Beware Casual Leaders: Leadership Matters [Book Review]

Beware casual leaders — they leave casualties wherever they go! So claims Andy Portsmouth, who has worked for some of the UK’s and Europe’s largest multi-national companies over the past 35 years. Starting as a graduate, he progressed to director before becoming a board-level consultant. The tone of his book is set by the blurb: “Cut through the corporate b*llsh*t. Many organizations are sabotaged from the inside. Their biggest threat is not from competitors but from themselves.” The writing style is down-to-earth with many exclamation marks

Internationalisation strategy implemented through Faculty Exchange: Strategic Entrepreneurship in a “new” United Kingdom University

The promotion of international staff mobility is a founding principle of the ‘Bologna Process’, designed to create a converged system of higher education across Europe as it is subjected to increasing globalisation. Many UK ‘new’ (ie post-1992) universities are engaged in the development of internationalisation and globalisation strategies which include staff exchange. Meanwhile, the failure to execute strategy is increasingly acknowledged as a major problem in organisational performance. Using a first-, second and third-person Insider Action Research (AR) approach, six chronological cycles of AR were enacted over a 28 month period in order to organise and implement an international staff exchange between universities in the UK and France. Data generated were subjected to a double process of analysis – four phase analysis and a meta-cycle of enquiry - in order to propose aspects of strategy execution through strategic entrepreneurship within the constraints of a post-1992 university business school in the UK. Concepts from the theoretical literature in three domains - entrepreneurship in higher education, globalisation of higher education and strategy execution through strategic entrepreneurship – are combined with the research analysis to propose that ‘strategic entrepreneurs’ can execute the riskier elements of an internationalisation strategy, such as staff exchange. This work broadens AR from education into strategic management. It goes beyond the common, well-intentioned and yet vague statements involving the ‘encouragement’ of international staff exchange to propose the elements of execution through strategic entrepreneurship

Corporate Entrepreneurship for Internationalising Learning & Teaching Strategy in UK Higher Education: A Combination of Literature

The literature review combines uniquely writing from three academic domains: strategic management of HE (particularly internationalisation), entrepreneurship in HE and corporate entrepreneurship. This combination is applied to the internationalisation of UK universities to establish areas of overlap and to propose that an emergent strategic approach, resulting in an ‘umbrella strategy’ for internationalisation, is most appropriate and can be effectively executed in HE through corporate entrepreneurship. The review uses research and concepts from both private and public sectors. It recommends the adoption in HE of a broader definition of entrepreneurship and an ethical approach to internationalisation in order to appeal to the values of academics. Entrepreneurship can be conceptualised as part of university culture, and, as such, central to the execution of internationalisation

Designing a design thinking approach to HRD

This article considers the value of design thinking as applied to a HRD context, Specifically, it demonstrates how design thinking can be employed through a case study drawn from the GETM3 programme. It reports on the design, development, and delivery of a design thinking workshop which was created to draw out and develop ideas from students and recent graduates about the fundamental training and skills requirements of future employment. While design thinking has been widely deployed in innovation and entrepreneurship, its application to HRD is still very much embryonic. Our overview illustrates how the key characteristics of the design thinking process resonate with those required from HRD (e.g. focus on end user, problem solving, feedback, and innovation). Our contribution stems from illuminating a replicable application of design system thinking including both the process and the outcomes of this application. We conclude that design thinking is likely to serve as a critical mind-set, tool, and strategy to facilitate HRD practitioners and advance HRD practice

Designing a Design Thinking Approach to HRD

This article considers the value of design thinking as applied to a HRD context, Specifically, it demonstrates how design thinking can be employed through a case study drawn from the GETM3 programme. It reports on the design, development, and delivery of a design thinking workshop which was created to draw out and develop ideas from students and recent graduates about the fundamental training and skills requirements of future employment. While design thinking has been widely deployed in innovation and entrepreneurship, its application to HRD is still very much embryonic. Our overview illustrates how the key characteristics of the design thinking process resonate with those required from HRD (e.g. focus on end user, problem solving, feedback, and innovation). Our contribution stems from illuminating a replicable application of design system thinking including both the process and the outcomes of this application. We conclude that design thinking is likely to serve as a critical mind-set, tool, and strategy to facilitate HRD practitioners and advance HRD practice

LONG RUN PROJECTIONS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE SCENARIOS

The prediction of future temperature increases depends critically on the projections of future greenhouse gas emissions. Yet there is a vigorous debate about how these projections should be undertaken and how reasonable is the approach of the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which forms the basis of nearly all recent analyses of the impacts of climate change. In particular there has been significant criticism by Ian Castles and David Henderson regarding the plausibility of some scenarios. This paper explores a range of methodological issues surrounding projecting greenhouse emissions over the next century. It points out that understanding future emissions, requires a framework that deals with the sources of economic growth and allows for endogenous structural change. It also explores the role of “convergence” assumptions and the debate regarding the use of purchasing power parity (PPP) measurement versus market exchange rate (MER) measurement of income differentials. Using the G-Cubed multi-country model we show that emission projections based on convergence assumptions defined in MER terms, are 40% higher by 2100 than emissions generated using a PPP comparison of income differentials between economies. This result illustrates the argument by Castles and Henderson that the use of MER convergence assumptions will likely overestimate emissions projections, taking many other issues as given. However it is not clear what this means for the SRES projections given that it might be argued that in some models in the SRES, there could be endogenous changes in technology that will offset this result. We do not have access to those models to explore this issue and can only show what this particular assumption implies in the G-Cubed model. It is also ambiguous exactly what was done in the SRES report regarding convergence assumptions in some scenarios. Either way these results do not imply that climate change is not an issue but that there is a great deal of uncertainty about future climate projections and it is very unhelpful to presume that all futures are equally likely. In order to deal with this we also propose as a better guide to policymakers a methodology that calculates probabilities for future projections rather than the approach of SRES which is based on storylines without any assessment of plausibility. It is unfortunate that some analyses of the impacts of future climate change are based on the extreme outliers from the SRES without any understanding of the probability of these outcomes. This alternative approach could be done using the economic approach proposed in the G-Cubed model as outlined in this paper, or it could be done with the existing range of SRES scenarios to better inform the debate on likely future greenhouse scenarios.

