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Development of the technology, besides creating opportunities for the world, and making people’s lives easier on the one hand, has also created difficulties, on the other hand. The processes on the earth have accelerated, and the environment has become more unpredictable. That was the ground of emerging VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) in military services and afterwards in the business sector.

The rapid development of different directions, especially of technology, made mankind rethink about attitudes, find out, and expand their skills in order to be effective in the constantly changing environment. The reality that the competencies obtained before were not sufficient became obvious. Nowadays, VUCA leaders with their sophisticated and vital skills are extremely necessary for the business to reach the goal with minimal loss.

Higher education, as in every circumstance, in this case also has its huge impact and significance. Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) are responsible for education, which on its end, is the starting point of development and restructuring the complex reality. Redesigning the teaching and learning environment can prepare future VUCA leaders. In case the universities try to provide a new generation with the skills necessary for the existing reality rather than following the obsolete flow, the business sector will get workflow more prepared for VUCA challenges.

The chapter discusses and presents the necessity of updated leadership skills in the VUCA reality and the role of higher education in stepping forwards to turning VUCA disruptions into VUCA possibilities.

The future will see a new revolution in both industry and society in Industry 5.0. Human–robot collaboration and robotic management will be critical components of Industry 5.0. In this revolution, humans and robots will collaborate to improve process efficiency by utilizing human intelligence and innovation. Industry 5.0 creates a powerful framework for modern digital smart factories and manufacturing technologies through complex systems, and it is constructed to interact with powerful computing power, to solve complex problems more efficiently and with less human intervention in this Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous, Radicality, and Rapidity (VUCA-RR) world. To overcome VUCA-RR world, Industry 5.0 involves a combination of human and robotic systems for sustainable development. Managers, practitioners, researchers, and educators are scrambling to understand and implement the method as well as to find best practices toward Industry 5.0. This chapter will draw attention to research and practice topics in the VUCA-RR and business agility development methodology in perspective of Industry 5.0.

The environment in which businesses perpetuate their vital existence can be named as VUCA due to its variable, uncertain, complex and ambiguous structure. In the world of VUCA, which is far beyond the classical environmental conditions, the success of the businesses largely depends on the performance level of the staff they employ. The high or low level can be directly affected by the leadership style which the business managers will be exhibiting. Agile leadership type emerges as one of the leadership styles that could be successful in such environmental conditions. For this reason, the main purpose of this section is to provide information about the agile leadership issues that play a fundamental role in the success of businesses in today’s VUCA world, which can positively affect the employee performance and this level of performance, and, at the same time, which could be successful in these environmental conditions. In order to achieve this aim, first of all, the concepts of agile leadership, employee performance and VUCA world are explained. In the following sections, agile leadership and the relationship of this leadership style with employee performance are discussed in the VUCA world spiral.

In an article entitled “Identifying and combating organizational leadership toxicity,” authors Watt, Javidi, and Normore (Watt, Javidi, & Normore, 2015) identified and outlined techniques for combating leadership toxicity in Law Enforcement. This chapter extends this work by linking Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) to toxic leadership. Crisis happens. Volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), (a term) coined at the Army War College in the early 1990s (Mack, O., Kare, A., Kramer, A., & Burgartz, T. (2015), Managing VUCA world. New York, NY. Retrieved from http://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/2015/12/02/capturing-the-moment-counter-vuca-leadership-for-21st-century-policing/#sthash.IKYJInr4.dpuf), is a sobering new reality for leaders and the organizations they serve. In simple terms, VUCA is chaos. It falls on leaders to understand it, prepare for it, and minimize the disruptive and destabilizing effects of it.

Introduction: A company or organisation must resolve various problems in the business environment for better operation in any corporate environment. Such issues are traditionally handled in multiple ways. A small sector unit with many employees encounters this corporate issue, for example, the handicraft sector. The impact of handicraft issues and their intensity, speed, and regularity is growing in our system.

Purpose: This chapter studies how small businesses might succeed in the handcraft industry in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. There is a lack of proper knowledge of how the VUCA affects business proficiency in the Indian handicraft sector. A novel business strategy for the handicraft sector, like other business proficiency called best practices in handicraft business in a VUCA environment, will be presented along with a discussion about VUCA environments. This considers both the individual influences of each particular word and the overall impact of VUCA.

Methodology: The study included a thorough literature analysis for three learning areas: performance improvement, including VUCA, and the leadership incorporation of risk and quality. Awareness in the trade will be examined in further sections, as the mastery of VUCA is achieved with various traditional and digital management ideas.

Findings: The research defined a new unorganised firm concept to maintain and succeed in a high VUCA environment in the handicraft sector, identifying 18 important success characteristics through a comprehensive literature review. The authors proposed a conceptual framework for fusing quality management to attain proficiency in the handicraft sector VUCA environment.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic was unprecedented, and none of the world’s think tanks could have predicted how far it would spread. People visualise the pandemic as a classic example of a VUCA environment (an environment characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity). Managing COVID-19 requires unique and different leadership qualities.

Purpose: This study’s rationale emphasises that VUCA demands strategic and agile leadership. Leaders across the globe must acknowledge the fact that the elements of VUCA, i.e. volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, are not synonymous and hence need differential treatment. Also, recommend adopting agile leadership to tackle the VUCA world.

Methodology: This is a conceptual study focusing on agile leadership. The study addresses the challenge of leading in the VUCA environment. The constituting components of VUCA are differentiated, followed by an extensive literature review of agile leadership.

