumers – consumers who adapt, modify or transform a proprietary offering – represent an intriguing paradox for business. On the one hand they can be a black hole for future revenue, with breach of copyright and intellectual property, while on the other hand they represent a gold mine of ideas and business opportunities. This problem is central to business – business needs to both create and capture value; the problem is that creative consumers demand a shift in the mindsets and business models of how firms both create and capture value. We develop a typology of firms’ stances to creative consumers based upon their attitude and action towards customer innovation. We then consider the implications of the stances model for corporate strategy, and examine a three-step approach to dealing with creative consumers, namely, awareness, analysis and response.
Product recovery decisions within the context of Extended Producer Responsibi...Ian McCarthy
Environmental and economic evidence is increasingly supporting the need for better analytical tools for evaluating the recovery of consumer products. In response, we present a novel mathematical model for determining what we call the Optimal Recovery Plan (ORP) for any given product. The ORP is based on an evaluation and optimization of the economics of remanufacturing consumer products versus demanufacturing in the context of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation, a driving force behind the adoption remanufacturing initiatives by firms. We provide an illustrative application of the model and then discuss its implications for scholars and practitioners concerned with sustainable business development.
An Integrated Approach to Studying Multiplexity in Entrepreneurial NetworksIan McCarthy
Multiplexity occurs in entrepreneurial networks when flows interact within and across relationships. It defines how these networks function and evolve and cannot be examined by studying network structure or flows separately. Despite the growing recognition of the importance of multiplexity, related research has remained limited and lacks an integrated approach to simultaneously examine structure and flows, thus restricting our understanding of entrepreneurial networks. We propose an integrated approach for conducting inductive studies into multiplexity, involving an adaptation of the “business networks” conceptual model, the configuration theory perspective, and the Q-analysis method.
Two related trends characterize the recent past: value propositions are migrating from the physical to the informational, and value creation is shifting from firms to consumers. These two trends meet in the phenomenon of “consumer-generated intellectual property” (CGIP). This article addresses the question: “How should firms manage the intellectual property that their customers create?” It explores how CGIP presents important dilemmas for managers and argues that consumers’ “intellectual property” should not be leveraged at the expense of their “emotional property.” It integrates these perspectives into a diagnostic framework and discusses eight strategies for firms to manage CGIP. (Keywords: Consumer Behavior, Intellectual Property, Innovation Management, New Product Management, Competitive Advantage, Consumers, Product Design)
Unpacking the social media phenomenon: towards a research agendaIan McCarthy
In this paper, we highlight some of the challenges and opportunities that social media presents to researchers, and offer relevant theoretical avenues to be explored. To do this, we present a model that unpacks social media by using a honeycomb of seven functional building blocks. We then examine each of the seven building blocks and, through appropriate social and socio-technical theories, raise questions that warrant further in-depth research to advance the conceptualization of social media in public affairs research. Finally, we combine the individual research questions for each building block back into the honeycomb model to illustrate how the theories in combination provide a powerful macro-lens for research on social media dynamics.
Organisational diversity, evolution and cladistics classificationsIan McCarthy
This article presents a case for the construction of a formal classification of manufacturing systems using cladistics, a technique from the biological school of classification. A seven-stage framework for producing a manufacturing cladogram is presented, along with a pilot case study example. This article describes the role that classification plays in the pure and applied sciences, the social sciences and reviews the status of existing manufacturing classifications. If organisational diversity and organisational change processes are governed by evolutionary mechanisms, studies of organisations based on an evolutionary approach such as cladistics could have potential, because as March (1994. p. 39], ``there is natural speculation that organisations, like species can be engineered by understanding the evolutionary processes well enough to intervene and produce competitive organisational effects''. It is suggested that a cladistic study could provide organisations with a ``knowledge map'' of the ecosystem in which they exist and by using this phylogenetic and situational analysis, they could determine coherent and appropriate action for the speciation of change.
The impact of outsourcing on the transaction costs and boundaries of manufact...Ian McCarthy
This paper discusses the concept of outsourcing, along with an account of the economic benefits that are achieved by reconfiguring the organization and reducing the transaction costs of providing products and services. With the practice of outsourcing experiencing exceptional growth, this paper examines the corresponding change (decline) in UK manufacturing as an economic activity, and considers how the economic benefits of outsourcing alter the contribution that an organization makes to a sector’s gross domestic product. To assess this issue, an input–output methodology for measuring economic restructuring in UK manufacturing is presented.
Manufacturing strategy – understanding the fitness landscapeIan McCarthy
This theoretical paper presents, extends and integrates a number of systems and
evolutionary concepts, to demonstrate their relevance to manufacturing strategy formulation.
Specifically it concentrates on fitness landscape theory as an approach for visually mapping the
strategic options a manufacturing firm could pursue. It examines how this theory relates to
manufacturing competitiveness and strategy and proposes a definition and model of
manufacturing fitness. In accordance with fitness landscape theory, a complex systems
perspective is adopted to view manufacturing firms. It is argued that manufacturing firms are
a specific type of complex system ± a complex adaptive system ± and that by developing and
applying fitness landscape theory it is possible to create models to better understand and visualise
how to search and select various combinations of capabilities.
Understanding Gamification of Consumer ExperiencesIan McCarthy
Robson, K.E., Plangger, K.A., Kietzmann, J., McCarthy, I., and Pitt, L.F. (2014) Understanding Gamification of Consumer Experiences, Advances in Consumer Research, 42, 352-356
Recently, organizations have begun to tout ‘gamification’ as an effective method of increasing motivation and engagement of employees, customers, patients, and students, among other stakeholders (Wingfield 2012). Nonetheless, despite projections that such gamification will become a widely adopted phenomenon, estimates are gloomy with respect to the real impact these projects will have on the experiences of ‘players’ (i.e., participants who are supposed to have fun), and on the organizations that would like to use gamification to improve the players’ behavior in their favor (Burke 2011). Gamification is difficult, and fraught with problems that can lead to strategic and resource-based problems for the firm. In this article, we present an experience framework in order to show the effect of gamification on consumers’ experiences that is illustrated through four extended examples. We conclude this article with a few implications for future research into, as well as practical application for the successful gamification of consumer experiences. But first, we discuss what gamification is and what it is not.
Standardization efforts:The relationship between knowledge dimensions, search...Ian McCarthy
We explore how a standardization effort (i.e.,when a firm pursues standards to further innovation) involves different search processes for knowledge and innovation outcomes. Using an inductive case study of Vanke, a leading Chinese property developer, we show how varying degrees of knowledge complexity and codification combine to produce a typology of four types of search process: active, integrative,
decentralized and passive, resulting in four types of innovation outcome: modular, radical,incremental and architectural. We argue that when the standardization effort in a firm involves highly codified knowledge,incremental and architectural innovation outcomes are fostered, while modular and radical innovations are hindered. We discuss how standardization efforts can result in a second-order
innovation capability, and conclude by calling for comparative research in other settings to understand how standardization efforts can be suited to different types of search process in different industry contexts.
Achieving contextual ambidexterity in R&D organizations: a management control...Ian McCarthy
Research on how managers control R&D activities has tended to focus on the performance measurement systems used to exploit existing knowledge and capabilities. This focus has been at the expense of how broader forms of management control could be used to enable R&D contextual ambidexterity, the capacity to attain appropriate levels of exploitation and exploration behaviors in the same R&D organizational unit. In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework for understanding how different types of control system, guided by different R&D strategic goals, can be used to induce and balance both exploitation and exploration. We illustrate the elements of this framework and their relations using data from biotechnology firms, and then discuss how the framework provides a basis to empirically examine a number of important control relationships and phenomena.
Complex adaptive system mechanisms, adaptive management practices, and firm p...Ian McCarthy
As a fascinating concept, the mechanisms of complex adaptive system (CAS) attracted many researchers from a variety of disciplines. Nevertheless, how the mechanism-related variables, such as strategic resonance, accreting nodes, pattern forming, and catalytic behavior of organization, impact the firm product innovativeness is rarely addressed empirically in the new product development (NPD) literature. Also, there exist limited studies on the antecedents of the mechanisms of CAS in the NPD literature. In this respect, we identified and operationalized the adaptive management practices, which involve bonding, nonlinear, and attractor behaviors of management, as antecedents of mechanisms and firm product innovativeness. By studying 235 firms, we found that (1) strategic resonance and accreting nodes are positively related to firm product innovativeness, (2) bonding, nonlinear, and attractor behaviors of management positively influence the mechanism variables, and (3) market and technology turbulence impact the adaptive management practices. We also found that mechanisms of CAS partially mediate the relationship between adaptive management practices and firm product innovativeness.
Achieving Agility Using Cladistics: An Evolutionary AnalysisIan McCarthy
To achieve the status of an agile manufacturer, organisations need to clearly understand the concept of agility, relative to their industrial and business circumstances and to then identify and acquire the appropriate characteristics which will result in an agile manufacturing organisation. This paper is not simply another discussion on the definition of agility, or a philosophical debate on the drivers and characteristics of agility. This paper presents an evolutionary modelling technique (cladistics) which could enable organisations to systematically manage and understand the emergence of new manufacturing forms within their business environment. This fundamental, but important insight is valuable for achieving successful organisational design and change. Thus, regardless of the industrial sector, managers could use cladistics as an evolutionary analysis technique for determining ``where they have been and where they are now''. Moving from a non-agile manufacture to an agile manufacture is a process of organisational change and evolutionary development. This evolutionary method will enable organisations to understand the landscape of manufacturing possibilities that exist, to identify appropriate agile forms and to successfully navigate that landscape.
When customers get clever: Managerial approaches to dealing with creative con...Ian McCarthy
Creative consumers (defined as customers who adapt, modify, or transform a proprietary offering) represent an intriguing paradox for business. On
one hand, they can signify a black hole for future revenue, with breach of copyright and intellectual property. On the other hand, they represent a gold mine of ideas and business opportunities. Central to business is the need to create and capture value, and creative consumers demand a shift in the mindsets and business models of how firms accomplish both. Based upon their attitude and action toward customer innovation, we develop a typology of firms’ stances toward creative consumers. We then consider the implications of the stances model for corporate strategy and
examine a three-step approach to dealing with creative consumers: awareness, analysis, and response.
Understanding outsourcing contexts through information asymmetry and capabili...Ian McCarthy
Outsourcing is a strategic activity that has long been central to operations management research and practice. Yet, there are still many outsourcing management challenges that remain. In this article, we explore two of the outsourcing challenges that motivated this special issue and are central to the 10 articles included. To do this, we develop a theoretical model that examines how variations in capability fit and information asymmetry combine to present firms with four different outsourcing contexts. We then explain how each of the articles included in this special issue relate to our theoretical model and explore several avenues for future research.
Game on: Engaging customers and employees through gamificationIan McCarthy
Managers are frequently tasked with increasing the engagement levels of key stakeholders, such as customers and employees. Gamification - defined as the application of game design principles to change behavior in non-gaming contexts - is a tool that, if crafted and implemented properly, can increase engagement. In this article we discuss how gamification can aid customer and employee engagement, and delineate between four different types of customers and employees who act as ‘players’ in gamified experiences. We include illustrative examples of gamification and conclude by presenting five lessons for managers who wish to utilize gamification.
Unpacking the Social Media Phenomenon: Towards a Research AgendaIan McCarthy
In this paper, we highlight some of the challenges and opportunities that social media presents to researchers, and offer relevant theoretical avenues to be explored. To do this, we present a model that unpacks social media by using a honeycomb of seven functional building blocks. We then examine each of the seven building blocks and, through appropriate social and socio-technical theories, raise questions that warrant further in-depth research to advance the conceptualization of social media in public affairs research. Finally, we combine the individual research questions for each building block back into the honeycomb model to illustrate how the theories in combination provide a powerful macro-lens for research on social media dynamics.
