Release | Fit for functional differentiation: new directions for personnel management and organizational change bridging the fit theory and social systems theory

Abstract: This conceptual paper seeks to bridge two existing theories in a bid to broaden our analytical scope when studying the process of onboarding, retention and exclusion of organizational members. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.The authors draw on the social systems theory to advance the fit theory demonstrating the pertinence […]

Release | The great reset of management and organization theory. A European perspective

Abstract: In mid-2020, the World Economic Forum (WEF) announced the Great Reset, an initiative launched to assert, describe, and shape the direction of an epochal transition brought about by the global coronavirus crisis. Rooted in a European tradition of social theory, this article aims to articulate the broader social context of this scenario and pinpoint […]

Veröffentlichung | Der Staat des multifunktionalen Liberalismus. Zu den Entscheidungsprämissen der nächsten politischen Ökologie

Zusammenfassung: Die Coronakrise schafft Momentum für notstandsstaatliche Massnahmen und Gruppenmoral. Man begründet Sonderrechte und überträgt das aktuelle Krisenmanagement gedanklich auf den Kampf gegen den Klimawandel. Vor dem Hintergrund dieser «neuen Normalität» skizziert der vorliegende Beitrag ein Staatsverständnis, das sich mehr als Rahmenkonzept von Staatlichkeit denn als Gegenmodell zum totalitären Notstandsstaat versteht. Dabei zeigt sich, dass dieser […]

Release | The Great Reset. Restratification for Lives, Livelihoods, and the Planet

Abstract: In reviewing the Great Reset, an initiative launched by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in response to the global coronavirus crisis, this perspective article considers the scenario of an epochal transition from capitalism to “restorism”. To facilitate the observation of underlying trends and assumptions, a systems-theoretical framework is developed for the observation of both […]

CFP | The Great Reset of management and organization theory

Call for papers to a special issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Management [SSCI 1.891, Scopus, CNRS**, CABS**, VHB***] on The Great Reset of management and organization theory Proponents Steffen Roth, Full Professor of Management, La Rochelle Business School, France, and Adjunct Professor of Economic Sociology, University of Turku, Finland [corresponding proponent]. Wojciech Czakon, Full Professor of Strategic […]

Release | Social goals in the theory of the firm: a systems theory view

Abstract: Drawing on Luhmannian social systems theory, this article revisits the single- versus multiple-objective debate on the theory of the firm. Firms are conceptualized as complexity-reducing systems structurally coupled with potentially risky environments, and profit-maximization is considered as a complexity reduction strategy for making sense of these environments. Whereas single-objective approaches reflect cases when environmental […]

Release | East of nature. Accounting for the environments of social sciences

Abstract: At the core of ecological economics is the image of the economy as an open system embedded in the natural environment whose carrying capacity is limited. The present paper revisits this image by drawing upon Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory. To Luhmann, the modern society consists of a multitude of social systems each bringing […]

Reblog | We have never been capitalist. Big data insights into social macro trends (1800–2000)

We think of modern societies as areligious and oriented more towards money and power. But what makes us sure that this idea is true? How can we know that secularisation, the dominance of politcs, and the primacy of money really are in the DNA of our societies? In an earlier article published in Technological Forecasting […]

Release | Big data insights into social macro trends (1800-2000): A replication study

Roth S., Schwede P., Valentinov V., Zazar K., and Kaivo-oja J. (2019), Big data insights into social macro trends (1800-2000): A replication study, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 149, 119759 [SSCI 5.846, Scopus, CNRS***, FNEGE***, CABS***, VHB***]. Highlights: Dominant theories of society are grounded on strong assumptions about the capitalist nature of the modern society Results from […]

Dr. Steffen Roth

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