David S. Walker

Organizational and Technological Implications of Cognitive Machines: Designing Future Information Management Systems

Organizational cognition concerns the processes which provide agents and organizations with the ability to learn, make decisions, and solve problems.Organizational and Technological Implications of Cognitive Machines: Designing Future Information Management Systems presents new challenges and perspectives to the understanding of the participation of cognitive machines in organizations. Containing extensive research by an international collaboration of experts, this book addresses the possible implications of cognitive machines for current and future organizations.

A new contingency view of the organization: mananging complexity and uncertainty through cognition

This paper proposes a new contingency view of the organization and it contributes to the theme through two complementary perspectives. First, it proposes cognition as a function which acts as the main mediator between the organization and the environment. Second, it introduces cognition as the core organizational ability which supports individuals, groups and organizations with intelligence, autonomy, learning and knowledge management, whereas, in such a perspective, cognition is viewed as the core resource in the service of the organization. Both perspectives, the mediation and the core organizational resource views, imply that cognition contributes toward managing environmental complexity and uncertainty. From this picture, this work analyzes the organization in the pursuit of high degrees of organizational cognition in order to manage high levels of environmental complexity and uncertainty. Grounded in these views, this paper presents a model of the organization as a set of fuzzy abilities. From all these backgrounds, this research opens new directions for future research on organizational abilities which subsume cognition, intelligence, autonomy, learning and knowledge management as important elements of organizational analysis.

The impact of cognitive machines on complex decisions and organizational change

Humans and organizations have limitations of computational capacity and information management. Such constraints are synonymous with bounded rationality. Therefore, in order to extend the human and organizational boundaries to more advanced models of cognition, this research proposes concepts of cognitive machines in organizations. From a micro point of view, what makes this research distinct is that, beyond people, it includes in the list of participants of the organization the cognitive machines. From a macro point of view, this paper relies on the premise that cognitive machines can improve the cognitive abilities of the organization. From such perspectives, it presents rationale and principles of a class of cognitive machines with capabilities to carry out complex cognitive tasks in organizations. It also introduces analyses of the cognitive machines in organizations through theories of bounded rationality, economic decision-making, and conflict resolution. The analyses indicate that these machines can solve or reduce intra-individual and group dysfunctional conflicts which arise from decision-making processes in the organization, and thus they can improve the degree of organizational cognition. From all these backgrounds, this research outlines implications of cognitive machines for organizations.

An initial survey on the use of costs of quality programmes in telecommunications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the results of an initial survey on the implementation of costs of quality (CoQ) programmes in the UK telecommunications industry and to discuss the findings in the context of sustainable competitiveness.Design/methodology/approach – A postal survey was employed in order to investigate the breadth of use of CoQ programmes in the sector. A questionnaire was developed and distributed across a sample of companies with a UK SIC code of “6400 Telecommunications”.Findings – The survey results revealed little interest in implementing such programmes in the sector. The most frequently cited reasons were: having a costing system that is already capable of monitoring quality costs; and not yet introduced to the concept of CoQ.Research limitations/implications – The results presented are limited by two factors: the low response rate; and the range of data gathered. Since the majority of the respondents were service providers, the results could be indicative of this t...

An Ability-Based View of the Organization: Strategic-Resource and Contingency Domains.

Purpose – This paper extends the corporation‐based metaphor of the tree by proposing that cognition is the core ability that nourishes the development of core competencies. From such an extension, this paper aims to take a step forward to answer the question: what is the role of cognition in the organization that is in pursuit of core competencies and sustainable competitive advantage?Design/methodology/approach – The paper answers this problem by presenting two complementary perspectives, which contribute to introduce the field of organizational cognition into the strategic‐resource and contingency domains. First, it proposes precepts of an ability‐based view of the organization through analogies that are most associated to concepts of the resource‐based view and dynamic capabilities of the firm. Second, it introduces a contingency‐based view of organizational cognition which is most developed through causal relations, and also deductive and inductive reasoning.Findings – Conclusions reinforce the thesis...

A Dynamic Ability-Based View of the Organization

This paper investigates theoretical micro-foundations of core competencies in the organization that pursues sustainable competitive advantage. It advocates that there is a lack of literature perspectives which can explain the sources of core competencies of the firm. This research raises questions on: What are the main sources of creation and sustenance of core competencies? What are the abilities which nourish the development of operational and dynamic capabilities? What is the main source of collective knowledge in the organization? This work answers these questions by proposing a dynamic ability-based view of the organization which contributes to explaining the dynamic behavior of the firm in the pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage. Cognition is the core ability which supports individuals, groups, and organizations with intelligence, autonomy, learning, and knowledge management. These concepts form the set of organizational abilities in this research.

Uma visão da empresa baseada em habilidades: contextos estratégicos e contingenciais

This paper extends the corporation-based metaphor of the tree by proposing that cognition is the core ability which contributes to nourishing the development of core competencies in the organization. From such an extension, this paper takes a raises the following question: What is the role of cognition in the organization that is in the pursuit of core competencies and sustainable competitive advantage? This paper answers this problem by presenting two perspectives that contribute toward introducing the field of organizational cognition into the domains of the resource-based view and contingency. First, it proposes an ability-based view of the organization through analogies which are most associated with the concepts of the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities of the firm. Second, it proposes a contingency-based view of organizational cognition which is most developed through causal relations and also deductive and inductive reasoning. Grounded in these perspectives, this study sustains the thesis that cognition is a source of controlling environmental uncertainty and, complementarily, cognition contributes toward creating and sustaining the organizations competitive advantage.

New Frontiers in Industrial Organizations

This paper proposes the features of future industrial organizations in order to provide them with the abilities to manage high levels of environmental complexity in the 21st century. For such a purpose, it introduces the concept of computational organization management networks.

A THEORY OF ORGANIZATIONAL COGNITION: PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS

Organizations and the environment change over time. Not only change their structures and processes of functioning, but also the perspectives that researchers have about them over periods of time. Hence, scientists need to review theories of organizations in order to formulate new solutions to the problems of the present. It is in such a direction of thinking that this paper contributes by introducing new concepts, principles and propositions towards a theory of organizational cognition. It put forwards new perspectives about the organization and the environment, and also about the relations between them through the concept of cognition. From these backgrounds, this research also contributes by presenting the concepts of organizational intelligence and autonomy, hierarchic levels of cognition in organizational systems, along with cognitive definitions and complex models for the organization and the environment.