Making a face: Graphical illustrations of managerial stances toward customer ...Ian McCarthy
Creative consumers – consumers who adapt, modify or transform a proprietary offering – represent an intriguing paradox for business. On the one hand they can be a black hole for future revenue, with breach of copyright and intellectual property, while on the other hand they represent a gold mine of ideas and business opportunities. This problem is central to business – business needs to both create and capture value; the problem is that creative consumers demand a shift in the mindsets and business models of how firms both create and capture value. We develop a typology of firms’ stances to creative consumers based upon their attitude and action towards customer innovation. We then consider the implications of the stances model for corporate strategy, and examine a three-step approach to dealing with creative consumers, namely, awareness, analysis and response.
Product recovery decisions within the context of Extended Producer Responsibi...Ian McCarthy
Environmental and economic evidence is increasingly supporting the need for better analytical tools for evaluating the recovery of consumer products. In response, we present a novel mathematical model for determining what we call the Optimal Recovery Plan (ORP) for any given product. The ORP is based on an evaluation and optimization of the economics of remanufacturing consumer products versus demanufacturing in the context of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation, a driving force behind the adoption remanufacturing initiatives by firms. We provide an illustrative application of the model and then discuss its implications for scholars and practitioners concerned with sustainable business development.
An Integrated Approach to Studying Multiplexity in Entrepreneurial NetworksIan McCarthy
Multiplexity occurs in entrepreneurial networks when flows interact within and across relationships. It defines how these networks function and evolve and cannot be examined by studying network structure or flows separately. Despite the growing recognition of the importance of multiplexity, related research has remained limited and lacks an integrated approach to simultaneously examine structure and flows, thus restricting our understanding of entrepreneurial networks. We propose an integrated approach for conducting inductive studies into multiplexity, involving an adaptation of the “business networks” conceptual model, the configuration theory perspective, and the Q-analysis method.
Two related trends characterize the recent past: value propositions are migrating from the physical to the informational, and value creation is shifting from firms to consumers. These two trends meet in the phenomenon of “consumer-generated intellectual property” (CGIP). This article addresses the question: “How should firms manage the intellectual property that their customers create?” It explores how CGIP presents important dilemmas for managers and argues that consumers’ “intellectual property” should not be leveraged at the expense of their “emotional property.” It integrates these perspectives into a diagnostic framework and discusses eight strategies for firms to manage CGIP. (Keywords: Consumer Behavior, Intellectual Property, Innovation Management, New Product Management, Competitive Advantage, Consumers, Product Design)
Unpacking the social media phenomenon: towards a research agendaIan McCarthy
In this paper, we highlight some of the challenges and opportunities that social media presents to researchers, and offer relevant theoretical avenues to be explored. To do this, we present a model that unpacks social media by using a honeycomb of seven functional building blocks. We then examine each of the seven building blocks and, through appropriate social and socio-technical theories, raise questions that warrant further in-depth research to advance the conceptualization of social media in public affairs research. Finally, we combine the individual research questions for each building block back into the honeycomb model to illustrate how the theories in combination provide a powerful macro-lens for research on social media dynamics.
Organisational diversity, evolution and cladistics classificationsIan McCarthy
This article presents a case for the construction of a formal classification of manufacturing systems using cladistics, a technique from the biological school of classification. A seven-stage framework for producing a manufacturing cladogram is presented, along with a pilot case study example. This article describes the role that classification plays in the pure and applied sciences, the social sciences and reviews the status of existing manufacturing classifications. If organisational diversity and organisational change processes are governed by evolutionary mechanisms, studies of organisations based on an evolutionary approach such as cladistics could have potential, because as March (1994. p. 39], ``there is natural speculation that organisations, like species can be engineered by understanding the evolutionary processes well enough to intervene and produce competitive organisational effects''. It is suggested that a cladistic study could provide organisations with a ``knowledge map'' of the ecosystem in which they exist and by using this phylogenetic and situational analysis, they could determine coherent and appropriate action for the speciation of change.
The impact of outsourcing on the transaction costs and boundaries of manufact...Ian McCarthy
This paper discusses the concept of outsourcing, along with an account of the economic benefits that are achieved by reconfiguring the organization and reducing the transaction costs of providing products and services. With the practice of outsourcing experiencing exceptional growth, this paper examines the corresponding change (decline) in UK manufacturing as an economic activity, and considers how the economic benefits of outsourcing alter the contribution that an organization makes to a sector’s gross domestic product. To assess this issue, an input–output methodology for measuring economic restructuring in UK manufacturing is presented.
Manufacturing strategy – understanding the fitness landscapeIan McCarthy
This theoretical paper presents, extends and integrates a number of systems and
evolutionary concepts, to demonstrate their relevance to manufacturing strategy formulation.
Specifically it concentrates on fitness landscape theory as an approach for visually mapping the
strategic options a manufacturing firm could pursue. It examines how this theory relates to
manufacturing competitiveness and strategy and proposes a definition and model of
manufacturing fitness. In accordance with fitness landscape theory, a complex systems
perspective is adopted to view manufacturing firms. It is argued that manufacturing firms are
a specific type of complex system ± a complex adaptive system ± and that by developing and
applying fitness landscape theory it is possible to create models to better understand and visualise
how to search and select various combinations of capabilities.
Understanding Gamification of Consumer ExperiencesIan McCarthy
Robson, K.E., Plangger, K.A., Kietzmann, J., McCarthy, I., and Pitt, L.F. (2014) Understanding Gamification of Consumer Experiences, Advances in Consumer Research, 42, 352-356
Recently, organizations have begun to tout ‘gamification’ as an effective method of increasing motivation and engagement of employees, customers, patients, and students, among other stakeholders (Wingfield 2012). Nonetheless, despite projections that such gamification will become a widely adopted phenomenon, estimates are gloomy with respect to the real impact these projects will have on the experiences of ‘players’ (i.e., participants who are supposed to have fun), and on the organizations that would like to use gamification to improve the players’ behavior in their favor (Burke 2011). Gamification is difficult, and fraught with problems that can lead to strategic and resource-based problems for the firm. In this article, we present an experience framework in order to show the effect of gamification on consumers’ experiences that is illustrated through four extended examples. We conclude this article with a few implications for future research into, as well as practical application for the successful gamification of consumer experiences. But first, we discuss what gamification is and what it is not.
Standardization efforts:The relationship between knowledge dimensions, search...Ian McCarthy
We explore how a standardization effort (i.e.,when a firm pursues standards to further innovation) involves different search processes for knowledge and innovation outcomes. Using an inductive case study of Vanke, a leading Chinese property developer, we show how varying degrees of knowledge complexity and codification combine to produce a typology of four types of search process: active, integrative,
decentralized and passive, resulting in four types of innovation outcome: modular, radical,incremental and architectural. We argue that when the standardization effort in a firm involves highly codified knowledge,incremental and architectural innovation outcomes are fostered, while modular and radical innovations are hindered. We discuss how standardization efforts can result in a second-order
innovation capability, and conclude by calling for comparative research in other settings to understand how standardization efforts can be suited to different types of search process in different industry contexts.
The technology for building knowledge-based systems by inductive inference from examples has
been demonstrated successfully in several practical applications. This paper summarizes an approach to
synthesizing decision trees that has been used in a variety of systems, and it describes one such system,
ID3, in detail. Results from recent studies show ways in which the methodology can be modified to deal
with information that is noisy and/or incomplete. A reported shortcoming of the basic algorithm is
discussed and two means of overcoming it are compared. The paper concludes with illustrations of current
research directions.
Running head COMPLEXITY THEORY1COMPLEXITY THEORY4.docxjoellemurphey
Running head: COMPLEXITY THEORY
1
COMPLEXITY THEORY
4
Complexity Theory and Organization Science
Author
Institution
Organizations are mostly viewed as units that have a purpose, possess a structural form, and exhibit a given level of determinism and order. Complexity theory, in this instance is a pool of ideas revolving around the top bottom analysis approach used in understanding systems such as organizations, in fields such as strategic management. Its application areas comprise understanding how firms adapt to operational environments and how they handle uncertainty conditions. The theory treats firms and organizations as a collection of structures and strategies. The structure being complex that is, they are dynamic interaction networks, and they are adaptive meaning the collective behaviour change and organize themselves to fit the changes initiated by collection of events (Marion, 1999).
A theory of complex systems is important in unraveling the basic principles common to all systems. Presently there lacks a single integrated theory of complexity, but rather their exists theories that explain the common behaviors of a complex system such as:
Unification of themes, of a complex adaptive system (CAS), this is a system exhibiting behaviours such as learning, emergence, self organization, or co-evolution, which are popular across systems like human settlements or ant colonies. Appreciating these unification themes of CAS, helps to develop descriptions that relate to a case of an organization. The concept of self-organization is the ability of a system to instinctively self organizes itself into superior complex states, by interacting locally. This leads to renewal and reshaping of a whole system to adapt to external environment changes. Learning and adaptive behaviour is the capacity to learn and adapt to a complex system. The idea of an organization being complex and an adaptive system was derived in relation to the high levels of interconnectivity and technological advancements. Social systems, like organizations that are subsets exhibit a heap of complexity in their feature and form, by representing a complex interconnectivity web amid human beings who are capable of self-organization in order to respond to changes. However there is adaptation and learning involved at individual levels, system levels leading to development of direction and order, to empower groups into better handling of changes within its environment (Richardson, 2005).
In summary the notion of organizations being complex systems, capable of logically evolving strategies, processes, structures and self adjustment to changes in environment, imply novel roles and learning for managers as facilitators and guides for successful and transformative organizations.
References
Marion, R. (1999). The edge of organization: Chaos and complexity theories of formal social systems. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publ.
Richardson, K. A. (2005). Managing organizationa ...
Student ID No. 1619853Contemporary Issues in International.docxcpatriciarpatricia
Student ID No. 1619853
Contemporary Issues in International Management (MOD004160)
List (A) - The Population Ecology of Organisations
Introduction
The journal paper of Hannan and Freeman (1977) looks at the relationship between organisations and the environment and how organisations emerge, grow and die over a long period of time. They apply the population ecology theories to the population of organisations, which they use as their level of analysis, as opposed to the organisation or community level.
Their research is debating that the selection model is favoured over the adaption model, which at the time of their research, the majority of literature was focussed on the adaption model. They favour the selection model due to the structural inertia limiting the organisations ability to adapt to changing environments. They mention the inertial pressures that arise from both internal structural arrangements and environmental constraints and argue that in order to deal with the various inertial pressures the adaption perspective must be supplemented with a selection orientation (pp. 933).
Two broad issues are considered, the first regarding the unit of analyses where they argue for an explicit focus on populations of organisations, rather than the view of a single organisation and the environment. The second is the application of population ecology models to the study of human social organisations.
All the above they hope to answer their research question ‘why are there so many kinds of organisations?’
Literature Review
The fundamental part of their research started with Hawley’s (1950, 1968) statement on human ecology, they state that Hawley’s perspective serves a useful starting point for population ecology theories when extended to include competition models and niche theory.
When reviewing competition theory they continue to focus on the process of selection, in that isomorphism happens because nonoptimal forms are selected out of a community of organisations (pp.939) and that competition is a mechanism for producing isomorphism (pp.940). They use the literature of Hummon, Dorian, and Teuter (1975) and Blau and Scott (1962) to construct their ecological model of competition by stating the nature of the population growth process and to support their view that the rate of growth or decline in populations of organisations is due to environmental changes.
