Executives in Science, Business and Society 3 by Amsterdam Business Research Institute

EXECUTIVES IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY ON THE EXECUTIVES AS SCIENTISTS MOVEMENT WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR LEADERS TO LOOK INTO THEIR COLLECTIVE HISTORIES? HOW DOES THE UNSAID SHAPE DECISION-MAKING IN THE BOARDROOM? CRACKING THE CODE ON WEALTH PRESERVATION PAGE

BUSINESS IN SOCIETY

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ON SIMPLE RULES

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR LEADERS TO LOOK INTO THEIR COLLECTIVE HISTORIES?

INTRODUCTION Svetlana Khapova and Niki Konijn

ON FINDING PURPOSE IN A COMPLEX WORLD

CRACKING THE CODE ON WEALTH PRESERVATION: It is not about money

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LEADERSHIP AND BOARDS HOW DOES THE UNSAID SHAPE DECISION-MAKING IN THE BOARDROOM?

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EMOTIONS IN THE BOARDROOM: Handling the hot and cold of strategic decision making

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EDITORIAL STAFF

Svetlana Khapova Niki Konijn

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PAST HEROES, FUTURE LOSERS: Critical leader behaviours and transformation in the banking industry

ARE ALL LEADERS RISK TAKERS BY DEFINITION? INDIVIDUALS EMPOWERING PEOPLE IN ORGANZIATIONS

THE DIMINISHING RETURN OF HAPPINESS: What if the good life doesn’t feel that good, anymore?

CONTACT

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PERSONAL ENERGY AT WORK, A SOURCE FOR SUCCES

s.n.khapova@vu.nl Amsterdam in Science, n.m.konijn@vu.nl Business and Society, vol. 3 www.abri.vu.nl ©Vrije Universiteit www.abri.vu.nl/executives Amsterdam ISSN: 2405-7878

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TRANSFER OF TRAINING: The Achilles heel of the training process

RESEARCH CENTRES

INSIGHTS

HOW CAN THE IT FUNCTION ADAPT TO THE RISE OF DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS

THE DARK SIDE OF LEAN

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SHOOTING FOR GOALS IN COACHING: Are we missing the goal?

COACHING

PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVE COACHES

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PUBLICATIONS BOOKS

RECENT DISSERTATIONS A CONVERSATION: The value of corporate partnerships

PHOTOGRAPY

ABRI, contributing authors, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Shutterstock

CONCEPT, DESIGN AND LAYOUT

COPPER DESIGN, Houten

EMOTIONAL LEGITIMACY

NPN drukkers, Breda

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ON THE ‘EXECUTIVES AS SCIENTISTS’ MOVEMENT Dear Readers,

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You are holding a very special issue of the journal ‘Executives in Science, Business and Society’. It is born in response to countless discussions about what academic institutions can do to bridge business and science. Various academic institutions have come up with their own interpretations of how to go about this. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam’s School of Business and Economics has also developed several approaches, including the launch of new executive education programmes and in-company leadership development projects. Additionally, there are our start-up and scale-up initiatives carried out in partnership with Zuidas multinationals. One business and science project of which we are particularly proud, but received little attention over the past years, is VU’s Executive PhD programme in Business and Management Studies. This special issue of the journal is fully dedicated to it. In 2014, the Amsterdam Business Research Institute (ABRI) at the School of Business and Economics launched the Executive PhD programme: This is a 4-year, structured PhD training programme that equips professionals and executives with the knowledge and tools to conduct high-impact academic research. Although the programme targets an executive audience, it is not practically oriented like a DBA or MBA programme. In other words it shares the same rigour and objectives as ABRI’s renowned full-time PhD programme, the only differences being that the classroom consists of executives and the training offered is on a part-time schedule with more structure and guidance. The results stemming from the Executive PhD programme have been surprising. What started with the simple goal of helping executives finalise their PhD projects, has grown into an international community of changemakers who bring science to practice through their research journeys. Today, our community consists of more than 70 participants who live

editorial

IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

and work in countries such as Armenia, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Latvia, Netherlands, Oman, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, USA, and counting. We are extremely proud of this international community of ‘Executives as Scientists’. It is for these reasons that we also have chosen to rename our research journal ‘Executives in Science, Business and Society’ (replacing ‘Amsterdam in Science, Business and Society’) and focus on the Executive PhD programme in Business and Management Studies in this special issue. Given the calibre of our ‘Executives as Scientists’ and their research, we decided to share some our insights and discoveries about this unique research community. One such finding is that executives work on highly innovative, novel, and societally relevant topics that contribute to the domains of leadership, strategy, management, marketing, entrepreneurship, and more. Executives’ many years of work experience allows them to identify unique topics that drive their scholarly investigations. When compared with our more junior PhD candidates, who may initially be more methodological, the Executive PhDs seem better positioned to make theoretical contributions. Furthermore, our experience shows that experienced executives are often already prolific writers, which may be partly explained by their passion and commitment to their topics. Another discovery is that executives’ scientific research helps them professionalise and advance their areas of work while also innovating within their organisations. Indeed, some of our Executive PhD candidates have become influential speakers in their areas of expertise while others have switched careers and become academics. What they share is their ability to ask highly relevant questions and approach issues from a complex perspective. We strongly believe that this enterprising mindset is exactly what propels business and society forward.

We are also learning that ‘Executives as Scientists’ is becoming an important movement within Amsterdam Zuidas. Zuidas not only functions as the hub for many multinational headquarters based in the Netherlands, but it also serves as a growing learning community. Changing how multinationals do business, and how they serve society, is not simple. It requires a multidisciplinary perspective, complex thinking, and scientific rigour in order to consider all relevant evidence and account for all applicable stakeholders—all of which is taking place at Zuidas. We are very proud of what the ‘Executives as Scientists’ community has demonstrated they can accomplish within this context. When looking towards the future, we hope that this publication marks the beginning of this societally relevant project. The global pandemic has only intensified a need for more evidence-based leadership. Scientists no longer sit in their ivory towers at the university, instead collaborate across institutional boundaries. Not only business schools, but also businesses are invited to join science-based collaborations. It is our sincere hope that you enjoy reading this special issue, and that you too will be inspired to join our ‘Executives as Scientists’ movement!

Prof. dr. Svetlana Khapova Head of the Department of Management & Organisation Programme Director ABRI Executive PhD programme Niki Konijn Head of Operations at the Department of Management & Organisation Programme Coordinator ABRI Executive PhD programme

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Luc Glasbeek is an assistant professor in the Department of Management & Organization. From 1995–2010, he held several roles in MNOs in the areas of IT system development, project management, organisational learning, and business operations. Between 2010 and 2019, he worked as an entrepreneur, focusing on professional services delivery. In 2015, Luc joined the ABRI Executive PhD Program; he defended his dissertation successfully in May 2020.

ON FINDING PURPOSE IN A COMPLEX WORLD DR. LUC GLASBEEK

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

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Society cannot function without human collaboration. For example, producing just a classic, yellow pencil requires graphite mining , clay mining, the transport, mixing and heating of graphite and clay; wood harvesting, cutting, waxing and impregnation; pencil assembly, packaging, marketing, transportation and distribution; all before the product is even displayed in a shop. By the time a child buys the pencil and starts drawing, it will have passed through the hands of countless people collaborating, managing, organising, leading, and venturing out (Friedman, 1980). Thus, it is impossible for even a simple pencil to come into existence without management, organisation,

and entrepreneurship. Although these behaviours are integral to our existence as a human species, they are understood quite differently (and often poorly) among management practitioners and researchers. To date, debates continue around what kind of management is ‘best’ for different organisational forms, or even whether management is necessary altogether.

the development of a COVID-19 vaccine that is safe, effective, affordable and extensively deployable. Teasing apart the Gordian knot of the necessary management, organisation, and entrepreneurship - whilst better understanding its component strands - presents a daunting task for scholars. However, it must be done, particularly for the benefit of subsequent generations.

Furthermore, our perceived understanding decreases substantially as the complexity of what we aim to accomplish proliferates. Envisage, for instance, the managerial challenges of a human mission to Mars - which I hope we will witness in the coming decades - or, more contemporaneously,

Young people, more than anyone else, face unprecedented, compound global challenges such as poverty, resource scarcity and environmental degradation. Addressing these issues will not only require a supreme scientific understanding of the workings of nature (i.e., the

hard sciences) but also demand new and sophisticated forms of management, organisation, and entrepreneurship: business studies. History has shown that, even in the most scientifically advanced environments, a lack of effective management practices can lead to disastrous outcomes. NASA is a case in point. In the 1990s, its Hubble Space Telescope was one of the most advanced scientific instruments ever built, which has positively and radically advanced our understanding of the universe. Nonetheless, its first production version was expensive and a total failure, which scholars have attributed to a range of managerial issues (Capers & Lipton, 1993; Quinn & Walsh, 1994).

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Likewise, when Richard Feynman, a Nobel Laureate in Physics, investigated the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, he found that “the management of NASA exaggerates the reliability of its product, to the point of fantasy” (Feynman, 1986, p. 284). Of course, the issue was that management was bearing enormous responsibilities, and thus overlooked the necessity to have the checks and balances in place to develop a comprehensive view of the actual risks involved, risks which they had so dramatically underestimated (Vaughan, 1997). Why was that? Business researchers should methodologically examine such tough questions and pass on their knowledge to university

students before they join the labour force. This basic operating model came to life in the last year of my doctoral studies when I started supervising masters students with their final thesis. Over the previous four years, I had steadily internalised an array of academic tools, concepts, frameworks, and values that I could now draw on in my conversations with students. However, I only realised how valuable my academic knowledge and skills had become, especially when coupled with extensive practical experience, when I started engaging with students, who are typically in their early 20s. This was a profound experience that coincided with

my formation of a new identity as an academic (Conroy & O’Leary-Kelly, 2014). Aside from my rather intuitive (yet admittedly vague) motivation that doctoral research is “interesting,” I had finally found a clear and compelling reason

REFERENCES Capers, R. S. and E. Lipton (1993). Hubble error: Time, money and millionths of an inch. The Academy of Management Executive 7(4): 41. Conroy, S. A. and A. M. O’LearyKelly (2014). Letting go and moving on: Work-related identity loss and recovery. Academy of Management Review 39(1): 67-87. Feynman, R. (1986). Report of the presidential commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger accident. (Appendix F).

for conducting PhD research: To use my newfound knowledge, skills, and ways of thinking to help other people become better professionals and researchers. And that feels pretty awesome!

