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Today humanity is facing a time period, in which the speed and rate of change in different fields are faced. The rapid and effective change in the technological, economic, military, social and cultural fields all over the world in recent years has had important results in many topics such as informatics, interactive communication, production, data production and sharing and forms of consumption and perception. Changes and developments at very high speeds and rates affect the personal life, social life and work life in a deep manner, especially after the 1980s, paving the way for many concepts such as globalization, Industry 4.0, digitalization, new economy, new world order and digital transformation age to be the leading variables in every field of social sciences.

Production, consumption and communication forms at the global level are becoming more and more in depth and predicting the future is becoming more and more difficult and valuable. Understanding, analyzing and predicting the future for national and international companies and organizations directly and indirectly affect all economic, military and political variables. At this point, competition stands out as one of the most critical concepts for survival and growth for profit-oriented companies.

Based on this, the topics and contents selected in this study were created to cover the field of management and strategy. Indeed, in this study, the concept of organizational agility is explored theoretically from a historical perspective on the concept of Industry 4.0 and especially emphasized the dimensions and components of agility used in today’s world.

Within the scope of this study, the aim is to define and present the general framework of the Industry 4.0 and agile firms, which aim to combine the conceptual and theoretical infrastructure with the implementation of the agile firms within the field. In this respect, the study defines the situation coming from the past together with the world of today in the relationship of the technological and economical dimensions of globalization with the digitalization and latest theoretical view for the agile firm’s structure and management. On the other hand; in this study, the possible effects of the recent COVID-19 pandemic crisis on the management of organizations are interpreted in the context of Industry 4.0 and agile companies. This aim will provide a foresight for the future periods, with the conclusions added with the theory of senism, which present the dominant value of the study.

Introduction: The pandemic era has given rise to emerging VUCA factors, characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Navigating the impact of these challenges is essential for adapting and thriving in a post-pandemic world; therefore, it is important to identify VUCA factors.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify and analyse the VUCA factors that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on sectors such as hospitality, tourism, education, construction, manufacturing, Information Technology, healthcare, and automobiles.

Need for the Study: Analysing emerging VUCA factors is crucial for businesses to prepare for unforeseen events. While VUCA factors were previously studied during significant events like the Greater Recession, BREXIT, and demonetisation, the pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges, making the identification of emerging VUCA components crucial.

Methodology: The methodology involves reviewing articles and research papers to understand the pandemic’s impact on various sectors. The findings provide insights into prominent VUCA factors and their implications for businesses, contributing to existing knowledge.

Findings: This research uncovers the challenges organisations encountered in the pandemic’s VUCA environment, offering insights into uncertainties and strategies for survival. It highlights the importance of adaptability, resilience, and innovation in overcoming VUCA’s negative impacts and establishing a new business paradigm.

Practical Implications: This chapter is essential in providing valuable insights for organisations, policymakers, and businesses on crisis preparedness, emphasising the significance of agility, robust contingency planning, and sector-specific considerations. Reviewing operations and implementing backup plans, businesses can develop effective strategies for long-term resilience and success in the face of unforeseen disruptions.

The present business environment of accelerated complexity, ambiguity, uncertainty and volatility seems not to be settling down soon. Today’s business world is consistently bombarded with turmoil and unprecedented change. This makes it very difficult for organisations to accurately predict possible future opportunities and threats. To overcome this scenario, organisations need to fully embrace and implement agility in their operations. However, for organisations to develop a considerable level of agility that corresponds to the current hypercompetitive and volatile environment, premium needs to be placed on agile leadership. Agile leaders are capable of setting the guiding principles, develop strategies and build mechanisms that will lead to smooth transition to organisational agility (OA). These leaders give directions on how to make organisations agile and ensure that there is a leadership culture that models and promotes a holistic agility in the organisation. The primary purpose of this chapter is to establish the position of agile leadership in determining OA. The study departs from previous studies by using empirical reviews to depict the significance of agile leadership and its key roles on OA. Specifically, the concept, evolution and characteristics of OA are explored, as well as its benefits and multidimensional nature are discussed. Furthermore, the chapter sheds light on agile leadership, levels of leadership agility and competencies of successful agile leaders. The chapter concludes that the leadership style suitable for OA is agile leadership. This calls for business investments in agile capacity building and development of frameworks suitable for agile leadership.

Project management techniques for digital initiatives must shift with the transformation of content from analog to digital, from singular projects to mass-digitization and large-scale digital preservation. How are project management methods employed across digital practices, from digitization, to online access, to preservation? How can project management methods evolve to create a collaborative workflow across collection and service areas of librarianship, centered on digital stewardship?

Solutions for these questions are illustrated in an explanation of the workflows implemented at the University of Maryland, College Park Libraries and reflected upon in a case study of a recent digital initiative.

