Search results

Leader-centred teaching has often taken as normal a cyclical pattern of business, which Marques (2014) argues is no longer the appropriate model. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current leadership curriculum paradigm and the case for an alternative pedagogy which better caters for the messy reality – without recurrent patterns or historical certainties – that global organisations and their business leaders currently often have to deal with. In particular, it addresses implications for the “hero” model of leadership.

The empirical findings are elicited through a combination of case studies, qualitative surveys and action research methods which include organisational development which encourages leaders to develop skills and capability to enquire into and work with their own group processes and design. Arts-based methods, such as poetry, music, painting, sculpture or music are offered as a means to help cultivate the leader’s creative potential and reach into those vulnerable places which often remain hidden amongst traditional didactic methods of facilitation.

The empirical findings call for a deconstruction of the hero leader through increasing reflexivity to help leaders understand their own feelings, reactions and motives. It encourages bespoke leadership competencies which can be adapted for individuality. This suggests that contemporary leaders and managers first need to understand what capacities and deficiencies they have as individuals, and second how to build an appropriate mix of skills through understanding and reflecting on their own individual experiences and actions.

The paper introduces an approach to leadership training which takes account of the demand for organisations to serve a social purpose, and the need for effectively leading a workforce where the power of the individual is growing with millennials pushing this and questioning the very premises of corporate behaviour and economic and social principles which guide it. It acknowledges that the demands on leaders are shoulder-buckling at the best of times but proposes that business school teaching on leadership must address the messiness of reality and offer means and ways of thriving in spite of such chaos.

This paper aims to analyse the concept of worker identity and the liability of foreignness caused by over‐reliance on expatriate managers and under‐reliance on local managers, and explores the implications for foreign enterprises and global organizational change.

The authors posit that being a successful global organization in the twenty‐first century requires a greater appreciation of local managers' institutional value and the overcoming of psychic distance towards the identity of such local managers. This in turn will combat the social exclusion and the weakening of worker identity of local managers. This will increasingly become an issue for multinational corporations as in the twenty‐first century they accelerate their expansion into large emerging markets such as China.

It is argued that multinational enterprises need to assess local managers' knowledge and contributions as having not only operational and market value, but also institutional value, such as access to local social capital.

This paper has original value in looking at community unionism as a way of overcoming the isolation of local managers.

This paper aims to further research on leadership and knowledge management through formal knowledge strategies in knowledge-intensive organizations (KIOs), and analyse knowledge management challenges and approaches within KIOs, especially tacit knowledge.

This paper is based on conceptual and literature research.

Managing knowledge as an organizational asset involves how knowledge is obtained, stored and organized, and accessed and shared when needed. This is crucial for KIOs. Knowledge that is not captured, understood and transferred, throughout the organization, is useless. This requires the integration of systems and processes with people and leadership. Tacit knowledge generation and transfer is especially important in KIOs. In particular, the success of KIOs depends crucially on management’s ability to give leadership in a way that supports knowledge-intensive teamwork. The global nature of internal and external knowledge networks adds to the leadership challenge. This can be made more complex by cultural differences, intellectual property protection (formal and informal) and talent scarcity.

Further research is needed to identify the types of KIO and to better understand sound common knowledge management and related leadership principles across all types of KIO and those that are more context-dependent on the type of KIO and/or its business and cultural context. More research is needed on policy making organizations, in-company policy-making research and development and creative industries.

The paper takes forward research on leading knowledge management in KIOs and introduces 14 challenging new papers in this specific field of research.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to develop further the concept of increasing returns in technology industries, including social and critical mass factors. The paper applies this framework to the twenty‐first century with the example of the three‐way competition among Nokia, Microsoft and Linux for the global mobile software standards competition.

A multidisciplinary and conceptual methodology was used, integrating theories from economics, marketing, technology, innovation, sociology and psychology.

The study finds that increasing returns frameworks need to combine technology as well as social and psychology effects to reflect the dynamics of global competition in the twenty‐first century.

This paper illustrates how a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to analysing increasing returns and a critical mass framework can provide a richer and more holistic analysis of global competition, including Nokia, Microsoft and Linux, in the global competition for mobile software in the twenty‐first century.

This paper aims to provide an introduction to the special issue on the theme of sustainability and the need for change.

The paper gives an overview of sustainability and its managerial and policy dilemmas for organizations. It also outlines the topics covered in the papers in the special issue.

The question that the papers seek to answer is: how can organisations deal with the sustainability challenge? The papers cover the key sustainability dilemmas: how to balance short term priorities with long term vision, organisational change with stability, strategic goals with day to day implementation, domestic with international responsibilities; how to manage the corporate brand, image and reputation; how to influence policies nationally and internationally, and foster relations, all in the realm of effecting the change in attitude and behaviour that sustainability demands.

The paper introduces an eclectic collection of papers that are intended to inform, challenge and stimulate continuing debate.