Friedman, M. (1980). I, pencil. Free to Choose, PBS. 01. Quinn, R. E. and J. P. Walsh (1994). Understanding organizational tragedies: The case of the Hubble Space Telescope. The Academy of Management Executive 8(1): 62. Vaughan, D. (1997). The Challenger launch decision: Risky technology, culture, and deviance at NASA. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

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CRACKING THE CODE ON WEALTH PRESERVATION: IT IS NOT ABOUT MONEY DR. MAARTEN DE GROOT

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

key perspectives

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The wealthy are heavily criticised and often find themselves the focus of discussion, debate, and controversy. In recent years, the public narrative on this topic has become deeply polarised. Research has shown that wealthy people derive most of their wealth from active ownership of family enterprises and are different from the stereotypical rich and famous as featured in popular lists. In effect, enterprise families have a major impact on our society, contributing significantly to global economic growth, employment, philanthropic capital, startup finance, technological innovation and even the performance of capital markets. Moreover, those families with a transgenerational orientation are likely to contribute even more to society and the economy. Given the public debate and the importance of such families to the economy, it seems counterintuitive that, in the field of family business research, where the family is the crucial variable, theoretically distinguishing family businesses from other firms, the literature has so far neglected the family itself as a constituent determinant, and has instead focused overwhelmingly on the business system.

LESS THAN 15% OF THE FAMILIES IN THE FORBES 400 WERE STILL LISTED ONE GENERATION LATER. In my dissertation, I set out to study wealth preservation in enterprise families that share ownership of multiple assets (e.g., investments, real estate) and multiple entities (e.g., family businesses, family offices and/or family philanthropic foundations) across generations. I explore why so many enterprise families fail to secure transgenerational monetary prosperity. Several theoretical perspectives have contributed to our understanding of family business and wealth creation through business venturing. However, very little is known about how enterprise families preserve wealth, and, in particular, what happens at the familial level. MY RESEARCH LIFTS THE VEIL ON A HIGHLY SECRETIVE UNIT OF ANALYSIS. To explore this in more detail, I first conducted a conceptual, theoretical study from which three clear concepts emerged: family governance (how families make decisions together); family social capital (relationships and cohesion); and a nascent topic, the family office (an entity with the goal of wealth

preservation). I subsequently opened a theoretical black box by conducting a qualitative exploratory study to investigate the origins of family social capital. My multi-case study focused on seven enterprise families with legacies going back more than 100 years - families with up to 300 members and assets worth billions of dollars. Next, I tested my findings with a quantitative empirical study and a moderated mediation framework. I contacted 1,020 global enterprise families and worked with 175 of them. The oldest family enterprise dates back to the early 1700s, and the largest spans 12 branches and has more than 1,000 members. Gathering data was difficult (access), intrusive (privacy) and costly (travel). My 25-year experience as a strategist, board member, and CEO in the wealth management sector and my present positions as the CEO of a family office and co-chair of a global research institute enabled me to gain access to these families. REGARDLESS OF COUNTRY, TAX LAWS, OR ECONOMIC CYCLE, 70% OF THE FAMILY ENTERPRISES FAIL. Regarding the issue of how enterprise families can preserve their wealth for multiple generations, this

research makes three main theoretical contributions. First, my dissertation contributes to family business research by shifting the analysis from the family business to the family itself. Second, I theorise that collective family action towards wealth preservation is reinforced by effective family governance, substantial familial social capital and a family-office emphasis on non-financial services. Third, this research helps to unpack the black box of the origins of relationships within families and the role of family governance in social capital. WEALTH PRESERVATION COMES WITH A DIFFERENT SET OF CHALLENGES THAN GROWING A FAMILY BUSINESS. Based on these theoretical contributions, this dissertation also has several practical implications. Enterprise family wealth preservation requires collective action and, therefore, breakdowns in trust must be avoided. My findings emphasise the fact that enterprise families should develop strong decisionmaking capabilities and establish effective mechanisms for family governance. In addition, these families should develop high-quality family learning programmes to prepare the rising generation for their

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‘I FEEL LIKE I AM PUT OVER MY FATHER’S REFERENCES 1. Habbershon, T. G., & Pistrui, KNEE, BEING SPANKED J. (2002). Enterprising families domain: Family-influenced WITH ONE HAND ownership groups in pursuit of transgenerational wealth. Family AND FED CAKE Business Review, 15(3), 223–237. 2. Nason, R. S., Carney, M., Le BretonWITH THE OTHER.’

Miller, I., & Miller, D. (2019). Who cares about socioemotional wealth? SEW and rentier perspectives on the one percent wealthiest business households. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 10(2), 144–158. 3. White, B. (2017). What family firms need to ensure longevity. Retrieved October 21, 2019, from INSEAD website: https://knowledge.insead.edu/ family-business/what-family-firms-need-to-ensurelongevity-7751 4. Williams, R. O., & Preisser, V. (2003). Preparing heirs: Five steps to a successful transition of family wealth and values. San Francisco: Robert D. Reed Publishers.

(RISING-GENERATION ENTERPRISE-FAMILY MEMBER)

‘I DO NOT KNOW IF HE IS GOING TO BE PRESIDENT, OR IN PRISON.’ (FIFTH-GENERATION ENTERPRISE-FAMILY COUNCILMEMBER)

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‘FAMILY TALENT WILL SHOW, BUT IDIOTS WILL BE IDIOTS.’

(FAMILY-OFFICE KEY EXECUTIVE, NON-FAMILY MEMBER)

roles in the future-enterpriseowner group. Bolstering family identity and strengthening family members’ perceptions of belonging to the family social group further enhances collective family action to preserve wealth. The principles, programmes and entities associated with those structures, procedures, and behaviours have an important, positive impact on the enterprise family’s crucial social capital. The role of the single family office is

instrumental in magnifying these effects and also in balancing the financial and non-financial considerations of the enterprise family. FROM SHIRTSLEEVES TO SHIRTSLEEVES IN THREE GENERATIONS. Many enterprise families have the objective of sustaining themselves into the future for multiple generations. They

have to navigate challenges and embrace change while responding to environments full of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. While multigenerational enterprise families like the Rockefeller family (now in its seventh generation) show that successful family governance, substantial social capital and effective family offices are achievable across several generations, many others have been much less successful at doing this. I theorise that the key driver of family wealth preservation is relational, as opposed to being purely financial, and posit that wealth preservation is not about money.

These quotes, by three enterprise family insiders, represent different points of view relating to the arduous task of preparing younger family members for their future roles in the family enterprise. The preparation of the rising generation is one of many aspects of wealth preservation. How can enterprise families with differing and unique geographical, historical and cultural contexts overcome the barriers that prevent family wealth from being passed down successfully over multiple generations?

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Marilieke Engbers HOW DOES THE UNSAID SHAPE DECISION-MAKING IN THE BOARDROOM?

Marie-Claire Dassen EMOTIONS IN THE BOARDROOM

Radu Atanasiu ON SIMPLE RULES

Lara Tcholakian WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR LEADERS TO LOOK INTO THEIR COLLECTIVE HISTORIES?

LEADERSHIP AND BOARDS 24

Edson Hato PAST HEROES, FUTURE LOSERS: CRITICAL LEADER BEHAVIOURS

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Julia Vitte ARE ALL LEADERS RISK TAKERS BY DEFINTION?

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leadership and boards

IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

DR. MARILIEKE ENGBERS

HOW DOES THE UNSAID SHAPE DECISION-MAKING IN THE BOARDROOM?

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

Recent corporate governance scandals have drawn significant attention to what happens in the boardroom, raising many questions with regards to why boards of directors, those responsible for monitoring firms, were unable to prevent the scandals. Why do boards fail so often? How come boards of directors that are responsible for monitoring and safeguarding their firms were unable to prevent such scandals? While boards of directors are of institutional importance, scholars have a limited understanding of boardroom processes1. How do directors (or non-executives) and executives make strategic decisions together and, in particular, how do directors monitor the organisation and its executives? To uncover the black box of board decisionmaking requires direct observation of what goes on in the boardroom, which produces many methodological challenges. A first methodological challenge concerns the gathering of data about the decisionmaking process from these boards. Boards are considered closed systems, as board decision-making involves the exchange of highly sensitive information. A second methodological barrier relates to the analysis of sensemaking and decisionmaking processes. How do we measure and offer validated theories about the

ways in which individual board members make sense and influence each other’s sensemaking before coming to decisions? Studying dynamic (sensemaking) processes that unfold between people is not easy. How does the researcher’s involvement shape the data? This is one of the key questions that need to be answered when researching processes qualitatively. APPROACH In our recent study on how the unsaid shapes decision-making in the boardroom, we explore this black box. However, the purpose of this study was not to merely justify a theory but to develop additional theories that explain what happens in the boardroom2. Moreover, in this study, we did not put the ‘said’ front and centre but, instead, the ‘unsaid’, focusing on what is thought and felt but not expressed3. During this study, I observed the board meetings of 17 boards and interviewed 119 board members about what happened during those meetings. More specifically, I explored how board members responded ‘in action’ and and how they consciously or ‘pre’-consciously chose to silence their thoughts and feelings. Preconscious thoughts and feelings are taken for granted at a particular instance but easily become conscious upon reflection4. Therefore, preconscious thoughts and feelings can be observed retrospectively. All board

members (executives and directors or non-executives) who were present during a meeting were asked after the meeting to reflect on four questions: 1) what were you thinking and feeling, but not saying, and when, 2) what kept you from saying it, 3) what do you think others were thinking and when, and 4) what do you think kept them from saying it? During interviews of roughly 1 hour in length that took place within two weeks from the meeting, board members reflected upon these questions. Putting the unsaid, instead of the said, front and centre meant exploring the difference between what is said and what is thought, and, therein, how blind spots, incongruities, and perceived incongruities shape board decision-making. Moreover, I also positioned myself as an interpreting, knowing actor rather than an objective observer5, reflecting upon and making notes of what I thought was not said during the interviews6. 1

Bainbridge, 2002; Forbes & Milliken, 1999; Gabrielsson & Huse, 2005; Garg & Eisenhardt, 2017; Veltrop, Hermes, Postma, & de Haan, 2015; Westphal, 1999; Westphal & Bednar, 2005; Westphal & Zajac, 2013

Locke, Golden-Biddle, & Feldman, 2008

Engbers M., Khapova S., Loo vd E., 2020a.

