Organizational Transformation Research Articles

Digital Transformation of Organizations and Their Organizational Cultures: A Case Study in a National Defense Industry

Digital transformation is essential for organizations to gain a competitive edge in today’s fast-changing environment. It involves a radical shift in products, services, people, and processes to enhance performance, posing a significant challenge. This paper explores digital transformation within a national defense company, which already upholds high-quality standards and a strong culture—key factors in facilitating digital transformation. The literature on organizational digital transformation and its benefits is reviewed, and the digitalization process is analyzed to outline the steps needed for transformation. A crucial prerequisite is cultivating an adaptive, high-performance culture, which requires assessing the current organizational state and implementing necessary actions. This paper presents an assessment of the company and proposes actions for cultural and digital transformation. The inextricable link between digital transformation and organizational culture change is highlighted, along with the benefits, barriers, and strategic proposals for digital strategy, vision, and mission.

Digital capabilities driving industry 4.0 and 5.0 transformation: Insights from an interview study in the maintenance domain

This study examines the role of digital capabilities in facilitating organizational transformation within the maintenance domain, focusing on the need for transitioning from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0. The evolving concept of Industry 5.0 complements Industry 4.0 by shifting the focus from automation to human-machine collaboration. Industry 5.0 aims to create a more cooperative relationship between humans and machines to maximize productivity and innovation. To facilitate digital transformation, companies need to develop suitable digital capabilities. Through interviews with maintenance specialists and practitioners, we identified key challenges and facilitators to implementing emerging technologies. Key findings highlight the importance of providing high-quality education, aligning digital tools with work tasks, and offering user-friendly digital solutions. Furthermore, the findings emphasize the need for robust information sharing, cooperation, and the formalization of responsibilities between maintenance and production functions. Lastly, establishing a clear digital strategy, commitment to investments, and testing new technologies are crucial for facilitating digital transformation and promoting a culture of innovation.

Navigating the Digital Transformation of Education: Insights from Collaborative Learning in an Erasmus+ Project

Collaborative Opportunities for Professional Inquiry Leading to Organisational Transformation (COPILOT) represents an Erasmus+ initiative involving four transnational partners from three EU countries including IES Cristobal de Monroy secondary school [Spain], Laois Offaly Education Training Board (LOETB) [Ireland], University College Dublin (UCD) School of Education [Ireland], and Akadimos, a teacher continuing professional development provider [Greece]. The project encompassed three primary objectives, aligned with the Erasmus+ programmes’s emphasis on supporting teachers and school leaders to address digital transformation. These included the following: the identification of participatory approaches and digital methodologies employed by schools to facilitate digital transformation among educators; exploring and establishing dynamic professional environments in schools by identifying synergies with organisations operating in diverse fields or socio-economic contexts and enhancing the capacity and professionalism of partners to engage in EU/international collaboration. To investigate the outcomes of the project objectives, a small-scale qualitative study was conducted, which involved analysing participants’ reports on the project’s collaborative activities. Additionally, a focus group was held at the conclusion of the project to gain insights into the digital readiness, capacity, and resilience of teachers and school leaders within their respective organisations. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the collected data. The findings of the study offer encouraging indications regarding the crucial symbiotic role played by school leaders and “early adopter” teachers in promoting digital transformation. Moreover, participating teachers displayed a general willingness to adapt their teaching methods to incorporate more technology, provided they receive both formal and informal support. Furthermore, there exists a willingness among transnational partners to digitise and share resources both at present and in the future.

