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The strategic management perspective suggests that organizations structure their governing boards to complement the strategic goals of the organization. In contrast, the institutionalization perspective holds that organizations structure their governing boards to respond to institutional pressures in their task environment. Regardless of which perspective is followed, three structural dimensions of governing boards are expected to be affected: size, diversity of composition, and medical staff representation. A study was conducted to relate the institutional requirements and strategies of acute care hospitals to the structural characteristics of their boards of directors. Results indicated that, after controlling for organizational size and membership in a multihospital system, the governing board structure of 109 acute care hospitals varied significantly both as a function of their overall business strategy and as a function of institutional linkages. However, the proportion of the total variance in board structure accounted for by strategy variables was approximately twice as much as that accounted for by institutional variables.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the special issue on practical wisdom for management from the Islamic traditions.

The guest editorial introduces the papers in this special issue, focusing on practical wisdom for management from the Islamic tradition.

Using multiple levels of analysis as well as both academic and practitioner‐oriented perspectives, this special issue demonstrates that the Islamic tradition offers valuable practical wisdom insights in multiple areas including leadership, human resource management, action learning, knowledge transfer and business ethics.

This issue represents the first exploratory contribution to the research on practical wisdom from the Islamic tradition, opening a new focus of research and contributing to management development.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the leadership style of Muhammad (p) within a character‐centric framework as a useful alternative to the transactional, self‐centered model and the value‐neutral transformational approach that currently permeate business management. The author differentiates such perspectives from the character‐centered, moral approach to leadership suggested by the Qur’an and modeled by Muhammad (p), and proposes that this approach may be of practical use to CEOs.

A conceptual, comparative discussion of Muhammad's leadership style based on the primary Islamic sources is shown to have practical implications for the leadership process in management.

The current malaise in business leadership can be resolved by a new focus on character and on virtues.

The character‐centered, moral approach of Muhammad provides exemplars of virtues and behaviors that, if emulated by CEOs, may help pre‐empt potentially self‐serving, individualistic and narcissistic tendencies.

The leadership model of Muhammad has been applied to a number of arenas before, but this is the first attempt at explicating the Qur’anic emphasis on the role‐modeling aspects of his character (khuluqin azeem). When fully expounded, it is likely to offer a more virtue‐centric alternative to transactional and/or transformational approaches to leadership and their associated relativistic values.

The aim of this paper is to investigate how values from within Abrahamic religions could be adopted to improve liberal market economies’ (LMEs’) corporate governance business practices.

The concept of spiritual capitalism is explained from an Islamic perspective by adopting three universal Abrahamic values to critically analyse LMEs and offer an ethical alternative to current capitalism concerns.

It is found that LMEs can be improved by considering all stakeholders, putting ethics before economics, and introducing shared risk/reward plus lower debt.

The paper compares LMEs/Co‐ordinated market economies (CMEs)/Islamic countries economies (ICEs) within an ethical framework for LMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the opportunities of using halal regulation and certification as a mechanism for applying Islamic business ethics in contemporary world.

The current practices of halal regulation and certification and literature on Islamic ethics were reviewed, to identify a practical approach for Islamic business ethics.

Islam allows and accepts different levels of ethical commitment. A multi‐level Islamic ethics framework and a multi‐level halal certification approach are proposed to facilitate the implementation of Islamic business ethics in a relative context. Two major developments can enrich halal business practices: harmonization of global standards and governance structure, and integrating responsibility and ethical issues in halal standards.

The proposed framework and developments can enrich halal regulation and certification practice.

The paper emphasizes the importance of flexibility and adaptability in Islamic business ethics implementation, and proposes a new framework and approach to apply Islamic business ethics.

The purpose of this paper is to infer, from the mystical Islamic tradition, practical wisdom for management development on knowledge transfer and storage as well as organizational boundaries.

This exploratory research uses an ethnographic approach. Deep immersion was sought through participant observation in a Sufi Dhikr Circle.

Knowledge transfer and storage in the Sufi Dhikr Circle is a relational and collective endeavor. The Circle has fluid boundaries between the organization and the outside, as well as between intra‐organizational parts. Knowledge and boundary processes reflect that the human being is a complex actor of “body, mind and heart” with multiple senses.

Management development theory and practice may benefit through reflecting on the practices of the Sufi Dhikr Circle with regard to its group‐collective, sense‐comprehensive and actor‐complex approach to knowledge storage and transfer, as well as the spatial, temporal and content fluidity both of intra‐organizational boundaries in the Circle and vis‐à‐vis its environment. Conceptualizing the human as a complex actor with various senses may improve knowledge storage and transfer processes, as well as fluid de facto boundaries.

