Journal articles on the topic 'Organizational learning. Organizational change. Creative ability in business'

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics of IT-enabled change and organizational learning. This research defines organizational learning in general terms as the capacity of acquiring, transferring and creating knowledge within an organization. Design/methodology/approach This research design represents a common form of ex-post facto analysis, in which the exploration of relationships between variables is the main focus. The questionnaire used in the first phase was self-administered in a report format, wherein managers were asked to describe the organizational context and problems; the IT intervention or managers’ response to the problems; and the benefits that resulted from the introduction of IT. In the follow-up phase, the interviews used a similar version of the survey, focusing on the same themes. Findings This paper contends that IT-enabled change such as process redesign and productivity improvements do not take place simultaneously with an organization’s attempts to increase its knowledge base or its capacity to acquire knowledge. Organizations alter processes and re-engineer their operations to improve productivity, not to enhance their knowledge-acquiring and decision-making capacities. It seems that the attention structure of managers may be limited and, therefore, they cannot focus on improving both ends simultaneously. This may suggest that when an organization alters its processes, it may overlook its ability to acquire knowledge and its learning capacity at least for the short term. Originality/value The findings of this study can serve as important insights regarding managers’ work practices. Findings support a pragmatic view where managers are concerned with showing immediate gains through the introduction of IT which implies a lack of long-term planning. The findings also can serve as an important lesson to managers in that when they alter organizational processes, they should not overlook the issues of organizational learning and knowledge creation. The findings highlight the complexity of organizations and the conflicting objectives which organizations may attempt to achieve when engaging in change efforts such as the adoption of new technologies.

Great shifts ‐ genuine and radical transformation ‐ have been shaping the economy and business environment in recent decades. The world is going to be too tough and competitors too ingenious as companies are shaken loose from traditional ways of conducting business. Therefore, the old principles no longer work in the age of Globalization. Based on her research, Dr Radović Marković tried to make a profile of a successful organization which will be in the best way adopted to business environment in the new economy. Namely,in order to get a complete picture how the winning organization will look like in the future, the author concluded that the successful companies in the future will be the ones which are wise enough to harness the full potential of the entire organization in the rapidly changing business environment .It means that the winners will be the unbridled firms that are responsive to challenges and adroit in both creating opportunities and capturing them. In other words, to match the business environment that is more networked within and among companies, the ability to manufacture value will have to be distributed across the company to a much greater extent than in the past. Under these circumstances, managers need to transform themselves, too. They need to have a better framework for thinking about and understanding organizational change. Additionally, continuous learning is the key competency required by any organization that wants to survive and thrive in the newknowledge economy. Market champions keep asking learning questions, keep learning how to do things better, and keep spreading that knowledge throughout their organization. Knowledge organizations obtain competitive advantage from continuous learning, both individual and collective, concluded Dr.Radović Marković. The author also stresses that it is necessary to determine general personal knowledge and education, then to examine knowledge or various specializations in certain areas and lastly to identify their skills. Recent researches in the USA show that business owners who were not educated enough for the business in which they were engaged, were not successful (80 % of their businesses failed during the first year of their existence). On the opposite, those entrepreneurs who were educated and who showed constant interest in improving their activities have increased their business success by 60 % after the completion of the basic training programs for entrepreneurship and management. Therefore the author pointed out that more highly skilled workforce should be beneficial to organizations. Additionally, the human capital approach reflects the view that the market value of the firm increasingly depends on intangible rather than tangible resources. The three main components of human capital are described as a) early ability, b) qualifications and knowledge acquired through education and c) skills, competencies and expertise through on‐and off‐the‐job training. This would suggest that individual capability is enhanced by greater qualifications and higher skill levels. If this can be assessed and used in good effect in the firm then better human capital should, ceteris paribus, enhance organizational performance. Better organizational performance should, in turn, translate into better national performance. Finally, the author concluded that we should further recognize that we are living in the globalization era, or the Global Age. From the viewpoint of a product life cycle, we are in the introductory phase of globalization because we are in the early stages of the digital revolution that is creating the technologies that are enabling real time relationships among dispersed individuals and organizations. To meet constantly changing conditions and demands, business has to transcend boundaries to get what it needs regardless of where it exists—geographically, organizationally and functionally.

PurposeThis paper aims to show how the internationalization process of a multinational corporation (MNC) is shaped and formed by actors engaging in collaborative inquiry. Faced with a centralized strategy grounded in Scandinavian organizational solutions, leaders of foreign subsidiaries reinterpret their local institutional frameworks in creating new organizational practices. Their ability to create acceptance for these practices both locally and with the central management determines which practices prevail.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a qualitative comparative study of organizational units in Norway, Sweden, Mexico, the USA, South Korea and Poland. Over a four‐year period, 165 interviews were conducted with both employees and management.FindingsThrough a perspective on learning, it is possible to show how organizational members make use of their institutional environment as they mutually attempt to build shared ideologies for conducting their business. To view organizational change as a learning process allows for explaining how both actors and structures intertwined represent the dynamic for change. Cultural‐cognitive institutions are seen here as active living phenomena which are created and enacted by individuals in their historical and geographical contexts.Originality/valueMuch research on MNCs has focused on explaining the development of such organizations either as a result of experiential learning (i.e. the Uppsala model), systematic planning (economic rationality) or contextual factors (contingency perspectives). This study provides a closer and more detailed look at how these organizations develop through the action and interaction of people in one MNC.

The Problem Morgan explored in her book What Poetry Brings to Business the deep but unexpected connections between business and poetry. She demonstrated how the creative energy, emotional power, and communicative complexity of poetry relate directly to the practical needs for innovation and problem solving that face business managers, and how poetry can unpack complexity, together with the ability to empathize with, and better understand the thoughts and feelings of others. This, it can be argued, not only aids the creative process of individuals, but it can also help facilitate the entrepreneurial culture of an organization, develop imaginative solutions, and help better understand chaotic environments. However, despite Morgan’s welcomed addition, it still remains that there is still a dearth of literature of the use of poetry concerning toxic leadership practices. The Solution According to Roebuck, reflexive practice can be described as a process of inquiry that facilities appreciation and understanding of contextualized views, deeper learning experiences, the development of ideas, and the conditions for actual change. Therefore, if organizations are not to objectify the creativity of those who aspire to be organizational leaders, then leadership development programs have to give voice to those who own organizational problems and their solution. Examples of organizational poetry will be presented to show how it can be used to unlock personal experiences and relationships within the context of working life. It will be argued that if stories are to represent reality as lived by those who report them, then poetry provides an alternative method of enquiry to inform contemporary leadership practices. The Stakeholders Poetry empowers individuals to internalize stories that carefully attend to context and settings to offer fresh perspectives on established truths, thus providing a way to explore hidden worlds that might often go unsaid in the milieu of normal conversation. As such, this article is aimed at those who need to develop an alternative paradigm for leadership and Human Resource Development (HRD) educational programs and want to adopt a more open dialogical approach to human relations within classroom settings and practice.

The relevance of the research lies in the fact that perfectionism as a psychological construct of a personality is acquiring a status of a social phenomenon influenced by external social and economic factors, such as generational change, difficult economic conditions, reduced resources, increased competition in the labor market. The aim of the research is to consider career progression process security for perfectionist employees. A semantic analysis of the terms “career growth” and “perfectionism” in the context of scientific research was used. The research indicates that employee perfectionism at the workplace characterizes mainly initial career stages and has two development trends: positive and negative. The former appears as increased working ability and labor efficiency, team leadership, and their inspiration for higher productivity. The latter manifests itself as inefficient activity, inability to achieve organizational goals, excessive and unwanted attention to detail, self-criticism, and fault-finding with colleagues. Common perfectionist features are low-stress resilience, communicability, goal rigidness, all-or-nothing approach to reaching goals. In an organizational environment, positive employee perfectionism has a high value since company management draws up ambitious plans for development and profit generation. Matching personal employee interests and organizational goals can bring intended results; however, it requires the creation of certain conditions. The practical relevance of the conducted analysis lies in the fact that perfectionist career trajectory management should be primarily oriented towards correction of their personal construct. Lateral promotion requires training time management skills, goal prioritization, teamwork, nonstandard methods of problem-solving and goal achievement. Vertical advancement implies learning courses on business communication, stress resistance, leadership, and management. Individual career trajectory planning, labor activity monitoring, healthy psychological climate, incentive schemes are necessary conditions for successful perfectionist employee functioning in an organizational environment.

Purpose – The current study aims to investigate the existing relationship between knowledge management (KM) infrastructures, KM process capabilities, creative organizational learning (OL) and organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach – Statistical population includes executives of knowledge-based companies in Tehran Science and Technology Park of Iran. The 68 questionnaires were distributed among the census, of which 60 questionnaires were completed correctly. The research data were analyzed by SPSS and PLS software. The unit of analysis is a company that has adopted a knowledge management system (KMS). Target population of the research consisted of 85 top managers of knowledge-based companies in Tehran Science and Technology Park of Iran (N = 85). Random sampling method was applied in this study, and 71 top managers were considered as the statistical sample based on the “Morgan Table”. One standard five-point Likert questionnaire was adopted and distributed between top managers in the park; 62 questionnaires were returned, among which 60 were statistically investigated. The structural relations among variables were tested using the partial least squares method. Findings – This study shows that the KM processes can mediate between creative OL and factors in the KM infrastructure. The results of the study demonstrate that KM process capabilities have the most crucial role in creative OL. The results indicate a significant influence of the infrastructure capabilities on the process capabilities, also the impacts of KM process capabilities on creative OL and the impacts of creative OL on organizational performance was confirmed. Research limitations/implications – Using a holistic view of the KM performance framework, this study has provided insights to KM for researchers because it explains the integrated aspects of KM performance by examining the relationships between the KM infrastructure, knowledge process capabilities, and organizational outcomes. Previous studies on KM have been fragmented because they only consider some aspects of KM performance rather than using a holistic view of the KM performance framework: they have examined the relationship between one or two facets of KM enablers and process capability, or between KM process capabilities and organizational performance. Practical implications – In order to manage rapid change and global competition in business environments, knowledge workers should create new business opportunities and continuously question what and how they can contribute to these chances. Organizational KMS should support the learning processes of their knowledge workers. Social implications – The continuous learning and experiments are necessary in order to produce new ideas and products: it is critical to emphasize the importance of a KM infrastructure that supports and encourages learning in organizations. The creative learning in turn affects organizational performance indicating that without learning, organizations cannot overcome the boundary of old business practices and adjust to change in environments. Originality/value – Previous researches did not appraise the effect of KM and its capabilities on organizational performance, and the specific influence of creative OL was disregarded. The present study demonstrates the mechanism of KM effect on organizational performance and describes the comprehensive dimensions of KM performance.

Competition in the industrial era 4.0 or today's distracting era is a necessity, especially in the business world. Thus, companies must prepare qualified and responsive human resources to change because they are needed in maintaining the existence and productivity of the company is facing the dynamics of business competition. Namely human resources who have conceptual skills, humans’ skills, technical skills, and technological literacy. Many factors can support the development of organizations and human resources, for example, a strong organizational culture and learning organizations. The implementation of learning organization in a company aims to develop the quality of human resource development and the quality of organizational performance because it can accelerate the organizational learning process and increase its ability to adapt to change and anticipate changes in the dynamics of the business environment in the future. Knowledge-based HR development requires a learning process based on self-learning and organizational learning. The competitive advantage obtained by developing human resources owned and carried out by the company can be used as a source of strength in facing competition and the dynamics of the business environment in the industrial era 4.0 which is complex and not easily imitated by competitors.