Javel,w 1999

Cunliffe, 2011

Argyris & Schön, 1974; Argyris, Putnam & McLain Smith, 1985; Putnam, 1991; Senge, 1997

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Marilieke Engbers (1969) combines her lectures on strategy realisation for the VU Finance and Control Program with consulting work for Reconsulting on board effectiveness, self-evaluations, strategy and leadership. During her PhD, Marilieke was assigned by the Housing Associations Authority to research how boards monitor the risks of long-tenured CEOs. She published the report ‘Kracht en Tegenkracht’ in 2019.

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Iterating between a) what individual board members shared in the interview, b) a comparison of those reflections with the tape-recordings of the meetings, c) a comparison of accounts per role and board, and d) academic theories that explained the data, new theories emerged. Moreover, by presenting these preliminary theories, I also explored to what extent these theories resonated with the boards that participated in this research and with the 120 individual board members who were present. THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS First, this study offers an emergent theory explaining how preconscious, taken-for-granted, and automatic sociocognitive processes and communicative events between board members and their stakeholders shape boards’ decisionmaking7. Since the theory conceptualises how micro-processes between board members shape macro-processes, an institutional perspective is warranted. Second, this study theorises that board members who consider their governance to be paradigm-objective and who are considered paradigm-attached, cause a ripple of unspoken communication, or

Director 2

a ‘spiral of the unsaid’ when they try to manage silent conflicts through informal decision-making8. The data reveals that the three different roles of CEO, chair and non-executive risk eliciting seven types of paradigm-attachment conflicts. When a heated situation is enacted due to the spiral of unsaid, it is managed through scapegoating and ostracising the board members through the least-dominant minority paradigm. Third, this study conceptualises how four silence climates shape four different levels of cohesiveness and cognitive conflict towards board effectivenes9. A board silence climate is characterised by how a board maintains a dynamic equilibrium between cohesiveness and cognitive conflict through different silence strategies. The data suggests that since a cognitive conflict always risks eliciting a relationship conflict, boards constantly adjust through voice and silence when encountering conflicts. Four different board climates are distinguished, each with different silence strategies that shape four different levels of board effectiveness and show how silence strategies shift in response to tension reconciliation. Fourth, through reflecting on this research approach, the study suggests that being aware of different levels of consciousness is required for the research of assumptions

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that are taken for granted (Engbers, 2020). Moreover, it also highlighted that perspective-taking is key when conducting such intersubjective research. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS This study offers three practical implications for board members, inspectors, board consultants and other stakeholders that work with or for boards. First, this study explores the ambiguity of how to manage and decide when and about what requires conscious deliberation rather than an automated response. Unspoken and presupposed, but differing, assumptions about governance can negatively impact decision-making in the boardroom. This suggests that these differences and the effects of these assumptions on decisionmaking warrant exploration and reflection. Second, informal conversations within a sub-group should be limited, as they influence decision-making and cannot be monitored. Thus, although committees are often perceived as efficient governing bodies and decisions made in these sub-groups are not considered informal, what takes place in these meetings and how these conversations unfold (the tone of voice) should be consciously and deliberately monitored. Third, role-expectations should be reflected upon consciously to limit false attribution bias and silent speculation emerging between board members. In particular the differing expectations of chairs, CEOs and new directors should be avoided.

REFERENCES Argyris, C., Putnam, R., & McLain Smith, D. (1985). Action Science: Concepts, Methods and Skills for Research and Intervention. Database Systems for Advanced Applications. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3642-14589-6_4 Bainbridge, S. M. (2002). Why a board? Group decision making in corporate governance. Vanderbilt Law Review. https://doi. org/10.2139/ssrn.266683

Engbers, Khapova, vd Loo, 2020a

Engbers, Khapova, 2020a

Engbers, Khapova, 2020b

Locke, K., Golden-Biddle, K., & Feldman, M. S. (2008). Making doubt generative: Rethinking the role of doubt in the research process. Organization Science. https://doi. org/10.1287/orsc.1080.0398 Putnam, R. (1991). Recipes and Reflective Learning:“What Would Prevent You From Saying It That Way?” In The Reflective Turn: Case Studies in and on Educational Practice.

Cunliffe, A. L. (2011). Crafting qualitative research: Morgan and Smircich 30 years on. Organizational Research Methods, 14(4), 647–673. https://doi. org/10.1177/1094428110373658 Engbers M., Khapova S., Loo vd E. (2020) The spiral of unsaid known and preconscious decision-making in the boardroom. Under review Engbers M., Khapova S. (2020) How paradigm-attachement enacts a spiral of unsaid in boards. Working paper Engbers M., Khapova S. (2020) Silence Climates in the boardroom. Working paper Engbers M., (2020) Researching the unsaid and decision-making. Under review Forbes, D. P., & Milliken, F. J. (1999). Cognition and corporate governance : Understanding boards of directors as str ... Management. Gabrielsson, J., & Huse, M. (2005). “Outside” Directors in Sme Boards : a Call for Theoretical Reflections. Corporate Board: Role, Duties & Composition. https://doi. org/10.22495/cbv1i1art3

Javel, A. F. (1999). The Freudian antecedents of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. https://doi. org/10.1023/A:1023247428670

Garg, S., & Eisenhardt, K. M. (2017). Unpacking the CEO-Board relationship: How strategy making happens in entrepreneurial firms. Academy of Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2014.0599

Senge, P. m. (1997). The fifth discipline. Measuring Business Excellence. https://doi. org/10.1108/eb025496 Veltrop, D. B., Hermes, N., Postma, T. J. B. M., & de Haan, J. (2015). A tale of two factions: Why and when factional demographic faultlines hurt board performance. Corporate Governance: An International Review. https://doi. org/10.1111/corg.12098 Westphal, J. D. (1999). Collaboration in the boardroom: Behavioral and performance consequences of ceoboard social ties. Academy of Management Journal. https:// doi.org/10.2307/256871 Westphal, J. D., & Bednar, M. K. (2005). Pluralistic Ignorance in Corporate Boards and Firms’ Strategic Persistence in Response to Low Firm Performance. Administrative Science Quarterly. https://doi. org/10.2189/asqu.2005.50.2.262 Westphal, J. D., & Zajac, E. J. (2013). A Behavioral Theory of Corporate Governance: Explicating the Mechanisms of Socially Situated and Socially Constituted Agency. The Academy of Management Annals. https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2013.783 669

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EMOTIONS IN THE BOARDROOM: HANDLING THE HOT AND COLD OF STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING PAGE

MARIE-CLAIRE DASSEN VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

Strategic decision-making lies at the heart of executive boards’ responsibility. To make such decisions, these teams need a solid rational basis: reliable data, relevant experience and in-depth knowledge of the topic at hand. But that is only part of the story.

Research shows that individual emotions and group dynamics have a substantial impact on how decisions are made. For example, too much enthusiasm can make teams less open to relevant information, whereas, a tense group dynamic can detract from the actual decision-making itself. This is particularly true in the context of boards, where stakes are high, information is ambiguous and stakeholder demands are often conflicting. Therefore, strategic decision-making is not just ‘cold’ and rational, but also ‘hot’ and emotional, and executive boards need to integrate the strategic content of their discussions with the tensions and emotions inherent to their context. But how does that play out in the day-to-day practice of executive boards? How do they navigate these two sides of their strategic work? And what conditions make it easier or more difficult for them to do so?

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To engage these questions, we conducted a one and half year study in which we closely observed the executive board of a notfor-profit organisation. To complete our research, we conducted formal and informal interviews with board members about how they experienced their team’s decisionmaking, and we attended and audio-recorded the board meetings themselves. THE SLIPPERY TABLE OF STRATEGIC DECISION-MAKING In our data, we identified two dynamics in how the executive board dealt with issues that came to their attention. In the first dynamic, the board discussed the content of the issue and explicitly integrated team and individual emotions into their exchange. After such integration, teams came to a conclusion and moved their strategic decision-making forward. For instance, in a conversation about a sizable technological investment, none of

the available options appeared to guarantee an unequivocally sustainable result. The board’s discussion began to develop into a circular and irritated exchange until team members started openly addressing their feelings of uncertainty and doubt about unpredictable future technological developments. Once the board acknowledged these feelings and integrated them into their reasoning, with expressions such as “We want to make a no-regret decision, but we really can’t oversee this now, so we have to deal with this uncertainty”, their discussion moved forward again. Emotions rose, but the executive board remained actively in charge of its decision-making process. We also identified a second, more reactive dynamic, which appeared under one or two conditions: either when the team’s emotional intensity was very low (for example, when topics didn’t “get the juices flowing” as

one team member described it), or when the intensity was very high, such as when team members became very agitated and irritated with each other. In these conditions, issues that came to the table seemed to slide off the agenda, a phenomenon we genially dubbed the “slippery board table”. Decisions were taken half-heartedly or were repeatedly postponed. Even though emotions were clearly present, they were not integrated into discussions, but suppressed, cut off or simply ignored. However, these emotions did not disappear; they remained unresolved and were carried over into subsequent discussions, sometimes with increased intensity. This steered the team toward a vicious cycle in which emotions kept resurfacing and affecting their decisionmaking. It subsequently became increasingly challenging for the board to switch from this reactive to a more active dynamic.

