This innovative text applies a systems theory perspective to strategic human resource management, drawing particularly on the Viable System Model and soft systems methodology. Readers are introduced to different ways of thinking about systems and shown how systems can interact, triggering changes in the competitive environment - and how HR systems can either facilitate or inhibit adaptation to these changes. Peppered with international examples throughout, this book considers key HR topics such as recruitment, reward, employment relations, culture, diversity and leadership, all through a systems lens. It shows how an understanding of system dynamics can help managers to recognise complexity, accept the inevitability of short-term systemic conflicts and anticipate the likely consequences. This text will be suitable for upper-level undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA students of strategic HRM, HRM and strategic management. It will also be thought-provoking for HR professionals looking to embrace a strategic role in their organizations.

* Goes beyond encouraging cultural competence or celebrating diversity, to practical tools to bolster these two cornerstones to organizational success * Presents the easy-to-follow 'Get Along, Get It Done, Get Ahead' model that both leaders and business students can understand and apply straight away * Completely revised and updated second edition that offers new concepts, case studies, and guidelines for today's workplace

Currently, the challenge for manufacturing organizations is how to achieve their expected profit by continuously improving productivity or reducing costs. Manufacturing organizations have been using different improvement approaches to achieving cost reduction and productivity improvement for years by eliminating various losses and waste structures, such as excess inventory, excessive workforce, excessive capacity, excessive utility consumption, and so on. But is the problem solved? Unfortunately, no! Often manufacturing companies focus on maximizing the flow and meeting customer needs but forget their real aim - to make a profit for their stakeholders. Too many organizations meet customer expectations by seeking to continuously synchronize the flow to market demand but forget to check that they are doing it profitably enough to ensure business continuity and prosperity. When the financial results show that they are not so profitable, it is already too late. Moreover, the strategic direction of systematic improvements according to the sales trend - depending on the current degree of production capacity utilization and its dynamic effects on cost structures - is deficient in many manufacturing companies. So, would the failure of strategic and profitable systematic improvements be an option? Of course not! If the ultimate goal of the organization is to create target profit for stakeholders, then the behavior and strategic systematic improvements must be directed to those scenarios, strategies, tasks, problems, and "production levers" that are best based on creating the target profit. That's what Strategic Kaizen thinking does - the simultaneous and consistent achievement of systematic operational and financial improvements in a strategic and operational manner. It achieves both synchronous operations at market demand by fulfilling takt time and profitable operations in accordance with profit demand by fulfilling takt profit. In short, the Strategic Kaizen mission is striving for the fulfillment of the ideal state of operations called synchronous profitable operations. In this book, the author, while presenting in detail the seven processes of Strategic Kaizen methodology, exposes the answer to historically incomplete thinking of productivity improvements for target profitability. The uniqueness of the book is reinforced by the detailed presentation of the successful application of the Strategic Kaizen thinking over the years in two multinational manufacturing organizations operating in highly competitive markets, addressing the synchronous profitable operations for both the sales increase scenario and the sales decrease scenario. Moreover, it presents examples of the practical application of the "white-collar" Strategic Kaizen. Essentially, by adopting the Strategic Kaizen methodology presented in detail in this book to consistently achieve the ideal state of a manufacturing organization, organizations will enter a new paradigm of thinking of strategic improvements - Strategic Kaizen thinking - to meet annual and multiannual target profits in a unique and effective way that operates according to its own strategic and operational management system.

This volume brings together academics, executives and practitioners to provide readers with an extensive and authoritative overview of the classical music industry. The central practices, theories and debates that empower and regulate the industry are explored through the lens of classical music-making, business, and associated spheres such as politics, education, media and copyright. The Classical Music Industry maps the industry's key networks, principles and practices across such sectors as recording, live, management and marketing: essentially, how the cultural and economic practice of classical music is kept mobile and alive. The book examining pathways to professionalism, traditional and new forms of engagement, and the consequences of related issues-ethics, prestige, gender and class-for anyone aspiring to 'make it' in the industry today. This book examines a diverse and fast-changing sector that animates deep feelings. The Classical Music Industry acknowledges debates that have long encircled the sector but today have a fresh face, as the industry adjusts to the new economics of funding, policy-making and retail The first volume of its kind, The Classical Music Industry is a significant point of reference and piece of critical scholarship, written for the benefit of practitioners, music-lovers, students and scholars alike offering a balanced and rigorous account of the manifold ways in which the industry operates.

