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This paper aims to test the hypothesized concave relationship between disorganization and individual financial performance using UK Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS) datasets. Given there are no prior studies measuring disorganization we start with using scale items from currently validated scales, WERS, and try to determine the extent to which the current scales are applicable for measuring disorganization and subsequently highlight the limitations of current measures.

This paper is based on the UK Workplace Employment Relations study (WERS) datasets of 2011 which is the largest publicly accessible dataset available. The datasets used were the financial performance survey (FPS) data and the management survey (MS) data with 545 unique records. Polynomial Regression was used to test the hypotheses. An aggregated index for disorganization (IV) was developed, and a production function was used to determine the individual financial performance per worker (DV).

A significant linear relationship between disorganization and individual financial performance was discovered. However, this relationship was linear and did not exhibit the theorized concave relationship. The findings further indicated the need for more refined measures of disorganization and limitations of the current measures.

While the study is exploratory in nature, this is the first study to date which attempts to measure disorganization in an applied setting. Thus, the work presented here is foundational to any future empirical studies on the topic. The limitations uncovered are of particular importance.

This paper aims at simulating on how “disorganization” affects team problem solving. The prime objective is to determine how team problem solving varies between an organized and disorganized environment also considering motivational aspects.

Using agent-based modeling, the authors use a real-world data set from 226 volunteers at five different types of non-profit organizations in Southwest England to define some attributes of the agents. The authors introduce the concepts of natural, structural and functional disorganization while operationalizing natural and functional disorganization.

The simulations show that “disorganization” is more conducive for problem solving efficiency than “organization” given enough flexibility (range) to search and acquire resources. The findings further demonstrate that teams with resources above their hierarchical level (access to better quality resources) tend to perform better than teams that have only limited access to resources.

The nuanced categories of “(dis-)organization” allow us to compare between various structural limitations, thus generating insights for improving the way managers structure teams for better problem solving.

The history of Organizational Development (OD) reveals a much older tradition of organizational science than the conventional wisdom would suggest. By the 1960s and 1970s OD became self‐confident and dynamic. This period was not only highly experimental but established the principles of OD for much of the twentieth century. By the end of the twentieth century new images of OD had occurred and much of the earlier thinking had been transformed. This review illustrates some examples under a series of themes that have had a major impact on the discipline of OD and on the wider thinking of organizational theorists and researchers.

This viewpoint article is concerned with an attempt to advance organisational plasticity (OP) modelling concepts by using a novel community modelling framework (PhiloLab) from the social simulation community to drive the process of idea generation. In addition, the authors want to feed back their experience with PhiloLab as they believe that this way of idea generation could also be of interest to the wider evidence-based human resource management (EBHRM) community.

The authors used some workshop sessions to brainstorm new conceptual ideas in a structured and efficient way with a multidisciplinary group of 14 (mainly academic) participants using PhiloLab. This is a tool from the social simulation community, which stimulates and formally supports discussions about philosophical questions of future societal models by means of developing conceptual agent-based simulation models. This was followed by an analysis of the qualitative data gathered during the PhiloLab sessions, feeding into the definition of a set of primary axioms of a plastic organisation.

The PhiloLab experiment helped with defining a set of primary axioms of a plastic organisation, which are presented in this viewpoint article. The results indicated that the problem was rather complex, but it also showed good potential for an agent-based simulation model to tackle some of the key issues related to OP. The experiment also showed that PhiloLab was very useful in terms of knowledge and idea gathering.

Through information gathering and open debates on how to create an agent-based simulation model of a plastic organisation, the authors could identify some of the characteristics of OP and start structuring some of the parameters for a computational simulation. With the outcome of the PhiloLab experiment, the authors are paving the way towards future exploratory computational simulation studies of OP.

This paper offers a framework based on the key principles of the complexity paradigm proposed by Edgar Morin to review what can be considered the dominant approach towards knowledge management, i.e. the intellectual capital construct. The purpose of this paper is to identify epistemological weaknesses to offer insights for the improvement of the theory and practice on knowledge management.

