Many organizational leaders may not even realize that most of their strategic decisions are made without accurate or full information. And yet more than 40 years of socio-economic research indicate that around 40% of what happens economically in organizations is not taken into consideration by traditional accounting. This lack of information affects an organization's effectiveness by turning organizational functions into dys-functions which leads to hidden costs. Socio-economic research shows that average hidden costs are more than $20,000 per employee per year.Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM) is a different way to lead and manage organizations — or to put simply steer them. What differentiates SEAM from traditional management? First, SEAM focuses on both the people and economic sides of the workplace. Second, SEAM identifies and reduces hidden costs through engaging employees and developing their potential. The results are increased efficiency and profitability, sustainable organizational development, and higher employee engagement.SEAM was developed in France and is little known in the US. This book provides a sound introduction to SEAM for the English-speaking audience. The book will be of interest for organizational leaders and managers who search new ideas, techniques, and tools to increase the efficiency of their organizations. The book will also be beneficial for change management and HR practitioners.

The result of half a century of research and experimentation in economics and management, this Treatise is intended for management practitioners. Socio-economic management (SEAM) makes the demands of humanism in professional life and sustainable economic prosperity compatible. It is illustrated with numerous cases from 2,150 companies and organizations from a wide variety of sectors and presents observed and measured results. Most of these chapters are written jointly by managers or executives of companies and organizations, and scholars or consultants involved in the pilot actions. This book is the work of 193 authors, from 16 countries and 4 continents, practitioners or academics in management sciences and management. This reflects the diversity of national and sectoral contexts of SEAM applications. Some chapters situate this concept in relation to the major currents of current thought. Each chapter is preceded by abstracts in French, English and Spanish. The prefaces, signed by Herman Aguinis and Rene Ricol, show the scope of socio-economic theory and management beyond the borders of the company. The book illustrates the international influence (48 countries) of the innovative and robust methods created and developed by the ISEOR team. Socio-economic theory constitutes a "breakthrough innovation", both in terms of its conceptual contribution and the practical methods and tools of its applications. This holistic approach touches on the different functions of the company and its multiple problems. It provides a structured change management method, focused on stimulating Human Potential and on self-financing the development of the company or organization, through the periodic recycling of hidden costs.

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.

In May 2014, the French research laboratory ISEOR (Socio?Economic Institute for Firms and Organizations) and the University of St. Thomas co?sponsored a second conference on the application of the Socio?Economic Approach to Management (SEAM) paradigm and methodology in the United States. SEAM is a scientific approach to consultancy that focuses on uncovering the dysfunctions and hidden costs that exist in organizations, “hidden” in the sense that they are not captured by traditional accounting methods and financial analyses. Through intervention that encompasses the entire organization – what the ISEOR team refers to as the HORIVERT approach (combining horizontal and vertical intervention) – the underlying goal is to enhance organizational performance by attacking the “TFW virus,” a vestige of the early work by Frederick Taylor, Henri Fayol, and Max Weber that has sufficiently infiltrated our thinking about management and organization to the point where are falling well short of our own potential. The resultant dysfunctions this virus unleashes creates hidden costs that readily destroy a firm’s value?added possibilities. The volume captures the ideas, applications, and exchanges of that meeting, attempting to bring the reader into the conference itself. Chapters include the contributors’ presentations (“Chapter Prologue: Conference Remarks”), revised conference papers, and the question and answer dialogue for the session.

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.

The social and economic systems of any country are influenced by a range of factors including income and education. As such, it is vital to examine how these factors are creating opportunities to improve both the economy and the lives of people within these countries. Socio-Economic Development: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications provides a critical look at the process of social and economic transformation based on environmental and cultural factors including income, skills development, employment, and education. Highlighting a range of topics such as economics, social change, and e-governance, this multi-volume book is designed for policymakers, practitioners, city-development planners, academicians, government officials, and graduate-level students interested in emerging perspectives on socio-economic development.

The strategies and practical approaches for socio-economic development are undergoing systemic changes under the influence of new developments in global economic systems and markets. The most significant factors influencing such changes are connected to the start of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), which is impacting all economic systems to a greater or lesser extent. The creation of the digital economy and transition to Industry 4.0 particularly increases the significance of hi-tech for socio-economic development. Secondly, there is now a transition underway from a period of unlimited globalization and comprehensive integration to more limited globalization and selective economic integration. The growing importance of regionalization on the global economic system is manifested in the formation and rapid development of new integration unions at the regional or country level (e.g., the EU and the EAEU), and company level (e.g., regional sectoral economic clusters, special economic areas, technological parks, and innovative networks). Thirdly, there’s an urgent need for faster innovation, which leads to the formation of more innovative economies. The global financial crisis drew attention to the problems of managing sustainability and achieving balance in socio-economic development. The formation and exponential growth of the information society, based on digital technologies, is now stimulating the growth and significance of corporate social and environmental responsibility as a prerequisite for entrepreneurial success. Thus, the paradigm of socio-economic development is changing from absolute rationality (economic effectiveness) and stability – which has historically been associated with problems of stagnation – to responsibility (limited and socially-oriented rationality) and dynamism (quick innovative development based on leading technologies). This book aims to provide a scientific substantiation for this new paradigm.

A comprehensive reference source on new innovative dimensions of consumer behavioural studies that reveals different conceptual and theoretical frameworks. This publication features expansive coverage on a number of relevant topics and perspectives, such as green products, automotive technology, and anti-branding.