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The implementation of organizational change has long been problematic. Over time two approaches have developed. The participative approach assumes that employee support is a pre‐requisite of change. The unilateral approach argues that behavior must be changed first and attitude will follow. The results of a study of 408 change episodes indicate that unilateral implementation approaches are more effective than participative. While employee support was related to change success, it was the function of change type not participative implementation. Behavioral‐social change types generate more support than technical‐structural changes. The implications for future research are discussed.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the benefits and drawbacks of the case method, one of the participative learning techniques, and its appropriateness for the Turkish cultural context. It offers an executable strategy for promoting this method in Turkey. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an analysis of a wide range of articles on organizational and classroom learning, strategic leadership, and Turkish cultural, educational, and institutional contexts. This is complemented by information from semi‐structured interviews with Canadian case method experts and Turkish educators and educational leaders. Findings – The Turkish cultural context provides more favorable conditions for implementation of the case method than that of the Western countries where it originates. For instance, Turkey has one of the highest scores of in‐group collectivism. However, a lack of focused leadership and appropriate motivation prevented the pioneers of the method from overcoming the inertia of the incumbent institutional structures. Research limitations/implications – Only one participative technique in one country is explored in this paper. Further studies may usefully extend this approach to other countries in the region with similar cultures. Practical implications – Recognizing the favorable cultural conditions for the case method, leaders of business education in Turkey can adopt this technique as an explicit strategy. Strategic alliances with expert case‐teaching schools will confer competitive advantage both to Turkish institutions and to their students. Originality/value – This paper focuses on implementation issues of an effective teaching tool within one country, thus making its analysis and recommendations both specific and executable. Although examples of case method research abound, this contextual anchoring is rare.

This chapter analyzes the success factors, outcomes, and future viability of large-group methods. We have used an exploratory action research approach focusing on eight variously purposed large-group methods (AmericaSpeaks, Appreciative Inquiry, Conference Model®, Decision Accelerator, Future Search, Participative Design, Strategic Change Accelerator/ACT (IBM), and Whole-Scale™ Change). We interviewed nine leading practitioners and creators for each method, as well as six clients who had played key roles in most of these methods' execution at their organizations, asking them to reflect on the current practices and outcomes and the future of each respective large-group method, as well as the methods as a group of interventions. Based on our findings derived through theme and content analysis of interviews, we purport that both the Art (excellence in method execution) and the Artist (the right facilitator) are necessary for achieving desired outcomes of the large-group methods. We stipulate that critical elements of the Art include these five common elements (or five “I”s): having the right Individuals in the room; aiming the method at resolving the right Issue; having Intentional process (including pre-work, intra-method process, and follow-up); having the right Information in the meeting; and using the right Infrastructure (such as appropriate physical space, technology, etc.). We suggest that while these elements of Art are important, the simultaneous requisite role of the Artist is to manage the tension between the rigidity of the Art (the 5 “I”s) and the emerging human dynamics occurring between the large-group method process and the associated evolving client objectives. That is, to achieve desired outcomes, the execution of large-group method needs to be both highly premeditated and ingenious. We supplement our findings with client case descriptions and quotes from the practitioners and conclude that these large-group methods are particularly appropriate for resolving a variety of issues facing today's organizations operating under the conditions of high technology saturation, interdependence, globalization, economic downturn, and others – and that this, with some exceptions, will likely remain the case in the future. However, the future use of these methods will be challenged by the availability of Artists who can execute the methods so they lead to desired outcomes. We close with discussion of open questions and directions for future research.

On the broad international scene the project group is coming to be accepted as a unique instrument of management with great potential for promoting change and participation Participation can take two main forms. One is concerned with guarding the employee interest; it tends to revolve around considerations such as conditions of employment; it is dominated by thoughts of employees' rights; it is defensive on the part of employees and in my own terminology I refer to it as negative participation. The other is more concerned with the contribution that employees can make towards improving the performance of the company, meaning economic performance. It is oriented towards increasing the prosperity of the enterprise and I refer to this, in the absence of a universally‐agreed terminology, as positive participation.

Reports the results of a survey of UK lecturers involved in teaching strategic management to postgraduate and post‐experience students. Identifies the lecturer’s objectives in using case studies and evaluates the effectiveness of the case method in achieving those objectives. Finds that the method is successful in achieving participation and in developing communication and interpersonal skills, but less successful in the development of strategic analysis. Finds that a wide range of other methods are used in the teaching of strategic management, and that these methods can be used partly to replace and also to complement the use of case.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how competences for sustainable development and research interrelate within a context of competence-based higher education. Specific focus is oriented towards strengthening research competences for sustainability.

Following a hermeneutic–interpretive methodology, this paper builds upon a critical literature review to demarcate the theoretical framework and an in-depth analysis of a case study exploring the interrelations between both types of competences.

The paper discusses current issues in the integration of competences and explores the contribution of research-based methods to acquire competences for sustainable development. The analysis shows that research skills are often mentioned to contribute to this acquisition, though from a general perspective, or from the sidelines of the learning process. A holistic view on how both concepts are linked is missing.

First, the complex nature of competences and their integration in higher education could lead to difficulties in interpreting and analysing them. Second, the analysis is based on a single-case study, limiting possibilities to generalise the results. Third, this study is not looking at curriculum practices in these fields.

There is a need to holistically (re-)frame research competences within the concepts of education for sustainable development and, to a wider extent, sustainable development.

Framing research competences within the concept of sustainable development enables a thorough and “conscious”, rather than coincidental, acquisition of competences for sustainable development.

The originality of this paper lies in the fact that there is little literature about the interrelations between competences for sustainable development and research competences.

Continues from Part 1 and investigates how the learning styles and training methods for individuals and groups can be matched to maximise the efficiency of the training programme. In a similar manner to identifying personal learning styles, training methods can be classified by their efficiency with the different learning‐style groups. The training methods are divided into large and small group activities together with individual training processes. The learning styles of participants are then matched to the training styles.

Sustainable development is generally a difficult concept to explore in an educational setting. Those attempting to teach it require the inter- and transdisciplinary skills to be able to foster in the students not only the knowledge assimilation but also the deep acquisition of values (Faham, Rezvanfar, Mohammadi, & Nohooji, 2017; Lambrechts, Mulà, Ceulemans, Molderez, & Gaeremynck, 2013). Sustainable education is embedded in the curriculum of Food Technology students throughout their four-year degree at Harper Adams University. In this chapter, a brief description of how the curricula are organized is presented. Emphasis is given to one module in the final year of the degree where the content and pedagogical practice as well as the pedagogic nature of the learning environment is analyzed in the light of the literature. The teaching and learning practices developed, and the extent to which they equip the students with skills such as critical thinking, analysis, reflection, and complex problem solving is explored. Two case studies are presented, namely the Loess Plateau (China) and the Chiapas Coffee Farmers (Mexico). These serve to contextualize the extent that students can draw from teaching and learning strategies in the module as well as other experiences (personal or from other modules) and use these to frame the students’ learning.

The chief marketing executive rises to deliver his report to the Board on his activities over the last year. ‘Twelve months ago it had been agreed to go for a higher quality market, and that adjustments must be made to the advertising and sales budgets. The initial advertising budget of £10,000 was spread evenly over all four major sales areas, and salesmen were employed according to the demand forecast by our market research unit … We are pleased to record a 70 per cent increase in sales over the year with total sales cost per unit being reduced from £30 to £20’. He sounds impressive, he should go far. In fact, immediately, he is not likely to go further than the next classroom to resume study of an A‐Level subject, because his role of marketing man has been a part of a school general studies sixth form course about business.