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Article
Publication date: 23 March 2023

Camilo Osejo-Bucheli

The purpose of this research is to increase academic understanding of the relationship between systems' political identity and their viability, and to contribute to…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to increase academic understanding of the relationship between systems' political identity and their viability, and to contribute to anarchist-cybernetics by examining the idea of organization proposed by Malatesta using Viable Systems. The research also develops the understanding of the relationship between Viable Systems and the environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The author developed a content analysis method that uses dynamic analysis, identifying how some variables affect others, and data is analysed using the Viable Systems Model. The author used Dynamic Causal Diagrams and the Viable System Model to draw conclusions and build theory. The author examined 137 documents produced by Errico Malatesta, studying in detail 39 documents containing the researched concepts.

Findings

The article identifies the literature, proposes an organizational theory for society and for cooperatives, strongly grounded in both, self-management and control. It presents a theory of self-management as a balancing effort to the control exercised by the external economic, political and societal forces of the environment. The literature also shows a form of organization that can be interpreted using the VSM framework. The ideas about self-management found in the literature, extend to economics, social theory, ethics, organizations, management and even operations management. The article finishes proposing a set of committees linked to the VSM structure, and successfully bridges anarchism and organizational cybernetics.

Originality/value

The article presents a novel method of systems analysis for the study of literature. It discovers the theory proposed by Malatesta not identified previously. Using the VSM framework, the ideas presented by the author, are translated into the organizational identity, and the operation of cooperatives. It makes an important contribution to anarchist-cybernetics.

Article
Publication date: 9 February 2023

Dario Altobelli

The introduction in Italy in July 2021 of the “COVID-19 Green Certification”, known as the “Green Pass”, was a particularly important moment in the political and social history of…

Abstract

Purpose

The introduction in Italy in July 2021 of the “COVID-19 Green Certification”, known as the “Green Pass”, was a particularly important moment in the political and social history of the country. While its use for health reasons is debatable both logically and scientifically, its effects should be measured at the general sociological level. The “Green Pass” allowed Italian social life to be shaped according to a social and political profile that can be traced back to a “society of control”. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned issue.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper, of a theoretical nature, intends to verify such an interpretation through a critical survey of Gilles Deleuze's well-known Post-scriptum sur les sociétés de contrôle (1990) and relating the theories to it from cybernetic science, sociology of social systems and the continental philosophy, specifically Michel Foucault. After a short introduction on the history of the instrument's introduction, the paper, divided into parts reflecting the set-up of Deleuze's text, examines the systemic social effects of the “Green Pass” with regard to its logic, and concludes with a reflection on the program of the instrument's future developments.

Findings

The “Green Pass” put into practice a model of a society of control as anticipated by Deleuze, verified with particular reference to some instances of Luhmann's theory of social systems, and in the perspective of a Foucault's “normalizing society” in the process of definition and affirmation.

Social implications

The “Green Pass” has been a controversial tool that has caused forms of social discrimination and exclusion and has seriously questioned the architecture of the rule of law. The conceptual paper tries to reflect on the premises and implications of this instrument.

Originality/value

The approach to the problem both in a critical key and according to concepts and theories of the sociology of social systems, cybernetics and continental philosophy.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 52 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 June 2023

Jiju Antony, Michael Sony, Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes, Olivia McDermott, Guilherme Tortorella, Raja Jayaraman, Rahul Srinivas Sucharitha, Wilem Salentijin and Maher Maalouf

Entering a new era of digital transformation, Industry 4.0 (I 4.0) promises to revolutionize the way business has been done, providing unprecedented opportunities and challenges…

Abstract

Purpose

Entering a new era of digital transformation, Industry 4.0 (I 4.0) promises to revolutionize the way business has been done, providing unprecedented opportunities and challenges. This study aims to investigate empirically and comparatively analyse the benefits, challenges and critical success factors (CSFs) of Industry 4.0 across four continents and developing and developed economies.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used an online survey to explore the benefits, challenges and CSFs of developed and developing economies. In order to ensure the validity of the survey, a pilot test was conducted with 10 respondents. A total of 149 participants with senior managerial, vice-presidential and directorial positions from developed and developing economies spanning four continents were invited to take part in the survey.