This book comprises a set of stories about being an engineer for many decades and the lessons the author learned from research and practice. These lessons focus on people and organizations, often enabled by technology. The settings range from airplanes, power plants, and communication networks to ecosystems that enable education, healthcare, and transportation. All of these settings are laced with behavioral and social phenomena that need to be understood and influenced. The author's work in these domains has often led to the question: "Well, why does it work like that?" He invariably sought to understand the bigger picture to find the sources of requirements, constraints, norms, and values. He wanted to understand what could be changed, albeit often with much effort to overcome resistance. He found that higher levels of an ecosystem often provide the resources and dictate the constraints imposed on lower levels. These prescriptions are not just commands. They also reflect values and cultural norms. Thus, the answers to the question were not just technical and economic. Often, the answers reflected eons of social and political priorities. The endeavors related in the book frequently involved addressing emerging realities rather than just the status quo. This book is an ongoing discovery of these bigger pictures. The stories and the lessons related in this book provide useful perspectives on change. The understanding of people and organizations that emerges from these lessons can help to enable transformative change. Fundamental change is an intensely human-centric endeavor, not just for the people and organizations aspiring to change, but also for the people helping them. You will meet many of these people in this book as the stories unfold. The genesis of this book originated in a decision made early in the author's career. He had developed a habit of asking at the end of each day, "What did I really accomplish today?" This was sometimes frustrating as he was not sure the day had yielded any significant accomplishments. One day it dawned on him that this was the wrong question - He needed to ask, "What did I learn today?" It is always possible to learn, most recently about public health and climate change. In planning this book, the author first thought in terms of accomplishments such as projects conducted, systems built, and articles and books published. He could not imagine this being interesting to readers. Then, it struck him - It is much more interesting to report on what he learned about people and organizations, including how he helped them accomplish their goals. This is a book of stories about how these lessons emerged. In planning this book, the author first thought in terms of accomplishments such as projects conducted, systems built, and articles and books published. He could not imagine this being interesting to readers. Then, it struck him - It is much more interesting to report on what he learned about people and organizations, including how he helped them accomplish their goals. This is a book of stories about how these lessons emerged.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) have become features of organizations as a result of both legal and societal advances as well as neoliberal economic reasoning and considerations. While current research approaches frequently fall short of addressing the challenges faced in EDI research, this benchmark Handbook brings coverage of research methods in EDI up to date, and advances the development of research in the field. Bringing together well-known academics and researchers, this Handbook is a distillation of current and novel research in the field of EDI. Chapters present groundbreaking new research and methodological perspectives on international, regional and national issues, from equal opportunities and gender mainstreaming to managing diversity in legal, political and socio-economic contexts. Alongside this, the authors discuss new analytic directions to advance empirical EDI research. This Handbook will help to shape the present and future EDI discourse. The book is an invaluable addition to the current literature, particularly for students of EDI and researchers working in the fields of human resource management, strategic management and organization, and culture and change management as well as entrepreneurship and marketing. Contributors include: D. Atewologun, C. Baron, I. Bleijenbergh, E.H. Buttner, H.A. Downs, H. Eberherr, D. Foley, K.M. Hannum, E. Henry, J. Hofbauer, R. Hofmann, E.L. Holloway, C.A. Houkamau, M. Janssens, D. Jones, A. Klarsfeld, K. Kreissl, M. Lansu, J. Louvrier, K. Lowe, R. Mahalingam, A.J. Mills, J.H. Mills, S. Mooney, E. Ng, B. Poggio, N. Rumens, I. Ryan, B. Sauer, H.L. Schwartz, C.G. Sibley, A. Striedinger, P. van Arensbergen, I. Wasserman, J. Wergin, P. Zanoni

In this volume, Dean Shepherd focuses on the varying topics of entrepreneurship unified through conjoint analysis. Although the topic of entrepreneurial decision making is broad, in doing so, he reveals the mechanisms that come into play during the entrepreneurial decision-making process. Scholars of entrepreneurship and organizational behavior will find this collection an essential resource for understanding how decision making is achieved in entrepreneurial settings.

