An Integrated Approach to Oversight Assessment for Emerging Technologies

Analysis of oversight systems is often conducted from a single disciplinary perspective and by using a limited set of criteria for evaluation. In this article, we develop an approach that blends risk analysis, social science, public administration, legal, public policy, and ethical perspectives to develop a broad set of criteria for assessing oversight systems. Multiple methods, including historical analysis, expert elicitation, and behavioral consensus, were employed to develop multidisciplinary criteria for evaluating oversight of emerging technologies. Sixty‐six initial criteria were identified from extensive literature reviews and input from our Working Group. Criteria were placed in four categories reflecting the development, attributes, evolution, and outcomes of oversight systems. Expert elicitation, consensus methods, and multidisciplinary review of the literature were used to refine a condensed, operative set of criteria. Twenty‐eight criteria resulted spanning four categories: seven development criteria, 15 attribute criteria, five outcome criteria, and one evolution criterion. These criteria illuminate how oversight systems develop, operate, change, and affect society. We term our approach “integrated oversight assessment” and propose its use as a tool for analyzing relationships among features, outcomes, and tradeoffs of oversight systems. Comparisons among historical case studies of oversight using a consistent set of criteria should result in defensible and evidence‐supported lessons to guide the development of oversight systems for emerging technologies, such as nanotechnology.     

Assessment of systemic greenness: a case study of tyre manufacturing unit

Abstract

In this paper, we develop an assessment framework to evaluate the systemic greenness of a tyre manufacturing unit by capturing the interactions between the green practices implemented. By reviewing the existing literature, we propose a stakeholder-based green practices framework comprising of operation strategy practices, process practices, employee practices, regulatory practices, customer practices, competition practices, social practices, and supplier practices. The empirical data on the interactions of green practices between and within stakeholders are collected by conducting a detailed case study of a large radial tyre manufacturing unit in India. We use graph-theoretic approach to incorporate the interactions between different green practices and assess the systemic greenness of the case organisation. Based on the systemic greenness attained, we rank the green practices within stakeholders and also between the stakeholders. We conduct scenario analysis to develop a systemic greenness index and a scale to assist practitioners in evaluating and benchmarking the greenness performance. We also discuss implications for theory and practice along with the inherent limitations.     

The Negative Effects of Social Capital in Organizations: A Review and Extension

Numerous studies have examined the positive effects of social capital in organizations, whereas the possible negative effects have attracted considerably less scholarly attention. To rectify this imbalance, this paper first undertakes a rigorous review of the published scholarly empirical evidence pertaining to the negative effects of social capital in organizations through a search of Web of Knowledge and Scopus, and then enumerates six potentially negative effects arising from increased levels of social capital. The review focuses on negative effects arising from bonding social capital and those arising from dense networks and closure, advancing new theory to elucidate the generative mechanisms that give rise to the proposed negative effects. Finally, the authors identify potential moderators of the negative effects thus theorized. Using the lens of social identification theory, the authors argue that dysfunctional identification processes restrict the processing of information and stimulate over‐commitment to established relationships, diluting in turn the dialectical process, and inhibiting individual learning within organizations, culminating in groupthink, the postponement of structural adjustments, the non‐rational escalation of commitment, and the blurring of firms’ boundaries. This review thus furthers the agenda of a more balanced inquiry into the effects of social capital in organizations.