What Theory is Not
Robert I. Sutton; Barry M. Staw, Administrative Science Quarterly, 2015/12/24

Useful post from 1995 that every aspiring writer should read. It outlines five things theories are not (education writers should especially take note), offers a solid definition of a theory, and offers several arguments against theories. Here are the things theories are not:

• References are not theory - "authors need to explicate which concepts and causal arguments are adopted from cited sources...";
• Data are not theory - "observed patterns... rarely constitute causal explanations";
• Lists of variables or constructs are not theories - "a theory must also explain why lists of variables or constructs come about or why they are connected";
• Diagrams are not theory - "they rarely explain why the proposed connections will be observed";
• Hypotheses (or predictions) are not theory - they "are statements about what is expected to opccur, not why it is expected to occur."

So what is a theory. More...

Why No One Really Wants Creativity
Barry M. Straw, Foundations of Creativity, 2015/12/24
The media and popular press lead us to celebrate the innovative and creative, but few would want such people in their organization, much less to be one themselves, writes Barry M. Straw. More...

Complex Project Manager Competency Standards
International Centre for Complex Project Manage ment (ICCPM), 2015/12/24

Scott Johnson dropped this 2012 post into my new OLDaily Facebook page (100 page PDF). More...

No, the Best Science Students Aren’t Becoming Financiers
Nicole Torres, Harvard Business Review, 2015/12/22
Money. It's at the heart of so many endeavours. It grabs the attentions of many top graduates (though if this article is to be believed, not the very top graduates). It's also a system in jeopardy. This visualization of all the world's money has been making the rounds this week. More...

Examining value creation in a community of learning practice: Methodological reflections on story-telling and story-reading
Filitsa Dingyloudi, Jan-Willem Strijbos, Seminar.Net, 2015/12/22
This paper documents an effort to measure value using Wenger, Trayner and De Laat's framework (60 page PDF). It's not straightforward, as the expectations of the investigators can play a significant role. More...