They represent this environmental change by using Hutchinson’s (1957) formulation model to show Levins (1962, 1968) theory of niche width.
Methodology
The paper is a conceptual paper and does not include any empirical research to support their theories. Throughout the paper there are several references to empirical research and at one point the authors expressed their frustration at the lack of empirical research available on rates of selection in populations of organisations (pp.959).
Rather than start from the beginning, Hannan and Freeman (1977) chose to adopt the methodology of Hawley.
The open academic: Why and how business academics should use social media to ...Ian McCarthy
Abstract: The mission of many business schools and their researchers is to produce research that that impacts how business leaders, entrepreneurs, managers, and innovators, think and act. However, this mission remains an elusive ideal for many business school academics because they struggle to design and produce research capable of overcoming the "research-practice gap." To help those scholars address this gap, we explain why and how they should use social media to be more 'open' to connecting with, learning from, and working with academics and other stakeholders outside of their field. We describe how social media can be used as a boundary-spanning technology to help bridge the research-practice gap. To do this, we present a process model of five research activities: networking, framing, investigating, dissemination, and assessment. Using recently published research as an illustrative example, we describe how social media was used to make each activity more open. We conclude with a framework of different social media-enabled open academic approaches (connector, observer, promoter, and influencer) and some dos and don'ts for engaging in each approach. This paper aims to help business academics rethink and change their practices so that our profession is more widely regarded for how its research positively impacts practice and societal well-being more generally.
Big Data for Creating and Capturing Value in the Digitalized Environment: Unp...Ian McCarthy
Despite significant academic and managerial interest in big data, there is a dearth of research on how big data impacts
the long-term firm performance. Reasons for this gap include a lack of objective indices to measure big data
availability and its impact, and the tendency of studies to ignore the costs associated with collecting and analyzing
big data, assuming that big data automatically delivers benefits to firms. Focusing on how firms create and capture
value from big data about customers, we use the resource-based view and three dimensions of big data (i.e., volume,
variety, and veracity) to understand when the benefits outweigh the costs. Relying on the number of downloads of
mobile device applications, we find that volume of big data has a negative effect on firm performance. This result
suggests that the “bigness” of big data alone does not ensure value creation for a firm, and could even constitute a
“dark side” of big data. Because big data variety—measured as the number of types of information taken per each
application—moderates the negative effects of big data volume, simultaneous high values of volume and variety
allow firms to create value that positively affects their performance. In addition, high levels of veracity (i.e., a high
percentage of employees devoted to big data analysis), are linked to firms benefiting from big data via value capture.
These findings shed light on the circumstances in which big data can be beneficial for firms, contributing to a better
theoretical understanding of the opportunities and challenges and providing useful indications to managers.
Standardization in a Digital and Global World: State-of-the-Art and Future Pe...Ian McCarthy
We discuss how the standards emerge from an interaction between three main sources, the standards standard-setting organizations (SSOs), the competitive market forces, and the government. We present a framework (see Table I) that highlights how these sources differ and work together to shape the standardization in a digital and global context. Also, using this framework, we introduce the contribution of each article of this issue and their contribution to some of the major issues that the standardization is facing today in a digital and global world. We conclude with the suggestions of avenues for future research on this topic.
Open branding: Managing the unauthorized use of brand-related intellectual pr...Ian McCarthy
Consumers often innovate with brand-related intellectual property (IP) without permission. Although firms often respond by exercising their legal right to stop such activity, there are a variety of situations in which consumers’ unauthorized use of brand-related IP can be desirable for a brand or in which enforcing IP rights can adversely affect a brand. This article illustrates situations in which managers may benefit from choosing to forgo exercising their IP rights. To assist managers, this article contributes a framework for understanding the managerial approaches to situations in which consumers use IP without permission.
Does getting along matter? Tourist-tourist rapport in guided group activitiesIan McCarthy
Guided group activities, where tourists consume with other tourists, are common and important. Although the
tourism and services literature suggests customer-employee rapport impacts customer satisfaction, the composition
and impact of tourist-tourist rapport in guided group activities have received minimal attention. We use a
three-study mixed method approach to conceptualize and examine tourist-tourist rapport in guided group activities.
Study 1 identifies two recognized dyadic dimensions of tourist-tourist rapport (enjoyable interaction and
personal connection) and two new group-based dimensions (group attentiveness and service congruity). Study 2
(video experiment) and Study 3 (field experiment) find that enjoyable interaction and personal connection
mediate the relationship between group attentiveness and service congruity with satisfaction. Thus, touristtourist
rapport in a group context is more multidimensional and complex than previously conceptualized for
customer-employee rapport and non-group contexts. Further, we find tourist-tourist rapport is a critical service
factor such that high levels satisfy, while low levels dissatisfy.
Social media? It's serious! Understanding the dark side of social mediaIan McCarthy
Research and practice have mostly focused on the “bright side” of social media, aiming to understand and help in leveraging the manifold opportunities afforded by this technology. However, it is increasingly observable that social media present enormous risks for individuals, communities, firms, and even for society as a whole. Examples for this “dark side” of social media include cyberbullying, addictive use, trolling, online witch hunts, fake news, and privacy abuse. In this article, we aim to illustrate the multidimensionality of the dark side of social media and describe the related various undesirable outcomes. To do this, we adapt the established social media honeycomb framework to explain the dark side implications of each of the seven functional building blocks: conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, groups, and identity. On the basis of these reflections, we present a number of avenues for future research, so as to facilitate a better understanding and use of social media.
Leveraging social capital in university-industry knowledge transfer strategie...Ian McCarthy
University-industry partnerships emphasise the transformation of knowledge into products and processes which can be commercially exploited. This paper presents a framework for understanding how social capital in university-industry partnerships affect knowledge transfer strategies, which impacts on collaborative innovation developments. University-industry partnerships in three different countries, all from regions at varying stages of development, are compared using the proposed framework. These include a developed region (Canada), a transition region (Malta), and a developing region (South Africa). Structural, relational and cognitive social capital dimensions are mapped against the knowledge transfer strategy that the university-industry partnership employed: leveraging existing knowledge or appropriating new knowledge. Exploring the comparative presence of social capital in knowledge transfer strategies assists in better understanding how university-industry partnerships can position themselves to facilitate innovation. The paper proposes a link between social capital and knowledge transfer strategy by illustrating how it impacts the competitive positioning of the university-industry partners involved.
Do your employees think your slogan is “fake news?” A framework for understan...Ian McCarthy
Purpose – This article explores how employees can perceive and be impacted by the fakeness of their company slogans.
Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual study draws on the established literature on company slogans, employee audiences, and fake news to create a framework through which to understand fake company slogans.
Findings – Employees attend to two important dimensions of slogans: whether they accurately reflect a company’s (1) values and (2) value proposition. These dimensions combine to form a typology of four ways in which employees can perceive their company’s slogans: namely, authentic, narcissistic, foreign, or corrupt.
Research limitations/implications – This paper outlines how the typology provides a theoretical basis for more refined empirical research on how company slogans influence a key stakeholder: their employees. Future research could test the arguments about how certain characteristics of slogans are more or less likely to cause employees to conclude that slogans are fake news. Those conclusions will, in turn, have implications for the
morale and engagement of employees. The ideas herein can also enable a more comprehensive assessment of the impact of slogans.
Practical implications – Employees can view three types of slogans as fake news (narcissistic, foreign, and corrupt slogans). This paper identifies the implications of each type and explains how companies can go about developing authentic slogans.
Originality/value – This paper explores the impact of slogan fakeness on employees: an important audience that has been neglected by studies to
date. Thus, the insights and implications specific to this internal stakeholder are novel.
Making sense of text: artificial intelligence-enabled content analysisIan McCarthy
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce, apply and compare how artificial intelligence (AI), and specifically the IBM Watson system, can be used for content analysis in marketing research relative to manual and computer-aided (non-AI) approaches to content analysis.
Design/methodology/approach – To illustrate the use of AI enabled content analysis, this paper examines the text of leadership speeches, content related to organizational brand. The process and results of using AI are compared to manual and computer-aided approaches by using three performance factors for content analysis: reliability, validity and efficiency.
Findings – Relative to manual and computer-aided approaches, AI-enabled content analysis provides clear advantages with high reliability, high validity and moderate efficiency.
Research limitations/implications – This paper offers three contributions. First, it highlights the continued importance of the content analysis research method, particularly with the explosive growth of natural language-based user-generated content. Second, it provides a road map of how to use AI-enabled content analysis. Third, it applies and compares AI-enabled content analysis to manual and computer-aided, using leadership speeches.
Practical implications – For each of the three approaches, nine steps are outlined and described to allow for replicability of this study. The advantages and disadvantages of using AI for content analysis are discussed. Together these are intended to motivate and guide researchers to apply and develop AI-enabled content analysis for research in marketing and other disciplines.
Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first to introduce, apply and compare how AI can be used for content analysis.
Confronting indifference toward truth: Dealing with workplace bullshitIan McCarthy
Abstract Many organizations are drowning in a flood of corporate bullshit, and this is particularly true of organizations in trouble, whose managers tend to make up stuff on the fly and with little regard for future consequences. Bullshitting and lying are not synonymous. While the liar knows the truth and wittingly bends it to suit their purpose, the bullshitter simply does not care about the truth. Managers can actually do something about organizational bullshit, and this Executive Digest provides a sequential framework that enables them to do so. They can comprehend it, they can recognize it for what it is, they can act against it, and they can take steps to prevent it from happening in the future. While it is unlikely that any organization will ever be able to rid itself of bullshit entirely, this article argues that by taking these steps, astute managers can work toward stemming its flood.
The Promise of Digitalization: Unpacking the Effects of Big Data Volume, Vari...Ian McCarthy
Despite significant academic and managerial interest in big data, there is a dearth of research on how big data impacts long-term firm performance. Reasons for this gap include a lack of objective indices to measure big data availability and its impact, and the tendency of studies to ignore the costs associated with collecting and analyzing big data, assuming that big data automatically delivers benefits to firms. Focusing on how firms create and capture value from big data about customers, we use the resource-based view (RBV) and three dimensions of big data (i.e., volume, variety and veracity) to understand when the benefits outweigh the costs. Relying on the number of downloads of mobile device applications, we find that volume of big data has a negative effect on firm performance. This result suggests that the ‘bigness’ of big data alone does not ensure value creation for a firm, and could even constitute a ‘dark side’ of big data. Because big data variety – measured as the number of types of information taken per each application – moderates the negative effects of big data volume, simultaneous high values of volume and variety allow firms to create value that positively affects their performance. In addition, high levels of veracity (i.e., a high percentage of employees devoted to big data analysis), are linked to firms benefiting from big data via value capture. These findings shed light on the circumstances in which big data can be beneficial for firms, contributing to a better theoretical understanding of the opportunities and challenges and providing useful indications to managers.
Masterclass: Confronting indifference to truthIan McCarthy
Many organizations are drowning in a flood of corporate bullshit, and this is particularly true of organizations in trouble, whose managers tend to make up stuff on the fly and with little regard for future consequences. Bullshitting and lying are not synonymous. While the liar knows the truth and wittingly bends it to suit their purpose, the bullshitter simply does not care about the truth. Managers can actually do something about organizational bullshit, and this Executive Digest provides a sequential framework that enables them to do so. They can comprehend it, they can recognize it for what it is, they can act against it, and they can take steps to prevent it from happening in the future. While it is unlikely that any organization will ever be able to rid itself of bullshit entirely, this article argues that by taking these steps, astute managers can work toward stemming its flood.