Implementing B-BBEE: Leader Experiences in the South African Banking Industry

Orientation: Large banking institutions in South Africa remain complex organisations facing a myriad of challenges as they navigate the Fifth Industrial Revolution (5IR) and strive to remain relevant. A significant challenge relates to how these organisations can utilise Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) to create diverse and inclusive teams for organisational success and sustainability.Research purpose: To explore the experiences and sense-making processes of senior leaders tasked with the implementation of affirmative action as part of a B-BBEE strategy as they navigate this responsibility within a South African bank.Motivation for the study: To shine on the complex experiences of senior leaders tasked with implementing affirmative action within a B-BBEE strategy in a large financial institution.Research approach/design and method: A qualitative interpretivist case study was applied to explore senior leaders’ negotiation of their perceptions and experiences of leading the implementation of B-BBEE in a large bank. Ten semi-structured interviews were utilised as the main data generation tool.Main findings: Study reveals how senior leaders hold strong convictions about the value of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. This included the continued necessity for legislation such as B-BBEE given South Africa’s racial history and existing personal biases that impact workplace diversity and inclusion. The study further reveals that senior leaders believe that B-BBEE is poorly implemented and attribute this to the tension leaders experience between diversity and performance, a lack of organisational policies and practices required to hold leaders accountable for B-BBEE implementation and leaders who lack the skills and expertise required to successfully create diverse and inclusive work environments.Practical/managerial implications: Positive contributions to diversity and inclusion policies and practices, leadership development and transformation of the banking organisations in South Africa and the industry at large.Contribution/value-add: Banking institutions as large market players can play a significant role in leading workplace transformation through improved implementation of diversity and inclusion legislation and principles within B-BBEE.

Institutional change of the Colombian army 2012–2021

ABSTRACT Military transformations occur reactively in response to changes in environmental conditions and conflicts. Likewise, military transformations show a tendency to copy the best practices of the most powerful forces and of organizations like North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). However, little is known about the effect of a proactive planning strategy on the transformation process. This article raises the theoretical debate on the institutional change of the Colombian Army, presenting evidence that allows us to define whether it has been carried out in a reactive, evolutionary way or with a design-based approach which would lead to the development of institutional work through the modification of the factors of military capabilities. The main result shows the presence of institutional work to generate disruptions in the Army. Particularly when altering the doctrine, changes in education and training are triggered, which allows the organizational structure to be redesigned to adopt new practices. However, limitations in the acquisition and deployment of new technologies and infrastructure inhibit institutional change and organizational transformation.

The Evolution of Mediation in International Conflicts from 1940s to 2020s

The article analyzes the evolution of international mediation from the middle of the 20th century to the present day. How do changes in international environment influence mediation and research on it? The paper’s hypothesis is that the transformation of international order and political organization of the world, the dynamics of (de)globalization and changes in the nature of international conflict determine the specifics of international mediation and shape the relevant research. Over the last 80 years international mediation evolved through three stages. During the first stage, shaped by the cold war, conflicts were mostly of interstate nature and were settled by states and international organizations. Meanwhile, the growing activity of non-state actors led to the emergence of mediation via “track II diplomacy”. At this stage, the study of international mediation becomes an established research area. The second stage, since the end of 1980s to the beginning of the 21st century, witnessed a rapid progress in the settlement of many protracted regional conflicts, aided by the mediation efforts of the USSR and the United States. In Russia, research on international mediation, previously fragmentary and legalistic, developed into a separate subfield of international studies. During the third stage, in the 21st century, the political organization of the world has been undergoing a turbulent transformation at all the three levels: Westphalian system, the system of interstate relations, and political systems of individual states. The all-encompassing nature of this change increases conflict potential and changes the nature of international conflicts, which become multidimensional and involve a variety of actors. Responding to the demand for managing complex conflicts, new trends in mediation emerge, such as the growth in mediation attempts by developing nations, engagement of peacekeeping missions in mediation, the use of digital technologies for mediation purposes. At the same time, the erosion of the old political organization of the world triggers the rise in identity-based conflicts that involve disagreement over values. As parties to such conflicts are less likely to seek interestbased compromises, the likelihood of successful mediation decreases.

