Management Thinking Research Articles

Challenges of managerial responsibility and ethics for Central and East European countries based on the experience from the Czech Republic

The study aims to identify the typical key factors of ethical thinking and behaviour in Central and East European (CEE) countries, and regard them from the experience of privatization and transformation process in the Czech Republic. The background of ethical scandals and dilemmas of CEE countries reflects their roots in socialist education and state-planned economy, which are based on Marxism, which had and has serious consequences. The study describes the main philosophical reasons affecting the managerial limits in the ethical context of business and management behaviour after the transformation period with the apparent challenges in management thinking and executive education for today. The following description and interpretation of the fundamental implications of the presented analysis for managerial responsibility and ethics are discussed with the relevant professional literature that illuminates the personal, social and economic long-term consequences. Cross-country comparisons reflect developments in the European Union, the Amnesty International Corruption Index and other specific influences according to regional sources. Resulting challenges relate to challenges of business and management philosophy in business schools. The conclusion shows the space for the following professional discussion with European partners and PRME signatories regarding the ethical challenges for executive education and sustainability management in CEE. Recent academic publications show that managerial responsibility and ethical behaviour are increasingly in the focus of interest of both academics and company management.

Fostering Sustainable Cities through Resilience Thinking: The Role of Nature-Based Solutions (NBSs): Lessons Learned from Two Italian Case Studies

Adopting an interdisciplinary approach and framing sustainability issues from a resilience perspective, our paper first aimed to highlight nature-based solutions (NBSs) as levers to foster sustainable cities consistent with Agenda 2030-SDG 11 (2015) and the New Urban Agenda (Habitat III, 2016). Second, we empirically analyzed two Italian municipalities that are experimenting with initiatives of sustainable urban management and planning based on NBSs: the Municipality of Lucca in Tuscany and the Municipality of Latina in the Latium Region. These municipalities present institutional and socioeconomic similarities, making them an interesting study setting that allows us to draw significant lessons. We conducted four research steps: (1) theoretical background analysis, including resilience thinking in sustainable urban management. We investigated the role of NBSs in enabling urban resilience according to the last level of resilience, i.e., the transformative level. (2) We studied the contributions of NBSs to sustainable cities and resilience thinking. (3) We analyzed the NBSs’ projects of Lucca and Latina, and (4) we proposed an urban managerial tool: the NBSs’ curve, which facilitates the estimation of the NBS ecosystem endowment. The results of the NBS initiatives presented in this study have a two-fold value. First, they aim to combine citizens’ well-being with ecological and environmental aspects by better managing urban spaces that facilitate interpersonal relationships and resource sharing. Second, they are developed to meet the needs of local groups by serving as a stimulus (Fridays For Future movement) and as enablers (local associations) of managed actions. The lessons learned about the enhancement of sustainable cities through NBSs were thoroughly debated.

Lean Practices in the Process of New Product Development: Case of Study in a Food Industry Cooperative in Brazil

This article presents a case study of employees' perception of Lean Manufacturing in the development process of new products at a Food Industry Cooperative in Brazil. A survey was applied in all areas of the company to measure the perception and understanding of employees regarding Lean Management and Lean Thinking. Also, to understand their knowledge of the principles and practices in developing new products in the company. The results showed that 76% of the responding employees have some understanding of lean management. It also shows low engagement by stakeholders and the board in the new product development process stages and weak integration between areas, such as environmental, engineering, and finance. On the other hand, RD& area presented higher engagement, with 90% of its staff supporting this process.

The Prevalence of Systems Thinking in Supply Chain Management: a Systematic Literature Review.

