No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Cultural diversity drives innovation: empowering teams for success
Abstract
Purpose
Though there is broad agreement on the beneficial impact of diversity in management and leadership roles, much of the innovative capacity of an organization is realized at the unit level in working teams. Recent research points to cultural diversity having an especially significant impact on innovation team performance. The reports also highlight the need for the optimal team operating principles to derive maximum benefit. To prepare such innovation teams for success, it is valuable to understand the dynamics of team diversity at the project level and the underlying barriers and opportunities presented.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews the literature and case studies on cultural inputs to ideation and innovation, assessing team diversity through readily available instruments and the deployment of the science of team science (SciTS) principles in innovation teams.
Findings
The key learnings include the importance of establishing communication standards, SciTS principles, team assessment of thinking styles and the utility of cultural awareness instruments.
Practical implications
Diversity provides a creative advantage for innovation teams. However, team dynamics play an important role in maximizing these advantages, and cross-cultural competence of team members is required. Deployment of appropriate assessment tools and team methodologies enhances the likelihood of successful outcomes including in remote team settings.
Originality/value
Literature from diverse functional areas is summarized including the science of team science, organizational management, diversity and inclusion methodologies and ethnocultural dynamics. It provides pointers for the optimal formation and operating principles with highly culturally diverse teams.
... Culture is a response that is established by a cohort of individuals who crave for solutions to a common range of problems which influences the values, perception, and behaviour of individuals (Price & Ochieng, 2010). Individuals who reside outside of their native country tend to get influenced by the culture of the residing country over the years, which could result in a distortion of the alignment of their perception with the native culture (Jones et al., 2020). These cultural differences often give rise to conflicts that could be both constructive as well destructive for the performance of the project (Wu et al., 2019). ...
... Further, according to Jones et al. (2020), based on his study targeting 500 corporate executives, has argued that diversity of culture within project teams and organizations is positively associated with the openness for innovation as varied viewpoints which stem from diverse cultures tend to ascertain and address issues in dissimilar ways. It has also been argued that multi-cultural teams possess a higher tolerance of risk compared to homogenous teams (Jones et al., 2020). ...
... Further, according to Jones et al. (2020), based on his study targeting 500 corporate executives, has argued that diversity of culture within project teams and organizations is positively associated with the openness for innovation as varied viewpoints which stem from diverse cultures tend to ascertain and address issues in dissimilar ways. It has also been argued that multi-cultural teams possess a higher tolerance of risk compared to homogenous teams (Jones et al., 2020). This cross-cultural competence within culturally diverse project teams also adds value when dealing with external stakeholders due to the ability to relate to the requirements of customers and suppliers that could stem from diverse cultural backgrounds (Jones et al., 2020). ...
The seminar paper provides a pragmatic perspective of the topic of effective management of multi- cultural construction project teams. The paper provides a detailed collated review of issues pertaining to multi- cultural construction project teams and the strategies that can be adopted to overcome those issues thereby improving the performance of the team in its entirety based on the findings of previous research. The paper has been structured in a manner that includes a brief introduction into the topic, definition of the term “Culture”, definition of a “multi-cultural” project team, importance of multi-cultural construction project teams, issues of multi-cultural construction project teams and finally, strategies to overcome the issues from previous research as well as novel concepts and tools that have proven to work in the global project management arena. The author anticipates that the content provided in this seminar paper shall be beneficial for effective decision making by organizational leadership to establish high performing construction project teams that acknowledge and respect cultural diversity whilst utilizing the benefits of cultural heterogeneity and mitigating the detrimental impacts of the same.
... Cultural diversity in a workplace displays both benefits and challenges (Stahl et al., 2010;Telyani et al., 2022). The information-processing approach, for example, argues that cultural diversity results in cognitive diversity since individuals in multicultural workplaces bring in their various backgrounds, networks, skills, and experiences (Jones et al., 2020;Velten & Lashley, 2017). This allows organizations to gain access to a variety of information sources, ideas, and perspectives fostering innovation, enhancing creativity, and resulting in process gains (Martin, 2002;Mannix & Neale, 2005;Stahl et al., 2010). ...
... This is important for managers since recognising differences in attitudes and behaviors between individuals and groups is the essence of managing people. Emotional intelligence and ability to take another person's perspective are closely related to cultural awareness (Galinsky et al., 2015;Adler & Gundersen, 2008 (Jones et al., 2020). They also choose to establish relationships at work and trust only those colleagues they can relate to. ...
Multicultural working environments, diversity, and inclusion are the topics of interest in contemporary human resource management and leadership studies (Getha-Taylor et al., 2020). Since working environments with truly homogenous workforce are difficult to find, it is acknowledged in the literature that diversity brings benefits along with challenges for leadership to handle. This case study of a higher education institution in a governmental sector in the Sultanate of Oman aims to explore the role of cultural values, cultural and social identities in employees' preferences of leadership styles. In this study, quantitative and qualitative approaches were combined to triangulate the findings and ensure their reliability. Initially, data were collected using an online survey distributed among employees of a governmental higher education institution in Oman. 153 responses were obtained with 52% response rate. Quantitative data were coded and analyzed statistically with the help of SPSS software. This was followed by one-to-one semi-structured interviews with 28 participants to clarify the findings of the first stage and ensure their reliability. Thematic analysis with thematic mapping was utilized to analyze the data collected by grouping concepts into themes and establishing the relationships between them. Overall, the current study attempts to demonstrate how employ-ees' identities and cultural values affect individuals' leadership style preferences. The findings, in general, support previously conducted studies. However , they highlight the lack and inconsistency of other works regarding the correlation between leadership style preferences and cultural values in non-Western countries.
... Considering the connection between a heightened degree of religiosity and a preference for stability alongside risk avoidance, it can be concluded that these traits among devout individuals potentially steer them towards deliberate brand selections (Jones et al., 2020). Hence, brand consciousness aligns with the inclination for safety and familiarity that often characterises the choices of highly religious individuals, adding an insightful layer to the complex relationship between religiosity, risk aversion, and consumer behaviour. ...
... This intention is shaped by various factors, including psychological, cultural, and religious influences. The impact of religion on consumer decision-making has been well-documented in previous research (Islam & Chandrasekaran, 2019;Jones et al., 2020;Lachance et al., 2003). The degree of religiosity an individual possesses can significantly mould their preferences and selections when it comes to acquiring products and services (Leong, 2022;Ma et al., 2021;Mezran & Perteghella, 2021). ...
The study discusses the relationship between religiosity, brand attitudes, and consumer behaviour within the Saudi Arabian context. The research discovers how religiosity in Saudi Arabian culture shapes consumer perceptions and intentions regarding brands. The study employs a quantitative approach, collecting data from 264 respondents through surveys to investigate the relationships between selected variables. The findings show that both males and females displayed comparable levels of religiosity and intention to purchase brands. Some disparities emerged in their attitudes towards branding. Males exhibited heightened brand consciousness, indicating heightened sensitivity to brand attributes, while females displayed a greater affinity for brand novelty. It shows females openness to innovative brands. Gender-specific tendencies offer valuable insights to make marketing strategies to reach the potential distinct consumer segments. Intrinsic religiosity emerges as a significant factor in alleviating feelings of guilt tied to brand purchases, while extrinsic religiosity positively correlates with guilt. The implications highlight the importance of religious and emotional dynamics in brand promotion, particularly in religiously sensitive environments. The research confirms the impact of brand consciousness and brand novelty on purchase intentions and the role of these factors in shaping consumer behaviour. The negative impact of guilt feelings on brand attitudes reinforces the significance of negative emotions in shaping consumer perceptions. While intrinsic religiosity aligns with prior research, its influence on brand attitudes remains limited. Extrinsic religiosity does not significantly impact brand attitudes, suggesting minimum religiosity effects. Future research should address these limitations with a broader influence on consumer behaviour in a unique cultural context.
... Diversifying STEM faculty is not just a moral imperative; it is a strategic investment in the future of research. Diversity is a catalyst for innovation, bringing diverse minds together to ask new questions and drive groundbreaking discoveries (Hewlett et al., 2013;Hofstra et al., 2020;Jones et al., 2020). ...
Despite the increasing number of racially and ethnically minoritized (REM) individuals earning PhDs and the substantial investment in diversity initiatives within higher education, the relative lack of diversity among faculty in tenure-track positions reveals a persistent systemic challenge. This study used an adaptation of the Community Readiness Tool to evaluate readiness for faculty diversification efforts in five biomedical departments. Interviews with 31 key informants were transcribed and coded manually and using NVIVO 12 in order to assign scores to each department in the six domains of readiness. The results revealed no meaningful differences in overall scores across institutional types, but did show differences within specific domains of readiness. These findings indicate that readiness is multi-faceted and academic departments can benefit by identifying priority areas in need of additional faculty buy-in and resources to enhance the success of diversification efforts.
... ocess of continuous renovation can give a startup the competitive edge it needs. Significant findings in the literature highlight the importance of innovation in successful ventures. Startups emphasize innovation as their core competence, prompting creativity and rapid exploitation of new technologies to enhance their product and service offerings (Jones et. al., 2020). Many startups are aggressive in their research and development (R&D) activities, with some allocating most of their resources to R&D initiatives (Noelia & Rosalia, 2020;Yun et. al., 2020). This approach allows them to quickly exploit new technologies and produce the next generation of their products or services post-launch (Bjarnason, ...
A startup is essentially a newly established business or one in its foundational stage, with its primary aim being the monetisation of an innovative idea. According to a report by CBI Insights, globally there are over 150 million startups, with an astounding figure of 50 million new startups launching each year. This means that, on average, approximately 137,000 startups are founded every single day. However, a staggering 90% of these startups fail, while only a small fraction, about 10%, manage to survive and sustain themselves over time. Among these, a mere 1% rise to the unicorn status. Furthermore, developing countries such as Malaysia need to develop their startup ecosystems to drive economic growth via the entrepreneurship agenda. Thus, it is important to understand the factors affecting the outcome of the startup process. Practitioners and policymakers need to better understand the factors influencing either the success or failure of ventures. This paper explores the factors contributing to startup success or failure as suggested by researchers over the past decade. Via a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of scholarly works using the Lens.org database, the key factors influencing startup outcomes are extracted. The themes are further discussed according to the two crucial phases; pre-launch and post-launch. Pre-launch challenges include inadequate solution validation, lack of demand forecasting, stress testing and premature launches. Post-launch hurdles encompass inconsistency in innovation, disregarding customer feedback, failure to pivot and pressure to scale rapidly. By categorizing these factors and examining their interdependencies, the research provides a structured framework for understanding startup outcomes. It aims to offer practical insights for entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers to mitigate the risks associated with startup ventures.
