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This monograph seeks to summarise the key influences of a role‐based perspective on leadership when making decisions as to how organisational resources can best be deployed.

Application of new frameworks provides insight into the leadership roles executives can adopt when part of formal, informal and temporary groups within the organisation's senior management team and those parts of the organisation for which they are responsible. The methodology adopted is qualitative, focusing on application of previously developed frameworks.

Adoption of an appropriate leadership role, and the timely switch from one role to another as circumstances change, are found to facilitate improvement in the ability of executives to mobilise organisational resources, and in so doing effectively address those challenges with which the organisation is faced.

A one‐organisation intensive case study of a multinational engineering company engaged in the design, development and manufacture of rotating turbomachinery provides the platform for the research. The research intent is to validate two frameworks in a different organisation of a similar demographic profile to those in which the frameworks were developed. The frameworks will require validating in organisations of different demographic profiles.

The concepts advanced, and implications discussed, provide an insight into the role‐based nature of leadership. The practical steps individual executives can take to develop their ability to adopt different leadership roles are highlighted.

This monograph is an investigation into, and study of the contribution of theory that provides insight into, the process by which executives effectively mobilise organisational resources. This differs from the original contributions to theory, which focused on methodology, data gathering and validation in contrast with the current study that is focused on practical application.

A framework is developed, and validated, that provides an insight into the role of leadership in transforming a loose group into an effective team. In this context a loose group is defined as a number of individuals brought together to achieve a task, but with no further development undertaken. An effective team, by contrast, is one in which development of a supportive social structure has occurred, with each individual adapting his behaviour to optimise his personal contribution to the team. Four distinct leadership “key roles” are identified: legitimate, social, task, and macro, which lead to the identification of critical leadership issues that limit the speed with which loose groups transform into effective teams. This in turn enables specific recommendations to be made to assist individuals within a team to identify the key role they occupy, the importance of that key role relative to the others and the behaviours most appropriate to it. In the current research program the organisation studied was a multinational engineering company, engaged in the design, development and manufacture of rotating turbomachinery.

The purpose of this study is to provide more insight in the ways key users act as knowledge managers and boundary spanners during the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system usage phase. Despite the recognized importance of key users during the implementation phase of an ERP system, little is known about their role in the ERP usage phase.

To provide rich insight in the boundary-spanning mechanisms utilized by key users to share knowledge, a qualitative approach was applied. In this study, “abductive” theme coding for 58 interviews with key users, end-users and managers has been used. This paper found six mechanisms and characterized them as “crossing” structural, social or cognitive boundaries.

Six boundary-spanning mechanisms have been distinguished which have been applied by key users to overcome several knowledge management issues. Subsequently, these mechanisms lead to a model which describes three different roles that key users may fulfill to efficiently share and transfer knowledge during the ERP usage phase.

Knowledge barriers during an ERP implementation and their accompanying six boundary-crossing mechanisms have been distinguished.

The recognition of the essential role that key users can fulfill during the usage phase of an ERP system is an important implication. Management has to take into account that tasks and responsibilities of key users have to be clear from the start and they may cautiously select employees who are suited to become key users.

The main contribution is the importance of the impact of key users on the effectivity of knowledge management during the ERP usage phase.

The purpose of this paper is to identify key developmental relationships for career‐spanning success and to examine relational models and support expectations associated with these relationships. The paper creates propositions associating developer‐protégé schema congruence and incongruence to relevant outcome variables.

Study 1 employed qualitative coding of developers identified in 77 hall of famer induction speeches and Study 2 used a cross‐industry survey of 425 respondents to assess the relational model and support expectations associated with the seven most highly‐cited developer roles from Study 1.

Study 1 identified these highly‐cited developer roles as a CEO, manager, work teammate, friend, spouse, parent, and unmet hero/idol. Study 2 described the expected relational models associated with these roles and found significant differences in the relational model and support expectations associated across roles.