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EMOTIONS IN THE BOARDROOM

REFERENCES Ashkanasy, N. M. (2003). Emotions in organizations: A multilevel perspective Multi-level issues in organizational behavior and strategy (pp. 9-54): Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Dassen, M.C., & Khapova, S.N. (2020). ‘Hot’ strategy in TMTs. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation chapter]. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Healey, M. P., & Hodgkinson, G. P. (2017). Making strategy hot. California Management Review, 59(3), 109-134. Hodgkinson, G. P., & Healey, M. P. (2011). Psychological foundations of dynamic capabilities: reflexion and reflection in strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 32(13), 1500-1516. Kisfalvi, V., & Pitcher, P. (2003). Doing what feels right - The influence of CEO character and emotions on top management team dynamics. Journal of Management Inquiry, 12(1), 42-66. Sanchez-Burks, J., & Huy, Q. N. (2009). Emotional aperture and strategic change: The accurate recognition of collective emotions. Organization Science, 20(1), 22-34. Vuori, T. O., & Huy, Q. N. (2018). Shaping Top Managers’ Moods: Board Emotion Regulation in the Strategy-Formulation Process. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2018, 12389.

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TEAM EMOTIONAL BANDWIDTH: HOW CAN YOUR BOARD HANDLE THE HEAT? How can we explain these different dynamics? How can executive boards increase their chance of remaining actively in charge of their decision-making? And how can they avoid becoming caught in a vicious reactive cycle where emotions are too hot to handle or too cold for care? For this, we need to look at what we labelled the team’s emotional bandwidth, the team’s capacity to integrate rational and emotional aspects into their strategic decision-making. We propose that the broader a team’s emotional bandwidth is, the more likely the board can remain actively in charge of integrated decision-making. Based on our findings and earlier research, we suggest that three factors shape the emotional bandwidth of a team.

- Emotional susceptibility, or how individual board members and the board as a whole respond emotionally to the tensions inherent to their strategic decision-making situations; - Emotional awareness, or how skilled the board is at recognising emotions and their impact; and - Emotional ability, or how skilled the board is at discussing and managing emotions. Executive boards seeking to broaden their team’s emotional bandwidth could work on these three factors. Assessing the team’s emotional susceptibility can give a better idea of how much emotion comes to the table in the first place. When evaluating this, it is important to keep in mind that different members might respond differently to the same situation and that emotions are contagious. Strong emotional reactions from one or two team members can raise

the emotional intensity of the whole board. Similarly, when several team members are uninspired or too much at ease, the entire board may be drawn into that mood and become overly complacent. Emotional awareness and emotional ability are skills that can be trained, for example, by actively and collectively reflecting on questions like: How are we doing as a team? What is happening underneath the surface of our discussion? How does that affect our decision making? This way, emotions are brought into conscious awareness, where the board can actively deal with them instead of letting them unconsciously dictate discussions. Such reflection can be difficult, and can evoke uncomfortable emotions in and of itself. Yet, developing these skills can help executive boards navigate the full spectrum of their strategic decision-making, from the ‘cold’ rational to the ‘hot’ emotional.

RADU ATANASIU

ON SIMPLE RULES VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

“THE ROLE OF THE CEO IS TO CREATE SYSTEMS THAT WORK AND TO COMMUNICATE THEM IN WAYS THAT MAKE PEOPLE VIBRATE, UNDERSTAND, AND APPLY THEM DAILY.” INTERVIEWEE

“EVERY INTERNAL TEAM SHOULD BE SMALL ENOUGH THAT IT CAN BE FED WITH TWO PIZZAS.” JEFF BEZOS, FOUNDER OF AMAZON

Managers learn mainly from failure (Bingham and Haleblian, 2012) and often they distil their learning into simple rules that are easy to remember and share. These simple rules (Eisenhardt and Sull, 2001; Bingham and Eisenhardt, 2011) often take the form of catchy managerial proverbs. Jeff Bezos, for example, uses his famous two-pizza-rule for organising Amazon’s workforce. Financial investors approach market

uncertainty with simple rules such as “sell in May and go away” that sometimes prove more accurate than complex algorithms. In his best-seller, Principles, billionaire-hedgefund-manager-and-philanthropist-turned-managementguru Ray Dalio reveals the many simple rules (principles) he devised for life and work. “I don’t have such simple rules. I always envied leaders who have them. For me, reality was always too complex to be simplified in clear rules, but I appreciated their value when I saw them in others.” (interviewee who discovered during the

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leadership and boards

IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

interview that, in fact, she did have a clear set of simple rules) While the uses and outcomes of simple rules have been well studied, little attention has been paid to how managers distil them, urging me to research this process. After interviewing a few dozen CEOs, the first interesting thing we discovered is that despite initial doubt (see the quote above), all CEOs realised that they actually have a personal set of lessons learned that they have distilled into simple rules. Not only this, but they consider these rules crucial to their role, their growth, and the growth of their organisations. We have compiled a list of 126 such rules, some guiding the relationship with clients, others dealing with strategy, but most of them related to managing people and teams.

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“If you come to me with a problem, you must also bring three alternative solutions.” ”A good expert with a big salary is worth more than three average employees with half that salary.” “For a good relationship with the team, the ratio between praise and criticism must be 3 to 1.” These three examples (which all make use of the number three) make for a short guide of distilled managerial wisdom. We found that simple rules are born out of an unexpected problem which induces tension, giving the manager cause to search continuously for a solution. Eventually, an external cue (a later observation, a conversation, something read in a book) acts as a clarifier and catalyses the finding of a solution in an insight accompanied by a feeling of relief, like an epiphany. This constitutes a triple insight, consisting of identifying and unlearning a flawed assumption, learning a new lesson, and then generalising a simple rule to be applied in all similar situations, as illustrated in the example below: The CEO of a marketing company was confronted with a puzzling problem: strategic projects, agreed and communicated at the beginning of the year, were lagging behind (unexpected problem). She investigated the matter and observed (clarifier) that the team was only working on these projects at the end of the day, and only if current

daily tasks were completed. This led to her triple insight: first, she identified and unlearned the flawed assumption that just labelling projects as “strategic” does not make people prioritise them; then, after reflecting on a solution, the CEO learned the lesson that strategic projects need daily attention; she then distilled it into a simple rule to be applied in the future - “Strategic projects need to be integrated into processes so that everybody can contribute daily.” “When I share a rule, I also share its story, especially the mistakes I made. If shared without its story, the rule would be ignored, but when the team finds out how I discovered it and how I bumped my head, they pay more attention and remember it better.” While the process described so far has an important intuitive component, the next, more analytical phase involves testing, articulating, and refining the simple rules. When appropriate, personal rules are shared within the organisation. Many studies have positively linked simple rules shared at the organisational level with various aspects of management, such as strategy (Bingham and Eisenhardt, 2011), innovation (Manimala, 1992), organisational learning (Bingham and Haleblian, 2012), monitoring and even the survival of family firms (Pieper et al., 2015). However, in the words of another interviewee, the problem with sharing is that “such rules are easy to hear and hard to implement”. A way to bypass this problem is to share the simple rule along with its whole narrative, making it easier to remember and to adopt. This principle was discovered (and even turned into a simple rule for sharing simple rules) by another respondent, quoted in the vignette above. So, how can managers use our research? First, by acknowledging that there is value in clearly articulating the simple rules they learned from experience. Managers can start identifying and writing down their portfolios of managerial proverbs. One way they can approach this is to imagine that they have been promoted and are telling their competent but less-experienced successor, “Listen, my years on this job taught me a few rules that you can never find in any book. They are:” and end the sentence. Secondly, managers can use these simple rules as coordination tools in their teams and organisations by sharing the rules, always accompanied by their determinant stories.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR LEADERS TO LOOK INTO THEIR COLLECTIVE HISTORIES? DR. LARA A. TCHOLAKIAN

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

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Can a leader’s collective trauma shape their leadership values and behaviour? Numerous studies indicate how an individual’s formative upbringing can shape leadership qualities, but there is little focus on the role of historical legacy or historical collective traumas in leaders and leadership. Our research sought to investigate what shapes leaders, and, more specifically, if there could be a transgenerational inheritance of values from historical legacies, such as collective traumas. We conducted

two studies. The first study consisted of 40 board members, CEOs and executives who were third and fourth generational descendants of the Armenian genocide, but raised in different geographic backgrounds and upbringings. The second study concerned a group of 60 leaders and executives who are descendants of an amalgam of collective traumas such as the Greek genocide, WWII, the Holocaust, the Singapore racial riots, Apartheid and the Sikh riots. By studying these samples of leaders and executives, we learned how individuals with similar and different collective histories identify

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values and behaviours associated with their historical narratives. For leaders, the use of history was a pertinent way for them to connect, interpret and build expectations in relation to their professional actions and decisions. This learning process allowed them to critically engage in self-reflexive processes that cultivated and sensitised them to human practices of management, encouraging them to make better use of their values and assumptions in the development of teams, strategies, and organisational processes. At a time when there is an increasing existential crisis and a call for a human turn in leadership (Petriglieri, 2020), our research identified three key questions that were raised throughout the study: What is awakened in leaders when they take a historical turn? How can a historical turn help leaders become more conscious? What is the relevance and practical implication of historical consciousness in leader development? WHAT IS AWAKENED IN LEADERS WHEN THEY TAKE A ‘HISTORICAL TURN’? There are claims that despite the immense research conducted in leadership studies, it is still unclear what leaders are, do and need (Alvesson & Einola, 2019). The reason for these challenges is that leaders, like all of us, are unique individuals that cannot be generalised or categorised. Assuming that leaders are individuals in positions of influence (but not necessarily positions of power), they are then also in positions to inspire and motivate change and innovation. To inspire requires self-inspiration and self-awareness, and this demands reflective and reflexive practices. PAGE