... L'ineliminabile alterità connaturata alla specie umana costituisce, infatti, un generatore potenziale di creatività e innovazione [G. Jones et al., 2020;A.K. Leung et al., 2008;R.R. Nelson, S.G. Winter, 1985;W.M. Williams, L.T. Yang, 1999]. ...
Il tema dell'alterità è diventato negli ultimi anni centrale nel dibattito pubblico e privato: organizzazioni complesse, imprese, agende politiche dei governi e finanche gli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile delle Nazioni Unite, in vario modo alludono alla diversity o al binomio diversity & inclusion, ad essa sovente collegato, sottolineando l'importanza di creare ambienti rispettosi e inclusivi. Il libro guarda al fenomeno, di grande attualità, della diversità come da un prisma che ne illumina due principali facce: una costruttiva, o legata al suo potenziale di innovazione; l’altra distruttiva, o connessa al suo potenziale di conflitto; e preferisce usare il termine 'alterità', a sottolineare che ogni individuo è unicum et ineffabile, e perciò stesso alter rispetto ad ogni altro. L’alterità è osservata, quindi, nel mondo delle organizzazioni, cui è connaturata e, in particolare, del workplace, e qui collegata, da un lato, alla creatività e innovazione e, dall’altro, al conflitto. L’analisi è, pertanto, condotta, anche attraverso una rassegna della letteratura, a livello micro-organizzativo, pur avendo risvolti più ampi e generali, che inquadrano le tematiche trattate in una cornice interdisciplinare: evidenti, infatti, sono i rimandi alle scienze psico-sociologiche, ma soprattutto a quelle aziendalistiche e manageriali. Il lavoro ha, così, un’imprescindibile anima organizzativa, ma anche una manageriale: non solo per il mondo del business, ma anche per quello pubblico e del terzo settore, diviene fondamentale governare tutta la diversità presente; a ciò si rivelano indispensabili alcune doti peculiari del leader, un leader viepiù inclusivo e partecipativo. Il risultato è una monografia dal respiro teorico, ma anche dal taglio pragmatico, che ambisce ad offrire riflessioni e soluzioni al problema, altamente complesso, del governo e della capitalizzazione della diversità, e, per queste ragioni, si rivolge a manager e dirigenti, esperti e pratictioners organizzativi, oltre che naturalmente agli studenti e studiosi della tematica, nelle sue più ampie declinazioni. Per chi invece per la prima volta si addentrasse nei meandri dell’alterità, questo libro è un po' un viaggio che conduce, ad un certo punto, il lettore ad una sorta di bivio, da cui si biforcano la via della creatività e innovazione, e la via del conflitto. Ciò che rileva è, ancora una volta, l’abilità del management e della leadership per un governo efficace, efficiente ed equo dell’ineliminabile alterità
... Companies that focus on creating diverse and inclusive work environments enrich their organizational culture and improve their competitiveness in the marketplace. A diverse workforce will likely approach problems differently, leading to more innovative solutions (Jones et al., 2020). Therefore, recruitment strategies should prioritize inclusivity, ensuring all potential candidates have equal opportunities to apply and succeed, regardless of their background. ...
Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of recruitment policies in attracting and retaining qualified talent within organizations by assessing key factors, including the selection process, compensation packages, candidate experience, career development opportunities, and work-life balance initiatives. The research seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of how recruitment strategies can influence both short-term hiring success and long-term employee retention. Research Design and Methodology: A qualitative systematic literature review (SLR) approach was employed to assess existing recruitment and retention practices research critically. The study synthesized findings from recent academic and industry-related sources to identify patterns, key trends, and gaps in current recruitment frameworks. By adopting a holistic review methodology, the study aims to connect theoretical insights with practical strategies for improving talent management. Findings and Discussion: The study found that effective recruitment policies extend beyond the hiring process and contribute significantly to fostering employee engagement and organizational loyalty. Transparent communication, fair selection procedures, and clear career pathways were key candidate satisfaction and long-term retention drivers. Additionally, work-life balance policies, competitive compensation, and inclusive work environments strengthened emotional attachment and commitment to the organization. These findings highlight the importance of designing recruitment policies that align with organizational values and support professional and personal growth. Implications: The study emphasizes the need for organizations to integrate recruitment strategies with holistic human resource development frameworks. The practical consequences suggest implementing comprehensive onboarding programs, flexible work arrangements, and continuous training initiatives to enhance employee loyalty and resilience. This research offers actionable insights into developing adaptive recruitment policies that enhance competitiveness and sustainability in dynamic labor markets.
... Positive impact from this approach, besides repair organizational performance, is also reflected in the increase satisfaction the work of its employees. This finding is in line with research conducted by, (Baccarella et al., 2022;Husriadi et al., n.d.;Husriadi, Ode, Musawir, et al., 2024;Jones et al., 2020)which revealed that organizations that support an innovative environment tend own a more creative team and more prepared adapt to changing market dynamics. ...
Inclusive, collaborative and transparent organizational culture has a vital role in improving performance employees at Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Kendari City. Although thus, the implementation of this culture is still meet obstacles in creating an optimal work environment. This study aims to identify characteristics of organizational culture that influence performance employees in MSMEs Kendari City. With qualitative research methods, data was obtained through interview in-depth with employees and MSMEs owners. The results of the study show that an inclusive, collaborative and transparent organizational culture has a positive impact on performance. employee past improvement involvement, synergy team, and trust. Core values such as integrity, innovation, and service customer participate plays an important role in strengthening the foundation of organizational culture as well increase productivity employees. These finding underlines importance implementation of a supportive organizational culture as a sustainable strategy for performance in MSMEs
... However, despite the extensive volume of the literature, the correlation between workforce diversity and innovation is marked by ambiguity (Minbaeva et al., 2021;Williams & O'Reilly, 1998). Some studies advocate for the benefits of a heterogeneous workforce in fostering innovation (Jones et al., 2020;Østergaard et al., 2011;Schubert & Tavassoli, 2020;Talke et al., 2011), while others highlight the potential pitfalls due to social categorization within diverse groups (Jehn et al., 2008;Mitchell et al., 2008). This inconsistency in the literature has spurred scholars to probe deeper into the contextual factors governing this relationship (Guillaume et al., 2017;Joshi & Roh, 2009;Homan et al., 2020). ...
Plain language summary
Leveraging employee diversity for innovation performance, answering when and how
Having people from different backgrounds in a company can really help it come up with new and better ideas. This is especially true for tech companies where new ideas are very important. But it’s not enough to have these different people; it’s how you work with them that matters. Different people bring different ideas and ways of thinking, which can lead to more creative solutions. However, sometimes people prefer working with others who are like them, which can cause disagreements and slow things down. Companies need to understand these issues and find ways to deal with them. A big part of handling this well is the company’s culture—basically, how people act and think at work. Managers should work on making a culture where everyone feels part of the team and communicates well. For instance, encouraging everyone to work together and help each other makes different groups feel like they’re part of the same team. It’s also important to have clear rules and roles so that everyone knows what they’re supposed to do and how to talk to each other. This helps make decisions faster and avoids confusion. Imagine a team where each person’s unique view is valued and used. They can combine their different knowledge to come up with really great ideas that no one person could think of alone. When a team works like this, not only do they get along better, but they also help the company become more creative and successful.
... Building on these contributions we argue that project-level analysis is important to understand innovation within firms, and how firm-level traits play into the project-level within the firm . Although several recent contributions have focused on different aspects of project-level analysis (Cassiman et al., 2010;Kim et al., 2015;Pesch et al., 2021) and their relation to firm-level characteristics (Madhok, 2002), they also call for more nuanced findings at lower level of analysis (Jones et al., 2020;Du et al., 2014;Brunswicker and Chesbrough, 2018). In particular, most current studies are cross-sectional and thus cannot account for the effect of time (Kobarg et al., 2018). ...
... Companies with higher diversity especially in the management rank are considered to be more innovative. A study conducted by Boston Consulting Group in 2018 highlighted the six diversity factors (age, gender, national origin, career path, industry background education) that have a positive impact on firm innovation (Jones et al., 2020). ...
This is an Open Access Journal / article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. All rights reserved. Workforce diversity refers to the differences and similarities of the employees in terms of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. With demographic shifts and the opening up of geographical boundaries, workforce diversity has presumed an important role in firm innovation. Diversity brings in a heterogeneous workforce. The heterogeneity in them helps in better and more creative idea generation. The study aims to understand the relationship between workforce diversity and firm innovation. The available literature on different dimensions of workforce diversity was reviewed to know its impact on firm innovation. This study will help the management to understand the importance of recruiting a diverse workforce and how to effectively manage them to achieve organizational goals.
... Students recognized the need to address this issue and provide feedback to the scholarship provider, namely the university [53]. They emphasized the importance of tightening scholarship regulations to ensure that deserving individuals are not overlooked [54], [55]. Moreover, they should be commended for their proactive approach as members of the social community. ...
This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the implementation of Pancasila learning with the goal of improving critical thinking skills through the application of the six thinking hats model. The research adopts a descriptive approach utilizing qualitative methods. The study was conducted at the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta. The participants were selected using purposive techniques based on specific criteria and considerations to ensure the collection of targeted information. Specifically, the research focused on students enrolled in the Manufacturing Engineering Class D. Data collection for this study involved the use of observation, interviews, and documentation techniques. To ensure data validity, triangulation techniques were employed by the researchers. Data analysis followed an interactive model based on the framework developed by Miles and Huberman, encompassing data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The six thinking hats learning model significantly improved students' critical thinking skills and character values. This approach enables students to approach problems from multiple perspectives, becoming more responsive to social issues and navigating real-world challenges. These fosters heightened awareness of societal matters, enabling students to contribute meaningfully to social progress.
... Furthermore, studies have shown that the interplay between individual and grouporiented approaches in CPS can lead to varied outcomes in multicultural settings. When students from different cultural backgrounds collaborate, the blending of these diverse CPS skills can either facilitate a more holistic problem-solving approach or lead to challenges in reconciling different working styles [47,48]. In the field of chemistry, Rüschenpöhler, Gong, Wang and Markic [49] compared the attitudes of German and Chinese students towards chemistry and found that collectivism and individualism influence students' attitudes. ...
