Facilitating the Socio-Economic Approach to Management

Results of the First SEAM Conference in North America

Edited by:
Henri Savall, ISEOR and Jean Moulin University
John Conbere, University of St. Thomas
Alla Heorhiadi, University of St. Thomas
Vincent Cristallini, ISEOR
Anthony F. Buono, Bentley University

A volume in the series: Research in Management Consulting. Editor(s): David Brian Szabla, Western Michigan University.

Published 2014

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.

CONTENTS
Preface, Anthony F. Buono. Introduction, Henri Savall and Michel Péron. Part I: The Socio-Economic Approach to Management. The History of SEAM, Marc Bonnet and Henri Savall. The Taylorism-Fayolism-Weberism Virus, Vincent Cristallini and Henri Savall. Taylor’s Illusion: An Historical Account of the Progression of the “TFW Virus”, Alanna G. Kennedy. Bringing SEAM to the United States, John Conbere, Alla Heorhiadi, and Vincent Cristallini. Part II: Worldwide Experimentation With SEAM. The Socio-Economic Approach to Management Within American Companies, John Conbere and Tom Oestreich. A Case Study of a Nonprofit Community Center, John Conbere, Alla Heorhiadi, and Barbara Milon. Socio-Economic Approach to Management Within Mexican Public Organizations, Raúl Arceo Alonzo, Martha Margarita Fernández Ruvalcaba, and Véronique Zardet. Using SEAM as the Philosophical Basis for a Graduate Consulting Program: Employing Diverse Consulting Tools and Approaches, Lawrence Lepisto and Randall Hayes. SEAM Implementation in Mergers and Acquisitions, Jean Caghassi. A French Multinational Family Firm Case Study, Amandine Savall. An Approach to Socio-Economic Management Consulting in China, Mark Hillon and Yue C. Hillon. Part III: Bridging SEAM With American Perception. The Art and Science of Revealing Strategic Value Through SEAM, Eric Sanders. Advancing Research That Makes a Difference, Peter F. Sorensen and Therese Yaeger. Contribution of the Socio-Economic Approach to Management to Updating Joseph Wharton’s Legacy, Gilles Guyot. Deliberating Cost: Deliberative Practices in Qualimetrics and the Socio-Economic Approach to Management, Robert P. Gephart, Jr. Ante-Narrative Spiral Approach to SEAM, Rohny Saylors and David Boje. SEAM Ontological Theory, Debra P. Hockenberry. SEAM and Critical Theory, Chato Hazelbaker. Why SEAM? Susan Huber. Conclusion: Final Conference Dialogue. SEAM General Bibliography. About the Contributors.