Symposium

The goal of this symposium is to bring researchers and practitioners together to seek out and build common frameworks for discussion. We hope to provide a meeting ground for dialogical discourse around diverse approaches to leadership theory and practice, with an eye to developing models for implementation. To facilitate interaction among participants, symposium will regularly include invited responses to specific topics of popular and scholarly leadership. In future issues, we plan to include individual opinions and panel discussions concerning various practical issues that are timely and relevant to leadership research. We also invite candid reflective responses to issues and ideas discussed in this symposium. Please send responses to managingeditor@phoenix.edu. Note: Only those responses selected for publication will be acknowledged. – The Editors     

Introduction

The new education must be less concerned with sophistication than compassion. It must recognize the hazards of tribalism. It must teach man the most difficult lesson of all—to look at someone anywhere in the world and be able to see the image of himself. The old emphasis upon superficial differences that separate peoples must give way to education for citizenship in the human community. With such an education and with such self‐understanding, it is possible that some nation or people may come forward with the vital inspiration that men need no less than food. Leadership on this higher level does not require mountains of gold or thundering propaganda. It is concerned with human destiny. Human destiny is the issue. People will respond. Norman Cousins The preceding quote provides a powerful message grounded in the idea that our world is becoming increasingly smaller and it is becoming increasingly difficult to make local decisions without global consequences. However, Cousins' quote also indicates the complexity and enormity of the issues facing leadership. To address the development of intercultural communities through humanistic means, leaders will be challenged to create innovative paradigms and practices along with educational curricula that will create the impetus for the development of future global leaders. This scenario is further complicated, as leadership educators will be asked to innovate and attend to the needs of their learners within a system of depleted resources. Higher education and corporate training have been forced to endure the reduction of resources stemming from growing economic concerns. Such diminished resources have created a considerable challenge for leadership educators, as they attempt to develop learners who are competent and equipped with the skills to work with intercultural populations. Parsons (2005) wrote that divisions within the federal government have created the need for new alternatives for learning within higher education, as government funds exacerbated by domestic spending limitations are now, and will be in the foreseeable future, diverted to other priorities. It is unlikely that leaders like Claiborne Pell or Robert Stafford will be walking through the proverbial door and onto the national landscape anytime soon, considering the depletion of the national treasury and the bipartisan struggles facing Congress. Thus, the plight of our learners will fall to the innovative capacities of our educators to create opportunities for growth through alternative means and innovative practice. Where in the past immersion provided the opportunity for the development of these learners, the future will force educators to consider much different methodologies in an effort to develop the necessary competencies for successful interactions with global populations. This symposium addresses the challenge. The symposium provides a collection of scholarly perspectives exploring innovative practices aimed at preparing learners for the work that they do with intercultural communities. With respect to the competing resource limitations, the symposium specifically addresses innovative practices within nonimmersive contexts. Through the symposium, the authors have addressed the cognitive, behavioral, and affective competencies that aspiring leaders need to be successful in global contexts. The following contributions focus on the importance, issues, and methods of developing global competence as a vital piece of leadership education.     

Introduction

This symposium addresses the challenge of educating global leaders through a collection of scholarly perspectives and practices that focus the development of global leadership and intercultural competency, specifically through immersive international contexts. Through this symposium, we addressed the cognitive, behavioral, and affective competencies that aspiring leaders need to be successful in global contexts. It focuses on the importance, issues, and methods of developing global competence as part of leadership education. Although this symposium is timely, global and intercultural competence is not new. Scholars of 19th‐century Europe shaped the original thoughts of global competence. Their focus was internationalization through colonial conquering, and the ultimate goal was to “learn from the West” (Baumgratz, 1995). This globalization piece did not gain much attention on an international scale. In fact, many managers in the 1960s and 1970s did not consider the international piece of business to be of much importance, often with very small specialized operational departments as the sole contributor to globalization within organizations (Morrison, 2000). However, a rapid shift of perspective occurred in the 1980s when the rise of Japanese businesses began to bring to focus the importance of global leadership. The climate of this theoretical foundation has shifted again recently as leadership educators are faced with preparing students to meet the needs of a dynamic and complicated organizational landscape. Expanding these challenges globally comprises a new level of preparedness for aspiring leaders. Globalization, and the technology that increasingly bridges countries and cultures, requires fresh paradigms and new leadership competencies (Bueno & Tubbs, 2004). Global managers will be expected to master an ever‐expanding range of knowledge and skills that will allow them to be successful in international contexts (DiStefano & Maznevski, 2003). Cultural competency development and a globalized curriculum are perhaps paramount to this charge as educators embark upon the challenging journey of providing the next generation of global leaders. The following questions provide educators with opportunities for reflection and discussion as we attempt to develop global competencies in the students we serve.     

