Citation
(2013), "EFMD Excellence in Practice Awards 2013: Strategic Direction Special Issue", Strategic Direction, Vol. 29 No. 11. https://doi.org/10.1108/SD-09-2013-0065
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
EFMD Excellence in Practice Awards 2013: Strategic Direction Special Issue
Article Type: Editorial From: Strategic Direction, Volume 29, Issue 11
In this, the 11th and final issue of Strategic Direction, Volume 29 we celebrate the winners of the EFMD Excellence in Practice Awards.
The awards, now in their 7th year, recognise leaning and development partnerships of demonstrable impact. Each year, we provide independently-written reviews of the winning cases, which fall into the following categories: executive development; talent development; professional development; organizational development; and a “special category, for those cases which sit outside of the proceeding four areas. Due to the increasingly high standard of submissions, this year we also include a short précis of each of the highly-commended cases.
Our first review, “Danone harnesses the ‘benefit of doubt’, details the “Leading Edge partnership between Danone and London Business School. This experiential learning initiative was designed to encourage autonomy and “out-of-box thinking amongst executives. Cohorts were placed in unusual and challenging learning environments in order to elicit different responses, and ultimately change their managerial mind-set.
Next, “Going for gold: Atos lead on talent development explains how collaboration between a leading business school and Europes foremost IT services company produced an executive development program that has generated a talent pool capable of leading key transformation initiatives.
The winning case from the professional development category is described in “Pathway to premium: creating investment advisors at Danske Bank. A strategic review led to the creation of a number of Investment Advisor roles at Danske, with the purpose of strengthening its customer offer. Danske enlisted the help of IFL Executive Education at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSEIFL), who tailored a successful training program for these new roles.
Our next review, “Turning contract crises into challenges: EDF generates business transformation, describes the role played by a company-wide learning and development program in achieving a business turnaround at ERDF, the EDF subsidiary that operates electricity distribution networks for most French municipalities. The paper was an award winner in the organizational development category.
Our final case study review, and winner of the “Special category, is entitled “Action learning in Galicias automobile industry: creating value in times of economic uncertainty. This paper outlines a cost-effective initiative instigated by the Galician automotive cluster (CEAGA), an organization, founded in 1997, comprised of all 91 firms in the autonomous region. CEAGA formed its own corporate university (UCC), the first program from which aimed to increase innovation within the sector by providing professionals with the necessary creative vision and skills.
Returning to our usual format, “Creating a culture of leadership development, presents a case study of the process undertaken by Colorado State University Libraries to investigate ways to extend leadership and development opportunities within the libraries. In discussing the concerns raised by faculty librarians it highlights issues common to many academic libraries at a time of continuing technological change and describes the way taskforce recommendations are now being implemented at CSUL.
Our next article, “Performance and reliability: how to manager better in a high hazard environment, is based upon: “Rebuilding reliability: strategy and coaching in a high hazard industry by Evan H. Offstein, Raymond Kniphuisen, D. Robin Bichy and J.S. Childers Jr. In the highly-detailed original piece, the authors propose that management strongly influences performance and reliability within organizations operating within what are termed high-hazard industries. They suggest a focus on strategic planning, coaching and evaluation can help bring about the necessary improvement. A summary of their findings is provided.
“Are superheroes bad for business? How shared leadership supports organizational sustainability reviews “Searching for the holy grail of management development and sustainability: is shared leadership development the answer? by Craig L. Pearce, Charles C. Manz and Samuel Akanno. Focusing on the need to balance short-term performance goals with the long-term health of the organization, it examines the relationship between leadership and organizational sustainability.
Our final review article, “Improving leadership development: How evaluation aids learning, is based upon: “Healthcare leadership: learning from evaluation by John Edmonstone. The author focuses on a healthcare setting to explore how evaluation might enhance leadership and management development programs.
Finally, we round off issue 11 with an interview with author and entrepreneur, Rhea Duttagupta. A former director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and founder of her own consulting firm, Duttagupta talks about the leadership “ingredients which lie dormant within each of us, and how finding the right balance between these traits is crucial to becoming a great leader.