Taking a historical turn does not constitute a merely cognitive process (i.e., having historical literacy or knowing historical facts), but rather helps to initiate a process of making sense of one’s own historical narratives, which in turns allows the development of personal and professional narratives (Ahonen, 2005). The participants in our study, regardless of their own historical collective traumas, made use of new or unused lenses and senses that helped them identify leadership values that were inherited or developed through the transmission process of narratives from their ancestors. Many of our participants did not identify negative repercussions of remembering collective traumas of their forefathers, but rather, felt that there was meaning and purpose for the values that they had developed in their own social contexts. CAN TAKING A ‘HISTORICAL TURN’ HELP LEADERS BECOME MORE CONSCIOUS? Leaders are generally encouraged to look ahead, to have a vision

for the future and to draw the course of action that will guide their corporations and organisations in directions that will lead to improved operational results, competitive edge and innovation in the market. Despite numerous popular articles and years of scientific research that identify what constitutes good or bad leadership, we have yet to understand the role and importance of conscious leaders, and its relevance in today’s market and society as a whole. The behaviours of leaders and executives are shaped by internal and external forces; the former touching upon conscious and unconscious life experiences, and the latter

WHAT IS THE RELEVANCE OF HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN LEADER DEVELOPMENT? The process of historical consciousness lays the groundwork for a self-reflexive discourse, to better understand how the past may have shaped the present and make sense of one’s role and behaviours in the future. Collective traumas and historical narratives are not just forgotten or placed in the past but involve a symbiotic process that allows leaders to develop critical questions of their own conditioning their realities and their worldview. This, in turn, allows them to interpret and humanise their roles as organisational actors and decisionmakers. As such, leader development not only undertakes tangible formative elements (such as family, education, environment, and socio-economic upbringing) but also the taken-for-granted relational elements that may have been passed on from former generations, through stories, events, rituals, and traditions.

pertaining to elements of one’s social systems such as family, community, environment, culture and education (Tcholakian, Khapova, van de Loo, & Lehman, 2019). But one thing that is overlooked is the role of the transgenerational inheritance of historical and collective events. Taking a historical turn opens access for leaders and executives to question the assumptions related to their historical and collective memory (or cultural memory as some define) and be receptive to questioning their identities. In our study, this process, defined as critical historical consciousness, stimulated gateways for leader participants to critically consider and interpret their inherited histories and traumas, and to bridge the narratives of their histories into their present. Leaders became aware of their sensitivities and awareness not only related to their lived experiences, but the experiences of their ancestors transferred through said and unsaid narratives, thought and unthought emotions and beliefs. This process of historical consciousness allowed our leader participants to develop their own narratives about their leadership values for the present (such as equity, justice, and empathy) (van de Loo, Tcholakian, & Lehman, 2020) and their visions of what they hope to achieve and develop in the future – both for their personal and for their professional lives.

Historical consciousness offers a critical outlook on the ethical dimensions of management life because it allows leaders and executives to understand how their assumptions and realities are shaped by their collective past, to consciously interpret the choices and actions they take, and to question how their inherited values affect organisational processes and stakeholder management. Thus, historical consciousness, historical narratives and memory become complementary means to advance our understanding, not only of leaders and executives but also the underlying motivations that are associated with their behaviours and actions. PAGE

REFERENCES Ahonen, S. (2005). Historical consciousness: A viable paradigm for history education? Journal of Curriculum Studies, 37(6), 697-707. Alvesson, M., & Einola, K. (2019). Warning for excessive positivity: Authentic leadership and other traps in leadership studies. The Leadership Quarterly, Article in press. Petriglieri, G. (2020). Are our management theories outdated? Harvard Business Review. Tcholakian, L. A., Khapova, S. N., van de Loo, E., & Lehman, R. (2019). Collective traumas and the development of leader values: A currently omitted, but increasingly urgent, research area. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1-13. van de Loo, E., Tcholakian, L. A., & Lehman, R. (2020). How leadership can emerge from the trauma of history. Retrieved from https://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-organisations/howleadership-can-emerge-from-the-trauma-of-history-13031 ABRI - Amsterdam Business Research Institute

leadership and boards

PAST HEROES, FUTURE LOSERS: CRITICAL LEADER BEHAVIOURS AND TRANSFORMATION IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY PAGE

EDSON HATO VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

Leaders affect the environments in which they operate. Wells Fargo’s drive for cross-selling led to the creation of millions of fraudulent savings and checking accounts on behalf of their clients. Their purpose was to charge fees and provide unrequested credits. The manipulation of Libor and Euribor interest rates at Rabobank culminated in a €774 million fine and the departure of its CEO, Piet Moerland. The Dutch banking giant ING was fined €775 million for failing to spot money laundering activities; compounded by the embarrassing discourse around its CEO’s proposed salary increase, vehemently opposed by the Dutch political establishment and society. These and other examples from the banking industry illustrate the individual and collective inability of leaders to adapt quickly to changing business and societal contexts. These ‘malpractices’ are symptoms of a bigger ‘disease,’ begging the question: ‘How can banking-industry-leader behaviours change to drive real transformation?’ For the past 20 years, leader-behaviour research in financial institutions has been focused on a narrative with the leader as the heroic ‘star’ in the

IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

movie called ‘leadership’, an attribution based on hierarchy, status, years of tenure and the leader’s ability to socialise, manage politics and network. Leaders were fashioned as ‘stars’ because of their ability to achieve economic efficiency and maximise shareholder value. A contrasting perspective to this view of leadership is the view that leader behaviours part of the context and the intended, needed results to be achieved (Osborn et al., 2002). The elements of this contrasting perspective, namely the context and the intended results, are complicated by the somewhat diverging and competing technological, legislative, institutional and community demands placed on the banking industry. Thus, we need to move the focus of leadership and leader behaviours from the individual—the hero—to a focus on leadership and leader behaviours that is distributed across a system that has influence both inside and outside organisational boundaries. We must integrate the idea that this system is in a state of constant flux, demanding the critical leader behaviours needed for transformation. Unsurprisingly, leader behaviour research has mainly focused on causal mechanisms of leader behaviours: the leader as a hero, the perception of their leadership, and leadership effectiveness in a stable context. The results of a literature review of 99 articles on leader behaviours in financial institutions from 2000 until 2020 shows that: 82 articles are focused on ‘heroic’ leader behaviours in financial institutions; 72 articles implicitly or explicitly assume a stable organisational context for research; 64 articles are focused on leader behaviour research through the lens of bureaucracy; and 64 articles are based on the Leader-MemberExchange theory; Moreover, research has proven that measuring what it is to have a successful career vs having an effective team are totally unrelated. (Luthans et al., 1988). Currently, this reality is persistent in the banking sector and directly linked to the behavioural ability of the leader and a cohort of leaders to incorporate contemporary

contextual sentiments into their daily responsibilities. This demonstrates the need for a more contemporary leader behaviour research agenda in the banking industry. In an era of technological progress, sustainability demands, and hyper-interconnectedness, leaders need to reinvent themselves as hierarchy, status and outdated management practices become insufficient. Our economic reality is changing rapidly; individuals, customers and employees are not at the receiving end of information and decisions anymore. Leaders are being held accountable not only for what happens within the confines of their business, but also for what happens in the value chain and the societal context in which they operate. Leader behaviours increasingly need to enact the paradigm shifts from shareholder-value maximisation to stakeholder-value maximisation; from individualism, hierarchy and control to community building, continuous creation and knowledge capturing; from short term financial gains to focus on long term sustainability. This would add a level of complexity to business unequal to the industrial era and Fordism. Our literature review indicates that only about 9 per cent of the articles have been designed to: s how that leader behaviour research in financial institutions needs to shift from a perspective based on the industrial economic era to the age of connectivism; s how that research based on causal mechanisms needs to be changed to research driven by the notion of complex dynamic systems; show that research done under the assumption of a stable organisational context needs to be changed to research conducted in a dynamic and ever-changing context; s how that research based on the notion of leadership attributed to the individual needs to be changed to research based on the notion of leadership as part of a collective. Based on the findings of the review, we propose that leaders will play a much broader role in a more expanded context than before. Prominent systems scholars will call this

expansion ‘complex adaptive systems’ (Uhl-bien et al., 2007), or the ‘ecosystem economy’. The attribution of leadership to a specific individual in a suggestion of heroism (bureaucratic leadership) needs to expand to include leader behaviours and leadership qualified as: 1. distributed leadership: referring to the aggregate leadership of an organisation dispersed among some, many or all of the members; 2. adaptive leadership: referring to adaptive, creative and learning actions that emerge from the interaction of complex adaptive systems as they strive to adjust tensions; and 3. enabling leadership: working to catalyse the conditions in which adaptive leadership can thrive and managing the entanglement between bureaucratic and emergent functions of the organisation (Gronn, 2002). To conclude, companies solely pursuing shareholder value maximisation are in danger of becoming socio-economic pariahs. Leader behaviours need to be distributed, adaptive, and enabling to the emerging ecosystem economy. When adopted, past heroes might remain future winners.

REFERENCES 1. Luthans, F. Successful vs. effective real managers. Academy of Management Executive. 1988, 2, 127 – 132. 2. Osborn, Richard; Hunt, James G.; Jauch, Lawrence R. Toward a contextual theory of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly. 2002, 13, 797n- 837. 3. Gronn, Peter. Distributed leadership as a unit of analysis. The Leadership Quarterly. 2002, 13, 423 – 451. 4. Uhl-Bien, Mary; Marion, Russ; McKelvey, Bill. Complexity Leadership Theory: Shifting Leadership form the industrial age to the knowledge era. The Leadership Quarterly. 2007, 18, 298 – 318. 5. Kaiser, Robert B.; Hogan, Robert; Craig, Bartholomew C. Leadership and the Fate of Organizations. American Psychologist. 2008, 63 (2), 96 – 110. ABRI - Amsterdam Business Research Institute

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IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

ARE ALL LEADERS, BY DEFINITION, RISK-TAKERS? Think about taking a risk. What is the first thought that comes to your mind? Your friend, an entrepreneur, who took a risk and has been praised for their success? Or, an action movie hero who risks their life to save the world? Within business environments, as well as outside of them, risk-taking is celebrated. It is possible that risk-taking is becoming culturally valuable, and it has already become synonymous with status.