Confronting indifference toward truth: Dealing with workplace bullshitIan McCarthy
Many organizations are drowning in a flood of corporate bullshit, and this is particularly true of organizations in trouble, whose managers tend to make up stuff on the fly and with little regard for future consequences. Bullshitting and lying are not synonymous. While the liar knows the truth and wittingly bends it to suit their purpose, the bullshitter simply does not care about the truth. Managers can actually do something about organizational bullshit, and this Executive Digest provides a sequential framework that enables them to do so. They can comprehend it, they can recognize it for what it is, they can act against it, and they can take steps to prevent it from happening in the future. While it is unlikely that any organization will ever be able to rid itself of bullshit entirely, this article argues that by taking these steps, astute managers can work toward stemming its flood.
Although manipulations of visual and auditory media are as old as the media themselves, the recent entrance of deepfakes has marked a turning point in the creation of fake content. Powered by latest technological advances in AI and machine learning, they offer automated procedures to create fake content that is harder and harder to detect to human observers. The possibilities to deceive are endless, including manipulated pictures, videos and audio, that will have large societal impact. Because of this, organizations need to understand the inner workings of the underlying techniques, as well as their strengths and limitations. This article provides a working definition of deepfakes together with an overview of the underlying technology. We classify different deepfake types: photo (face- and body-swapping), audio (voice-swapping, text to speech), video (face-swapping, face-morphing, full body puppetry) and audio & video (lip-synching), and identify risks and opportunities to help organizations think about the future of deepfakes. Finally, we propose the R.E.A.L. framework to manage deepfake risks: Record original content to assure deniability, Expose deepfakes early, Advocate for legal protection and Leverage trust to counter credulity. Following these principles, we hope that our society can be more prepared to counter the deepfake tricks as we appreciate its treats.
Social media? It’s serious! Understanding the dark side of social mediaIan McCarthy
Research and practice have mostly focused on the “bright side” of social media, aiming to understand and help in leveraging the manifold opportunities afforded by this technology. However, it is increasingly observable that social media present enormous risks for individuals, communities, firms, and even the whole of society. Examples for this “dark side” of social media include cyberbullying, addictive use, trolling, online witch hunts, fake news, and privacy abuse. In this article, we aim to illustrate the multidimensionality of the dark side of social media and describe the related various undesirable outcomes. To do this, we adapt the established social media honeycomb framework to explain the dark side implications of each of the seven functional building blocks: conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, groups, and identity. On the basis of these reflections, we present a number of avenues for future research, so as to facilitate a better understanding and use of social media.
The propensity and speed of technology licensing: at LUISS Guido Carli Univer...Ian McCarthy
Licensing speed: There has been much research interest in the speed of innovation, although few consistent findings have emerged. In this study, we unpack the innovation process and focus on the commercialization stage to examine two questions: Which licensor and patent characteristics determine the speed of licensing? How does the speed of licensing impact the royalties and lumpsum payments to licensors? We addressed these questions by proposing that licensing speed is influenced by variables for licensor prominence (size and experience), licensor knowledge structuration (technological depth, technological breadth and experience), and patent appeal (forward citations, scope and complexity). We predict and find that these variables work to increase the size, complexity and duration of the licensing-out task, while also allowing licensors to take their time to review, negotiate and select agreements with higher royalty rates. These findings are counter to arguments for a fast-paced innovation strategy, as it suggests that for the commercialization stage of the innovation process the relationship between licensing speed and licensor royalty
rates rewards a ‘less haste, greater payoff approach.
Seven steps for framing and testing a research paperIan McCarthy
I use the steps in this presentation to:
(i) test research ideas for research papers,
(ii) shape research papers, and
(iii) help draft the Introduction section of a research paper.
For each step I draft one or two concise paragraphs.
I then present and share these with co-authors, collaborators and colleagues to test the ideas and get feedback on how interesting and valid they are.
I consider and work through these steps several times during the life of a research paper framed.
What is the TDS Return Filing Due Date for FY 2024-25.pdfseoforlegalpillers
It is crucial for the taxpayers to understand about the TDS Return Filing Due Date, so that they can fulfill your TDS obligations efficiently. Taxpayers can avoid penalties by sticking to the deadlines and by accurate filing of TDS. Timely filing of TDS will make sure about the availability of tax credits. You can also seek the professional guidance of experts like Legal Pillers for timely filing of the TDS Return.
[Note: This is a partial preview. To download this presentation, visit:
https://www.oeconsulting.com.sg/training-presentations]
Sustainability has become an increasingly critical topic as the world recognizes the need to protect our planet and its resources for future generations. Sustainability means meeting our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It involves long-term planning and consideration of the consequences of our actions. The goal is to create strategies that ensure the long-term viability of People, Planet, and Profit.
Leading companies such as Nike, Toyota, and Siemens are prioritizing sustainable innovation in their business models, setting an example for others to follow. In this Sustainability training presentation, you will learn key concepts, principles, and practices of sustainability applicable across industries. This training aims to create awareness and educate employees, senior executives, consultants, and other key stakeholders, including investors, policymakers, and supply chain partners, on the importance and implementation of sustainability.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Develop a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental principles and concepts that form the foundation of sustainability within corporate environments.
2. Explore the sustainability implementation model, focusing on effective measures and reporting strategies to track and communicate sustainability efforts.
3. Identify and define best practices and critical success factors essential for achieving sustainability goals within organizations.
CONTENTS
1. Introduction and Key Concepts of Sustainability
2. Principles and Practices of Sustainability
3. Measures and Reporting in Sustainability
4. Sustainability Implementation & Best Practices
To download the complete presentation, visit: https://www.oeconsulting.com.sg/training-presentations
Unveiling the Secrets How Does Generative AI Work.pdfSam H
At its core, generative artificial intelligence relies on the concept of generative models, which serve as engines that churn out entirely new data resembling their training data. It is like a sculptor who has studied so many forms found in nature and then uses this knowledge to create sculptures from his imagination that have never been seen before anywhere else. If taken to cyberspace, gans work almost the same way.
"𝑩𝑬𝑮𝑼𝑵 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 𝑻𝑱 𝑰𝑺 𝑯𝑨𝑳𝑭 𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑬"
𝐓𝐉 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐬 (𝐓𝐉 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬) is a professional event agency that includes experts in the event-organizing market in Vietnam, Korea, and ASEAN countries. We provide unlimited types of events from Music concerts, Fan meetings, and Culture festivals to Corporate events, Internal company events, Golf tournaments, MICE events, and Exhibitions.
𝐓𝐉 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐬 provides unlimited package services including such as Event organizing, Event planning, Event production, Manpower, PR marketing, Design 2D/3D, VIP protocols, Interpreter agency, etc.
Sports events - Golf competitions/billiards competitions/company sports events: dynamic and challenging
⭐ 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬:
➢ 2024 BAEKHYUN [Lonsdaleite] IN HO CHI MINH
➢ SUPER JUNIOR-L.S.S. THE SHOW : Th3ee Guys in HO CHI MINH
➢FreenBecky 1st Fan Meeting in Vietnam
➢CHILDREN ART EXHIBITION 2024: BEYOND BARRIERS
➢ WOW K-Music Festival 2023
➢ Winner [CROSS] Tour in HCM
➢ Super Show 9 in HCM with Super Junior
➢ HCMC - Gyeongsangbuk-do Culture and Tourism Festival
➢ Korean Vietnam Partnership - Fair with LG
➢ Korean President visits Samsung Electronics R&D Center
➢ Vietnam Food Expo with Lotte Wellfood
"𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲. 𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬."
3.0 Project 2_ Developing My Brand Identity Kit.pptxtanyjahb
A personal brand exploration presentation summarizes an individual's unique qualities and goals, covering strengths, values, passions, and target audience. It helps individuals understand what makes them stand out, their desired image, and how they aim to achieve it.
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Organisational diversity, evolution and cladistic classifications
1. Omega 28 (2000) 77±95
www.elsevier.com/locate/orms
Organisational diversity, evolution and cladistic
classi®cations
Ian McCarthy a,*, Keith Ridgway a, Michel Leseure a, Nick Fieller b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheeld, Mappin Street, Sheeld S1 3JD, UK
b
School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sheeld, Houns®eld Road, Sheeld S3 RH, UK
Received 1 December 1996; accepted 1 March 1998
Abstract
This article presents a case for the construction of a formal classi®cation of manufacturing systems using
cladistics, a technique from the biological school of classi®cation. A seven-stage framework for producing a
manufacturing cladogram is presented, along with a pilot case study example. This article describes the role that
classi®cation plays in the pure and applied sciences, the social sciences and reviews the status of existing
manufacturing classi®cations. If organisational diversity and organisational change processes are governed by
evolutionary mechanisms, studies of organisations based on an evolutionary approach such as cladistics could have
potential, because as March [March JG. The evolution of evolution. In: Baum JAC, Singh JV, editors. Evolutionary
dynamics of organizations. Oxford University Press, 1994. p. 39±52], page 45, states ``there is natural speculation
that organisations, like species can be engineered by understanding the evolutionary processes well enough to
intervene and produce competitive organisational e€ects''. It is suggested that a cladistic study could provide
organisations with a ``knowledge map'' of the ecosystem in which they exist and by using this phylogenetic and
situational analysis, they could determine coherent and appropriate action for the speci®cation of change. # 2000
Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Cladistics; Manufacturing; Management; Evolution; Classi®cation
1. Introduction systems. Carper and Snizek [1, p. 65], in their review
of organisational classi®cations concluded that ``the
Why construct a classi®cation? This question needs most important step in conducting any form of scienti-
to be addressed in order to understand the bene®ts ®c enquiry involves the ordering, classi®cation, or
and applications that any classi®cation could o€er, let other grouping of the objects or phenomena under in-
alone a cladistic classi®cation. The desire to classify vestigation''.
transcends all disciplinary boundaries whether the enti- In an amusing categorisation of classi®cations,
ties under study are biological organisms, chemical el- Good [2], a noted mathematician, provided a list
ements or as in the case of this paper, manufacturing which suggested ®ve purposes for performing classi®-
cation: (1) for mental clari®cation and communication;
(2) for discovering new ®elds of research; (3) for plan-
* Corresponding author. Tel. +44-114-222-7745; fax: +44- ning an organisational structure or machine, (4) as a
114-222-7890. check list and (5) for fun. Cormack [3] used this categ-
E-mail address: i.p.mccarthy@sheeld.ac.uk (I. McCarthy) orisation in his lecture to the Royal Statistical Society
0305-0483/00/$ - see front matter # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 0 5 - 0 4 8 3 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 3 0 - 4
2. 78 I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95
to illustrate the role and bene®ts that classi®cation manufacturing companies, but with no reference to, or
o€ers research. Cormack summarised the bene®ts of a application of the science of taxonomy. This would
hierarchical classi®cation, stating that ``the information appear to be a major shortcoming, which reduces the
about the entities is represented in such a way that it usefulness, stability and accuracy of the classi®cations.
will suggest fruitful hypotheses which cannot be true Lessons should be drawn from biological taxonomy in
or false, probable or improbable, only pro®table or an attempt to stimulate further investigations into this
unpro®table'' [3, p. 346]. established problem based on the disciplines and rules
Haas, Hall and Johnson [4] discussed four advan- regularly used by the biological scientist''. Supporting
tages of having a realistic classi®cation. Such a classi®- the need for an organisational classi®cation is
cation could (1) be strategically helpful for re®ning Romanelli [28, p. 82], who states ``despite the ease with
hypotheses; (2) aid in the investigation of the validity which we may identify meaningful groupings of organ-
and utility of existing typologies based on logical and isations, no commonly accepted classi®cation scheme
intuitive considerations; (3) serve as a basis for predict- has been developed''.
ing organisational decisions or change and (4) permit With this stimulus, a project funded by the
the researchers to readily specify the universe from Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant
which their samples of organisations could be drawn. No. GR/K97974) was initiated to investigate the feasi-
McKelvey [5] went further by arguing that the formu- bility of constructing cladistic classi®cations of manu-
lation of a classi®cation is a necessary prerequisite for facturing systems. The remainder of this paper details
the maturation of organisation science and that, if a the methodology, ®ndings and conclusions of that
formal and scienti®c classi®cation existed, there would study.
be no need for contingency theory. Biologists do not
need contingency theory because their classi®cations
make it clear that one does not apply ®ndings about
reptiles to mammals when working at a speci®c level 2. Introduction to the biological schools of classi®cation
of the classi®cation.
