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The core question underlying Integral Research and Innovation is: 'How can social research be turned into social or indeed "integral" innovation?' Complementing their acclaimed Transformation Management, this second book in the Transformation and Innovation Series explains how the knowledge creation that underpins transformative processes occurs. The authors show how research has to be transformative, rather than just informative if it is to contribute usefully to building integrated and sustainable enterprises. At a time when business practitioners and others responsible for organizational development are desperate for usable knowledge the authors contend that social science research is failing to support business and management generally. Instead, academic researchers engage in esoteric arguments about research methodology which do not contribute usefully to the resolution of real world problems. Drawing on their experience of environments where researchers and practitioners do engage constructively, resulting in research that is active, participative, and genuinely innovative, Professor Lessem and Dr Schieffer are in territory that is far beyond that covered by standard works on research methodology. This is a book not just for academics and researchers wanting to make a meaningful contribution, but also for reflective practitioners from the corporate organizational, and consultancy based worlds who operate in the area of interface between business and management, education, learning, and society, and who need to know how research can be used to make a real difference.

pt. I. Divided world : the need for renewing human development -- pt. II. Integral worlds : a new integral perspective on human development -- pt. III. The southern realm of integral development : restoring life in nature and community -- pt. IV. The eastern realm of integral development : regenerating meaning via culture and spirituality -- pt. V. The northern realm of integral development : reframing knowledge via science, systems and technology -- pt. VI. The western realm of integral development : rebuilding infrastructure and institutions via enterprise and economics -- pt. VII. Unity in diveristy : fully actualising integral development via the integral university.

pt. 1. Orientation to integral renewal -- pt. 2. Relational 4 Cs : relational care-4-self, organization, community -- pt. 3. Renewal 4 Cs : care-4-self, organizational, society renewal -- pt. 4. Conclusion : integral research, enterprise and economics.

In 2010 Ronnie Lessem and Alexander Schieffer published their seminal work on Integral Research and Innovation, whereby they identified the four R's: relational and renewal, reason and realization-based research paths that all together encompass the major qualitative research methods and methodologies. Because their transformative PhD programs are focused primarily on the 'Global South', where the vast majority of the world's population is based, most agents of transformation with whom the authors deal select the relational research path, and the path of renewal, over and above the paths of re.

Integral Green Zimbabwe: An African Phoenix Rising by Ronnie Lessem, Alexander Schieffer and Liz Mamukwa is the first book in the Integral Green Society and Economy series, a series which has three overarching aims. The first aim is to link together two major movements of our time, one philosophical, the other practical. The philosophical movement is towards what many today are calling an 'integral' age, while the practical is the 'green' movement, duly aligned with that of sustainable development. The second is to blend together elements of nature and community, culture and spirituality, science and technology, politics and economics, thus serving to bring about an 'integral green' vision, albeit with a focus on business and economics. As such, the authors transcend the limitations to sustainable development and environmental economics, which are overly ecological, if not also technological, in orientation, and exclude social and cultural elements. Thirdly, this particular volume focuses specifically on Zimbabwe, as well as Southern Africa, drawing on the particular issues and capacities that this country and region represents. The emphasis on Zimbabwe and Southern Africa transpired not only because two of the editors (Lessem and Mamukwa) are Zimbabwean in origin, but because Zimbabwe is today like a phoenix rising from the ashes, and has the opportunity to recreate itself anew.

pt. I. Renewing a nation : the Zimbabwean phoenix is rising -- pt. II. Activating nature and community : establishing community-based economic self-sufficiency -- pt. III. Catalysing renewal via culture and spirituality : towards a culture-based developmental economy.

pt. 1. Towards an integral green Slovenian economy and society -- pt. 2. Nature and community-based economics of self-sufficiency -- pt. 3. Culture-based developmental economy -- pt. 4. Knowledge-based social economy -- pt. 5. Finance and enterprise-based living economy -- pt. 6. Education and innovation for integral green Slovenia -- pt. 7. Slovenia in Europe : smart integration with a sustainable vision.

Presenting a thorough, comprehensive theory of spiritual capital based on solid academic research, 'Spiritual Capital' serves to reinforce and amplify the notion of a moral economic core that is beginning to feature in contemporary economic arguments. In this rare major work wholly dedicated to the subject of spiritual capital, Sam Rima explains the desperate need for revolutionary and transformational thinking in the area of economic policy and practice and makes the case for a new moral foundation to business and economics that directly addresses today's financial and business crisis. Writing in an accessible style, and drawing on examples from several continents, Rima explains spiritual capital theory in terms of the resources needed for its creation, how it is formed, how it can be invested and what the return on investment can be. The book provides practical tools for measuring a personal or organizational store of spiritual capital, along with clear guidelines on how to engage in spiritual capital formation. These will benefit business leaders interested in developing viable and sustainable enterprises capable of avoiding the disconnection between economic policy and social reality. There are also recommendations here for policy makers regarding the macro application of spiritual capital theory. This important contribution to Gower's Transformation and Innovation Series will appeal to business leaders and policy makers, academicians and students in the fields of sociology, theology, and economics, and anyone interested in social and economic justice issues, social innovation, and corporate social responsibility.