The investigation of the future of an organization has always captivated the attention of academics and business managers. Presently, the aspiration to entrench future-relevant insights into management practices is a must. Companies that have made attempts to use corporate foresight have generally dealt successfully with internal information sharing processes that in most cases have prepared them for the challenges of the future.Corporate Foresights and Strategic Decisions investigates the relationships between corporate foresight and management decision-making processes in organizations. It provides an extensive analysis of extant theories of corporate foresight and strategic management, brings in new notions and insights, and presents an in-depth case study exploration of corporate foresight of a European bank. The understanding of organizational future is influenced by the perceived accountability and integrity of the participating departments as well as by the apparent nature of environmental explosiveness. This book provides clear confirmations showing that the impacts of corporate foresight on strategic decisions are critically affected by the evaluative and analytical verdicts of the decision-makers.

The purpose of this book is to address one of the most rapidly growing and important areas in the field of organization development. Despite its importance, relatively little is known about international and global organization development. This book is designed to summarize and apply the existing knowledge in international and global organization development in such a fashion as to provide insight, knowledge, and application in a way that is most helpful to the organization development professional who is interested in, or working in, the field. The book incorporates models of cultural differences, which are identified and expanded in terms of the implications for the practice of organization development. (1) It explores cultural values in terms of differences in resistance to change, the nature of leadership roles, organizational structure and the application of such organization development techniques as team building, survey feedback, job redesign, and large group methods. (2) It explore successes in both developed and developing countries. (3) It provides a list of competencies both for basic knowledge and skills and their extension to international work. It explores the match between organization development interventions and national cultural values. (4) It explores the role of economic development and legal and political structures for global organization development practitioners. It deals with the issue of culture specific versus universal organization development techniques. (5) It incorporates stories from pioneers in the field as well as more recent members of the organization development community. (6) It uses illustrations from award-winning international projects. (7) It draws on a substantial amount of work undertaken by the authors including over one hundred interviews with leading organization development professionals, surveys of organization development professionals, articles and books on international/global organization development and the authors' own international research including an awardwinning international case.

This book focuses on systems engineering, systems thinking, and how that thinking can be learned in practice. It describes a novel analytical framework based on activity theory for understanding how systems thinking evolves and how it can be improved to support multidisciplinary teamwork in the context of system development and systems engineering. This method, developed using data collected over four years from three different small space systems engineering organizations, can be applied in a wide variety of work activities in the context of engineering design and beyond in order to monitor and analyze multidisciplinary interactions in working teams over time. In addition, the book presents a practical strategy called WAVES (Work Activity for a Evolution of Systems engineering and thinking), which fosters the practical learning of systems thinking with the aim of improving process development in different industries. The book offers an excellent resource for researchers and practitioners interested in systems thinking and in solutions to support its evolution. Beyond its contribution to a better understanding of systems engineering, systems thinking and how it can be learned in real-world contexts, it also introduce a suitable analysis framework that helps to bridge the gap between the latest social science research and engineering research.

A global mindset, often referred to as managerial attitudes regarding globalization and aspects of international business, is recognized as an imperative for effective global leadership. Based on extensive literature research, Global Mindset and Leadership Effectiveness describes three field studies in which global mindset is identified and related to outcomes of effective leadership behaviour. The empirical results reveal that effective leadership behaviour depends on a company's global organizational structure and corporate culture. In companies with a strong focus on their native country, managers with global mindsets are perceived by their superiors as ineffective in contrast to their peers with local mindsets. Therefore, a global mindset as such is not enabling managers to be as effective due to the organizational setting in which these managers are working. Based on the empirical results, this book describes the consequences of the relationship between global mindset and leadership effectiveness for organizations and individuals in terms of 'mindset - organization fit', stages in mindset development, and a 'global career paradox'.

This proceedings volume provides a fresh perspective on current challenges in cooperation and coopetition in the age of Industry 4.0. Featuring selected papers from the 10th Conference on Management of Organizations' Development (MOD) held in Zamek Gniew, Poland, this volume extends the knowledge of cooperation and coopetition, presents analytic tools used in the research, considers the potential impact of Industry 4.0 on collaboration, and provides recommendations for managerial practice. Interorganizational relations have been a relevant topic in the management sciences in recent years. Globalization, social, cultural, and technological progress are among the factors shaping the environment for collaboration, determining the conditions for development and defining a set of new challenges that managers have to face in today's knowledge-based economy. This book, therefore, explores emerging problems of organizational development in the light of the needs and challenges of Industry 4.0. Combining the latest theory and practice, the volume provides a realistic outlook on the network economy and interdependencies both within and between sectors.