Editorial: Global Entrepreneurial Talent Management challenges and opportunities in HRD

This special issue of the International Journal of HRD Practice, Policy and Research brings together on-going work from the Global Entrepreneurial Talent Management3 (GETM3) project. GETM3 is a European Union Research Innovation and Staff Exchange (RISE) project investigating the HRD implications of the way existing and future talent can be managed at work, harnessing the entrepreneurial attitudes and skills of young people. The project is both interdisciplinary and international, exploring the key challenges of managing this entrepreneurial talent within organizations. The scope and content of the project align neatly with the intent of the Journal of International Journal of HRD Practice, Policy and Research, not least the emphasis on practical HRD implications. Indeed, at the heart of GETM3 is an appreciation that true understanding and impact can only come from engagement with multiple stakeholders. This editorial provides a brief contextual overview of GETM3, focusing on its relevance for HRD, before providing a brief review of the articles and opinion/forum pieces that make up the special issue. Such explorations are certainly timely. Deloitte’s recent Global Human Capital survey highlights that organizations must re-invent their ability to learn. Indeed, the top rated trend for 2019, reflected by 86% of respondents, was the need to improve learning and development (Deloitte, 2019: 77). Related to this is the requirement for more dedicated evidence exploring the nature and impact of HRD (Gubbins, Harney, van der Werff, & Rousseau, 2018; Mackay, 2017), coupled with more directed attention to the process, rather than the content, of HRD interventions (Staats, 2019). The papers in this special issue certainly make a contribution to enhanced understandin

Editorial: global entrepreneurial talent management challenges and opportunities for HRD

This special issue of the International Journal of HRD Practice, Policy and Research brings together on-going work from the Global Entrepreneurial Talent Management3 (GETM3) project. GETM3 is a European Union Research Innovation and Staff Exchange (RISE) project investigating the HRD implications of the way existing and future talent can be managed at work, harnessing the entrepreneurial attitudes and skills of young people. The project is both interdisciplinary and international, exploring the key challenges of managing this entrepreneurial talent within organizations. The scope and content of the project align neatly with the intent of the Journal of International Journal of HRD Practice, Policy and Research, not least the emphasis on practical HRD implications. Indeed, at the heart of GETM3 is an appreciation that true understanding and impact can only come from engagement with multiple stakeholders. This editorial provides a brief contextual overview of GETM3, focusing on its relevance for HRD, before providing a brief review of the articles and opinion/forum pieces that make up the special issue. Such explorations are certainly timely. Deloitte’s recent Global Human Capital survey highlights that organizations must re-invent their ability to learn. Indeed, the top rated trend for 2019, reflected by 86% of respondents, was the need to improve learning and development (Deloitte, 2019: 77). Related to this is the requirement for more dedicated evidence exploring the nature and impact of HRD (Gubbins, Harney, van der Werff, & Rousseau, 2018; Mackay, 2017), coupled with more directed attention to the process, rather than the content, of HRD interventions (Staats, 2019). The papers in this special issue certainly make a contribution to enhanced understanding and equally to bridging the seemingly ever widening theory-practice gap (Holden, 2019)

Long Run Projections for Climate Change Scenarios

The prediction of future temperature increases depends critically on the projections of future greenhouse gas emissions. Yet there is a vigorous debate about how these projections should be undertaken and how reasonable is the approach of the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which forms the basis of nearly all recent analyses of the impacts of climate change. In particular there has been significant criticism by Ian Castles and David Henderson regarding the plausibility of some scenarios. This paper explores a range of methodological issues surrounding projecting greenhouse emissions over the next century. It points out that understanding future emissions, requires a framework that deals with the sources of economic growth and allows for endogenous structural change. It also explores the role of “convergence” assumptions and the debate regarding the use of purchasing power parity (PPP) measurement versus market exchange rate (MER) measurement of income differentials. Using the G-Cubed multi-country model we show that emission projections based on convergence assumptions defined in MER terms, are 40% higher by 2100 than emissions generated using a PPP comparison of income differentials between economies. This result illustrates the argument by Castles and Henderson that the use of MER convergence assumptions will likely overestimate emissions projections, taking many other issues as given. However it is not clear what this means for the SRES projections given that it might be argued that in some models in the SRES, there could be endogenous changes in technology that will offset this result. We do not have access to those models to explore this issue and can only show what this particular assumption implies in the G-Cubed model. It is also ambiguous exactly what was done in the SRES report regarding convergence assumptions in some scenarios. Either way these results do not imply that climate change is not an issue but that there is a great deal of uncertainty about future climate projections and it is very unhelpful to presume that all futures are equally likely. In order to deal with this we also propose as a better guide to policymakers a methodology that calculates probabilities for future projections rather than the approach of SRES which is based on storylines without any assessment of plausibility. It is unfortunate that some analyses of the impacts of future climate change are based on the extreme outliers from the SRES without any understanding of the probability of these outcomes. This alternative approach could be done using the economic approach proposed in the G-Cubed model as outlined in this paper, or it could be done with the existing range of SRES scenarios to better inform the debate on likely future greenhouse scenarios.Climate change, Kyoto Protocol, G-Cubed, model, projections, SRES, PPP versus MER