Centered on the efforts of two departments in the Libraries’ Digital Systems and Stewardship division, this chapter outlines the origins, techniques, and integration of digital project management with a focus on Waterfall and Agile project management. Furthermore, the integration and transition of project management methodologies and tools between groups is emphasized, mirroring the transformation of analog media to digital formats and the requisite shifts in thinking such projects require.

These case studies are based on research across the profession and implementation at the University of Maryland, College Park Libraries. The local application of two established project management techniques, Waterfall and Agile, are summarized and compared. Though regularly employed in application development, applying Agile project management in libraries is a relatively new practice and has not been widely documented in library literature.

Purpose: Leaders must come up with new ideas and motivate their people to welcome new beginnings if they are to adapt to the changing demands of the business. Organisations face challenges in navigating the vast array of possibilities and choices in the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) world. This chapter explores various leadership styles, highlighting leadership initiatives in the context of (VUCA) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methodology: Secondary sources were used to collect information and data, including published articles, journals, newspapers, reports, books, and websites. The logical progression was used to comprehend the idea of VUCA leadership and strategies.

Findings of the Study: The VUCA accurately depicted the global landscape after COVID-19. It offered a valuable framework for examining strategy and leadership in a swiftly evolving world. To portray the dynamic characteristics of the corporate environment and to lead, many businesses use VUCA. Furthermore, this study highlights the VUCA leadership essential skills needed for effectively navigating VUCA circumstances.

Practical Implications: This study focuses on VUCA leadership practices and strategies in the workplace. The chapter outlines six key competencies: setting goals, being prepared, putting the customer’s needs first, flexibility and adaptation, decision-making, and collaboration and teamwork. These skills are essential for corporations to endure and thrive in VUCA circumstances. Corporate leaders are encouraged to integrate these skills into their repertoire, equipping themselves to confront challenges in a volatile environment.

Experts believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a far greater impact on the world than the Great Depression and World War II. While people were seen battling for their life on one side, there were also those who were battling for everyday necessities due to lack of income. Businesses are rethinking strategies and rewriting business plans as the game rules seem to have changed overnight with the entry of the virus. The objective of this chapter is to review the disturbing effect the pandemic has had on the Indian and world economy and further discuss the strategies that would help businesses in the short as well as long run to overcome the challenges posed by the pandemic. Literature review has been carried out to gather the data for this study. This is a narrative review and not a systematic one. A few strategies that have helped organizations to win over the COVID situation are digital transformation, reworking cost structures and implementing agile operations. Utilizing remote workforce, opting for digital transactions and providing services online have become the new normal. The researcher concludes that businesses need to accept the challenge before them and adapt people-centric strategies which rely on key technologies that are resilient and work hand-in-hand with government agencies to help reconstruct the local community that they are a part of. This collaboration will prove to be beneficial in the long run for both the organization as well as the community.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which globally affected all the countries of the world both economically and socially, has become one of the biggest crises after the 1929 world economic depression. During this period, not only people's health but also the economic health of countries was affected. In this process, people have created intense connection traffic on the internet to meet their needs, and this has accelerated the digitalization processes of businesses. Thus, the concept of digital transformation began to be widely used. Today, digital transformation processes have become an external environmental variable that covers all sectors, not businesses in a single sector. This situation has revealed the necessity of creating new business/management strategies that increase customer value for business managers. Digital transformation has shown itself in all business functions. In other words, the demands and priorities of each function and its managers have also changed. Therefore, business and department managers are required that they perceive digital transformation processes correctly and integrate their businesses/departments into this process with the right business/management strategies, without conflicting with the digital transformation processes. In this study, various ideas and evaluations put forward about sustainable business/management strategies that can be applied against the current and future importance of the digitalization/digital transformation process and its possible effects on businesses are included.

Today, businesses, organizations and governments attach great importance to digital transformation to meet the needs of their customers, business partners, and employees to adapt to the developing technology in recent years. Digital transformation, which is a challenging and mandatory process, has been and continues to be passed by institutions today. However, the successful management of this transformation without conflict can be realized by accurately detecting new communication technologies and examining, understanding, and implementing the transformation process in detail. This process will be painful, where radical changes will take place in the structure, processes, functions, and business models of the organization. Different challenges may be encountered in each of the startup, execution, and governance subprocesses examined in the digital transformation process. Many conflicts such as time and budget shortages, inadequate digital skills and lack of vision for digital customer processes, cybersecurity threats, human resource shortages, difficulty in managing technology, failure to achieve cloud structure integration, vision, and culture differences are the reasons why this process cannot be managed fluently and accurately. For businesses that focus on this goal, regardless of scale, digital transformation has become a necessity, not an alternative to choose. In this study, the digital transformation process and maturity model were discussed, and technological and digital conflicts were emphasized. It seeks to shed light on the work they will do by making recommendations for institutions to manage this process in the best way.