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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 15 January 2024

Sol Garrido

This study aims to introduce an alternative model, “volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA), Virtue and Vice” (3V’s), to unleash leadership skills, promote…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to introduce an alternative model, “volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA), Virtue and Vice” (3V’s), to unleash leadership skills, promote organisational collaborative change and impact sales performance during an unprecedented crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology outlines action research based on the 3V’s model and its application in an international business-to-business sales organisation during Covid-19. It explores alternative paths informed by play-at-work and Plato’s philosophy applied to work-based-learning. Each action/iteration adds to the model, which becomes more likely appropriate for various situations.

Findings

The 3V’s boosted change implementation and improved sales performance. The 3V’s conceptualised an invitation to immerse oneself in the constant “river of change” (VUCA) and a means of understanding the role of leadership in navigating this change by embracing simple rules: searching for justice (Virtue) and overcoming the barrier of public opinion (Vice).

Research limitations/implications

The 3V’s model is grounded in leadership literature and a sole application, providing real international data relevant to organisations and leaders. This has yet to be evaluated further.

Practical implications

3V’s can enhance the understanding of a leading collaborative change and re-frame team dynamics in post-pandemic times for the broader public.

Social implications

The approach advocated is a practice of “swimming alongside the team”, which should enable empowerment and collaboration rather than a top-down direction. Focussing on leaders who are moral people, this approach becomes a differentiator in a digital world.

Originality/value

This study examines Plato’s philosophy, play-at-work and other leadership theories in a model which prepares organisations to respond to crisis by providing the ability to reflect on human aspects and straightforward, transferable skills.

Details

Journal of Work-Applied Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2205-2062

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 December 2023

Angelo Joseph Letizia

The methods and procedures in which teachers are trained and supported are rapidly changing. While the COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly disrupted education and exacerbated a growing…

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Abstract

Purpose

The methods and procedures in which teachers are trained and supported are rapidly changing. While the COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly disrupted education and exacerbated a growing teacher shortage, these problems are not new, they stretch back decades and are the result of underfunding and political machinations among many other factors. This paper is a case study of a small private university and how it transitioned to supporting employed interns and providing on-the-job-training and support for these types of interns in this volatile time for teacher education and preparation.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is a case study. The paper chronicles how the initial certification department within a larger school of education was able to transition to meeting the needs of employed interns and supporting them.

Findings

The most important findings for this case study/examination of practice, while not necessarily generalizable, were the creation of a culture, attention to implementation and the fostering of a learning organization.

Originality/value

The teacher shortage forced the university in this paper to change its offerings, assumptions and culture with regard to interns and their needs. While this was unique to one institution, other institutions are most likely in similar situations.

Details

PDS Partners: Bridging Research to Practice, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2833-2040

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 July 2021

Henry Adobor, William Phanuel Kofi Darbi and Obi Berko O. Damoah

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to explore the role of strategic leadership under conditions of uncertainty and unpredictability. The authors argue that highly improbable…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to explore the role of strategic leadership under conditions of uncertainty and unpredictability. The authors argue that highly improbable, but high-impact events require the upper echelons of management, traditionally the custodians of strategy formulation to offer a new kind of strategic leadership focused on new mindsets, organizational capabilities, more in tune with high uncertainty and unpredictability.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on strategic leadership, and complexity leadership theory, the authors review the literature and present a conceptual framework for exploring the nature of strategic leadership under uncertainty. The authors conceptualize organizations as complex adaptive systems and discuss the imperatives for developing new mental models for emergent leadership.

Findings

Strategic leaders have a key role to play in preparing their organizations for episodic disruptions. These include developing their adaptive capabilities and building resilient organizations to ensure their organizations cannot only bounce back after a disruption but have the capacity for transformation to new fitness levels when necessary. Strategic leaders must engage with complexity leadership by seeing their organizations as complex adaptive systems, reconfigure their leadership approaches and organizations to build strategic adaptive capability.

Research limitations/implications

This is a conceptual paper and the authors cannot make any claims of causality.

Practical implications

Organizational leaders need to reconfigure their mental models and leadership approaches to reflect the new normal of uncertainty and unpredictability. Developing the strategic adaptive capability of organizations should prepare them for dealing with high impact events. To assure business continuity in the face of disruptions requires building flexible, adaptable business models.

Originality/value

The paper focuses on how managers can offer strategic leadership for a new normal that challenges some of our most cherished leadership and strategic management paradigms. The authors explore the new mental models and leadership models in an era of great uncertainty.

Details

Journal of Strategy and Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1755-425X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 November 2022

Hamfrey Sanhokwe

Exposure to a public health threat of significant proportions made current models inadequate to explain the failure phenomenon in small businesses. Hence, the need to reimagine…

Abstract

Purpose

Exposure to a public health threat of significant proportions made current models inadequate to explain the failure phenomenon in small businesses. Hence, the need to reimagine the phenomenon. Borrowing from the principles of biology, this study extended theoretical and empirical perspectives on the failure phenomenon by unpacking its constituent elements and the measurement metrics using the regeneration lens.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a cohort tracked over time, the study estimated the survival probabilities of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) with and without regeneration using the Kaplan–Meier method. The study investigated the factors that predict enterprise regenerative capacity using the multivariate Cox proportional hazard ratios.

