Problem-based leadership: nurturing managers during turbulent times

Purpose – The paper explores problem-based learning (PBL) as a useful methodology in leadership development during turbulent times. It identifies several pertinent action points for managers to lead through problems while understanding their capacity to empower themselves and others to face challenges at work. Design/methodology/approach – Broad concepts of PBL are used to distil the characteristics of this methodology and how they might be applicable to leadership development. An actual case of PBL in leadership education and training is employed to illustrate the processes of problem solving and reflective action-taking. Findings – When confronted by problems, managers should adopt a learning-oriented mindset and draw on the strengths of others to generate immediate solutions for experimentation. In doing so, they need to accept failure as a prerequisite for creative tensions to be generated and applied in messy circumstances. Until they think out of the box, they will continue to solve problems in tried-and-tested ways obstructing the emergence of revolutionary solutions. Practical implications – In order for managers to make an impact on organizational process and improvement, they need to focus on the action and learn components of PBL. They should be given the space to listen to their own “voice” and internalize the “voice” of others through reflection and dialogue. They should also be recognized for their courage and boldness in confronting problems even if more problems are generated in the process. It is facing the goliath that managers truly grow to become real leaders. Originality/value – Although the concept of PBL has been around for a long while, its applicability to leadership development has not been sufficiently explored in both theory and practice. This paper brings another dimension to the common idea of problem solving where solution seeking is not an end it itself. At best, it is a means to discovering the potential of true leadership in those whose mindset is focused on learning and reflective decision-making

Dreamsteam

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106034/1/Executive Summary.pd

Social Capital and Career Growth

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the instrumental use of social capital regarding career growth within an organization, focusing on the mediating role of perceived competence mobilization and the moderating role of two situational variables: perceived external prestige and job insecurity climate. Design/methodology/approach Relationships among the constructs are predicted based on relevant literature, and are tested using survey results from 324 employees working in 14 leading corporations in Korea. Findings Results show that social capital positively influenced, via perceived competence mobilization, each of two career growth dimensions (i.e., the personal efforts to develop a career and the experience of being rewarded by the organization). In contrast, moderated path analysis indicated that perceptions of external prestige and job insecurity climate failed to moderate the indirect effect of social capital on career growth. Practical implications In light of the instrumental use of social capital and the ensuring mechanism of competence mobilization, a detailed understanding of this effect on career growth cannot only neutralize the fears of brain drain, but is also helpful in providing possibilities for building new career development strategies. Originality/value Although social capital has become an influential concept in social sciences, little evidence has been presented on the above relationship, particularly from the perspective of careerist orientation. This may be the first research examining how and when the influence of social capital becomes instrumental with respect to career attainment within an organization. Keywords social capital, organizational career growth, perceived competence mobilization, perceived external prestige, job insecurity climat

Military Lives: Coaching Transitions

Purpose – The purpose of this study is firstly to consider how veterans employ talk to shape interpretations of personal and social identify. Secondly, we seek to gain an understanding of how veterans see themselves in a civilian world, their ability to re-conceptualise and realign their perspective on life to support their transition in to a civilian world. Design/methodology/approach – Underpinned by Ricoeur’s theory of narrative identity, the work provides a qualitative analysis data from coaching interviews with 5 veterans Findings – The findings revealed the on-going legacy of military life and how its distinctiveness and belief centred on kinship shapes personal identity and the way they see their civilian world. The work sheds light on to the benefits of this Ricoeur’s self-reflexive approach and how it can be used to provide a deeper insight in to the nature of personal transitions and how narrative can be used to expose complexities of the narratives of personal history and meaning as the narrator becomes both the seeker and what is sought. Practical implications –the work reinforces the value of Ricoeur’s self-reflexive approach identifying narrative mediating between two ‘poles’ of identity and the act of mimesis; prefiguration, configuration and refiguration as veterans project stories of their world and their place within it. Originality/value – The paper provides new insights in to the important of narrative identify broadening its potential application with engagement across diverse communities, thereby providing depth and rigour of its conceptual understanding of personal identify. The work further provides insights in to the challenges facing veteran to integrate within a civilian society. Keywords –narrative identity, military veterans, coaching, Ricoeur Paper type - Research pape

