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In a turbulent economic climate, characterized by pressures to improve productivity and reduce costs, leadership and performance management have a more central role in helping to ensure competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to explore current demands on leaders; and endeavours to explore linkages between management education and agile leadership.

Taking a grounded theory approach, this paper uses the concepts of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) to investigate the impact on desired attributes of leaders and the extent to which this is underpinned by current management education programmes. It draws on the VUCA model of agile management to examine current practices and experiences and considers future trends. Empirical research includes case studies and analysis of management syllabuses.

Syllabuses do not reflect the attributes that organizations expect leaders to possess and are content driven rather than process focused. VUCA is not yet mainstream in academic thinking.

There is a disparity between the output of business schools and the expectations of organizations. This may affect productivity. It is suggested that the use of live consultancies may provide a more beneficial management development experience.

This research opens an international debate that seeks to assess the relevance of current management education to the needs of organizations for agile, high-performing leaders.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between organizational strategy, performance management and training and development in the context of the Jordanian banking sector.

Models of strategic human resource management developed in the west are considered for their relevance in Jordan. A mixed methods approach is adopted employing interviews with senior managers and training and development managers, employee questionnaires and documentary analysis. It examines all banks in Jordan including foreign and Islamic banks.

Findings indicate that training and development is not driven by human resource strategy and that it is reactive rather than proactive. Training and development does improve skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors but there is little evidence that it increases commitment and satisfaction nor that it contributes to strategic aims in any significant way. The linkages between strategy and training and development are not explicit and strategies are not interpreted through performance management systems. Consequently there is a lack of integration in organizational HR systems and the measurable contribution of training and development to competitive advantage is minimal

The paper offers suggestions as to how greater integration between strategy, performance management and training and development might be achieved in the Jordanian context.

This paper is the first detailed empirical study of training and development in Jordan to include considerations of transferability of western models to an Arab culture.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the processes of open innovation in the context of a fraudulent organization and, using the infamous Bernie L. Madoff Investment Securities fraud case, introduces and elaborates upon the concept of dark open innovation. The paper’s conceptual framework is drawn from social capital theory, which is grounded on the socio-economics of Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam and is employed in order to make sense of the processes that occur within dark open innovation.

Given the self-evident access issues, this paper is necessarily based on archival and secondary sources taken from the court records of Madoff v. New York – including victim impact statements, the defendant’s Plea Allocution, and academic and journalistic commentaries – which enable the identification of the processes involved in dark open innovation. Significantly, this paper also represents an important inter-disciplinary collaboration between academic scholars variously informed by business and history subject domains.

Although almost invariably cast as a positive process, innovation can also be evidenced as a negative or dark force. This is particularly relevant in open innovation contexts, which often call for the creation of extended trust and close relationships. This paper outlines a case of dark open innovation.

A key implication of this study is that organizational innovation is not automatically synonymous with human flourishing or progress. This paper challenges the automatic assumption of innovation being positive and introduces the notion of dark open innovation. Although this is accomplished by means of an in-depth single case, the findings have the potential to resonate in a wide spectrum of situations.

Innovation is a concept that applies across a range of organization and management domains. Criminals also innovate; thus, the paper provides valuable insights into the organizational innovation processes especially involved in relation to dark open innovation contexts.

It is important to develop and fully understand the possible wider meanings of innovation and also to recognize that innovation – particularly dark open innovation – does not always create progress. The Caveat Emptor warning is still relevant.

The paper introduces the novel notion of dark open innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which organizational learning is recognized through performance management systems as contributing to organizational effectiveness and competitive advantage.

It reviews several pieces of research, employing a wide range of methods, including: content analysis of managers’ reflections; questionnaires completed by managers and mentors; a large-scale survey involving ethnography, interviews and questionnaires; and analysis of documents from professional bodies and management delivery centres.

Genuine integration of individual and organizational goals or transfer of learning from the individual to the organization is not evident. Few qualitative measures of organizational performance are employed. The impact of metrics such as IIP or EFQM on organizational effectiveness is nor discernible. Management learning and development is rarely measured even when it is encouraged by the organization. There is a clear divide between research, teaching and learning and workplace practice. Performance management systems create perceptions of unreliability and inequity.

Espousing the value of learning and learning to learn, measuring them accurately and rewarding them with meaningful changes to working life can only improve organizational effectiveness. Research into the few organizations that have successfully embraced triple loop learning in their development of managers may offer a template for transformational learning to sustain competitive advantage.

Management development processes have been successful in developing individuals but less successful in achieving organizational development. This paper offers new insights into that gap and the omissions in the metrics by which performance is measured.

In a changing economic climate, characterised by pressures to improve productivity and reduce costs, performance management has a more central role in helping to ensure competitive advantage. Appraisals have become an almost universal feature of modern organizations and it is essential that they are perceived as fair if they are to bring about commitment to discretionary effort, which is increasingly a key feature in gaining competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to examine the outcomes and processes of performance appraisal through the concept of organizational justice.

