Organizational Semiotics occupies an important niche in the research community of human communication and information systems. It opens up new ways of understanding the functioning of information and information resources in organised behaviour. In recent years, a numberof workshops and conferences have provided researchers and practitioners opportunities to discuss their theories, methods and practices and to assess the benefits and potential of this approach. Literature in this field is much in demand but still difficult to find, so we are pleased to offer a third volume in the miniseries of Studies in Organizational Semiotics. This book is based on the papers and discussions of the fifth workshop on Organizational Semiotics held in Delft, June 13-15, 2002, hosted by Groningen University and Delft Technical University in the Netherlands. The topic of this workshop was the dynamics and change in organizations. The chapters in this book reflect recent developments in theory and applications and demonstrate the significance of Organizational Semiotics to information systems, human communication and coordination, organizational analysis and modelling. In particular, it provides a framework that accommodates both the technical and social aspects of information systems. The mini-series presents the frontier of the research in this area and shows how the theory and techniques enhance the quality of work on information systems.

HOW SUSTAINABLE IS INNOVATION? Problematically, most contemporary patterns of innovation in human social systems and organisations are not sustainable. This prevents people from learning effectively, from recognising and solving their problems, and from operating in sustainable ways. It is arguably why societies, businesses and industries around the world are so unsustainable. Sustainable innovation is a pattern of social learning and problem-solving that is, itself, sustainable. The sustainability of innovation, moreover, is linked to the sustainability of its outcomes, which manifest themselves in what people produce and do in the world. Sustainable innovation, then, is a necessary precondition for sustainability in how societies and organisations function - the ways they organise, the products and services they make, the energy and resources they use, and the wastes they produce. As challenges such as demographic pressures, ethnic tensions, terrorism, global poverty, pandemics and abrupt climate change force their way into mainstream politics and business, so we see growing interest in innovation, entrepreneurial solutions and, critically, issues such as how to ensure successful solutions replicate and scale. Sustainable Innovation aims to illustrate that shift. Instead of simply focusing on environmental and technological matters, it views and evaluates innovation-for-sustainability in terms of the human, social and management challenges and responses. It argues that a just, efficient and sustainable balancing of these elements is best achieved by the development of new knowledge, and by the evolution of better means both of embedding that emerging knowledge in organisations and institutions, and of managing the relevant flows of information, knowledge and wisdom. The book stresses that claims that a particular product, production process or service are sustainable usually assume that an appropriate balance has been achieved between people, planet and profit. However, calculating the sustainability of such things, let alone of complex systems such as enterprises or economies, can be impossible. Instead of "sustainability", the book favours the use of terms such as "making sustainable", emphasising that in dynamic operating environments organisational processes are changing constantly, whether or not they are under effective strategic control by management. Innovation, too, is dynamic by definition. Sustainable Innovation argues that there must be a constant focus on the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental value creation during the innovation process. Sustainable innovation is a new challenge for organisations. It is a process that should permeate the whole organisation, in terms of its members, its tasks, its coordination mechanisms and its procedures. Waste or pollution should not be seen as the reason for further intervention downstream, but as an end-of-the-pipe effect, which could be organisationally cured upstream. Developed from the Dutch research programme "Knowledge Creation for Sustainable Innovation", this book presents empirical research and cases to develop a theory of sustainable innovation that is based on management of knowledge, knowledge and cognition and innovation approaches. Sustainable Innovation suggests that knowledge and innovation will be the key drivers of social and corporate sustainability in the years ahead. It will be essential reading for managers and researchers in areas such as sustainability, innovation, knowledge management and organisational learning.

Organizational Semiotics occupies an important niche in the research community of human communication and information systems. It opens up new ways of understanding the functioning of information and information resources in organised behaviour. In recent years, a numberof workshops and conferences have provided researchers and practitioners opportunities to discuss their theories, methods and practices and to assess the benefits and potential of this approach. Literature in this field is much in demand but still difficult to find, so we are pleased to offer a third volume in the miniseries of Studies in Organizational Semiotics. This book is based on the papers and discussions of the fifth workshop on Organizational Semiotics held in Delft, June 13-15, 2002, hosted by Groningen University and Delft Technical University in the Netherlands. The topic of this workshop was the dynamics and change in organizations. The chapters in this book reflect recent developments in theory and applications and demonstrate the significance of Organizational Semiotics to information systems, human communication and coordination, organizational analysis and modelling. In particular, it provides a framework that accommodates both the technical and social aspects of information systems. The mini-series presents the frontier of the research in this area and shows how the theory and techniques enhance the quality of work on information systems.