Collaborative problem-solving (CPS) skills are recognized as an essential aspect of 21st-century skills and STEM education. This study investigates the CPS skills of high school students from Germany and China within the context of chemistry. A total of 594 students, aged 15, were selected, comprising 249 females and 345 males. The German participants were drawn from five public high schools in Berlin, while the Chinese participants were selected from two high schools in Zhejiang. The assessment tool, developed based on the PISA frameworks and refined through pilot testing, was used to assess students’ CPS skills. The study found that Chinese students significantly outperformed their German counterparts in CPS tasks, exhibiting higher average scores and more consistent performance levels. Gender differences were also noted, with female students in both countries outperforming males. The analysis highlighted cultural influences on education, with the collectivist culture in China fostering stronger CPS skills compared to the individualistic tendencies in Germany. These findings suggest that cultural and gender differences need to be taken into account when developing and improving CPS skills. Future research will explore additional factors influencing CPS skills, such as student interest and motivation, to further understand and improve educational practices globally.
... As Sayers (2012) defined, ethnicity encompasses a shared cultural identity, including traditions, customs, routines, attire, beliefs, and values among individuals. Jones et al. (2020) extend this definition by emphasizing that ethnic diversity encompasses individuals from various ethnic backgrounds. This increasing diversity is attributed to organizations' rising expectations for diversity, which includes the emergence of multicultural groups focused on education, family, and religion. ...
Workforce diversity has both positive and negative effects on performance, which may create challenges as well as opportunities based on the effectiveness of the leadership. The leadership approach and organizational policy for managing employees have discussed theoretical underpinning which ultimately influences employee performance in academic institutions and hence the quality of students. This study examined the effect of workforce diversity management in educational institutions and its effect on employee performance. A structured survey following the deductive approach and analytical research design was used to collect information from conveniently selected self-administered 392 administrative employees of private colleges in Kathmandu. The study revealed significant positive effect of personality diversity, attitude diversity, age diversity, gender diversity, tenure diversity, and ethnic diversity management on employee performance. Among different diversity management practices, attitude and gender diversity management strongly influenced employee performance. This study contributes to improving administrative performance by addressing the diversity issue of higher education institutions. In addition, this study adds value to the social identity theory for employee performance, as the study suggests its significance to improve positive in-group behavioral intentions.
... The desire to increase racial diversity and the willingness to make public commitments are commendable (Bateman et al., 2020), but there is a need to understand the systemic challenges that exist at different levels and from different perspectives. Navigating this challenging shift should include transparent organizational processes, a measure of awareness and competency through leadership assessment and inclusive team dynamics that drive culture (Jones et al., 2020). In addition, to sustain their commitments, organizations should seek out a full-time DEI leader, focus on providing additional recruitment resources and support to drive pipeline and scale a task force or internal champions committed to progress (Harvard Business Review, 2021). ...
Purpose
Organizations are increasingly making commitments and equity pledges to racially diversify their supply chain. While such commitments are commendable, historical attempts at reform have experienced limited success. This suggests that there is a need for organizations to understand the hurdles and complexity that might limit impact, and then be intentional when taking action.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, we conduct an inductive, qualitative investigation involving five organizations in Indianapolis USA. Three are corporations that had made a commitment to and are actively trying to racially diversify their supply chain. The other two are support organizations that serve as a link between suppliers and corporations.
Findings
The results identify three levels of interrelated management challenges associated with racially diversifying the supply chain at the industry, strategy, and operation levels.
Originality/value
Strategies for overcoming the challenges when integrating racial diversity into the supply chain are discussed, and a set of directional questions are provided to help organizations with their quest to racially diversify their supply chains.
... These networks can be valuable resources for opening new opportunities, forming strategic partnerships, and gaining valuable industry insights. These connections can also assist in recruiting the best talent, a crucial component in building a strong team and driving innovation (Jones et al., 2020). This paper assumes that CEOs from a reputable university will increase the quality of their working environment. ...
Purpose
This study aims to investigate whether CEOs who graduated from prestigious universities can provide a better-quality working environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 1,877 observations from all companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2019–2021, this research employs logistic OLS and coarsened exact matching (CEM) analyses to ensure robust results.
Findings
This study revealed that companies with CEOs who are alumni of a reputable university provide a high-quality working environment. These results are robust using the coarsened exact matching (CEM). Additional analyses exploring subindicators of working environment quality revealed that CEOs who have received an education from a reputable university have a better understanding of the importance of continuous education and training.
Practical implications
The findings of this study can provide guidance for managers and decision-makers in managing human resources and the work environment more effectively. By understanding the impact of high-quality education on leadership abilities in creating a supportive work environment, companies can be more strategic in recruiting and developing their leaders.
Originality/value
This study provides a unique contribution by providing empirical data on the quality of the working environment in Indonesia, specifically focusing on the role of CEOs from a reputable university as policy-makers, which has not been extensively explored in previous research.
... One challenge with teaching ideation to undergraduate engineering students is that since it focuses on creativity and potentially combining concepts from various knowledge domains, it can be difficult to develop proposed solutions when a student or group is homogenous in their background knowledge, culture, or preparation for a course. It has been widely accepted that diversity of thought and problem-solving approach is beneficial to ideation (Close & Harris, 2020;Jones et al., 2020), and some authors have stated that they have "consistently observed that the more diverse their project teams were, the more likely they were to come up with breakthrough concepts" (Govendo, 2005, p. 214). In short, "diverse idea generation provides multiple potential solution paths, and so maybe the foundation for a successful outcome" (Daly et al., 2019). ...
This paper summarizes five critical aspects of problem-solving competency for engineers in medicine, including the balance of depth and breadth, research capability, ideation skills, teamwork, and communication skills. Furthermore, the paper outlines the imperatives for enhancing undergraduate engineering education to cultivate problem-solving competency. An interdisciplinary approach to education in medical engineering can cultivate students to develop a holistic view of the field and equip them with a broad range of skills for problem-solving.
... Algunos autores sostienen que es fundamental crear un ambiente acogedor y respetuoso que valore y celebre la diversidad cultural en los equipos de trabajo y en las actividades de los Laboratorios de Innovación Social y Educativa (Jones et al., 2020); (Perdrial et al., 2023). Esto implica asegurarse de que todos los participantes se sientan bienvenidos, seguros y valorados en el Laboratorio. ...
Los horizontes ayudan a nuestra imaginación a viajar a los
lugares más insospechados. Pueden permitirnos crear
puentes, diseñar rutas, abrir puertas, diagramar ideas, que
nos impulsen a cumplir nuestros sueños. Los horizontes nos
muestran alternativas para comenzar a ser protagonistas en
la co-creación y diseño de nuevos escenarios que favorezcan
el desarrollo de una sociedad más igualitaria, en la que
desaparezcan las brechas y donde la solidaridad sea una de
las conductas más practicadas por los seres que habitan la
tierra.
Es un honor presentarles este libro titulado "Explorando
horizontes disruptivos: experiencias de participación en
Laboratorios de Innovación Social y Educativa", que ofrece
una exploración de los avances y desafíos en el ámbito de la
innovación social y educativa en América Latina. Como
Chair de la Cátedra UNESCO Movimiento Educativo
Abierto para América Latina, me complace respaldar esta
obra que busca inspirar y motivar a los lectores a sumergirse
en el fascinante mundo de los Laboratorios de Innovación
Social y Educativa.
El capítulo inicial del libro, "Develando los pilares
fundamentales", nos invita a comprender la sinergia entre la
innovación social y la innovación educativa. Se explora la
importancia de la innovación social y educativa por
separado, así como su poderosa combinación para abordar
desafíos sociales y transformar la educación. Además, se
presentan los Laboratorios de Innovación Social y Educativa
como espacios de encuentro e intercambio, donde se
generan soluciones creativas y disruptivas.
En el capítulo 2, "Inmersión en el mundo de los Laboratorios
de Innovación Social y Educativa", la autora nos sumerge en
la experiencia de participar en estos Laboratorios. Se
comparten los objetivos que guían su creación, las
metodologías utilizadas para su desarrollo y los roles y
funciones de los participantes. Este capítulo brinda una
visión panorámica de cómo se construyen y operan estos
laboratorios, sentando las bases para una comprensión más
completa de su funcionamiento.
El capítulo 3, "Procesos y prácticas para poner en marcha un
Laboratorio de Innovación Social y Educativa", nos lleva a
través de los pasos necesarios para establecer un Laboratorio
exitoso. Se explora la selección de instituciones educativas y
organizaciones participantes, el proceso de selección de
proyectos, los pasos posteriores a la selección, la evaluación
de la efectividad de las soluciones y las capacitaciones y
talleres ofrecidos. También se analiza el papel de las
tecnologías digitales en la creación de soluciones
innovadoras.
En el capítulo 4, "La acción en los Laboratorios: innovación
en marcha", nos sumergimos en el corazón de la acción.
Exploramos la inspiración y la experiencia que impulsan a
los participantes, así como las convocatorias para la
postulación de proyectos y la colaboración en los
Laboratorios. Además, se examina cómo los Laboratorios
generan resultados tangibles, informes técnicos y recursos
derivados, y se presentarán casos reales, como el Congreso
Internacional sobre Vulnerabilidad de Niñas, Adolescentes y
Mujeres y el Proyecto Mujeres Migrantes Exitosas.
Finalmente, en el capítulo 5, "Lecciones del pasado, consejos
para el futuro: reflexiones para un camino más sabio", se
extraen los aprendizajes y se comparten las buenas prácticas,
retos y dificultades encontradas. También se reflexiona sobre las implicaciones éticas y sociales de los Laboratorios, y se ofrecen recomendaciones para futuros participantes y propuestas de investigaciones futuras. Este capítulo cierra
de manera reflexiva, invitando a los lectores a considerar el
impacto y el potencial de los Laboratorios de Innovación
Social y Educativa.
Este libro es el resultado de una colaboración invaluable
entre expertos y profesionales comprometidos con la
innovación social y educativa en América Latina. Agradezco
sinceramente su dedicación y experiencia, que han
enriquecido esta obra con sus conocimientos y reflexiones.
Espero que este libro sea una fuente de inspiración y
conocimiento para todos los interesados en la innovación
social y educativa. Invito a los lectores a explorar cada
capítulo, absorber las experiencias compartidas y considerar
cómo pueden aplicar estos conocimientos en sus propios
contextos. Juntos, podemos construir un futuro más
prometedor para la educación en América Latina, a través de
la colaboración, la creatividad y la innovación.
... Their technical expertise makes them valuable assets in roles like programming, software architecture, quality assurance, and project management. In addition, women's advocacy for diversity and inclusion leads to innovative solutions that cater to a wide range of user needs [32,53,59,73]. ...
