Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Structural Theories (structural + theory)
Selected AbstractsSystem Dynamics as a Structural Theory in Operations ManagementPRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2008Andreas Größler The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the usefulness of (1) system dynamics as a structural theory for operations management and (2) system dynamics models as content theories in operations management. The key findings are that, although feedback loops, accumulation processes, and delays exist and are widespread in operations management, often these phenomena are ignored completely or not considered appropriately. Hence, it is reasoned why system dynamics is well suited as an approach for many operations management studies, and it is shown how system dynamics theory can be used to explain, analyze, and understand such phenomena in operations management. The discussion is based on a literature review and on conceptual considerations, with examples of operations management studies based on system dynamics. Implications of using this theory include the necessary re-framing of some operations management issues and the extension of empirical studies by dynamic modeling and simulation. The value of the paper lies in the conceptualization of the link between system dynamics and operations management, which is discussed on the level of theory. [source] A Deeper Structural TheoryARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Issue 4 2010Nina Rappaport Abstract The architectural critic and author Nina Rappaport celebrates a new structural synthesis that takes a holistic approach to tectonics, uniting the bones or structure of a building with its skin. She calls for a new structurally based theory that effectively fuses culture and technology, embracing ,deep decoration' and ,subtle innovation' and reviving a design tradition that can be traced back to AWN Pugin and John Ruskin. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A Bargaining Theory of Minority Demands: Explaining the Dog that Did not Bite in 1990s YugoslaviaINTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2004Erin Jenne This article develops a general theory of bargaining between a minority, its host state, and outside lobby actor to explain why minorities shift their demands from affirmative action to cultural autonomy to secessionism and back, often in the absence of clear economic or security incentives. This paper uses a simple game tree model to show that if a minority believes that it enjoys significant support from a powerful national homeland or other external actor, it radicalized its demands against the host state, even if the center has credibly committed to protect minority rights. Conversely, if a minority believes that it enjoys no external support, then it will accommodate the host state, even in the presence of significant majority repression. As a general theory of claim-making, this model challenges structural theories of demands that rely on static economic differences or historical grievances to explain claim-making. It also challenges security dilemma arguments that hold that minority radicalization is mainly a function of ethnic fears. The model's hypotheses are tested using longitudinal analysis of Hungarians in Vojvodina during the 1990s, as the Yugoslav dog that "barked but did not bite." Careful examination of claim-making in this case demonstrates the superior explanatory power of the ethnic bargaining model as compared with dominant theories of minority mobilization in the literature. [source] Judicial Performance and the Rule of Law in the Mexican StatesLATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2006Caroline C. Beer ABSTRACT What determines how judicial institutions perform? Prominent theoretical approaches, such as international political economy, institutional rational choice, social capital, and structural theories, suggest that international economic actors, political competition, political participation, and poverty may all be important forces driving institutional behavior. This study analyzes these various theoretical approaches and uses qualitative and statistical analysis to compare judicial performance in the Mexican states. It provides evidence to support the institutional rational choice hypothesis that political competition generates judicial independence. Poverty, political participation, and an export-oriented economy seem to influence judicial access and effectiveness. [source] Learning about Democracy in Africa: Awareness, Performance, and ExperienceAMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2007Robert Mattes Conventional views of African politics imply that Africans' political opinions are based either on enduring cultural values or their positions in the social structure. In contrast, we argue that Africans form attitudes to democracy based upon what they learn about what it is and does. This learning hypothesis is tested against competing cultural, institutional, and structural theories to explain citizens' demand for democracy (legitimation) and their perceived supply of democracy (institutionalization) with data from 12 Afrobarometer attitude surveys conducted between 1999 and 2001. A multilevel model that specifies and estimates the impacts of both individual- and national-level factors provides evidence of learning from three different sources. First, people learn about the content of democracy through cognitive awareness of public affairs. Second, people learn about the consequences of democracy through direct experience of the performance of governments and (to a lesser extent) the economy. Finally, people draw lessons about democracy from national political legacies. [source] Comparative Sociology of Law: Legal Fields, Legal Scholarships, and Social Sciences in Europe and the United StatesLAW & SOCIAL INQUIRY, Issue 2 2006Mauricio García-Villegas This article attempts to gain a better understanding of the sociology(ies) of law in a comparative perspective through a structural and comparative explanation of the American and the French legal fields. It is argued that comparative sociology of law will not be able to explain the difference among countries, scholars, movements, and schools of thought in short, it will not be able to compare,as long as it avoids the analysis of some social and cultural presuppositions related to the context in which these differences take place. It focuses mainly on two of these presuppositions. First, legal fields, with their history, their internal structure, and their power relations, and second the type of relation between the legal field and the state. The empirical examination provided in this article explicitly seeks to offer insights for the reconstruction of Bourdieu's structural theory of the legal field. [source] System Dynamics as a Structural Theory in Operations ManagementPRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2008Andreas Größler The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the usefulness of (1) system dynamics as a structural theory for operations management and (2) system dynamics models as content theories in operations management. The key findings are that, although feedback loops, accumulation processes, and delays exist and are widespread in operations management, often these phenomena are ignored completely or not considered appropriately. Hence, it is reasoned why system dynamics is well suited as an approach for many operations management studies, and it is shown how system dynamics theory can be used to explain, analyze, and understand such phenomena in operations management. The discussion is based on a literature review and on conceptual considerations, with examples of operations management studies based on system dynamics. Implications of using this theory include the necessary re-framing of some operations management issues and the extension of empirical studies by dynamic modeling and simulation. The value of the paper lies in the conceptualization of the link between system dynamics and operations management, which is discussed on the level of theory. [source] | |||||||||||||