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JULIA VITTE VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

In everyday life, risk-taking is everywhere. I am fascinated by how people take risks. I am especially interested in how groups make risky decisions and how group leaders affect those decisions. Since the 1960s, researchers studying group dynamics have agreed that if a group doesn’t have a clearly appointed leader, then the individual who actively talks and expresses their opinion is perceived as more influential and has a higher status among the other group members. Later, in the 1980s, research found that groups expect high-status individuals to make more valuable contributions to the discussion than lower-status members. To put it simply, if an individual expresses their opinion more, the rest of the group perceives them to be of a higher status and expects them to contribute more. In terms of risk-taking, the willingness to take risks is associated with higher professional ability. So, the more risk one is willing to take, the more capable they are perceived of being and they become more valuable to the group. In other words, the higher one’s risk preference, the higher their status within a group.

If individuals who take more risks are perceived as more valuable, then are those who are willing to take the lead, risk-takers by definition? Research indicates this to be true; making decisions, in and of itself, is risky because the outcome of those decisions is uncertain. In other words, success is never guaranteed and some decisions may result in failure. In the face of such uncertainty, determining which direction a group should take is risky, and will inevitably lead to both influence and vulnerability. Considering the above, the next question to explore is: “When working in groups, are leaders being unreasonably risky only to ensure our own status?” While studies must explore this question further, looking at industry examples indicates that this might well be the case. Amba Zeggen, Lead Risk Culture and Behavior at Probability & Partners, has 20 years of experience working with teams on various aspects of risk culture.

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When asked whether or not leaders inherently seek out risks, and if so, do groups resultingly take too many risks, she says: “I have used the risk type compass assessment for assessing risk behaviour and, the bottom line is, we see different patterns for different professions, gender, age and position within in an organisation. For instance, air traffic controllers have a very distinct risk profile—perhaps not surprisingly—they have a more coolheaded and organised way of thinking. Leaders often exhibit elevated [levels of] risk-taking, scoring high on “open to new things”, “big picture instead of details” and “high-level view”. While we should not pass judgement on these behaviours as

“good” or “bad”, what is important is to be aware of possible blind spots. Of course, not all leaders are the same. For example, pension fund boards, including chairmen, are, in general, more risk-averse—after all, the board has a significant responsibility for the) financial future of many households.” Overall, while there are trends observed in practice, and there is a partial consensus in the scientific community that leaders, indeed, tend to take more risks, the question still demands further research. This topic is one of our interests at Amsterdam Business Research Institute (ABRI), which we are planning to explore in the coming years.

ABRI - Amsterdam Business Research Institute

DIVIDUALS

DR. CHRISTOPHER WICKERT / CHRISTOPHER.WICKERT@VU.NL

serves as an organiser and guest editor of a Long Range Planning special issue,

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN ETHICS & SUSTAINABILITY;

Alongside his research, Saeed also supervises several PhD candidates in topics

ASSOCIATE EDITOR JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

within his specialisation.

entitled ‘Strategizing in a Digital Era’.

Christopher Wickert has been Associate Professor of Ethics & Sustainability in the Department of Management & Organization at VU Amsterdam since 2013. His passion is investigating corporate social ship between business and society by drawing on various organisation and

PROF. DR. IR. HANS BERENDS / J.J.BERENDS@VU.NL

management theories.

PROFESSOR OF INNOVATION AND ORGANIZATION; VICE-DEAN

In his research, Christopher explores different patterns of globally integrated

OF RESEARCH OF THE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

companies’ CSR implementation. Beyond this, Christopher has studied: the

With his colleagues in the KIN Center for Digital Innovation, Hans

responsibility (CSR) and sustainability and, overarchingly, the broader relation-

evolution and diffusion of CSR standards; the influence of ‘organisational identity

studies the development of collaborative digital innovations,

orientation’ on the implementation of CSR practices; the prevalent mismatch

both within and across organisations. Digital transformation brings new

between CSR ‘talk’ and CSR ‘walk’ in small and large firms; and how business

types of products and services, from simple apps to digital platforms, from

firms might address pressing, societal challenges, such as climate change and the

connected products to self-learning robots, each connected in a network of

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Christopher is also interested in Critical

digital products and services. The development of digital products demands the

Management Studies (CMS), philosophy of science, business ethics, and social

constant advancement of innovation processes. This might mean open-ended

entrepreneurship. In 2019, he published a book with Cambridge University Press,

experimentation, platform-centred distribution across actors, or industrial

‘Corporate Social Responsibility (Elements in Business Strategy)’, which provides a

collaboration, and, sometimes, disruption.

practitioner-oriented critical introduction to contemporary CSR approaches. Hans and his colleagues’ research includes collaborative innovation across

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Christopher’s research has appeared in various leading international journals.

technology platforms and innovation ecosystems; digital technology-enabled

He is currently an associate editor of the Journal of Management Studies,

collaboration, such as in crowdsourcing or 3D printing communities; and the

promoting impactful research with practical, societal relevance.

changing nature of innovation processes for digital products and services,

Also, Chris is the co-coordinator of the third year of ABRI’s Part-time PhD

thriving on experimentation, learning, and generativity.

programme. In most of his research, Hans takes a process research approach, exploring how innovation and collaboration develop over time. This differs from merely

DR. SAEED KHANAGHA / S.KHANAGHA@VU.NL

identifying the conditions that help or hinder innovation. Instead, Hans and his

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF STRATEGY

unfavourable conditions and ultimately lever the conditions they face.

colleagues aim to understand how innovators make progress despite initially

Saeed Khanagha is an Associate Professor of Strategy in the Department of Management and Organisation at VU Amsterdam.

Together Hans and his colleagues contribute to organisations that collaborate

He obtained his PhD in 2015 at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

effectively, creating value through digital technologies. If you are interested in working with them, they invite you to reach out and get in contact!

His research focuses on understanding the factors determining an organisation’s success in adopting emerging digital technologies at the various qualitative and quantitative data methods, including single case study,

DR. JOST SIEWEKE / J.SIEWEKE@VU.NL

multiple cases studies, survey, and experimental design. His ongoing research

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, PROGRAMME DIRECTOR OF THE EXECUTIVE

mostly explores the different dimensions of strategising for digital technologies,

MBA: LEADING WITH PURPOSE

particularly digital platforms and ecosystems. He has a particular interest in the

Jost’s research interests lie at the intersection between

individual, team, organisational, and ecosystems levels. This focus demands

social implications of emerging technologies.

organisation, management, and leadership. He has a broad research portfolio, ranging from research on the legitimacy of inequality to

Saeed’s research has been published in outlets such as the Journal of

errors in organisations and the influence of culture on the use of consulting

Management Studies, Long Range Planning, and R&D Management. He currently

services. Recently, he has developed an interest in the effects of leaders. In his

PRESENTING ABRI RESEARCHERS

work, he found that team leaders have a considerable influence on the number

editorial review boards. For her academic work, she has been awarded the

of errors committed by their employees and how their followers learn from

Emerald Literati Network Award for Excellence (CDI, 2016) and the Best

mistakes. He is also interested in the effect of leaders and leadership teams on

Reviewer Award (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, & 2018).

organisational and individual performance. For instance, he analyses the impact of diversity within the top management team on organisational performance,

Additionally, she is the coordinator of the Qualitative Learning Line in ABRI’s

focusing on gender diversity. Additionally, Jost is also interested in exploring

Part-Time PhD programme.

differences in the ability of leaders to improve follower performance. Whenever possible, Jost tries to combine his hobby (sports) with his research, sometimes using sports data to answer research questions.

DR. MARIA TIMS / M.TIMS@VU.NL

Jost’s research is mainly quantitative. Recently, he has developed a special interest

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND

in how to infer causal relationships from observational data. He exploits natural

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR; ABRI DIRECTOR OF DOCTORAL EDUCATION

experiments, such as the 2008/2009 financial crisis, to estimate causal effects.

Maria Tims is an Associate Professor of Human Resource

Jost is also the co-coordinator of the third year of the Part-time PhD programme.

Management (HRM) and Organizational Behaviour (OB) with a Work and Organizational Psychology background. She obtained her PhD from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

DR. EVGENIA I. LYSOVA / E.LYSOVA@VU.NL

Maria’s research focuses on the proactive behaviours that allow employees

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR,

to optimise their work environment, which, in turn, enables them to work and

DIRECTOR OF THE VU CENTER FOR MEANINGFUL WORK

perform well in a healthy and motivating way. Extending this research topic

Dr. Evgenia Lysova’s research primarily concerns career calling,

from the individual perspective to the team perspective has generated strong

meaningful work, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and

business interest as working in teams can be inspiring and efficient, but

sustainability. She is especially interested in understanding how to create

sometimes daunting. By taking into account how individuals proactively craft

conditions that enable individuals to experience greater meaningfulness in

their jobs within teams, Maria’s research illustrates how to achieve a strong

their careers and organisations. In turn, these individuals can make meaningful

individual-team fit.

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contributions to their organisations and society as a whole. She focuses specifically on how individuals healthily sustain their experiences of meaningful

As ABRI’s Director of Doctoral Education, Maria’s mission is to use this

work in the long-term.

knowledge to guide PhD candidates in their trajectories, creating an inspiring and supportive research community. Maria also teaches second-year Executive

Dr. Lysova’s research has been published in several prestigious peer-reviewed

PhD students how to conduct their (first) quantitative study during five

journals, including Human Relations, the Journal of Vocational Behavior, Personnel

intensive 2-or-3-day modules spread across the year. In both her research and

Psychology, and the Journal of Business and Psychology. She currently serves

teaching, Maria hopes to contribute insights into how to create healthy work

on the Journal of Vocational Behavior and the Journal of Career Assessment’s

environments to maintain happy, motivated workers.

ABRI - Amsterdam Business Research Institute

Executive MBA: Leading with Purpose Join a community of purpose-driven change-makers Welcome to the Executive MBA: Leading with Purpose People, businesses, and society are looking for change and answers in an uncertain world. At VU, we help pioneering leaders dig deep to uncover their purpose, their ambitions, and use that energy to transform the world for the better. Because, like you, we stand on the side of progress and are committed to helping you take the next step. Breaking free from conventional approaches, our Executive MBA: Leading with Purpose is all about collaborative knowledge creation and working together to ask the big, challenging questions and 30 going deeper into the issues of today and tomorrow. PAGE

In doing so, the programme will help to accelerate your development into a more forward-thinking and purpose-driven leader. Here, you will gain the skills, knowledge, and the confidence needed to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing us today. You will develop the mindset to prepare you for what is to come tomorrow and become a forward-thinking, purpose-driven leader. We hope you join us!