Based on the complexity paradigm and its dialogic and recursive principles, a framework to understand knowledge is offered comprising three interrelated requirements, each of which is based on a pair of opposites, arguably critical for the conceptualisation of a complex knowledge: order and disorder, whole and parts, and non‐logical and logical modes of thinking. This tool is applied to reviewing the epistemological assumptions under the intellectual capital approach, in order to find insights for further research on knowledge management. The task has an interpretative character and is carried out highlighting central aspects of the intellectual capital construct.

As a result it is possible to point out that the intellectual capital approach does not fulfill the complexity requirements, since it only recognises at the level of human beings their objective and functional aspects of knowledge, given by qualifications and other features that can be measured on the one hand, and driven a priori by a functional strategy, on the other. It ignores, in consequence, the more unstructured and disordered aspect of knowledge which, from a complexity perspective, is constitutive for the creation of innovative ideas.

The study is fully centered on intellectual capital literature. A complementary review of other less used expressions of knowledge management such as the construct of “communities of practice”, applying the same diagnostic tool, could enrich the conclusions and theoretical proposals.

A framework for the detection of epistemological biases is offered and used in this paper to study the intellectual capital construct, which could be also applied for other knowledge‐based settings. For business managers and consultants dealing with knowledge management, this paper can also give some insights for the improvement of their organisational interventions.

A novel approach, the complexity paradigm, is proposed as the epistemological standpoint to improve theory and practice on knowledge management.

Recent policing reforms have strongly emphasized the role of community context in determining the form and content of effective policing, along with the traditional influence of organizational structures. Recognizing the increasing suburbanization of US communities, this study examines the empirical support for the underlying contextual and structural premises of these reforms in a sample of midwestern suburban communities. Merging data from a telephone survey of 194 municipal police departments in the five counties of the Chicago metropolitan statistical area with data on communities from other government sources, multiple regression was used to assess the relative importance of community context and organizational structure factors in accounting for differences in departmental policing styles. The findings both support and contradict some basic assumptions of current community‐oriented policing reforms, as well as some of the findings of prior studies. They underline the importance of empirically testing our theoretical assumptions in all types of community settings.

Norbert Wiener’s cybernetic paradigm represents one of the seminal ideas of the twentieth century. Nevertheless, its full potential has yet to be realized. For instance, cybernetics is relatively little used as an analytical tool in the social sciences. One reason, it is argued here, is that Wiener’s framework lacks a crucial element – a functional definition of information. Although so‐called Shannon information has made many valuable contributions and has many important uses, it is blind to the functional properties of information. Here a radically different approach to information theory is described. After briefly critiquing the literature in information theory, a new kind of cybernetic information will be proposed called “control information.” Control information is not a “thing” but an attribute of the relationships between things. It is defined as: the capacity (know‐how) to control the acquisition, disposition and utilization of matter/energy in purposive (cybernetic) processes. This concept is briefly elucidated, and a formalization proposed in terms of a common unit of measurement, namely the quantity of “available energy” that can be controlled by a given unit of information in a given context. However, other metrics are also feasible, from money to allocations of human labor. Some illustrations are briefly provided and some of the implications are discussed.

In the recent decades, energy drinks consumption has increased dramatically. Many researches found their adverse effects on the structure and function of organs and systems, with nervous and cardiovascular systems most studied. Liver is one of the priority target organs in case of beverages consumption. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of energy drink consumption on morphofunctional conditions of liver.

A search in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and eLIBRARY.ru databases was performed using relevant keywords.

Both clinical and experimental data concerning effects of energy drink use on structure and function of liver are summarized and systematized in this review. Most of them documented hepatotoxicity after prolonged over-consumption of energy drinks. Probable mechanisms of action of their basic ingredients (sugars, caffeine, taurine, D-glucuronolactone, vitamin B3) on morphology and functioning of liver as well as combined use of energy drinks with alcohol are described.

This review paper represents evidential information about the negative impact of energy drink consumption on morphofunctional conditions of liver.

This article defines Management Information Systems (MIS) and MIS policy, and examines its organisational and structural role. MIS gives effect to communication channels, and shapes the communication content and responsibility of managerial and administrative roles. It therefore becomes an important means whereby an organisation achieves co‐ordination, feedback and control. The article examines managerial information needs for control, co‐ordination and planning, and comments on some of the approaches to managing with MIS.