Due to the rapid change in technology, the world becomes more globalized, the success and survival of any organization build upon on its ability to stay creative and innovative. Innovation and creativity are the twin processes and have shown the greatest significance, achievement and sustainability to an organization. Innovation and creativity go hand in hand; greater creativity is a clue to more innovations. Innovation is one of the leading elements which inducing business success in a tremendously modest and vibrant way. The scholars and specialists have struggled to contribute to enhance and develop the awareness of the real management of innovation. Up to the present time, although the literature on innovation is growing quickly, very slight consideration has been waged to the administrative and executive matters relating to creativity. The aim of this paper is to review all the previous literature on the connection of organizational culture with creativity and innovation.

A fundamental result of the information technology (IT) and business performance literature is that IT is not a driver of performance per se. However, it can be associated with higher performance if accompanied by organizational change. The identification of the variables describing organizational change is still on-going work. This paper focuses on organizational absorptive capacity and analyses its effects on the relationship between IT and business performance in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Organizational absorptive capacity measures the ability of an organization to complete a learning process. A significant learning effort is typically associated with IT, as it represents a complex technology. To cope with IT's complexity, implementation is typically incremental and is accompanied by a continuous integration effort of data and applications. The degree of integration of a company's information system (IS), called IS integration, is a proxy of IT maturity and quality. In this study, we explore the effect of IS integration on business performance through absorptive capacity, that is, we hypothesize that absorptive capacity has a mediation role between IS integration and business performance. The proposed research model is tested with data surveyed from 466 SMEs sited in Italy, for which exports constitute more than half of their revenues. Results indicate that organizational absorptive capacity has a mediation effect. Alternative models attributing to absorptive capacity a role different from mediation are found to be non-significant.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the role of abstract forms of power in organizational change by exploring the role of such forms of power in the recent structural transformation of an iconic Australian Intellectual Property law firm. The research literature reflects relatively few studies on the increasing complexity of power dynamics in organizational and institutional arrangements. Design/methodology/approach The complexity of the investigated phenomena led to the adoption of three qualitative methods in order to access the specific forms of data that were perceived to be relevant to answering the research question (“How did abstract power dynamics influence the nature and outcomes of the firm’s structural transformation?”). Ethnography was used in the attempt to discern, through participation and observation, the assumptions that manifested in action and/or inaction; phenomenology in the exploration through unstructured interviews with 41 staff members and 4 clients of the firm, of their interpretation and “sense-making” of their “lived experience” of “what was going on” in the firm; and narrative enquiry in establishing a narrative of critical events, and their impact on “what was going on” in the firm, including those that had occurred over the years prior to this research initiative. Findings The research shows the effects of contradicting forms of abstract power (namely, hegemonic (ideological) power, dominant institutional logic and structural power) as the firm struggled to address challenges to its existence. The impact of these forms of power upon the partners’ apprehension and interpretation of the emerging challenges to the firm’s business performance remained inconspicuous throughout the period of transformation. However, these contradictory forms of abstract power insidiously created tensions within the organization which were poorly addressed, resulting in organizational dysfunction and destructive sectarian conflict. The results show that the inability of partners to discern the nature of the forms of power which were influencing their responses to the crisis was a consequence of under-developed collectively reflexive capabilities and an absence of collaborative problem-solving practices. This resulted in a negative outcome for the firm. Research limitations/implications The research has significant implications for collective endeavor in global business operations that are becoming increasingly complex. In particular, the complexity of power relations, as insidious ideological forces supported by ubiquitous technologies threaten to subsume agentic power in ways that domesticate and neutralize it, requires the development of sophisticated forms of collective ways of “working with power” – capabilities that include the ability to demystify the abstract forms of power that can shape the experience of social realities as “inevitable and natural.” Further research into these forms of power, and the surreptitious role they play in organizational arrangements, is an important requirement. With respect to limitations, as the research is located in the interpretivist research paradigm, the issue of interpretation is problematic. A strong effort was made to limit unwitting interpretive bias but the possibility of such bias cannot be ruled out, especially as, in some cases, the data are an interpretation of prior interpretations of events and/or experiences (as, e.g., in the interview data). Practical implications Working constructively with various forms of power is becoming a critical capability within organizations. This has implications for the relational and communicative skills that underpin effective collaboration of staff and other stakeholders. Such collaboration needs to include the collective ability to make explicit through critical dialogue the surreptitious influence of abstract forms of power upon the prevailing organizational arrangements and routines. To achieve this, these forms of power have to become demystified through constructive critique of the taken-for-granted aspects of everyday organizational life. This has important implications for leadership development practices and educational programs. Social implications Unless leaders develop the ability to make the influences of abstract forms of power more conspicuous, and develop collaborative capabilities to work with insight into their management, they run the risk of agentic power becoming subsumed and neutralized by such forms of power. This has important implications for organizational agency and, especially, for the creative agency of the individuals who work within organizations. On a broader scale, it has implications for institutional arrangements and for the critical apprehension of global ideologies. Originality/value Studies of abstract forms of power are relatively rare in the research literature. This is probably a result of the long-standing dominance of positivism, with its realist ontological assumptions and its objectivist epistemological assumptions. In exploring the influence exerted by abstract forms of power on the inability of the partners of a professional services firm to apprehend their situation more accurately, and to interpret their strategic options with greater insight, this research makes an original contribution to the understanding of the influence of abstract power dynamics in organizational change, and in organizational arrangements more generally.

Subject area The case study uses a strategic foresight method, scenario-planning, to examine the strategic options for a financial services firm. As such, it covers the fields of strategy, environment of business, innovation, digital disruption and organizational change as they relate to the firm’s ability to adapt to changes in the environment of business in an emerging market context. Study level/applicability The case was developed with master's-level students in mind, particularly those seeking a master of business administration, masters in strategic foresight or related management degrees. Case overview The case of NEDBANK, a longstanding and successful financial services firm based in South Africa is confronted with major challenges from competitors because of technological change in the industry as well as having to expand their market penetration across Africa. A rising regulatory burden, tough economic conditions and the need to access low income markets, provide a significant organizational development challenge as a decades-old bank, known for a relational approach to banking, has to navigate the new domains of “fintech”, micro-lending and public sector banking. Expected learning outcomes Students will gain comprehensive insight into the industry environment in emerging markets, understand the strategic management challenge before financial services firms in this environment and be able to consider the alternative strategic interventions that may be used to ensure corporate sustainability amid these challenges. Simultaneously, the case provides a comprehensive view into the use and application of scenario-planning for strategic management. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS: 11: Strategy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider three types of stories: media, personal accounts and fiction, and look for plots depicting situations of fundamental shift in the framing and basic definitions of reality. The authors examine them from the point of view of their usefulness for developing creative responses to systemic change. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a narrative study in three stages, aimed at identifying strong plots pertaining to systemic change. The analyzed material came from three different sources of narratives (fiction, media and creative stories) and was approached by the use of two different narrative methods: symbolic interpretation and narrative collage. Findings Currently many voices are being raised that the authors are living in times of interregnum, a period in between working systems. There is also a mounting critique of the business school as an institution perpetuating dysfunctional ideologies, rather than enhancing critical and creative thinking. The authors propose that the humanities, and, in particular, learning from fiction (and science fiction) can offer a language to talk about major (systemic) change help and support learning about alternative organizational realities. Research limitations/implications The study pertains to discourse and narratives, not to material aspects of culture construction. Practical implications Today, there is a mounting critique of business schools and their role in society. Following Martin Parker’s call to transform them into schools of organizing, helping to develop and discuss different alternatives instead of reproducing the dominant model, the authors suggest that education should be based, to much larger extent than until now, on the humanities. The authors propose educational programmes including the study of fiction and film. Social implications The authors propose that the humanities (and the study of fiction) can equip society with a suitable language to discuss and problematize systemic change. Originality/value This paper adds to narrative social studies through providing an analysis of strong plots showing ways of coping with systemic collapse, and through an examination of these plots’ significance for organizational education, learning, and planning. The authors present an argument for the broader use of fiction as a sensemaking, teaching, and learning tool for managing organizations in volatile environments.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to share how a professional service firm transposed Richard Florida’s “Creative Class” concept from the urban environment into a corporate one for the purpose of organisational change. The validity of Florida’s concept is not here reviewed; rather, the paper is a case study on how his theory – that talent, technology and tolerance compose the high-value triptych driving a city’s growth and attractiveness – can be appropriated by HR to trigger profound changes in corporate governance and culture. Design/methodology/approach The paper provides a return on experience of a project that was implemented at Mazars, an international mid-cap of 20,000 people in 86 countries, over the course of one year. Approximately, 50 individuals participated in the initiative, lead by the firm’s HR leadership team, which used an under the radar approach based on a revamped version of Owen’s Open Space Technology. From an academic perspective, the approach is inspired by Argyris’ action science, and more specifically a derivation of the “double loop learning” where the initial intent of the research might be modified by intermediary findings. Findings The paper offers a model for identifying the members of the “creative class” in a corporate environment and a tested approach for integrating the “creative class” into the exclusive and institutional exercise of setting strategy. The cumulative effect of this “unofficial” operation is the creation of unique thought leadership and projects, some of which have now been officially adopted in the four-year strategic plan and institutionalized in the new governance system, results difficult to achieve through conventional approaches. Research limitations/implications The case study, which is still in progress, has been implemented in a non-conventional organisation in a very specific industry. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first application of Richard Florida’s urban renewal theory in the corporate environment. This is an example of innovative HR management responding quickly and effectively to the digital, disrupted business landscape. It is designed in the modern managerial spirit of test-and-learn, structured as an agile initiative in an open-source world. It provides a prototype to be replicated and tested in other environments.

This paper explores technological trajectory transition in the perspective of innovation ecosystem and their effect on innovation performance of latecomers in market. A structural equation model is developed and tested with data collected from 366 firms in China. In specific, this paper categories technological trajectory transition creative accumulative technological trajectory transition (CCT) and creative disruptive technological trajectory transition (CDT). The results indicate that firms' organizational learning ability positively affect their technological trajectory transition and innovation performance. Firms' network relationship strength negatively affects their technological trajectory transition and positively affect their innovation performance. Governments' environmental concerns positively affect firms' technological trajectory transition and their innovation performance, whereas firms' environmental concerns do not. CCT does not positively affect their innovation performance. In contrast, CDT positively affects their innovation performance.