Institutional change, sovereigntist contestation and the limits of populism: evidence from southern Europe

Abstract It is widely recognized that populists oppose the delegation of more decision-making to supranational actors and that this tendency can be constrained by other branches of government, geopolitical power pressures or factors such as whether populists are minor or major members of coalitions. The literature, however, has not elaborated on how the transformation of international organizations can affect populist politics. We aim to fill this gap with an examination of how the NextGenerationEU (NGEU), a redistributionist and solidaristic form of supranational governance, undermined populist opposition to the European Union in selected beneficiary countries. To demonstrate this, we explore populist discourses in France, Italy and Spain during four successive crises in the EU's history in which its structure and identity were at stake and which prompted debates on the future in/of the EU: the referendum on the Constitutional Treaty of 2005, the Greek referendum of 2015, the Brexit referendum of 2016 and the COVID–19 crisis, followed by the Recovery Fund/NGEU of 2020. Observing populist discourses during the acute phases of these four crises allows us to observe a consolidated trend of populist contestation until 2020, when the NGEU was announced, and supports the conclusion that populists, especially in Spain and Italy, went in a less sovereigntist direction as a result of the NGEU.

Mapping the Path of Digital Transformation: The Role of Leadership in Building Adaptive Organizational Culture

The development movement continues towards the digital transformation era, marked by rapid advances in information and computer technology (ICT) and the emergence of social media platforms that change the order of life to be more practical and accessible and deny the geographical distance between people. These changes require universities to adapt to the demands of rapid development. This study aims to explore the strategies carried out by university leaders in facing the challenges of the digital era and map the extent to which the transformation of university organizational culture is operated in the face of digital technology pressure. The research used a qualitative approach with a multi-site format in three private universities. Data analysis applies constant comparative analysis, which ends with a simultaneous analysis step. The results showed that university leaders are ready to implement an open strategy in facing the challenges of the digital era by utilizing these technological advances. However, there are differences in the utilization of network assets owned by institutions and the knowledge and experience of leaders. Organizational culture transformation is operated to the extent that institutions can master digital technology to optimize the performance of institutional services. Universities' engagement with digital technology does not disrupt the resilience of their organizational culture because it only leads to an adaptive surface layer.

Brazilian criminal organizations as subjects of non-classical wars in the form of criminal rebellion

Modern criminal organizations are increasingly destabilizing both individual states and the international system in general. As they reach a certain level of development, they are able to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states through the establishment of control over parts of their territories. This can lead to a situation of criminal rebellion, understood as a mechanism of confrontation with the state under which organized crime begins to pose a challenge to the very existence of the latter. In this regard, the case of Latin American and Caribbean countries and, in particular, Brazil is of special interest. The first section examines academic discussions regarding the applicability of the concepts of ‘internal armed conflict’ and ‘unconventional warfare’ to the situation of criminal rebellion in Brazil. Special attention is paid to two key criteria — the intensity of violence and the organizational level of the belligerent parties. The author concludes that with regard to both these criteria, there is a state of unconventional warfare in Brazil in the form of a criminal rebellion that has reached the level of the internal armed conflict. The second and third sections of the paper examine the factors that contributed to the transformation of specific Brazilian criminal organizations — the ‘First Capital Command’ (PCC) and the ‘militias’ — into actors of a full-fledged criminal rebellion. In the case of the PCC, these factors include the adoption of more flexible network organizational principles and the guerrilla tactics, accompanied by the growing internationalization of criminal activities, against the backdrop of further militarization of the Brazilian police. In the case of the ‘militias’, the author focuses on the concept of ‘armed politics’, which describes a situation where organized crime pervades the entire state apparatus. The author concludes that the situation in Brazil shows all the signs of a criminal insurgency, when certain criminal organizations have reached such a level of organizational complexity that they are able to undermine the sovereignty of the state by establishing control over at least part of its territory and acting as a belligerent in the internal armed conflict. The specific of the situation in Brazil is that such an insurgency is carried out by non-state violent actors who formally do not pursue any political/ideological goals. However, due to their destructive potential they should be treated as if they had political goals.

Collaborating Beyond Human Boundaries Towards a Future of Blended Transformation in Organisations

Appreciative Inquiry and Generative Artificial Intelligence could form a powerful partnership for organisational change. We explore how Appreciative Inquiry practitioners and Artificial Intelligence-driven agents could work together to uncover insights, design targeted interventions and promote a culture of open dialogue, enabling truly transformational change, taking inspiration from fields such as politics and entrepreneurship.

