Agri-food leadership case study: Mike & Sharon Barton and Taupō Beef and Lamb

This paper forms part of a wider Unlocking Export Prosperity Research Programme led by the Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit (AERU) at Lincoln University. This is the second instalment in a series of case studies and is focused on Taupō Beef and Lamb, which is owned and operated by Mike and Sharon Barton Mike and Sharon Barton have needed to adapt to changes imposed on them and have responded by increasing the value of their product so that consumers pay a premium that helps cover the cost of operating under a nitrogen cap. This strategy involved shifting away from beef and lamb as a commodity and branding Taupō Beef and Lamb through environmental stewardship and creating unique value propositions. While challenges have arisen over this journey, the change Taupō Beef and Lamb has undergone has been pivotal to its survival. Taupō Beef and Lamb is an example of how leadership is crucial for adding value to agri-food products, protecting New Zealand’s environment, and garnering a price premium for high-value products

Leadership for Emergence: Exploring organisations through a living system lens

In this article, we outline a research project with adolescent-focused NGOs (non-government organisations) in Christchurch, New Zealand. This project involved 25 managers who used appreciative inquiry process methodology to explore their leadership practices, beliefs, and values. Throughout the article, we construct a conceptual leadership frame for fostering the emergence of adaptive, innovative and responsive organisational capacity that allows organisations to more readily adapt to the complex and changing conditions in which they operate. We describe this frame as a living system lens that is based on viewing organisations as complex adaptive systems of the kind readily found in the natural world. We go on to outline the leaders’ reflections as they drew strong connections between the dynamics found in complex adaptive systems and their own organisations. Proactive mentoring, fostering interaction and shared learning, strategies for distributing power and decentralising control, and exploration and articulation of deeply held values emerged as the key leadership enactments that these leaders implemented in their roles

Agri-food leadership case study: Alex Guichard & Monique Kelly and Revology

This report forms part of a wider Unlocking Export Prosperity Research Programme led by the Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit (AERU) at Lincoln University. This case study is the third of six instalments and is focused on Revology and its founders, Alex Guichard and Monique Kelly. Establishing themselves in Wanaka, Revology was founded on a vision of a more sustainable composites and design industry in New Zealand. They have focused on the use of sustainable resources to create high-quality products with long life cycles and a circular design model. The Revology DNA underpins their sustainable model of design, and this has required a departure from established practices in the composites and design industries. Alex Guichard and Monique Kelly have been value-driven, innovative, and entrepreneurial in their approach to revolutionising the market. Their leadership is the focus of this case study, and their leadership aligns with the leadership models described in earlier case studies and an earlier literature review. Innovation and a differentiated strategy are qualities that have helped them realise their vision for a sustainable business in New Zealand agribusiness

Agri-food leadership case study: John Brakenridge and the New Zealand Merino Company

This paper forms part of a wider Unlocking Export Prosperity Research Programme led by the Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit (AERU) at Lincoln University. This is the first of six case studies and is focused on The New Zealand Merino Company and its Chief Executive John Brakenridge. The success of the New Zealand Merino Company is the product of a complex network of committed growers, innovative brand partners, a skilled and supportive Board and a great team. Within this complex network, however, Chief Executive John Brakenridge emerges as a central driver of the company’s achievements. This case study looks at Brakenridge’s leadership through the lens of the leadership models described in an earlier literature review. The essence of his leadership, however, can be seen in his ability to foster and persuasively articulate a transformative vision for New Zealand Merino and for New Zealand agriculture

Agri-food leadership case study: Pegasus Bay Wines

This is the fourth case study in a series analysing leadership in New Zealand agrifood companies. It is part of the Unlocking Export Prosperity Research Programme led by the Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit (AERU) at Lincoln University. This case study examines Pegasus Bay, a winery in Waipara Valley founded by Ivan and Chris Donaldson, and now run by the next generation of Donaldsons. Their passion for wine and the craft shines through in the high-quality products they create. They focus on creating wines they enjoy, rather than being led by the market. They have built a strong brand and garnered an international audience through capitalising on sustainable practices and lifting the image of New Zealand. Achieving this has been no coincidence as founders Ivan and Chris Donaldson, and the next generation of Donaldsons – Matthew, Edward, Belinda, and Di – embody the qualities of leadership that support innovation and coordination, and align people to their vision and core purpose. This aligns with previous case studies and the findings of the earlier literature review

Perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness in a Korean context: An indigenous qualitative study