In light of the maelstrom that global Supply Chains must struggle with, we contend that Systems Thinking in Supply Chain Management can be an enabling factor. Systems Thinking can support problem-solving in the reactive crisis mode that practitioners find themselves in, let alone when seeking ways to improve the end-to-end Supply Chain. This paper determines the prevalence of Systems Thinking methodologies within the literature and confirms if these contributions provide benefits to Supply Chain Management beyond the dyad through empirical research? Given the challenges of realising supply chain-wide progression, are these contributions supporting the discipline in pursuing industry advancement strategies? A systematic literature review methodology was employed, evaluating ninety-seven peer-reviewed papers regarding the breadth; from suppliers’ supplier to customers customer, and depth; from literature review to empirical research. Five research outcomes are identified, resulting in an established hypothesis. We argue that a positive correlation between Systems Thinking Maturity and Supply Chain Performance leads to a more significant opportunity to go beyond the dyad. The hypothesis led to a research construct that advocates the need to determine empirically whether a correlation exists between Systems Thinking Maturity and Supply Chain Performance.

Extended immersive simulation to develop nontechnical skills: Content analysis of students' views

<h2>ABSTRACT</h2><h3>Background</h3> The purpose of undergraduate nursing education is the preparation of graduates for clinical practice. Despite this focus, graduates are often unprepared for independent practice, particularly in the use of skills such as time management, delegation and critical thinking in clinical situations. This paper reports on students' views of using extended, immersive simulation to consolidate the use of both technical and nontechnical skills in preparing them for independent nursing practice. <h3>Aim</h3> To investigate students' views on the value of extended, immersive simulation in preparing them for independent practice as registered nurses. <h3>Methods</h3> Cross-sectional research involving content analysis of open-ended survey questions. The study involved comments from 287 final year nursing students conducted at a university in Western Australia. <h3>Findings</h3> Themes related to critical thinking, the role of the registered nurse, communication, time management, teamwork and leadership were identified through the content analysis. Students believed exposure to extended simulation facilitated development of the essential skills required to practise independently and helped them prepare for the role of a registered nurse. Many expressed the wish for this type of simulation to be included throughout all years of the nursing curriculum. <h3>Discussion</h3> Students need experience in clinical situations where they are challenged to use multiple skills simultaneously to develop the expertise required of registered nurses. The ability to practise independently, and take responsibility for decisions made in complex ward conditions, is not currently required of students on clinical placements. Simulation is a way to fill this void in nursing education to enable students to experience the full role of a registered nurse. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Based on our findings nursing students believed that extended, immersive simulation was an effective method of supporting students as they undertake the full responsibilities of registered nurses to enable them to be safe and effective practitioners on commencement of the registered nurse role.

Cooperative learning enhances critical thinking in Peruvian economics university students

Critical thinking, along with creative thinking, is a prerequisite for other life skills such as problem solving, decision making, effective communication and constructive relationships. A person who does not have the ability to think critically cannot evaluate multiple solutions to problems and choose the best method, and therefore will face multiple failures. Critical thinking enables one to evaluate existing ideas and solutions and select the best ones. The purpose of this article is to examine the ability for critical thinking in management and objective factors influencing it. The survey was conducted over the year 2020. The proposed methodology is based on the descriptive and correlative statistics by a survey of 283 cases and by the questioner approach for data collection among the students in economic field of studies. The direct and main positive link between co-operational learning and critical thinking has been confirmed in our research.

Application of Value Stream Mapping on Operating Project Business Process at Nickel Mining Industry

This study investigated the usage of manhours against project cost impact in the business process of capital and operating project in mining industry. The case study in this study is nickel mining company in Indonesia. The waste identification and elimination are used on the business process operations and capital project delivery system using lean thinking in project management and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The study results shows that in current business process state, 95% project expenditure in case study on 2019 was spent for capital project and 5% for project operations. This results of this study is quite different with the manhours spent each on operating and capital project. In 2019, both the Capital Project Management and Engineering Services department spent 70% of their manhours on Capital Project and 30% on Operating Project. It shows that in managing 5% of their project budget, the company’s case study had to spent 30% of their project team manhours. With the proposed business process, the company’s case study should be able to optimize their manhours usage proportionally to the project cost impact.

