Virtual Teams Across Cultures: Create Successful Teams Around the World by Theresa Sigillito Hollema, August 2020, Interact Global Publishers.
As work becomes virtual, colleagues in many industries are increasingly collaborating online and across borders. Leading dispersed, cross-cultural teams requires a more aware and reflective approach to leadership, and Virtual Teams Across Cultures provides a blueprint for success for managers of multicultural virtual teams.
This book looks at what makes multicultural virtual teams tick – why they’re different and how to unlock their true potential. Drawing on 25 years of professional experience, academic research and interviews with team leaders around world, Theresa Sigillito Hollema provides practical frameworks for understanding the dynamics of global teams. Full of real-life examples and actionable advice, this gives leaders a game plan for making sure remote, multicultural teams thrive in today’s connected business world.
Riding the Waves of Culture, Fourth Edition: Understanding Diversity in Global Business 4th Edition by Fons Trompenaars (Author), Charles Hampden-Turner (Author), forthcoming December 2020
Riding the Waves of Culture, Fourth Edition retains its in-depth exploration of the underlying cultural frameworks that affect leadership, effectiveness and innovation across cultures. With new information and evidence-based insights on critical business matters, it offers insight on the effects of immigration, generational differences to the development of multi-cultural societies, and more. Also new in this edition: access links to more information and online tools―including country culture scores for research purposes.
The most thoroughly researched and highly respected resource of its kind, Riding the Waves of Culture does more than help you stay afloat in today’s diverse work environment; it provides the knowledge you need to seize the advantage and compete for the long run.
The Covid-19 Survival Guide: Dilemmas and Solutions Kindle Edition by Fons Trompenaars, May 2020
Fons Trompenaars looks at the main challenges and dilemmas that our societies are facing due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus. It is his strong conviction that the dilemmas caused by COVID-19 are shared amongst all human beings but that the reconciliation approaches are culturally defined - that reconciliations rather than choosing between two desired states lead to more sustainable results in fighting this virus.
Twenty-First Century Leadership for EU Institutions
Ronald de Bruin, Sebastian Prieto Tovar and Derek Pelland
2017, Cambridge Scholars Publishing
This book explores the type of leadership needed to transform EU Institutions to truly serve Europe’s people. Our world today calls for leaders who are connected to themselves, know how to unleash the potential of others and build organisations that serve people’s needs, and are stewards of society. The prioritising of serving others leads to a conscious choice of one aspiring to lead. In turn, others will experience this inspiration at all levels. This book not only gives insights into the servant-leadership philosophy, but also offers real-life interviews with twelve EU civil servants, including Herman van Rompuy, former President of the European Council. Their stories illustrate that servant-leadership is manifesting inside EU institutions already, independent of background and function level. Servant-leadership offers a unique opportunity to empower EU professionals in facing the challenges of the 21st century and helping the EU to serve its citizens better. We are proud that the book originated from the SERVUS Msc Master thesis of Sebastian Prieto Tovar.
Book review
www.greenleafbrussels.eu
Open Source Leadership
Reinventing Management When There’s No More Business as Usual
Rajeev Peshawaria, 2017
For the first time in human history, knowledge is free and almost every boundary to communication has been lifted. This open source world has permanently altered the business landscape. And you can count on the fact that the pace of change will only accelerate. Yet . . . companies still rely on management tools and practices that were, at best, mildly effective in their heyday.
In Open Source Leadership, the author Rajeev Peshawaria, CEO of ICLIF Leadership and Governance Centre and SERVUS Associate, reveals the vision, insight, and practices he has used to help some of today’s largest and most influential organizations meet the open source world head on. Peshawaria reveals the answers to these questions — and they will surprise you. Based on Rajeev and his team' groundbreaking research, he concludes that traditional industrial age thinking needs a massive upgrade to successfully navigating the brave new world of business. The book provides a new, counterintuitive model for seizing competitive edge in any industry. Among other issues the book argues that “positive autocracy” must replace democratic leadership; talent and innovation are abundant not scarce; early identification of high-potentials is counter-productive; and setting employees free to do as little as they want will increase productivity."
Steve Kerr, Former Vice President of Leadership Development at GE; Former Chief Learning Officer and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs; Author of Reward Systems, comments: “For a variety of demographic, technological and cultural reasons, ordinary people are more empowered today than ever before. Under such conditions, it follows that the best way to maximise performance is to minimise supervision. In Open Source Leadership, based on a global study spanning 28 countries, Rajeev Peshawaria introduces and provides persuasive arguments on behalf of this and many other counter-intuitive insights. This is a must read for anyone that aspires to be a successful leader in the 21st century.” Sanjeev Chadha, PepsiCo CEO, Asia Pacific, Middle East & North Africa, comments: "At a time when we are seeing a global crisis of leadership, this book provides a powerful pit-stop. Full of courageous new leadership thinking, it will help you ride the tsunami of change in the world around us."
