Measuring Corporate Viability

Résumé du livre

A case study of a renewable, electrical energy corporation was used as the basis for developing a new method for measuring organizational viability. Viability presumes a practical capability for sustained success and effectiveness. Increasingly over recent years, institutional status has been reliant on empirical equilibrium measurement techniques based on "negative feedback". This has resulted in the growing diffusion of misrepresentative information into society (Redmond, 2003) including misleading portraits of corporate viability. In contrast, homeorhesis measurement, based on both "negative feedback" and "positive feedback", offers a holistic interpretive approach (Ball, 1979). This study proposes the construction of a positive feedback model based on tripartite paradigm decision making theory (Donohue, 2003). An "objective" organizational narrative was generated from nine in-depth interviews to interpret stakeholder decision-making. Additionally, a cognitive mapping technique was introduced to facilitate the operationalization of the positive feedback model. Responses to research questions differed between homeostasis and homeorhesis measurement findings. Findings support the Donohue (2003) claim that tripartite paradigm modeling can provide both explanatory and remedial value in the examination of organizations. Findings also support the use of the dialectical framework proposed by Ball (1979) as a rich basis for social science inquiry.