This volume continues the collaboration between the RMC book series and the French management research think tank ISEOR (Socio-Economic Institute for Firms and Organizations). Those familiar with Henri Savall’s and his colleague Véronique Zardet’s earlier work on the socio-economic theory of organizations will recognize their assessments of organizational dysfunctions and hidden costs – but in a different context. In their current work, the emphasis is on the tensions created by the wider environment – the idea of tetranormalization – and how those tensions shape and influence organizational life. Drawing on a wide range of examples from the news media and popular press, Savall and Zardet paint a disturbing picture of the underlying dynamics and challenges posed by a literal avalanche of standards and norms – which are often ambiguous and conflicting – that literally encompasses all that we do. Their analytic framework is composed of four “poles” – two social dimensions and two economic dimensions – that capture social norms and quality, safety and environment standards (the social dimension), and trade-related norms and accounting and financial standards (the economic dimension). Throughout the volume, Savall and Zardet’s analysis captures the myriad ways in which these dimensions interact, shaping the “rules of the game” that dictate how organizations compete and collaborate. Differentiating the “rules of the game” from “playing with” those rules, they delve into the subtleties and nuances that underlie these “poles,” providing further insight into how these forces are manipulated through lobbying and the seemingly 24/7 cycle of exposing, publicizing and rule-making surrounding social and economic as well as scientific and technological controversies. As Savall and Zardet argue, we are in the midst of a profound upheaval that will play havoc with our economic and social lives for some time to come. If we are going to exert influence on that reality, the challenges that we face moving forward must be conceptualized, constructed and implemented today, for, as they argue, “the road to durable prosperity will be a long haul.” Yet, moving beyond these challenges per se, they underscore that we are also presented with an exceptional opportunity – the very real opportunity to create a sustainable commitment to responsible and responsive organizational performance, one that can be fuelled and financed by our ability to translate the hidden costs that exist in all our organizations into productive, value-added activities and true wealth creation. Their analysis presents an intriguing challenge to traditional notions of corporate social responsibility, delving into the idea of “durably acceptable” responsibility, ways to facilitate greater stakeholder engagement, and how we can capture ongoing and sustainable improvement in organizational performance.

Organizational Change and Global Standardization: Solutions to Standards and Norms Overwhelming Organizations takes an organizational change approach to the overflow of standards and norms, looking at how to deal effectively and ethically with four kinds of standards and norms businesses face when they go global: (1) accounting & finance (2) international & world trade,(3) social and (4) safety & quality & environment. It is part of a larger problem faced by not only business, but every sort of organization - how to live with the epidemic of standards and norms, often in conflict, many just unnecessary, and a few that are quite helpful and important. There are good reasons to have International Standards Organization (ISO), International Labor Organization (ILO), World Trade Organization (WTO), North Atlantic Treaty Association (NAFTA), International accounting Standards Boards (IASB), International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)), and many more standard-setting organizations issuing, auditing, proposing codes of ethics, and certifying standards and norms. However, there are important, poorly understood organizational change consequences to the contagion of standards and norms. This volume brings together a unique group of authors who are working on a pragmatic way for organizations to deal with an overflow of standards and norms that are often at heads, ambiguous, or simply created to produce more work for a burgeoning standards setting industry. The aim of Organizational Change and Global Standardization is to stimulate a critical analysis within the framework of analytical and pragmatic approach to an overwhelming bureaucratization of the managed and organized global activities.