Walking the Walk: How Genuine Organizational Transformation Can Enhance DEI Initiatives

This article discusses how genuine organizational transformation can enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to deliver meaningful results. The article suggest that standalone DEI programs are generally insufficient for driving sustainable cultural change. Instead, DEI needs to be embedded throughout an organization through systemic shifts in mindsets, processes, policies, and practices. The article outlines recommendations for advancing DEI through reimagining strategic vision and leadership behaviors, restructuring human resources systems and resource allocation, cultivating an inclusive culture, and demonstrating continued commitment through action, progress measurement, and issue response. Case examples from various industries are provided. The article argues that holistic organizational transformation integrating DEI into the fabric of the organization is key to authentically advancing diversity and inclusion.

Risks and Opportunities Brought by Artificial Intelligence Empowering the Financial Industry

Intelligent risk management and trade optimization play pivotal roles in the realm of investment banking. Leveraging AI's capabilities, institutions harness vast datasets and machine learning algorithms to detect potential risks and fine-tune trading strategies. This results in more accurate decision-making processes and better risk mitigation measures. Furthermore, AI enables personalized customer service and precise market forecasting, elevating client satisfaction levels and enabling the anticipation of market trends with greater precision. Tailored services foster stronger client relationships, driving long-term partnerships and loyalty. In addition to enhancing operational efficiency and client satisfaction, AI drives innovation and development within investment banking. This includes the introduction of intelligent advisory services and the implementation of digital perception systems, revolutionizing traditional banking practices. However, the integration of AI also presents challenges such as data privacy concerns, regulatory compliance issues, the need for talent cultivation, and organizational transformation. Looking ahead, the future of investment banking is expected to witness increased AI adoption, leading to higher levels of intelligence, more sophisticated learning techniques, and collaborative innovation across the industry. This trajectory promises to reshape the landscape of investment banking, creating new opportunities for growth and advancement.

The impacts of emotional intelligence and IOT on operational efficiency in manufacturing: A cross-cultural analysis of Nigeria and the US

This review paper explores the dual impacts of Emotional Intelligence (EI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) on Operational Efficiency (OE) in the manufacturing sectors of Nigeria and the United States, providing a comprehensive cross-cultural analysis. In an era where manufacturing industries globally are undergoing rapid technological advancements and organizational transformations, understanding the synergistic role of human and technological factors is crucial. EI, which encompasses the ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions, significantly influences leadership effectiveness, team dynamics, and overall workplace harmony. Concurrently, the integration of IoT technologies facilitates real-time data monitoring, predictive maintenance, and enhanced automation, leading to substantial improvements in OE. The paper first delineates the conceptual frameworks of EI and IoT, highlighting their individual contributions to manufacturing efficiency. Subsequently, it discusses the comparative analysis of the manufacturing environments in Nigeria and the US, examining how cultural contexts shape the application and impact of EI and IoT. In the United States, advanced technological infrastructure and a culture of innovation foster the widespread adoption of IoT and the integration of EI in organizational practices. Conversely, Nigeria's manufacturing sector, while facing challenges such as infrastructural deficits and skill gaps, shows potential for growth through targeted investments in technology and human capital development. Through this cross-cultural lens, the paper identifies key differences in the perceptions and applications of EI, the extent of IoT integration, and the resulting OEs. The findings suggest that while the US benefits from a mature ecosystem for both EI and IoT, Nigeria's unique socio-economic landscape necessitates tailored strategies to harness these tools effectively. The analysis concludes with policy and practical implications, offering insights for enhancing manufacturing efficiency through balanced and culturally sensitive approaches to technological and EI advancements. This comprehensive review underscores the importance of synergizing human and technological capabilities to drive sustainable growth and competitiveness in the global manufacturing sector. Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Internet of Things, Operational Efficiency, Manufacturing, Cross-Cultural Analysis, Nigeria and United States.