The observation of “different practice” which is shaped less by business discourse enables a critical reflection of “common practice” potentially leading to a new “best practice”. Reflecting on the practices of the Sufi Dhikr Circle and its conceptualization of human beings may contribute to the management development literature and practice on knowledge and boundary processes. Contemplating on what is different may help us to better comprehend what is common.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between individual personality and compensation package preferences and whether cross‐cultural differences exist in these preferences in the USA and India.

A survey methodology was used and subjects included 175 MBA students of two universities, one in the USA and one in India. Measurement instruments included a Big Five personality measure and a compensation pay strategy typology.

Results indicated a significantly different pattern of results between subjects in the two countries. In the India sample, introversion was a significant predictor of a security/commitment pay strategy and extroversion and neuroticism were significant predictors of performance‐driven pay strategies. In the US sample, none of the personality variables was predictive of pay strategy preferences.

Multinational firms should reconsider “one‐size‐fits‐all” compensation plans and tailor strategies to fit the profile of their workforce.

The paper provides empirical data indicating that relationships exist between personality and pay package preferences, and that these relationships differ by culture.

An increasing number of human resource development (HRD) theorists and researchers are calling for a broader philosophical framework for HRD within management practice. The concept of workplace spirituality has received significant attention in this context. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of religion of Islam in filling this need for a spiritual philosophical framework and to highlight the lessons that can be learned from Islamic traditions. Finally, the authors call for revisiting some of the major motivation theories of HRD.

After discussing relevant philosophical, spiritual and HRD literature, this paper proposes modification in expectancy theory of motivation.

This paper emphasizes holistic education and human development in HRD. It proposes an enhanced role for objectives’ valence and value in organizational motivation. It also shows how earlier Islamic traditions had already practised the modern HRD principles.

Being conceptual and theoretical in nature, the suggested motivation model needs rigor, further testing and empirical analysis.

The paper suggests that HRD ought to incorporate holistic education and human development as its main drivers. Furthermore, organizations need to put more emphasis on the value of ethical and normative objectives that may involve delayed or reduced gratification.

The paper implies that by giving more emphasis to the value of ethical and moral goals, organizations and human resources would be more responsible to social responsibilities.

The paper proposes a new dimension in the expectancy theory of motivation and also provides justification for the role of spirituality as a philosophical framework in HRD.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Chris Argyris's ideas from an Islamic perspective.

The main approach is a literature review combined with an analysis based on Islamic principles. At the end, there is a short case study that demonstrates the possible application for practitioners.

Chris Argyris's work touches on a fundamental point: the lack of congruence between espoused values and theories‐in‐use. Such incongruence is amplified by the existence of organizational defense routines. From an Islamic perspective, such an incongruence is very problematic. The paper discusses two mechanisms in the Islamic tradition – sincerity to others and mutual consultation – to overcome this problem. The case study also suggests that more modern techniques can be useful as well. The implications for management education are discussed.

It is proposed that the points raised by Chris Argyris should be taken very seriously by all researchers. Generally, it is proposed that management education should concern itself more with the congruence between values and behaviour.

The case study demonstrates that there are techniques that can be used to overcome organizational defence routines.

This is the first time Argyris's ideas have been examined from an Islamic perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to draw a portrait of training and development ideals and practices from the Islamic point of view.

This is a conceptual paper. The paper reviews the relevant literature on training and development from an Islamic perspective portraying the interface between ideals and practices of training and development in Islam in order to bridge a gap in the extant literature.

The literature that deals with training and development in Islam seems to belong to two major categories: essays espousing a broad perspective and including catch‐all concepts or other generic Islamic principles; and studies addressing human resource management in Islam that mainly examine training and development from a narrow perspective. The findings of this limited body of literature are far from being consistent as they seem contradictory in nature. Simultaneously, in the area of training and professional development, Islam emphasizes practical wisdom and translating theoretical insights into behaviors and practices rather than solely relying on theoretical principles.

The literature review is not detailed due to the dearth of information on training and development from an Islamic perspective.

Training and learning methods from the Islamic tradition can provide constructive contribution to workplace practices as well as benefit organizations that anticipate offering efficient and effective custom‐designed training methods to best meet the training needs of their Muslim employees.

The present contribution is a unique synthesis of the literature related to the application of Islamic principles in training and professional development.