The argument for creating a classi®cation is to some There are two main principles of classi®cation within
extent demonstrated by the large number of typologies the biological sciences: the phenetic and the phyloge-
and classi®cations that have been produced by netic principles. From these two underlying principles
researchers from the social sciences and applied emerge three approaches to classi®cation, or schools of
sciences and that many academic disciplines teach with classi®cation: phenetic, evolutionary and cladistic (refer
reference to some form of classi®cation. It should be to Fig. 1). The three schools of classi®cation are di€er-
noted that a typology is a description of groups, whose entiated on the basis of how closely they adhere to a
di€erences are identi®ed solely accordingly to the purely phylogenetic principle. That is, the species are
research focus of the investigator. Existing schemes classi®ed according to how recently they share a com-
which embrace the subject of organisations include: or- mon ancestor. Phenetic classi®cations are non-evol-
ganisational strategies [6], voluntary associations [7], utionary and are thus at one end of the evolutionary
canning ®rms and farmers unions [8], general organis- focus scale, whilst cladistics is a purist approach to the
ational classi®cations [9±11] and manufacturing-based phylogenetic principle. Evolutionary classi®cations are
classi®cations [12±25]. For a review of the above or- a synthesis of the phenetic and phylogenetic principles.
ganisational typologies, the reader is referred to Refs. Phylogenetic classi®cations have become known as
[1,26,27]. cladistic classi®cations, because the phylogenetic prin-
The authors of this article sought a classi®cation ciple was defended by the German entomologist Willi
which would facilitate the storage, alignment and Hennig [29] and supporters of his ideas called the prin-
development of structural models of manufacturing ciple phylogenetic systematics, which has now evolved
systems. It was intended that this classi®cation of into the term cladism (from the Greek `klados' for
models would provide researchers and consultants with branch).
a generic library of structural solutions for enabling The cladistic school's approach to classi®cation
manufacturing systems to maximise their operating involves studying the evolutionary relationships
e€ectiveness. The de®ciencies of existing classi®cations between entities with reference to the common ancestry
of manufacturing systems, prohibited the realisation of of the group. Constructing a classi®cation using evol-
the intended bene®ts of combining a library of ideal utionary relationships is considered bene®cial, because
models (solutions) with a workable classi®cation of the classi®cation will be unique and unambiguous.
manufacturing systems. This issue was discussed by This is because evolution is actual and mankind is cur-
McCarthy [27, p. 46], who concluded that ``previous rently unable to change evolutionary history, thus pro-
research into developing manufacturing classi®cations viding the classi®cation with an external reference
has been based on a comprehensive understanding of point. With phenetic classi®cations there is no such
3. I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95 79
Fig. 1. Biological schools of classi®cation.
reference point and thus in the words of Ridley [29, p. and typifying the emergence of new manufacturing sys-
367], ``Cladism is theoretically the best justi®ed system tems. This would help clarify the confusion on whether
of classi®cation. It has a deep philosophic justi®cation fractal, virtual and holonic manufacturing systems
which phenetic and evolutionary classi®cations lack'' actually exist or are simply buzz words. This was an
Reviews of the three schools of classi®cation [29±31] issue raised by the Engineering Physical Sciences
assess the schools on their ability to produce natural Research Council [32]. A cladistic classi®cation of
and objective classi®cations, rather than arti®cial and manufacturing systems could provide knowledge and
subjective classi®cations. Cladistics satis®es both these observations on the patterns of distributed character-
criteria, as the entities within a cladistic classi®cation istics exhibited by the manufacturing systems over
will resemble each other in terms of the de®ning char- their evolutionary development. This knowledge could
acters and the non-de®ning characters (characters not lead to pro®table hypotheses about the macro- and
used to represent the phylogenetic relationships). micro-evolutionary mechanisms which in¯uence manu-
Cladistics conforms to the criteria of objectivity facturing competitiveness and survival. Finally, many
because it represents a real unambiguous and natural organisations live their lives looking forward, but to
property of the entity (evolutionary relationships) and comprehend themselves they must look backwards.
thus di€erent rational people, working independently The resultant comprehension cannot be used to extrap-
should be able to agree on a classi®cation. There could olate the future, but it does inform them of where they
be valid disagreements between independent investi- are and how they got there, and this information is
gators, but these will be down to assumptions and dis- vital for any organisation intending to embark on a
agreements on the character data and not the journey of change.
underlying philosophy. One of the greatest strengths of
the cladistic approach is that the representation of the
classi®cation (the cladogram), illustrates the data, 3. Cladistics
assumptions and results, making all decisions transpar-
ent. This not the case with existing organisational The application of cladistics to manufacturing sys-
classi®cations. Section 5 of this paper presents a dis- tems implies certain assumptions about organisational
cussion on the confusion which exists between the forms, their existence and diversity. Cladistic classi®-
types of manufacturing system which are believed to cations are produced according to how recently they
exist. share a common ancestor. This means that two manu-
In summary, a cladistic classi®cation of manufactur- facturing species that share a recent and common
ing systems would provide a system for conducting, ancestor will be placed in the same group and two
documenting and coordinating comparative studies of manufacturing species sharing a more distant common
manufacturing organisations. Such a system could pro- ancestor might be placed in di€erent groups, but they
vide the consensus for formally approving, validating would be in the same family. As the common ancestor
4. 80 I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95
of two manufacturing species becomes more and more inheritance is controlled by the organisational
distant, they are grouped further and further apart in equivalent of genes (knowledge transfer or memes
the classi®cation. Eventually all organisations could be [38] or competence elements (comps) [36]), which
placed in a classi®cation possibly known as the `king- are passed on to o€spring by chromosomes
dom of organisations'. For this principle of classi®- (people, communication, society) in the same form
cation to apply to manufacturing organisations and as they were inherited from the previous gener-
their systems, investigators must agree that organis- ation [39]. If heredity were perfect, the principle of
ations evolve and that as new organisational forms variation would not exist. The principle of natural
emerge, it is possible to identify the distinguishing selection suggests that manufacturing systems with
characteristics from the old organisational forms. a superior adaptation generate similar manufactur-
Supporting this assumption are organisational theorists ing systems (o€spring) and as long as the o€spring
who have not produced a complete theory of organis- resemble their parent, the characters of manufac-
ational evolution, but have proposed some key con- turing systems that generate more o€spring than
cepts which include: organisational ecology [33,34], average will increase in frequency over time. This
organisational systematics [35,36], the evolution of new concept is supported by Hannan and Freeman [34]
organisational forms [28] and the dynamics of organis- who believe that selection pressures, force organis-
ational speciation [37]. These concepts and the assump- ations to imitate the successful organisations, the
tions that accompany them attempt to understand the result being a reduction in organisational diversity
forces which determine which organisational form is and a net increase of a particular type of organis-
viable for a certain environment; the mechanisms ational form. The fourth principle, the principle of
which exist to preserve organisational forms and the adaptation, refers to the variations in manufactur-
mechanisms which are passed from one generation of ing systems which provide an advantage for sur-
organisations to another. viving and existing. This is when manufacturing
In summary, the assumptions which govern the con- systems change so as to maintain existence.
struction of a manufacturing cladogram are listed
below:
. Manufacturing systems evolve and have ancestors. 3.1. The cladogram
This is evident by the way historians portray the
advancement of manufacturing companies from pre- A cladogram is a tree structure capable of represent-
historic man with his tools, to ancient workshops, to ing the evolutionary history of a group of manufactur-
the guild of craftsman, to the cottage industries and ing systems. The tree structure illustrates the
to factories which eventually became mechanised relationships between the di€erent members of the
and automated. group under study, according to the acquisition and
. Manufacturing systems speciate. The Ford Motor polarity of characters.
Company is described today as a lean producer, but Fig. 2 shows a group of manufacturing species con-
its history demonstrates that it once was a craft sisting of Ancient craft systems, standardised craft sys-
shop which developed into an intensive mass produ- tems, modern craft systems, neocraft systems and skilled
cer. This suggests that the Ford manufacturing large scale producers. This ®gure is a section from the
plants have gone through at least two speciation master cladogram of automotive assembly plants (Fig.
events to produce new `breeds of organisation'. 3 and Table 1). This pilot study was undertaken to
. Manufacturing systems are subject to the theory of provide a worked example which would introduce the
natural selection. This theory consists of four basic reader to cladistics and the various types of cladistic
principles: the principle of variation, the principle of grouping that exist. The construction of this cladogram
heredity, the principle of natural selection and the is reported in Section 4. It is important to note that
principle of adaptation [29]. The principle of vari- this was a pioneering study and that many of the types
ation states that there has to be variation within a of manufacturing system proposed in Figs. 2 and 3
population of manufacturing systems. These vari- will not be known to the reader. This is not because
ations need to occur and happen at random. The they are newly formed types of manufacturing systems,
principle of heredity states that some manufactur- but rather that the automobile industry has not been
ing o€spring, on average have to resemble their studied using the cladistic approach. The labels given
parents more than resemble other members of to the species shown in Figs. 2 and 3 do not conform
their species. This is found when new organis- to any codes of nomenclature for organisations,
ations are born within an industry. They are more because none exist. Constructing a classi®cation is a
similar to organisations within that industry, than taxonomic process and thus by the de®nition of taxon-
they are to organisations in other industries. This omy, groups (taxa ) are formed and are then allocated
5. I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95 81
Fig. 2. Five taxa cladogram.
Fig. 3. Automotive cladogram.
6. 82 I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95
Table 1
Automotive cladistic characters
1 Standardisation of parts
2 assembly time standards
3 assembly line layout
4 reduction of craft skills
5 automation (machine paced shops)
6 pull production system
7 reduction of lot size
8 pull procurement planning
9 operator based machine maintenance
10 quality circles
11 employee innovation prizes
12 job rotation
13 large volume production
14 suppliers selected primarily by price.