The pandemic that transformed our lives in 2020 brought important reflections on way of seeing the world demanding new skills and behaviors to interact in an environment so common to innovation - virtual environment. In innovation processes, digital transformation that modifies, alters and creates ways of doing things, declares itself and presents itself as facilitating vehicle, also of interpersonal relationships, requiring us to learn to relate in different ways through digital world, using creativity to overcome social, institutional, political, religious, economic obstacles, among others.In science, researchers strive to understand or explain some transformational impacts and seek a perfect adaptation for transferring and exploitation of appropriate knowledge for each eminent need. However, we are still halfway there.Some relevant topics in academia also explored by IJI - International Journal Innovation, such as, innovative entrepreneurship, innovation and learning, innovation and sustainability, internationalization of innovation, innovation systems and digital transformation are now undergoing a new sieve, a new look at understanding of disruptive effects inherent to this theme on transformation and knowledge. A new window has opened in digital age, provided by new world context.In the past, a commonly observed resistance to including innovation in daily processes, and not only in organizational sphere, are now mandatory and our survival in society depends on them. So, what do we see? We can simply call it transformation, but if we broaden a perspective of events in the year 2020, we risk saying that we do live a cotransformation, that is, a rhythmic and continuous, joint and effective learning in creation of value in all global social spheres. It is no longer about transforming a process or creating a system to achieve desired performance, it is about integrating collective, learning by sharing, changing to be able to transform and, all of this, through an increasingly disruptive world.We highlight Moreira, Teixeira and Locatelli (2020) about influences of motivational goals, confirming Schwartz's (2005) theory that groups differ significantly in relative importance they attach to their values, that is, individuals and groups have priorities or axiological hierarchies different from values (Calvosa, Serra, Almeida, 2011). This understanding must support our challenges regarding how to address a co-transformation and transmission of knowledge to future generations, prioritizing care for preservation of our planet, human relations, adaptation of knowledge to current realities and, above all, ability to innovate at any time.As presented by Falaster et al. (2020) it is not for us to assign a mathematical value to life and health or to guide our research by addressing political agendas, nor to distort theory, method and argumentation to suit any situation. What should motivate us, especially in scientific research, is the understanding and strategic responses in times of crisis: our adaptation and compliance, stress with its effects on decision-making on acquisition of knowledge to co-transform and innovate. For this reason, we emphasize that we are in the middle of road because there are still notorious forces that demand permanence of more stable and static social models. Innovation takes on another level. With its disruptive character, it will continue to build future scenarios in improving performance of society's demands (Pol Ville, 2009) through process of cotransformation emphasized here.Efforts and studies aimed at innovation point to relationship networks as important channels for increasing efficiency (Pio, 2020). This is one of evidence regarding the need for a rhythmic and continuous, joint, and effective interconnection for cotransformation. We are not only pointing to innovation as a support for cotransformation, but as something inevitable in practical life of future generations.We must advance how to promote improvements that bring productivity and effectiveness to social relationships through innovation. This will facilitate our insertion in this “new normal” presented in almost all groups of society. We already know that we need to change at a fast pace, but we often get lost in timing of things, that is, the right time for change. Therefore, we must learn to work among diversity, producing new values that take our society to a new level of civility. And all of this translates into different ways of knowing and learning, transmitting, and assimilating, stretching, and making flexible.In fact, it is necessary to identify elements that determine existence of more dynamic capacities, such as, for example, set of behaviors, skills, routines, processes and mechanisms of learning and knowledge governance aimed at cotransformation. Articulation of these elements can result in varying degrees of innovation and dynamism and can manifest themselves in a more intense or more traditional way, where virtual can be more consolidated. Anyway, this is just an indication that, in a cotransformation model, all indicators are reflective (Meirelles Camargo, 2014).Innovations can lead us to co-transformation, reconfiguring activities requiring a greater evolutionary flow of existing capacities and requiring new experiences and management of these more dynamic capacities. Therefore, research must change its perspectives by establishing links between these capacities, to identify and react to innovations that are a contemporary landmark in recent history.The extent of cotransformation depends on some factors, such as perceived environmental pressure (Helfat et al., 2007) and adaptability (Madjdi Hüsig, 2011) that vary in degree, from small adaptations to major revisions or even a reconfiguration (O'Reilly Tushman, 2008). Generally, we know they are interconnected components that specify how we can survive all dynamism and disruption that exists in the world.In this context, the most important thing is not to know what will be the results of what you want, but to intensely take advantage of construction path of what you can have with appropriate use of capabilities to co-transform and innovate.We hope that in this editorial we have promoted important reflections on understanding of cotransformation, inspiring our readers about new knowledge and expanding a debate for better direction of academic and business society. The role of knowledge and transformation awakens a world of possibilities to be explored, which is why we are still halfway there.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the role that the emotional expressions (i.e. emotional masking and emotional sharing) of students play in fostering positive implicit abilities, as indicated by learning, interpersonal skills and the ability to acquire a supervisor’s support. By introducing a new theory of creative expressiveness, the authors have further examined whether college students’ creative thinking is significantly associated with their emotional expression. Design/methodology/approach This paper establishes a conceptual framework to map the relationships between students’ emotional expressions, their implicit abilities and their creative abilities. Scale measures of these constructs were built, and a total of 400 questionnaires were distributed at universities in Hefei and Nanjing. Finally, ordinary least squares estimations were conducted to provide quantitative estimations. Findings The empirical results show that emotional sharing is significantly positive for college students’ implicit and creative abilities, while emotional masking is negatively related to students’ implicit abilities and creativity. Moreover, the effects of emotional sharing by college students on their creative abilities are partially mediated by students’ implicit abilities. Practical implications It is necessary to emphasize emotional sharing in education and to create a friendly atmosphere for students, in which they can feel comfortable expressing themselves in class. Likewise, students should learn to improve their expressive abilities, particularly how to express and share their inner feelings and emotions, since this will contribute to their creative thinking. Originality/value It is increasingly being recognized in organizational science that emotions and the way they are experienced and expressed by employees in work environments have fundamental impacts on work-related outcomes. However, limited attention has been given to the impacts of emotional expression on students’ learning performances and creativity abilities, especially in the Chinese context where students are more reluctant to express their emotions and ideas. Thus, by introducing a new theory of creative expressiveness to examine the benefits of emotional expression for students’ implicit abilities and creative thinking, the authors have sought to extend prior research on the cultivation of college students’ creative abilities.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to promote the adoption of a work-based learning (WBL) approach by highlighting the benefits to students, organizations and the economy. Design/methodology/approach This paper provides a review and synthesis of current literature, including two separate case studies, which serve to demonstrate the practical applications of entrepreneurial education in different countries and how this application works to strengthen economies and improve communities. Findings Learning entrepreneurship in a real-world environment can bridge the gap between traditional, classroom instruction and idea-driven product and service development. It is a business-effective approach that achieves measurable results. Traditional education, typified by mastery of facts and evaluation by testing, can morph into creative, research-inspired solutions that fulfill public and private organizational needs. Success is irrefutable, measured by tangible results. In WBL, students can use industry-standard technologies and collaborate with mentors, clients and customers. They can work as individuals and in teams, with their entrepreneurial education beginning as early as elementary school. In the process, students learn to be motivated by their own achievements, rather than grades. They learn to engage in creative problem-solving, based upon current data, and measure their ability to deal with challenge and failure through an iterative process of problem-solving. Originality/value The completion of this research study serves to highlight the potential benefits that Malaysia could attain through the adoption of WBL within the country’s school systems.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the precarious nature of creative industries (CIs) work in Australia, Canada and the Netherlands, with a focus on job security, initial and on-going training and education, and access to benefits and protection. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports from a largely qualitative study featuring an in-depth survey answered by 752 creative workers in the three locations. Findings Survey data identified common themes including an increase in non-standard forms of employment and the persistence of precarious work across the career lifespan; criticism of initial education and training with particular reference to business skills; the need for and challenges of life-long professional learning; and lack of awareness about and access to benefits and protection. Respondents also reported multiple roles across and beyond the CIs. Practical implications The presence of common themes suggests avenues for future, targeted creative workforce research and signals the need for change and action by CIs educators, policy makers and representative organizations such as trade unions. Originality/value While precarious labour is common across the CIs and has attracted the attention of researchers worldwide, a lack of comparative studies has made it difficult to identify themes or issues that are common across multiple locations.

In today’s business world characterized by high level of uncertainty and change, the success and perhaps the survival of organizations rest on their ability to think and act creatively. Stimulating employee creativity, thus, inevitably becomes one of the top priorities for most organizations, no matter large or small. However, driving creativity is not an easy task, especially in an organizational context where creativity is influenced by variables operating at different levels. herefore, what organizations really need are reliable, scientifically proven mechanisms and tools that would effectively boost the creativity of their employee. This is what the present study promises to deliver. To achieve this, the study analyzed and integrated current diverse and fragmented findings from organizational creativity research field, as well as insights from the field of neuroscience, so that a more complete understanding on how to drive creativity can be obtained. Understanding creative behaviors at their very neural substrates provide a great opportunity to draw more accurate conclusions. Therefore, the strategies this study ought to provide are not ones that are general, but brain-targeted ones. To test the stimuli identified from such analysis, experiments with 54 participants for individual variables, and 18 groups for group variables were carried out. In addition, two experts from IBM were being interviewed for their views on how IBM boosts creativity of their employees. Based on the experiments and interview results, four major recommendations were implicated. First, organizations should look for individuals who are open to experiences, are extraverted, and are not conscientious to work on the creative tasks. Second, organizations should encourage employees to individually work on their idea generation activity. Third, for group creative problem solving, change in membership should be encouraged as opposed to static membership. Last but not least, the cultures and climates inside the organizations should be ones that encourage transformational leadership and collaboration among employees. Also, a relaxed atmosphere does not necessary drive employees to be more creative. However, the flexibility, the autonomy provided to employees tends to do so.

Changes in the world market of the operations in all companies are constant. The survival on the market of each company depends on the level of flexibility to adapt to all the changes that occur. In addition to the changes, what is important to the environment in which businesses operate and gain their competitive advantage is globalization. The world becomes a "global village" where there are no obstacles in communicating between people who are from two different world sides. There are no barriers to competition, even if they are not physically located on the same market. There are countless opportunities to increase competitiveness and profitability. In the last two decades, globalization has been attracted special attention by scientists, based on its great influence on the development of global finance and financial markets, the expansion of knowledge through improved communication conditions, the expansion of multinational firms and the decentralization of economic activities within and between firms, the development of global oligopolies and the reduction barriers to trade and investment. Globalization requires the transformation of human identity in terms of the knowledge and skills it possesses. Apart from the necessity of applying and changing the knowledge and skills of people working within a particular organization, changes in the domain of the organization and management itself should be made. Globalization and modern organizational structures are assumed to have the use of information communication technologies, the independence between individual units that can be spatially dislocated, the structure is often non-hierarchical and the only thing that is certain is that all units act in accordance with the same goal. Such organizations have the structure of networks or neurons - they are all interconnected with everyone. Physical distance here practically does not exist because of the development of Internet and multimedia conferences that facilitate business and reduce the time needed for work and labor costs. In order for a company to be successful, besides selecting the best form of organizing business processes, it has to be known how to use business information, both internally and externally. Company has to be aware that the implementation of new technological developments directly affects the ability to use large amounts of information. For this reason, modern companies are continually reorganizing their business in line with technology development. Information and communication technologies enable the creation of the infrastructure needed to manage business knowledge and which is a precondition for the creation of the learning organization. It enables employee’s knowledge to circulate more easily through the organization, to upgrade his knowledge and to deliver positive business results.Keeping that in mind, the changes in the world economy and its impact on business and management in the whole world, any scientific dealing with these topics and the essential consideration of the causes and consequences of the same and their trends and trends that are still expected in our everyday life and business is of great importance for all managers and future managers who, through good information and understanding of modern processes, will be able to make regular, efficient and effective decisions on daily basis, successfully manage people and achieve their goals.

