An organisation's most important asset is its people. And critical to an organisation's success is the extent to which its people interact effectively - both with each other as team members and with the wider organisation. This is why managing teams has become a key area for a growing number of organisations around the world. While many organisations are world-class at managing their materials and machinery, they fall short in managing the human side of their activities.This book outlines the challenges faced by both team leaders and team members in 21st-century workplaces. It proposes 13 key performance or "team health" indicators for highly effective teams based on research data collected from a large range of industry sectors, team sizes and organisations in the UK. It contributes to the understanding of the nature and functioning of team cohesiveness by describing teamwork as a multi-component variable and identifying the factors that impact on teams and the implications of teamwork for organisations.The book sets out to aid organisations by introducing a Team Performance Diagnostic (TPD) tool. The TPD enables organisations to gain an accurate and detailed insight into the real-time performance of their teams, helps team managers to understand the underlying 'people' issues within the team and how to reach higher levels of team performance quickly. The TPD has been widely used in major multinationals and the UK public sector to pinpoint hard-to-find opportunities to achieve rapid improvements.The research suggests that the use of TPD contributes to more free-flowing feedback both within the team and in the organisation as a whole, and that successful teams are indicative of a healthy organisational culture.This book is an essential guide for senior managers and policy-makers dealing with team effectiveness, and will be highly useful for students of business and management.

The World Sustainable Development Outlook series has been developed to provide an overview of sustainable development, to discuss why it is important and to provoke forward thinking on the development of a more coherent approach to solving global problems related to sustainability through science and technology. In doing so, a holistic approach is used to critically examine the interrelationship between the natural, governmental, economic and social dimensions of our world and how science and technology can contribute to solutions. This is a truly global source book, which is reflected in the varied national and cultural origins of the contributors, as well as the topics and case studies covered. Each year a different theme will be covered. The theme of World Sustainable Development Outlook 2007 is the different dimensions of knowledge and technology management in the new era of information revolution and how they relate to sustainable development. Rapid innovation in information and communication technologies (ICTs) is clearly reshaping the world we live in. Countries are increasingly judged by whether they are information-rich or information-poor. It is estimated that 30-40% of the world's economic growth and 40-50% of all new jobs will be IT-driven. Education and knowledge are the chief currencies of the modern age, and can also be a strategic resource and a lifeline for sustainable development. Yet, in Africa, millions of people have never made a telephone call. The technological gulf between developed and developing countries (DCs) is likely to widen further with the rapid expansion of the internet and the speedy transition to digitalisation in the West. The impacts on DCs may include an increase in the so-called brain drain and growing dependence on foreign aid of a different kind - knowledge aid. There are fears that knowledge imperialism is already with us. What is clear is that most of the technological innovations in ICTs are Western-designed and fail to address the needs of the most disadvantaged. The interest of industrialised countries in the use of ICTs in DCs has largely been more concerned with the profitability of their own business enterprises than with any broader goals concerning the development of the host countries. DCs face the challenge of either becoming an integral part of the knowledge-based global economy or the very real danger of finding themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide. Successful management in the new millennium requires developing new methods and approaches to meet the challenges and opportunities of this information revolution while at the same time fostering sustainable development. Adopting a holistic approach, this book aims to critically examine the interrelationship between these different issues in order to reach solutions and a consensus for a better future, taking into account a variety of international, institutional and intellectual perspectives. It uses case and country studies in technological innovation and experience so that lessons in effective management of ICTs can be learned from successful initiatives, ideas and innovations.

Challenges the idea that the Middle East is oil dependentThe first book to focus on the UAE's success in diversfiying its economyIdeal for policymakers, or those looking to do business in the UAE

Addressing the issues that will be central to Africa's various attempts to effectively manage knowledge and innovation for sustainable business management, this edited book makes a timely contribution to research on business in Africa. Coinciding with the recently launched Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 (STISA-2024) by the African Union (AU), which emphasises the critical role of science, technology and innovation for Africa's socio-economic development and growth, the book echoes these themes with a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach to knowledge and innovation management in Africa. Also containing case studies relating to various growing collaborations between education and research institutions, private and public entities as well as commercialisation of research and innovation outputs, Managing Knowledge and Innovation for Business Sustainability in Africa covers the key themes to provide an enabling environment for STI development in the African content.

Addressing the issues that will be central to Africa's various attempts to effectively manage knowledge and innovation for sustainable business management, this edited book makes a timely contribution to research on business in Africa. Coinciding with the recently launched Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 (STISA-2024) by the African Union (AU), which emphasises the critical role of science, technology and innovation for Africa's socio-economic development and growth, the book echoes these themes with a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach to knowledge and innovation management in Africa. Also containing case studies relating to various growing collaborations between education and research institutions, private and public entities as well as commercialisation of research and innovation outputs, Managing Knowledge and Innovation for Business Sustainability in Africa covers the key themes to provide an enabling environment for STI development in the African content.