15 exchange of workers with suppliers
16 socialisation training (master/apprentice learning)
17 proactive training programs
18 product range reduction
19 automation
20 multiple subcontracting
21 quality systems (procedures, tools, ISO 9000)
22 quality philosophy (culture, way of working, TQM)
23 open book policy with suppliers; sharing of cost data and pro®ts
24 ¯exible, multifunctional workforce
25 set-up time reduction
26 Kaizen change management
27 TQM sourcing; suppliers selected on the basis of quality
28 100% inspection/sampling
29 U-shape layout
30 preventive maintenance
31 individual error correction; products are not rerouted to a special ®xing station
32 sequential dependency of workers
33 line balancing
34 team policy (team motivation, pay and autonomy)
35 Toyota veri®cation of assembly line (TVAL)
36 groups vs. teams
37 job enrichment
38 manufacturing cells
39 concurrent engineering
40 ABC costing
41 excess capacity
42 ¯exible automation for product versions
43 agile automation for di€erent products
44 insourcing
45 Immigrant workforce
46 dedicated automation
47 division of labour
48 employees are system tools and simply operate m/c's
49 employees are system developers; if motivated and managed they can solve problems and create value
50 product focus
51 parallel processing (in equipment)
52 dependence on written rules; unwillingness to challenge rules such as the economic order quantity
53 further intensi®cation of labour; employees are consider part of the machine and will be replaced by a machine if possible
a name (nomy = naming). Every e€ort has been made such as craft, mass, agile and lean have been used.
to assign labels which describe the de®ning character- Thus, the labels given to the species are simply for the
istics of the system and where possible existing terms purpose of di€erentiation and communication. The in-
7. I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95 83
formation content provided by the labels is considered 3. Code characters.
to be a level higher than simply referring to each 4. Establish character polarity.
species, as species 1, species 2, species 3, etc. 5. Construct conceptual cladogram.
The cladograms illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 are both 6. Construct factual cladogram.
clades, as they contain a set of species including the 7. Taxa nomenclature.
most recent common ancestor of all the members con- In order to demonstrate how a cladogram is pro-
tained within that set. It is important to understand duced, the cladogram in Fig. 3 is referred to. The cla-
that Fig. 2 is a portion or segment of Fig. 3 and that dogram is a classi®cation of automotive assembly
both Figs. are clades, despite the fact that Fig. 2 is a plants. It was produced to the conceptual level and
subset of Fig. 3. This is due to research focus (establish was compiled using data from several studies of the
evolutionary boundaries) and the information pre- automotive industry. These studies include the evol-
sented. That is, Fig. 2 in its entirety and in isolation, is ution, population density and mortality in the automo-
by de®nition a clade, despite the fact that Fig. 2 can tive industry; [44±48]; historical accounts of the
be expanded to Fig. 3. If we assume that a manufac- industry, sometimes focusing on speci®c geographic
turing researcher is only interested in the clade shown
regions; [49,50], to speci®c studies which examined the
in Fig. 2 and that his speci®c interest is devising manu- change in manufacturing techniques used within the
facturing strategies for modern craft systems, neocraft industry [51±53]. Technical, business and ®nancial
systems and skilled large scale producers. Then this reports produced by the automobile industry were also
group of manufacturing species is known as the obtained. These documents detailed events and issues
ingroup (the study group or the group of interest). which were in¯uencing how the industry was evolving.
Observations and hypotheses are made about the The most signi®cant of these documents are listed as
ingroup by comparing it with the various outgroups references [54±78].
and most importantly with the sister group (the out-
group that is genealogically the most closely related
group to the ingroup). It should be noted that the 4.1. Select the manufacturing clade
ancestor of the ingroup is not the sister group, because
the ancestor by de®nition will always be a member of The starting point is to de®ne the clade to be stu-
the ingroup. died. Such a step requires a decision which in itself is a
The numbers shown on the branches of Figs. 2 and form of classi®cation, as the investigator must select a
3 denote the acquisition of characters. Character `1' group of manufacturing systems which satisfy certain
(standardisation of parts) has a speci®c location on the research objectives or interests. For example, a manu-
tree that indicates that ancient craft systems do not facturing clade could be di€erentiated on the basis of
possess character `1' and that standardised craft sys- the market industry into which it was born to survive,
tems, modern craft systems, neocraft systems and skilled e.g. the automotive industry, electronic component
large scale producers do possess character `1'. Thus, manufacturers, cutting tool manufacturers, etc.
ancient craft systems are the ancestor of a new gener- Classi®cations based on industry di€erentiation are
ation of manufacturing systems that are based on the widely used and accepted and are dicult to ignore. In
acquisition of character `1'. Similarly, modern craft sys- the United Kingdom, the basic framework for analys-
tems are a descendant of standardised craft systems as ing industrial activities is the standard industrial classi-
it later acquired character `2' (production time stan- ®cation (SIC) [79]. The SIC is described by Price and
dards) and character `47' (division of labour). The Mueller [80] as an empirical classi®cation which is not
characters `13', `48' and `50' resulted in the formation derived in any way from theoretical ideas on how ac-
of neocraft systems, whilst the characters `3', `16' and tivities should be grouped. However, it does group
`32' result in the emergence of skilled large scale produ- together organisational entities that are involved in
cers. resource exchange and transformation of a similar
nature. This description of organisational activity
equates to the de®nition of an organisational ecosys-
tem as proposed by Baum and Singh [81]. A clade by
4. Building a manufacturing cladogram de®nition can be equivalent to di€erent levels in the
hierarchy. This is illustrated by Fig. 4, which shows
The proposed framework for constructing a cladistic how the ecological and systematic hierarchies of organ-
classi®cation of manufacturing systems has been ident- isational evolution relate to each other (this ®gure has
i®ed and adapted from classic biological approaches to been adapted from [81] to include the clade level).
cladism [40±43]. The seven stages are listed below: For the purposes of this study, the automobile
1. Select the manufacturing clade. assembly industry (the clade) was selected, because it
2. Determine the characters. exists as a population of manufacturing organisations
8. 84 I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95
4.2. Determine the characters
Once the clade has been selected, a number of di€er-
ent types of manufacturing system would appear to be
a member of that clade (mass, lean, agile, craft, job,
etc.). The complete membership of this particular clade
is not yet known, because no formal or validated
clades for manufacturing systems exist. It is common
practice to work on existing clades within the biologi-
cal sciences, because the majority of the taxonomic
based research, is concerned with validating, enhancing
and expanding the knowledge contained within existing
cladograms. As this was a new study, a primary objec-
tive of the research was to examine the evolutionary
development of the entity and to identify the members
of the clade. This is a process of `mining for species'
and during this historical excavation, evidence is
sought which will suggest the possible existence of a
particular type of manufacturing system. This evidence
tends to be in the form of published material or
Fig. 4. Hierarchies of organisational evolution, adapted from archives, which detail the existence of the manufactur-
[81]. ing system, along with a description of its operations
and de®ning characteristics, the location where it
exists/existed and a date/period when it was ®rst dis-
(species) that make and sell a closely related set of well covered or developed.
de®ned products. It is an industry which is widely This mining process uncovers the characters which
known and studied and this provides bene®ts in terms will be used to build the cladogram. Whilst undertak-
of communicating, disseminating and validating the ing this exploration there are a number of steps which
research. It is also a relatively young industry which can be followed to help identify the ®nal set of charac-
has been extensively documented and this makes the ters which will be used to construct the cladogram.
investigation into phylogenetic relationships relatively The process of determining the characters for the auto-
easy, when compared to an industry such as the hand motive cladogram consisted of two steps: character
tool manufacturing industry, which can be traced back search and character selection. Character search is the
to prehistoric man. This is an important point, because task of building the initial set of characters, by simply
there were no existing cladistic classi®cations of organ- listing known attributes possessed by automotive
isations which could be used as a reference or starting assembly plants. Determining which characters from
point, so it was important to select a study group this initial set should be used to construct a classi®-
which would satisfy and assist the research objectives cation is the task of character selection.
in terms of information collection and results dissemi-
nation. Also, the decision to study the automobile 4.2.1. Character search
assembly industry would enable both the dissemination When searching for the manufacturing systems that
and exploitation of any bene®ts to be related to the constitute the clade and the characters that distinguish
standard industrial classi®cation (SIC). the species phylogenetically, it is helpful to know what
Identifying the ancestor of a clade is a process of to look for and what to avoid. Whereas, an attribute is
historical investigation where evidence is accumulated a descriptive property or feature, a taxonomic charac-
to determine the origins of a certain manufacturing ter is a feature which is used in a classi®cation. It is
type. For example, the origins of car manufacturing also important to di€erentiate between the character
stem back to Karl Benz and his three-wheel auto- (the actual feature) and the character states which are
mobile. In terms of manufacturing systems, this would a condition that this feature exhibits. For example, the
be regarded as a craft system which evolved into an character `plant layout' has numerous character states:
early factory system and then into a mass type organis- job shop, ¯ow line, functional layout, manufacturing
ation. The process of identifying an ancestor is initially cells, etc.
ambiguous and dicult, both for biologists and manu- The school of classi®cation used will contain theories
facturing researchers, but the process of constructing which determine what is an acceptable taxonomic char-
the cladogram con®rms or refutes this initial assump- acter. For instance, in cladistics, a taxonomic character
tion. has to point to a homology between two organisations,
9. I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95 85
whereas in phenetic classi®cations, a taxonomic charac- are found as they come to complement the information
ter contributes to the mathematical tightness of a clus- content of the classi®cation. This last point applies
ter. speci®cally to cladistics, because cladists tend to
To avoid searching for and selecting characters quickly eliminate characters which have no evolution-
which are inappropriate Sneath and Sokal [43] describe ary signi®cance in their data sets and therefore produce
certain kinds of characters which should be clearly dis- classi®cations objectively and eciently.
quali®ed from a taxonomic study. These are listed as In addition to searching for characters by studying
inadmissible characters and include: the entity, the use of reference characters was con-
. Meaningless characters. A character must re¯ect the sidered. That is, does an exhaustive list of manufactur-
internal nature of the entity, therefore, the name of ing or organisational characteristics exist and would
a manufacturing company would not be included as this list help the search and selection process. To build
a character to represent the activities of a manufac- such a list has been a common objective for many tax-
turing system. onomists, but there are several problems associated
. Logically correlated characters. Those characters with the management and use of such a list. The cost
which are a logical consequence of another, should of building an exhaustive list would be high and there
be excluded. For example, if we assume that cell- is no evidence that building such a list is feasible.
based team working, requires a cellular layout, then There are many issues to manage: duplication of data,
there is a logical correlation between these two char- partial redundancy between characters, correlation and
acters, i.e. if one character state exists, another will dependency patterns between characters. Even if such
automatically. a list was available, using it might not be cost-ecient,
. Partially logical correlation's. The degree of indepen- because the cost of selecting characters from all poss-
dence is the subject of this kind of character, as a ible characters could be prohibitive.
greater number of cases exist where the dependence The primary bene®t of a reference list of characters,
of one character upon another is only partial. For is that it provides a feel good factor and a con®dent
instance the size of a workforce will be to a degree, starting point for researchers producing a classi®-
relate to the number of machines that a manufactur- cation. However, total reliance on a so-called exhaus-
ing company has. After further investigation it could tive reference list, would be foolish and misguided,
be found that the degree of dependency is small, because all classi®cations are undertaken in situations
because other factors, such as the type of technology where the complete character set is not known. To
and the type of product also in¯uence this character. assist the search for automotive characters and to
Therefore, very few partially logical correlations are understand the signi®cance of the characters with
regarded as inadmissible. Hull [82] provides an regards to the entity and its evolution, several categor-
empirical correlation to estimate the degree of inde- isations of characters were identi®ed and referred to:
pendence between two characters. [4,36,83±85]. It is important that the categories do not
. Invariant characters. If a character which is normally dictate, but suggest, because the ultimate decision gov-
variable, is invariable for the sample of entities erning character selection within a cladistic study is the
under study, then it should be removed from the existence of a synapomorphy which results in an hom-
analysis. Such characters o€er no bene®ts in terms ology. Synapomorphies are characters which have a
of assessing similarity. An example is the absence or derived state and are shared by two or more taxa and
presence of manufacturing technology. When con- thus indicate common ancestry for the manufacturing
sidering all forms of organisation, this character systems within this group.
would vary from organisation to organisation. The distinction between homology and analogy is a
However, as the presence of manufacturing technol- fundamental concept of cladistics. A homology rep-
ogy is a conforming de®nition for a manufacturing resents `true similarity', whilst analogy is considered
system, this character would not change for a popu- super®cial similarity which generates noise or mislead-
lation containing only manufacturing systems. ing observations. An analogy is a structural grouping
The search for automotive assembly characters con- where a character is shared by a set of species and is
sisted of investigating the historical development of the derived from a common ancestor. Thus, choosing a
car making industry by analysing the work and data character which is an analogy should be avoided. The
of the studies cited in Section 3. The characters ident- relationship between analogy and homology is clearly
i®ed, although well known, were treated as arbitrary demonstrated in Fig. 5 [29]. It is important to note the
or capricious characters, as their identi®cation for cla- three groupings, as only monophyletic groups are
distic purposes must be con®rmed. Taxonomists dis- included in a cladistic classi®cation. The monophyletic
cover characters whilst studying the entity and groups are the groups which result in an unambiguous
constructing the classi®cation, thus many characters hierarchic arrangement, because the group contains a
10. 86 I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95
Fig. 5. Homologies and analogies.
common ancestor and all its descendants and there is age to the extent that it would not emerge in species
no con¯icting character data. which do not already exhibit character `14' (mass sub-
Consider Fig. 3, and the characters `8' (pull procure- contracting by price bidding).
ment planning) and `20' (multiple subcontracting).