AbstractProclaimed the “greenest television programme in the world,” the award-winning soap opera Coronation Street is seen as an industry success story. This paper explores how the integration of carbon literacy training (CLT) led to a widespread transformational change of practice within Coronation Street. Using the theoretical lens of Communities of Practice (CoP), this study examines the nature of social learning and the enablers and barriers to change within the organization. Specifically, how boundary spanning practices, objects and people led to the transformation on both a personal and group level. Based on a qualitative analysis of 22 interviews with Heads of Departments and other staff, the paper argues that CLT is a boundary practice which has evolved into a boundary spanning CoP. The importance of infrastructures supporting boundary objects and practices is highlighted as reinforcers of the CLT, both as a boundary object and a community, with the “ultimate” boundary spanning object being the show. A significant enabler in social learning and change in practice is the creation of discursive and creative space, both within CoP and across the boundaries. Findings also highlight the role of “self” in the process of social learning and organizational change. Distinct patterns emerged in the relationship between self-identity, social learning and change across a range of boundary objects, practices and communities both in the CLT and CoP. This suggests that in a diverse social learning setting such as CLT there are different transformational catalysts within the CoP and these identities can influence how knowledge is translated into practice.

Despite increasing business interest in sustainability in general and in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), the ability to increase suppliers’ ecological and social performance is generally insufficient for many companies. In this study, we outline an implementation process model for sustainable supply chain management. We do so by synthesizing insights from a review of the sustainable supply chain management and organizational learning literature and a case study with a company aspiring to become a global leader in sustainable lighting. By combining these insights, we find that successful implementation of sustainable supply chain management requires sustainability to be anchored in a company’s vision and integrated into all functions. We also argue that organizational learning, especially learning with external stakeholders such as suppliers, an operational definition of socioecological sustainability among stakeholders, and procedural support for the cocreation of strategic plans for change are vital for achieving a truly sustainable supply chain. This definition and cocreation allow for attention to be directed toward strategic ecological and social practices, along with the joint handling of tradeoffs and economic considerations among stakeholders. As we build a foundation for an SSCM implementation process model, we use a science-based framework for strategic sustainable development. We call for more action-based research to uncover the complex nature of sustainable supply chain management, as there are unique challenges and dynamic relationships in every supply chain.

The object of research is the processes of development of modern management theories. One of the next problematic aspects is the identification of the peculiarities of the development of modern management theory in the period of digitalization and pandemic, which means a significant impact on the economy. In the process of work general scientific methods were used: induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis, comparison, systematization. The analysis of scientific approaches to the definition of management is carried out; the main essential features of modern enterprises and management theories, respectively, are determined. It is determined that the theory of management at the present level undergoes significant transformations. In modern theories more and more attention is paid to: the intangible component and the peculiarities of its management; there is an active transition to digital technologies and digitalization of business; there is a need to use new management methods; organizational structures and corporate cultures are changing. This in turn contributes to the purposeful formation and development of such institutions within the organization as: – trust and creative atmosphere of productive group work; – development of organizational ties within the organization and outside it; – development of innovative ability of the company’s staff; – use of experience of other organizations. Based on the analysis, the following features of modern management theories are identified: – in modern theories more and more attention is paid to the intangible component and the peculiarities of its management; – active transition to digital technologies and digitalization of business; – change in the subject of work in most employees, in particular, the transition to advanced information and communication technologies; – the need to use new management methods; – transformation of organizational structures and corporate cultures. This provides the possibility of effective modern management by planning the activities of the firm in the short, medium and long term, as well as obtaining the maximum possible profit with minimal costs in a rapidly changing environment.

The interesting with human recourses is consider as the one of the most important target for the business organizations. In addition of depending of these organizations (government or private) in its scientific progress on its human wealth that represent one of the main success gates and owning competitive advantage in business field, so the aim of human resources development to enhance the employers throughout provide them with new skills and knowledgement by adopting the most effective ways to facing the present and future challenges Leavers. Here are the highlights of role of administrative leadership is important in today's world because it motivates and directs to the most important resource, which is the human resource, which drives it towards the right direction and the desired goal. The existence of a leadership that believes in change and renewal is one of the most important pillars upon which the creative organizations are based. To create a climate that affects the creative behavior of the employees of the organization and makes them more self-confident, and the absence of such leaders in organizations will lose the latter ability to innovation and change and adaptation, which is an important tool to deal with the new environmental changes. The contribution of the administrative leaders in creating a climate of adaptation and renewal of the employees, lead to the result of the dissemination of organizational awareness calling for participation and the transfer of ideas and the establishment of systems of communication between different levels that are characterized by ease and smooth in the movement Leavers a clear sign in the progress in various fields witnessed by Iraqi organizations today

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine common stereotypes regarding old-age workers and the effect of these stereotypes on organizational productivity, as well as to suggest practical solutions for accommodating old-age workers and increasing productivity in all employees. Design/methodology/approach – This three part paper will present a thorough review of relevant literature (1991-2014, with the exception of two studies from 1976) that were conducted on the topics of old-age stereotyping, the effect of old-age stereotyping on organizational productivity, and methods for adequately motivating and managing old-age workers. Studies concerning psychology theories are also examined in order to provide a framework for practical solutions, as well as demographic statistics on population age and employment trends. Findings – This paper identifies a number of old-age stereotypes that have decreased organizational productivity in empirical studies, including reluctance to change, decreased learning ability, intelligence and memory, poor health and accidents, higher organizational costs, decreased motivation, and low innovation and productivity. Findings also suggest that old-age workers can positively affect productivity, and that low productivity is often a result of stereotyping. Research limitations/implications – The prevalence of old-age stereotyping and its impact on organizational productivity may differ by culture, industry, type of employment, education level, and other factors, and thus further research may be necessary. The literature reviewed may not adequately represent worldwide organizational trends, as the literature is largely comprised of studies performed in North America and Europe. Practical implications – Solutions based on these findings are taken directly from the literature or derived from literature on psychology theories, which include self-determination theory, socioemotional selectivity theory, and selective optimization and compensation theory. The practical solutions proposed address work environment, motivation, rewards, flexibility, and the loss and gain of resources in old-age workers. Social implications – The proportion of old-age workers is increasing and it is therefore necessary to determine ways to adequately integrate old-age workers in the workforce. Furthermore, this can raise productivity in all employees. Originality/value – This paper demonstrates that old-age stereotyping is both prevalent and detrimental within an organizational context. These findings and solutions can potentially be used by organizations in order to increase individual and overall productivity.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine common stereotypes regarding old-age workers and the effect of these stereotypes on organizational productivity, as well as to suggest practical solutions for accommodating old-age workers and increasing productivity in all employees. Design/methodology/approach – This three part paper will present a thorough review of relevant literature (1991-2014, with the exception of two studies from 1976) that were conducted on the topics of old-age stereotyping, the effect of old-age stereotyping on organizational productivity, and methods for adequately motivating and managing old-age workers. Studies concerning psychology theories are also examined in order to provide a framework for practical solutions, as well as demographic statistics on population age and employment trends. Findings – This paper identifies a number of old-age stereotypes that have decreased organizational productivity in empirical studies, including reluctance to change, decreased learning ability, intelligence and memory, poor health and accidents, higher organizational costs, decreased motivation, and low innovation and productivity. Findings also suggest that old-age workers can positively affect productivity, and that low productivity is often a result of stereotyping. Research limitations/implications – The prevalence of old-age stereotyping and its impact on organizational productivity may differ by culture, industry, type of employment, education level, and other factors, and thus further research may be necessary. The literature reviewed may not adequately represent worldwide organizational trends, as the literature is largely comprised of studies performed in North America and Europe. Practical implications – Solutions based on these findings are taken directly from the literature or derived from literature on psychology theories, which include self-determination theory, socio-emotional selectivity theory, and selective optimization and compensation theory. The practical solutions proposed address work environment, motivation, rewards, flexibility, and the loss and gain of resources in old-age workers. Social implications – The proportion of old-age workers is increasing and it is therefore necessary to determine ways to adequately integrate old-age workers in the workforce. Furthermore, this can raise productivity in all employees. Originality/value – This paper demonstrates that old-age stereotyping is both prevalent and detrimental within an organizational context. These findings and solutions can potentially be used by organizations in order to increase individual and overall productivity.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine common stereotypes regarding old-age workers and the effect of these stereotypes on organizational productivity, as well as to suggest practical solutions for accommodating old-age workers and increasing productivity in all employees. Design/methodology/approach – This three part paper will present a thorough review of relevant literature (1991-2014, with the exception of two studies from 1976) that were conducted on the topics of old-age stereotyping, the effect of old-age stereotyping on organizational productivity, and methods for adequately motivating and managing old-age workers. Studies concerning psychology theories are also examined in order to provide a framework for practical solutions, as well as demographic statistics on population age and employment trends. Findings – This paper identifies a number of old-age stereotypes that have decreased organizational productivity in empirical studies, including reluctance to change, decreased learning ability, intelligence and memory, poor health and accidents, higher organizational costs, decreased motivation, and low innovation and productivity. Findings also suggest that old-age workers can positively affect productivity, and that low productivity is often a result of stereotyping. Research limitations/implications – The prevalence of old-age stereotyping and its impact on organizational productivity may differ by culture, industry, type of employment, education level, and other factors, and thus further research may be necessary. The literature reviewed may not adequately represent worldwide organizational trends, as the literature is largely comprised of studies performed in North America and Europe. Practical implications – Solutions based on these findings are taken directly from the literature or derived from literature on psychology theories, which include self-determination theory, socio-emotional selectivity theory, and selective optimization and compensation theory. The practical solutions proposed address work environment, motivation, rewards, flexibility, and the loss and gain of resources in old-age workers. Social implications – The proportion of old-age workers is increasing and it is therefore necessary to determine ways to adequately integrate old-age workers in the workforce. Furthermore, this can raise productivity in all employees. Originality/value – This paper demonstrates that old-age stereotyping is both prevalent and detrimental within an organizational context. These findings and solutions can potentially be used by organizations in order to increase individual and overall productivity.

PurposePolicy makers have called for more entrepreneurship throughout societies as a response to the digital transformation. This paper argues that the rapidly changing conditions of the digital age indeed mark a change in the bases of entrepreneurship. Specifically, as adaptivity becomes key, a learning capacity and general ability to adapt becomes a critical factor in entrepreneurial activity. The paper identifies self-directed learning (SDL) as a fundamental competence in this regard and examines its role for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial competence.Design/methodology/approachThe paper develops a theoretical framework for the role of SDL in entrepreneurship through a process of systematic review of previous studies that have linked SDL to entrepreneurship.FindingsThe formulated theoretical framework shows how SDL competence combines with experiential learning in supporting the kind of adaptivity needed for entrepreneurial competence, especially under more rapidly changing conditions. SDL competence also gains wider importance through enabling individuals to meet the demands of organizational changes in our highly volatile world.Practical implicationsSDL competence prepares individuals for entrepreneurship and resilience in face of rapid changes as well as for being more entrepreneurial in the conduct of their lives more generally. Fostering SDL competence can thus be regarded as an important objective of entrepreneurship education.Originality/valueThe described self-directed experiential learning cycle offers a novel perspective that clarifies how both self-directed and experiential learning competences are integral for understanding the basis of adaptiveness in entrepreneurial activity.

