Human Resource Management and the Appropriation Learning Perspective

This paper posits the concept ofappropriation to explain the underlyingethos and rationale for seeking to secure thecontribution of people to organizational functioning.Human resource management (HRM) practice is therefore largely underpinnedby the objective of appropriating the human resourcevalue. This is ignored by thepractitioner-oriented literature which has a financialinterest in helping organizations to secure this value,and by the academic literature which is unwilling toconfront the contradictions and uncomfortable truthsinherent in such activities. The traditional approach to appropriation is characterized by suchconcerns as skill-formation, commitment to theorganization, shared corporate values, and a reliance onformally constituted governance structures with aputative integrative ethos. This paper advocates areconstitution of the appropriation regime toincorporate the concepts of knowledge and learning. Wedraw from the innovation management literature tohighlight the problematic nature of appropriation and toclarify the implications of appropriation to themanagement of the knowledge that resides in people.Finally, we suggest how future research might proceed within an Appropriation Learning (A–L)perspective.     

Constructing climate capitalism: corporate power and the global climate policy‐planning network

In this article, I analyse the corporate hegemonic structures of power underlying the project of climate capitalism. I present climate capitalism as an emerging regime of accumulation founded on carbon markets and the ecological modernization of production, which could replace the prevalent carboniferous capitalist regime and provide a deeply needed reduction of carbon emissions. I map out the network of corporate‐funded climate and environmental policy groups participating in climate capitalist knowledge production and mobilization to provide a critical appraisal of the possibility of such a transition. The positioning of these policy groups allows them to play a crucial role as intermediaries between regional and sectoral corporate interests and they provide a crucial link between energy and financial firms. However, energy–finance linkages are sparse, and a small number of individual capitalists carry a relatively thin network from the fossil fuel and nuclear sectors. These findings cast doubt on the hypothesis that a strong climate capitalist coalition is emerging.     

International doctoral students as knowledge brokers: reciprocity,trust and solidarity in transnational networks

In this article, we examine the role of brokerage, the knowledge that brokers transfer and the social conditions of that transfer. Previous research suggests that highly skilled migrants spanning multiple locales have the advantage of being able to transfer knowledge as they move from one place to another. In this study, using a network perspective, we look at the activities of international doctoral students in their transfer of knowledge and illustrate the underlying social conditions of knowledge transfer through transnational friendship networks. Using a qualitative methodology, we examine the research questions and 35 in‐depth interviews, as well as egocentric network analysis conducted in Germany. In the findings, we explore the social conditions of knowledge brokerage, including trust, reciprocity and solidarity. Finally, we discuss the implications for further research on knowledge sharing among brokers and international students.     

Organization Learning Disorders: Conceptual Model and Intervention Hypotheses

This paper presents a conceptual model thatproposes how organization learning disorders influenceorganization performance. The model suggests thatorganization knowledge mediates the relationship between learning disorders and performance. Specificorganization learning disorders are identified for eachof the four phases of organization learning: discovery,invention, production, and generalization. The effect of learning disorders on organizationknowledge is explored, and intervention hypotheses fortreating the disorders are presented.