This edited book provides a conceptual framework of managing flexibility in the areas of people, process, technology and business supported by researches/case applications in various types of flexibilities in business. The book is organized into following five parts: (i) Managing Flexibility; (ii) People Flexibility; (iii) Process Flexibility; (iv) Flexibility in Technology and Innovation Management; and (v) Business Flexibility. Managing flexibility at the level of people, process, technology and business encompasses the requirements of both choice and speed. The need for managing flexibility is growing to cope with the developments and challenges in the global business environment. This can be seen from reactive as well as proactive perspectives. Flexibility is a major dimension of business excellence and deals with a paradoxical view point such as stability and dynamism, continuity and change, centralization and decentralization, and so on. It needs to be managed at the levels of people, process, technology and various business functions and it is important to create flexibility at the level of people to create and manage flexibility in processes and technologies in order to support flexible business requirements.

Since the height of the privatization debate in the 1990s, changes in government policy have resulted in significant transformation in the public sector. Some organizations have made the transition from government bureaucracy to business venture successfully; others have struggled to relinquish their traditional bureaucratic culture. In this book, Pillay and Bilney explore the cultural changes occurring within the public sector and the effects that government mandated change initiatives have actually had. The culmination of this book was due to the subject expertise and guidance of Professor Robert Jones at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. It provides perspectives on the efficacy of cultural change in the Australian public sector, and explores the practical implications for society and government as it seeks to entrench the culture of the citizen as customer. It is particularly useful for researchers and organizations searching for ways to improve service delivery within the confines of particular market positions.

Leading authors within organization studies and also from broader social science disciplines present the state of the art in the rapidly developing field of psychosocial approaches to organization studies and critical management studies.

This book focuses on strategic and operational human resources, giving the reader the core curriculum of subjects usually presented in an MBA program specialized in organizational behaviour and human resource management. The topics covered can be applied to a variety of real world business situations. This book aims to contribute to the growth and development of individuals in a competitive and global economy, by covering the latest developments in the field of human resources management. Innovative practices and theories as well as the current policies and practices of HRM are described in this book.

This book asks how modern universities are organized and managed, and questions whether 30 years of university reforms have resulted in stronger managerial structures and leadership control. It further asks whether current organisational and decision-making structures can be explained by public reform policies. The book offers a coherent, empirically grounded and theoretically driven presentation of data and core ideas behind a large scale comparative study of 26 universities across eight European countries. It focuses on the strength of university managerial structures, the role of academics, and how universities relate to and depend on their environment: to governments and other actors; to funders; to evaluators; and to external stakeholders. It further explores how higher education policies are shaped by and affect universities. Written by a cross-disciplinary team of European scholars, this book is unique both in its wide coverage and the depth of its analyses. It will be of great interest to scholars, graduate students and advanced undergraduates in the fields of organisation theory and sociology, policy studies, comparative public policy and administration, and higher education studies. It will also be of interest to higher education policy makers and administrators.

This book provides a knowledge-based view to the dynamic capabilities in an organization. The author integrates two existing views on gaining competitive advantage: the Knowledge View which suggests that the capability of organizations to learn faster than competitors is the only source of competitiveness; and the Dynamic Capability View which speculates that a firm's competitive advantage rests on dynamic capabilities which enable a firm to constantly renew the stock of ordinary organizational capabilities in accordance with the changes in the business environment. Using the IT sector in India as a case study, this book provides and tests a new framework--Knowledge-Based Dynamic Capabilities-in the prediction of competitive advantage in organizations.

The study of altruism, morality, and social solidarity is an emerging field of scholarship and research in sociology. This handbook will function as a foundational source for this subject matter and field, and as an impetus to its further development.

This book argues that by integrating effective knowledge management (KM) with project management (PM), the overall project success rate can be improved significantly. It brings together the latest ideas and research on shared approaches to improve performance based on the research and experience of academics and practitioners. The structured collection of articles presents novel theoretical approaches and clear empirical evidence of the value of integrating the two distinct fields. It enables readers to better understand the need to merge KM with PM and appreciate the benefits. It also offers researchers an idea of what lies ahead and how to get there, and helps practitioners develop more suitable KM solutions for successful project outcomes.