VẬN DỤNG TƯ TƯỞNG HỒ CHÍ MINH TRONG ĐÀO TẠO, BỒI DƯỠNG CÁN BỘ QUẢN LÍ GIÁO DỤC Ở TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI TRONG BỐI CẢNH HIỆN NAY

By theoretical research method, this effort aims to analyze Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts of leaders and managers’ competencies and personalities. Based on this, some recommmendations of applying these points of view into developingeducational leaders and managers’ competencies and personalities are made in order to meet the demand of education innovation and international integration of Vietnamese education. Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts about training and in-service training process for leaders and managers were also discussed. These lead to applying Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts into enhancing educational leaders and managers’ competences.

The Reinvented accounting firm office: Impression management for efficiency, client relations and cost control

The office has become a large scale organisational phenomenon accommodating large numbers of organisational employees most often housed in open plan and Activity Based Working settings that arguably resemble the new factory. This study examines contemporary Big 4 accounting firm office design innovations and their representation with a view to eliciting their claimed rationales, reflections of historical office design and management thinking, and apparent strategic agendas with respect to office efficiency, client relations and cost control involved in their offering of professional services. In doing so, it also explores the implications that public practice firms' office design may have for auditor independence and audit quality. Informed by Goffman's theories of impression management, the study employs historical and website analysis, finding a predominant firm focus on office efficiency and client relations with an undercurrent of cost reduction and revenue enhancement aspirations. While represented as innovative current office design and work pattern developments, public practice accounting firm office innovations and intentions are found to significantly reflect historical office design and management thinking, with dramaturgical circumspection of floor designs and props oriented towards creating front stage performances predesigned for clients' impression management. Where backstage redesign and frame breaking does not produce desired employee performance changes, some signs of retreating to more traditional floor redesign and territorial marker usage are evident. The study also signals the potential for innovative accounting firm office designs to carry some significant impacts upon audit independence and audit quality.

Does Design Thinking Benefit Ambidextrous Dynamics between SME Managers’ Entrepreneurial and Administrative Mindsets?

The overall aim of this study is to explore the potential of Design Thinking to bring value to small firms through ambidexterity, which is essential to firms’ performance and survival. Specifically, we investigate how Design Thinking can benefit ambidextrous dynamics between small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) managers’ entrepreneurial and administrative mindsets. The empirical foundation of our study is in-depth qualitative data on 24 SME managers who participated in a two-year research project driven by Design Thinking. The study reveals that Design Thinking does put into motion the managers’ ambidextrous thinking. Some Design Thinking principles reinforce entrepreneurial thinking, some administrative management thinking, while others, again reinforce flexible ambidextrous management thinking.

The origin and evolution of Stanford University’s design thinking: From product design to design thinking in innovation management

AbstractThis article outlines the origin and evolution of one of the most influential design thinking perspectives in the Innovation Management discourse. This study addresses two significant criticisms of design thinking, namely, theoretical grounding and construct clarity. It also illustrates how this humanistic and creative design practice transcended into a comprehensive Innovation Management approach, facilitating entrepreneurship and innovation. Our research analyzes the evolution of the design philosophy and practices developed at Stanford University from 1957 to 2005 through document analysis. We identified design qualities that have been consistent over the decades, providing further construct clarity and insights on managing Design‐driven Innovation. These design qualities elucidate design thinking as a cognitive process, creative practice, organizational routine, and design culture. They emphasize finding profound needs and problems and translate them into tangible designs, creating value for people. This design philosophy is deeply rooted in humanistic psychology theories, particularly on creativity and human values. Collaborations between psychologists, industrial researchers, and designers created this creative and human‐centered design approach, known today as design thinking. This value‐driven innovation offers a humanistic perspective on innovation theory and practice. It also offers an Innovation Management schema of design qualities essential for developing Design‐driven Innovation capabilities in organizations and educational institutions. We emphasize that developing a creative design culture in which people have the human values, abilities, and confidence to collaboratively identify continuous emerging problems and needs and contribute through tangible designs generates an era of innovation and is essentially innovation management.