Character `8' appears in the Toyota production system 4.2.2. Character selection
family, which includes: lean producers and agile produ- This is a screening process and in the case of cladis-
cers, whereas character `20' appears in the mass produ- tics, a character is validated if it is a synapomorphy.
cers family, which includes: pseudo lean producers, Thus, the selection phase in cladistics is equivalent to a
modern mass producers, European mass producers and test of homology. Two methods were used on the
intensive mass producers. If characters `8' and `20' are automotive study to screen characters: (1) direct test of
replaced with one character, say character `Z' (procure- homologies and (2) resolving character con¯icts. It
ment policy), the structure of the cladogram would should be noted that prior to building a cladogram the
change. This is because homologies have been created organisational systematist may only have a general
between taxa which are in fact evolutionarily remote. knowledge of the ancestral links between species.
Thus, character `Z' is an example of an analogous Therefore, it is not obvious that a character is an ana-
character because pull procurement is constrained by logous character at the beginning of the analysis, it is
character `6' (pull production) and would not naturally only con®rmed during the construction and analysis of
emerge in mass producers. Similarly, it is postulated the cladogram.
that character `20' is associated or dependent with The direct test method is based on the argument
some or maybe all of the characters on the same line- that homologies and analogies tend to exist on a conti-
11. I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95 87
nuum of resemblance, where the homologies are at the homologies after a preliminary cladogram has been
high extreme resemblance end, whilst the analogies constructed is that the validity of a character is ques-
tend to exhibit only moderate resemblance [43]. Thus, tioned only if it generates a con¯ict with the others
even if a complete and valid historical account (`fossil characters which are consistent and congruent with
record') for automotive manufacturing systems existed, each other. Most classi®cations will have a consistent
the investigator would still be dependent on resem- core, which can be identi®ed in cladistics by running a
blance based similarity. From a purist point of view, clique analysis [86]. Any character which does not
cladists argue that resemblance is not a de®nitive test belong to the clique set should go through a thorough
of homology, but there is a strong case to suggest that test of homology. It should be stressed that it is often
it is a good indicator, because there are external, com- at this stage that many characters are usually discov-
positional and structural measures which relate phenetic ered and re®ned, as the phylogeny of the clade is
similarity with homology. Thus, the direct test consists gradually revealed and understood by the taxonomist.
of the external method, compositional method and the
structural method.
4.3. Code characters
The external method can be applied without study-
ing or knowing the internal structure of the feature.
Once a set of characters has been identi®ed, along
Any external characteristic of the feature is used to
with the set of automobile assembly species which are
identify the existence of some fundamental diversity
a consequence of these characters, the relationship
within the feature. For example, the procurement sys-
between the characters and the species are examined in
tems that typically exist in lean manufacturing produ-
order to allow the construction of the cladogram. A
cers tend to have subcontractors/suppliers which are
cladogram can be constructed from the character data,
located within a short distance of the assembly plant.
because a cladistic character has three properties:
It was common for subcontractors/suppliers in
direction, order and polarity [87]. The coding of a
Western manufacturers to be located almost anywhere
character facilitates the processing of the character set.
on the planet. Thus, from an external perspective only,
Ordering is that property of a character which refers
there is a signi®cant di€erence and the location of sub-
to the possible character change sequences that can
contractors relative to the main assembly plant, could
occur. The character property, direction, refers to the
be a potential character, because no evidence of ana-
transition between the character states. When an inves-
logy has yet materialised. The compositional method
tigator determines the actual direction of transform-
requires the investigator to list the parts which consti-
ation the character is said have a `polarised' state.
tute the considered character. This internal breakdown
is then used in a comparison with other organisational
species. For example, a reduction in the number of tier 4.4. Establish character polarity
levels in a supply chain might be evident in service or-
ganisations and retail organisations and this circum- To assess character polarity, an outgroup comparison
stantial evidence could be used to guide the selection is undertaken. This is based on the recognition that
of characters for manufacturing systems. With the once the characteristics of the closest relative have
structural method, the focus is on how the di€erent el- been discovered, the information for determining
ements of the character interact with each other and if which characters are primitive and which are derived is
there is a case for splitting a potential character into revealed. Hence, this comparison is based on the rule
two or more characters. This decision is made purely that for a given character with two or more states
on the basis of how the elements exist and their depen- within a group, the state occurring in related groups is
dence with one another. assumed to be primitive [88]. Any character state
Identifying and resolving character con¯icts occurs found only in the ingroup is considered to be derived
continually during stages 2±6 of the cladogram frame- [30]. Decisions governing the character polarity found
work, but the ®nal validation is a postcladogram con- at the outgroup node can be either decisive, with the
struction exercise (stages 5 and 6). Once a preliminary node labelled as primitive (0) or derived (1), or equiv-
cladogram has been constructed, it usually exhibits cer- ocal, with the node labelled primitive/derived (0, 1).
tain character con¯icts. These con¯icts can be natural If this method is applied to the cladogram shown in
occurrences, such as parallelism or coevolution. They Fig. 3, the outcome would be inconclusive, because
can also result from analogous characters, or improper this tree has already been resolved and there are no
coding of characters. Improper coding can be the inconsistencies in the character data. Therefore, in
result of analogous or imprecise de®nition of charac- order to demonstrate this method, a cladogram con-
ters states, or using the wrong polarity (i.e. confusing sisting of taxa and characters from the automobile
the derived and the primitive state), or using characters study is used, but the data and structure of the tree
which are too general. The advantage of validating have not been resolved. This unresolved data (Table 2)
12. 88 I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95
Table 2
Data matrix for Figs. 6±9
Character 1 Character 2 Character 3 Character 4
Ancient craft (AC) 1 1 0 0
Standardised craft (SC) 0 1 1 0/1
Modern craft (MC) 0 0 1 0
Neo craft (NC) 1 1 1 1
Skilled large scale (SLS) 1 1 1 1
Large scale (LS) 0 0 0 0
Mass (M) 0/1 0/1 0/1 0/1
is used to demonstrate the process of determining char-
acter polarity (Figs. 6±10).
Fig. 6 is a possible cladogram structure for the data
contained in Table 2. The nodes are labelled 1±6,
whilst the species are labelled using letters (AC, SC,
MC, NC, SLS, LS and M). Beginning with the charac-
ter 1 from Table 2, each branch end of the cladogram
is labelled with the corresponding character state (Fig.
7). Next, starting from the furthest branches (branches
AC and SC) a polarity decision for node 2 is made.
The nodes of the cladogram are labelled `0' if the
lower node and adjacent branch are both `0', or `0' Fig. 7. First polarity decision using character data 1.
and `0, 1'. The nodes will be labelled `1' if the lower
node and adjacent branch are both `1' or `1' and `0,1'.
If the branches/nodes have di€erent labels, one `0' and using the same process, but by beginning at the lowest
the other `1', then the node is labelled `0, 1'. The root node on the branching structure (node 4). Thus, node
node (node 1) is not considered, because in order to 4 is labelled `1', because NC is `1' and SLS is `1' (Fig.
analyse this branch another outgroup is needed. Thus, 8). Continuing towards the ingroup (M) the remaining
node 2 is labelled `0, 1', because the ®rst branch (AC) nodes (nodes 3 and 5) are labelled, until only the out-
is `1' and the second branch (SC) is `0'. group node (node 6) remains. Node 5 is labelled `0/1'
The next stage is to identify what is termed the near- because LS is `0' and node 4 is `1' and node 3 is
est branching structure, which occurs at node 6 (Fig. labelled `0', because MC is `0' and node 2 is `0/1' (Fig.
7). The nodes of the branching structure are labelled 9). The analysis for character 1 is complete when node
6 is labelled. Node 6 is found to be decisive (`0'),
Fig. 6. Determining the character polarity for mass producers
and its corresponding outgroups. Fig. 8. Second polarity decision using character data 1.
13. I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95 89
state will be decisive for the outgroup node. If the last
outgroup has a di€erent character state, then the char-
acter state decision will be equivocal.
4.5. Construct conceptual cladogram
Various tools exist to construct cladograms which
provide a `best estimate' of the evolutionary relation-
ships contained within the data matrix. These tools
have one of two approaches:
1. Construct the best cladogram using a speci®c algor-
ithm.
2. Apply a criterion for choosing between alternative
Fig. 9. Third and fourth polarity decision using character
cladograms.
data 1.
The ®rst approach is faster, but does not rank the
trees which are considered suboptimal. The second
because node 3 is `0' and node 5 is `0/1' (Fig. 10). approach provides ranking for all the trees under com-
Thus, by using the outgroup comparison a best esti- parison, but it is not able to generate exact results for
mate of the polarity was made and `0' was found to be matrices with more than 12 taxa, owing to compu-
primitive and `1' is derived for character 1. tational diculties [12].
This process of assessing character polarity is made From these two approaches four methods for estimat-
for each character. It should be noted that although ing phylogeny have developed: (1) methods based on
this procedure plays a signi®cant role in identifying pairwise data, (2) parsimony methods, (3) Lake's
character polarity and resolving any con¯icts that may method of invariants and (4) maximum likelihood phy-
exist in the cladogram, the ®nal validation of character logenies. The parsimony method selects the shortest
states is subject to the rule of parsimony (Section 4.5). tree, i.e. the tree requiring the least evolutionary charac-
In summary, two rules of analysis are used to con- ter changes. This method is the most popular because it
duct an outgroup comparison: the doublet rule and the has a simple rule of application which is; the longer the
alternating sister group rule [88]. With the doublet tree length, the worse the ®t; the shorter the tree length
rule, if the sister group and the ®rst two consecutive the better the ®t. The other methods vary between parsi-
outgroups have the same character state, then that monious and phenetic, but were developed to compare
character state is decisive for the outgroup node. Any nucleotide specimens, DNA and molecular sequences.
two consecutive outgroups with the same character Thus, a parsimonious approach is adopted as it aims to
state are called a doublet. With the alternating sister select a best tree on an evolutionary basis rather than a
group rule, if the character states are alternating down phenetic basis. Also, the method is based on the tree
the cladogram, and if the last outgroup has the same structure rather than elements of the entity (DNA,
character state as the sister group, then the character nucleotides, molecular distances, etc.) and thus there
would appear to be no limitations when applying it to a
manufacturing cladogram. For a detailed account of
parsimony methods, see [89].
