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Complex systems adapt to survive, but little comparative literature exists on various approaches. Adaptive complex systems are generic, this referring to propositions concerning their bounded instability, adaptability and viability. Two classes of adaptive complex system theories exist: hard and soft. Hard complexity theories include Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) and Viability Theory, and softer theories, which we refer to as Viable Systems Theories (VSTs), that include Management Cybernetics at one extreme and Humanism at the other. This paper has a dual purpose distributed across two parts. In Part 1, the purpose of this paper is to identify the conditions for the complementarity of the two classes of theory. In Part 2, the purpose is to explore (in part using Agency Theory) the two classes of theory and their proposed complexity continuum.

A detailed analysis of the literature permits a distinction between hard and softer approaches towards modelling complex social systems. Hard theories are human-incommensurable, while soft ones are human-commensurable, therefore more closely related to the human condition. The characteristics that differentiate between hard and soft approaches are identified.

Hard theories are more restrictive than the softer theories. The latter can embrace degrees of “softness” and it is explained how hard and soft approaches can be mixed, sometimes creating Harmony.

There are very few explorations of the relationship between hard and soft approaches to complexity theory, and even fewer that draw in the notion of harmony.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the commonly consumed fast foods in Bahrain with respect to proximate, mineral, sterol composition and their fatty acid profile.

Foods were purchased from the most frequented fast food outlets in Manama city, the capital of Bahrain. Similar types of foods were pooled into one sample. Proximate composition was determined in duplicate by the standard procedure of the AOAC. Mineral concentrations were determined by using either electro thermal or flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer and fatty acids were analyzed by gas liquid chromatography (GLC) as per standard procedure.

Proximate analysis showed a wide variation in the composition and nutritive value. Moisture, fat, protein, carbohydrate and fiber contents ranged from 30.35‐54.02, 8.74‐17.33, 4.41‐18.23 (n×6.25), 12.14‐43.81 and 0.56‐3.43 %w/w respectively. The range in the energy value was between 215.0‐349.0 Kcal/100 g. Most of the foods were rich in sodium, calcium, iron, and zinc being in the range of 4315.0‐7890.9, 337.1‐1893.1, 3.25‐82.26, and 4.88‐22.62 ppm respectively while potassium, magnesium, copper and manganese were present to a lesser extent. Cholesterol levels were negligible in the vegetable dishes but high in dishes with meat and dairy products (<1.00‐35.47 mg/100 g). Considerable levels of β‐sitosterol (4.96‐20.20 mg/100 g) were present. The most prominent fatty acids were oleic (32.9‐50.4 mg/100 g), linoleic (5.0‐33.6 mg/100 g) and palmitic acid (16.8‐24.9 mg/100 g).

It is essential that calorie‐dense foods with minimal nutritional content must return to their role as occasional discretionary items in an otherwise balanced diet.

Taking a broad review of the management and economics literature, the purpose of this paper is to examine how the recent “Great Recession” has had a disproportionate adverse impact on US labor markets and created social disruptions to professional workers experiencing persistent unemployment or underemployment.

Secondary data analysis shows how the recent recession has had a disproportionate impact on employment. Recognizing underemployment as a potentially persistent state, the authors delineate the extent and consequences of underemployment.

Analyses of unemployment and underemployment resulting from the recent recession suggest it has had a particularly severe detrimental impact on worker benefits, incomes and employment prospects for most US workers.

Secondary data analysis is a major limitation but results justify a call for further research into the potential increase in the long‐term economic displacement of professional workers.

This paper is unique in applying economic and management constructs in an analysis of the origins, consequences and recommendations for decreasing the rising level of underemployment among professional US workers.

This paper aims to provide a technical insight into recent developments in organic lasers and their applications to sensing.

Following a review of progress in organic lasers, this paper considers a number of recent sensor developments based on this technology. Finally, future prospects are briefly considered.

This shows that organic lasers are the tropic of a major research effort. The broad aims are to reduce the optical pumping power and ultimately to achieve purely electrical operation. Few sensors based on organic lasers have yet been reported but recent examples include explosive vapour detectors, lab‐on‐a‐chip devices and biosensors.

This paper provides a review of organic laser developments and sensors that exploit this technology.

The paper invites us to reconsider the processes at work in the conduct of qualitative interviews, especially in the context of management studies; it emphasises, in particular, the paradoxes that arise from the inescapable interdependency between interviewer and interviewee.

The author reflects upon his own experiences of conducting interviews with managers whilst studying for a PhD, and suggests alternative ways of thinking about what goes on during such exchanges.

Interview techniques are not necessarily the neutral tools they might seem to be.

The deconstructive insights about interview processes provide a way of thinking about qualitative interview research that might be more consistent with the insights of certain “critical” management studies.