This book provides a powerful insight into strategic portfolio management and its central role in the delivery of organisational strategy, maximisation of value creation, and efficient allocation of resources and capabilities to achieve organisational strategic objectives. The book makes a valuable contribution to the development of thinking on the translation of strategy into actionable work. Whether you are a senior manager building a high-performing strategic portfolio for your organisation or an academic searching for new perspectives on strategy execution through portfolio management, you will find great significance in this book. Twenty-eight chapters in four sections provide multiple perspectives on the topic, with in-depth guidance on organisational design for strategic portfolio management and covering all process, capability, and leadership aspects of strategic portfolio management. The book includes several detailed case studies for the effective deployment of strategic portfolios, bringing together theory and practice for strategic portfolio management. This book is particularly valuable for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of project and portfolio management, strategic management, and leadership who are looking to expand their knowledge within the multi-project environment. Highly practical and logical in its structure, it also shows project management professionals how to effectively manage their business portfolios and align this with their business strategy.

Unique selling point: * Provides IT managers and audit professionals with relevant knowledge directly applicable to various blockchain-related organizational projects. Core audience: * An educational and professional reference resource for information systems researchers, IT managers, and audit professionals. Place in the market: * Unlike most current blockchain titles on the market, The Auditor's Guide to Blockchain Technology also deals with security and assurance issues

Are you ready to lead? Will you pass the test?

Despite all the effort through the years to understand what it takes to be an effective leader, the challenges of leadership remain enormously difficult and elusive; even today, most CEOs don't last five years in the job. The demands to deliver at a consistently high level can be unforgiving.

The loneliness. The weight of responsibility. The relentless second-guessing and criticism. The pressure to build all-star teams. The 24/7 schedule that requires superhuman stamina. The tough decisions that often leave no one happy. The expectation to always have the right answer when it can be hard just to know the right question.

These challenges are brought into their highest and sharpest relief in the corner office, but they are hardly unique to chief executives. All leaders face their own version of these tests, and the authors draw on the distilled wisdom, stories, and lessons from hundreds of chief executives to show how every aspiring leader can master these challenges and lead like a CEO. These foundational leadership skills will make all aspiring executives more effective in their roles today and lift the trajectory of their careers.

The CEO Test is the authoritative, no-nonsense insider's guide to navigating leadership's toughest challenges, brought to you by authors uniquely qualified to tell the stories. Adam Bryant has conducted in-depth interviews with more than 600 CEOs. Kevin Sharer spent more than two decades as president and then CEO of Amgen, where he led its expansion from $1 billion in annual revenues to nearly $16 billion. He has served on many boards and is a sought-after mentor for CEOs of global companies.

Leadership is getting harder as the speed of disruption across all industries accelerates. The CEO Test will better prepare you to succeed, whether you're a CEO or just setting out to become one.

How do you grow your business when you don't have a marketing budget? How do you stand out in a busy world? And what if the answer is right in front of you? For me, the newsletter is the most important tool I have in building a global denim brand. Second only to the sewing machine. So writes entrepreneur David Hieatt who has based his entire marketing strategy around a simple email newsletter. And it's worked. The company has grown into a creative global jeans business with a fiercely loyal community. Now, David shares his insight, strategy and methodology so you can do the same. In Do Open you will discover: Why giving is your secret to success How to get people's attention when time is your biggest competitor Why creating beats sharing How a small team can win. Build community. Build your brand. Build long-term growth. Discover why the humble newsletter is pure and utter gold.