This volume is part of the ongoing collaboration between the RMC series and the Socio-Economic Institute for Firms and Organizations (ISEOR), a French intervention-research think tank co-directed by Henri Savall and Véronique Zardet. Building on an earlier collaboration on the ISEOR approach – Socio-Economic Intervention in Organizations: The Intervener-Researcher and the SEAM Approach to Organizational Analysis (IAP, 2007) – Buono and Savall bring together over 30 talented intervener-researchers to explore and examine the ongoing evolution of the Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM). This volume revisits the application of SEAM in the context of intervention challenges in the wake of the recent economic crisis and the disruptive change that has taken hold across the world. The basic foundation of SEAM – built on the idea of strategic patience, the need to undertake holistic intervention in organizations, and the challenge to get organizational members to listen to themselves (through what they refer to as the mirror effect) – has remained the same. In response to economic and organizational pressures in the current environment, however, there has been a concomitant emphasis on helping client organizations achieve short-term results while still maintaining focus on the long term. Many ideas that have become part of the current discourse within ISEOR today were not as explicitly addressed in the initial volume – from the destructive effect of the Taylorism-Fayolism-Weberism (TFW) virus, to the need to focus on ways to ensure the sustainability of a SEAM intervention, the growing importance of collaborative interactions between external and internal consultants, and the growing importance of cocreating knowledge with client firms and organizations.

This book is the 20th volume in the Research in Management Consulting series and the sixth major collaboration with Henri Savall, Véronique Zardet, and their team of intervenerresearchers from the Socio-Economic Institute for Firms and Organizations (ISEOR) in LyonÉcully, France. In 2013, for the first time, ISEOR co-sponsored a conference on its Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM) paradigm and methodology in the United States. The volume captures the ideas, applications, and exchanges of that meeting hosted by the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The book attempts to bring the reader into the conference itself. The different chapters include the contributors’ presentations (“Chapter Prologue: Conference Remarks”), revised conference papers, and the question and answer dialogue for the session. For those interested in delving further into the SEAM approach, the volume also contains a general bibliography on the development, critique, and application of the framework.

Whereas digital transformation, considered from the standpoint of strategy, suggests a direct link with business benefits, questions linger about the implementation of digital technologies that often result in a lack of return on investment. Many consulting trends adopt a technology-centered approach, assuming that AI, IoT, data analytics, or robotics, would lead to business performance. Yet, most of the time, organizational factors are neglected, especially hidden costs or hidden work. Moreover, unexpected consequences are overlooked, such as resistance to change. Digital transformation is a practical problem for managers. Are IS implementation approaches such as agile methods to Socio-Technical Systems (STS) sufficient to tackle these issues? This book suggests starting from organizational transformation, in essence, independently from technology with methods such as Business Process Management (BPM), Socio-Economic Approaches to Management (SEAM) or Organizational Development (OD). Overall, whereas technology-centered approaches have been associated with numerous unintended consequences and failures with previous generations of technologies (e.g., ERP or KMS), process-centered and human-centered approaches may represent a less risky approach to digital transformation implementation. This volume focuses on evaluating the potential performance improvements and risks of digital transformation and ways to assess how technology may support work and organizational goals. Therefore, whereas written by both academics and practitioners, this book has been written for all managers in companies and institutions in order to help them achieve digital transformation success.

Sustainability Accounting, Management Control and Reporting: A European Perspective traces a picture of innovative performance measurement tools and approaches to drive organizations to implement their shared value and sustainability strategy, considering different perspectives around accounting, managerial control and reporting. In recent years, organizations managing their responsible approach with relevance and pressure from stakeholders and regulations has proven to be a major challenge. During the first two decades of the 21st century, many companies have reached a real maturity in this area and have deployed coherent responsible approaches that are integrated into their overall strategy. It is now a matter of steering these responsible approaches from an accounting and managerial standpoint, but also of reporting on them. It requires the simultaneous use of comprehensive accounting, controlling and reporting tools. This book provides an innovative perspective on sustainable management control, comprehensive accounting and integrated reporting, presenting the most recent proposals and the main critical issues. Aimed at researchers, academics, managers, business leaders and advanced students, the book will be especially valuable to those in the fields of corporate social responsibility, strategic management, and accounting.

For researchers and managers interested in performance measurement, this volume includes innovative research that sheds light on topics such as the determinants of disclosure quality, the identification of appropriate metrics, the relationship among the different disclosure mechanisms and between voluntary and mandatory disclosure, and many more.