While study 1 focused on a primarily male sample using retrospective data, it generalized and extended previous research on key developer roles for extraordinary career achievement. Based on the key findings from study 1, study 2 surveyed respondents regarding developer role expectations rather than expectations of particular developer‐protégé relationships.

These findings identify how and with whom protégés should consider initiating and fostering key developmental relationships to enhance their networks while broadening and deepening organizations' understanding of the importance of their members having a variety of organizational and non‐organizational developers.

These findings challenge the notion that developer‐protégé relationships fit a “one size fits all” reciprocal exchange motif as it is the first study to explore expectations associated with key developer relationships using relational models theory.

Stress damages us and our performance. It is a real part of most manager's experience and can be said to occur when significant demands exceed perceived management responsibilities and routines. Stress can be the essence of working life, and certainly need not always be damaging to us. But when it becomes excessive, it is something unwanted.

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) enable the synergistic integration of virtual models with the physical environment. This integration is gaining recognition for its potential to enhance construction project information management, thereby contributing to improved cost management in construction. Similarly, quantity surveyor (QS) plays a key role in construction projects by estimating and monitoring construction costs. Consequently, this research aims to explore redefining the role of QSs by integrating CPS.

The research adopted an interpretivism stance to collect and analyse data. Two rounds of 21 and 19 semi-structured interviews were conducted, with experts selected through heterogeneous purposive sampling. Code-based content analysis was used to analyse the data using NVivo12. MS Visio data visualisation tool was used to present the findings.

It is empirically proven the potential of CPS to facilitate nine key roles of QSs in all stages of the RIBA plan of work through the identification of 15 CPS applications and technologies. Nine key roles of QSs that CPS can facilitate were identified as preliminary estimation, measurement and quantification, contract administration, preparation of BOQ, interim valuation and payments, tender and contract documentation, cost planning, cost control and procurement advice. The study explored how adopting CPS technologies can transform traditional quantity surveying practices and enhance their value within the construction industry.

The findings add to the body of knowledge by redefining the role of QS through the integration of CPS for the first time and then by highlighting the usages of CPS in the construction industry rather than limiting it to a specific sector of the construction industry, as previous studies have done. This research uncovers several other research arenas on CPS as being the very first research to evaluate CPS to facilitate key roles of QSs. The findings can enhance the awareness and the practical implementation of CPS by intervening to form more partnerships among application developers and industry leaders.

This study proposes that executives need to be prepared to switch roles and membership of groups in order to fulfil their leadership responsibilities effectively.

A validated framework provides insight into the leadership roles that executives can switch between as they move from one formal, informal or temporary group to the next within the organisation's wider senior management team. The methodology adopted is qualitative, focusing on inquiry‐based learning which enabled the authors to gather data on those aspects of context that relate specifically to the leadership roles executives switch between.

Changing role is found to facilitate improvement in each executive's decision‐making effectiveness and, over time, in the decision‐making capability of an organisation's wider senior management team.

A one‐organisation intensive case study of a multinational engineering company engaged in the design, development and manufacture of rotating turbomachinery provides the platform for the research. The concepts advanced will require validating in other organisations of both similar and different demographic profiles.

The concepts advanced, and implications discussed, provide an insight into the nature of leadership as a network of relationships. The practical steps individual executives can take to develop their ability to adopt different leadership roles are highlighted.

This paper attempts to assist executives within the wider senior management team to better adapt and coordinate their behaviour with other executives. In so doing, it is suggested that executives contribute more positively to the organisational decision‐making processes and wider senior management team interaction by being adaptive and responsive to changes in their surrounding context.

This study aims to answer the ‘what’ and ‘how’ questions about the key role players’ influence on the overall productivity outcomes in the lifecycle of residential buildings procured through the traditional route.

A mix of exploratory and descriptive research methods was used to obtain feedback from 179 role-players involved in various phases of the residential building lifecycle (RBLC) in New Zealand. Empirical data were analysed using content analysis, multi-attribute method and Friedman’s two-way analysis of variance.