... The diverse community at UCL has contributed to the university's consistently excellent academic performance globally. A few studies suggest that diversity stimulates creativity and innovation critical for economic and intellectual progress [81]. However, diversity is not always celebrated, partly because past eugenic studies [82] manipulated people to reject differences, triggering discriminatory acts against those deemed different from the dominant white majority or mentally or physically abled majority. ...
This article presents a study that was undertaken as part of a collaborative project between a UK university and a university in Kenya. The study aimed to investigate policies and practices of Inclusion and Inclusive Education in the two universities. Here, we present how Inclusion and Inclusive Education are conceptualized in the two geographical contexts, and review literature on Inclusion, Inclusive Education, disability, race and international/refugee students to develop a theoretical framework that we use to analyze the policies and practices of the two universities in two case studies. Our preliminary findings of this analysis show that Inclusion and Inclusive Education definitions in the two contexts need to be augmented with considerations of identity. We also make recommendations for the two institutions on how they can improve their policies and practices of inclusion, generate new strategies where they are missing or review existing tools and services to evaluate. These recommendations can benefit higher education institutions in the Global North and South.
... Consequently, women struggle to feel a sense of belonging, which leads to poorer career progression and retention (Faulkner, 2009). Not only does this compromise women' s equal status, rights, and opportunities, but also lack of diversity and inclusivity have been shown to negatively impact innovation processes and outcomes (e.g., Østergaard et al., 2011;Beck and Schenker-Wicki, 2014;Hofstra et al., 2020;Jones et al., 2020;Daehn and Croxson, 2021). ...
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields that are dominated by men and masculine have historically been shown to lead to poor representation and discrimination of women and gender diverse scientists, managers, and leaders. This in turn negatively impacts inclusive innovation processes and outcomes. We claim that crop breeding is one such field that is undeniably dominated by men, and even masculine, and could therefore harbor the very same dynamics of exclusion. Yet there is a dearth of research systematically investigating how masculinities are performed in the institutions, organizations, cultures, discourses, and practices of crop breeding. In this Perspective piece, we present a theoretically informed hypothesis of crop breeding organizations as representing spaces where masculinities associated with rurality, management, and science and technology come together in ways that may marginalize women and gender diverse individuals, including in intersection with sexuality, race, ethnicity, and disability. In developing this hypothesis, we draw upon theoretical and empirical insights from masculinity studies in rural sociology, management and organization studies, and feminist technoscience studies. We demonstrate how critical men and masculinities studies can help expose masculinities in crop breeding to investigation, discussion, criticism, and change. As we seek to advance equality in and through crop breeding organizations, this framing helps to guide future research with potential to positively impact the culture of crop breeding research.
... The basis for team formation in this team evaluation heuristic is focused on the balance of personality types. As pointed out by some studies [4,24,27], team performance may be linked to the diversity of personalities found on the team. This indicator suggests that team performance is related to a well-balanced diversity of psychological types. ...
Throughout recent years, several researchers have proposed computational tools and algorithms to support team formation in the classroom. The result is that team formation algorithms have been widely applied in classroom environments to create well-balanced teams. One of the challenges in designing algorithms for automatic team formation is designing an appropriate function to estimate team performance, which is used as part of the optimization algorithm that divides students into teams. This function (referred to as a team evaluation heuristic) serves as an approximation to team performance, which is a complex phenomenon that is difficult to quantitatively assess in many settings and that cannot be accurately calculated prior to the task at hand. Despite showing their relative success compared to traditional and manual team formation strategies (manually employed by lecturers and teachers), there is a lack of research comparing team evaluation heuristics in a real classroom setting. Such a comparison would help teachers, practitioners, and system designers to appropriately select the most suitable team formation algorithms. In this article, we present an experimental evaluation that was carried out in a Bachelor’s Degree Program in Tourism that compares two team evaluation heuristics based on Belbin and Myer-Briggs. The experimental evaluation was carried out by means of an intelligent, extensible team formation tool whose optimization is based on an integer linear model that can be extended to support different team evaluation heuristics.
... Several studies in management literature have verified the favorable impact of diversity on the board of directors, executive leadership, and managerial roles in Organizations. On the other hand, when it comes to innovation, it's important to examine the innovation process itself, which typically involves innovators and entrepreneurs from various backgrounds working in smaller groups to achieve strategic goals (Jones, Chace, & Wright, 2020). Furthermore, literature has identified several benefits of board diversity, including improved board discussion, increased creativity, and innovation, better problemsolving methods, improved exchange of ideas, providing the board with new insights and perspectives, and establishing the board's understanding of the marketplace (Baker, Pandey, Kumar, & Haldar, 2020). ...
Diversity brings in different perspectives and helps to strengthen the quality of decision-making. Hence, diversity is of importance at all levels of organizations, and more so at the board level as the decisions made therein affect the long-term success of any organization. Hence, adopting a qualitative research approach in combination with a hybrid of exploratory and descriptive research methods the objective of the chapter is to enhance the understanding and deliberate on the significance of board-level diversity as a strategy to enhance organizational performance in the context of the public sector with a focus on Namibia. According to the study findings, there is moderate diversity management at the board level, which needs to be increased so as to aid in better quality decision-making to improve performance. Based on the analysis and findings there are recommendations to the Ministry of Public Enterprises (MPEs) which is the appointing authority.
The employee's relationship with the company goes far beyond the contractual commitment; it extends to the point where it reflects positively or negatively on the company's relationship with the client and the market. However, it is an organizational challenge to mobilize people towards their goals, which requires companies to see the strength of their human resources in order to strategically generate value by investing in improving the performance and commitment of their employees. The study starts with an understanding of the role of endomarketing in the business context, supported by the literature, followed by a perception of the strategies that the company (the focus of the study) uses to provide innovative services and creative solutions to its customers. The aim is to understand whether the strategic tools of endomarketing make the company more competitive, with teams of excellence and multidisciplinary, both in the Portuguese and Brazilian markets, countries in which
Employee engagement, a key driver to organisational success is greatly influenced by cultural dimensions, especially in India where their workplace blends traditional values and modern
practices. This paper investigates the convergence of cultural theoretical underpinnings, e.g., Hofstede’s dimensions (power distance and collectivism) with GLOBE style characteristics on
leadership. The article articulates how these frameworks sculpt the engagement model of Indian organisations, with a stronger emphasis on leadership, diversity, and workplace wellness.
Scholars and practitioners have come to identify culturally adaptive approaches to leadership, specifically in terms of its ideological moorings as inspiration, collaborative, and hierarchical
etiquette-based as a leading driver for employee engagement. Companies such as Infosys and the Tata Group show us how cultural diversity in HR practices (festival celebrations or learning
multiple languages) leads to growth and bucket-loads of compliance. The paper also emphasises the necessity of using culturally suitable meters to measure engagement in order to fulfil what employees expect in various settings. In addition, it examines issues of implementation problems like natural human resistance to change in pyramids and the imperative of re-adjusting policies with a dynamic cultural milieu. With case study analysis and industry reports; it offers insights into design engagement practices that will work for Indian employees. This research serves the larger conversation in employee engagement by adding a cultural critique of organisations accounting for the fine print between implementing best practices from across the globe and also adapting them into cultural delivery systems to boost productivity and organisational commitment.
In this era of globalization, educational institutions have to adapt and meet the needs of current generations. Every educational manager has four basic functions: planning, controlling, monitoring, and leading. Leading is one of the main functions that helps motivate teachers and staff so that the other three functions become easier to implement. As every individual is different, one leadership style doesn’t fit all. Thus, an educational manager should know about the nature and scope of all leadership styles and adopt a certain type of leadership to manage this current generation. In this regard, this chapter attempted to explain the nature and scope of all types of leadership styles and their contribution to school and students’ performance (Witziers et al. Educational Administration Quarterly 39:398–425, 2003). The nature and scope of the most commonly used leadership styles in education, such as managerial leadership, participative leadership, transformational leadership, interpersonal leadership, transactional leadership, post-modern leadership, contingency leadership, moral leadership, and instructional leadership (Bush, Theories of educational leadership and management (3rd edn.). SAGE Publications, 2003), have been analyzed in this chapter. In addition, limitations in light of globalization and technological advancement have been highlighted so that educational managers have knowledge of what is lacking and can address it in their capacity.
Entrepreneurship can foster innovation, creativity, and economic growth in diverse teams and organizations. Building an entrepreneurial culture in diverse teams and organizations requires understanding diversity, strategies for overcoming obstacles, developing entrepreneurial skills, and utilizing technology. This chapter examines the significance of entrepreneurship in diverse teams and organizations, the benefits of diversity in entrepreneurship, strategies for building an entrepreneurial culture, developing entrepreneurial skills, overcoming obstacles, and the role of technology in encouraging entrepreneurship.
O empreendedorismo juvenil tem se consolidado como um tema central nas discussões sobre inovação e desenvolvimento econômico nas últimas décadas. Essa transformação reflete não apenas o crescente protagonismo dos jovens em liderar iniciativas inovadoras, mas também a resposta a um cenário global marcado pela volatilidade dos mercados, pela aceleração tecnológica e pela necessidade de adaptação a demandas em constante mudança. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar um estudo que analisa os principais desafios enfrentados pelos jovens empresários, identificando estratégias para superá-los e destacando o papel das ferramentas tecnológicas nesse processo. A pesquisa aborda a evolução do perfil dos jovens empreendedores, analisando como as mudanças culturais e a transformação digital moldaram novas oportunidades e desafios. Com base em um estudo bibliográfico e na análise de casos relevantes, o artigo investiga os fatores que influenciam o sucesso empresarial juvenil, incluindo o papel crítico das tecnologias digitais, redes de apoio e políticas públicas. Além disso, discute-se como mecanismos institucionais, como incubadoras, sistemas de financiamento e programas de mentoria, podem mitigar barreiras estruturais, promovendo a inclusão econômica e social. Ao enfatizar a integração entre inovação, estratégia e suporte institucional, este trabalho oferece uma perspectiva abrangente sobre os caminhos para a sustentabilidade e o impacto do empreendedorismo juvenil no contexto global.
This paper identifies skills required for workers in Industry 4.0 in France and provides insights to guide the development of a future research agenda. The research draws on a bibliometric analysis of 80 papers, mapping the technical and interpersonal skills needed for professionals to adapt and thrive in the evolving industrial landscape. The results highlight the importance of a multidisciplinary approach integrating competences in information technology, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, data analysis, project management, interpersonal skills, adaptability, and collaboration. This holistic approach to skills development reveals six major domains: Technical, Flexibility, Inter-Agency, Soft Skills, Innovation, and Information Technology. The conclusions emphasize that the interconnection between these domains is essential to prepare a workforce capable of meeting the challenges and seizing the opportunities of Industry 4.0 in France. The research shows that there is a need for a multidisciplinary and integrated approach that combines technical and interpersonal skills in Industry 4.0 activities. It provides a solid foundation for formulating talent development strategies and educational curricula aligned with the demands of Industry 4.0. By proposing a future research agenda, this study not only highlights key areas for further exploration—economic impact, public innovation policies, and curriculum adaptation—but also contributes to the evolution of human resources in the digital transformation era.