Findings

Rates of interruption in business activity, by month, ranged between 0% and 18% during the follow-up period. True mortality rates hovered between 0% and 4% over the same period. Over three in five SMEs that experienced interruption in business activity without ceasing operations regenerated at some point in time during the follow-up period. The survival probabilities beyond the follow-up period were 0.85 and 0.44 with and without regeneration effects, respectively. Fresh capital injection (+), the introduction of new/improved processes or products/services (+), perceived business outlook (+) and the presence of debt (−) influenced the capacity to regenerate.

Research limitations/implications

The cohort was followed for only six months. There is a need to continue interrogating the failure phenomenon in other contexts over longer periods using the regeneration lens. Bringing on board academia, financial institutions and other SME-related ecosystem players will be strategic.

Practical implications

The approach provides a more nuanced understanding of the life and well-being of enterprises under conditions of disruption. Improving the precision and validity of failure-related statistics enhances their utility in policy and remediation-related discussions.

Social implications

The results did not show significant differences in SME mortality rates between male and female-owned enterprises. The results provide further evidence that the failure phenomenon is ungendered. As such, financial institutions and the SME ecosystem at large must eliminate perceptual gender biases in the financing and other support to SMEs.

Originality/value

The study used the principles of biology to reimagine the failure phenomenon in small businesses. The approach breathes life into entrepreneurship research and policy.

Details

Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-4604

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 January 2024

Geoff Woolcott, Martin Loosemore, Robyn Keast, Ariella Meltzer and Suhair Alkilani

Construction is one of Australia’s largest employers of young people and the industry is facing a major labor shortage, with young people expected to account for much of the…

Abstract

Purpose

Construction is one of Australia’s largest employers of young people and the industry is facing a major labor shortage, with young people expected to account for much of the shortfall. Surprisingly however, there been little research into the pathways for young people into construction employment. The aim of this paper is to address this gap in research by exploring whether project-based intermediaries can support the development of disadvantaged young people’s trust in the often-problematic systems which are meant to help transition them into employment in construction.

Design/methodology/approach

Employing an in-depth case study approach, this research mobilizes theories of personalized and generalized trust to report the results of interviews with 15 sectoral leaders; focus groups with 12 young people working in construction; and interviews with 11 young people being transitioned into construction employment through a unique project-based intermediary developed by a major Australian construction company as part of its social procurement requirements.

Findings

Findings show that project-based intermediaries can play an important trust-building role in transitioning disadvantaged young people into work in construction. They do this by bridging a young person’s strong social ties (family and friendship) and weak social ties (with government and construction industry organizations), both of which can be problematic when used in isolation to seek employment in construction. By performing a crucial bridging role between a young person’s individual self-interest in acting alone to find work and their collective interest in being part of a collaborative group, the project-based intermediary creates a new form of linking social capital, enabling social procurement policies which target young people to work while also addressing wider systemic problems in Australia’s employment systems.

Originality/value

This research addresses the lack of employment research into young people in construction and the paucity of theory in social procurement research more broadly. It takes an original approach in aligning theories related to a duality of personalized trust and generalized trust seen against the duality of individual intentionality and agency (self-focused) and shared intentionality and agency (group-focused). By doing so it provides new conceptual and practical insights into the important role that construction project-based intermediaries like the one studied here can play in providing innovative cross-sector and collaborative solutions to the world’s growing youth unemployment crisis.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 23 January 2024

Johan Lilja

Organizations will be key to realizing the “transformative change for humanity” now being called for. However, the complexity calls for new ways of facilitating change and…

Abstract

Purpose

Organizations will be key to realizing the “transformative change for humanity” now being called for. However, the complexity calls for new ways of facilitating change and organizational learning; it also calls for moving beyond sustainability to develop practices that restore and regenerate the world in which we live. Above all, it calls for the development of new frameworks, practices, mindset and capabilities to hold space for and facilitate such transformation, to dance with the “Logic of Life.” The purpose of this study is to contribute to advancing the current leading frameworks and practices of facilitating learning and development towards the enabling of regenerative transformative change in organizations and society.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on an exploratory qualitative analysis of a facilitation prototype that expands the current framework and practice of Appreciative Inquiry Summits toward regeneration.

Findings

This study presents four paradoxes of regenerative facilitation to guide the dance for life in complex ecosystems. It also identifies that the dance needs to be widened, towards inviting more frequently the ends of the four paradoxes noted as regenerative, negative emotions, inner and more-than-human.

Originality/value

This study explores the intersection of practices and frameworks for facilitating complexity with principles from regenerative leadership and complexity theory, potentially making an important contribution to the urgent and widespread need to facilitate a regenerative transformative change for humanity, society and our organizations.