This book discusses important issues related to managing supply chain disruption risks from various perspectives. It explores the essence and principles relating to managing these risks and provides the framework and multi-goal model groups for managing such risks. The book also discusses research development of managing supply chain disruptive risks, supply chain risk conduction and loss assessment methods of supply chain disruptive events. It also includes the consideration of supply chain coordinating models in the cases of demand and supply disruption risks. It also deals on the subject of managing models of supply chain disruption risks by looking at manufacturers and responding decision methods oriented towards demand in disruption and coordination. It also summarizes the relevant findings and provides future research questions and orientations. The book will contributes significantly to the growing body of knowledge concerning the theory of managing supply chains.

This unique book unveils an invaluable paradigm for companies wishing to create new knowledge. Mitsuru Kodama's new theoretical framework is achieved using a combination of approaches including knowledge sharing, knowledge integration, strategy, organization, corporate culture and leadership. The author presents his new theoretical framework using two models which demonstrate the means for actors both within and outside the company to formulate and implement micro strategies through the structure of dynamic strategic human networks. Detailed case studies are then used to support the theoretical framework. These include specific applications of knowledge innovation from networked strategic communities including large corporations, joint ventures, customer-oriented solution businesses and IT-based management. Research and managerial implications arising from these theoretical frameworks are also explored. Bridging theory and practice and providing international scope, this book will be invaluable to academics and students with an interest in business and management, and to managers in the IT, telecommunications, and electronics industries.

Typically entrenched and systemic, healthcare problems require the sort of comprehensive solutions that can only be addressed by a change in culture and a shift in thinking. Organizations around the world are using Lean to redesign care and improve processes in a way that achieves and sustains meaningful results for patients, staff, physicians, and health systems. This book demonstrates how honest appraisal, intelligent planning, and vigilant follow-up have led to dramatic improvements in a variety of healthcare settings across the world. It teaches us how innovative organizations can find sustainable solutions to seemingly intractable problems by following a path guided by Lean Thinking. Lean methods may not solve every healthcare problem, but as these cases prove, changing a culture rather than personnel results in more effective sustainable change. This multi-authored book provides expert descriptions of Lean methods and their application in healthcare, written by the people who developed and tested the methods in healthcare settings. Each chapter brings together a description of the technique or approach, with examples of application in practice from the author's own practice. Authors use an engaging approach to their narrative, with examples from their personal experience or engagement being described to illustrate the practical application of theoretic approaches. In painting a picture of the environment in which these tools and techniques have been applied, readers will understand the transferability to their own workplace environment. This will be an opportunity to tell real stories of the application of Lean in healthcare and give readers the opportunity to learn from people from across the world, on subjects on which they are acknowledged topic experts, based on day-to-day Lean practice.

In recent decades, the world has witnessed the emergence of a global knowledge economy in which functional regions increasingly play a role as independent and dynamic market places. These are integrated with other functional regions by means of flows of information, knowledge, and commodities. This contemporary and illuminating book provides a state-of-the-art overview of current research on innovation and entrepreneurship in functional regions. There are numerous questions regarding entrepreneurship and innovation in functional regions that have not yet been answered - until now. Some of the issues that the expert contributors in this field question are - How do firms compete and how do they develop their competitive strategies? How important are entrepreneurial actions and innovation? How important are firm size, firm maturity and corporate structure for innovation? Entrepreneurship and Innovations in Functional Regions will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of entrepreneurship, business economics, innovation and regional science.

This book is a practical guide for managers to increase and support employee engagement through stronger performance management tools and techniques. In this second edition, Edward Mone and Manuel London incorporate new developments in the field, including discussion of issues about the value of challenging goals, annual formal appraisals, forced ranking, and ways to give constructive feedback. The authors expand the traditional notion of performance management to include building trust, creating conditions of empowerment, managing team learning, and maintaining ongoing straightforward communications about performance, all of which are critical to employee engagement. Case studies offer concrete examples, and checklists and surveys supply managers with ways to assess employee engagement as well as directions for increasing engagement. An up-to-date, straightforward guide, this book is appropriate for graduate students in Employee Engagement, Human Resources, and Management Studies, as well as scholars and practitioners in those fields.

