We examine the process of strategization of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within 12 Israeli firms using a longitudinal qualitative approach. We analyzed the process of CSR strategization under Jarzabkowski’s framework. Our findings identify the differentiating characteristics of CSR strategization processes, including the requirement for informative communications rather than persuasive negotiations, and the absence of resistance within the organizational community. These unique aspects of CSR strategization may be attributed to the moral and value-centric nature of CSR activity.

Emergent structural approaches to institutional complexity tend to inhibit the role of agency in addressing logic multiplicity scenarios. Prior studies of logic multiplicity have documented a diverse set of outcomes, ranging from domination through hybridization, and characterized by various levels of conflict. A new stream of research has emerged that seeks to explain this heterogeneity through the structural components of complexity. These studies tend to minimize the role of agency in institutional complexity scenarios, positing that outcome diversity, and the organization’s (...) ability to exert agency, can be accounted for by the interaction of exogenously determined parameters, such as centrality, compatibility, prioritization, and jurisdictional overlap. This article revisits the role of agency in these models, suggesting that agency is not only framed by, but may itself shape, structure. The article draws on a comparative case study in five Israeli nonprofit organizations, focusing on the introduction of the business logic through a strategic planning process, and the challenge that this represents for the legacy social logic. The case studies demonstrate that organizations regularly use a set of distinctive mechanisms to manipulate the structural components of complexity, and, in so doing, agentically regulate logic multiplicity outcomes. (shrink)

As the title of this article suggests, the concept of the interface needs to be revisited in the context of biological media in order to infer some implications for the post-biological culture. A direct comparison of our media culture to the environmental notion of the media and the natural partitioning of the media by biological membranes becomes possible if we expand on the notions of media and interfaces in our technologically conditioned realities. The question of periphery and permeability of a (...) biological membrane will be addressed in the context of the theory of aesthetics. Although at first glance we are dealing only with subtle changes in the degree of permeability of an interface, suddenly selectiveness in permeability arises, and though an interface is considered simply peripheral, at a slight touch with an opposing media its role swiftly becomes central. Taking into account the functioning of a biological membrane, a remarkably resourceful technology, associations stem from the culture on the cellular level to the culture of human society, where the human being should not be limited to the concept of self, but operatively diffused into collective awareness. The technologies that we develop, and the media we employ and inhabit always meet at an interface. But there is more to the face-to-face meeting of media than a mere inert surface. Such a surface as a membrane is not abstractly thin but more like ‘infrathin’ – the term invented by the artist Marcel Duchamp. What happens at such confrontation of media of different kinds, of incomparable qualities, will be further discussed in the article. The dynamics of permeability at the periphery adjust the tension between heterogeneous qualities of the media to allow for coexistence, even for the emergence of new meanings. This heterogeneity can be experienced only within the interface, and therefore an inner view is proposed instead of a view from above, an inner view that prevents reduction of processes to commensurable, quantifiable objects. Since interface occurs at every interaction with the world, as explained in the theory of endophysics by biochemist Otto E. Rössler, we have to be aware of the problematics of this phenomenon, and we must rethink its potential. The interface is at the same time an opportunity, the interval we are given, where our drive to act is suppressed and our will to speculate prevails. By contemplating intricate biological solutions, this article hopes to further encourage the turn towards post-biological evolution of our awareness. (shrink)

The instructions inscribed in French on a strip of metal glued across Marcel Duchamp’s work, also known as Small Glass, translate into English as follows: ‘To Be Looked at (from the Other Side of the Glass) with One Eye, Close to, for Almost an Hour’. In exploration of the implications of such strenuous procedure the original instructions will be expanded upon: ‘To Be Looked at (from Multiple Sides) with more than One I, Close to and Even Closer, for Almost an (...) Instant’ - an invitation to exercise the polyphibic awareness of multiplicity of appearances, the ability to look at a phenomenon not only from one or the other side but from multiple sides, in its multiple potential apparitions. (shrink)

The following article is a report on inevitable intervention in the current state of affairs in well-intended and well-funded projects based on obsolete categorization of art and science. After unsatisfactory outcomes, on the disappointment of project directors themselves, a productive collaboration between artists and scientists is still desperately sought after, without considering with subtlety a re-categorization that is already happening. This intervention is an ‘in advance reminder’ for foreseeable recognition of the current state of affairs, a reminder of the sensibility (...) necessary to recognize, as soon as possible, the accelerating rate at which concepts are continuously becoming obsolete, and the increasing fluidity of our intellectual and intuitive production. (shrink)