Findings: VUCA is the new normal and is there to stay. Business leaders still need to counter VUCA due to their incapacity to distinguish and treat the components equally. Furthermore, there is an emergent need to develop an agile workforce, agile organisations, and agile leadership to combat VUCA. The study indicates that business leaders must be agile enough to handle the COVID-19 pandemic and future crises. There is a constant need to ensure agility. This study will provide a deep insight into VUCA and help business leaders emerge victorious in turbulent times.

Purpose: Since its inception in 1987, the literature on the VUCA that represents the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous nature of the business environment has progressively increased. This study systematically evaluates the vast literature on the VUCA world. Since review-based studies have been criticised as biased, this study uniquely amalgamates bibliometric analysis with content analysis, thereby taking a research triangulation discourse.

Need of the Study: This study was conducted to consolidate the literature about the VUCA environment and uncover the foundational and emerging themes for future research agendas.

Design/Methodology/Approach: This study conducts a performance analysis and science mapping of 193 carefully selected articles (using PRISMA) published in various sources during 2012–2023. Articles for the study were procured from the SCOPUS database. While performance analysis focused on analysing publication and citation evolution, thematic evolution, leading publications, country publication analysis, and most relevant authors and sources. On the other hand, science mapping revealed conceptual structures (keyword plus co-occurrence analysis and thematic maps) and intellectual structures (co-authorship analysis). VOSviewer and Biblioshiny (R-tool for comprehensive science mapping) were used for this study’s choice of application.

Findings: This chapter concludes with future research agendas using content analysis of the ‘scope for the future research’ section of selected publications and bibliographic coupling (to unearth emerging themes).

Practical Implications: The work presented in this chapter will help the researchers gain a structured conceptual, intellectual, and social understanding of the vast literature on the VUCA environment.

The world is changing fast and pace of changes that are being observed since start of the twenty-first century have never been observed before. Due to such changes and their impact, world is described in terms of Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA). The trend of industry 4.0 is also said to be an another contributing factor into the VUCA environment. The VUCA creates a lot of challenges for organization from the perspective of management and leadership. Both business and leadership agility are needed more than VUCA as the VUCA world is becoming old. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to review the literature and to summarize the understanding with regard to managing VUCA-RR world in an era of Industry 4.0. Since the advent of term VUCA, many researchers have provided theoretical model and framework to guide managers regarding to their action and strategies. But, current research postulates based upon the literature that agile management’s tools and techniques are highly effective in managing the situation of VUCA-RR in the era of Industry 4.0. The research concludes that Industry 4.0 together with VUCA-RR and indecently possess to change management challenges to organizations. The organization can be in better position to manage change management challenges posed by Industry 4.0 by implementing the agile management. The Industry 4.0 will latter compliment to agile management tools and techniques which will make any organization to become a better equipped to face the VUCA-RR world. The research has also concluded that agile management powered by Industry 4.0 enabling technologies presents enormous opportunity in the form of VUCA 2.0 (Vision, Understanding, Courage, Adoptability, Rapidity and Radicality) that can be used to square off the effect of VUCA-RR world.

Purpose: Twenty-first-century leaders operate in an unpredictable and complex business environment. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) nature of the business milieu and proved to be a real-life test for organisations and their leaders. It brought challenges and losses at personal, organisational, societal, national, and global levels. Nevertheless, some leaders and organisations thrived during and after the pandemic. This research assimilates leadership lessons from extant literature and real-life cases of leadership successes and failures. The authors aim to consolidate leadership strategies valuable in unpredictable, demanding, and complex times like COVID-19.

Methodology: The research relies on an extant literature review and opinions of four c-suite leaders captured through semi-structured interviews. The study uses content analysis to analyse the primary data collected.

Findings: The present research presents its results as a VUCA Leader Toolkit. It consolidates learnings from real-life case studies, extant literature, business reports, and experts’ opinions. It addresses the gap in existing research on VUCA-suited leadership strategies. The outcome of the present study is a clear, adequate, explicit, and well-defined list of VUCA-necessitated leadership strategies.

Originality/value: The research proves its utility in providing the VUCA Leader Toolkit. The outcomes carry usefulness for both present and future business leaders. The business environment today is ever-changing, complex, and uncertain. This unpredictability, uncertainty, complexity, and fuzziness would proliferate in the coming times. Hence, it is imperative to have a list of leadership strategies that may serve as a ready reckoner for leaders.

Introduction: The pandemic era has given rise to emerging VUCA factors, characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Navigating the impact of these challenges is essential for adapting and thriving in a post-pandemic world; therefore, it is important to identify VUCA factors.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify and analyse the VUCA factors that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on sectors such as hospitality, tourism, education, construction, manufacturing, Information Technology, healthcare, and automobiles.

Need for the Study: Analysing emerging VUCA factors is crucial for businesses to prepare for unforeseen events. While VUCA factors were previously studied during significant events like the Greater Recession, BREXIT, and demonetisation, the pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges, making the identification of emerging VUCA components crucial.

Methodology: The methodology involves reviewing articles and research papers to understand the pandemic’s impact on various sectors. The findings provide insights into prominent VUCA factors and their implications for businesses, contributing to existing knowledge.

Findings: This research uncovers the challenges organisations encountered in the pandemic’s VUCA environment, offering insights into uncertainties and strategies for survival. It highlights the importance of adaptability, resilience, and innovation in overcoming VUCA’s negative impacts and establishing a new business paradigm.

Practical Implications: This chapter is essential in providing valuable insights for organisations, policymakers, and businesses on crisis preparedness, emphasising the significance of agility, robust contingency planning, and sector-specific considerations. Reviewing operations and implementing backup plans, businesses can develop effective strategies for long-term resilience and success in the face of unforeseen disruptions.