A multidisciplinary approach to performance management, demonstrating how the four disciplines of strategic management, organizational behaviour, organizational theory, and management accounting work in concert to produce an organization's desired employee motivation and performance through cases New edition discusses ethics and corporate governance in performance management and as well as business transformation in the context of digital age Instructor eResources (NEW): The second edition also comes with detailed analysis of textbook case studies for lecturers and instructors to structure student discussions.

Logistics refers to the processes that start with resources and their acquisition, storage, and transportation to their destination. The concept is crucial in business -- particularly for the manufacturing sector -- to understand, manage, and control how resources are handled and progress through the whole supply chain. Now, there is a strong trend to focus on sustainability and eco-friendly solutions in logistics. Processes based on both technology and management need innovations and detailed implementation steps to achieve a satisfactory level of sustainability. This book explores how and where innovations can be implemented to provide a wide approach to sustainability in logistics. It addresses the main challenges affecting modern and sustainable logistics and supply chains and is organized according to six main themes: supply chain management; information intelligent hubs (e.g. warehouse and cities); sustainable transportation; technology for logistics; reverse logistics; and city logistics. The key results presented are based on both extensive types of research and business cases. The overarching advanced logistics and supply chain concepts at the heart of this book contribute to a sustainable intelligent logistics and transport system by making it more efficient, reliable, environmentally friendly, and competitive. Essentially, this book presents the most current research related to sustainability in logistics activities and addresses the theoretical background of sustainability and its significance for logistics, the challenges in supply chains and transportation, and possible solutions for more sustainable logistics systems.

With recent advances in IT in areas such as AI and IoT, collaboration systems such as business chat, cloud services, conferencing systems, and unified communications are rapidly becoming widely used as new IT applications in global corporations' strategic activities. Through in-depth longitudinal studies of global corporations, the book presents a new theoretical framework and implications for IT-enabled dynamic capabilities using collaboration systems from the perspective of micro strategy theory and organization theory. The content of the book is based on longitudinal analyses that employ various qualitative research methods including ethnography, participant observation, action research and in-depth case studies of global corporations in Europe, the United States and Asia that actively use collaboration systems. It presents a new concept of micro dynamism whereby dynamic "IT-enabled knowledge communities" such as "IT-enabled communities of practice" and "IT-enabled strategic communities" create "IT-enabled dynamic capabilities" through the integration of four research streams - an information systems view, micro strategy view, micro organization view and knowledge-based view. The book demonstrates that collaboration systems create, maintain and develop "IT-enabled knowledge communities" within companies and are strategic IT applications for enhancing the competitiveness of companies in the ongoing creation of new innovation and the realization of sustainable growth in a 21st century knowledge-based society. This book is primarily written for academics, researchers and graduate students, but will also offer practical implications for business leaders and managers. Its use is anticipated not only in business and management schools, graduate schools and university education environments around the world but also in the broad business environment including management and leadership development training.

Organizational change literature often focuses on the leaders role in giving sense to others of the need for change and there is a plethora of models and recipes on how to influence employees thinking about change, organizational design and performance. Notwithstanding this ready supply of advice, research has shown that up to 90% of change programs fail to deliver their expected outcomes. One of the reasons for this which has been neglected in the literature is that successful change in thinking starts with how leaders first make sense of the need for change and the challenges this poses to their own thinking. This book surfaces the elements behind leader sensemaking that add to or detract from their ability to critically question their current thinking. Leaders and interventionists have lacked practical and pragmatic advice on how to influence the process. This book is the culmination of 10 years of research spent working with leaders in organizations as they interpreted the need for change and made choices about engaging, or not, with transformational change methodologies. It reveals nine elements of sensemaking displayed by organizational leaders as they grapple with challenges to their current orthodoxies about how to lead and organize in times of change. The book shows the latest state of knowledge on the topic and will be of interest to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in the fields of leadership, change, and organisational development.