The first round about ‘The myth of ASCOT and its rival ASCO2.T: tech-noetic vs. techno-logic’ exposed the hazard in colliding obsolete disciplinary categories under outdated procedures. The orthodox jurisdiction of Ars Electronica and CERN in Collide@CERN, one of the most prominent ongoing programmes of this kind, does not eliminate the risk of missing the target by operating with categories of artists and scientists. Art is one of those disciplines with a long expired warranty, but with decay on its periphery that (...) is turning into fertile forefront territories. Fresh temporary categories are marking and spreading over these uncharted territories and sensibly interconnecting with peripheries of other disciplines. The ex-artist that is reborn in this peripheral transdisciplinary zone can be provisionally categorized as a polyphibian for its features to be carefully studied. Like amphibians, a polyphibian can coherently transcend from one medium to another, in between and beyond the disciplines. In order to research the implications of such ‘categorical’ mutations, a readymade was submitted to the organization of Collide@CERN under the licence of R. Mutt. Namely, the readymade ASCOTT (Apparatus with Super COnducting Thought Transduction) dubbed also ASCO2.T is needed as the second-order upgrade of the existing plan for ASCOT (Apparatus with Super COnducting Toroids) invented by the scientists for CERN. As is expected from the reputation of R. Mutt’s readymades – this submission was ignored and refused in just the same quiet manner as his most notorious one. But if society would not provide salons for the refused artists (Salon des Refuses) right next to the salons under the scrutiny of academically established artists, there would be no mutations and no evolution in art. Such mutations of the artist into a ‘complex and widely distributed system’ at the dispersing fringes of decomposing art was already predicted by R. Ascott. Polyphibians are the species surviving the ripening metamorphosis of disciplines by taking refuge in the unexplored transdisciplinary buffer zone. This is the only zone where a confrontation of ASCOT technology with tech-noetics of ASCO2.T is possible. The refused unknown demands not a Salon but the Interval of Suspended Judgement. In the sequel to the first round of this debate, the Interval of Suspended Judgement will be investigated. (shrink)

Kao i sva živa bića, čovjek je djelomično genetski predodređen, tj. određen i prije nego što se u potpunosti razvije kao ljudsko biće. Ali ono što čovjeka bitno razlikuje od svih nam poznatih živih bića, jest upravo to što je, u odnosu na njih, njegova predodređenost bitno manje u-rođena, a znatno više pri-rođena. A to znači da su ljudi u odnosu na druge žive vrste manje predodređeni na genskoj, a više na memskoj, upravo kulturnoj razini. Kulturni, a to znači (...) povijesno oduhovljeni okoliš u koji se djeca rađaju i koji zatiču pri-rođenju bitan je čimbenik njihova daljnjeg razvitka. Stoga se čovjek i ne rađa kao čovjek, nego kao dijete koje čovjekom tek mora postati. Za razliku, naime, od bićâ koja već pri rođenju imaju sve bitne odlike svoje vrste i koja se stoga mogu razvijati i uzgojem, tj. poticanjem na rast i pridizanjem onoga što im je biološki već dano, djeci je za ljudski razvitak potreban odgoj koji će ih tek uvesti u određenu kulturu kao njihov duhovni – i samo takav istinski ljudski – zavičaj. Čitavo čovjekovo biće, dakle i ono tjelesno, raste u duhu određene kulture i izrasta iz njega. Kako i koliko kultura određuje čovjeka – predmet je ove rasprave.As all other living beings, man is partially genetically predisposed, that is, determined even before it completely develops as a human being. However, the thing that differentiates man from all other known living beings is the fact that, compared to them, his predisposition is significantly less natured, and significantly more nurtured. This means that humans compared to other living species are less determined on a genetic, and more on a memetic, cultural level. Cultural, meaning a historically spiritualized environment, children are born into and find with birth, is an important factor of their further development. Thus, humans are not born as humans, but as children that have yet to become human. Namely, unlike the beings that have all the important characteristics of their species at birth, which are thus able to develop through breeding, that is, through encouragement of growth and nurturing of what is biologically given, for human development children need raising that will only introduce them into a specific culture as their spiritual – and truly human – environment. The entire human being, including the physical, grows up in a spirit of a specific culture and springs from it. How and how much culture determines man is the topic of this discussion. (shrink)

Diskuse nad charakterem ekonomie jako exaktní vědy je stále živá. V průběhu 20. století bývají pokusy o exaktní založení ekonomie spojovány s autory Rakouské ekonomické školy. Stejná myšlenka se objevuje také u autorů Brněnské ekonomické školy, kde vystupuje požadavek na noetickou očistu ekonomie. Tento příspěvek popisuje společné rysy obou těchto přístupů, které je možné spatřovat v odvození zákona klesajícího mezního užitku čistě formálními metodami. Na základě této analýzy dále odhaluje obecné podmínky možnosti traktování ekonomie jako exaktní vědy.

