Suchergebnisse

The authors of the exchange now reunite to offer some concluding remarks. Our comments arise from a few issues that in the words of one of us "have been left hanging" and thus call out for some expatiation as a way to conclude our story of ethics in the new field of leadership-as-practice. We're responding in the first-person plural but where we have divergence, we will refer to one another using our first names. We hope that our approach, veering as it does from the point-counterpoint convention, is consistent with our espousal of collaborative and, where supporting conditions permit, emancipatory practice. Although there are many facets of ethical theory and practice that emanate from our commentaries, clearly a principal contribution is how a Western-originated concept, namely leadership-as-practice, plays out or can play out in a non-Western world, or indeed, in Western study settings that do not necessarily conform in all instances to the democratic ideals, if not practices, of inclusion and equality. This leads ultimately to questions of ethnocentricity and whether criticism can or should be transmitted cross-culturally, with the notion of culture understood and applied at a range of levels.

This article explores the transition of the theological and philosophical concept of theoria—contemplation—to the modern notion of theory. Theory derives linguistically from theoria and retains a connection with knowledge. However, it has lost and, moreover, typically excludes theoria's focus upon the direct experiential knowledge of the divine. In keeping with the thrust of this special issue, we focus on how the secularization of the theological concept of theoria defines in a profound manner the limits and possibilities of thinking and theorizing work and organization. We examine the nature of theoria and the transitions that have led to its metamorphosis. It is suggested that dominant forms of theorizing work and organization are typically performative (Lyotard, 1984). This is illustrated, somewhat ironically, through a review of Spiritual Leadership Theory, which appears to promote spiritual leadership without contemplation.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between friendship and betrayal. Both are perceived to involve dynamics that can have a major impact in organizations, but both have tended to be under researched.Design/methodology/approachThe paper brings together ideas from psychoanalysis (object relations theory), archetypal psychology, and the history of ideas (the friendship tradition). It also uses a case study to explore how the emerging framework applies in reality.FindingsThe exploration led to the conclusion that betrayal may have its roots at the same deep level of the psyche as friendship and they may, therefore, be equally fundamental developmentally.Originality/valueThe paper opens up an important area for further study and application. It is intended to give status to two experiences that are of great importance to managers and managed, leaders and led, consultants and students.

Belief and Organization examines the alternative belief systems which contemporary organizational actors live by and through which they seek to find meaning within the dominant (neo)capitalist social order. The widespread search for personal meaning reflects what Charles Taylor refers to as the 'massive subjective turn of modern culture' and a corresponding drive to locate subjective 'sources of significance. Such subjectivist strategies enable people to disregard, resist or subvert the globalizing capitalist imperatives that would otherwise have them become worshippers of the new human gods. Alternative belief systems take a variety of forms and contributors to this volume represent a range of positions - some religious or spiritual, others secular, which are presently being adopted and acted on in European and US workplaces. The authors of this work have deliberately courted an international framing of the issues in order to better reflect trends in organizational conduct in the Western hemisphere. By this heterodox approach, they intentionally seek to spread the net to embrace a wider set of religious and non-religious beliefs and affiliations.

Many smallholder farmers in Lao People's Democratic Republic are transitioning from subsistence to commercial production. This paper employs the Agriculture Innovation System (AIS) framework to report on empirical findings from six case studies of Lao smallholder production. It identifies the actors, organisations, and institutions involved in systemic commercialisation of subsistence farming and articulate patterns of interactions that contribute to the relative success of the transition. Of the factors identified in our case studies, the most important enablers of commercial production and adoption of innovative technologies were technical and financial assistance, access to markets and the formation of farmer associations/organisations.

Purpose– This paper aims to report on findings from the first phase of a longitudinal study of undergraduate business students' attitudes, beliefs and perceptions concerning sustainability issues.Design/methodology/approach– To improve understanding of the potential effects of changes in the curriculum, business students enrolled during the academic year prior to a redesigned, sustainability-informed, curriculum were surveyed. Familiarity with key sustainability terms was tested using a semi-structured questionnaire applied across two campuses of James Cook University, Australia. Quantitative data were complemented by use of open-ended questions that yielded qualitative insight into a range of student knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and normative influences relating to sustainability and climate change.Findings– Findings reflect naïve awareness of the potential impact of individual contributions to sustainability and environmental challenges. They reveal a tendency to regard major issues as beyond personal control and to view solutions as being the responsibility of others. This is coupled with reluctance to consider major lifestyle changes.Social implications– Universities are increasing their focus on sustainability-related issues and the ways in which these can be effectively communicated via curricula. This paper carries implications for this societal agenda, particularly in relation to the need to address disconnections between awareness of issues, personal relevance and effective strategies for addressing sustainability issues.Originality/value– The findings shed fresh light on the attitudes and behavioural dispositions of undergraduate business students and could help guide the development and delivery of curriculum content.

The need for individual and population-based behaviour change is evident across a range of sectors. We examine behaviour change strategies, contrasting aspects of health and lifestyle factors with climate change and sustainability issues and note that different policy makers favour specific behaviour change tools; some favour 'hard' options i.e. legislation and others 'soft' options such as persuasion. Different strategies will be more effective for specific issues and population segments - and combinations of strategies should not be ruled out.

This document provides a transdisciplinary response to the Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Our Strategy for Public Health in England White Paper. Due to the complex range of influences on health-related behaviours, a transdisciplinary approach is recommended to address the challenges facing public health. Accordingly, this report presents an illustrative range of disciplines, concepts and theories that may be relevant to understanding the relative impact of different influences on health-related behaviours. It also documents the development of potential interventions that aim to achieve positive sustained behaviour change.

We bring new insights to environmental governance research from leadership studies where there is a growing recognition that leadership is a process that is enacted through a "web of interactions incorporating both people and objects" (Hawkins et al. 2015: 953). Leadership is broadly defined as a process of influence resulting in shared direction and commitment (following Bolden et al. 2012 and Haslam et al. 2011). To illustrate what a more nuanced understanding of leadership can look like we employ a deliberately provocative analytical perspective inspired by Actor Network Theory which recognises that societal outcomes are shaped by relations among humans and non-human, including discursive, actants (Latour 2005; Dwiartama and Rosin 2014 and see discussion for detailed examples). We report on an empirical study of Solomon Islands' engagement with the multi-national, multi-objective Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI), an initiative that is labelled as potentially transformative. We aimed to understand how different actors perceive leadership for improved environmental governance in Solomon Islands in practice. First, we determine whether there are sources of leadership in addition to key individuals and organisations. We investigate the potential of organisations, policy and legislative instruments, and ideologies or discourses to enact leadership by influencing governance outcomes. Second, we establish how leadership varies across three different, potentially contested CTI goals – food security, biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation – that in combination are expected to contribute to improved environmental governance. Third, we determine whether leadership can also disrupt or stall progress towards improved environmental governance outcomes. This paper aims to open up a broader debate about leadership research in environmental sciences – the empirical approach and evidence are illustrative rather than definitive.