Desain komunikasi visual bukan hanya soal
membuat karya yang indah, tetapi juga bagaimana sebuah
pesan dapat disampaikan dengan tepat dan menginspirasi
audiens. Dunia semakin terhubung secara digital,
kemampuan untuk menghasilkan desain yang kreatif dan
relevan menjadi kunci sukses dalam berbagai bidang, baik
untuk tujuan komersial, sosial, maupun edukatif. Oleh
karena itu, berpikir kreatif menjadi sebuah keterampilan
yang sangat dibutuhkan.
How public sector innovation teams take on innovation assignments has attracted insufficient attention from researchers. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the experiences of innovation teams in field-level bureaucracies in a non-Western context. In-depth interviews with 62 public bureaucrats involved in 31 district and subdistrict innovation teams in Bangladesh reveal that the team members lack innovation orientation and team-building activities, both constraining their innovation performance. It contributes to the innovation literature by explicating that several hostile organizational practices constrain team members' innovation orientation and team-building activities, which preclude them from being proper innovation teams, affecting their innovation performance.
Employee selection issues can be viewed as a complicated hybrid decision making and multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) problem. Choosing the most appropriate employee directly influences an organization's competitiveness and its sustainable development. Thus, the employee selection problem is a critical issue for an organization's success. Cultural Diversity and Ethical Climate would be among the variables that will be affected in the process of employee selection.
Cultures, socioeconomic statuses, ideas, and behaviors from all over the world come together in today's global economy. In today's globalized economy, success on a global scale requires an ability to bridge cultural gaps. When launching a culturally diverse company with international alliance-building aspirations, it is essential to grasp the significance of culture. This is usually done when there are ethnic hurdles that are in the way of a company's progress and expansion. Keeping this in mind, we set out to research and evaluate how companies handle ethnic alliances and how they integrate cultural diversity into their own operations. Examining the interconnectivities between theoretical and organizational contexts, the study explores both in depth. You can also see how extensive the changes are. Key tools to grow and sustain multicultural business alliances in this globalization environment include training, friendly collaboration, inclusivity in power sharing management, awareness of local culture, and regular preparation for necessary transformations.
A inovação é uma das formas de manter a competitividade das empresas, sendo realizada a partir de projetos tecnológicos, em que são necessários diferentes perfis dos membros das equipes que podem não estar disponíveis na região, necessitando criar equipes virtuais. O presente estudo identifica os problemas pesquisados em relação à gestão de equipes virtuais em projetos de inovação tecnológica. Essa revisão sistemática de literatura inclui 48 artigos no período de 2013 a 2023 publicados na base Scopus, identificando nove temas, sendo os principais as novas formas de coordenação, formas de colaboração entre os membros e o ambiente de trabalho. Foram apresentadas as principais revistas acadêmicas que tem publicado esses temas e as principais metodologias utilizadas. As contribuições para o campo de gestão de projetos são os aspectos de projetos de inovação tecnológica a serem aprofundados e a apresentação de 22 questões de pesquisas para orientar a evolução do campo acadêmico.
Case competitions provide a unique opportunity for students at all academic levels to amalgamate and synthesize everything they learn in the classroom into an applied real-world context utilizing the case construct. Most of these contests are ungraded, thereby allowing students, mentors, and faculty on both sides of the proverbial desk to be highly candid in their feedback without creating an uncomfortable situation, allowing it to be more constructive, affecting the culture of a traditional classroom or their grade point average, or impacting teaching evaluations. The result is often an analytically rigorous paper or PowerPoint presentation where students can adroitly demonstrate their knowledge of the concepts, effectively defend their recommendations, engage in meaningful Q&A, and follow best practices related to teamwork. This study aims to explore the mentorship and coaching strategies for case competition teams in undergraduate and graduate academic programs. The two most significant factors affecting case competition rank are “Mentor Hours” and “Effort Invested as a Team.”
The study examines the effect of strategic thinking on crisis management through innovation within the hospitality industry. The study further posits gender diversity as a pivotal boundary condition that determines the influence of strategic thinking on innovation. The study employs a quantitative method and a questionnaire for data collection. The study tests the hypotheses on a sample of 261 hospitality firms. The study found a significant indirect effect of strategic thinking on crisis management through innovation, and this relationship is augmented by the high level of gender diversity in senior management. This suggests that gender diversity acts as a catalyst for unlocking the full potential of strategic thinking to drive innovation as well as navigate crises effectively and maintain resilience amidst crises. The study adds nuances to extant literature by employing theoretical pluralism to explain the antecedents of crisis management and ultimately offering rich insight into crisis management puzzles.
This article focuses on using science fiction for military purposes to anticipate the future of warfare and presents a new tool for creating military science fiction. As technology is a significant driver in the future of warfare, science fiction has increased its popularity for military purposes. Armies and defense organizations have begun utilizing science fiction to anticipate and prepare for future wars. Examples can be found in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, and NATO. Even though military sci‐fi is on the rise, there is a lack of a more profound analysis of the sci‐fi narratives of the military and its foundations. Allied Command Transformation's, (NATO's Strategic Warfare Development Command) report called Visions of Warfare 2036 (2016) exhibits an example of military‐based science fiction employed to anticipate and get prepared for the future of warfare. It includes 12 narratives of the future of warfare varying from gene‐manipulated soldiers to AI‐generated warfare. By analyzing the report qualitatively using the Atlas.ti program and manual methods, the basic elements of the stories were identified. One of the findings of the analysis was that the stories were somewhat similar to each other. To create more diverse military science fiction scenarios, a new tool: the Military Science Fiction Scenario Card was created. This tool can be used in practical work when thinking about the war of the future and in particular the role of technology in it. It can also be seen as a new tool in the field of futures research.
Recent events like the COVID-19 pandemic but also dynamic yet consistent changes like the technological revolution have transformed the business environment but also the context for Human Resources Management. The diversification of the workforce is a fact, yet organizations very often struggle to fully use the potential of their diverse workforce. The article shows a new approach to diversity management, through the lens of dynamic capabilities, on the example of innovations show how to use diversity for organizational benefits. To examine how diversity may influence innovation an exploratory, qualitative research has been designed. Nineteen in-depth-interviews with board members and directors of IT companies have been conducted. The results show, that when focusing on innovation functional diversity, or more broad verity, are of primary importance. The analysis of the interviews allowed for the identification of three dynamic capabilities: acquiring, conversion, and application of variety which transform diversity into innovation. The article shows, to fully draw from diversity a new approach to diversity management is required. It contributes to the ongoing debate on the future and new directions for diversity management and fills an existing theoretical and research gap by adding the dynamic capabilities approach to the discussion
Underrepresentation is widespread in the software industry, resulting in problems for society, companies, and individuals. People in the technology industry who belong to underrepresented groups are using six capabilities to develop and harness their potential: perseverance, learning, work experience, communication, curiosity, and empathy. However, individual effort cannot be expected to compensate for systemic barriers, and organizations need to improve efforts to create environments where people of various backgrounds can thrive. Three ways in which organizations and individuals interested in improving representation can act are by supporting networking, cultivating inclusive leadership, and promoting the development of self-efficacy.
This chapter explores the utilization of positive psychology principles to cultivate a favourable organizational climate that promotes long-term success and the welfare of employees. Thoroughly examining fundamental elements, pivotal theories, and pragmatic approaches underscores the interdependence of constructive leadership, transparent communication, and acknowledgement of strengths. The objectives entail thoroughly comprehending positive psychology concerning organizational contexts and delivering practical implementations, theoretical insights, and interdisciplinary viewpoints. Incorporating actionable strategies, particular aspects, including leadership, trust, recognition, well-being, and engagement, are examined. Emphasis is placed on communication strategies and cultivating positive environments via strength-based approaches and deliberate workspace design. Fundamentally, cultivating a favourable organizational climate is an imperative strategy, as it fosters flourishing work environments in which personnel actively participate in the achievement of the group.
This chapter examines how educators at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) are adopting culturally responsive pedagogy and digital media tools to enrich humanities education. Based on scholarly work and culturally pertinent pedagogy, these educators empower students to investigate their cultural identities, cultivate critical thinking, and advance digital literacy. Strategies include curating digital content with cultural relevance, collaborative publication initiatives, and the utilization of e-books and multimedia components. Blogs and bookmaking initiatives encourage students to engage in cultural dialogues actively. By incorporating digital media, HBCUs and HSIs prepare students for a multicultural, globalized world. This chapter highlights transformative practices that promote cultural comprehension and celebrate diversity.
Globalization, interconnectivity, and instant access to information have multiplied the complexity of the problems industries are facing. A new way of looking, feeling and thinking is necessary that will lead to richer strategies and new tools to create organizations that have a positive impact on their environment and culture. High performance teams driving innovation are built with goal-focused individuals, from cross-functional backgrounds. They come together to collaborate on solving particular challenges of achieving an objective. The current study aims to analyze the creative process within ad hoc mission driven teams and propose a design framework for organisational practices. Strategic design transforms complex problems into sustainable solutions, by focusing on systemic innovation. Unlike design thinking, which is a formal method used mainly in the consultant model, strategic design is a design practice applied on organisations culture, policy, governance, and strategy. Questions such as how to run mission-driven teams to function on their own and how to reduce micromanagement and oversight and focus on the production, testing and iteration of innovative solutions, will be addressed. The analysis is based on qualitative and basic research, with the focus on one case-study. The paper aims to offer new perspectives to organisational leaders and team managers on how to design solutions for cultural practices that are aligned with sustainable industry goals and business performance.
Globalization, interconnectivity, and instant access to information have multiplied the complexity of the problems industries are facing. A new way of looking, feeling and thinking is necessary that will lead to richer strategies and new tools to create organizations that have a positive impact on their environment and culture. High performance teams driving innovation are built on goal-focused individuals, from cross-functional backgrounds. They are assembled to collaborate on solving particular challenges of achieving an objective. The current study aims to analyze the creative process within ad hoc mission driven teams and propose a design framework for organizational practices. Strategic design transforms complex problems into sustainable solutions, by focusing on systemic innovation. Unlike design thinking, which is a formal method used mainly in the consultant model, strategic design is a design practice applied on organizations culture, policy, governance, and strategy. Questions such as how to run mission-driven teams to function on their own and how to reduce micromanagement and oversight and focus on the production, testing and iteration of innovative solutions, will be addressed. The study is based on qualitative research, with the focus on exploring case-studies and conducting interviews. The paper helps organizational leaders and team managers to design solutions for cultural practices that are aligned with sustainable industry goals and business performance.