The Alignment of Stress Management to the Behavioural Management Movement

Stress management is a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person’s level of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of and for the motive of improving everyday functioning. Although there are several stress management techniques, that of Job redesign, Job rotation, Social support, and Employee counseling were adopted from the work of Miller (2008). Stress management was aligned with the Behavioural school of management thoughts. First the paper delineated the importance of stress management in individual, group and organizational life, detailing the four techniques mentioned earlier. Secondly, the article evaluated the behavioural management philosophy ; which gives primacy to psychological considerations, but treats fulfillment of emotional needs, mainly as a means of achieving other primary economic goals, and finally the alignment of the behvioural management philosophy with stress management .In conclusion , the behavioural management philosophy provide the antidote foundation for the ultimate elimination of dysfunctional stressors, while it was recommended amongst other; management should utilize job redesign to check emotional exhaustion. This would ensure increased quality of work life and employee job satisfaction.

Research on the Humanization of Teaching Management in Normal University

There are many problems in the humanized teaching management of normal universities. For example, students do not actively participate in the management and planning of their own university and career, teachers pay too much attention to traditional authority and have a sense of distance from students, the bureaucracy of the management department is serious, and management thinking is backward. The management process does not reflect the humanistic feelings, the teaching plans and teaching evaluation methods formulated by the school remain unchanged, the school’s teaching resources are unevenly distributed, and the campus culture construction lacks the humanistic spirit. In response to these current conditions, the author puts forward relevant suggestions from four aspects: students, teachers, schools, and management personnel. I hope that as a member of the school and participants in the construction of humanized teaching management, they can actively perform their own responsibilities and clarify their own positioning. In the end, it is hoped that the school’s teaching management can be people-oriented and enhance the school’s cohesion and centripetal force.

Beyond COVID-19 supply chain heroism, no dust settling yet – lessons learned at Rolls Royce about advancing risk management thinking

PurposeWhile there is a rich body of risk management literature and while there have been valuable theoretical advancements on the specific impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on risks, this paper aims to posit that at least four more advancements are needed.Design/methodology/approachThe co-author from Rolls Royce (RR) illustrates the risks experienced and risk management approaches taken in its manufacturing and supply chain operations both in the earlier stages of the pandemic as well as after the first year of the pandemic.FindingsThe COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique risk scenario that is beyond the scope of most existing risk management literature. The impact of the pandemic is very multi-faceted, not location specific but very global and experienced throughout the entire supply chain, across industries and over a much extended timeline with multiple time horizons. In manufacturing operations, there have been major instances of supply chain heroism in the first year of the pandemic and there is a lot more work ahead.Originality/valueThe authors' co-created paper enriches the perspective on COVID-19 research in manufacturing and supply chain operations by pointing at empirical opportunities, the need for more inter disciplinary research and the need to consider multiple time horizons.

Дизайн-мышление и креативные технологии в управлении проектами: многостадийный подход

The present article is devoted to the issues of applying design thinking and other creative technologies destined at the development of innovational solutions of the existing tasks and restrictions in project management processes. The authors are developing a conceptual framework by defining the focus of application of creative technologies in the project management practice as well as are proposing a custom approach to the application of the relevant instruments based on the project type and its lifecycle phases. The findings are made on the basis of fundamentals of project management, strategic management and design thinking methodology, as well as the authors’ own applied studies and experience in project and program management. The proposed approach allows broadening theoretical learnings on the project lifecycle stages from the perspective of creating and developing business innovations, as well as on the project manager role and skills, which in turn helps to resolve complex issues and controversies connected to the application of the existing project management methods in the organizational development and innovation product creation processes.

Design Thinking in Executive Education: When the Parts are Greater than the Whole

Research on design thinking education at business schools has mostly been concerned with practical issues of implementation, the efficacy of teaching design processes, and participant cognition. Rarely have studies looked at how design thinking techniques and skills gained might translate from the business classroom into the workplace. To close this gap, we turned to situated learning theory and studied how senior managers experience design thinking education and attempt to relate it to their communities of practice at work. We compared custom and open-enrollment executive education courses and found that any uptake depended more on the idiosyncratic workplace situation than on the willingness of senior managers to employ design thinking. As a consequence, few managers were able to employ the whole process, and most managers rather transferred parts and perspectives of what they had learned. Our research has relevance for the larger debate of the efficacy of design thinking for management and offers an explanation for the discrepancy between how design thinking is taught and how it is practiced.