The practical demonstrations and research which led to the preparation of this paper involved a combination of stakeholder engagement, policy debate and the practical demonstration and testing of autonomous vehicles. By adhering to a design approach which in centred on participation and human-centred engagement, the advent of autonomous vehicles might avoid many of the problems encountered in relation to conventional transport.

The research explored how a new and potentially disruptive technology might be incorporated in urban settings, through the lens of participation and problem-based design. The research critically reviews key strands in the literature (autonomous vehicles, social research and participatory design), with allusion to current case study experiments.

Although there are numerous examples of autonomous vehicles (AV) research concentrating on technical aspects alone, this paper finds that such an approach appears to be an unusual starting point for the design of innovative technology. That is, AVs would appear to hold the potential to be genuinely disruptive in terms of innovation, yet the way that disruption takes place should surely be guided by design principles and by issues and problems encountered by potential users.

The research carries significant implications for practice in that it advocates locating those socio-contextual issues at the heart of the problem definition and design process and ahead of technical solutions.

What sets this research apart from other studies concerning AVs was that the starting point for investigation was the framing of AVs within contexts and scenarios leading to the emergence of wicked problems. This begins with a research position where the potential uses for AVs are considered in a social context, within which the problems and issues to be solved become the starting point for design at a fundamental level.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of servant leadership on job satisfaction within private healthcare practices.

Criterion sampling has been used to draw a sample of private healthcare practitioners and their employees. The data collected from 241 useable questionnaires have been statistically analysed. Factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients have been used to assess the validity and reliability of the measuring instrument, and multiple regression analyses have been performed to test the influence of the dimensions of servant leadership on job satisfaction.

The findings show that private healthcare practitioners display the dimensions of servant leadership investigated in this study. Furthermore, a significant positive relationship between developing others and job satisfaction for both sample groups, but only between caring for others and job satisfaction for the employee sample group, was reported. Acts of humility and servanthood by practitioners were not found to influence job satisfaction.

Educators can use the findings of this study to identify gaps in the leadership training of healthcare practitioners, and healthcare regulators can use the recommendations provided to implement appropriate interventions to ensure that healthcare practitioners fulfil their mandate of practising in an appropriate manner.

This study contributes to the limited understanding of servant leadership among private healthcare practitioners and it provides recommendations on how private healthcare practitioners can improve their servant leadership behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature concerning servant leadership. The paper identifies the existing themes present within the servant leadership literature. This allows it to determine where the research concerning servant leadership lies at present and make recommendations as to further potential areas for research. It further identifies the skills necessary for servant leadership.

The paper follows a rigorous three-step systematic literature review (SLR) process to identify the relevant evidence to answer the research questions. The paper disseminates the results and presents them by way of a descriptive analysis. It also conducts a thematic analysis to further determine answers to the research questions.

The paper found that the most prominent themes in the servant leadership literature are values, literature reviews, behaviour, assessments, performance, characteristics and antecedents. Additionally, the paper finds that the skills necessary for servant leadership are empathy, listening, communication and trust. The review also identified gaps in the research both methodologically and empirically. It showed that more qualitative research is needed with regard to servant leadership. Furthermore, the development of empirically tested frameworks is necessary within the phenomenon.

Servant leadership is a phenomenon which is lacking in a reliable, validated SLR, which this paper presents. Additionally the originality of this paper lies in its recommendations for further research which are based upon the findings of a thematic analysis. As of yet, such recommendations have not yet been made within the field of servant leadership.

Based on the upper echelons and organisational identification theories, this paper focuses on the relationship between servant leadership and firm innovativeness, as well as the underlying mechanisms that explain this relationship. More specifically, we analyse the relationship between servant leadership, firm innovativeness and corporate social responsibility to employees (CSRE).

A total of 285 Spanish firms took part in the study, and 570 questionnaires were gathered. Structural equation modelling was used to validate the proposed hypotheses.

Results suggest that servant leadership has a positive relationship with firm innovativeness, and this relationship is fully mediated by CSRE.

HR managers have an overall view of their company and of the behaviour of other leaders. However, future research should also consider employees perceptions. The present study is cross-sectional, and it would be interesting to study the development of the interaction between leaders and followers, which calls for longitudinal and multilevel studies.

According to our results, managers could foster firm innovativeness if they select and promote leaders who display the different leadership behaviours related to servant leadership: empowerment, servitude, accountability, courage, authenticity, humility and stewardship. Moreover, training programmes should also foster these behaviours.

Few empirical studies analyse the relationship between servant leadership and innovation. The main contribution of the present research is to further the current knowledge of this relationship by disentangling the mediating role of corporate social responsibility to employees.