Results showed that designers, building owners, main contractors and project managers were the greatest influencers of the productivity outcomes in the RBLC. The priority drivers of these key role-players’ influences on the RBLC productivity outcomes comprised poor brief interpretation, inclination to lowest tender, inadequate prior risk analysis and miscommunication of owner’s requirements and preferences to service providers, respectively. By taking proactive steps to redress their productivity inhibiting acts/omissions as identified in this study, the various role-players could contribute to significant improvement of productivity outcomes in the building lifecycle.

It was not possible to interview all participants that made up the representative random samples from each role-player group due largely to workload related excuses. As a result, the findings and the conclusions may not be generalised beyond the study scope. However, the study achieved its purpose, as the main intent was to provide hypothetical constructs that could guide further confirmatory/experimental studies for residential buildings as well as for other building types.

A succinct and easy-to-follow model was developed as implementation pathway for operationalising the key findings of the study in the industry. The model highlights the Owner-Architect-Contractor Influence Triangle (OACIT) as the 20 per cent of the solutions that could deliver 80 per cent of the productivity improvement in the RBLC.

This study re-examines productivity issues not only from a life-cycle perspective but also from the perspectives of the majority of the key role-players. In addition, the OACIT concept offers a novel productivity improvement tool; it stresses that productivity in the traditionally procured building lifecycle could be optimised if the architect could focus greater attention on brief articulation and the issuance and review of design and specification information. Also, the owner should adopt productivity-enhancing procurement and contract strategies and emphasise more on value-addition and less on lowest tender price.

Literature on nation branding is heterogeneous and varies significantly, not only in terminological terms but also in theoretical approaches and practical application. This paper aims to conduct an extensive exploratory study that empirically develops a comprehensive nation brand framework for Palestine, with international applications as well.

Initially, a conceptual framework for developing a nation brand is theoretically designed. Subsequently, through a methodologically deductive–inductive approach and qualitative means, it tests, adapts and refines the framework based on empirical data collected from key stakeholders, such as government officials, politicians, business people and academics.

The theoretical part of the research uncovers the extant key models and core concepts, and it identifies several gaps, with the more prominent one being the lack of an integrated and widely adopted framework for developing a nation brand. The research, thus, conclusively builds a holistic strategic framework towards a distinct nation brand for Palestine, with generic/international application and value, also presenting the practical implications of the findings and identifying avenues for further research.

There are varying extant perspectives on the topic, with these different views often reflecting scholars’ and stakeholders’ methodological approaches, perspectives and even deeper ontological beliefs and convictions. This paper is original consequent to its multi-perspective approach, the strength of its theoretical foundation, the extent and methodological approach of its empirical research, the uniqueness of its focus and the comprehensiveness of the framework developed that can also be used as the conceptual cornerstone for testing in other nations branding studies as well.

The purpose of the study is to examine the role of top management in effective key account management (KAM) relationships, making a distinction between top management commitment and top management involvement.

The study uses data from 304 suppliers from different sectors to test the research model and hypotheses developed. Data were collected by means of personal interviews. The survey instrument was a structured questionnaire.

Results show that top management commitment positively affects top management involvement. In addition, top management involvement totally mediates the relationship between top management commitment and relationship quality. Finally, relationship quality positively relates to financial performance.

The study focuses on the role of top management in KAM. Future research that considers the top management’s role simultaneously with other internal or external factors would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the antecedents of effective KAM. Future studies can also examine the potential detrimental impact of top management involvement in KAM.

Top managers should get actively involved in KAM. The study provides managers with guidance concerning how top management can have the greatest effect on KAM effectiveness.

The study adds to our understanding of the role of top management in KAM. The study provides an integrative empirical examination of the influence of top management in KAM and offer insights on which ways top management determines KAM success.