Findings

The study ranks benefits, challenges and CSFs across economies and continents. Further, the benefit of Industry 4.0 helping to achieve organizational efficiency and agility differed across the developing and developed economies. Furthermore, the benefit improves customer satisfaction significantly differed across continents; in terms of challenges, Employee resistance to change had a higher proportion in developing economies. The future viability of I 4.0 also differed across the continents. Regarding CSFs, there was no difference across the developing and developed economies. Finally, change management and project management vary across the continents.

Research limitations/implications

This study contributes to a balanced understanding of I 4.0 by providing empirical evidence for comparative analysis. Moreover, it extends the concept of resource dependence theory to explain how organizations in developing economies and developed economies deploy resources to manage external condition uncertainties to implement I 4.0. Furthermore, this study provides a structural framework to understand the specific benefits, challenges and CSFs of implementing I 4.0, which can be utilized by policymakers to promote I 4.0 in their economies or continents.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no studies have empirically demonstrated the comparative analysis of benefits, challenges and CSFs across economies and continents and distinguish an original contribution of this work.

Details

Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, vol. 34 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-038X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 June 2023

Janine Aldous Arantes and Mark Vicars

The purpose of this paper is to examine how automation in the ever-changing technological landscape is increasing integrated into, and has become a significant presence in, our…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how automation in the ever-changing technological landscape is increasing integrated into, and has become a significant presence in, our personal lives.

Design/methodology/approach

Through post qualitative inquiry, the authors provide a contemplation of automation and its effect on creativity, as a contemporary expression of dis/locations, the simulacrum, performative work and a toxic digital presence in socio-cultural-technical spaces.

Findings

The authors discuss how we behave, contribute, explore, interact and communicate within and across automated digital platforms, has salience for understanding and questioning the ways that dominant discourses in the contemporary construction and enactment of subjectivity, creativity and agency are being modulated by the machine.

Originality/value

This paper offers a nuanced consideration of creativity, by considering the way creativity is being performed and situated within the effects of automation and its role in dis/locations, performative work and its potential as a the simulacrum in socio-cultural-technical spaces.

Details

Qualitative Research Journal, vol. 23 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1443-9883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 June 2022

Sangita Gupta and Sumeer Gul

The study aims to present an insight into the research landscape of Library and Information Science (LIS) by India using a bibliometric visualization tool. The study analyses the…

Abstract

Purpose

The study aims to present an insight into the research landscape of Library and Information Science (LIS) by India using a bibliometric visualization tool. The study analyses the research growth and trends, highly cited articles, productive publication titles, institutional and country collaboration.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were downloaded from the Web of Science Core Collection for a period of 20 years and analysed through VOSviewer, a data visualization software.

Findings

The results indicate that the overall annual contributions are increasing, although with uneven and slow growth from 2001 to 2014. However, the highest contributions and impact is witnessed over the past few years. All the top 10 cited papers are related to the area of information processing and management. The visualization technique made it clear that the area of research has made a transition from traditional concepts of library and information to novel ones involving big data, machine learning, altmetrics, etc. Also, the Indian Institute of Technology System, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Indian Institute of Management System have made the highest contributions. Furthermore, India shares maximum collaborations with the USA, followed by England and China.

Research limitations/implications

The findings of this study would help readers to gain understanding about the contribution of India for the development of the LIS. It would also help researchers to identify the hotspots and left out areas of research in the Indian context that require further investigation, thus would help in policy decisions and future research. Furthermore, researchers will be sensitized about the network visualizations that can also help them to get connected with the peers. The study can also help the journals to recognize the trending topics, which will provide the researchers with the opportunities to work on the same. Funding agencies can also be benefitted by the findings of the current study as they will be informed about the research areas which need to be funded.

Originality/value

There are not many research studies that highlight the research trends in the area of LIS from India and visualize the collaboration among institutions and countries. The study tries to showcase the research trends and collaborative frameworks in the field of LIS in terms of network visualization.

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