Surah Al-Nisa’: some lessons for Muslim business leaders based on the works of Khaled and Khan = Surah Al-Nisa : beberapa pelajaran untuk pemimpin perniagaan Muslim berdasarkan tafsiran Khaled dan Khan

This study looks at sūrah al-Nisa’ (Chapter The Women)and draws some lessons for Muslim business leaders. The focus is on Muslim business leaders as they have the power and authority to transform the corporate culture of their organisations. The author compared and contrasted the works of Khaled and Khan. Although the general theme of the sūrah is justice, this author focuses on ihsan. Generally, people need to have ihsan towards one another (4:36), whether Muslims or non-Muslims. Extrapolating from this principle, this sūrah teaches us that managers need to have ihsan towards their subordinates and vice-versa. The complexity of the concept of ihsan is explored. Although ihsan is linked to taqwa (piety), it is also linked to remembering death and resurrection. The author tried two experiments, derived from the work of Kübler-Ross, to demonstrate how developing a culture of ihsan is possible. The findings state that developing a culture of ihsan is straightforward but facilitators need to have a counsel-ling background to address participants’ concerns in the right manner. **************************************************************************************************************************** Kajian ini tentang sūrah an-Nisa bagi mengambil beberapa pengajaran untuk pemimpin perniaga Islam. Tumpuannya khusus pemimpin perniaga Islam kerana mereka mempunyai kuasa dan autoriti untuk mengubah budaya korporat organisasi mereka. Penulis membandingkan dan membezakan karya-karya Khaled dan Khan. Walaupun tema umum sūrah ini adalah keadilan tetapi penulis memberi tumpuan tentang konsep ihsan. Secara umum, setiap orang perlu mempunyai ihsan terhadap satu sama lain (4:36), sama ada orang Islam atau bukan Islam. Pengkaitan daripada prinsip tersebut, sūrah ini mengajar kita bahawa pengurus perlu mempunyai ihsan kepada orang bawahan mereka dan sebaliknya. Konsep ihsan yang menyeluruh dan berhubung kait juga diteroka. Walaupun ihsan dikaitkan dengan taqwa (taqwa), ia juga dikaitkan dengan mengingati kematian dan kebangkitan. Penulis melakukan dua eksperimen, yang berasal dari karya Kübler-Ross, untuk menunjukkan keupayan membangunkan budaya ihsan. Kesimpulannya ialah membina budaya ihsan adalah mudah tetapi memerlukan fasilitator yang mempunyai latar belakang kaunseling untuk menangani masalah peserta dengan cara yang berkesan

Developing leadership potential in students using sūrah Yasin: a growth-mindset perspective

This study attempts to build the Islamic leadership potential of groups of students by getting them to watch videos related to Sūrah Yasin throughout the semester. Based on the work of Argyris, it is argued that developing leaders requires double-loop learning. Delahaye called this questioning “paradynamic assumptions”. In this study, internalising the paradynamic assumptions of the Qur’ān is called Qur’ānic thinking. To develop Muslim leaders, it is assumed that by studying Sūrah Yasin, one can develop Qur’ānic thinking. This will lead to a growth-mindset, new assumptions about the knowledge of leadership and a new behaviour. To test this assumption, an action research approach was used with two groups of students at the International Islamic University Malaysia. Participants were asked to watch videos related to Sūrah Yasin throughout the semester. Sūrah Yasin was used because it encapsulates Qur’ānic thinking. These two experiments seemed successful and the lessons related to the experiments are explored

Some management lessons in s(u)over-barrah al-baqarah based on the works of khaled (nd) and khan (2012)

This study explores some of the management lessons in Sūrah Al-Baqarah by referring to the explanations of Khaled (n.d.) and Khan (2012, 2016). Five management lessons were derived from Khaled (n.d.) and six management lessons were derived from Khan (2012, 2016). Khan (2012, 2016) was more detailed than Khaled (n.d.) and highlighted the problem of corrupt leadership. Leaders can became “spiritual people with a worldly mind-set” (Khan, 2012). The psychological and organizational processes that enable leaders to mislead their followers are then explored. Although one assumes that bad leaders are deliberately unethical, social psychology shows that good leaders can become bad unintentionally over time. Muslim business leaders can build one of three types of organizations. One with a positive organizational culture, one with a neutral organizational culture and one with a negative organizational culture. Similarly, Muslim employees have an ethical responsibility to seek employment in an organization whose corporate culture does not clash with Islamic values. As the Qur’ān provides timeless guidance, one can conclude that good and ethical leadership is an eternal challenge