Nine Visions of Capitalism
The latest book by our SERVUS colleagues Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner, with Tom Cummings is entitled "Nine Visions of Capitalism, Infinite Ideas", Oxford, 2015. The authors map the route towards Conscious Capitalism with examples such as the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, and the case of Singapore government. The authors examine the values essential to wealth creation in a cross-cultural perspective, and the book is therefore essential knowledge for servant-leaders to read. Some of the world’s most successful Capitalist economies have absorbed very different values from those espoused in the Anglo-American system. In East Asia, for example, East and West have mingled in a way rarely seen elsewhere. Hong Kong and Singapore are much influenced by the British, while Taiwan and South Korea are much influenced by the USA. These economies have more cultural contexts and can switch between them. The book Nine Visions of Capitalism suggests that this holds the clue to their competitiveness. Context switching is vital to commerce in general since the views of producers and consumers, owners and operators, management and labour are far enough apart to be considered opposites.
The book confirms the everyday meaning of meaning for servant-leaders in search of wealth creation in their organization.
The Political Economy of Wasta: Use and Abuse of Social Capital Networking
edited by Mohamed Ramady, Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2016.
This book
- investigates the implications of a political and economic system that relies significantly on reciprocity and cronyism
- analyzes the effects of wasta on the education and labor market within GCC countries
- examines the social and cultural foundation of wasta within specific cultural paradigms of the Middle East
The term ‘wasta’ stems from the Arabic root for ‘middle’ or ‘medium' and describes the phenomenon of using ‘connections’ to find a job, government services or other favors to circumvent bureaucracy or bypass the system as a whole. Using one’s wasta to help members of your family or clan may be considered as a social duty. The effects of wasta may be both positive or negative, and is not a phenomenon that is particular to the Arab or Muslim world, but also to many other cultures and regions of the world, with similar concepts popularly known as ubuntu, guanxi, harambee, or naoberschop used in African, Chinese and European societies. Two chapters of the book were co-authored by SERVUS colleagues, namely:
- Weir, D., Sultan, N., and Van de Bunt, S., Wasta: A Scourge or a Useful Management and Business Practice? Chapter 2, pp. 23-31.
- Li Y., Du J., and Van de Bunt S.. Social capital networking in China and the traditional values of Guanxi. Chapter 12, pp. 173-183.
The Global M&A Tango concept originally evolved to help people realize their potential through the metaphor of the dance. Realizing the business benefits and creating wealth in an integration process is not easy where overt or subtle corporate, national and even functional cultural differences can cause people to be out of step with each other. This book presents a consistent, reliable and generalisable process to create sustainable and integrated value from separate cultures in the merger or acquisition process. As they say, ‘it takes two to tango’.
ISBN: 978-1-906821-050 (2010)
Innovating in a Global Crisis: riding the whirlwind of recession delivers a dynamic take on creativity and innovation as the primary route to growth in times of crisis and shows how to reconnect people, teams and organizations to create an organization capable of constant renewal and everlasting innovation.
ISBN: 978-1-906821-23-4 (2009)
Translated into Dutch and Spanish
Riding the Whirlwind: connecting people and organizations in a culture of innovation provides a blueprint for developing an organizational culture that reinforces creativity and innovation for long-term sustainability. Inspired by John Cleese’s humour and his vision on creativity, this book provides important solid, scientifically grounded advice on how to meet this critical challenge in an engaging way, illustrated with tests, quizzes and cartoons.
ISBN: 978-1-905940-36-3 (2007)
Translated into Dutch and Danish
Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business
The book 'Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business’ (by Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner, Third Edition, Hodder & Stoughton General Division Publishers, 2012) dispels the idea that there is only one way to manage. It is the first book to show professional managers how to build the cross cultural skills, sensitivity, and awareness required in today's global business environment. This book has been a bestseller for almost 20 years; the Dutch translation was awarded “Book of the Year” by the Order of Experts and Consultants on Organization (OOA) and was translated into 13 languages: Dutch, French, German, Danish, Portuguese, Turkish, Polish, Bulgarian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.