This paper reports on the first stage of a two-year study exploring the learning experiences of the founders of four independently owned and growth-oriented businesses in the cultural media industry. The ventures include independent radio, marketing and design consultancy, Internet business development and cultural media retailing. The cultural media industry is a distinctive sector of growing economic importance, but the development of businesses within it and the acquisition of business and entrepreneurial skills by their founders are not well researched. Even the founders of successful businesses may not necessarily consider themselves to be entrepreneurs, as distinct from media practitioners, and the application of orthodox business and entrepreneurial theories developed in other sectors cannot be assumed to be valid in creative and media enterprises. This study adopts a social constructionist stance in seeking to develop new understanding of the emergence of learning as social practice, which may be shared through narrative accounts and interpreted as discourse. The four owners of media businesses are being followed through an in-depth longitudinal research study as they develop their business ventures and confront new challenges of managing growth and organizational change. Each is engaging in the research process by narrating and updating with the researcher an account of his or her learning experience in starting and managing the business. Their accounts form jointly authored, negotiated narratives that illustrate the development of entrepreneurial ways of working and the application of sense-making to produce ‘practical theories’ of action. The paper presents reflections on the research process after one year by selecting significant themes from the narrative accounts and relating these to theoretical and practical considerations of entrepreneurial identity and learning. To do this, it employs the literary medium of a short story in the ‘ethnographic fiction science’ genre, drawing on authentic speech material gathered during the research process. It explores the themes of identity in personal and social emergence, the negotiated enterprise, and the role of contextual learning in shaping practical theories of action.

The multiple analysis of rate of dependency between innovative processes and structural labour market changes in the form of evolution in sector of employment was exposed in the article. It has been proved that the impact of innovations on the labour market can be considered, on the one hand, as a part of multi-factor socio-economic macro-, meso-, micro-level systems, which makes a direct or indirect impact on state of other elements of system and which is under its influence at this time; on the other hand, as an open, dynamic, flexible system, functioning of which leads to socio-economic resources development. The definition of labour market has been suggested as a system of socio-economic relations between workers, employers and society (organizations and institutes) for realization of ability to work, supporting social guarantees, approximation of parties’ interests of labour relations, state`s interests, legal control of terms of employment etc. The analysis of structural changes, which take place in the labour market of different levels administrative territorial state`s structure by means of innovations, covers the period 2012-2017. The impact of innovations on employment is associated with `creative destruction` where innovations, on the one hand, ruin current workplaces and, on the other hand, create new ones. Analysis has demonstrated that employment increasing and related structural improvements are determined by kind of incorporated innovations. Organizational innovations have more impact on size and structure of employment, than technological ones. The practical importance of the research involves developing of methodological and practical aspects of choosing multiple approach in relation to innovation analysis as a determinant of structural labour market changes. The originality of the research is reflected in the comprehensive creative analysis of innovations from the point of view of activation of the youth labour market in Ukraine. The key factors of the low level of involvement of young citizens in the country's economy and society are identified. The authors have suggested the prospects for the development of the youth labour market, the elimination of youth unemployment, which are conditioned by the peculiarities of the social condition and employment behaviour of young people. The need to study the experience of European countries is emphasized, where training in the working professions is well organized and the youth unemployment rate is the lowest in Europe. Distinctiveness. Conducted researches let to confirm attained results in relation to choosing implements for coping with current troubles and disproportions in society. Implementation of multiply approach of analysis and diagnostics of correlation of innovations and employment will make a direct impact on supporting living standards and progressive socio-economic state`s development. The monitoring of solidarity of actions of public communities, government agencies, enterprise structures will ensure attainment of active increasing of innovation technologies, high living standards level, that will offer some new opportunities for business environment in relation to labour productiveness maintaining method and equivalent income level from enterprise activity, will solve the unemployment and labour migration issues, create some new flexible forms of employment, increase the level of state`s competitiveness in global economy facilities. Key Words: creative analysing, diagnostics, employment of population, innovations, multiple approach

Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) is changing the landscape of global manufacturing. As a developing nation, Malaysia’s manufacturing sector is a leading contributor to the nation’s GDP but its growth is in declining mode recently. Facing competition from countries with lower labour cost, Malaysia needs alternative ways to achieve competitive advantage. Many of its manufacturers are new to IR4.0 and also cautious of investing in such technologies to increase its manufacturing performance. Realizing this, Malaysia’s government introduced a policy on IR4.0 by focusing on the people, process and technology. The goal is to increase the skill set of the existing workforce through knowledge enhancement and adoption of advance manufacturing technologies. However, high level of transformation is needed, collaboration with external parties is important, and internal business processes and operating models need to change too. Many of them are lack in slack resources to pursue both explorative and exploitative learning. Organizational ambidexterity, which is the ability of a firm to manage both of these activities is crucial for proper knowledge management and improving manufacturing performance. The objective of this paper is to examine such interconnection from the context of a developing country as information from extant literature is scarce, especially on the balanced approach to source, transfer and protect the knowledge for optimum gain in manufacturing performance. Three main activities of knowledge management will be examined namely external knowledge sourcing, knowledge mobility and knowledge protection. The inclusive of knowledge protection also narrow the literature gap as it tends to be left out in previous studies due to its conflicting nature with other knowledge management activities. All the hypotheses and resulted conceptual model will be grounded with theories of Resource-Based view (RBV), Knowledge-Based View (KBV), Dynamic Capabilities and OA.

Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) is changing the landscape of global manufacturing. As a developing nation, Malaysia’s manufacturing sector is a leading contributor to the nation’s GDP but its growth is in declining mode recently. Facing competition from countries with lower labour cost, Malaysia needs alternative ways to achieve competitive advantage. Many of its manufacturers are new to IR4.0 and also cautious of investing in such technologies to increase its manufacturing performance. Realizing this, Malaysia’s government introduced a policy on IR4.0 by focusing on the people, process and technology. The goal is to increase the skill set of the existing workforce through knowledge enhancement and adoption of advance manufacturing technologies. However, high level of transformation is needed, collaboration with external parties is important, and internal business processes and operating models need to change too. Many of them are lack in slack resources to pursue both explorative and exploitative learning. Organizational ambidexterity, which is the ability of a firm to manage both of these activities is crucial for proper knowledge management and improving manufacturing performance. The objective of this paper is to examine such interconnection from the context of a developing country as information from extant literature is scarce, especially on the balanced approach to source, transfer and protect the knowledge for optimum gain in manufacturing performance. Three main activities of knowledge management will be examined namely external knowledge sourcing, knowledge mobility and knowledge protection. The inclusive of knowledge protection also narrow the literature gap as it tends to be left out in previous studies due to its conflicting nature with other knowledge management activities. All the hypotheses and resulted conceptual model will be grounded with theories of Resource-Based view (RBV), Knowledge-Based View (KBV), Dynamic Capabilities and OA.

Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) is changing the landscape of global manufacturing. As a developing nation, Malaysia’s manufacturing sector is a leading contributor to the nation’s GDP but its growth is in declining mode recently. Facing competition from countries with lower labour cost, Malaysia needs alternative ways to achieve competitive advantage. Many of its manufacturers are new to IR4.0 and also cautious of investing in such technologies to increase its manufacturing performance. Realizing this, Malaysia’s government introduced a policy on IR4.0 by focusing on the people, process and technology. The goal is to increase the skill set of the existing workforce through knowledge enhancement and adoption of advance manufacturing technologies. However, high level of transformation is needed, collaboration with external parties is important, and internal business processes and operating models need to change too. Many of them are lack in slack resources to pursue both explorative and exploitative learning. Organizational ambidexterity, which is the ability of a firm to manage both of these activities is crucial for proper knowledge management and improving manufacturing performance. The objective of this paper is to examine such interconnection from the context of a developing country as information from extant literature is scarce, especially on the balanced approach to source, transfer and protect the knowledge for optimum gain in manufacturing performance. Three main activities of knowledge management will be examined namely external knowledge sourcing, knowledge mobility and knowledge protection. The inclusive of knowledge protection also narrow the literature gap as it tends to be left out in previous studies due to its conflicting nature with other knowledge management activities. All the hypotheses and resulted conceptual model will be grounded with theories of Resource-Based view (RBV), Knowledge-Based View (KBV), Dynamic Capabilities and OA.

Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) is changing the landscape of global manufacturing. As a developing nation, Malaysia’s manufacturing sector is a leading contributor to the nation’s GDP but its growth is in declining mode recently. Facing competition from countries with lower labour cost, Malaysia needs alternative ways to achieve competitive advantage. Many of its manufacturers are new to IR4.0 and also cautious of investing in such technologies to increase its manufacturing performance. Realizing this, Malaysia’s government introduced a policy on IR4.0 by focusing on the people, process and technology. The goal is to increase the skill set of the existing workforce through knowledge enhancement and adoption of advance manufacturing technologies. However, high level of transformation is needed, collaboration with external parties is important, and internal business processes and operating models need to change too. Many of them are lack in slack resources to pursue both explorative and exploitative learning. Organizational ambidexterity, which is the ability of a firm to manage both of these activities is crucial for proper knowledge management and improving manufacturing performance. The objective of this paper is to examine such interconnection from the context of a developing country as information from extant literature is scarce, especially on the balanced approach to source, transfer and protect the knowledge for optimum gain in manufacturing performance. Three main activities of knowledge management will be examined namely external knowledge sourcing, knowledge mobility and knowledge protection. The inclusive of knowledge protection also narrow the literature gap as it tends to be left out in previous studies due to its conflicting nature with other knowledge management activities. All the hypotheses and resulted conceptual model will be grounded with theories of Resource-Based view (RBV), Knowledge-Based View (KBV), Dynamic Capabilities and OA.

