Nurturing America\u27s Growth in the Global Marketplace Through Talent Development: An Interim Report on the Evaluation of Generations II and III of WIRED

This is the first report from the evaluation of Generations II and III of the Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Development Initiative... This interim report presents baseline information from all 26 regions. It reflects the status of regional activities as of the summer of 2008, when many regions were in the initial stage of implementation. Thus, the report focuses on the development of partnerships, governance arrangements, and the design of decision-making processes. In early 2006, ETA announced the initial recipients of grants to promote regional collaboration of a wide range of public and private organizations with the goal of transforming their regional approaches for addressing economic challenges. The grants were intended to bring together diverse regional organizations in order to work towards economic stability and workforce growth. Thirteen additional regions were competitively selected for grants in January 2007, followed by a final 13 in June 2007. These grantees are collectively referred to as Generations II and III

Disrupted leadership: strategies and practices of leaders in a VUCA world

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected through intricate networks in technology-laden environments, leadership has become exponentially more complex. This VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) context disrupts long-held leadership constructs. Historically, leaders have been able to reflect on past decision making to guide their current and future decisions. No longer is this practice viable; leaders now require new skills to lead competently in this rapidly iterating ecosystem. With its challenges, this dynamic environment also offers opportunities for those who are able to capitalize on the next waves of disruption. Social entrepreneurs, tackling the world\u27s most pressing challenges, are leading systems-wide changes within this technology-driven context. With a heightened awareness of these global issues, employing contextual intelligence to capitalize on new and innovative social solutions through creative destruction enables leaders to exploit this technology-rich landscape to expand their social impact. Consequently, this phenomenological qualitative study utilized semi-structured interviews to investigate the best practices and strategies employed by Ashoka Fellow social entrepreneurs who are leading change successfully within this VUCA context. In addition, this study explored the challenges these entrepreneurs encountered while leading, the ways in which they evaluated their success, the role that technology played day-to-day, and what recommendations they would make to future leaders of systems-wide change. Through this study, 30 key findings surfaced in relation to successful practices and strategies for leading systems-wide change in a technology-riche VUCA ecosystem

Stakeholders\u27 perceptions of technical, vocational education and training : the case of Kenyan micro and small enterprises in the motor vehicle service and repair industry

Technical, vocational education and training (TVET) in Kenya has undergone major changes since colonialists introduced it at the beginning of the twentieth century. Since then, TVET has evolved in the areas of science, technology and innovation to provide skills that will propel the country to middle-level industrialised status by the year 2030. However, current training and development (T&D) processes in Kenya have been criticised for being rigid and irrelevant to industry, creating a mismatch of skills produced by the training institutions and those demanded by the industry; it is upon this criticism that this research is built. The focus of this thesis is to analyse key stakeholders‘ perceptions of TVET in the micro and small enterprises (MSE) in the motor vehicle service and repair industry (MVRSI). In Kenya vocational education and training (VET) is referred to as technical, vocational education and training—TVET. In this thesis a practical T&D framework is developed for use to analyse the stakeholders‘ perceptions. A generic organisational T&D model was examined as was the literature dealing with TVET sub-systems in Kenya and elsewhere. The organisational T&D model was then expanded to include relevant training areas and activities. Data were collected in two cities and four roadside towns. Interviews were held with 19 micro and small enterprises (MSE) employers and 57 of their employees, eight TVET trainers and four senior education officers. Four focus group discussions with final year trainees were held, and observations were made at the MSE and the training institutions. Content analysis was used to analyse data. Findings obtained indicated that TVET plays a vital role in furnishing its learners with skills that are required in the MVRSI. However, while the T&D program has very well crafted training objectives, it is beset by numerous challenges. The program has restricted methods of data gathering resulting in a system that has neither been able to compile an industrial skills inventory nor a skills-gap analysis that would inform training providers. Most training institutions are located in urban centres, curriculum implementation is generally theoretical, trainers are inadequately prepared and receive low salaries, training suffers from multiple and uncoordinated management, and the trainees view it as a last training option. In addition, examination results, enrolment and practical tests were identified as the primary methods used for monitoring and evaluation. Informal training providers lacked training implementation, monitoring and evaluation structures. Transfer of skills from training institutions to the workplace is inhibited by insufficient supervisor support, poor working conditions and inadequate tools and equipment. The T&D framework that was developed was found to be useful on several fronts. Firstly, the views of multiple stakeholders present diverse perspectives that provide unique and comprehensive insights into how different segments of society measure the same training. Secondly, methodological contributions have been made in terms of the research design, which used multiple data collection methods. Thirdly, the T&D framework was developed and then used to analyse the perceptions of the stakeholders, thereby answering the research questions. Since this framework was found to be sufficient for analysing the stakeholders‘ perceptions, it was found to be appropriate for designing a more responsive T&D program for the MVRSI. In addition, this study has made several practical implications

Managing Enterprise Systems Post Implementation through Competency Centers: An Inquiry into Assemblage and Emergence

Enterprise Systems (ESs) are more than a collection of people, technology, processes, and capabilities. The responsibilities of post implementation management of ES lie in the unit called the Competency Center (CC). The CC has a bidirectional relationship with ESs wherein the CC influences the shaping of ESs, and the CC is affected by the dynamic interaction between people, technology, process, and capabilities within the ES. These dynamic interactions keep the CC, fluid and always in-process. The general-use definition of the term “process” as used in the Enterprise Systems literature treats the notion as “repeatable processes” or replicable processes . However, arising from comparative case studies in four large organizations, I found that decision making, managing, and governing in the ES are not “replicable processes”, not reifications of structural variations over time when examined through the lens of the Assemblage Theory. Assemblage Theory incorporates the dynamic interplay of two continua: the first, territorialization, deterritorialization, and reterritorialization, and the second, material vs. expression. Although the notion of the terms formation, deformation, and reformation are suitable for understanding the processes these CCs encounter in a broad and general manner, they do not sufficiently describe the not-so-solid, never-quite-finished, always in-process or structuring referred to by Hopper (1996) as emergent regularities . In contrast to the notion of stable structures, this dissertation research adopts the language of Deleuzian assemblage of Territorialization, deterritorialization, and Reterritorialization. Although the four study organizations planned and intended to develop clearly defined competency centers, which would create formalized processes and procedures to manage the post implementation phase, none of the study organizations ever achieved the anticipated stability. Instead, the CCs exhibited the signs of being ‘in-process’ and ‘structuring’. The contribution of this research to the IS field is an understanding of the CCs as processes as opposed to structures and how CCs structuring impact the ESs in organizations