In a collection of nine inter-linked essays, Meštrović provides critical insights into the defining questions of our age. Mixing theoretical, empirical and normative insights, utilising inter-disciplinary or, more accurately, post-disciplinary modes of reasoning, Meštrović traces the current imbalance between market globalisation and globalised modes of sociability as a consequence of central contradictions within the current capitalist mode of production, not only between capital and labour but between capital and society and, indeed, capital and culture. The struggle to find a new narrative freed from the false binary between science and values, in the service of a sustainable future, found in the demands of movements for global justice and solidarity, may lead to the production of a new commons, for social interactions outside of, and beyond, the restrictions of the market. In a condition of capitalist crisis, in which biopolitical production is both required by, and interpreted through, the narrow confines of ‘autistic’ economic thought, Meštrović searches for new forms of subjectivity, in which a new multitude may form as a movement towards freedom in which the composition of singularities leads towards the increasing autonomy of each participating equally in the web of communication and cooperation.
Have you ever wondered why even large companies fail when faced with changes in their environment? Would you be surprised to learn that the average life expectancy of a Fortune 500 company is below 50 years? This book presents findings from 19 case studies in multinational companies such as Siemens, Volkwagen, General Electric, Philips and Deutsche Telekom. René Rohrbeck proposes a Maturity Model to assess how prepared a company is to respond to external (disruptive) change. He uses data from 107 interviews with board members, corporate strategists, innovation managers, and corporate foresight professionals to present and discuss best practices. Using illustrations to show the complex interaction of corporate foresight with other units such as innovation and strategic management, René Rohrbeck provides the reader with rich insights on how to make an organization agile and reactive towards change. For scholars this book proposes multiple hypotheses and frameworks for future research.
In the 1970s, social work in Britain was in crisis. A process of self-searching had begun, stimulated by changes in the organization of social services departments, by the growth of the radical movement in social work, and by the emergence of new techniques in social work. All this might have seemed a confusing and depressing prospect, but Professor Howard Jones, the editor of this collection of essays, originally published in 1975, felt on the contrary that this new situation in social work presented an opportunity for a potentially rewarding debate. He believed that the old unsatisfactory mould had been broken, and that it was now possible for the first time for many years to look at the basic issues in social work without preconceptions. The contributors to this book were all actively involved in the teaching and practice of social work at the time, and they came together to initiate a debate on the leading issues of the day. They were all concerned to find a right course for social work in this crucial period, and among the topics they cover are social work training, social workers and political action, community participation, and making use of research.
How Service Orientation Will Change Your Business "The real value of this book is that it makes SOA and Webservices, which are critical and business-transforming,crystal-clear to the layman, both business and IT leaders. The bookstays focused on the real-world issues facing business andgovernment institutions today. In an industry full of experts ofmany stripes, Ron and Jason are the real thing: savvy, experienced,and realistic. They have produced a must-read book formanagement." —Paul Lipton, Senior Architect, Unicenter Web Services andApplication Management Computer Associates "This is by far the finest publication on SOA of our time. Fromcover to back, Service Orient or Be Doomed! strips away thelayers of confusion most IT stakeholders face when confronted withenterprise architecture, and illustrates pragmatic and practicalpaths towards a sustainable and efficient enterprise architecture.Both the technically savvy and the bean counters will enjoy thisbook that speaks to the critical points they need tounderstand." —Duane A. Nickull Senior Standards Strategist, Adobe Systems,Inc. Chair, OASIS SOA Reference Model Technical Committee Vicechair, United Nations CEFACT (UN/CEFACT) "If you're looking for a guide that's based on reality, this isit. These guys know how you can service-orient your enterprise andhave the best chance of success. This book is the best SOA tool youcan buy. I'm recommending it to everyone." —Dave Linthicum, CEO, BRIDGEWERX "Jason and Ron are experts on Service-Oriented Architecture(SOA) and have written the first book that is aimed at helping anontechnical businessperson understand why the SOA computingrevolution is critical to business. Rather than provide a nerdydeath via buzzword book, Jason and Ron take a humorous, clever, andinsightful romp through this new technology and how it impactsbusiness in general." —Brad Feld, Mobius Venture Capital Authors Jason Bloomberg and Ronald Schmelzer-senior analysts forhighly respected IT advisory and analysis firm ZapThink-say it allin the title of their new book, Service Orient or Be Doomed!:How Service Orientation Will Change Your Business. That is, ifyou fail to service orient your company, you will fail in competingwith the organizations that do. This provocative new book takes service orientation out of itsmore familiar technological surroundings within service-orientedarchitecture and introduces it as a philosophy that advocates itsrightful place within a business context, redefining it as a newway of thinking about organizing your business and itsprocesses. Informal, challenging, and intelligent in style, ServiceOrient or Be Doomed!: How Service Orientation Will Change YourBusiness shows you how you can best use technology resources tomeet your company's business goals and empower your company to gofrom "stuck" to "competitive."
This book provides an innovative approach to meeting the challenges faced by philosophical hermeneutics in interpreting an ever-changing and multicultural world. Rudolf A. Makkreel proposes an orientational and reflective conception of interpretation in which judgment plays a central role. Moving beyond the dialogical approaches found in much of contemporary hermeneutics, he focuses instead on the diagnostic use of reflective judgment, not only to discern the differentiating features of the phenomena to be understood, but also to orient us to the various meaning contexts that can frame their interpretation. Makkreel develops overlooked resources of Kant’s transcendental thought in order to reconceive hermeneutics as a critical inquiry into the appropriate contextual conditions of understanding and interpretation. He shows that a crucial task of hermeneutical critique is to establish priorities among the contexts that may be brought to bear on the interpretation of history and culture. The final chapter turns to the contemporary art scene and explores how orientational contexts can be reconfigured to respond to the ways in which media of communication are being transformed by digital technology. Altogether, Makkreel offers a promising way of thinking about the shifting contexts that we bring to bear on interpretations of all kinds, whether of texts, art works, or the world.
The material presented in these two volumes may be divided into two main sections. The first section covers biblical texts and texts which fall between the categories biblical and non-biblical. It also includes articles on topics relating to the history of the Qumran community and to the study of the New Testament in the light of the Qumran discoveries. The second section covers non-biblical texts, such as the Temple Scroll. The two sections are synthesized in the article by Frank M. Cross, in which he reviews the advances made and the challenges for the future in the field of Qumran studies. Several topics recur constantly in many of the articles, such as the origins of the history of the Qumran community, the problem of the distinction between what is biblical and non-biblical in the Qumran manuscripts, and the question of the authority of the texts in the Qumran community.