The Blockchain Effect on Courier Supply Chains Digitalization and Its Contribution to Industry 4.0 within the Circular Economy

The goal of this research is to investigate blockchain technology’s influence on digitizing courier supply chains and advancing Industry 4.0, which leads the digitization revolution by integrating blockchain to digitize processes that would serve the circular economy. It evaluates how blockchain enhances transparency, traceability, and digital processes in logistics, promoting sustainability through waste reduction and improved reuse. The study aims to identify the benefits and challenges of blockchain integration, develop a conceptual framework, and provide actionable insights to improve supply chain management, operational efficiency, and sustainability. This research uses a qualitative research method including a literature review as well as interviews for case studies to explore both the benefits and challenges when applying blockchain technology in courier organizations in Industry 4.0 within the circular economy. The results show that blockchain technology can enhance the security, traceability, and efficiency of courier supply chains, reduce theft, error risk, and fraud, as well as facilitate specific process automation via smart contracts. Blockchain technology can support the digital transformation of logistics organizations and enhance circular economy networks in Industry 4.0 by enabling automation, transparency, traceability, and maintaining responsibility for the environment. This research is an exploration of the effect of blockchain technology on the courier supply chain in the logistics firms in Industry 4.0 within the circular economy and the development of a conceptual framework for usage. In addition, it capitalizes on both coordination and collaboration among players through decentralization to obtain maximum fruitful benefits.

Factors Affecting Resistance to Organizational Change in the Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation, Oman

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented humanitarian, social, and health disaster. In its aftermath, countries and organizations are striving to transform and acquire 21st-century skills to adapt to the current era. Organizational change has thus become crucial not only for sustainable development but also to survive crises. Consequently, this study investigates the critical factors affecting employees’ resistance to organizational change in Oman's Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation (MOHERI). Using Lewin's Change Management Model as the theoretical framework, survey data was collected from 344 MOHERI employees and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings indicate that leadership and SMART quality service significantly influence resistance to change. Additionally, it is revealed that organizational practices play vital roles in shaping employees' attitudes toward change, whereas employees’ talent and knowledge moderate their resistance towards change. By providing empirical evidence on the elements that influence successful organizational transformation in Oman's public sector, this study provides policymakers, managers, and the Omani government with a better understanding of this phenomenon, enabling them to design more effective change strategies and policies. The study also adds value to the organizational change literature, offering directions for future research to focus on these crucial factors for successful change.

Designing Highly Ordered Helical and Nonhelical Porous Crystalline and Disordered Nonhelical Columnar Liquid Crystalline Self-Organizations.

Helical self-organizations are equilibrium structures responsible for the assembly of nonequilibrium and equilibrium living and synthetic systems. Racemic helical columnar systems transform into one-handed systems with the help of enantiomerically rich or pure components. Racemic, enantiomerically rich, and enantiomerically pure helical periodic arrays of columns are analyzed by oriented fiber X-ray diffraction (XRD). With few exceptions, highly ordered helical 3-D organizations as generated from homochiral columns cannot be obtained from achiral, racemic, or enantiomerically rich helical columns. Here, we report an unprecedented class of nonhelical porous ordered, disordered nonhelical columnar liquid crystalline (LC) self-organizations and columnar liquids constructed from AB4 to AB9 isomeric terphenyls by molecular design unwinding of a 3-D helical organization. A library of 16 nonhelical porous ordered, disordered columnar and four liquids was designed by employing as a model a closely related achiral AB4 meta-terphenyl, which self-organizes one of the most perfect synthetic ordered columnar hexagonal helices known. A general molecular mechanism to unwind highly ordered 3-D helices into nonhelical porous columnar ordered LCs and liquids was elaborated to design this transformation, which provided unprecedented nonequilibrium synthetic systems. This methodology is expected to be general for transformation of helical macromolecular and supramolecular organizations into nonhelical crystals, LCs, and liquids.

The Effect Of Employee Engagement In Change On The Effectiveness Of Organizational Transformation At PT XYZ

PT XYZ is a telecommunications company that is focusing on massive organizational transformation. The results of the Employee Engagement Survey & Communication Effectiveness Survey in 2023 are lower than in 2020, the presumed impact of organizational transformation. The analysis of integration between employee engagement and change management has not been much studied, as most previous studies have researched independently. The objective of the research is to analyze the factors that influence employee engagement in change and the influence on organizational transformation effectiveness. 401 respondents were obtained with criteria of permanent employee and minimum working time of 2 years. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and SEM PLS. The results showed that change-related organizational resources, change-released job resources, change-related job demands, and personal resources have a significant positive impact on employee engagement in change, then employee engagement in change has a significant positive impact on the effectiveness of organizational transformation both directly and as a mediator.