It is commonly assumed that a person’s emotional state can be readily inferred from his or her facial movements, typically called emotional expressions or facial expressions. This assumption influences legal judgments, policy decisions, national security protocols, and educational practices; guides the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric illness, as well as the development of commercial applications; and pervades everyday social interactions as well as research in other scientific fields such as artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and computer vision. In this article, we survey examples of this widespread assumption, which we refer to as the common view, and we then examine the scientific evidence that tests this view, focusing on the six most popular emotion categories used by consumers of emotion research: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. The available scientific evidence suggests that people do sometimes smile when happy, frown when sad, scowl when angry, and so on, as proposed by the common view, more than what would be expected by chance. Yet how people communicate anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise varies substantially across cultures, situations, and even across people within a single situation. Furthermore, similar configurations of facial movements variably express instances of more than one emotion category. In fact, a given configuration of facial movements, such as a scowl, often communicates something other than an emotional state. Scientists agree that facial movements convey a range of information and are important for social communication, emotional or otherwise. But our review suggests an urgent need for research that examines how people actually move their faces to express emotions and other social information in the variety of contexts that make up everyday life, as well as careful study of the mechanisms by which people perceive instances of emotion in one another. We make specific research recommendations that will yield a more valid picture of how people move their faces to express emotions and how they infer emotional meaning from facial movements in situations of everyday life. This research is crucial to provide consumers of emotion research with the translational information they require.
The facial feedback hypothesis suggests that an individual’s experience of emotion is influenced by feedback from their facial movements. To evaluate the cumulative evidence for this hypothesis, we conducted a meta-analysis on 286 effect sizes derived from 138 studies that manipulated facial feedback and collected emotion self-reports. Using random effects meta-regression with robust variance estimates, we found that the overall effect of facial feedback was significant, but small. Results also indicated that feedback effects are stronger in some circumstances than others. We examined 12 potential moderators, and three were associated with differences in effect sizes. 1. Type of emotional outcome: Facial feedback influenced emotional experience (e.g., reported amusement) and, to a greater degree, affective judgments of a stimulus (e.g., the objective funniness of a cartoon). Three publication bias detection methods did not reveal evidence of publication bias in studies examining the effects of facial feedback on emotional experience, but all three methods revealed evidence of publication bias in studies examining affective judgments. 2. Presence of emotional stimuli: Facial feedback effects on emotional experience were larger in the absence of emotionally evocative stimuli (e.g., cartoons). 3. Type of stimuli: When participants were presented with emotionally evocative stimuli, facial feedback effects were larger in the presence of some types of stimuli (e.g., emotional sentences) than others (e.g., pictures). The available evidence supports the facial feedback hypothesis’ central claim that facial feedback influences emotional experience, although these effects tend to be small and heterogeneous.
Collaborations among researchers and across disciplinary, organizational, and cultural boundaries are vital to address increasingly complex challenges and opportunities in science and society. In addition, unprecedented technological advances create new opportunities to capitalize on a broader range of expertise and information in scientific collaborations. Yet rapid increases in the demand for scientific collaborations have outpaced changes in the factors needed to support teams in science, such as institutional structures and policies, scientific culture, and funding opportunities. The Science of Team Science (SciTS) field arose with the goal of empirically addressing questions from funding agencies, administrators, and scientists regarding the value of team science (TS) and strategies for successfully leading, engaging in, facilitating, and supporting science teams. Closely related fields have rich histories studying teams, groups, organizations, and management and have built a body of evidence for effective teaming in contexts such as industry and the military. Yet few studies had focused on science teams. Unique contextual factors within the scientific enterprise create an imperative to study these teams in context, and provide opportunities to advance understanding of other complex forms of collaboration. This review summarizes the empirical findings from the SciTS literature, which center around five key themes: the value of TS, team composition and its influence on TS performance, formation of science teams, team processes central to effective team functioning, and institutional influences on TS. Cross-cutting issues are discussed in the context of new research opportunities to further advance SciTS evidence and better inform policies and practices for effective TS.
In this descriptive – correlative study we examined the relationship between big five personality traits with cultural intelligence in 113 active soccer coaches in the city of Mashhad in north-eastern of Iran. Anget. al (2004) cultural intelligence (CI) and Costa & McCrae (1992) Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI questionnaires were used to obtain coaches’ rate of cultural intelligence and personality traits. The results of the study revealed a significant positive relationship between personality traits (except for neuroticism) with Cultural intelligence. A significant reverse relationship was observed between neuroticism and Cultural intelligence. A significant difference was observed between coaches with A and B coaching degree, in comparison with C and D coaching degree in terms of cultural intelligence. No significant difference was observed between these two groups regarding personality traits. Our results show that some of the personality characteristics are crucial and related to a capability to function effectively in diverse settings.
Smiling individuals are usually perceived more favorably than non-smiling ones - they are judged as happier, more attractive, competent, and friendly. These seemingly clear and obvious consequences of smiling are assumed to be culturally universal, however most of the psychological research is carried out in WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) and the influence of culture on social perception of nonverbal behavior is still understudied. Here we show that a smiling individual may be judged as less intelligent than the same non-smiling individual in cultures low on the GLOBE’s uncertainty avoidance dimension. Furthermore, we show that corruption at the societal level may undermine the prosocial perception of smiling – in societies with high corruption indicators, trust toward smiling individuals is reduced. This research fosters understanding of the cultural framework surrounding nonverbal communication processes and reveals that in some cultures smiling may lead to negative attributions.
Despite an increasing number of publications on cultural intelligence (CQ), the operationalization and conceptualization of this construct demand further attention. In this replication study among 308 experienced overseas Chinese respondents, a two-dimensional structure seems to better represent the data than the original four-dimensional CQ scale. The results of the analysis identify two new dimensions: internalized cultural knowledge and effective cultural flexibility, both of which exhibit satisfactory levels of reliability and validity. A series of regression analyses also provide assessments of the nomological validity of the new CQ dimensions in relation to their antecedents and consequences.
By examining the ethnic identity of authors in over 2.5 million scientific papers written by US-based authors from 1985 to 2008, we find that persons of similar ethnicity coauthor together more frequently than predicted by their proportion among authors. The greater homophily is associated with publication in lower-impact journals and with fewer citations. Meanwhile, papers with authors in more locations and with longer reference lists get published in higher-impact journals and receive more citations. These findings suggest that diversity in inputs by author ethnicity, location, and references leads to greater contributions to science as measured by impact factors and citations.
It is understood that although critical thinking and problem solving are recognized as skills that are essential for success, particularly in the 21st century Digital Economy, they are not explicitly taught as part of the curriculum in many educational institutions. To make a contribution to an understanding of how critical thinking and problem solving can be taught effectively, the present paper draws upon the work of one of the leaders in critical thinking and problem solving to illustrate how these skills could be taught using De Bono's Six Thinking Hats Model. Following an exposition of the key tenets of De Bono's Model, the paper discusses how each of the Six Thinking Hats could be used in an effective pedagogy.
This study investigated whether eye contact perception differs in people with different cultural backgrounds. Finnish (European) and Japanese (East Asian) participants were asked to determine whether Finnish and Japanese neutral faces with various gaze directions were looking at them. Further, participants rated the face stimuli for emotion and other affect-related dimensions. The results indicated that Finnish viewers had a smaller bias toward judging slightly averted gazes as directed at them when judging Finnish rather than Japanese faces, while the bias of Japanese viewers did not differ between faces from their own and other cultural backgrounds. This may be explained by Westerners experiencing more eye contact in their daily life leading to larger visual experience of gaze perception generally, and to more accurate perception of eye contact with people from their own cultural background particularly. The results also revealed cultural differences in the perception of emotion from neutral faces that could also contribute to the bias in eye contact perception.
SUMMARY—As the workplace has become increasingly diverse, there has been a tension between the promise and the reality of diversity in team process and performance. The optimistic view holds that diversity will lead to an increase in the variety of perspectives and approaches brought to a problem and to opportunities for knowledge sharing, and hence lead to greater creativity and quality of team performance. However, the preponderance of the evidence favors a more pessimistic view: that diversity creates social divisions, which in turn create negative performance outcomes for the group.
Here we present the first empirical evidence to support the hypothesis that a gender-heterogeneous problem-solving team generally produced journal articles perceived to be higher quality by peers than a team comprised of highly-performing individuals of the same gender. Although women were historically underrepresented as principal investigators of working groups, their frequency as PIs at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis is now comparable to the national frequencies in biology and they are now equally qualified, in terms of their impact on the accumulation of ecological knowledge (as measured by the h-index). While women continue to be underrepresented as working group participants, peer-reviewed publications with gender-heterogeneous authorship teams received 34% more citations than publications produced by gender-uniform authorship teams. This suggests that peers citing these publications perceive publications that also happen to have gender-heterogeneous authorship teams as higher quality than publications with gender uniform authorship teams. Promoting diversity not only promotes representation and fairness but may lead to higher quality science.
Scholars have invoked subgroups in a number of theories related to teams, yet certain tensions in the literature remain unresolved. In this article, we address 2 of these tensions, both relating to how subgroups are configured in work teams: (a) whether teams perform better with a greater number of subgroups and (b) whether teams perform better when they have imbalanced subgroups (majorities and minorities are present) or balanced subgroups (subgroups are of equal size). We predict that the impact of the number and balance of subgroups depends on the type of subgroup-whether subgroups are formed according to social identity (i.e., identity-based subgroups) or information processing (i.e., knowledge-based subgroups). We first propose that teams are more adversely affected by 2 identity-based subgroups than by any other number, yet the uniquely negative impact of a 2-subgroup configuration is not apparent for knowledge-based subgroups. Instead, a larger number of knowledge-based subgroups is beneficial for performance, such that 2 subgroups is worse for performance when compared with 3 or more subgroups but better for performance when compared with no subgroups or 1 subgroup. Second, we argue that teams perform better when identity-based subgroups are imbalanced yet knowledge-based subgroups are balanced. We also suggest that there are interactive effects between the number and balance of subgroups-however, the nature of this interaction depends on the type of subgroup. To test these predictions, we developed and validated an algorithm that measures the configurational properties of subgroups in organizational work teams. Results of a field study of 326 work teams from a multinational organization support our predictions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
To understand why the virtual design strategies that organizations create to foster innovation may in fact hinder it, we unpack four characteristics often associated with the term ‘virtuality’ (geographic dispersion, electronic dependence, structural dynamism, and national diversity) and argue that each hinders innovation through unique mechanisms, many of which can be overcome by creating a psychologically safe communication climate. We first tested the plausibility of our arguments using in-depth qualitative analysis of interviews with 177 members of 14 teams in a variety of industries. A second study constituted a more formal test of hypotheses using survey data collected from 266 members of 56 aerospace design teams. Results show that the four characteristics are not highly intercorrelated, that they have independent and differential effects on innovation, and that a psychologically safe communication climate helps mitigate the challenges they pose. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and research.