The financial crisis has exposed severe shortcomings in mainstream monetary economics and modern finance. It is surprising that these shortcomings have not led to a wider debate about the need to overhaul these theories. Instead, mainstream economists have closed ranks to defend existing theories and public authorities have expanded their interference in markets. This book investigates the problems associated with mainstream monetary economics and finance, and proposes alternatives based on the Austrian school of economics. This school emanated from the work of the nineteenth-century Austrian economist Carl Menger and was developed further by Eugen von Boehm-Bawerk, Ludwig von Mises, and Friedrich August von Hayek. In monetary economics, the Austrian school regards the creation of money by banks through credit extension as a key source of economic instability. From this follows the need for a comprehensive reform of our present monetary system. In a new monetary order, money could be issued by both public and private institutions, and there would be no need for fractional reserve banking. Instead of creating money, banks would intermediate it. In finance, the Austrian school rejects the notion of rational expectations and measurable risk. Individuals use their subjective knowledge to gather and evaluate information, and they act in a world of radical uncertainty. Hence, markets are not "efficient" nor can portfolios be built on the basis of known probability distributions of asset prices as described in the modern finance literature. This book explores the need for a new theoretical foundation for asset pricing and investment management that will give practitioners more useful orientation.

The rise of the information age and the digital economy has dramatically changed engineering. With tremendous advances in computing and communication systems, causing major organizational upheaval, all fueled by complexity, globalization, short cycle times, and lean supply chains, the functions of engineers have significantly changed. Engineers must be technically savvy and have product management and costing skills all while working in a distributed and often unstable environment. This new edition textbook is updated to cover the integration of cost, risk, value, scheduling, and information technologies going beyond basic engineering economics. Engineering Economics of Life Cycle Cost Analysis, Second Edition offers a systems and life cycle or total ownership cost perspective. It presents advanced costing techniques such as simulation-based costing, decision analysis, complex systems costing, software, big data, and cloud computing estimation. Examples and problems demonstrating these techniques with real-world applications are also included. All engineers will find this book useful, but it is mainly written for systems engineers, engineering management, and industrial engineers along with graduate courses on advanced engineering economic analysis and cost management, and financial analysis for engineers. To assist with classroom teaching, the textbook provides an instructor's manual for qualified course adoption and downloadable Excel solutions.

Policymakers globally are seeing the potential for future growth through embedding greater creativity across their economies. Yet much academic research has focused on the creative industries as traditionally defined, rather than looking at the bigger picture. CCI's research has been the exception, making significant conceptual and empirical breakthroughs in our understanding of creative work in the wider economy. This volume should be required reading for students, researchers and practitioners of innovation policy.' - Hasan Bakhshi, Director, Creative Economy in Policy & Research, Nesta, UK'Hearn and his colleagues have amassed an impressive array of empirical evidence, theoretical insights and policy prescriptions for understanding how creative workers are contributing to a variety of industries outside the purely cultural or creative industry sectors. The scope of their investigations includes healthcare, banking, manufacturing, digital technology, creative services, journalism, media and communication, and higher education. This book significantly advances our understanding of how creative workers are utilizing their capabilities to contribute broadly to the economy. It also offers important insights into professional learning for creative workers and shows how education can prepare future generations of creative study students to succeed in today s knowledge based economy.' - Robert DeFillippi, Suffolk University, US Creative workers are employed in sectors outside the creative industries often in greater numbers than within the creative field. This is the first book to explore the phenomena of the embedded creative and creative services through a range of sectors, disciplines, and perspectives. Despite the emergence of the creative worker, there is very little known about the work life of these 'creatives', and why companies seek to employ them. This book asks: how does creative work actually 'embed' into a service or product supply chain? What are creative services? Which industries are they working in? This collection explores these questions in relation to innovation, employment and education, using various methods and theoretical approaches, in order to examine the value of the embedded creative and to discover the implications of education and training for creative workers. This book will be of interest to practitioners, policy makers and industry leaders in the creative industries, in particular digital media, application development, design, journalism, media and communication. It will also appeal to academics and scholars of innovation, cultural studies, business management and labour studies. Contributors include: D. Bennett, R. Bridgstock, J. Coffey, S. Cunningham, S. Fitzgerald, A. Freeman, B. Goldsmith, G. Hearn, J. Pagan, P. Petocz, A. Podkalicka, J. Potts, A. Rainnie, J. Rodgers, J.H.P. Rodrigues, T. Shehadeh, D. Swan, O. Zelenko