Symposium Introduction

This symposium's focus is on connections that might be forged between leadership theory and practice, leadership development, and the theory and practice of design. Our intent in exploring the narratives of and literature about designers is to understand and appreciate how the design leadership crucible might forge more effective research approaches, generative pedagogical experience, and produce more effective leaders who can address adaptive problems. The guest editors and authors for the symposium are Elizabeth Johnston and Anthony Kortens. The symposium includes an introduction to the topic of design using current literature, incorporating a report on a series of conversations with two individuals who have enjoyed long and successful careers in design and leadership. These individuals, Michael Schonhofen and Ben Shaw, were contributing partners who shared their experiences as designers and leaders, as well as tirelessly reviewed the symposium documents and offered insights, interpretations, and suggestions.     

Shrinking cities: urban challenges of globalization

Urban shrinkage is not a new phenomenon. It has been documented in a large literature analyzing the social and economic issues that have led to population flight, resulting, in the worse cases, in the eventual abandonment of blocks of housing and neighbourhoods. Analysis of urban shrinkage should take into account the new realization that this phenomenon is now global and multidimensional — but also little understood in all its manifestations. Thus, as the world's population increasingly becomes urban, orthodox views of urban decline need redefinition. The symposium includes articles from 10 urban analysts working on 30 cities around the globe. These analysts belong to the Shrinking Cities International Research Network (SCIRN), whose collaborative work aims to understand different types of city shrinkage and the role that different approaches, policies and strategies have played in the regeneration of these cities. In this way the symposium will inform both a rich diversity of analytical perspectives and country-based studies of the challenges faced by shrinking cities. It will also disseminate SCIRN's research results from the last 3 years.     

Multisource feedback: Lessons learned and implications for practice

Organizations around the world are using multisource, or 360‐degree, feed‐back. Although many HR practitioners embrace it as an important mecha‐nism for leadership development, organizations must attend to and address several issues in order to maximize the utility of multisource feedback (MSF). We discuss current research findings and highlight issues for managers to consider both before starting a multisource feedback process and after the feedback is given, plus we review potential outcomes of the process. We also describe lessons learned from an intensive three‐year investigation of an MSF implementation in two organizations. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Guest editorial

Leadership is about knowledge, skills, and abilities for transformation. It is also increasingly about worldviews or visions of life—beliefs, values, and principles. But worldviews are also ways of life, for beliefs direct us, values guide us, and principles motivate us to certain kinds of action and behavior. How, then, do worldviews have an impact on leadership for transformation? If worldviews are glasses or filters by which we view the world, mental models of the bigger picture, frameworks by which we make sense of the world, and narratives by which we orient our lives, then how do they influence human thoughts, ideas, and behaviors when it comes to transformative leadership? This was the subject matter of an International Leadership Association Conference panel discussion held in November 2009 in Prague, entitled Leadership for Transformation: The Impact of Worldviews. It is also the subject matter of this issue's symposium, in which we bring you the four papers and the response presented at the conference. Members of the panel were characterized by gender, disciplinary, religious, and global diversity. Nathan Harter, organizational leadership professor at Purdue University in the United States, begins the discussion with some preliminary remarks about worldviews. Ali Mohammed Mir, medical doctor and director of programs of Population Council, Pakistan, speaks of leadership from an Islamic perspective. Michael Jones, accomplished composer, pianist, and leadership educator, writer, and speaker from Orillia, Canada, reflects on how a “marriage of mythos and logos” can transform leadership today. Lisa Ncube, originally from Zimbabwe and currently assistant professor of organizational leadership at Purdue University, speaks about Ubuntu as an alternative leadership philosophy emerging from Africa. John Valk, associate professor of worldview studies at Renaissance College, University of New Brunswick, Canada, speaks of leadership for transformation from a Christian worldview perspective. Jonathan Reams, associate professor in the Department of Education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, responds to all of the papers and opens a venue for further discussion. We hope that you will find this symposium engaging. We hope it will give food for thought and that it might stimulate further thinking regarding the role worldviews play in leadership for transformation.     

