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The purpose is to offer a critique of the process of decision-making by top university administrators and to analyze how their decisions imposed their preferences and expanded administrative control.

In the fall of 2021, the top administrators at Boston-based Northeastern University required that all members of the university community return to fully on-campus face-to-face work. That decision involved a return to what was labeled “normal operations” and followed a year-and-a-half of adjustments to the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on that case example, the analysis then ranges backward and forward in time. Other decisions – by Northeastern University leaders as well as leaders at other schools – are considered as well.

Leaders impose labels on complex contingencies as a way of constructing meaning. No label is objectively true or indisputable. In the hands of individuals who possess hierarchical power and authority, the application of a label such as “new normal” represents an exercise of power. Through an exploration and analysis of the underlying, unspoken, assumptions behind the application of the “new normal” label, the article suggests how the interests of university leaders were being advanced.

Because of its reliance on labeling, the paper focuses mainly on the words of administrators – at Northeastern University and elsewhere – that are called upon to explain/justify decisions. The multiplicity of interests forwarded by the “new normal” label are explored. No attempt is made – nor would it be possible – to understand what was in the hearts and minds of these administrators.

The article makes a case that any and all pronouncements of leaders should be understood as assertions of power and statements of interests. The practical impact is to suggest a critical analysis to be applied to all such pronouncements.

The approach taken in this article is situated within post-modernist analysis that critiques dominant narratives, disputes epistemological certainty and ontological objectivity and takes cognizance of coded messages contained in language.

Everyone has been through a traumatic period of time with the pandemic. The author has focused on a specific community – university administrators and tenure/tenure track faculty – as a window to help explain how decision-makers shaped their response. The author wants to emphasize the labels imposed by leaders and the assumptions behind the application of those labels.

The expected learning outcomes are to understand key frameworks and tools for global leaders through the application of widely used theoretical frameworks on a written business case, understand the role of the leader in a team, apply theories of change to situations to anticipate courses of events and evaluate and apply relevant theory to assess a leader’s character and personality.

Hassan Allam Holding (HAH) was a family-owned Egyptian engineering, construction and infrastructure company managed by co-Chief Executive Officers and brothers Amr and Hassan Allam. HAH experienced significant growth and success, but eventually, it reached a point where its family governance structure could no longer sustain further growth. Amr and Hassan realized this and started planning to transition toward a corporate governance structure. In 2016, they managed to get the International Finance Corporation on board as an equity partner, and this helped propel the governance transition, but they still needed to find a way to convince the family to step back. This case study can help students understand the issues that may occur during a change within an established organization of any size. The case study considers the implications the change may have on the leader, his personality and his character and how it shapes the leader in question as an outcome. This case study has been designed to be used in one or two sessions and can be offered in management or leadership courses at an undergraduate or graduate level.

This case study is intended for graduate and undergraduate students studying a leadership or management course. It can help students comprehend the challenges of a family-owned business and how change is associated with such businesses. The case also considers how leaders are shaped by effectively managing conflict. This case can be considered as Level 1 on a 1–3 scale, as the full description of the situation is given in the case and the task of the students is to analyze the leader and his decisions using various academic concepts and theories (Erskin et al., 2003).

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

Recent research has proposed a specific female phenotype within autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It suggests females exhibit differences in social communication styles with higher levels of camouflaging and compensatory strategies, as well as variance in restrictive repetitive behaviours (RRBs); however, many existing studies have been based on either small, disproportionate or child and adolescent samples, leaving questions about the specific phenotype. This study aims to explore the sex difference and phenotype in a clinic sample of individuals diagnosed with autism.

A service evaluation of sex/ gender differences on 150 historical ASD assessment reports (75 males, 75 females) using a 103-item questionnaire developed from a quantitative review of existing literature was undertaken.

Females camouflaged more significantly than males in five different areas (thinking how to act next, preparing conversation in advance, making lists of prompts/social responses, wearing a mask/acting, less monotone voice); however, these were not maintained in post-analysis correction.

This study points the evidence towards a different phenotype of Autism that is more common in women than men rather than a unique female phenotype.

This compact case study was developed from secondary sources readily available in the public domain. These included company websites, videos, social media and news articles.

Hallmark had a strong history of supporting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. During the 2019 holiday season, Hallmark Channel was suddenly caught in the middle of a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) ad controversy that attracted media attention. Critics of the ad claimed it went too far and was “inappropriate” to air. LGBTQ advocacy groups quickly rebuked that argument. Ultimately, the media frenzy was short-lived and Hallmark Channel continued to dominate the holiday programming landscape. This case evaluates the marketing aspects of the dilemma including customer segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) strategy issues. Culture and industry analysis is also provided as a way for the reader to understand the complexity associated with marketing strategy. One underlying question is what role does STP play in understanding how to develop marketing strategies that build customer loyalty and help organizations compete in the marketplace?