Multinational corporations (MNCs) across the world have sent an increasing number of managers abroad to leverage unprecedented opportunities in the era of globalization. However, their failure rate has been above 33% for decades, resulting in substantial costs (Puck, Kittler, & Wright, 2008). One of the primary reasons for this failure is a lack of understanding of the national and organizational cultures within the host countries (Festing & Maletzky, 2011). For example, while a number of MNCs have entered the Korean market, several such as Yahoo, Motorola, and Walmart have failed and withdrawn due to the companies’ lack of adjustment to the Korean cultural context (Choe, 2006; Woo, 2013). In spite of the significance of culturally embedded practices, most researchers who have explored management and leadership in Asian countries, whether they were Western or indigenous researchers, have implemented studies using extant Western management and leadership theories derived within the Western cultural context (Leung, 2007; Tsui, 2006). Numerous scholars have claimed that this could be problematic because the findings of such studies may not be applicable to non-Western countries (Li, 2012; Liden & Antonakis, 2009), and may fail to provide insights and understanding of novel contexts or to reveal indigenous aspects of management and leadership (Tsui, 2007). Consequently, there have been increasing calls for indigenous management and leadership research within Asian countries (see Li et al., 2014; Lyles, 2009; Tsui, 2004; Wolfgramm, Spiller, & Voyageur, 2014). Over the past 30 years, managerial effectiveness and leadership effectiveness have been substantially neglected areas of management research (Noordegraaf & Stewart, 2000; Yukl, Gordon, & Taber, 2002). In addition, there has been little agreement on what specific behaviors distinguish effective managers from ineffective ones. Furthermore, more research is needed to examine the managerial and leadership behaviors that are critical for shaping the performance of individuals, groups and organizations (see Borman & Brush, 1993; Cammock, Nilakant & Dakin, 1995; Mumford, 2011; Noordegraaf & Stewart, 2000; Yukl et al., 2002). While most of the research related to managerial and leadership effectiveness has been conducted in the U.S., the few notable non-U.S. studies include that of Cammock et al. (1995) in New Zealand who developed a behavioral lay model of managerial effectiveness using the repertory grid technique. Another notable exception is the cumulative series of perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness studies conducted by Hamlin with various indigenous co-researchers in Western and non-Western countries (see Hamlin & Patel, 2012; Ruiz, Wang, & Hamlin, 2013) using Flanagan’s (1954) critical incident technique (CIT)

Schools as Learning Communities? Leadership through Appreciative Inquiry

This paper outlines evidence emphasizing the importance of educational leaders prioritizing the development of ‘learning communities’ within the staff and students at their schools. It suggests that although schools are most certainly institutes of learning in terms of the classroom processes they create for their students, that there is some question as to whether schools as organisations be accurately described as “learning communities”? It goes on to describe an innovative leadership project that involved the directors of adolescent focused NGO’s (non government organisations) in Aotearoa New Zealand where leaders used Appreciative Inquiry (AI) processes to explore their own leadership through the development of a ‘learning community’. This article focuses on how the two guiding principles of “positive focus” and “collaboration” enabled growth trajectories where participants gained agency to co-create a highly productive learning space. Five key strategies are identified namely, flexible and negotiated structure, sharing powerful stories, cycles of exploration, individual and collective reflection and significant time frame. The paper then makes suggestions for how these strategies could be used in the development of such a ‘learning community’ in a school setting

Leaders building professional learning communities: appreciative inquiry in action

This article explores an approach to developing organisational and leadership capacity through the development of a professional learning community. The project involved 25 managers of adolescent-focused non-government organisations (NGOs) who participated in a 14-month collaborative development project that incorporated appreciative inquiry processes. Two guiding principles of appreciative inquiry – a positive focus and collaboration – framed the process for the development of a professional learning community that led to a highly productive collaborative learning space. Five key success components emerged during the project: a flexible and negotiated structure to the professional learning; a focus on positive stories; cycles of exploration and ameliatory modification to their work; individual and collective reflection; and a substantial period of time over which to conduct the development process. The potential transferability of these components to development of professional learning communities in education is explored

Unlocking export prosperity: An introduction to the research programme

On 12 September 2017, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment announced that 27 proposals to the Endeavour Fund for science research programmes had been selected for funding over the next five years. One of the successful proposals is for the research programme Unlocking Export Prosperity from the Agri-food Values of Aotearoa New Zealand. This is the first in a series of Research Reports that will be produced in the programme. It provides a summary of the programme’s research plan for a general audience, recognising that a very wide range of private and public sectors organisations, as well as the general public, are interested in the outputs that will be delivered from the research over the next five years. The research aim is to deliver new knowledge to end users that contributes to building New Zealand’s global profile as a quality country-of-origin for high value agri-food products with distinctive physical, credence and cultural attributes

Use of Particle Tracking Velocimetry in Timber Material and Connection Testing

Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) is a quantitative field measuring technique originally developed to track and measure the velocity of individual particles in fluid flows. In this study, PTV was applied for the first time in three different experimental studies in the field of structural timber engineering: 1) dowel embedment testing in Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), 2) large-scale dowelled CLT connection testing, 3) material testing of small clear wood and Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL). The suitability of PTV was first assessed by comparing the PTV displacements to those obtained by potentiometers. Furthermore, the behaviour of the timber substrate was analysed with PTV in both embedment and large-scale connection tests. It was found that PTV was able to not only accurately measure dowel displacements, but also capture crack growth in the timber and compute the resulting displacement and strain fields in the dowel embedment area. Lastly, PTV was applied in small clear specimen testing to capture brittle fracture in shear, tension perpendicular to the grain, and in cleavage. This study demonstrated that PTV is able to provide reliable contact-free high-resolution measurements of displacement and strain fields on exposed timber surfaces and capture failure mechanisms such as brittle fractures and crack growth