Response for ILA worldviews panel papers

Leadership is about knowledge, skills, and abilities for transformation. It is also increasingly about worldviews or visions of life—beliefs, values, and principles. But worldviews are also ways of life, for beliefs direct us, values guide us, and principles motivate us to certain kinds of action and behavior. How, then, do worldviews have an impact on leadership for transformation? If worldviews are glasses or filters by which we view the world, mental models of the bigger picture, frameworks by which we make sense of the world, and narratives by which we orient our lives, then how do they influence human thoughts, ideas, and behaviors when it comes to transformative leadership? This was the subject matter of an International Leadership Association Conference panel discussion held in November 2009 in Prague, entitled Leadership for Transformation: The Impact of Worldviews. It is also the subject matter of this issue's symposium, in which we bring you the four papers and the response presented at the conference. Members of the panel were characterized by gender, disciplinary, religious, and global diversity. Nathan Harter, organizational leadership professor at Purdue University in the United States, begins the discussion with some preliminary remarks about worldviews. Ali Mohammed Mir, medical doctor and director of programs of Population Council, Pakistan, speaks of leadership from an Islamic perspective. Michael Jones, accomplished composer, pianist, and leadership educator, writer, and speaker from Orillia, Canada, reflects on how a “marriage of mythos and logos” can transform leadership today. Lisa Ncube, originally from Zimbabwe and currently assistant professor of organizational leadership at Purdue University, speaks about Ubuntu as an alternative leadership philosophy emerging from Africa. John Valk, associate professor of worldview studies at Renaissance College, University of New Brunswick, Canada, speaks of leadership for transformation from a Christian worldview perspective. Jonathan Reams, associate professor in the Department of Education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, responds to all of the papers and opens a venue for further discussion. We hope that you will find this symposium engaging. We hope it will give food for thought and that it might stimulate further thinking regarding the role worldviews play in leadership for transformation.     

Leadership in Islam

Leadership is about knowledge, skills, and abilities for transformation. It is also increasingly about worldviews or visions of life—beliefs, values, and principles. But worldviews are also ways of life, for beliefs direct us, values guide us, and principles motivate us to certain kinds of action and behavior. How, then, do worldviews have an impact on leadership for transformation? If worldviews are glasses or filters by which we view the world, mental models of the bigger picture, frameworks by which we make sense of the world, and narratives by which we orient our lives, then how do they influence human thoughts, ideas, and behaviors when it comes to transformative leadership? This was the subject matter of an International Leadership Association Conference panel discussion held in November 2009 in Prague, entitled Leadership for Transformation: The Impact of Worldviews. It is also the subject matter of this issue's symposium, in which we bring you the four papers and the response presented at the conference. Members of the panel were characterized by gender, disciplinary, religious, and global diversity. Nathan Harter, organizational leadership professor at Purdue University in the United States, begins the discussion with some preliminary remarks about worldviews. Ali Mohammed Mir, medical doctor and director of programs of Population Council, Pakistan, speaks of leadership from an Islamic perspective. Michael Jones, accomplished composer, pianist, and leadership educator, writer, and speaker from Orillia, Canada, reflects on how a “marriage of mythos and logos” can transform leadership today. Lisa Ncube, originally from Zimbabwe and currently assistant professor of organizational leadership at Purdue University, speaks about Ubuntu as an alternative leadership philosophy emerging from Africa. John Valk, associate professor of worldview studies at Renaissance College, University of New Brunswick, Canada, speaks of leadership for transformation from a Christian worldview perspective. Jonathan Reams, associate professor in the Department of Education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, responds to all of the papers and opens a venue for further discussion. We hope that you will find this symposium engaging. We hope it will give food for thought and that it might stimulate further thinking regarding the role worldviews play in leadership for transformation.     