The testing of a cladogram is essentially based on its
ability to explain the phylogeny of the clade. With this
aim there are two sets of problems:
1. The proposed relationships are not acceptable or
not historically coherent.
2. Several con¯icting cladograms of the same length
are obtained.
Refusing a cladogram because it does not ®t with
historical evidence is a dangerous exercise as there are
no general rules linking the number of characters
acquired by a species and its period of existence. Very
evolved species might become un®t in a later period.
Fig. 10. Polarity decision for node 6 (outgroup node) using Once a cladogram has been produced, the ®rst step
character data 1. is to map the character changes onto the tree in order
14. 90 I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95
to have a global view of the proposed phylogeny. It is cess results in the organisation acquiring and reversing
common practice to shape test the cladogram by add- the necessary character states which will lead to the
ing additional species and characters. It is important new organisational form. This reversal is similar to
to note that adding characters and species at this stage Sagasti's model of adaptive behaviour [91], which
of the framework is easier and more reliable than at occurs due to selective pressures. Reactive reversals are
the clade building stage. not part of the phylogeny of a clade, they are a
When examining the top section of the cladogram, measure of a systems' lack of strategic focus.
the investigator should question if the acquisition Biological organisms tend to evolve according to the
could have led to a speciation, or if it is just a case of rule of parsimony (smallest number of evolutionary
anagenesis. If a character could have potentially cre- changes), but organisations which to some extent in¯u-
ated a viable species, and if historical evidence of the ence evolutionary destiny, do not always take the most
existence of this species can be gathered, then the parsimonious route.
species should be added.
The automotive cladogram was constructed using 4.7. Taxa nomenclature
MacClade Version 3 [90]. MacClade provides an inter-
action environment for exploring phylogeny and resol- The name given to a taxa of manufacturing systems
ving character con¯icts. MacClade allows the user to is more than a word which simply acts as a means of
manipulate cladogram structures and character data reference. The name given to a taxa must act as a ve-
and to visualise the characters on each branch. Finally, hicle for communication, be unambiguous and univer-
MacClade provides tools for moving branches, rerout- sal. It should also indicate its position within the
ing clades and automatically searching for the most classi®cation hierarchy. Je€rey [40] describes the codes
parsimonious tree. of nomenclature used for plants (International Code of
Botanical Nomenclature), for bacteria (International
4.6. Construct factual cladogram Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria) and for animals
(International Code of Zoological Nomenclature).
This stage involves studying real and existing manu- Each code di€ers in detail but certain basic features
facturing organisations in order to observe the manu- are common. For a summary of the relevant codes,
facturing systems which they operate. This typically discussed in an organisational context, the reader is
consists of plant inspections, discussions with employ- referred to [92].
ees, assessment of planning and control procedures
and assessment of documentation (annual reports,
business plans and surveys, etc.). The study aims to 5. Applications
validate the existence of the characters identi®ed
during the previous stages. It will test the validity of This article began by discussing the reasons for
any proposed tree structure by ensuring that the char- undertaking a classi®cation study using cladistics.
acter data matrix is complete (i.e. no important histori- Although many of the reasons presented might appear
cal events which relate to characters have been to be common sense, this does not dilute their import-
omitted) and that the assigned polarity is correct. This ance and contribution to any serious and scienti®c in-
stage is to an extent, validation by dissemination, vestigation into organisations. The following
because the factual data will be used to verify the con- discussion presents possible academic and practical ap-
ceptual data. The validity of any proposed tree struc- plications of cladistics.
ture will also be tested by allocating existing
organisations a position on the cladogram. 5.1. Understanding organisational diversity
The factual stage is undertaken because character (organisational systematics)
reversal (the dropping of a character) is a possible pro-
cess with manufacturing systems. This paper suggests There is common agreement on the de®nition of the
that two forms of character reversal could occur within attributes of a just-in-time manufacturing system, see
organisations: phylogenetic reversal and reactive rever- for instance [93, 94], but these de®nitions are su-
sal. Phylogenetic reversal is illustrated in Fig. 2(a) by ciently vague to cause confusion with the terms ¯exible
character `(20±)' where by the character has been manufacturing systems, agile manufacturing systems,
reversed naturally by the circumstances of evolution world class manufacturing systems and lean manufac-
and thus is illustrated on the cladogram. Reactive turing systems. This problem has been identi®ed by
character reversal occurs, because organisations realise many researchers and is summarised by the following
that their current position is at the end of an inap- quote: ``( F F F) the diversity involved in the manufactur-
propriate evolutionary path and take the decision to ing industry is such that it is unlikely that all industry
acquire a new organisational form. This change pro- types should be aiming for the same procedures, pol-
15. I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95 91
icies and culture. Yet there has been very little research turing terms, examples of stress are unreliable sourcing
which tries to identify what the term world class (WC) mechanisms, lack of skilled labour, lack of ®nance,
means for certain industry types. This leaves the cur- machine breakdowns, etc. Disturbance is a serious en-
rent apparently poor performers with inadequate infor- vironmental event which happens occasionally.
mation to decide whether they are really not of WC Examples of disturbances in biology are ®re, frost,
standard, and, if not, insucient appropriate guidance earthquakes, etc. In manufacturing, disturbances are
to determine how to achieve the WC goals to which strikes, ®re, the loss of a market. If several organis-
most would agree to aspire''. [95, p. 43]. ations exist in a perfect environment with no stress
Despite the need for knowledge on the evolution of and no disturbance, they tend to be competitors (C).
new organisational forms, as described in Section 1 of Competitors are merciless and compete to be the tal-
this paper, no theoretical consensus exists for organis- lest, biggest, etc. If stress appears in the environment,
ing and supporting the vast number of empirical stu- stress tolerators (S) tend to take the lead over competi-
dies which examine industrial and organisational tors, whose strategy for survival is not appropriate. If
diversity. Using a systematic and comparative method disturbance is high, ruderals (R) are better adapted
such as cladistics, permits an assessment of the general- and dominate the environment. Competition is the
ity of the attributes of complex systems [96]. Cladistic dominate functional type studied and documented in
classi®cations and the desire to develop a theory of or- business studies and in manufacturing management,
ganisational di€erences could play a signi®cant role in but it would be interesting and possibly bene®cial to
explaining the processes by which the practices and develop policies for creating manufacturing systems
structures of organisations and organisational forms which are tolerators or ruderals.
persist and exist over time.
5.2. Understanding organisational ecology 5.3. Understanding and achieving organisational change
Where as the ®rst application was concerned with
creating a systematic system of organisational diver- ( F F F ) an attempt was made to identify a general im-
sity, this discussion suggests that cladistic classi®- plementation sequence. However, similar to the ob-
cations could provide the comparative index which servation made by Im and Lee [99], a general
might assist the creation of theories which focus on or- implementation pattern for the JIT practices could
ganisational processes (e.g. replication, mutation, not be established [94, p. 8].
recombination, learning, entrepreneurship, competition
and natural selection) and organisational events (e.g.
birth, death, transformation, speciation and extinc- The ®rst two applications were academic in nature,
tion). Cladistics could be coupled with functional stu- but the deliverables from such applications could pro-
dies which seek to ascertain an overall measure for vide organisations with new tools and knowledge
complexity, stress resistance, mortality index etc. in an which could help them to be proactive in the manipu-
ecosystem. A functional study of organisations would lation of their evolution. Since cladistics is a classi®-
aim to forecast environmental/market changes (the cation method which ties its de®nition of similarity to
rate of new product introduction, service mechanisms, naturally occurring change processes, the result is that
supply relationships, etc.) and forecasts on which man- the information contained within a cladogram is useful
ufacturing species will dominate, compete and survive for identifying standard change sequences. A clado-
such market and economic conditions. Functional stu- gram could also provide a framework or index for
dies and cladistics are viewed as complementary disci- positioning and benchmarking studies [100].
plines by many biologists and philosophers [97], since The analysis of a cladogram goes further than a
their results describe di€erent properties of species (re- simple speci®cation of a change sequence. It indicates:
spectively, their identity and their strategy for survi- the sequence of steps required to transform an organis-
val). The goal of functionalists is to develop a ation to a certain state, along with the characteristics
catalogue of knowledge, related to a classi®cation, for which must be dropped (the `unlearning' steps). If
identifying strategies for survival. An example of such there is agreement that the cladogram has been con-
a classi®cation is the CSR model of Philip Grime from structed according to the rules of parsimony, the physi-
the NERC unit of the University of Sheeld [98]. The cal and ®nancial cost of the identi®ed change route
CSR model, models the environment along two dimen- would be minimised.
sions: stress and disturbance. Stress is a limitation put The tree-like nature of a cladogram could be com-
on the resources necessary for the organisations to sur- pared to a map, which once constructed provides or-
vive. In biological terms, stress is the lack of nutrients, ganisations with an unambiguous and precise
the lack of light, cold temperatures, etc. In manufac- de®nition of the starting point of the change journey.
16. 92 I. McCarthy et al. / Omega 28 (2000) 77±95
If the journey is a mimetic process then it will also Cladistics, as with all classi®cations, is a method for
provide a de®nition of the destination. systematically organising knowledge about a popu-
lation of entities. It is a process for studying diversity
5.4. Strategy and attempting to identify and understand laws and re-
lationships which explain the evolution and existence
Despite the popularity of ¯exible manufacturing of the variety groups. Its intellectual and practical
systems, managers su€er from inadequate frame- value is derived from this ability to explain.
works to help incorporate ¯exibility into their stra- This article suggests that cladistics is a novel and
tegic planning [101, p. 7]. appropriate approach for producing an organisational
classi®cation, because unlike the best phenetic classi®-
A cladogram provides a snapshot of the evolution- cations and the multitude of subjective classi®cations,
ary history of a company. Thus, it can be used by cladistics has an underlying philosophy (evolution) and
managers to check that their vision for the future is accompanying rules and procedures. Cladistics uses
consistent with their understanding of the past. evolutionary relationships to identify and form groups,
Cladistics also provides an interesting measure of stra- because evolution is the process which accompanies
tegic excellence, through the principle of parsimony. the changes which materialise to produce di€erent or-
Strategic management is a discipline which was under ganisational forms. The resulting classi®cation and the
close scrutiny in the eighties and many researchers knowledge contained within, provide insights into or-
questioned if a correlation could be found between the ganisational diversity. These insights include: observing
practice of strategic management and organisational the patterns and events which accompany the organis-
performance, usually de®ned as pro®tability. Although ational change and observing the most parsimonious
some researchers con®rmed the existence of such a cor- route between di€erent organisational forms.
relation [102±104], many others found no correlations This fundamental, but important insight could result
whatsoever, [105±109]. Strategic management is con- in organisational cladograms being used as a tool
cerned with the long term sustainability of pro®ts and within a change framework, for achieving successful
thus strategic excellence can be dicult to de®ne, organisational design and change. Thus, regardless of
because assessments may need to view a decade of the industrial sector, organisations could use clado-
®nancial loss before capturing the bene®ts of a well- grams as an evolutionary analysis technique for deter-
articulated strategy. mining `where they have been and where they are
If there is agreement with the statements that ``( F F F ) now''. This evolutionary analysis could be used to for-
successful ®rms have followed more than one route to mulate coherent and appropriate action for managers
successful redesign.'', ``Too often, (F F F), pieces are who are organisational architects and planners.
missing from the strategies and structures ®rms create
in the process of redesign'' [110, p. 129], then the prin-
ciple of parsimony could o€er a legitimate de®nition of
strategic excellence. Researchers can easily question, a References
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