Article
Publication date: 19 January 2024

Lilly-Mari Sten, Pernilla Ingelsson and Marie Häggström

The purpose of this paper is to describe the perception of real teamwork and sustainable quality culture as well as success factors for achieving a sustainable quality culture…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the perception of real teamwork and sustainable quality culture as well as success factors for achieving a sustainable quality culture within an organisation, focusing on top management teams (TMTs). An additional purpose is to explore the relationship between real teamwork and sustainable quality culture.

Design/methodology/approach

A mixed-methods design focusing on TMTs was used. Four TMTs were open-sampled and located in different parts of Sweden. The data were collected through questionnaires and focus group discussions between April 2022 and December 2022. Follow-up meetings were thereafter held with the participants. A meta-analysis was conducted of the data from the four TMTs.

Findings

Two overarching conclusions of this study were: to follow the developed methodology can be one way to increase TMTs' abilities for real teamwork alongside a sustainable quality culture, and the results also showed the importance of a systems view, emotional commitment and continuous improvement for improving real teamwork and creating a sustainable quality culture.

Practical implications

Practical implications were suggestions on how to increase the TMTs' abilities for real teamwork alongside a sustainable quality culture. A deepened understanding of real teamwork and a sustainable quality culture was also achieved by the participants.

Originality/value

The novelty of this paper is the use of a new methodology for assessing teamwork and sustainable quality culture. To the authors' knowledge, no similar research has previously been performed to investigate teamwork alongside a sustainable quality culture, focusing on TMTs.

Details

The TQM Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2731

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 25 March 2021

Fareed Sheriff

This paper presents the Edge Load Management and Optimization through Pseudoflow Prediction (ELMOPP) algorithm, which aims to solve problems detailed in previous algorithms;…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper presents the Edge Load Management and Optimization through Pseudoflow Prediction (ELMOPP) algorithm, which aims to solve problems detailed in previous algorithms; through machine learning with nested long short-term memory (NLSTM) modules and graph theory, the algorithm attempts to predict the near future using past data and traffic patterns to inform its real-time decisions and better mitigate traffic by predicting future traffic flow based on past flow and using those predictions to both maximize present traffic flow and decrease future traffic congestion.

Design/methodology/approach

ELMOPP was tested against the ITLC and OAF traffic management algorithms using a simulation modeled after the one presented in the ITLC paper, a single-intersection simulation.

Findings

The collected data supports the conclusion that ELMOPP statistically significantly outperforms both algorithms in throughput rate, a measure of how many vehicles are able to exit inroads every second.

Originality/value

Furthermore, while ITLC and OAF require the use of GPS transponders and GPS, speed sensors and radio, respectively, ELMOPP only uses traffic light camera footage, something that is almost always readily available in contrast to GPS and speed sensors.

Details

Applied Computing and Informatics, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2634-1964

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 January 2024

Oluwole Olumide Durodolu and Samuel Kelechukwu Ibenne

The purpose of this study is to evaluate knowledge sovereignty and its implication for clearing the mental cobweb through library engagement.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate knowledge sovereignty and its implication for clearing the mental cobweb through library engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

Review of literature

Findings

Knowledge sovereignty refers to people’s ability and aptitude to control, access and navigate information to enable them make informed decisions and channel their activities toward right choices. Library engagements within the new normal of knowledge sovereignty center on their knowledge-centric approach to create, scale, reframe and disseminate both new and existing knowledge to afford quick and gainful use within organizations and the larger society in a short period of time, thus eliminating the dilemma of digital information overload and its complexities, uncertainties and oftentimes, chaos.

Originality/value

This study comply with copyright requirement.

Details

Library Hi Tech News, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0741-9058

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 December 2023

Kirsty Lilley

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how often survivors are dismissed and unsupported in response to actively reaching out for help with distress. The author hopes the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how often survivors are dismissed and unsupported in response to actively reaching out for help with distress. The author hopes the vignettes written about in this piece will serve to support and contribute to a body of work, which will educate professionals how to better support. The author shares various experiences when opportunities to help were denied and the impact this had on recovery. It is also noted that the responses of some health professionals mirror the original trauma suffered and therefore add to distress unnecessarily.

Design/methodology/approach

The author has written about various experiences in different settings in which the support offered fell below professional standards and contributed to further unnecessary distress. The writing is evocative and rich in descriptive detail of the event and then implications of the event on recovery.

Findings

The author concludes that it is helpful to use experiences of being dismissed and unsupported by various professionals to contribute to a body of work, which will hopefully educate and support those in caring professions to support survivors better. The author notes that responses to requests for help can unintentionally and intentionally further exacerbate the distress already experienced by those living with traumatic early life experiences and relational abruptions.

Originality/value

This is the author’s unique and first-hand lived experience of reaching out for help in relation to the distress experienced as a result of early life traumatic and adversarial experiences. The author notes that it is helpful to write about these difficult experiences with the hope that they will inform educational programmes to support health professionals in how they respond to people experiencing trauma. This has helped the author regain a sense of agency in contributing to the prevention of further unhelpful responses from various health professionals to those in distress. The vignettes are rich, deeply evocative and moving. The writing process also helped the author make sense of these further difficulties and how they impacted the recovery process.

Details

Mental Health and Social Inclusion, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-8308

Keywords

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