The purpose of this article is to explore psychoanalytically grounded approaches to organizational consultation. The article draws on existing literature as well as personal interviews with several contributors in the field to articulate certain critical concerns over psychoanalytically grounded organizational study and intervention. These include the inappropriate analyzing of clients, non-systemic interventions, wild analysis and collusion. The article examines in detail how contributors in the field see the work they carry out and how they respond to various criticisms. It is suggested that the parameters of clinical psychoanalysis may be used as the basis for a constructive dialog in the field aimed at addressing critical concerns and developing both theory and applications.

Budgetary control has been used and researched for years by both Western academics and practitioners. In China, it is re-emerging as a tool to implement management control, but might be used in different ways both in terms of understanding and operation. The research objective of this thesis is to examine the applicability of Western theories of change in management accounting in the context of budgeting in Chinese corporations. Challenges can exist because of the differences between Western assumptions and Chinese reality. The current thesis focuses on difficulties Chinese companies encounter in practical and deeper ideological ways: firstly, Western market-based ideology conflicts with an ideology which has been shaped by central-planning for decades; secondly, difficulties stem from the different cultural context of China which emphasizes hierarchical politeness, kinship ties, trust based on personal relationships, collectivism and social harmony, diligence and individual modesty, and less developed modern legal regulatory systems – these all contribute to China’s own way of doing things. This thesis also focuses on the transition process in China. Based on the assumption that budgetary changes do not happen in isolation from other management accounting changes, this thesis discusses these changes which synchronically took place while the case-study companies were implementing budgetary systems. This thesis adopts a longitudinal and in-depth qualitative case study research design, after adjustments made during the learning experience of the pilot study. It takes an interpretive and constructive philosophical underpinning, which allows the researcher to observe and understand the process of change, as well as the differences between Chinese practices and Western theories. Findings show that certain Western management accounting theories of change and Western theories of budgeting work in the case study Chinese corporations. Management accounting theories using an interpretive approach (for example, Berry et al., 1985; Scapens and Roberts, 1993; Ahrens and Chapman, 2002) lead the researcher to interpret management accounting practices from the practitioner’s points of view, and they have provided a range of terms to explain success or failure of management accounting changes. This approach together with Scapens et al.’s Institutional theory approach in management accounting have been found especially useful, in explaining the differences between Chinese vs. Western context. Furthermore, the contingency theory approach in management accounting gives a ‘platform’ which allows the researcher to assess a wide range of possible factors and their relationships with budgetary systems in studied companies. This approach is found useful in this thesis to present changes in other management accounting perspectives. Last but not least, this thesis finds existing Western literature in technical perspective of budgetary objectives, budgetary evaluation and participation, and budgetary effectiveness useful in a different context of China. By describing the change management process, an aspect which is not addressed frequently in the research literature, this thesis argues that to sufficiently understand Chinese companies’ budgetary changes, one also needs to understand unique cultural, social-economical and religious circumstances, and to adjust literature and methodology to adapt to these circumstances. This thesis provides an empirical experience concerning these issues. This thesis contributes to the understanding of management accounting change in China, and the tension which exists when Chinese companies are moving into Western management accounting practices.

This paper uses the current organizational ecology theory to clearly define organizational population ecology constructs of non-governmental development organizations, and offers specific terminology and understanding of main organizational forms and relational dynamics that define the population ecology of these organizations. The paper examines closely the significance of such interaction and interdependence through transactional relationship of obtaining and distributing of resources and forces of competition. Original organizational theory frameworks are offered for future NGDO organizational research.

廠商人才培訓的探討，不論在國內外皆已成為組織研究、人力資源管理、商管等領域中極重要的研究議題之一。許多研究皆已指出台灣屬於後進學習型的國家，透過代工，不同產業在1980年代都進入全球商品鏈生產分工的半邊陲位置。然而，過去有關台灣或者經濟發展中國家如何技術學習的文獻中，很少深入討論技術接收國的廠商透過怎樣的人才培訓制度將技術深化到組織。本研究認為，員工技術學習的能力必須奠基在組織人才培訓制度的安排與制度環境的集體促進過程，一旦缺乏關照廠商人才培訓經驗的特性，將無法完整掌握臺灣企業組織技術學習的獨特性。本研究認為，要掌握台灣廠商人才培育經驗的特性，必須發展出台灣本土經驗的分析架構，而非不加反省地按照西方的觀點或者既有經濟學式的理性效率觀點進行解釋。奠基在深度訪問41家廠商，與其他相關人資協會、政府官員、教育訓練機構人員，總共72人的田野訪問資料，以及問卷調查122家廠商人才培育的經驗，試圖開展出屬於臺灣廠商人才培訓經驗的解釋框架，以掌握影響台灣後進學習廠商的人才培訓態度的制度機制以及理由邏輯。本研究發現，後進學習廠商的人才培訓經驗，必須更細緻地依照廠商在全球商品鏈的結構分工之生產技術立基(OEM/ODM)進行劃分，此相對應出的兩類「後進追趕學習」與「後進追趕創新」的組織人才培訓邏輯，可以適切地解釋台灣製造業廠商人才訓練的經驗。 / As far as firms’ training is concerned, it’s become a rather significant topic in both at home and abroad academic fields, such as organizational sociology, human resources management, and general business administration. Many studies have pointed out that Taiwan could be categorized as a “latecomer’s learning type” of country; as Taiwan’s OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers),starting in the 1980s, were joined into the global commodity chains and supply chains, and have earned semi-peripheral positions in the global division of production. However, so far, little is known about how technique-receiving countries like Taiwan pass techniques and skills into the organizational groups of people through the company’s training system. Besides that, employee skill learning heavily depends on the organizational training arrangement and instituted operational process; hence, if there is no consideration for companies’ training practices, Taiwan’s enterprise characteristics won’t be understood completely and a full picture of Taiwan’s business environment will continue to be unclear. Given a lack of related researches and references, this study emphasizes that to create a local analytical framework is more important than in light of theoretical points of view developed in Western societies or the existing efficiency viewpoint of economics-based rational interpretations. In order to explore further how manufacturing companies train their staff members and employees, this study will adopt both an in-depth interview method and questionnaires. Based on interviews with human resource managers at 41 companies, officers as well as leaders who are in charge of human resource associations and training institutes, the survey sample includes 72 interviewees. In addition, the study comprises accumulated training experiences from 122 companies as well. This research intends to not only develop an interpretative framework for Taiwan enterprises’ training experiences, but also seek out the influential mechanisms that may affect companies’ attitudes toward training. The main finding of this study needs to be emphasized is that Taiwan has a dual track of institutional logic for training; training practices that follow a level of technical foundation (which include OEMs and ODMs, Original Design Manufacturers) deeply embedded in the global commodity chain. And these OEM/ODM enterprises have developed two different training types, namely “latecomer’s pursuit of learning” and “latecomer’s pursuit of innovation”. These dual institutional logics for training could help to explain Taiwan manufacturers’ experiences appropriately.