This case should be used in marketing and management classes at the undergraduate level. Applicable concepts include segmentation, targeting, positioning, advertising, brand strategy and DEI issues. This case could also be taught in a DEI course or a segmentation special topics class that discusses the differences between customer groups.

This study explores the effect of income diversification strategy on credit risk and market risk of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Ghana as an emerging market.

The study is based on quarterly data of averagely 271 MFIs that have operated from 2016 to 2018. The dataset is unbalanced and pooled cross-sectional with 3,259 data points. The study measures the diversification strategy using income diversification indices, and accounting ratios to measure the other variables. We utilised the weighted least squares (WLS) approach to explore the nexus.

The findings show that income diversification is associated with better loan quality and credit risk management. Market risk increases with the level of income diversification of microfinance firms. It is evident that large MFIs can manage their credit risks well and can have a low default rate, depicting an overall U-shaped nexus. On the other hand, the effect of size on market risk is an inverted U-shaped. The effect of asset tangibility on credit risk is positively significant while the effect on market risk is negatively significant. High profitability enhances credit risk management leading to lower loan losses while in the case of diversified and profitable MFIs, they tend to invest more in government securities. The results suggest that MFIs that hold more cash and cash equivalents tend to have high loan loss provision and more government securities suggesting much attention should be paid to optimal cash management.

The results throw light on the credit risk and market risk profile of the firms and the effect of diversification strategies on them. The findings are relevant for effective macroprudential regulation, market regulation and prudential regulation of the microfinance sector.

The findings reveal the nature of income diversification strategy of MFIs in emerging markets such as Ghana, pointing out how they affect the risk exposure of MFIs that lend to the pro-poor population.

This is a premier formal assessment of the nexus between income diversification strategies and risk management among MFIs that serve the pro-poor population in the emerging market context.

There are several connections between education and disinformation, including the association between years of schooling and vulnerability to unfounded hypothesizing. The purpose of this paper is to inquire into a competing explanation: political leaders might be exploring powerful teaching and learning strategies to disseminate agendas based on baseless assumptions, exploiting human’s tendency to generate robust theories even with incomplete or incorrect information.

The authors analyzed ten videos published online by a highly partisan YouTube channel. The footage contained informal encounters between former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and supporters in front of his official residence. The team sought to answer two research questions: Do Mr Bolsonaro’s discursive moves include activators that lead the audience to understand that they are theorizing and reaching conclusions “on their own?” Does Mr Bolsonaro’s audience follow those clues and mention politically motivated hoaxes and conspiracy theories in their comments? This paper draws on perspectives from the field of educational research to investigate the mechanisms used by the president to shape public opinion.

The authors found evidence of the employment of elements akin to classroom discourse in the dialogues led by Mr Bolsonaro. Specifically, different types of rhetorical questions are present to a substantial extent in the data subset analyzed for this paper.

This work offers an alternative perspective to analyzing disinformation. By drawing from established literature from education research, this paper departs from facile explanations that take for granted the lack of intelligence of the audience. Conversely, it argues that popular, if not powerful, teaching and learning strategies might play an undesired role by shaping individuals’ cognitive processes to create robust, internally consistent theories about the world using flawed assumptions and incorrect “building blocks.”

This paper aims to investigate the local perspectives, based on culture and beliefs about peer stigma, consequences and strategies to reduce mental health stigma among adolescents in Indonesia.

This study included 30 participants, including students, teachers, health professionals and lecturers. Two sessions of focus group discussions and 14 sessions of in-depth interviews were performed to collect the data. A qualitative content analysis was carried out, and some related themes and sub-themes were explored.

This study found that peer stigma was prevalent and negatively impacted the psychological, social and intellectual development of adolescents with mental disorders (MD) in Indonesian society. Five strategies to tackle peer stigma were proposed, including increasing mental health literacy (MHL), reducing the harmful effects of stigma, fostering a supportive social environment, expanding access to and improving the quality of mental health care and advocating for public health policies.

More qualitative research on the experiences and perspectives of victims, perpetrators and society concerning mental health stigma in adolescents is required to fully understand why stigma arises, what causative factors and repercussions it has, as well as how to deal with it.

Peer stigma still exists among adolescents. It has negative impacts on their mental and psychological well-being. MHL, social environment, the harmful effects of stigma, as well as mental health access and policy were concerns of this study. A school is a place where adolescents spend most of their social time. Schools play a vital part in the stigma-reduction program.

Mental health stigma among adolescents with MD is an issue that has potentially hindered mental health recovery. Anti-stigma intervention based on local perspectives is valuable in increasing the effectiveness and acceptance of interventions.