Dec' 21
The Effective Executive
Focus
This issue of Effective Executive focuses on Strategic Thinking. The issue comprises three hand-picked papers on strategic thinking. The first paper, "Strategic Thinking and Corporate Governance" by Colin Coulson-Thomas, considers aspects of corporate governance and whether in the light of a changing context these need review to better support the strategic thinking now required. It raises questions for directors, boards and those who advise on governance arrangements.
The second paper, "Strategically-Thinking Senior Executives Need to Take a New View of the Digital World - It Is Here to Stay and Is Getting More Scary" by Stephanie Jones and Sam Curry, argues that many companies and their leadership teams are intimidated by the digital world and the dark, mysterious risks from cyber threats. It asserts that the skills/abilities required for engaging in responsible leadership include the appreciation of risk, which the typical business leader barely understands.
The last paper, "Homosocial Reproduction: The Lived Workplace Experiences of Diverse Millennial Women - Part II" by Davina Zietsman and Kurt April, investigates the primary research question: "What are the lived experiences of millennial women holding knowledge positions in South African metropolises that lead them to leave their organizations?" Some others aspects that the paper addresses are: What the experience of resigning felt like for the women, the role of different identities in the experiences, and mechanisms that organizations could use to retain millennial women. The paper examines homosocial reproduction as the underlying essence of many of the employees' lived experiences that led them to resign from their organizations.
Consulting Editor
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| Article | Price (₹) | ||
| Strategic Thinking and Corporate Governance |
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| Strategically-Thinking Senior Executives Need to Take a New View of the Digital World - It Is Here to Stay and Is Getting More Scary |
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| Homosocial Reproduction: The Lived Workplace Experiences of Diverse Millennial Women - Part II |
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Strategic Thinking and Corporate Governance
In an uncertain business context in which evolving stakeholder priorities may quickly change as people become more aware of the consequences of global warming and climate change, formulating a business strategy can be difficult and strategic planning problematic (Coulson-Thomas, 2021d). They can be particularly challenging for boards and business leaders seeking to embrace social and environmental responsibilities and the concerns of a wider range of stakeholders. How boards respond to certain shared existential challenges could be an indicator of whether they are thinking strategically about developments that could have far-reaching implications for those they serve and to whom they feel accountable. Boards operate within a framework of applicable laws, regulations, license conditions, norms, codes and expectations relating to them, their members and the entities for which they are responsible. This paper considers aspects of corporate governance and whether in the light of a changing context these need review to better support the strategic thinking now required. It raises questions for directors, boards and those who advise on governance arrangements.
Strategically-Thinking Senior Executives Need to Take a New View of the Digital World - It Is Here to Stay and Is Getting More Scary
Many companies and their leadership teams are intimidated by the digital world and the dark, mysterious risks from cyber threats. Many Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) do not understand the implications of increasing digital transformation and their increasing exposure to cybercrime-but they must. So, from both an academic and practical perspective, the authors of this paper have interviewed several Chief Security Officers (CSOs) and analyzed their remarks from a leadership perspective-it is only human to not understand the digital world, and to see the security function as a technical niche, but business leaders have an enormous and scary gap to bridge, and mounting pressures to do so. Arguably, the skills/abilities required for engaging in responsible leadership include the appreciation of risk-even risks such as digital issues and cyber security challenges which the typical business leader barely understands. Some companies are more responsive to global problems such as cybercrime than others-and much of this response depends on how seriously they take their digital transformation and if they listen to their cyber security experts.
Homosocial Reproduction: The Lived Workplace Experiences of Diverse Millennial Women - Part II
Our research study investigated the primary research question: "What are the lived experiences of millennial women holding knowledge positions in South African metropolises that lead them to leave their organizations?" among 25 professional, millennial women in the main economic hubs of Gauteng and the Western Cape in South Africa. Secondary questions explored were: What the experience of resigning felt like for the women, the role of different identities in the experiences, and mechanisms that organizations could use to retain millennial women. For most women in our study, the experience of resigning was unpleasant, while for some, it was appeasing. This study also identified gender, age, race, dress-code, language, accent, relationship status, and country of origin as ideological identity-forming components that affect their experiences in the workplace. Organizational retention strategies identified were: (1) fostering diversity, (2) developmental support, (3) management support, (4) voice amplification, (5) enabling work environment creation, and (6) rewards and recognition. Based on the analysis of the findings, the effect of homogenous norms resulting from homosocial reproduction was then interpreted as the underlying essence of many of the participants' lived experiences that led them to resign from their organizations.