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THE use of liquid oxygen as an oxidizer for various fuels in liquid rocket propellent systems is not new. Professor Goddard used liquid oxygen in his rocket experiments and the well known German V‐2 rockets used this material as an oxidizer. However, its effect on non‐metallic materials ordinarily used in rocket systems was not investigated until recent years. This investigation was prompted by phenomena which had been experienced by rocket engine and rocket aircraft manufacturers and by suppliers of the material. It was observed that when some organic materials came in intimate contact with liquid oxygen they became prone to detonation when subjected to certain impact energies. This was undoubtedly due to the formation of unstable organo‐peroxide compounds which when impacted released high levels of energy resulting in an explosion. Specifically, when liquid oxygen was accidently spilled on asphalt and inadvertently stepped on, the asphalt would often explode. Also, leather gaskets immersed in liquid oxygen and subjected to surge impact detonated with disastrous effects.

This article aims to point out the essential role of knowledge flows when studying new ways of organizing in a knowledge‐intensive service sector where organizations operate in rapidly changing markets. The purpose of this article is to analyze the concept of self‐organization and its basic characteristics from a knowledge flow point‐of‐view.

A conceptual analysis and literature review are provided.

The article offers a way to understand how self‐organization emerges from lower‐level or local interaction, i.e. knowledge flows. The results of earlier studies indicate that if experts working in customer interface are empowered to make independent decisions and to adjust their working according to the ongoing situation, i.e. to self‐organize, co‐operation with customers becomes more active.

The article presents a new way of looking at self‐organization and its basic characteristics as managerial tools in knowledge‐intensive organizations. The article brings up the fundamental role of knowledge flows in a self‐organization process.

How can organizations accelerate their learning processes and build intangible knowledge assets? Some companies are using digital technology simulations such as TeleSim and web‐based learning platforms.

One hundred and seventy‐nine heads of sales or direct marketing departments in large UK companies across five industry sectors completed mail questionnaires concerning the knowledge management (KM) practices employed by their firms. The extents of the KM systems operating within sample enterprises were analysed with respect to each company’s use of teamwork, level of bureaucracy and centralisation of decision making, innovativeness, and ability to cope with change. Respondents’ views on the contributions of KM to marketing management were also examined.

This paper aims to hypothesize that modern health systems are transforming towards what has been called a health ecosystem in complexity‐based health care literature. It has been argued that complexity arises from the interconnectedness, which in this paper is equated with knowledge flows between actors. The paper seeks to discuss the possible implications of a health ecosystem approach to health system management.

The paper is conceptual in nature but the transition towards a health ecosystem is illustrated with an example of a regional health care system in Finland. The case description and related analysis presented are based on qualitative data gathered by interviewing leading office‐holders, by process modeling and by observing management group meetings.

Conceptually, a health ecosystem seems to have potential for the system‐level analysis of the health care system. The discussion concludes that management of knowledge flows should be a strategic management function for individual health organizations as well as for the wider health system.

This study focuses on a Finnish health care system. The operations and structures of health care services and systems vary in different areas and countries.

The practical illustration of the health ecosystem provides a reminder that health care systems are dynamic and largely based on interaction between different actors. The approach provides new strategic insights for the development of health care systems by concentrating on interrelationships and knowledge flows.

The literature has suggested that the ecosystem metaphor offers useful insights for the development of health care systems. Nevertheless, this approach has not been thoroughly studied so far. This paper makes a contribution by presenting a practical illustration of the framework and in light of this discusses the possible implications for health care management.

Heads of business‐to‐business salesforces in 113 large companies based in Greater London completed mail questionnaires designed to investigate the role of social and other informal gatherings in the exchange of salespeople’s knowledge of specific customers, selling methods, sales leads, lessons learned from past activities, etc. Respondents’ perceptions of these matters were cross‐referenced with, inter alia, the natures of companies’ knowledge management systems, organisational factors such as bureaucracy and the degree of centralisation within a firm, innovativeness, and the ability to accommodate change. The purpose of the investigation was to assess whether the Japanese concept of “ba” was an influential factor facilitating the Nonaka/Takeuchi tacit‐explicit‐tacit knowledge spiral within the sample businesses. It emerged that all four of the ba categories associated with the Nonaka/Takeuchi cycle (externalisation, socialisation, internalisation and combination) exerted a significant impact on one or more key dimensions of salesforce management.

While advancements in theory have helped illumine the complex workings of today’s organization, little is said on the practical implications for managers in terms of their role and behavioral style. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how a behavioral diagnostic tool – the Competing Values Framework (CVF; Quinn and Rohrbaugh, 1983) – can be utilized to develop managers in the behavioral skills needed to stay relevant and effective amid new organizational realities.

The conceptual anchor of this paper is in complexity theory. The authors conducted a literature search for articles on complexity theory in selective management journals, and reviewed them to extract key lessons for effective managerial behavior.

Three behaviors found to be central to managing complexity were: enabling, sensemaking, and facilitating shared leadership. It is suggested that the CVF is a useful tool for helping managers develop their behavioral repertoire and hence their skills for enacting these behaviors.

The paper synthesizes a guiding frame for developing managers in some of the behavioral skills needed to handle complexity at the workplace. Toward this end, useful tips are offered for putting together a short training workshop where the CVF is rediscovered as a unique developmental tool.

The purpose of this research is to explore core contributions from two different approaches to complexity management in organisations aiming to improve their sustainability,: the Viable Systems Model (VSM), and the Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). It is proposed to perform this by summarising the main insights each approach offers to understanding organisational transformations aiming to improve sustainability; and by presenting examples of applied research on each case and reflecting on the learning emerging from them.

An action science approach was followed: the conceptual framework used in each case was first presented, which then illustrates its application through a case study; at the first one the VSM framework supports an organisational transformation towards sustainability in a community; the second one is a quantitative case study of intended greening of two firms in the supermarket industry, taken from a CAS perspective. The learning from each case study on how they support/explain organisational learning in transformations towards more sustainable organisations was illustrated.

It wase found that the VSM and the CAS approaches offer internally consistent and complementary insights to address issues of self‐organisation and adaptive management for sustainability improvement: while CAS explains empowerment of bottom‐up learning processes in organisations, VSM enables a learning context where self‐organised networks can co‐evolve for improved sustainability.

The main aspects of both theories and examples of their explanatory power to support learning in practical applications in organisations were introduced. The initial findings indicate that it will be worth studying in greater depth the contributions to organisational learning from both conceptual models and more widely comparing their applications and insights.

The paper offers some guidance to both researchers and practitioners interested in using complex systems theories in action research‐oriented projects, regarding the usability and applicability of both approaches.

It is considered that, by better understanding organisational ability to adapt and self‐regulate on crucial issues for sustainability, it may help to develop one path through the ongoing socio‐ecological crisis. While much has been written about sustainability initiatives and governance from conventional perspectives, much less is known about how a complex systems framework may help to address one's pressing sustainability needs. These issues from two innovative complexity approaches as well as the value of using them in action research were illustrated.

Jorge Sàbato, the Latin American scientist, predicted that ‘either Latin America dominates technology or through other countries technology will dominate Latin America’ (Sagasti 1984). This prediction might serve to point toward one of the objectives to challenge our countries of the Caribbean and Latin America in the coming century. To understand how hard we will have to work to achieve that goal we might look at the barriers to information technology in Latin America and the Caribbean.