Utilizing Nursing Students for a Complex Role-Play Simulation

New graduate nurses are expected to enter clinical practice able to competently interact with patients in a caring and therapeutic manner. Evaluating students’ soft skills, such as communication, delegation, time management and critical thinking, in the clinical environment can be challenging, as no one is able to orchestrate the mix of patients on a clinical unit at any given time. Simulation offers learners the opportunity to practice soft skills in a realistic, yet controlled environment. While many associate simulation with high fidelity mannequins, the use of students as patients in role-play simulation provides an alternative approach, allowing a more cost effective method to meet the same learning objectives.

DEVELOPING INTERCULTURAL BUSINESS COMPETENCE VIA TEAM LEARNING IN POST-PANDEMIC ERA

To become successfully competitive in the globalised post-COVID 19 virtual business world, the engineering students, besides learning the English language for Specific Purposes as stipulated by the existing Syllabi, require purposed efforts for the formation of intercultural business communication competencies. This research, conducted successively in the USA and Ukraine combining observational and experimental methodology, aimed at studying the influence of team learning on the development of intercultural business competencies and skills highly desired and valued by employers, such as team building and teamwork, critical thinking, decision making, conflict prevention, and resolution, etc. The results were processed by combining qualitative and quantitative methods. Spanning in time from 2013 to 2020, the study proved the effectiveness of project work in learning teams for the development of intercultural competence and business communication skills. Team learning in virtual teams based on andragogical principles and methodology adapted by the authors to the needs of Ukrainian engineering students resulted in developing team building, teamwork, leadership, goal setting, planning, decision making, time management, creative and critical thinking, problem solving, conflict prevention and resolution, interpersonal and group communication and collaboration skills and competences, necessary for successful integration into the global workforce marketplace. Besides significant enhancement of intercultural business communication competencies, team learning resulted in raising Ukrainian undergraduate engineering students’ motivation towards learning ESP, engagement in group and classwork, persistence towards successful graduation and gainful employment, and overall positive learning experiences.

Rethinking Management of the 21st Century: Аn Approach to Contemporary Business Education

This paper is addressing the issues of modern management thinking which became one of the most critical tasks in contemporary business education. Such thinking must reflect all major changes and challenges in science, technology, economy, politics, culture, and society which took place within the first two decades of the 21st century and especially now in the times of pandemic crisis. It is very important not only in terms of analysis but also as an explanation of the patterns of business and management behavior. It became the topic of serious scientific debate of the most prominent business researchers and consultants. The purpose of the article is to develop the methodological approach for further research of modern management and suggest the conceptual model which could structure the analysis of contemporary business reality. The author suggests the conceptual model for further research which could explain the essence of new management revolution. Such open model could be added and interpreted and is already applied in different educational programs in Russia.

A Design Management and Design Thinking Approach for Developing Smart Product Service System Design: Projects from Online Industrial Design Studio

Industrial design as profession has begun to expand its scope in business practices with the recent developments in design management, design thinking, and technology. However, curricula of industrial design studio remain traditional and mainly focuses on designing products. In fact, design management and design thinking go beyond product design and expand design’s scope to establishing business strategies, design innovation and service design by positioning humans and their needs at the center. Besides, the technological shift happened through Industry 4.0 enables to adapt IT hardware into systems, products and services, and make them smart and unified. To keep up with these paradigm changes and prepare our students to the rapidly changing business environment, we initiated a Smart Product Service System (Smart-PSS) design project with the 3rd-grade students of Bahçeşehir University in the 2019-2020 Spring semester during which online education had just become a part of our lives. In this article, we present three student projects as case studies of Smart-PSSs designed in three stages as system design, product design, and interface design. As a result, students gain a more holistic approach toward the design process, acknowledge the new expansions of industrial design, and its transformative role for businesses.