We describe the development and implementation of a Java-based, multi player, multi-group, distributed simulation and game. The Supply Chain game described here is based on the famous "Beer Distribution Game" (Sterman, 1989). Group, synchronous, distributed Java-based applications are both feasible and useful for gaming and management simulation processes in both learning and research capacities. Early results from actual running of the "Supply Chain game" are in line with data reported by Sterman (1989, 1992a,b). The Supply Chain game can be used as a teaching and research tool, generally in organizational processes and especially for e-commerce applications.

The conclusions in this paper are based on experience from the development of training programs in industrial international organizations as well as on experience from the development of a number of new undergraduate university curricula. The main theme is that there is an entirely new situation for many organizations today, The winners are the most flexible and adaptable actors, rather than the biggest and most experienced ones as has often been the case in the past. This has implications on the organization of training programs and continuing education for engineers in industry. 1

This paper discusses psychological safety and distinguishes it from the related construct of interpersonal trust. Trust is the expectation that others ' future actions will be favorable to one's interests; psychological safety refers to a climate in which people are comfortable being (and expressing) themselves. Although both constructs involve a willingness to be vulnerable to others ' actions, they are conceptually and theoretically distinct. In particular, psychological safety is centrally tied to learning behavior, while trust lowers transactions costs and reduces the need to monitor behavior. This paper proposes a model of antecedents and consequences of psychological safety in work teams and emphasizes the centrality of psychological safety for learning behavior. Drawing from field research in a variety of organizational settings, I describe different approaches to studying and measuring psychological safety in teams. I conclude with implications of this work including limitations of psychological safety in practice and suggestions areas for future research. 1 There's much greater openness on this team—it's intangible.- Marketing member, new product development team, manufacturing company [In this team] people are put down for being different...- Accountant, publications team, manufacturing company Mistakes [in this unit] are serious, because of the toxicity of the drugs—so you’re never afraid to tell the nurse manager.- Nurse, Team A, Memorial Hospital [The team leader] treats you as guilty if you make a mistake... I was called into her office and made to feel like a two-year old... You get put on trial...- Nurse, Team B, Memorial Hospital

and managing three dilemmas in knowledge management:

Association meetings in New Orleans, 2000 and the American Sociological Association

This study addresses the problem of how to align employee behavior and decisions with the strategic direction and goals developed by organizations. Specifically, this study aims to develop and test a theory concerning the leadership and communication processes involved in linking organizational vision with the actual work behaviors and decisions of employees in order to strategically align behavioral activity toward organizational ends. This ‘vision integration process ’ was assessed with organizational commitment as the dependent variable. The hypothesized research model, which was developed from the academic disciplines of communication and leadership, is offered to initially test the basic linear relationships involved in the vision integration process. A sample of 1,481 employees from a large northeastern supermarket chain completed surveys, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the results. Results supported all four hypothesized relationships of the basic model. A more complex theoretical model was then analyzed, comparing measures of vision-related leadership and communication, with various goodness of fit indices being found significant. A reconceptualization of vision for research and practice is offered, as well as future enhancements for this line of research. 3

How to design and make cost and management control systems work in today’s empowered, learning organizations has become the subject of much debate. This essay sketches a Competence Management framework that can be used to inform case study work (as well as standard statistical studies) aimed at addressing the question of how to design and use cost management system in a learning organization. Key-words: Competence management; framework; field study; cost management.

©This paper is not for reproduction without permission of the author. In the evolution of metaphors of organisation an interesting phenomenon can be observed. While the source fields of the first metaphors of machines and organisms were somehow "external " to the organisation, the source fields of subsequent metaphors and especially those of open systems, complex systems, autopoietic systems and learning organisation are overlapping with the concepts of organisation itself (the ta r-get field). The main aim of this paper is to study how this evolution and development of the Information Society influence the theory of organisation. The Information Society is characterised as a system with a growing capability of mapping the environment and itself onto its me mory. A hypothesis is advanced that this characteristic of the Information Society can be helpful in considering self-reference in the methodology of neoclassical economics, which in turn, may prove helpful in deepening our understanding of the "New Economy". 1