Nowadays it is expected current organizations: possess the capabilities of mastering technology, securing international-standard quality, and the ability to meet the expectations of ever-demanding customers. To survive in this competitive environment, it is necessary for enterprises to develop tools capable of defining their position within the market; defining their internal processes taking into consideration their own objectives and prospects for the future. Such tools must be capable of identifying strengths and weaknesses in order to galvanize their position, and determine the best path to follow, even if that means opting for a complete change in direction. This study aspires to describe and analyze the stages concerned with developing performance indicators, integrated and based on the company’s global strategies, using the Balanced Scorecard method. These focus on the sustainability of the organization, and the achievement of goals previously established by the corporate administration. The present research utilizes bibliographical data of themes related to Corporate Management, Control, and Performance Measurement and Models of Performance Indicators. Using the case study method, it can be concluded that performance indicators are vital tools when structured to meet the financial perspectives, of consumers, internal processes and learning and organizational growth.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to look at the actions autonomous knowledge workers perform to implement formalized knowledge strategies as part of an accreditation. Design/methodology/approach Using a strategy-as-practice framework, this paper follows a qualitative approach to study the implementation of a standard in a business school. The data collection was carried out over a 14-month period, with access to interviews, observations, meetings minutes and other institutional information. Findings Even though faculty members received similar information, the standard was implemented in different and conflicting ways. Three themes explain these differences: different approaches to ambiguous knowledge management practices, enablers and inhibitors of knowledge sharing and different conceptions of continuous improvement. Research limitations/implications As this was a single case, findings are not broadly generalizable. The research is based on rich data over a prolonged period, albeit in a very specific setting where unique actor and structural characteristics are not generally representative of the wider business and organizational environment. The nature of the university setting is quite unique. Although possible links to other fields which share some specific similarities with universities are provided, the contextual limitations are acknowledged. Accordingly, the work is presented as a basis for future enquiry when investigating implementation, especially activity-based research within knowledge-intensive organizations. Practical implications This paper provides a deep analysis of the actions knowledge workers perform when implementing standards promoted by organizational directives. It exposes tensions and conflicts among knowledge workers when implementing a standard. Our model is the basis for insights on how managers can balance the tensions of creative change and stable structure. Originality/value This paper describes how ambiguity and human interactions can reveal a deeper understanding of the different stages of standards implementation. It provides a model that uses the level of ambiguity and structure to explain how knowledge workers interacted in groups and as a whole can implement Assurance of Learning.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conceptually define and empirically investigate the density of work experience along with individual characteristics (cognitive ability, conscientiousness and openness to experience) and examine their influence on human resource (HR) competencies. Design/methodology/approach Regression analysis was used to analyze the data. In total, 140 HR professionals from service industry background and their supervisors participated in the data collection efforts. Findings Data analyses revealed three key findings. Employees’ density of work experience positively relates to HR competencies. Cognitive ability is the strongest predictor of the positive relationship to HR competencies, and density of work experience. Research limitations/implications The author did not assess learning from each role (individual contributor, team lead and manager). Another limitation stems from the measure of density of work experience. The author did not consider the feedback that each incumbent might have received while dealing with challenging activities and the course corrections that may have been made. Practical implications Using an approach of gradually increasing the level of responsibility and involvement in challenging tasks may also help incumbents develop who may not be intellectually gifted. In the process of gradually increasing the level of involvement in challenging tasks, incumbents could develop a nuanced view of the field expertise required to deal with challenges, gain an in-depth understanding of the business, and acquire change management skills. Originality/value The author attempts to know which aspects of personality influence density of work experience the most. In addition, which personality characteristic predicts HR competencies more strongly?

The last few decades have seen a profound transformation of innovation project management within automobile firms. During the 1990s, the product development phase was revolutionized by the deployment of heavyweight project management, project portfolio processes, and platform strategies. The 2000s saw the forces of change move upstream in the innovation process, with the development of new methodologies intended to develop and orient creativity, as well as new upfront units acting as innovation labs. However, many upfront creative endeavors still encounter an innovation valley of death when they move into the rigid and risk-averse development phase. Thus, the frontier of innovative project organization seems to be the ongoing quest to reconcile the emergence of breakthrough innovations in the upfront phase with the more rationalized nature of development phases. Based on a case study of a disruptive low-cost car, this article analyzes how the product development phase can support innovative exploration to overcome the challenge of achieving a major cost breakthrough. We analyze the specific content of the project’s innovations ( fractal innovation) and the management practices and organizations used to implement them. We characterize how such innovative product development can contribute to a new economy of innovative effort within the global innovation funnel of the firm. We compare this global innovation process, where development projects play a major role as a locus for organizational learning, to the customary one in automotive firms, where learning happens essentially in front-end marketing and engineering departments.

Globalization and rapid technological change is a reality for companies today. It has changed the manner in which business has been routinely conducted and has brought into focus delivery of results in real time. Newer forms of organizational structures have emerged that are flatter with fewer hierarchical levels. Career paths are no longer linear and unbroken but are spiralling and lateral in nature. The traditional employment contract between employees and organization has altered. While earlier it was normal to assume a life time of security in exchange for doing a good job, now employees are increasingly looking for opportunities for professional development that will enhance their future employability. All these changes have had implications for HR departments and performance appraisal in the new business context. Instead of evaluating primarily on the basis of quantitative results and on what is achieved, the focus is shifting to how it is achieved as an indication of an employee's ability to keep performing well in the future. It has made ‘competencies’ the new mantra for the HR departments aiming to effect change within organizations. Based on a sample data of over 250 executives in one of India's largest vehicle manufacturing companies, this paper reviews the concept of competency, how it is assessed, and brings out the need for assessing technical competency. The final model that emerges from the study goes beyond managerial competencies — a model of techno-managerial competency that may be better suited to emerging jobs in a more technology-driven future. This model consists of four factors: technical skills comprising of knowledge fundamentals, engineering drawing appreciation, manufacturability appreciation, materials choice appreciation, knowledge of emerging trends, etc. group problem-solving skills comprising of problem analysis, creativity and originality, technical leadership ability, communication ability, people management skills, etc. managerial skills comprising of perseverance, quest for learning, business understanding, visualization, attention to detail, etc. aptitude comprising of analytical ability, creativity, risk-taking orientation, etc.

Learning organization refers to an organization that encourages its individuals to learn and consistently change its form. Organizations give both formal and casual procedures and structures for securing, sharing and utilization of information and abilities. Learning organizations come about due to pressures that are faced in the modern time organizations and vest these organizations to retain their aggressiveness in the business world. The learning organization urges organizations to move to a more interconnected mindset. Organizations ought to wind up more like networks that workers and its members can feel a responsibility towards them. The site of the investigation was at G4S Kenya Limited in Mombasa County. The specific objective was to determine the consequences of learning organization on the execution of G4S Kenya limited. The study was then guided by the following objectives; to find out the impact of systems thinking on performance of an organization, to determine how personal mastery affects the performance of an organization, to examine the influences of mental models on performance of an organization as well as to research on the impact of shared vision on performance of an organization. The study was guided by Argyris and Schön’s Theory and Systems Theory. The investigation was carried out on 150 representatives from G4S Kenya Limited. An adjusted Likert scale questionnaire separated into three (3) sections was created. A pilot study was done to fine-tune the instrument. Information gathered was reviewed on a PC by use of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS Version 22) for Windows. The collected data was then examined using statistical methods of frequencies and percentages, with the aid of MS Excel. Charts, tables and bar graphs were then used to present the information. The summary of the main component of the study conclusion was based upon the research objectives. The researcher deduced that a system thinking provides continuous learning opportunities in the organization; embraces creative tension as a source of energy and renewal, link individual performance with organizational performance. This is because the majority of the respondents indicated that system thinking link individual performance with organizational performance. This component scored highly on the adjusted Likert scale; a clear indication of the importance of system thinking on the performance of G4S Kenya Limited. The investigation on the influences of learning organization on the performance of G4S Kenya limited was recommended for further study since it has brought to light the effect of systems thinking, personal mastery, and mental models and shared vision on organization performance.

Message from EditorDear Readers,It is a great honor for us to publish seventh volume, second issue of Global Journal of Information Technology: Emerging Technologies.Global Journal of Information Technology: Emerging Technologies focuses on contemporary research addressing Information technology including emerging technologies, strategy, change, infrastructure, human resources, sourcing, system development and implementation, communications, technology developments, technology futures, national policies and standards. The journal also publishes articles that advance our understanding and application of research approaches and methods covering information technology, its evolution and future prospects. It is intended to be a multi-disciplinary international journal aimed at revealing results of research on information technology.The journal seeks to encourage academically robust papers, research, critical reviews and opinions on the organizational, social and management issues associated with significant information-based technologies.Articles focusing on the effect of cooperative learning on social networking with creative problem solving process on creative problem solving ability and teamwork skills of pre-service teachers, cultural model of information technology usage, the role of emotional intelligence in decreasing the anxiety in language learning, how to assess information and communication technology knowledge and skills of the students and technology enhanced learning in EFL classrooms have been included in this issue. The topics of the next issue will be different. You can make sure that we will be trying to serve you with our journal with a rich knowledge in which different kinds of topics are discussed in each volume and issue.A total number of ten (10) manuscripts were submitted for this issue and each paper has been subjected to double-blind peer review process by the reviewers specialized in the related field. At the end of the review process, a total number of five (5) high quality research papers were selected and accepted for publication.We present many thanks to all the contributors who helped us to publish this issue.Best regards,Prof. Dr. Dogan IbrahimEditor – in Chief

The situation of variability, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the environment requires companies to use a creative approach to business design and management. The ability to adapt, organizational flexibility and maneuverability of businesses is provided by a creative approach to their design and innovative development of these systems. In the current situation, companies must look for radically new approaches to business design and management practices that correspond to the state of their environment. It is through the innovative and creative approach that the constant competitive advantages of enterprises are formed. From the author’s point of view, a project is a plan limited in time and resources, the purpose of which is to create a unique result. The time constraint implies that the project must have a fixed beginning and a fixed end. The end comes when the goals of the project are achieved, or when it becomes clear that the goals will not or cannot be achieved, or when the need for the project is gone and it is stopped. Time constraint means short-term; many projects can take several years. Time frames, as a rule, do not belong to the product, service or result created during the project. Most projects are carried out to achieve a sustainable, lasting result. Uniqueness means that a product or service has characteristic differences from all similar products or services. The presence of repetitive elements does not change the fundamental property of the uniqueness of the project. Uniqueness is an essential feature of the project, ie the implementation of routine tasks can not be the subject of the project. This does not mean that there should be no duplicate elements in the project. The article presents a theoretical and methodological approach to assessing the development of intellectual capital, management through the development of startup projects. The formed institutional-analytical basis is the basis for increasing competitiveness and management. A feature of the effective implementation of a startup project is the need for a very high intellectual and professional level of entrepreneurs and managers. Their knowledge and experience should lie at the intersection of basic and applied sciences, innovation management, knowledge of high-tech industries.

Both professionals and academics have long criticized the use of traditional financial performance measures and called for balance in performance measurement systems. In 1992, Kaplan and Norton introduced the Balanced Scorecard and it has been adopted widely around the world and offered as a superior combination of nonfinancial and financial measures of performance. This paper is the result of a 15-year field study of a Fortune 500 companys Balanced Scorecard. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to address the following research questions with respect to the Balanced Scorecard: 1) What has changed over time? 2) What has not changed over time? 3) Why has it endured? Changes highlighted are that the Balanced Scorecard was unaffected by a major change in organizational structure, a narrowing of focus and reduction in the scope over time, processes for changing the design were formalized, and that it has become engrained in the compensation system. Factors that have remained constant over time are the purpose of the Balanced Scorecard, its use for relative performance evaluation, and its use as a tool for best practice sharing. Two factors that appear to explain why it has endured are its use as a learning and communication tool and its ability to influence behavior. The paper concludes with a list of key success factors for building and sustaining a successful scorecard. This list might also be helpful to researchers seeking to investigate the design, use or impact of a Balanced Scorecard.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Leadership is an essential and recognized team science competency. Modeled after the successful LEAD (Leadership in Emerging Academic Departments) program at University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW), ConduITS LEAD Program is designed to: (1) provide personal and professional development opportunities for participants; (2) promote organizational change through applied leadership skills; (3) provide a platform for integrating multiple disciplines and fostering interprofessional relationships among investigators and clinicians. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The 1-year structured LEAD program curriculum includes monthly interactive seminars covering: personal and situational leadership; unconscious bias; communication and influence; navigating personal conflict; negotiation and networking; selecting and managing the right team; teamwork; financing the academic mission, budgets and business plan development; strategic planning and vision; presentation skills. To foster the development of leadership skills participants engage in Hogan Assessments, individual and peer mentoring from an executive coach and self-directed learning activities and assignments. Completion of an individual Capstone leadership project empowers learners to enact practice change through the implementation of leadership concepts in practice. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: In collaboration with the Office of Academic Enrichment & Development (OADE), the first competitive RFA was issued in November of 2016. In total, 63 applications were received including: gender: 29 M: 34 F; URM: 10; Degrees: M.D. (40); Ph.D. (11); M.D./Ph.D. (6); M.D./M.P.H. (3); M.D./M.S.C.R. (2); PharmD (1); Departments: 19; Institutes/Centers: 12; MSHS: 3 sites. Through a competitive and rigorous application process, 24 junior faculty with evidence of leadership potential and trajectory were chosen to participate. The current cohort of LEAD participants joined in February 2017, and will complete the program in January 2018. Using qualitative and quantitative survey methodology, participants will be evaluated for self-reported change to attitudes, belief, skills and development of new relationships and collaborations. Submitted Capstone projects were mainly focused on implementing situational and personal leadership concepts to practice, with one additionally focused on the use of behavioral interviewing techniques to optimize team building and teamwork. At the time of abstract submission 30% of the cohort has implemented their Capstone project in practice. Participants will be followed-up in 6 months’ time to evaluate the impact of the LEAD program on their practice. Following a second RFA, 24/52 candidates have been selected as our next cohort, and will start in February 2018. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Leadership is known to be a core component of team science, and the ability to implement leadership into practice may advance personal and professional change. This program addresses the need to empower Junior Faculty to engage in leadership in practice. In addition, this program is able to provide added value to extend the reach of the OADE, promote new individual collaborations and facilitate additional leadership training efforts at our Institution. Future collaborative studies will focus on common outcomes as well as institutional differences between these 2 CTSA institutions.