Key characteristics Duration 18 months (part-time) Degree MBA Start Each year in September Tuition fee €43,500 (scholarships available) ee.sbe@vu.nl vu.nl/mba-leadingwithpurpose

32 34 36

Sue der Kinderen THE DIMINISHING RETURN OF HAPPINESS: WHAT IF THE GOOD LIFE DOESN’T FEEL THAT GOOD, ANYMORE?

Sandra Klijn PERSONAL ENERGY AT WORK

Jolanda Botke TRANSFER OF TRAINING: THE ACHILLES HEEL OF THE TRAINING PROCESS

EMPOWERING PEOPLE IN ORGANIZATIONS PAGE

THE DIMINISHING RETURN OF HAPPINESS: WHAT IF THE GOOD LIFE DOESN’T FEEL THAT GOOD, ANYMORE?

SUE DER KINDEREN

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

n many levels, the COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged a critical look at what we do and why we do it. The pursuit of immediate gratification, or ‘happiness’ in our modern world, appears unsustainable - hedonism is going out of fashion and eudaimonia is making its entrance. Eudaimonic well-being, happiness that encompasses meaning, positive relationships and personal growth, may not provide instant gratification, but it ultimately contributes to our health and the experience of a ‘full life’ [1].

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Whether we ‘live to work’ or ‘work to live’, we have an opportunity to examine employee well-being as ‘an end in itself’ instead of ‘a means to an end’, which regularly translates into achieving organisational profit or success at the cost of employee well-being. Power is shifting from the organisation to the individual, and it is the individual who increasingly determines the quality and quantity of both his/her work and private time [2]. Sustainable well-being is being shaped by these individual behaviours and attitudes and gaining more relevance in the field. At the same time, organisations and leaders are seeking new strategies to shape employee behaviours that contribute to both performance and functioning in the workplace. Eight hundred peer-reviewed, empirical studies show that the ‘hedonic well-being’ framework is primarily used to explore positive

well-being at work. This means that the majority of research on well-being at work that has been conducted so far has focused on the experience of being happy and/or satisfied with one’s job. These hedonic elements of well-being have proven difficult to influence and shape over time. We appear to have a ‘set point’ at which we’re hardwired to return to while the resulting hedonic treadmill requires increasingly more input in order to sustain our feelings of happiness [3]. Eudaimonic well-being has only been examined in 5% of the studies. Through the eudaimonic well-being lens, we can move beyond feeling good and, instead, learn to capture and influence well-being reflected in our behaviours and thoughts, such as having a purposeful life, fostering positive relationships, striving for personal growth and achieving mastery over our environment [4,5]. These elements have not

only proven to be more pervasive over time and to contribute to long-term well-being [6]yet each may contribute to wellbeing in different ways. We conducted four studies (two correlational, one experiencesampling, and one intervention study, but they are also more likely to be influenced by an individual’s environment. The question remains whether we have the courage to walk the lesser-known path of eudaimonic well-being—to integrate these elements of meaning, personal growth, relationships and striving into our understanding of, as well as our shaping of, employee wellbeing at work. Our first study, conducted with employees in a large mental health care organisation in the Netherlands, provides evidence for the role of the organisational context in shaping and eliciting the ‘mutual gain’ of individual well-being and work performance

[7]. Findings show that servant leadership practices, which encourage the empowerment of employees, support subordinates in using skills to succeed and emphasise ethical behaviour and the value of relationships, is related to eudaimonic well-being, as well as to work engagement and performance. However, this positive influence is conditional on a positively perceived psychosocial work climate. This implies that efforts of organisations to invest in leaders, as a means of eliciting the mutual gain of well-being and performance, is wasted if the same effort is not made to attend to the wider work climate in which the investment in leaders takes place. The next phase of our research will focus on better understanding the actual behaviours that elicit psychological well-being and whether these behaviours can

be encouraged, supported and facilitated within a work context. We define behaviours that are true to eudaimonic well-being as behaviours that are aligned with our values, that encourage us to do things we find worthwhile and that allow us to experience our true self. Three categories of eudaimonic well-being behaviours at work are being proposed: 1. The Pursuit of Purpose – Behaviours that align with values, meaningful goals and beliefs in such a way that they involve active, purposeful striving for what is viewed as inherently worthwhile and meaningful to oneself and society as a whole. These range from more passive behaviours, such as reflecting on values, goals and strengths, to more agential actions in which we engage in worthwhile activities. 2. Positive Relationship Behaviours – Interpersonal, trusting, empathic behaviours that go beyond instrumental support to show intrinsic interest and concern for connecting with others through actions such as engaging in meaningful conversations, giving and receiving support or acting as a relational catalyst for thriving. 3. Personal Growth Behaviours – Behaviours that exhibit selfrealisation of potentials and an openness to new knowledge and experiences. These range from one’s awareness of their own strengths and gaining perspective and wisdom to intentionally seeking out challenges or opportunities to grow.

These eudaimonic well-being behaviours make explicit our efforts to become our true selves and pursue worthy goals. On an individual level, we expect these behaviours to foster flourishing, individual experiences of meaning, and to enhance self-worth. Also, we expect these behaviours to result in positive work-related outcomes such as employability, proactive behaviours and work engagement. As behaviours can be encouraged or discouraged, increased or decreased, observed and monitored, we bring wellbeing out of abstraction into an objective light where both individuals and organisations can utilise a tangible measure and framework to shape long-term psychological well-being and not just temporary happiness.

org/10.1177/1523422318756954. 3. Sheldon, K. M.; Lyubomirsky, S. Revisiting the Sustainable Happiness Model and Pie Chart: Can Happiness Be Successfully Pursued? J. Posit. Psychol. 2019, 00 (00), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.10 80/17439760.2019.1689421. 4. der Kinderen, S.; Khapova, S. N. Positive Psychological Well-Being at Work: The Role of Eudaimonia. In The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace WellBeing; Dhiman, S., Ed.; Springer International Publishing: Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-3-030-024703_79-1. 5. Ryff, C. D. Happiness Is Everything, or Is It? Explorations on the Meaning of Psychological Well-Being. J. Pers. Soc.

Psychol. 1989, 57 (6), 1069–1081. https://doi.org/10.1037/00223514.57.6.1069. 6. Huta, V.; Ryan, R. M. Pursuing Pleasure or Virtue: The Differential and Overlapping WellBeing Benefits of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives. J. Happiness Stud. 2010, 11 (6), 735–762. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902009-9171-4. 7. der Kinderen, S.; Valk, A.; Khapova, S. N.; Tims, M. Facilitating Eudaimonic Well-Being in Mental Health Care Organizations: The Role of Servant Leadership and Workplace Civility Climate. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17 (4). https://doi.org/10.3390/ ijerph17041173.

REFERENCES 1. Peterson, C.; Park, N.; Seligman, M. E. P. Orientations to Happiness and Life Satisfaction: The Full Life versus the Empty Life. J. Happiness Stud. 2005, 6 (1), 25–41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902004-1278-z. 2. Rigby, C. S.; Ryan, R. M. Self-Determination Theory in Human Resource Development: New Directions and Practical Considerations. Adv. Dev. Hum. Resour. 2018, 20 (2), 133– 147. https://doi.

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ABRI - Amsterdam Business Research Institute

SANDRA KLIJN VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

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PERSONAL ENERGY AT WORK, A SOURCE FOR SUCCESS In this constantly changing, competitive world, work demands can be high and fluctuating. Therefore, employees who are able to adapt and learn at work, as well as feel energised, have become valuable resources for organisations. In addition, the literature shows that energised employees are more productive. Personal energy at work is like the fuel that keeps organisations running successfully and is, consequently, a significant resource. Having personal energy at work is highly valuable to employees and employers, especially since an absence of personal energy leads to fatigue and stress among employees. An increase in occupational stress and burnout is related

to an insufficient level of individual employee resources—such as feeling energised—that do not match the demands of the organisation. Given how much feeling energised at work impacts employee performance, Human Resources (HR) scholars and practitioners could benefit from knowledge on how to increase the personal energy of employees. To achieve this, there needs to be an understanding of why some people feel energised under specific conditions while others burn out. To begin, there needs to be a common understanding of the meaning of personal energy at work. Personal energy at work has been studied using different terminologies and concepts, resulting in a lack of construct clarity. Without a clear understanding of the construct of personal energy at work, including its antecedents and boundaries, HR researchers and practitioners will

Eempowering people

IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

be limited in developing adequate interventions to improve employee energy and, with this, will also lack the ability to improve company success. In order to advance our knowledge of the personal energy of employees, we brought together evidence on this topic derived from different fields by conducting a systematic literature review. We analysed 193 papers to create an overarching definition of personal energy and developed a theoretical model of personal energy at work that highlights its dimensions, antecedents and boundary conditions. Findings on personal energy at work We propose a new definition of personal energy at work, based on the four dimensions of personal energy found in the literature review: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy. Integrating the four energy dimensions with Quinn and Dutton’s (2005) definition brings us to the following proposed definition: personal energy at work is described as the feeling that a person is physically and mentally capable of and emotionally and spiritually eager to engage in a particular behaviour or to undertake a task (Klijn, 2020). We have identified six antecedent themes and three moderator themes that are associated with the way individuals experience personal energy at work. Overall, this allowed us to develop a theoretical model of personal energy at work. This theoretical model of personal energy at work is currently under review to be published and will be presented during the EURAM conference. In addition, we are currently validating the construct of personal energy at work, including its health and productivity outcomes, based on a survey of 256 participants. The first round of results shows an adequate model fit, indicating that personal energy at work is indeed a construct consisting of the four distinct dimensions of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy. In sum, personal energy at work is a state that grows by enhancing the four energy dimensions, whereas personal and contextual factors influence feeling energised in each of the dimensions. Contextual factors and the processes of stress and recovery, moderate the relationship between an individual’s personal antecedents and personal energy at work.