Ubuntu: A transformative leadership philosophy

Leadership is about knowledge, skills, and abilities for transformation. It is also increasingly about worldviews or visions of life—beliefs, values, and principles. But worldviews are also ways of life, for beliefs direct us, values guide us, and principles motivate us to certain kinds of action and behavior. How, then, do worldviews have an impact on leadership for transformation? If worldviews are glasses or filters by which we view the world, mental models of the bigger picture, frameworks by which we make sense of the world, and narratives by which we orient our lives, then how do they influence human thoughts, ideas, and behaviors when it comes to transformative leadership? This was the subject matter of an International Leadership Association Conference panel discussion held in November 2009 in Prague, entitled Leadership for Transformation: The Impact of Worldviews. It is also the subject matter of this issue's symposium, in which we bring you the four papers and the response presented at the conference. Members of the panel were characterized by gender, disciplinary, religious, and global diversity. Nathan Harter, organizational leadership professor at Purdue University in the United States, begins the discussion with some preliminary remarks about worldviews. Ali Mohammed Mir, medical doctor and director of programs of Population Council, Pakistan, speaks of leadership from an Islamic perspective. Michael Jones, accomplished composer, pianist, and leadership educator, writer, and speaker from Orillia, Canada, reflects on how a “marriage of mythos and logos” can transform leadership today. Lisa Ncube, originally from Zimbabwe and currently assistant professor of organizational leadership at Purdue University, speaks about Ubuntu as an alternative leadership philosophy emerging from Africa. John Valk, associate professor of worldview studies at Renaissance College, University of New Brunswick, Canada, speaks of leadership for transformation from a Christian worldview perspective. Jonathan Reams, associate professor in the Department of Education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, responds to all of the papers and opens a venue for further discussion. We hope that you will find this symposium engaging. We hope it will give food for thought and that it might stimulate further thinking regarding the role worldviews play in leadership for transformation.     

Worldviews and leadership: Thinking and acting the bigger pictures

Leadership is about ideas and actions. Put simply, it is about implementing new ideas into creative actions to achieve desired results. Doing so, however, is far from simple. We know leadership requires considerable skills and abilities. It requires knowledge and insight—about one's organization or entity, its people, goals, strengths and market niche. Yet, something more is needed. Leadership also requires a kind of awareness beyond the immediate, an awareness of the larger pictures—of paradigms that direct us, beliefs that sustain us, values that guide us and principles that motivate us, our worldviews. This article will, first, briefly examine how the concept of worldviews is used in leadership study and the contexts in which it arises. Second, it will critically look at worldviews, recognizing that they are not always coherent and that our belief systems are often fragmented and incomplete. Third, it will argue for the relevance of the concept worldview in leadership study as a way to explore various visions of life and ways of life that may be helpful in overcoming the challenges we face today. Fourth, it will examine how national and global issues impact worldview construction, especially among the millennial generation. Our conclusions set some directions for leadership action in light of worldview issues.     

2008创业案例研讨会及学术观点综述

2008年9月20～21日,以通过案例研究创业为主题的2008年创业案例研讨会在南开大学商学院召开。大会在创业精神、创业者与创业机会制度、创业学习、领导与新企业成长草根创业新企业价值创造与管理教学型案例等方面取得了丰富的成果。作为中国首届创业案例研讨会,大会对于推动中国创业研究、促进创业教育具有重要的意义。