Most organizations find that their ability to identify and innovatively exploit opportunities decreases as they move from the entrepreneurial to the growth phase. However, the key to success in the highly competitive and dynamic environment that most companies presently operate in is to retain this ability. Therefore, companies need to adopt an entrepreneurial strategy — seeking competitive advantage through continuous innovation to effectively exploit identified opportunities — in order to sustain and grow under such circumstances. For such a strategy to succeed, companies should develop an enabling economic and political ecosystem that does not impede small or large scale redeployment of resources in new ways towards creative, entrepreneurial ends. Companies have a range of options to choose from to achieve this objective. At the one end of this option spectrum is ‘focused entrepreneurship’ wherein specific innovation initiatives are created with the rest of the organization insulated from them. At the other end is a managerial approach that leads to the creation of ‘organizationwide entrepreneurship.’ Entrepreneurship in such organizations is a shared value and drives managerial behaviour in conscious and subconscious ways and creates an entrepreneurial spirit organization-wide. Many mature organizations, unwilling to alter the status quo, tend to create focused initiatives that are mandated to identify and exploit new opportunities. While such focused initiatives may stimulate innovation, the very nature of their design erects barriers between the existing organization and the innovation effort. This makes it difficult for the organizations to access and leverage the existing capability base and to integrate new initiatives back into operational activity. Companies intent on developing and preserving entrepreneurship organization-wide, independent of their stage of growth, create an environment in which those who believe in the attractiveness of opportunities feel encouraged to pursue them. The top managements of such companies will design an organizational context conducive to autonomous generation of entrepreneurial initiatives, provide a sense of overall direction to these initiatives, and ensure that promising ventures receive necessary resources as they move through the uncertain development process wherein: money is neither offered nor seen as a primary motivator entrepreneurial contributions are rewarded with recognition and through provision of opportunities to engage in entrepreneurial activities on a bigger scale failure is considered normal and when failure occurs, the focus is on problem solving and learning from it rather than apportioning blame appropriate processes are used to capture knowledge created in the innovation process and routines developed to enable integration of such knowledge to create organizational rents. The contrast between patterns of focused and organization-wide entrepreneurship runs across every element of the organization starting with its mission and covering strategy, structure, systems, processes, and people skills and attitude. Institutionalizing the elements of entrepreneurship is crucial to building a sustaining competitive organization in today's business environment.

1. Introduction This Special Issue (Part 2) expands upon the theme “Building Local Capacity for Long-term Disaster Resilience” presented in Special Issue Part 1 (JDR Volume 5, Number 2, April 2010) by examining the evolving concept of disaster resilience and providing additional reflections upon various aspects of its meaning. Part 1 provided a mixed set of examples of resiliency efforts, ranging from administrative challenges of integrating resilience into recovery to the analysis of hazard mitigation plans directed toward guiding local capability for developing resiliency. Resilience was broadly defined in the opening editorial of Special Issue Part 1 as “the capacity of a community to: 1) survive a major disaster, 2) retain essential structure and functions, and 3) adapt to post-disaster opportunities for transforming community structure and functions to meet new challenges.” In this editorial essay we first explore in Section 2 the history of resilience and then locate it within current academic and policy debates. Section 3 presents summaries of the papers in this issue. 2. Why is Resilience a Contemporary Theme? There is growing scholarly and policy interest in disaster resilience. In recent years, engineers [1], sociologists [2], geographers [3], economists [4], public policy analysts [5, 6], urban planners [7], hazards researchers [8], governments [9], and international organizations [10] have all contributed to the literature about this concept. Some authors view resilience as a mechanism for mitigating disaster impacts, with framework objectives such as resistance, absorption, and restoration [5]. Others, who focus on resiliency indicators, see it as an early warning system to assess community resiliency status [3, 8]. Recently, it has emerged as a component of social risk management that seeks to minimize social welfare loss from catastrophic disasters [6]. Manyena [11] traces scholarly exploration of resilience as an operational concept back at least five decades. Interest in resilience began in the 1940s with studies of children and trauma in the family and in the 1970s in the ecology literature as a useful framework to examine and measure the impact of assault or trauma on a defined eco-system component [12]. This led to modeling resilience measures for a variety of components within a defined ecosystem, leading to the realization that the systems approach to resiliency is attractive as a cross-disciplinary construct. The ecosystem analogy however, has limits when applied to disaster studies in that, historically, all catastrophic events have changed the place in which they occurred and a “return to normalcy” does not occur. This is true for modern urban societies as well as traditional agrarian societies. The adoption of “The Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015” (also known as The Hyogo Declaration) provides a global linkage and follows the United Nations 1990s International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction effort. The 2005 Hyogo Declaration’s definition of resilience is: “The capacity of a system, community or society potentially exposed to hazards to adapt by resisting or changing in order to reach and maintain an acceptable level of functioning and structure.” The proposed measurement of resilience in the Hyogo Declaration is determined by “the degree to which the social system is capable of organizing itself to increase this capacity for learning from past disasters for better future protection and to improve risk reduction measures.” While very broad, this definition contains two key concepts: 1) adaptation, and 2) maintaining acceptable levels of functioning and structure. While adaptation requires certain capacities, maintaining acceptable levels of functioning and structure requires resources, forethought, and normative action. Some of these attributes are now reflected in the 2010 National Disaster Recovery Framework published by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) [13]. With the emergence of this new thinking on resilience related to disasters, it is now a good time to reflect on the concept and assess what has recently been said in the literature. Bruneau et al. [1] offer an engineering sciences definition for community seismic resilience: “The ability of social units (e.g., organizations, communities) to mitigate hazards, contain the effects of disasters when they occur, and carry out recovery activities in ways that minimize social disruption and mitigate the effects of future earthquakes.” Rose [4] writes that resiliency is the ability of a system to recover from a severe shock. He distinguishes two types of resilience: (1) inherent – ability under normal circumstances and (2) adaptive – ability in crisis situations due to ingenuity or extra effort. By opening up resilience to categorization he provides a pathway to establish multi-disciplinary approaches, something that is presently lacking in practice. Rose is most concerned with business disruption which can take extensive periods of time to correct. In order to make resource decisions that lower overall societal costs (economic, social, governmental and physical), Rose calls for the establishment of measurements that function as resource decision allocation guides. This has been done in part through risk transfer tools such as private insurance. However, it has not been well-adopted by governments in deciding how to allocate mitigation resources. We need to ask why the interest in resilience has grown? Manyena [11] argues that the concept of resilience has gained currency without obtaining clarity of understanding, definition, substance, philosophical dimensions, or applicability to disaster management and sustainable development theory and practice. It is evident that the “emergency management model” does not itself provide sufficient guidance for policymakers since it is too command-and-control-oriented and does not adequately address mitigation and recovery. Also, large disasters are increasingly viewed as major disruptions of the economic and social conditions of a country, state/province, or city. Lowering post-disaster costs (human life, property loss, economic advancement and government disruption) is being taken more seriously by government and civil society. The lessening of costs is not something the traditional “preparedness” stage of emergency management has concerned itself with; this is an existing void in meeting the expanding interests of government and civil society. The concept of resilience helps further clarify the relationship between risk and vulnerability. If risk is defined as “the probability of an event or condition occurring [14]#8221; then it can be reduced through physical, social, governmental, or economic means, thereby reducing the likelihood of damage and loss. Nothing can be done to stop an earthquake, volcanic eruption, cyclone, hurricane, or other natural event, but the probability of damage and loss from natural and technological hazards can be addressed through structural and non-structural strategies. Vulnerability is the absence of capacity to resist or absorb a disaster impact. Changes in vulnerability can then be achieved by changes in these capacities. In this regard, Franco and Siembieda describe in this issue how coastal cities in Chile had low resilience and high vulnerability to the tsunami generated by the February 2010 earthquake, whereas modern buildings had high resilience and, therefore, were much less vulnerable to the powerful earthquake. We also see how the framework for policy development can change through differing perspectives. Eisner discusses in this issue how local non-governmental social service agencies are building their resilience capabilities to serve target populations after a disaster occurs, becoming self-renewing social organizations and demonstrating what Leonard and Howett [6] term “social resilience.” All of the contributions to this issue illustrate the lowering of disaster impacts and strengthening of capacity (at the household, community or governmental level) for what Alesch [15] terms “post-event viability” – a term reflecting how well a person, business, community, or government functions after a disaster in addition to what they might do prior to a disaster to lessen its impact. Viability might become the definition of recovery if it can be measured or agreed upon. 3. Contents of This Issue The insights provided by the papers in this issue contribute greater clarity to an understanding of resilience, together with its applicability to disaster management. In these papers we find tools and methods, process strategies, and planning approaches. There are five papers focused on local experiences, three on state (prefecture) experiences, and two on national experiences. The papers in this issue reinforce the concept of resilience as a process, not a product, because it is the sum of many actions. The resiliency outcome is the result of multiple inputs from the level of the individual and, at times, continuing up to the national or international organizational level. Through this exploration we see that the “resiliency” concept accepts that people will come into conflict with natural or anthropogenic hazards. The policy question then becomes how to lower the impact(s) of the conflict through “hard or soft” measures (see the Special Issue Part 1 editorial for a discussion of “hard” vs. “soft” resilience). Local level Go Urakawa and Haruo Hayashi illustrate how post-disaster operations for public utilities can be problematic because many practitioners have no direct experience in such operations, noting that the formats and methods normally used in recovery depend on personal skills and effort. They describe how these problems are addressed by creating manuals on measures for effectively implementing post-disaster operations. They develop a method to extract priority operations using business impact analysis (BIA) and project management based business flow diagrams (BFD). Their article effectively illustrates the practical aspects of strengthening the resiliency of public organizations. Richard Eisner presents the framework used to initiate the development and implementation of a process to create disaster resilience in faith-based and community-based organizations that provide services to vulnerable populations in San Francisco, California. A major project outcome is the Disaster Resilience Standard for Community- and Faith-Based Service Providers. This “standard” has general applicability for use by social service agencies in the public and non-profit sectors. Alejandro Linayo addresses the growing issue of technological risk in cities. He argues for the need to understand an inherent conflict between how we occupy urban space and the technological risks created by hazardous chemicals, radiation, oil and gas, and other hazardous materials storage and movement. The paper points out that information and procedural gaps exist in terms of citizen knowledge (the right to know) and local administrative knowledge (missing expertise). Advances and experience accumulated by the Venezuela Disaster Risk Management Research Center in identifying and integrating technological risk treatment for the city of Merida, Venezuela, are highlighted as a way to move forward. L. Teresa Guevara-Perez presents the case that certain urban zoning requirements in contemporary cities encourage and, in some cases, enforce the use of building configurations that have been long recognized by earthquake engineering as seismically vulnerable. Using Western Europe and the Modernist architectural movement, she develops the historical case for understanding discrepancies between urban zoning regulations and seismic codes that have led to vulnerable modern building configurations, and traces the international dissemination of architectural and urban planning concepts that have generated vulnerability in contemporary cities around the world. Jung Eun Kang, Walter Gillis Peacock, and Rahmawati Husein discuss an assessment protocol for Hazard Mitigation Plans applied to 12 coastal hazard zone plans in the state of Texas in the U.S. The components of these plans are systematically examined in order to highlight their respective strengths and weaknesses. The authors describe an assessment tool, the plan quality score (PQS), composed of seven primary components (vision statement, planning process, fact basis, goals and objectives, inter-organizational coordination, policies & actions, and implementation), as well as a component quality score (CQS). State (Prefecture) level Charles Real presents the Natural Hazard Zonation Policies for Land Use Planning and Development in California in the U.S. California has established state-level policies that utilize knowledge of where natural hazards are more likely to occur to enhance the effectiveness of land use planning as a tool for risk mitigation. Experience in California demonstrates that a combination of education, outreach, and mutually supporting policies that are linked to state-designated natural hazard zones can form an effective framework for enhancing the role of land use planning in reducing future losses from natural disasters. Norio Maki, Keiko Tamura, and Haruo Hayashi present a method for local government stakeholders involved in pre-disaster plan making to describe performance measures through the formulation of desired outcomes. Through a case study approach, Nara and Kyoto Prefectures’ separate experiences demonstrate how to conduct Strategic Earthquake Disaster Reduction Plans and Action Plans that have deep stakeholder buy-in and outcome measurability. Nara’s plan was prepared from 2,015 stakeholder ideas and Kyoto’s plan was prepared from 1,613 stakeholder ideas. Having a quantitative target for individual objectives ensures the measurability of plan progress. Both jurisdictions have undertaken evaluations of plan outcomes. Sandy Meyer, Eugene Henry, Roy E. Wright and Cynthia A. Palmer present the State of Florida in the U.S. and its experience with pre-disaster planning for post-disaster redevelopment. Drawing upon the lessons learned from the impacts of the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, local governments and state leaders in Florida sought to find a way to encourage behavior that would create greater community resiliency in 2006. The paper presents initial efforts to develop a post-disaster redevelopment plan (PDRP), including the experience of a pilot county. National level Bo-Yao Lee provides a national perspective: New Zealand’s approach to emergency management, where all hazard risks are addressed through devolved accountability. This contemporary approach advocates collaboration and coordination, aiming to address all hazard risks through the “4Rs” – reduction, readiness, response, and recovery. Lee presents the impact of the Resource Management Act (1991), the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act (2002), and the Building Act (2004) that comprise the key legislation influencing and promoting integrated management for environment and hazard risk management. Guillermo Franco and William Siembieda provide a field assessment of the February 27, 2010, M8.8 earthquake and tsunami event in Chile. The papers present an initial damage and life-loss review and assessment of seismic building resiliency and the country’s rapid updating of building codes that have undergone continuous improvement over the past 60 years. The country’s land use planning system and its emergency management system are also described. The role of insurance coverage reveals problems in seismic coverage for homeowners. The unique role of the Catholic Church in providing temporary shelter and the central government’s five-point housing recovery plan are presented. A weakness in the government’s emergency management system’s early tsunami response system is noted. Acknowledgements The Editorial Committee extends its sincere appreciation to both the contributors and the JDR staff for their patience and determination in making Part 2 of this special issue possible. Thanks also to the reviewers for their insightful analytic comments and suggestions. Finally, the Committee wishes to again thank Bayete Henderson for his keen and thorough editorial assistance and copy editing support.

