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Les deux angleterres et le continent | Journal of Sociocybernetics

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Roth, S. (2011), Les deux angleterres et le continent. Anglophone sociology as the guardian of Old European semantics, Journal of Sociocybernetics 9(1-2),  pp. 19-34

Abstract: Despite its influence in Central European sociology, Niklas Luhmann’s Social Systems theory remains a marginal branch of international sociology. In this paper, the theory questions the reasons for its own marginality in general and for its marginality in the Anglophone centers of sociology in particular, with the latter still being a surprise against the background of the theory’s cybernetic roots in the US. The theory arrives at the conclusion that, while Europe, or ‘the continent’, is still perceived as old compared with the Anglophone new world(s), it still is Anglophone sociology that preserves ‘Old European’ semantics. Sociology in continental ‘Old Europe’, however, seems to have a chance of slowly being acquainted with a new, post-enlightenment mindset focused on semantics and communication rather than on humans and action.

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Dying is only human | Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry

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Roth, S. (2013), Dying is only human. The case death makes for the immorality of the person, Tamara Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry 11(2), pp. 35-39.

Abstract: The claim of the present article is that human mortality makes a case for the discovery of the immortal nature of the person. Based on a clear distinction of the concepts of the human being and the person, human beings and persons are considered immortal insofar as both entities evidently do not qualify for a definition as living systems. On the one hand, human beings are presented as neither lifeless nor living systems. On the other hand, persons are introduced as lifeless systems and, as a result, immortal system. This claim is extended by the statement that, even if supposed to be living systems, persons could be considered at least potentially immortal, which is illustrated by a brief and proxy case of the person of Karl Marx.

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CFP Special Issue | Creativity and Innovation Management

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The Gamification of Innovation | Special Issue of Creativity and Innovation Management_

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Guest Edited by:

Steffen Roth, ESC Rennes School of Business, France | Dirk Schneckenberg, ESC Rennes School of Business, France | Chia-Wen Tsai, Ming Chuan University, Taiwan

Background

The key to innovation, creativity, is commonly attributed to persons (Amabile, 1997; Amabile, et al., 2005; John-Steiner, 1997; Zhou & Shalley, 2003), groups (Florida, 2002; Miura & Hida, 2004; Paulus & Nijstad, 2003), organizations (Davila, et al., 2006; Drazin, et al., 1999), or entire economies (Friedman, 2006; Howkins, 2002). In all of these perspectives, the different forms of creativity are considered qualities displayed or possessed by individual or collective “creative selves” (Prichard, 2002).

Recent research, however, has generally empasized the role of plays and games as sources and resources of creativity (Dodgson, et al., 2005) as well as, in particular, spaces and media for business strategy and management education (Andersen, 2001). As games are social by nature, they transcend the borders of actor-centered attribution and call for a focus on specific qualities or steering technologies of communication (Thygesen, 2007). The emerging interest in the interrelation of play, game, creativity, and innovation, therefore, reflects and effects quite fundamental changes of the Executive wish lists (McCosh, et al., 1998) of “Proven Methods of Innovation Management”, which have not been met by systematic updates of the corresponding list of supplies of creativity and innovation management tools yet. The emerging body of literature on specific aspects such as design thinking in product development, structural constellations in change management, Lego Serious Play in strategic management, serious games in management education, or the recently detected gamification of crowdsourcing, hence,calls for comprehensive analyses of the underlying climate change to a more playful ecology of minds.

The special issue on the “Gamification of Innovation” will therefore focus on the collection and reflection of the games played in the Olymp(ic)s of creativity and innovation management. We particularly welcome contributions opening up and entering the tension zone of gamification and innovation to explore the ways in which games shape and reshape the forms and functions of communication in order to stimulate creativity. In addition, inputs, which link gamification to aspects of ideation, design thinking, social media, and computer communication, will also receive full consideration.

We welcome articles that address issues related, without being limited, to the following areas:

  • Productive Games for Product Innovation
  • The Serious Games of Change Management
  • MPOGs and Marketing Innovations
  • Offline Games for Innovation
  • Innovation Games for the Bottom of the Pyramid
  • Game, Competition, and Innovation Openness
  • Crowd, Wisdom, and Creativity
  • Games, Tools, and Design Frameworks for Innovation
  • Gamification, Sense-making, and Storytelling
  • Fun, Stress, and Creativity
  • Playing, Thinking, and Feeling
  • The Retro-Future of Ludic Innovation Management

Deadline and Submissions

Manuscripts should be prepared according to the CIM author guidelines, and need to be submitted through the online submission system of CIM: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cim. The deadline for the submission of papers is June 15th 2013. When submitting it is important that you clearly state that your submission is intended for the special issue.

Contacts:

The Guest editors are pleased to discuss ideas for papers and can be emailed at the below addresses:

Steffen Roth: steffen.roth@esc-rennes.fr
Dirk Schneckenberg:  dirk.schneckenberg@esc-rennes.fr
Chia-Wen Tsai: jawen12b@gmail.com 
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Leaving Commonplaces on the Common Place | Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry

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Roth, S. (2012), Leaving Commonplaces on the Common Place. Cornerstones of a Polyphonic Market Theory, Tamara Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 43-52.

Abstract
Markets are considered economic phenomena, which is said to be true even if markets are considered social structures, cultural fields, or simply politics, at the same time. Against this background, the present paper argues for a polyphonic market concept. Unlike the popular economy-biased notion of markets, such a concept allows for the analysis of markets in eras and areas where functional differentiation did or does not exist or play a major role. Furthermore, it turns the idea of the ultimately economic nature of markets from an axiom to a research question. In doing so, it breaks ground for research in major trends in functional differentiation and in the preferences for particular function systems featured by concrete groups, milieus or organizations.
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CfP | Special Issue | WREMSD

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World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development 

Call for Papers

Special Issue on: “Sustainability of Innovation, Innovation of Sustainability”

Guest Editors:
André Reichel and Thomas Pfister, Zeppelin-University Friedrichshafen, Germany
Steffen Roth, ESC Rennes School of Business, France
Lukas Scheiber, University of Stuttgart, Germany

The demand for sustainability is omnipresent in various discourses across the globe. Political policies have to be made in a sustainable manner, ensuring long-term financial balance of national budgets; companies have to rethink their businesses in a sustainable manner, using less resources while providing secure employment; consumers are urged to buy “green” or “ethical” and shift their habits of mobility, eating, clothing and leisure time behaviour. Sustainability is thereby just as much a fashion fad, a newly dominant power discourse or a marketing tool as it is a real necessity on a finite planet.

The favoured road to sustainability in all of its discourses is innovation. The vast majority of decision makers in politics and business adhere to the belief that by introducing novelty – new product development, technological breakthroughs, new institutional instruments, and also new social arrangements of how to consume or how to organise for a more sustainable democracy – the problem of non-sustainability of current circumstances can be solved.

However, every increase in efficiency by the introduction of novelty induces a rebound effect — Jevons’ paradox. The direct rebound increases demand for the novel good, while the indirect rebound stems from increased possibilities in alternative consumption. Both effects directly lead to economic growth and largely destroy ecological gains through innovation. The triangle of innovation, sustainability and growth is paradoxical and its dissolution poses what Heinz von Foerster called an “undecidable question.”

Twenty years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, this special issue on “Sustainability of Innovation, Innovation of Sustainability” tries to address – not answer – this undecidable question from three different perspectives.

For further details please refer to the official call fiche at the World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development  (WREMSD) website.