Servant-Leadership across Cultures: Harnessing the Strength of the World's Most Powerful Leadership Philosophy
The book ‘Servant-Leadership across Cultures. Harnessing the Strength of the World’s Most Powerful Leadership Philosophy’ (by Fons Tromenaars and Ed Voerman, Infinite Ideas, 2009) is especially recommended for leaders who make decisions using their minds, but also want to speak from the heart. In a world characterised by globalisation, more and more entrepreneurs are entering the international market. Experience has shown that servant leadership is the most effective instrument to reconcile opposing viewpoints. This book is suitable for those who are interested in cross-cultural management and servant leadership. Servant leadership is an approach to leadership development, coined and defined by Robert Greenleaf and advanced by several leading business authors such as Stephen Covey. Servant leadership emphasises the leader's role as steward of the resources (human, financial and otherwise) provided by the organisation. It encourages leaders to serve others while staying focused on achieving results in line with the organisation's values and integrity. In a world characterised by globalisation, more and more entrepreneurs are entering the international market. This not only provides unanticipated opportunities, but also extraordinary challenges. Where the workforce is diverse, people will operate from different values. The result will be a clash of cultures . Experience has shown that servant leadership in these types of dilemmas is the most effective approach. Using numerous examples the authors show that this is a path that leads to a true resolution, superseding compromise. It is an effective instrument to use to break through the pattern of cultural stereotyping and counterproductive behaviour and to reconcile opposing viewpoints. Especially in the field of cross-cultural management, servant leadership as dilemma par excellence can serve as a bridge. It is an extremely important competence to possess in a globalising world!
Civic Engagement and community service at research universities
This book is edited by Krista Soria and T. D. Mitchell, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. The book includes a chapter 11 (pp. 203-218) Realizing a critical framework for service learning at a public research university with a framework for service learning that the co-authors Barrera, D., Kukahiko, K., Willner, L., and O'Byrne suggest others follow.
The idea is that as universities incorporate service-based pedagogies into their courses, teachers should encourage students to examine their own identities in relation to those they work with in the community, with the goal of developing students' critical consciousness. One of the authors, Douglas Barrera, was speaker during the SL symposium on October 14th, 2016.
Sense of Serving - A New Role for Universities in Society
The book Sense of Serving – A New Role for Universities in Society will be released Easter 2016 by VU University Press. SLRP School member dr. Meindert Flikkema is the initiator and editor of the book. A different vision of the societal role of universities, free universities: this is what nineteen scientists, lecturers and students, driven by love and their moral sense of duty, wish to promote in this publication. Its contributors envisage universities as institutions that have liberated themselves from modern forms of megalomania and perverse incentives. They call upon universities to become places where the Bildung of students is given centre stage and where research will thus become more meaningful for society at large. They picture universities as part of an ecosystem making society more vital and dynamic, more committed, more service oriented, more tolerant and richer: a society where people share their lives with others and where a sense of serving others fosters wellbeing, tranquillity and wisdom.
Co-authors are Sjoerd Martens, Nishand Sardjoe, Tom Zegers MSc, Lita Napitupulu, Anne Laurette Leijser, Osman Aksoycan, Laurens Walinga, Loes Hafkamp, prof.dr. Halleh Ghorashi, prof. dr. Tineke Abma, dr. Sylvia Van de Bunt, prof. dr. Frank Van der Duijn Schouten, prof. dr. Jos Beishuizen, prof. dr. James Kennedy, prof. mr. dr. Steven ten Have, prof. dr. Fons Trompenaars, dr. Elco van Burg, prof. dr. Mario van Vliet and prof. dr. Johan Wempe.
One of the chapters “Meaningful Education to nurture Servant-Leaders” is co-authored by Fons Trompenaars and Sylvia van de Bunt. In this chapter the VU postgraduate course Servant-Leadership Research Programme (SLRP) exemplifies how meaningful education can contribute to the development of future servant-leaders.
The book is available via the VU Amsterdam bookstore, De Boelelaan 1105 or via the editor dr. M.J. Flikkema: m.j.flikkema@vu.nl.
Creative Learning and Moocs: Harnessing the Technology for a 21st Century Education
The book by our SERVUS colleagues Nabil Sultan and Haifa Jamal Al-Lail (editors, 2015) is entitled Creative Learning and Moocs: Harnessing the Technology for a 21st Century Education, Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This volume brings together a collection of selected (and revised) articles that were presented at the 11th Learning and Technology Conference held by Effat University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in February 2014. The conference is an annual event that explores the latest research and practice in innovative technologies and their impact on education. The contributions to this volume are all authored by practicing academics and research students, with the central theme the realisation that learning and teaching are strongly influenced by technology and innovation. Schools, colleges and academic institutes took the lead in harnessing this technology and created innovative opportunities for learning that did not exist before, one of which being the field of e-Learning.
One of the latest innovations in education is the introduction of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which represents an interesting development in the use of technology and innovation by providing opportunities for learning to massive numbers of students (regardless of their location) at almost no cost. This phenomenon is subject to a great deal of analysis in this book, and will provide an interesting read for students, teachers, decision makers and ordinary people. A particular strength of this book is that the contributors are drawn from, and represent, a number of cultural backgrounds, which provides a range of insights that is often missing from other publications on such important subjects.