Competitiveness is closely related to business management, operational efficiency, and new approaches to the management of search. One of the most important and intractable problems of the transport companies remain effective management of the problem, covering a wide range of issues. This is a rational organizational structures, which are not always meeting the company's strategic objectives, set up; advanced management methods, which often are only the failed experience fitting of foreign countries without the necessary adaptation; management of democratization; the staff, especially top-level managers, the potential and environmental non-compliance, the lack of ability to understand the overall economic development trends, make informed decisions, to ensure the company's competitive capacity (Gal J. 2008). In order shape the competitive enterprises realistically, it is necessary to use consistently all opportunities to change the heads of management. This will help not only the traditional methods of enhancing their competence, but the new management philosophy and the installation of plants. The faster and clearer our transport business leaders understand that the company's competitiveness is not only the subject they are and all the staff, the greater the opportunity to become a fully fledged market economy. Recently, rapid changes during the period of not less important is the manager and the social competence, i.e., the effectiveness of social behavior, the ability to adapt to the dynamically changing environment and to take corresponding changes in the decisions. Social competence criteria - this consist of the whole social skills (which includes both verbal and non verbal communication skills) the ability to form interpersonal relationships, be well-liked in group, the ability to achieve the goals. Management has the competence to disclose not only the knowledge and experience, but personal qualities / characteristics as well. Personal competence - the self-assessment of skills and personal characteristics of the combination (of humor to work, motivation, development and the desire to work, and beyond), which is not the level of knowledge, but the employee's personal characteristics (personal qualities, character and mental qualities, behavioral targeting). Therefore, a lot of career success depends on how the graduate is able to evaluate a particular enterprise or workplace evolving situation and adopt a self-optimal management decisions. Of course, professional, capable practical situations to make the right transportation management solutions, development inevitably must rely on general subjects; the learning is based on certain definitions and classification of knowledge systems. In this article will be submitted to the Lithuanian and Slovenian transport expertise in the study results.

Cultural competence is an integral quality of personality, which is manifested in the general ability and willingness of man to various creative activities, socially orients higher education to independent and successful life. The aim of the article is to analyze the formation of cultural competence of higher education seekers as a dynamic process of change of the person himself, his formation as a cultural personality. Research methods applied: system-chronological, culturological, axiological, comparative, retrospective, didactic. The approaches are based on a set of methodological principles, including: dialectical, systematic, historicism, chronological, personalized. The article reveals the problem that until recently the pedagogical research did not define the exact parameters, indicators and criteria according to which it would be possible to accurately and unambiguously assess the cultural competence of applicants. This is partly due to the fact that the key competencies that characterize the cultural competence of applicants are not a separate part of the curriculum, they are integrated into its content. The difficulty of such a definition is also due to the value nature of culture and the process of its assignment by the individual. The translation of culture into the language of competencies in the educational process does not eliminate this problem. In contrast to structured subject learning, the cultural development of the individual is supra-subject in nature and is associated with the definition of values and personal positions of applicants. It is concluded that in pedagogical science there is a theoretical basis that allows meaningful and organizational development of the assessment of the process of cultural development of higher education institutions. The study proves that in the practice of higher education it is not yet possible to avoid one-sidedness and limitations in the assessment of cultural competence; certain difficulties arise in the question of its holistic representation as a result of quality education. The problem of assessing cultural competence requires a purposeful study, taking into account the specifics of the educational process of higher education institutions of different profiles, the individual characteristics of the assignment of culture to applicants and their mastery of key competencies.

Esta investigación de carácter exploratorio, contribuye a explicar cómo afecta al comportamiento innovador de la pyme manufacturera dos filosofías empresariales. En concreto, se estudia el impacto sobre el comportamiento innovador del compromiso por la calidad y del fomento de una cultura emprendedora, bajo un enfoque de dirección participativa. Para ello se establece un modelo estructural con las relaciones entre dichas variables y se analiza con la técnica PLS (Partial Least Squares). Los resultados muestran que tanto una como otra postura afectan al comportamiento innovador de una manera muy similar.Palabras clave: comportamiento innovador, compromiso por la calidad, cultura emprendedora, dirección participativa.The impact of the commitment to quality and entrepreneurial culture on the innovative behavior of manufacturing SME under a participatory management approachAbstract: There is no doubt that innovation is the result of a complex process involving a number of actors and diverse knowledge, and also that affects all company activities. It is indisputable that the innovative behavior (the actions of the organization that implement new solutions at any organizational level in management), is key to achieve sustainable competitive advantages, as it allows companies to be flexible and to improve their ability to adapt to the market and show changes against the competition. Studies analyzing innovation in SMEs, highlight that innovation in these businesses is a process that is based primarily on the basis of their internal knowledge. Other studies indicate that SMEs, responsible for activating their innovation processes, are the customers themselves, due to new market needs or new technological developments, being RD limited innovation processes in SMEs. Moreover, the importance that culture plays in the innovation is widely acknowledged. The relationship between the two variables is mostly theoretical. There are few empirical studies focused on the relationship between culture and innovation, and most of them focused on some characteristic or trait culture (autonomy, risk mentality, market orientation, and employee management) rather than on ideals or cultural philosophies, contrary to what we do in this paper. Furthermore, the effects of certain types of culture on innovation are analyzed by few studies, in spite of not focusing on business environments. It is indisputable that innovative behavior is key to sustainable competitive advantages, as it allows companies to be flexible and to improve the ability to adapt to market changes. Therefore, finding the cultural values that encourage innovative behavior is relevant to business development. Presently, it is considered that the type of culture fostered by the organization can stimulate innovation, since culture influences the behavior of employees. As predicted by the literature, quality control oriented organizations tend to innovate on the basis of improving the control parameters, and consequently an innovation and learning-oriented organization has greater opportunities to address more radical innovations involving new technologies or break in the ideas. The objective of our research is to study the impact of commitment to quality and the promotion of an entrepreneurial culture on innovative behavior in manufacturing SMEs from the point of view of participative management. This requires a structural model where the relationships between these variables is established and analyzed through the PLS (Partial Least Squares) technique. The results will show that either one or another position is affecting innovative behavior in a similar way. Moreover, our study was carried out under a perspective of autocratic direction (measuring the views of the manager versus normative aspects), showing that the management style is not a variable, because it does not influence any business philosophies or cultures addressed in this work. The first consequence thereof is that the management style is the first key factor of management, and that business management is responsible to change or promote certain cultural aspects in a productive organization. Keywords: innovative behavior, commitment to quality, entrepreneurial culture, participative management.