This paper uses the concept of organizational justice to explore the outcomes, procedures and implementation of appraisal in contemporary organizations. It draws on a range of theoretical frameworks from both philosophy and social science, examines current practices and experiences and looks at future trends. Empirical research includes a ten‐year longitudinal study of practising managers and ethnography, questionnaires and interviews.

The authors conclude that appraisal frequently creates both actual and perceived injustice in organizations and a tension between managing performance and encouraging engagement, which is dependent on perceptions of fairness. The authors place appraisal within a framework of organizational justice and encourage further research into areas of organizational effectiveness.

The research clearly indicates that both managers and employees see a potential for appraisal, which is rarely achieved in practice. It opens up a dialogue linking the performance agenda with issues of development, motivation and perceptions of justice in the search for models of competitive advantage. This research also confirms the findings of others, most significantly in terms of reinforcing perceptions of dishonesty, mistrust, inequity and managerialism.

This paper seeks to explore the way in which professional management programmes are informed by research and workplace practice. The focus is on the areas of motivation, appraisal and the management of change.

The paper is a longitudinal study using a mixed methods approach. Middle and senior managers engaged on professional management programmes were surveyed on workplace practice. Literature reviewed included syllabus guidelines from professional bodies and selected core textbooks.

A content analysis revealed that there was a lack of congruence between what is taught to managers and workplace practice. However, research was found to have an impact on teaching and indirectly it influenced individual beliefs if not organisational practice.

Conclusions indicate that professional management programmes are still failing to bridge the gap between syllabus content current research and workplace practice. There is little to show that the needs of business are being satisfied compared with successful models embedded in other professions.

The paper suggests the value of adopting an integrated model that combines professional and academic teaching of management. It further supports the relevance of research to workplace practice.

In a turbulent economic climate, characterised by pressures to improve productivity and reduce costs, performance management has a more central role in helping to ensure competitive advantage. A focus on teamwork has become an almost universal feature of performance management in modern organizations. It is essential that messages concerning teamwork and rewards are clear and seen to be fair if they are to bring about commitment to discretionary effort, which is increasingly a key feature in gaining competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to focus on whether employee perceptions of the fairness of performance management systems have an impact on the effectiveness of team performance and discretionary effort.

This paper uses the concepts of equity and motivation to explore the outcomes, procedures and implementation of teamwork in contemporary organizations. It draws on a range of theoretical frameworks from both philosophy and social science, examines current practices and experiences and considers future trends. Empirical research includes a ten‐year study of practising managers and also ethnography, questionnaires and interviews in two large manufacturing and service organizations.

Investigations show that the espoused theory of organizations concerning the need for teamwork is often at odds with their theory in use. This frequently creates both actual and perceived injustice in organizations and a tension between managing performance and encouraging engagement, which is dependent on perceptions of fairness.

The paper shows that organizations are sending out mixed messages that are causing tensions which may affect productivity.

This research opens a debate that seeks to assess the contribution of teamwork to the achievement of an organization's goals and how this may be applied in the practice of performance management.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the contribution of appraisal systems to sustainable organizational effectiveness. It argues that competitive advantage is increasingly reliant on discretionary effort. As the emphasis of appraisal has shifted from a developmental to a performance focus, perceived unfairness in both procedures and outcomes threatens to undermine commitment and, therefore, sustainable performance.

Drawing on a range of theoretical frameworks, current practices and experiences are examined and future trends considered. Empirical research includes a ten-year study of practising managers and ethnography, questionnaires and interviews in two large organizations.

Appraisal frequently creates actual and perceived injustice in terms of both procedures and rewards. It also generates tensions between managing performance and encouraging engagement.

This study indicates that further research in other sectors will contribute to the development of greater understanding of sustainable strategic approaches to HRM.

Emphasis on performance in appraisal devalues developmental aspects and sometimes affects employee well-being. Separation of the two through mentorship schemes may help to address the paradox, whereby the performance management element of appraisal undermines rather than enhances organizational effectiveness.

The conventional wisdom of the appraisal culture is challenged. We argue it is essential to expand the discourse between performance, justice and ethical value systems if sustainable competitive advantage and well-being are to be achieved.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Should you teach an engineering student about Marxist interpretations of Jane Austen? Or a philosophy student about how to fix a broken leg? Well, unless you were desirous of an especially rounded education, then this would seem pretty pointless. However, it has been the lament of many specialists that mainstream education simply follows the paths established centuries before, and do not reflect modern needs of students. Could this also be true of the highly regarded Masters of Business Administration and the students paying tens of thousands of dollars to put themselves through it?

This study provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an update of the Special Issue's field of research, give the structure of the Special Issue and introduce the papers in the collection, including management issues.

A review of the Call for Papers and further research and a presentation of papers in the Special Issue paying attention to original contribution, research and management recommendations.

This Special Issue is making a solid contribution to the field in not only addressing ageing and the ageing generation, but focusing strongly on the way both the ageing generation and other generations such as Gen Y and Gen X affect organisational dynamics, structure and career management.

Original research brought together in a multi-faceted way outlining the challenges as well as management agendas for the organisation.