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Leadership is a crucial driver of project performance. While traditionally, the project leader was considered as the exclusive source of leadership behavior, recent research indicates that particularly dispersed projects may profit from joint leadership efforts by all project members. However, leadership functions in dispersed projects are likely to differ from those in a face-to-face context. In this chapter, we specify shared leadership functions for the domain of geographically dispersed project teams with high levels of task uncertainty. Arguing that shared leadership in dispersed teams occurs through interrelation of individual and team actions, we specify a dispersed screening function as well as self-, other-, and team-directed interrelation functions and develop propositions on how these functions are related to project performance. Furthermore, we point to motivational aspects of shared leadership and discuss the role of the vertical leader in developing and facilitating shared leadership.

This case study looks at building partnerships and networking relationships that developed in the course of implementing a three-year (August 2009–August 2012) Information Literacy (IL) in Higher education project “Developing an Information Literacy Programme for Lifelong Learning for African Universities” funded by Development Partners in Higher Education (DelPHE). The process leading to the end of the project has been enriching and opened windows to various professional networking relationships and institutional cooperation within the African region and with those abroad. The contacts have opened new avenues for further research and collaboration in areas such as monitoring and evaluation of the IL programs in Higher Education (HE) institutions. The University of Botswana (UB) has benefited from these collaborative initiatives and this chapter traces the partnerships that evolved in the course of institutionalizing and embedding information literacy at UB, its participation in the DelPHE project, and how the leadership took advantage of opportunities that came along in order to augment and enrich the activities and outcomes of the project as well as promote the university’s vision and mission. The chapter concludes by highlighting some of the benefits and challenges of collaboration among institutions, organizations, and individual professionals in advancing the institutional policies, strategic plans, and interests which may be at variance and how some of these challenges can be overcome.

The authors discuss a large system transformation project they designed and implemented in Slovenia at the start of its independence in the early 1990s. Post-mortem insights are useful for practitioners who embark on similarly broad transformation processes. Design issues are discussed such as structuring the pre-contracting phase to guarantee inclusive stakeholder representation and participation throughout the transformation process and how intervention design needs to allow for experimentation and multi-stakeholder alliance building. Application of action research and action learning in a risk-averse environment typical of central governments helped create a sense of ownership, control, and collective accountability in the partner country.

The notion of ‘happy dean's office’ (DO) seems to be at best an oxymoron as these units are usually understaffed, overworked and perceived at the very bottom of university hierarchy. Contrary to these beliefs the article aims to identify and analyse DOs which could be labelled as ‘happy’, i.e. units which are good places to work in, according to their staff, and/or are valued high by their students. Happiness is treated symbolically rather than a psychological state of human being and refers to a workplace which provides its employees with satisfaction and well-being, and at the same time is perceived as efficient and effective. Our source material are 16 individual in-depth interviews with managers of DOs at Polish HEIs and 3 focus groups. In most cases we visited the DOs and so could also use some participant observation. These and other DOs at the same HEI share the same legal environment, infrastructure and are situated in the same manner in HEIs structure. What makes them different, and so might influence their level of happiness, are: (1) management style, (2) organisational culture, and (3) students. In our research we focus on the first two aspects, the last one, due to lacking data, is skipped. Basing on our research and practical experience – as one of us has been managing a DO for almost 20 years and the other has been serving as a vice-dean for six years – we want to provide recommendations on how a DO can be turned into a good place to work.

The chapter provides a case study of the strategic-level employee involvement (EI) program at a high-performance company, Delta Air Lines. EI at Delta – probably the most extensive in breadth, depth, and representational structure for nonunion workers at an American company – extends from shop floor to board room. Attention here is on the board component: a group of five peer-selected employees called the Delta Board Council (DBC) which has a nonvoting seat on the board of directors and participates in a wide range of strategic decisions and roles. The chapter discusses why this kind of representational EI group, although widespread up to the 1930s, is now quite rare in the United States. The main part of the chapter focuses on the structure, purpose, and accomplishments of the DBC, presented through a question and answer (Q&A) interview with a founding DBC member. Provided are numerous EI “lessons-learned” and “do’s” and “don’ts” for managers.