Autor u radu analizira predsokratovsko razmatranje φρόνησις-a i αἴσθησις-a, promatrano kroz prizmu Aristotelovog poricanja logoskih sposobnosti životinjama i biljkama. Aristotelov generalni stav je da većina predsokratovaca nije razlučivala um, mišljenje i razboritost od opažanja i drugih aspekata duše. Bitnu aporiju u promišljanju predsokratovaca Stagiranin obrazlaže tvrdnjom da su oni, doduše, istraživali istinu bića, ali polazeći od pretpostavke da su jedina zbiljska bića osjetilne stvari. Predsokratovci, sukladno tomu, shvaćaju umovanje kao nešto tjelesno poput opažanja i često razumiju da se slično sličnim (...) opaža i shvaća. Očekivana konsekvenca ovakvog pristupa tvrdnja je predsokratovaca da ne samo ljudi nego i sva ostala bića imaju svijest, mišljenje i razboritost. Do krajnosti doveden stav nekih od njih izražava se riječima da se biljke pokreću po prirodnoj žudnji, da dišu, osjećaju, da mogu biti tužne i vesele, kao i da imaju moć rasuđivanja, razum i um. Autor je zaključio da je predsokratovac Alkmeon razlikovanjem mišljenja tj. razboritosti od opažanja najjasnije anticipirao Aristotelovo vlastito stajalište. Alkmeonova tvrdnja da se čovjek razlikuje od drugih živih bića po tome što on jedini razumije, dok druga živa bića primaju osjete, ali ne razumiju, na tragu je Stagiraninovog naglašavanja da se logoske sposobnosti mogu pripisivati isključivo ljudima i da čovjek ima ontološki primat u odnosu na druga živa bića. (shrink)

U antropocentričkim se pristupima čovjekovim potrebama i interesima u vegetativnoj prirodi pripisuje moralna vrijednost. Imaju li i druga živa bića interese koje bi čovjek u svom ophođenju s njima trebao uzimati u obzir? To se pitanje ovdje obrađuje raspravom o interesima , intrinzičkoj vrijednosti i o »moralnim pravima« biljaka kao mogućim nositeljima njihova moralnoga statusa. Analogno osjetilnoj sposobnosti životinja, pokušava se u sposobnosti biljke da uspijeva prepoznati onu sposobnost koja bi mogla utemeljiti njezin moralni status .Mogu li se ljudi (...) u svome djelovanju naspram biljaka ponašati pogrešno ili ispravno i jesu li posljedice toga odnosa etički relevantne, ne samo naočigled ljudskih interesa i potreba nego i biljaka samih, ovisi o moralnom statusu biljaka. Njihovo se moralno zahtijevanje naspram ljudi temelji u njihovu moralnom statusu.In den anthropozentrischen Positionen treten die Bedürfnisse und Interessen des Menschen an vegetativer Natur als tragende Elemente auf, denen ein moralischer Wert zugesprochen wird. Demzufolge wird gefragt, ob auch die nichtmenschlichen Lebewesen Interesse hätten, die vom Menschen in seinem Umgang mit ihnen berücksichtigt werden sollten? Dieser Frage wird hier nachgegangen, indem die Interessen , Eigenwerte , „moralische Rechte“ der Pflanzen als mögliche Träger ihres „moralischen Status“ hinterfragt werden. Es wird versucht in der Fähigkeit der Pflanze zu gedeihen – analog zu der Empfindungsfähigkeit bei den Tieren – jene Eigenschaft zu erkennen, die den „moralischen Status“ der Pflanzen begründen könnte .Ob sich Menschen in ihrem Handeln den Pflanzen gegenüber falsch oder richtig verhalten können, und ob die Folgen dieses Verhaltens nicht nur angesichts der menschlichen Interessen und Bedürfnisse, sondern wegen der Pflanzen selbst ethisch relevant sind, hängt davon ab, was für einen „moralischen Status“ Pflanzen haben. Ihr moralischer Anspruch an die Menschen gründet in ihrem „moralischen Status“. (shrink)