Geert Hofstede’s legendary national culture research is critiqued. Crucial assumptions which underlie his claim to have uncovered the secrets of entire national cultures are described and challenged. The plausibility of systematically causal national cultures is questioned.
The authors revisited the demographic diversity variable and team performance relationship using meta-analysis and took a significant departure from previous meta-analyses by focusing on specific demographic variables (e.g., functional background, organizational tenure) rather than broad categories (e.g., highly job related, less job related). They integrated different conceptualizations of diversity (i.e., separation, variety, disparity) into the development of their rationale and hypotheses for specific demographic diversity variable—team performance relationships. Furthermore, they contrasted diversity with the team mean on continuous demographic variables when elevated levels of a variable, as opposed to differences, were more logically related to team performance. Functional background variety diversity had a small positive relationship with general team performance as well as with team creativity and innovation. The relationship was strongest for design and product development teams. Educational background variety diversity was related to team creativity and innovation and to team performance for top management teams. Other variables generally thought to increase task-relevant knowledge (e.g., organizational tenure) and team performance were unrelated to team performance, although these variables were almost never studied as the variety conceptualization (i.e., the conceptualization that can reflect the breadth of knowledge that can be applied to the task). Team mean organizational tenure was related to team performance in terms of efficiency. Race and sex variety diversity had small negative relationships with team performance, whereas age diversity was unrelated to team performance regardless of diversity conceptualization. Implications for staffing teams and future research are discussed.
We examine relationships between Big Five personality and the four-factor model of cultural intelligence (CQ)—metacognitive CQ, cognitive CQ, motivational CQ, and behavioral CQ. Hierarchical regression analyses conducted on data from 338 business undergraduates—after controlling for age, gender, and years of experience in interacting with people from other cultures—show significant links between (a) conscientiousness and metacognitive CQ; (b) agreeableness and emotional stability with behavioral CQ; (c) extra version with cognitive, motivational, and behavioral CQ; and (d) openness with all four factors of CQ. The intriguing finding of this study is that openness was the only Big Five that was significantly related to all four aspects of CQ. This differs from prior research on openness that found few significant relationships. Our results show that openness to experience is a crucial personality characteristic that is related to a person’s capability to function effectively in diverse cultural settings (CQ).
The purpose of this review was to examine published research on small-group development done in the last ten years that would constitute an empirical test of Tuckman's (1965) hypothesis that groups go through the stages of "forming," "storming," "norming," and "performing." Of the twenty-two studies reviewed, only one set out to directly test this hypothesis, although many of the others could be related to it. Following a review of these studies, a fifth stage, "adjourning," was added to the hypothesis, and more empirical work was recommended.
Are claims to describe and measure cultural intelligence credible? Three major objections are discussed: (a) Cultures are said to be entirely relative in their values, so holding one culture to be more intelligent than another is discriminatory; (b) cultural studies are said to be a form of postmodernism, whereas to have one central definition of culture is modernist—an imposition of our own dominant beliefs; and (c) attempts to categorize cultures are said to be crude stereotypes lacking subject. The answer to the first objection is the synergy hypothesis: Values are relative, but they are more or less synergistic. The answer to the second objection is the complementary hypothesis: Cultures are different, even polar opposites, yet they converge in a fuller description. The answer to the third objection is the latency hypothesis, for which every value is given face value and its latent shadow lies behind it.
Over the past few decades, a great deal of research has been conducted to examine the complex relationship between team diversity and team outcomes. However, the impact of team diversity on team outcomes and moderating variables potentially affecting this relationship are still not fully answered with mixed findings in the literature. These research issues were, therefore, addressed by quantitatively reviewing extant work and provided estimates of the relationship between team diversity and team outcomes. In particular, the effects of task-related and bio-demographic diversity at the group-level were meta-analyzed to test the hypothesis of synergistic performance resulting from diverse employee teams. Support was found for the positive impact of task-related diversity on team performance although bio-demographic diversity was not significantly related to team performance. Similarly, no discernible effect of team diversity was found on social integration. The implications of the review for future research and practices are also discussed.
This study has carried out a review of the literature appearing on diversity in the last 50 years. Research findings from
this period reveal it is impossible to assume there is a pure and simple relationship between diversity and performance without
considering a series of variables that affect this relationship. In this study, emphasis has been placed on the analysis of
results arrived at through empirical investigation on the relation between the most studied dimensions of diversity and performance.
The results presented are part of a more extensive research.
Purpose
The innovative capacity of an organization is typically realized through unit-level teams. Previous studies correlate innovation performance with cultural diversity of teams, but note that team dynamics need to be optimized to derive maximum benefit. Herein, this study offers an assessment of available team building instruments through the lens of diverse innovation teams. In a demonstration project in the pharmaceutical industry, this study then outlines specific tools and approaches which can be successfully deployed through team coaching and mentoring.
Design/methodology/approach
A cluster of nine innovation teams with varying degrees of cultural diversity was provided with assessment and management instruments which had been identified and field tested by a mentoring team. Content included cultural awareness tools, innovation team profiling methods and Team Science (SciTS) ideology. Teams were funded, coached and mentored through a six-month performance period and assessed at regular intervals.
Findings
Team assessments provided correlations between performance (measured by project completion and new intellectual property generated) and diversity together with wealth of information on intra-team culture and dynamics. Concrete recommendations from the study include adoption of appropriate communication standards to promote inclusivity, use of SciTS operational tracking metrics to enhance engagement, use of the FourSight group profiling methodology and cultural quotient scale cultural awareness instruments at team-forming stage to promote effective dynamics and enhance inclusivity.
Practical implications
Cultural diversity has a positive impact on innovation teams. This said, for maximum benefit cultural awareness of team members should be optimized to avoid unintended conflicts developing. Such issues can be exacerbated when teams are deployed remotely and preventative measures should be established. These issues became of heightened significance as a result of telecommuting imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and have longer-term implications, as corporations consider global air travel reduction through environmental concerns. A tracking tool is described to monitor team engagement and promote inclusivity. It is expected that the learnings can influence how teams can best form, normalize and operate within corporate innovation programs and form the basis of long-term impact studies.
Originality/value
This represents the first systematic study on the impact of cultural diversity and team dynamics within innovation programs in the pharmaceutical industry. The tools and methodologies deployed are widely available and can be adopted by innovation teams in many adjacent industries with established innovation ecosystems.
Automatic recognition of emotion from facial expressions is an intense area of research, with a potentially long list of important application. Yet, the study of emotion requires knowing which facial expressions are used within and across cultures in the wild, not in controlled lab conditions; but such studies do not exist. Which and how many cross-cultural and cultural-specific facial expressions do people commonly use? And, what affect variables does each expression communicate to observers? If we are to design technology that understands the emotion of users, we need answers to these two fundamental questions. In this paper, we present the first large-scale study of the production and visual perception of facial expressions of emotion in the wild. We find that of the 16,384 possible facial configurations that people can theoretically produce, only 35 are successfully used to transmit emotive information across cultures, and only 8 within a smaller number of cultures. Crucially, we find that visual analysis of cross-cultural expressions yields consistent perception of emotion categories and valence, but not arousal. In contrast, visual analysis of cultural-specific expressions yields consistent perception of valence and arousal, but not of emotion categories. Additionally, we find that the number of expressions used to communicate each emotion is also different.
I find that a firm's innovation output increases with the number of collaborative linkages maintained by it, the number of structural holes it spans, and the number of partners of its partners. However, innovation is negatively related to the interaction between spanning many structural holes and having partners with many partners.
This study attempts to investigate the influence of the Big Five personality traits and self-efficacy (SE) on entrepreneurial intentions. It also aims to find out whether the influence of a set of personality traits and SE on entrepreneurial intention differs across gender. The target population of this study was students enrolled in Bachelor of Technology (BTech). The results offer support for the relation of openness, neuroticism, conscientiousness and agreeableness, and SE with entrepreneurial intention—except on the relation of extraversion and entrepreneurial intention. Based on the findings, the study argues that the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and Big Five personality traits is moderated, at least partially, by gender.
For decades,some of the most popular devices used in educating students and employees tothe values of diversity are those that are based on a four-grid identification of behavior style. The results from the scoring of the instruments provide individual profiles in terms of a persons assertiveness, responsiveness, and preferred tone of interacting with his environment. In the past decade, a five-factor framework has gained in popularity as an assessment instrument. The scope of the current paper is a comparison of a four-factor instrument (questionnaire)to a five-factor instrument (questionnaire) to establish correlations between the two. If the information can be seen as being complimentary rather than disconnected, then users will benefit from synergy as they encounter different instruments throughout their careers. Also, duplication of effort in terms of using multiple instruments may be reduced.
An evaluation of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is made using a ''unified view'' of test validity (e.g., Messick, 1981). The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is an assessment of personality based on Jung's theory of types. During the past decade, the test has received considerable attention and use in a variety of applied settings. The unified view of validation requires that validity be considered as an approach that requires many sources of corroboration. This procedure contrasts with previous procedures that tended to focus on single validation procedures (e.g., construct validation). A review of the available literature suggests that there is insufficient evidence to support the tenets of and claims about the utility of the test.