Sharp Corporation, established in 1912, has always tried to identify unique niches that its competitors do not enter, while at the same time continuing to pursue innovation and knowledge creation in those niches. The liquid crystal display (LCD) business is a typical example of Sharp's strategy and innovation. Sharp developed the first successful LCD product – a pocket calculator with a small black and white LCD in 1973 – and since then the company has released a series of unique products with LCDs, including PDAs and camcorders. In 1998, in the face of increasing competition in the traditional cathode-ray tube (CRT) TV market, Katsuhiko Machida, the company's new president and strategic leader, announced his vision of upgrading all bulky CRT televisions sold in the domestic market to flat screen LCD sets by 2005. This vision was bold, since Sharp was the first producer of color CRT TVs and its business was still profitable at the time. However, Machida as strategic leader, predicted tough price competition in the CRT business in the future and began to mobilize Sharp's employees to gain and sustain competitive advantage in the new market.

The importance of humans to the successful delivery of construction projects has led to the emergence of research attention on construction workforce management. As such, this chapter uncovers emotional intelligence (EI) and the external environment as critical aspects of workforce management practices that have not gained substantial attention in past workforce management studies. While some theories and models (existing outside the construction domain) have considered the external environment, none of these models is specific to the construction industry. Furthermore, EI has received less attention within existing workforce management models. Through a review of related studies and theories, this chapter noted that the EI of construction workers and their senior management is crucial to the performance of these workers and the ultimate performance of their organisations. In the same vein, since construction organisations do not operate in silos, the external environment significantly influences the operations of organisations in the construction industry. The environment exact pressures that can influence workforce management practices and technological innovations construction organisations adopt.

For decades the majority of contributions to governance practice have been compliance-focused while much governance research has been grounded in an agency view (Daily, Dalton & Rajagopalan, (2003), Academy of Management Journal, 46(2), 151–158). Much of that effort has failed to observe the key drivers of boardroom decision making. The objective of this research was to explore the shareholder–stakeholder tension within an organisation as it progressed through sequential forms of ownership. The results presented in this paper are primarily drawn from the immediate ex poste and ex ante events surrounding the collapse of Ansett Holdings Ltd and the latter government bailout of Air New Zealand. New Zealand's national airline provided a relevatory case (Yin, (1989), Case study research: Design and methods (Rev.ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage), the opportunity to study a phenomenon previously inaccessible to research, because data hitherto unavailable ‘entered’ the public domain. However, when reinterpreted in light of direct input from key executives involved – benevolent informants – much of that data needs to be reconsidered to better understand why critical decisions were made. The Ansett collapse subsequently became the single largest corporate collapse in Australian history while the loss to Air New Zealand became New Zealand's largest-ever corporate loss. The decision by Brierley Investments Limited (BIL) to ‘block’ Singapore Airline's (SIA) entry into the Australian market, implemented through the high risk acquisition of the balance of Ansett, directly resulted in both ‘collapses’. Decisions by the organisation's governance were found to have a direct impact on the performance of Air New Zealand through various phases of its ownership. While the ‘collapses’ are attributed to a failure of governance to act in the organisation's (stakeholders) interests. Growing tensions between shareholders and stakeholders were observed to be suppressed as the BIL dominated and led Board achieve complete control over decision making. There remains considerable opportunity to further governance research through the examination of business ethics, notably the view that appropriate ethics can be met by way of legislation (e.g. Diplock, (2003, April), Corporate governance issues. Securities Commission of New Zealand. Available from: http://www.sec-com.govt.nz/speeches/jds240403.shtml). However, the role of governance, particularly whom it is there to serve requires far greater attention on behalf of researchers. In the cases of Ansett and Air New Zealand the Board ceased to act in best interests of the organisation in favour of the major shareholder.