Implementing new leadership paradigm using the 6 Box Leadership diagnostics: some data patterns

Investment in, and awareness of, leadership development and its importance have increased significantly in recent decades. Despite this, tangible progress has been patchy. Based on an extensive research, this article argues that such a disparity becomes less of a surprise if one analyses data on organizational climate, compared with that for individuals; and explores the mindsets that underpin common approaches to organisational management. The 6 Box Leadership diagnostic system has been developed on the basis of many years of interdisciplinary research to enable organisations to discover hidden strengths and weaknesses in the areas of Culture, Relationships, Individuals, Strategy, Systems and Processes, and move towards leadership based on collaborative culture, purpose and autonomy. This article presents research background to the 6 Box Leadership Model and associated diagnostic tool, it discusses its diagnostics capability, and it provides an example of data patterns obtained from three case studies. The results show that scores for organisational culture are lagging behind scores for an individual mindset, which may explain the slow implementation of the emerging leadership practices in organisations

Managing Knowledge in a Distributed Decision Making Context

This paper considers the role of electronic communication in the creation and distribution of knowledge, and in particular, the creation and sharing of personalised knowledge. Personalised knowledge or "intellectual capital" is perhaps a least understood but most important asset of modern organisations. This paper reveals the creation and sharing of personalised knowledge in a network organisation. The network organisation investigated in this paper relies on electronic communication in a distributed decision making context to leverage the skills and intellect of its key professionals. This paper investigates electronic group meetings that take place on this electronic social space to analyse key processes of knowledge creation. Implications for managing distributed personalised knowledge are discussed and conclusions drawn with respect to the key decision support systems functionalities required for managing knowledge in situations where decision making is distributed and takes place on an electronic social space.Personalised Knowledge;c entrality;communication infrastructure;distributed decision support;electronic social space;prestige

Business process modelling: potential benefits and obstacles for wider use

As Organisations need to adapt to new business conditions and respond to competitive pressures, various change management approaches have been developed. Many studies suggest that the success of business change projects could be increased by developing dynamic models of business processes prior to their radical change. This paper investigates a potential of simulation modelling to be used for modelling business processes and argues the case for a wider use of simulation techniques by business community. It is postulated that discrete-event simulation can be considered as a missing link between change management approaches such as Just in Time [JIT], Total Quality Management [TQM] or business process re-engineering [BPR]. The usability of simulation modelling for evaluating alternative business process strategies is investigated, and the guidelines for achieving more widespread use of business process simulation are proposed

Leadership for knowledge organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to give some theoretical foundation to leadership function and style for managing knowledge workers whose work, by definition, is non-routine, thrives on innovation, and places a special demand on autonomy for its execution. Design/methodology/approach – Extant search of literature to look for evidence supporting successful leadership theories and practices that are shown to improve performance of knowledge workers. Synthesis of findings to structure a framework in the form of major propositions for their testing by future research. Findings – The authors begin with establishing the first finding that states that leadership of knowledge organizations is different from the leadership of traditional organizations. Then the authors build six additional findings for shaping a successful leadership process for knowledge organizations. Research limitations/implications – Since it is a theoretical paper built on a search of literature in the field of leadership, there is a need to empirically test the findings to give them their final shape. Each of the seven propositions in this paper would result into many hypotheses that should initiate several empirical studies. Practical implications – The authors consider individual and organizational/group contexts of the leadership proposed here, and also provide recommendations for carrying out this research further. While the paper is written more specifically with regard to the leadership of knowledge organizations where its findings should be fully implantable, however, to some extent, they would apply to all organizations. Social implications – Leadership is a ubiquitous social phenomenon. It affects not only organizations, but also every aspect of human activity. This paper is an attempt to alter the fundamental thinking of leaders, suggesting to not to use authority, and instead, to allow everyone connected with the task the opportunity to lead. This shift in leadership paradigm will have an impact on the behavior of all involved, and steadily, will bring a change in the norms of social behavior. Originality/value – This paper is a move toward giving the knowledge organization leadership some theoretical framework, as it is still in a state of flux in spite of attracting a lot of research

Business process re-engineering (BPR): The REBUS approach

Many organisations undertake business process re-engineering (BPR) projects in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Although this approach can result in significant improvements and benefits, there are high risks associated with radical changes of business processes and the failure rate of BPR projects is reported to be as high as 70%. The Centre for Re-engineering Business Processes (REBUS) was established at Brunel University to provide a multidisciplinary environment for research into BPR and its success factors. This paper describes the REBUS approach to research concerning the success of BPR projects and presents examples of some of the projects carried out

Genisa: A web-based interactive learning environment for teaching simulation modelling

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) provide students with adaptive instruction and can facilitate the acquisition of problem solving skills in an interactive environment. This paper discusses the role of pedagogical strategies that have been implemented to facilitate the development of simulation modelling knowledge. The learning environment integrates case-based reasoning with interactive tools to guide tutorial remediation. The evaluation of the system shows that the model for pedagogical activities is a useful method for providing efficient simulation modelling instruction

Dynamic business process modelling (BPM) for business process change

The high failure rates of many business process change deployments are attributed to the inability to predict the outcome of the exercise without actually implementing the change in the physical environment. This restriction could be a result of over 80% of business process change projects adopting a static modelling technique in order to model their business processes. Static modelling enables the display of activities and the flow of information. However, physical aspects of a process, such as the movement of an object through the process, cannot be replicated. A technique that is thought to overcome this problem is dynamic Business Process Modelling (BPM). As the term suggests dynamic modelling facilitates the representation of the dynamic aspects of a business process including resources and the movement of people and objects. The aim of this paper is to investigate the use of dynamic modelling, in comparison to static modelling, for the purpose of business process change. This is achieved by the using both static modelling and dynamic modelling to represent the change procedure of a process from the Helpdesk of a large multi-national company. The results achieved using both techniques are compared

Criteria for the evaluation of business process simulation tools

This paper focuses on a process of simulation software packages selection in the context of business process change projects. The paper presents discrete event simulation, its relation to business process modelling and examples of its practical applications in business process change projects. Features of business process simulation tools are examined, the most important simulation features are identified and the criteria for their evaluation are defined. The guidelines that could help managers in the selection of business process simulation tools are proposed. The discussion addresses the limitations of the proposed guidelines. Finally, based on the conducted research and the evaluation criteria defined within the guidelines, some directions for the further improvement of business process simulation tools are given

Knowledge management activities in social enterprises: lessons for small and non-profit firms

Purpose: This paper explores what Social Enterprises (SEs) in the UK know and how they acquire, convert, apply and protect this knowledge. This will enable them to manage their knowledge effectively, hence improve their practices and maximize the creation of social, environmental and economic value. Design/methodology/approach: This study follows a qualitative approach, comprising of 21 interviews with founders and senior members of SEs in UK. Findings: The results show that the investigated SEs have KM practices similar to the already identified in SMEs, associated with informality, reliance on external sources and focus on socialisation activities, but they have unique challenges on managing their knowledge related to their hybrid mission, to include social and economic objectives, and their closed relationship with stakeholders. Research limitations/implications: As there is limited research on Knowledge Management (KM) practices in SEs; they were defined based on previous studies in large, private and public companies. Therefore, not all practices may be included. This research is a starting point in the study of KM in SEs. Practical implications: This study identifies knowledge activities that enable the creation of social, environmental and economic value in SEs. This allows SEs, small firms and non-profit organisations to review their current practices and develop plans for their further improvement. Social implications: Originality/value: This paper is one of the first empirical studies exploring KM practices in SEs, highlighting their informal nature as well as their impact in and on the enterprise