Development of a Kaizen series model: abducting a blend of participatory formats to enhance the development of process improvement practices

The paper utilises a form of Action Research, known as the ‘Constructive Research Approach’ (CRA), to explore how project teams could engender the development of process improvement (PI) routines in a higher education context. The methodology of Mediated Discourse Analysis (MDA), an ethnographic approach to researching practice, is used to trace the development of PI routines over time. The findings showed that process owners and actors who were engaged because of ‘power’ of an initial pre-project Kaizen event, then became more passive participants in the ensuing traditional improvement project, with reduced performances of the PI routines. The main contrition stemming from the work was the abduction of a hybrid model of participatory engagement, that of a ‘Kaizen series’. This extended series of events affords the development of two key routines, ‘the working with a process map’ and the process analysis routine, by increasing opportunity for actors to perform these routines both within and between events, and by balancing the facilitation and empowerment routines. In addition, the Kaizen series is not dependent on any individual PI methodology. The resulting Kaizen series offers PI practitioners an opportunity to blend the best aspects of two different modes of engagement, Kaizen events and project improvement teams

In the Family way: an exploration of family business resilience

Purpose: The article is to explore the concept of resilience set within a family business context and considers how familiness and the nature of noneconomic factors, such as relationship dynamics influence performance. The work provides new insights into the nature and impact of familiness as a mediating device, uncovering the potential for reframing resilience theory and practice. Methodology: The article draws on a review of the extant literature in the areas of resilience and familiness as a means of developing a deeper understanding of the social-ecological system of the family firm. Findings: The work reveals family business as a complex interrelationship between complimentary social-ecological systems. It highlights the complexity of family business and the challenges of the relational nature of familiness and how this presents additional layers of complexity in the decision-making process and implementation. Limitations: The article draws on literature that is dominated by western culture and may partially or not at all reflect the issues associated with organisational resilience in family firms with such backgrounds and their culturally bound social-ecological systems. Originality: The article seeks to fill a knowledge gap by exploring the key elements of organisational resilience in the context of familiness. The work calls for further research into the nature of familiness connections mediating the nature of family relational dynamics. It further provides a framework indicating how these elements can shape and subvert day-to-day management events, raising implications for theory and practice and calls for deeper empirical research to be undertaken. Keywords: resilience, familiness, small and medium sized enterprises, sustainability, social-ecological systems, family business

Exploring Talenting: Talent Management as a Collective Endeavour

• Purpose We seek to show appreciation for the collective endeavour of work practices based on varying degrees of dependence, interdependence and mutuality between at least two people. Such dependencies have to be concerned with how talent is used and how this use is an interaction between people, a process we will call talenting. The aim of this paper is to provide a method to explore talenting. • Design/methodology/approach The paper will begin with a brief overview of recent debates relating to Talent Management and Development (TD). We argue that TMD seldom pays attention to work practices where performance is frequently a collective endeavour. We provide a case to explore talenting in West Yorkshire Police. A mapping method is explain to identify work practices and obtain narrative data. • Findings 12 examples are found and three are presented showing various forms of dependency to achieve outcomes. • Research limitations/implications TMD needs to move beyond employment practices to work practices. There is a need to close the gap between traditional TMD employment practices, usually individually focused, and work practices which are most likely to require a collective endeavour. • Practical implications There needs be ongoing appreciation of talenting to add to TMD activities. • Social implications We recognise a more inclusive approach to TMD • Originality/value Probably the first enquiry of its kind. Keywords – Talent Management and Development, Talenting, Collective Endeavour, Dependency and Interdependency

To Act and Learn: A Bakhtinian Exploration of Action Learning

This paper considers the work of the Russian social philosopher and cultural theorist, Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin as a source of understanding for those involved in action learning. Drawing upon data gathered over two years during the evaluation of 20 action learning sets in the north of England, we will seek to work with the ideas of Bakhtin to consider their value for those involved in action learning. We consider key Bakhtin features such as Making Meaning, Participative Thinking, Theoreticism and Presence, Others and Outsideness, Voices and Carnival to highlight how Bakhtin's can enhance our understanding of the nature of action and learning