Strategic management from Islamic perspective : text and cases

While strategic management is a cornerstone of any MBA or business program, it’s almost always taught from conventional theories and typically American case studies. This book takes those traditional theories and interprets them from an Islamic perspective using more international case studies

Leadership and management skills

This book is the summary of his 15 years of experience. Leadership and management skills can be learned. However, it doesn't happen by accident. This book offers a simple process to do so. First, one must be involved in a semester long project that pushes you outside your comfort zone. Second, it requires keeping a journal and reflecting on the journey. Once readers become familiar with this process, developing leadership and management skills is a question of time and effort

Management models from an Islamic perspective

This chapter explores the Islamic perspective on management models. A literature review identified three main streams in the MIP literature. These are the emphasis on paradigms, the emphasis on justice and the desire to extend conventional management theories. These three points are then applied to how managers use management models. Generally, Muslim managers use conventional management models and modify them to deal with Islamic concerns. At the same time, they use purely Islamic models to guide their thinking. Unfortunately, the number of potential management models is virtually unlimited. Based on the principle of the aims of the Islamic legal system and the principle of Evidence Based Management, not all management models are suitable for Muslim managers. Further research is needed to deal with the issue of the right method to be used in MIP and a detailed study of the usefulness of modified management models

The philosophical foundations of Islamic management

This study seeks to explain the philosophical foundations of Islamic management. Most of the schools of management can be traced back to philosophical ideas. Using the deconstruction approach proposed by Malik (2017), the history of Western philosophy starting with the ancient Greek sis reviewed. At each stage, the similarities and differences between Western philosophy and the teachings of Islam are summarised. The ideas of Adam Smith, Karl Marx and Karl Popper are given special attention. Some of the differences are very significant, especially when it comes to the sources of knowledge and key beliefs. Nonetheless, the philosophies of Adam Smith (in their original form) and Karl Popper are critical. This study concludes that Islamic management seeks to combine the best ideas of Islamic sciences and conventional management while minimizing the negative unintended consequences of conventional management

Enhancing Service Personnel’s Emotional Labour Techniques: An Empirical Case for Spiritual Intelligence

The paper aims to examine the relationship between emotional labour (EL) techniques of surface acting (SA) and deep acting (DA) with spiritual intelligence (SQ). Building on Multiple Intelligence Theory (MI), 373 service personnel, mainly teachers, were drawn through a list-based simple random sampling, from 30 secondary schools around Peninsular Malaysia. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses, and the proposed model was assessed through renowned model fit indices. Findings revealed that SQ buffers EL costs, as both SA and DA routine became positively related to SQ. Proposed model had reasonable fit indices with χ² / df  ratio (1002.288 / 336) = 2.983, RMSEA (0.078) and CFI (0.931). Providing empirical support to the hypotheses that EL performance tends resonate well with spiritual intelligent service personnel. The adequacy of this paper’s findings is vital as it cut across all Faiths. Practically, it tends to stimulate service personnel towards a higher degree of self-awareness and imbue them with the capacity to be flexible, face and transcend pain and suffering. Socially, it sustains a friendly and cordial interpersonal relationship with others (customers). Policy wise, it informs organizations to re-align HR strategies to capture ‘Type B’ personalities. Theoretically, it stirs more research on SQ as it affects service personnel’s organizational behaviours. The paper is cross-sectional and limited to one group of service personnel (teachers). Future study may consider other groups to ascertain the generalisability of these findings. While augmenting body of knowledge on organizational behaviour, the study is pioneered as the first to propose SQ to buffer EL costs, in order to enhance SA and DA techniques

Social traps and ethical dilemmas: an Islamic perspective

This study looks at the usefulness of 5 hadith to allow Muslim managers to effectively manage social traps and ethical dilemmas. These hadith are: "actions are but by intentions", "the religion is naseeha", "the lawful is clear and the forbidden is clear", "there is no harming and no reciprocating of harm" and "whatever I forbid, stay away from. Whatever I order, do as much as you can". Examples of social traps and ethical dilemmas are given to illustrate