The wealth of the most developed nations, and, to a large extent their economic growth, can be explained by the capacities to generate research, create knowledge, appropriate it and transform it into new technologies. The study of the dynamics and contemporary mechanisms for the circulation, access, and commercial application of knowledge is an urgent task, since the capabilities related to technological change appear increasingly to be the path for developing countries to move away from their condition on the periphery. Knowledge Generation and Protection, edited by Jorge Mario Martanez-Piva, and showcasing research from academics, policymakers, and consultants, offers an analysis of three fundamental topics. The first is whether strengthening protection of intellectual property encourages or hinders technological learning and innovation in the developing countries. The second addresses the way in which knowledge is generated and how it is transformed into useful technology for the market, that is, how national innovation systems work. The third is the role of public policy as an instrument for innovation and for regulating intellectual property. Chapters explore the relationships among intellectual property, innovation, economic development, and policy in depth, with particular attention to such emerging topics as the impact of trade agreements on intellectual property rights and sensitive issues for developing countries such as access to medicines, and protection of biological diversity, living organisms, and traditional knowledge. Several chapters focus on Mexico, which serves as an important example as the only developing nation that is a member of OECD and has a rich history of industrial policy, science and technology policy, and trade openness. The concluding chapter argues that if developing countries seek to develop dynamic competitiveness based on knowledge and innovation in the present context of rigorous intellectual property regulations, they should take a leap in their science and technology policies to take advantage of the growing world market and open up long-term development paths.
Innovation is apparently considered as vital, since it is one of the highest priorities of top management according to a recent CEO survey. Most managers work on the late innovation process, which is characterized by defined processes, clear procedures, and documented responsibilities and roles, despite knowing that the real leverage in generating new ideas and improving the competitiveness of innovation lies in the early stages, the so-called 'fuzzy front end of innovation' (FFEI). Rather than relying on long decision times before a project really starts, a company has to take the decision which opportunities and ideas to select and to pursue fast, even if this is associated with uncertainty and risk. The right mix of methods and processes to gather and analyze information can help to identify drivers of risk, reduce uncertainties, and thus take some fuzziness out of the front end of innovation, while at the same time entrepreneurial spirit that accepts risk and welcomes risk-taking is needed. Process leadership is not unimportant either, but the key capability is being good at managing people, i.e., finding the right people, setting up a good network, coaching the teams, identifying the creative potential of individuals, and providing them with a strong vision and direction. For these reasons, effectively managing the fuzzy front end of innovation is one of the most important, and simultaneously challenging, activities of innovation managers. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland. All rights are reserved.
The way in which people address one another is crucial to expressing social relationships and is closely linked with cultural values. In English we call some people by their first names, and others 'Mr' or 'Ms', followed by their surname. In some other languages there are different ways of saying 'you' depending on the degree of social distance. Exploring practices in the family, school, university, the workplace and in letters, this book reveals patterns in the varied ways people choose to address one another, from pronouns to first names, from honorifics to titles and last names. Examples are taken from contemporary English, French, German and Swedish, using rich data from focus group research, interviews, chat groups, and participant observation.
A revealing investigation into the different ways people choose to address each other
Data is derived from multiple sources, such as focus groups, interviews and participant observation
Explores address practices in a variety of situations including the family, school and the workplace
Explores the relationship between culture and innovation. Discusses culture at some length, noting some differences between national behaviours - such as the relative importance of a group versus an individual. Infers that existing cultural conditions determine the way in which innovations are adopted. Indicates that cultures which value creativity, technical ability and higher education are more successful at adopting innovations. Identifies a relationship between innovation and the status given to entrepreneurial efforts. Suggests that cultures emphasizing individualism and freedom are more likely to be creative and, therefore, to benefit more from innovative ideas. Refers to previous studies on culture and innovation (mentioning Hofstede's work). Investigates the role religion plays, in particular the cultural bias against technology that is prevalent in traditionalist religious countries. Concludes that strongly religious countries are not receptive to innovation.
We investigated persuasiveness as a social outcome of the ability to produce a deliberate Duchenne smile in a role-play task and of a participant’s use of a Duchenne smile while persuading someone in a live interaction. Participants were tasked with persuading an experimenter to drink a pleasant and unpleasant tasting juice as well as not drink a pleasant and unpleasant juice while being videotaped. Participants’ deliberate Duchenne smiling ability was measured by asking participants to smile while acting out “genuine happiness” and also to mask imagined negative affect with a smile. Smiles in the deliberate Duchenne smiling task and the persuasion task were coded for presence of the Duchenne marker, and naïve viewers of the persuasion task made ratings of how pleasant they thought the juice was. Results showed further evidence that a sizeable minority of people can deliberately produce a Duchenne smile and showed that those with this ability are more persuasive. When persuading to drink the pleasant tasting juice, the correlation between the ability to produce a deliberate Duchenne smile and persuasion was partially due to the use of the Duchenne smile while persuading, but this was not the case with the unpleasant tasting juice. When persuading to drink the unpleasant juice, participants who could deliberately put on the Duchenne smile were more persuasive but their persuasiveness was not the result of using a Duchenne smile during the persuasion task.
Cultural intelligence (CQ) – the capability to function effectively in intercultural settings – has gained increasing attention from researchers and practitioners due to its contemporary relevance to globalization, international management, and workforce diversification. Research-to-date demonstrates that CQ predicts a variety of important outcomes in intercultural contexts, such as cultural adaptation, expatriate performance, global leadership, intercultural negotiation, and multicultural team processes. Moving beyond past research that tends to focus on the four primary factors of CQ – metacognitive CQ, cognitive CQ, motivational CQ, and behavioral CQ, we introduce an expanded conceptualization of CQ that delineates sub-dimensions for each of the four factors. We briefly review psychometric evidence supporting the proposed second order 11-factor structure and convergent/discriminant validity of the sub-dimensions. We propose that the next wave of CQ research should be guided by a deeper understanding of each of four factors of CQ.
This study investigates the relative performance changes of multicultural teams (MCTs) over time, as well as the relationship between cultural intelligence (CQ) and performance in MCTs. More specifically, we argue that MCTs' CQ alleviates the adverse effect of cultural diversity on team performance, thereby demonstrating the importance of CQ for multicultural teams. Using data from 73 project groups comprising 327 members, the results have demonstrated that the degree of cultural diversity on MCTs influences team performance over time, and that those teams with higher levels of CQ tend to gradually exhibit higher rates of performance improvement. In addition, the results indicate that CQ moderates the relationship between cultural diversity and team performance.
Recent years have witnessed the emergence of a number of tests that measure cross-cultural competence; yet to date there is no review of their validity and reliability. This article addresses this gap in the literature. We discuss issues associated with evaluation of the content, construct, and ecological validity of such tests, and review the evidence for 10 tests. We evaluate that evidence, draw conclusions about the tests with the best evidence for ecological validity, and provide recommendations for future research in this area.
Discusses the literature on cross-cultural diversity and team building in a global context. Argues that diversity is to be valued, not seen as a problem. Outlines a framework for building cultural understanding and awareness. Proposes a model for developing effective international management teams.
An evaluation of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is made using a “unified view” of test validity (e.g., Messick, 1981). The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is an assessment of personality based on Jung’s theory of types. During the past decade, the test has received considerable attention and use in a variety of applied settings. The unified view of validation requires that validity be considered as an approach that requires many sources of corroboration. This procedure contrasts with previous procedures that tended to focus on single validation procedures (e.g., construct validation). A review of the available literature suggests that there is insufficient evidence to support the tenets of and claims about the utility of the test.
To assess the effects of a firm's network of relations on innovation, this paper elaborates a theoretical framework that relates three aspects of a firm's ego network—direct ties, indirect ties, and structural holes (disconnections between a firm's partners)—to the firm's subsequent innovation output. It posits that direct and indirect ties both have a positive impact on innovation but that the impact of indirect ties is moderated by the number of a firm's direct ties. Structural holes are proposed to have both positive and negative influences on subsequent innovation. Results from a longitudinal study of firms in the international chemicals industry indicate support for the predictions on direct and indirect ties, but in the interfirm collaboration network, increasing structural holes has a negative effect on innovation. Among the implications for interorganizational network theory is that the optimal structure of interfirm networks depends on the objectives of the network members.
Hofstede's (1984, 2001) work on work-related cultural dimensions has been regarded as a paradigm in the field of cross cultural studies. Specifically, his country classification on five work-related cultural values, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity-femininity, individualism-collectivism, and Confucian work dynamics, have been frequently cited by researchers in the past few decades. While his work has been used effectively, his data were collected 30 years ago and have become dated. By collecting data from one Eastern culture, Taiwan, and one Western Culture, the United States, this study has updated and re-examined Hofstede's (1984, 2001) cultural dimensions in these two cultures. In addition, this study has extended Hofstede's work by investigating occupational culture in the higher education setting. The results of this study suggested that work-related cultural values in a specific culture are not static and can be changed over time. When the political, societal, and economic environments change, people's cultural values also change. Thus, many cultural theories should be updated and re-evaluated periodically.
The under-representation of women on boards is a heavily discussed topic – not only in Germany. Based on critical mass theory and with the help of a hand-collected panel data set of 151 listed German firms for the years 2000-2005, we explore whether the link between gender diversity and firm performance follows a U-shape. Controlling for reversed causality, we find evidence for gender diversity to at first negatively affect firm performance and – only after a “critical mass” of about 30 percent women has been reached – to be associated with higher firm performance than completely male boards. Given our sample firms, the critical mass of 30 percent women translates into an absolute number of about three women on the board and hence supports recent studies on a corresponding “magic number” of women in the boardroom.
In virtually all economic analyses, differences among firms in the same line of business are repressed, or assumed to reflect differences in the market environments that they face. In contrast, for students of business management and strategy, firm differences are at the heart of their inquiry. This paper explores the reasons behind this stark difference in viewpoint. It argues that economists really ought to recognize firm differences explicitly.
abstract We enhance the theoretical precision of cultural intelligence (CQ: capability to function effectively in culturally diverse settings) by developing and testing a model that posits differential relationships between the four CQ dimensions (metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioural) and three intercultural effectiveness outcomes (cultural judgment and decision making, cultural adaptation and task performance in culturally diverse settings). Before testing the model, we describe development and cross-validation (N = 1,360) of the multidimensional cultural intelligence scale (CQS) across samples, time and country. We then describe three substantive studies (N = 794) in field and educational development settings across two national contexts, the USA and Singapore. The results demonstrate a consistent pattern of relationships where metacognitive CQ and cognitive CQ predicted cultural judgment and decision making; motivational CQ and behavioural CQ predicted cultural adaptation; and metacognitive CQ and behavioural CQ predicted task performance. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our model and findings.
We propose that senior expatriates' visionary-transformational leadership influences the rate of innovation adoption in the organizations or units they head, but cultural intelligence moderates this relationship. Our hypotheses were tested with data from 153 senior expatriate managers and 695 subordinates from companies in all 27 countries of the European Union. We found a direct influence of senior expatriates' visionary-transformational leadership on the rate of innovation adoption. Cultural intelligence moderates the effect of senior expatriates' leadership on organizational innovation, but not on product-market innovation. Implications for academic research and business practice are discussed.