| absorptive capacity | The ability torecognize the value of new information,assimilate it, and apply it to commercialends.
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| communities of practice | Informalgroups bound together by shared expertiseand passion for a particular activityor interest.
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| ethics | The study of moral principlesor values that determine whether actionsare right or wrong and outcomes aregood or bad.
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| Field surveys | A research design strategythat involves collecting and analyzinginformation in a natural environment,an office, a factory, or other existinglocation.
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| globalization | Economic, social, andcultural connectivity (and interdependence) with people in other parts of theworld.
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| grounded theory | A process adoptedin most qualitative research of developingknowledge through the constantinterplay of data collection, analysis,and theory development.
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| hypotheses | Statements making empiricallytestable declarations that certainvariables and their correspondingmeasures are related in a specific wayproposed by theory.
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| intellectual capital | The sum of an organization's human capital, structural capital, and relationship capital.
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| interpretivism | The view held in many qualitative studies that reality comes from shared meaning among people in that environment.
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| knowledge management | Any structured activity that improves an organization's capacity to acquire, share, and use knowledge in ways that improve its survival and success.
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| laboratory experiment | Any research study in which independent variables and variables outside the researcher's main focus of inquiry can be controlled to some extent.
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| open systems | Organizations that take their sustenance from the environment and, in turn, affect that environment through their output.
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| organizational behaviour (OB) | The study of what people think, feel, and do in and around organizations.
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| organizational memory | The storage and preservation of intellectual capital.
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| organizations | Groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose.
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| positivism | A view held in quantitative research in which reality exists independent of the perceptions and interpretations of people.
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| representative sampling | The process of sampling a population in such a waythat one can extrapolate the results ofthat sample to the larger population.
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| scientific method | A set of principles and procedures that help researchers to systematically understand previously unexplained events and conditions.
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| stakeholders | Shareholders, customers,suppliers, governments, and any other groups with a vested interest in the organization.
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| theory | A general set of propositions that describes interrelationships among several concepts.
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| values | Stable, long-lasting beliefs about what is important in a variety of situations.
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| virtual work | Employees use information technology to perform their jobs away from the traditional physical workplace.
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| work/life balance | The minimization of conflict between work and nonwork demands.
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