From Shared RE to a Shared Digital RE Strategy: Navigating the Post-Digital Transformation of RE Organizations—Results of a Swiss Participatory Research Project

Religious adult education, characterized as non-formal religious education (RE) that has often been established over many decades, is frequently marked by patterns of institutional separation, local conditions and denominational divisions. This is also the case in Switzerland, where in each canton various church academies and RE organizations generally offer their respective programs along both denominational and cantonal lines. The increasing digitalization of society, and consequently of education, alters the original situation for these actors, both on an individual and organizational level. This article discusses the challenges of religious adult education in navigating the post-digital pivot. It addresses the issues of changing forms of teaching and learning, dealing with shifts in authority, and the growing need for collaboration and shared strategies among RE organizations in post-digital society. A participatory research project involving nearly 60 Swiss RE organizations investigated how these organizations are dealing with digitalization, analyzing the perspectives of the organizational leaders, the teachers, and learners through mixed methods. The findings provide insights into factors influencing the intent to offer or use digital RE courses, as well as factors contributing to the readiness to cooperate in the digital educational field.

Digital transformation in sales organizations: antecedents of sales managers’ change readiness and championing behaviors

Purpose Although organizations are investing heavily in digital transformation (DT) of the sales function, implementation and exploitation at the sales force level are ongoing challenges. As sales managers serve as conduits of influence between top management and the sales force, the success of strategic initiatives, such as DT, hinges heavily on leveraging their influence to promote change adoption at the sales force level. Accordingly, this research is guided by the research question: how can sales organizations secure the buy-in of sales managers and induce their championing behaviors directed toward the sales force?. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how organizational and psychological resources influence sales managers' DT change champion through their change readiness. Design/methodology/approach Construing DT in sales as an organizational change that creates contextual job demands, the theoretical framework offers several hypotheses linking organizational and personal resources with sales managers’ change readiness and championing behaviors. The perceived impact of change is included as a moderating variable. Using data from a sample of 176 business-to-business sales managers, the hypotheses are tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings The authors demonstrate that two change-related organizational resources (change communication and change mobilization) and a personal psychological resource (psychological capital) facilitate sales managers’ emotional and cognitive change readiness, which, in turn, enhances their championing behaviors toward DT initiatives. Further, the authors find that perceived change impact augments the effects of organizational and psychological resources on change readiness, thus highlighting the importance of effective positioning of the outcomes of change. Practical implications This study provides practitioners with actionable guidance on securing the buy-in of sales managers for change initiatives such as DT. Specifically, communication and mobilization are critical inducements. Managers who score high on psychological capital can be targeted as change agents. Further, the impact of change needs to be framed positively, as the resultant perceptions magnify the effects of organizational resources. Originality/value While prior research has examined salespeople’s response to change, very little is known about the antecedents of change readiness and championing behavior among sales managers. Based on the results, the authors identify theoretical and managerial implications as well as future research directions.

Organizational Transformation in Adopting Hybrid Work Models: A Literature Review on Organizational Changes and Employee Readiness

This study explores the implications of hybrid work models on organizational dynamics and employee well-being. Through a qualitative literature review approach, the research examines existing literature on hybrid work, focusing on organizational changes, employee readiness, and long-term effects. The methodology systematically reviews scholarly articles, books, and academic sources, synthesizing key themes, theoretical frameworks, and empirical findings. The results reveal mixed findings regarding the impact of hybrid work on various aspects of organizational functioning and employee experiences. While hybrid work offers opportunities for flexibility and autonomy, it also presents challenges such as communication barriers, blurred boundaries between work and personal life, and uncertainties regarding career advancement. Longitudinal studies and comparative analyses across industries, cultures, and geographic regions are recommended to track the evolution of hybrid work arrangements and assess their sustainability in dynamic environments. Interdisciplinary approaches and integrating emerging technologies can contribute to evidence-based decision-making and foster innovation in hybrid work design and implementation.