The author of this volume illustrates how decision-making in organizations has to go beyond economic criteria and the individual level, due to the impossibility of making decisions that do not affect other human beings. The book first reviews the conventional analyses of decision-making, including the classical analysis of uncertainty and the multiple criteria decision-making with qualitative aspects, that do not take into account explicitly how decisions affect other people. Following this, the author puts forward a model for analyzing decisions, which takes into consideration the effects on other people. Decision-Making in an Organizational Context highlights the consequences of organizational decision-making and suggests the principles of effectiveness, attractiveness and unity of the organization that should guide it. The volume finishes up by applying this framework of analysis to real-world situations.

This book presents an in-depth perspective of knowledge as a fundamental process of any organization rather than just another resource to be managed. The author presents a process-oriented theory of creating and applying knowledge directed towards bothresearchers and practitioners. In this book the author develops normative knowledge management guidelines which draw from a unique view on knowledge, discussed in the field of philosophy since Plato but neglected by most knowledgemanagement authors - by applying a philosophically grounded 'social epistemology' to organizations. The guidelines in this book call for an open and reflective space of knowledge creation, aligned with goals and structures of the organization. Numerous examples, field studies, and an application to the main case study on Seven-Eleven Japan complement both the descriptive view on knowledge as well as the normative guidelines presented in this book. "

This book discusses the ontological foundation for organizational analysis and organizational life from a phenomenological perspective. The objective of this book is to provide the reader with an understanding of organizations that adequately takes into account the current philosophical knowledge regarding human nature. A key result of this analysis is that organizations are existentially founded human experiences of emotions, ethics, culture and narrative. This understanding of organizations is furthermore complicated by the existence of concepts of power, relationship, interaction and identity, which all can be perceived as contradicting notions of objectivity, professionalism and rationalism. The question is not whether this is an easy description to navigate nor apply, but rather where we go from here. This book would be of interest to students and scholars working on the philosophy of business, and academics in critical organization studies and alternative philosophy of organization. The book would also be of interest to people in all organization trying to understand everyday of dilemmas and contradictions.

Although considered the best approach to motivation in terms of theoretical soundness for some 25 years, expectancy theory was considered lacking in applications. For the first time this book presents an application model that gives practical value to the expectancy theory of motivation thus enabling managers to use it to improve individual and organizational performance. While other theories of motivation provide a theoretical framework for thinking about and understanding what motivates people in the workplace, the application model presented here for the expectancy theory of motivation goes far beyond this to provide a practical framework for diagnosing and solving individual motivation problems. Emphasis is not on simple motivation problems with straightfoward solutions, but instead the focus is on how to handle difficult motivation problems, and how to deal with them in difficult circumstances, such as when the manager does not have all of the resources or authority needed to solve the problem. The application model has a bottom-line, problem-solving orientation with a focus on the individuality of employees. The book describes specific things managers can say and do to identify potential and existing motivation problems in the early stages before they get out of hand. Techniques for determining the causes of individual motivation problems are presented. Practical solution approaches are offered along with guidelines for choosing solutions that match problem causes and suggestions for effectively implementing the solutions. The core of the application model is found in a one-on-one format for managers to follow in working with individual employees to jointly identify motivationproblems, causes, and solutions. The principal contribution of the application model rests with the special ways presented for dealing with difficult motivation problems when the manager's hands are tied relative to the solutions that can be offered.

Creating Knowledge Based Organizations brings together high quality concepts closely related to organizational learning, knowledge workers, intellectual capital, virtual teams and will include the methodologies, systems and approaches needed to create and manager knowledge-based organizations of the 21st Century.

Are you considering a dean's position? Are you a new dean? Are you a sitting dean that would like some ideas on managing your organization? This book offers advice and important information for anyone working at the dean's level in academic administration. Written in a conversational tone and organized by major topics such as Managing Faculty, Students, Strategic Planning, etc, this book will inform anyone about the many tasks required of a dean as well as provide advice on how to do them well. This book was written by Dr. Terri Friel, an administrator for 7 years. She worked as an engineer and managed production at Procter and Gamble and Pepsico and applies this management experience and knowledge as well as her Doctorate studies in Engineering Management to develop a good overview of the job of Dean. While there are general books written about the topic of academic administration, this is one of the only books that specifically addresses the issues of being a dean. If you just think you want to be a dean or are working as a dean currently, this book will be a helpful guide and reference for you.

