Some basic assumptions

Introduction

Assumptions

A pedagogical assumption

Pedagogy is the science of teaching. Most of the material available for teaching relates to the business world. Therefore, for the purposes of this module, the 'Real World' = (largely) the (multinational/transnational) business world. Many of the ideas that are discussed are equally applicable to other examples of the 'managed world' such as hospitals or charities.

The nature of "the real world" is explored in greater detail in the next section.

An analytical assumption

Notwithstanding the assertion that "there are no simple answers" I would like to treat solutions to managing in the real world as if they can be classified in one of four ways (see a later lecture for details). These four less complex categories are sometimes known as paradigms. I do not wish to argue that it reflects reality, rather that this is a useful way of thinking about and analyzing such problems.

More information on the concept of a paradigm can be found in the links below.

Reading

Books

• See any of the books from the MIS books section

Articles

• Gibbons M. (1994), The New Production of Knowledge The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies, Sage Publications
• Hirschheim, R.A, Klein (1989) Four Paradigms of Information Systems Development. Communications of the ACM 32(10) 1199-1216
• Jayaratna, N (1988), A Guide to Methodology: Understanding Information Systems in Practice, The Journal of Information Management, (8), 43-53
• Burrell. G, Morgan. G (1979) Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis. Heinemann
• Morgan. G, (1980) Paradigms, metaphors and puzzle-solving in organization theory, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol 25, pp 605-622.

Links

• If you wish to search for additional sources of information, use the MIS links page

• The New Economy
  A slightly cynical view of the "The New Economy" From Wikipedia.
• Business and industry policies for knowledge-based economies
  A less cynical view from the OECD Observer
• After the New Economy: The Binge... and the Hangover That Won't Go Away
  A look back at the new economy from journalist Doug Henwood.

• Paradigm Shifts
  A brief description of how the term was originally used by Thomas Kuhn.
• The New Paradigm in Macroeconomics: Solving the Riddle of Japanese Macroeconomic Performance
  A proposed 'new economic paradigm' based on the analysis of the Japanese Economy made in 2005
• Change of Paradigm in Knowledge Management
  Discusses Knowledge management as a 'new communication paradigm'.