This volume provides up-to-date reviews of the research on a number of social and ethical issues of increasing concern confronting today's managers and organizations. The authors, who are recognized international experts on the topics they treat, provide new theories and innovative perspectives on these issues. Further, they use a research base to identify ways for managers and human resources professionals to address these issues in their organizations. Given its breadth of coverage, practitioners faced with these issues, as well as researchers and graduate students in management and organizational psychology, should find this volume of interest. This collection of ten chapters provides the cutting edge on a number of the most pressing challenges in management today. Readers of the volume will discover new models, innovative theoretical approaches, comprehensive reviews, theoretical and methodological critiques, and specific and insightful suggestions for research on these different social and ethical issues facing organizations. Perhaps more importantly, the practical suggestions that come from the research provide a useful bridge between what we know and what we can do to address these challenges, and thus contribute, even in a small way, to workplaces that respect ethics and individuals in all their diversity.

From medicine to education, evidence-based approaches aim to evaluate and apply scientific evidence to a problem in order to arrive at the best possible solution. Thus, using scientific knowledge to inform the judgment of managers and the process of decision-making in organizations, Evidence-based Management (EBMgt) is the science-informed practice of management.
Written by leading experts in the study and practice of EBMgt, The Oxford Handbook of Evidence-based Management provides an overview of key EBMgt ideas and puts them in context of promoting evidence-based practice. Furthermore, it addresses the roles and contributions of practitioners, educators, and scholars -- the primary constituents of EBMgt -- while providing perspectives and resources for each. Divided into three sections (research, practice, and education), this handbook examines the realities of everyday management practice and the role EBMgt can play in improving managerial decision making and employee well being and instructs educators in their roles as designers of curricula and resources.
As the first major volume to capture the spirit of this emerging movement, The Oxford Handbook of Evidence-based Management shows how practitioners can use high-quality knowledge gleaned from scientific research in order to make better use of available data and ultimately make more mindful decisions.

Alliances and outsourcing are flavors of the month, says the author of this succinct, tightly reasoned book, but how much is known about how to make them succeed? Too many are initiated for the wrong reasons, improperly thought out, and--as quick solutions to difficult problems--they just don't work. Dr. Milgate does not try to sell alliances and outsourcing as options, but instead asks, why consider them at all? And what must you do to get the most out of them, if you decide to proceed? He offers practical advice and illustrates it with real-world case study examples. The result is a lucid, readable advisory for corporate decision makers and a useful classroom aid for their academic colleagues.

Never have pressures on corporations to trim down in size been so great. But Dr. Milgate's research shows that corporations' efforts to make themselves lean, to focus on core competencies, and to create mutually advantageous alliances with other corporations have not paid off. The lean organization is clearly the paradigm for business at the start of the new millennium, but how is it achieved? Instead of pure theory, Dr. Milgate offers practical advice and illustrates it with real-world case studies, chosen for their ability to demonstrate best practices in lean organizations and to provide answers to questions that, inevitably, arise repeatedly. He agrees that corporations must focus on the basics and leverage their core competencies up through a range of alliances and outsourcings, toward the goal of creating a best of everything organization. But too many alliances and outsourcing strategies are initiated for the wrong reasons, improperly thought out, and--as quick solutions to difficult problems--they just don't work. Dr. Milgate tells us why and gives us strategic guidance on the critical issues that corporate decision makers must address as they strive to make their organizations as competitive as they must be in order to compete in the new global economy. The result is a succinct, lucid advisory for upper echelon executives and a necessary classroom aid for their academic colleagues.

This volume explores the work environment in multinational corporations. To do so, it integrates studies on the organizational sciences, cross-cultural management, positive psychology and sociology within a single comprehensive framework. Twenty-two authors from six countries identify the challenges in multicultural workplaces, the positives of interactions, cultural clashes and their organizational preconditions. They add inter-organizational, institutional and critical perspectives to the analysis within the framework of multinationals and complex, hybrid cultural environments. The book addresses the needs of researchers in the areas of intercultural management, and those of practitioners in international human resource management.