The implications for business and management practices The theoretical implication of the model is that it allows Human Resource Management (HRM) scholars to explain why— when given similar work—some employees feel energised, and others do not. The difference depends on the work context that the employer offers, the personal characteristics of the employees and each employee’s use of stress and recovery processes to enhance their personal resources. The model of personal energy at work can serve as a foundation for researchers interested in further exploring personal energy at work in a consistent way and, further, it can be applied by professionals when developing people management practices so that they stimulate personal energy at work. Ultimately, this model could support HRM in achieving sustainable performance by maintaining and stimulating the personal resources of employees, even during critical times when work demands are high.

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References Quinn, R. W., & Dutton, J. E. (2005). Coordination as Energy-in-Conversation. Academy of Management Review, 30(1), 36–57. https://doi.org/10.5465/ amr.2005.15281422 Klijn, A.F.J., Tims, M., Lysova, E.I. & Khapova, S.N. (2020). Personal energy at work: a systematic review. Under review ABRI - Amsterdam Business Research Institute

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Transfer of training refers to the effective application and use of skills acquired from training during work. Research has shown that more than 80 per cent of the training outcomes in terms of knowledge, skills and abilities are not applied in the real workplace (Patterson et al., 2012). The transfer of soft skills, in particular, is found to be problematic (Botke et al., 2018). The limited transfer of soft skills training results from a lack of clarity around how and when to use those skills, leaving trainees unsure of how to apply what they have learnt in training (Laker & Powell, 2011). Noticeably, when trainees fail to use these new skills, training resources have effectively been wasted, and business results are unrealised (Ford et al., 2018). Therefore, to optimise the results of soft skills training, we unravelled the (so-called) transfer process. Our study focused on a self-leadership training programme at the Dutch Police Academy. In this article, we would like to share our findings and lessons learnt.

Eempowering people

TRANSFER OF TRAINING

IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

THE ACHILLES HEEL OF THE TRAINING PROCESS JOLANDA BOTKE IS LECTURER AT TILBURG UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL ADVISOR AT PELIKAAN PERFORMANCE ADVIES. SHE IS WORKING ON HER PHD AT THE VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM. MIRANDA LUTTIK IS HEAD OF SECTOR AT THE POLICE ACADEMY.

Not every situation allows the equal use of skills Transfer studies usually focus on either what happens when trainees return to the workplace after having completed a training (steps in the transfer process) or focus on increased performance resulting from a training (Botke et al., 2018). In our current research, we utilised both approaches to gain a complete overview of the transfer of soft skills. In our first study (Botke et al., 2019), we collected quantitative data of 155 crime scene investigators who participated in training on self-leadership skills. To investigate how and when a transfer occurs, we included two performance measures in our study and we measured transfer results in two different work situations. We found that the trainees started using the self-leadership skills at work after the training. However, participants reported using the new skills more often in individual work situations compared to team situations. This indicates that employees may feel less confident using new skills in a team situation. Additionally, we only found a relationship between the use of new skills and the performance measure ‘keeping detached concern’ (i.e. the participants indicated that using the skills from the training helped them to gain a better balance between emotional involvement and professional distance in critical work situations). The use of self-leadership skills did not seem to impact our other performance measure, ‘dealing with large workloads’. Thus, a transfer may vary depending on work situation and performance measures. Therefore, if organisations are not specific about where and how to use skills from training, transfer of these skills may take place in a different situation than expected and their use in situations where they are crucial may lag behind.

FACTORS THAT ENHANCE OR DISABLE TRANSFER To find out why the transfer of skills may be delayed, we included two important requisites for transfer in our study: motivation to transfer and supervisor support behaviour. We found that motivation to transfer is crucial to start using new skills after training. If trainees are not motivated to transfer the skills from the training, they will not use the skills during work. Earlier research shows that motivation to transfer is highly related to the content validity of the training (e.g. Van der Locht et al., 2013). If participants feel the content of the training does not reflect their job, they will not start using the skills. Since the motivation to transfer was relatively low in our study, we explored the content validity and found that the trainers sometimes used work situations that were not applicable to the trainees. For example, the trainers, in illustrating a significantly challenging situation in which police professionals may use self-leadership skills, focused on using their gun. However, not all crime scene investigators carry a gun, and those trainees will need other examples to see how they may benefit from using self-leadership skills during work. The motivation to transfer increased when trainers were made more aware of the importance of content validity. Additionally, we found that if supervisors reward trainees when they use new skills after training, the rate of transfer increases. Training increases the level of detached concern In a second study (Botke & Van Woerkom, 2020), we compared the performance of a trained group to a non-trained group. This non-trained group included professionals who would participate in the self-leaderABRI - Amsterdam Business Research Institute

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ship training at a later date. For this study, we collected quantitative data of 233 staff professionals working for the Dutch Police. The trained group reported higher levels of detached concern compared to the nontrained group, indicating that a short self-leadership intervention can help increase the detached concern of police professionals. We also found that the lower the self-efficacy was of the participants before their training, the more effect the training had on improving the performance of the participants following training. This indicates that individual performance results following training may differ based on an individual’s feelings of competence beforehand. Organisations could make use of such knowledge to spend their training budgets more effectively.

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TAKEAWAYS FOR THE POLICE ACADEMY The Police Academy implemented the results of the research in several ways. First, the specific selfleadership training in this study was redesigned with a focus on the work context of each specific target group, which increased the rate of transfer. Additionally, other courses will be redesigned to use a more transfer-focused design. The new policy of using a behaviour-focused approach, rather than a learning-focused outcomes approach, will support this movement towards performance-based learning. Second, although most training at the Police Academy combines learning at school with on-the-job-training, which helps avoid significant content validity issues, the results of this study were fuel for the discussion on whether training prepares professionals for their current jobs or their future jobs. In other words, research should address what training needs to include to ensure that the transfer of skills is also focused on tomorrow’s work. BUILDING A LEARNING CULTURE Findings on the role of supervisors raise important questions on how to facilitate learning among Dutch Police professionals. Of course, leadership programmes should train supervisors to support learning and transfer; however, the Police Academy is experimenting with new ways to increase learning and transfer by using coaches on the work floor. These coaches aim to help professionals apply what they were taught in training, or otherwise, on the job. Finally, the results make us aware of the importance of a safe learning environment— a work environment where professionals feel free to use their skills and increase their self-efficacy. Such a safe environment does not come naturally within the context of the Police.

REFERENCES Botke, J., Jansen, P. G. W., Khapova, S. N., & Tims, M. (2019). Transfer of Soft Skills in MissionCritical Work Situations. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2019(1), 15022. Botke, J., Jansen, P., Khapova, S., & Tims, M. (2018). Work factors influencing the transfer stages of soft skills training: A literature review. Educational Research Review, 24(March), 130–147. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.edurev.2018.04.001 Botke, J., & Van Woerkom, M. (2020). The Effect of a Self-Leadership Training on Detached Concern and Proactivity of Human Service Professionals. Article in Preparation. Ford, J. K., Baldwin, T., & Prasad, J. (2018). Transfer of Training: The Known and the Unknown. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5, 201–225. https://doi.org/10.1146/ annurev-orgpsych

Laker, D. R., & Powell, J. L. (2011). The Differences Between Hard and Soft Skills and Their Relative Impact on Training Transfer. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 22(1), 111–122. https:// doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.20063 Patterson, G. T., Chung, I. W., & Swan, P. G. (2012). The effects of stress management interventions among police officers and recruits. The Campbell Collaboration, 8(1), 1–53. https://doi.org/10.4073/ csr.2012.7 Van der Locht, M., Van Dam, K., & Chiaburu, D. S. (2013). Getting the most of management training: the role of identical elements for training transfer. Personnel Review, 42(4), 422–439. https://doi. org/10.1108/PR-05-2011-0072

RESEARCH CENTRES Management & Organization (M&O) The Deparment of Management and Organization (M&O) is the biggest academic department of the School of Business and Economics. M&O draws on scientific evidence to challenge contemporary management thinking to help organisations build superior competences, attain their objectives and successfully transform. Building on expertise centres, including Board Dynamics, Feedback & Learning, Leadership and Change Management, M&O members, guided by the values of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam to be responsible, open and personally engaged, work to support the delivery of our common mission: to make knowledge on leadership, change management, and cross-cultural management relevant and accessible for business and society. https://sbe.vu.nl/management

VU Centre for Boards and Executive Leadership Development The VU Centre for Boards and Executive Leadership Development aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of factors influencing the decision-making of boards. Some of these factors include board member and CEO characteristics, behavioural patterns, governance structures and regulatory requirements. With a mission to create knowledge that can help top-management teams more effectively develop and lead contemporary organisations, we explore the interplay of multiple factors that shape the performance of boards and top executives within boards, looking at leadership effectiveness, sociocognitive and communicative behaviours and leadership teams in general.

KIN Center for Digital Innovation KIN Center for Digital Innovation studies the development of digital innovations and the intended and unintended consequences of using digital technologies in organizations. LOOK BEYOND THE HYPE

Our mission is to help organizations navigate the multiple challenges they face in our rapidly changing digital world. We deliver services for companies in close interaction on topics like; smart technologies in ecosystems, changing work practices under the influence of AI, crowdsourcing through online platforms, and the changing role of the IT organization. Are you looking for a way to broaden your perspective on digital innovation? Please contact us at kincenter.sbe@vu.nl.

VU Centre for Feedback Culture The VU Centre for Feedback Culture is a centre of expertise that aims to be a platform for research to examine how feedback culture can be cultivated in organisations in different fields and across different countries. As a research platform, the centre offers opportunities for research and executive education collaborations among scholars and practitioners who are interested in the topic. Specifically, the Center aims to bring researchers and practitioners together by organising sessions where practices and insights can be shared to further enhance our understanding of this topic. The VU Centre for Feedback is led by experienced researchers and practitioners in the field.

ABRI - Amsterdam Business Research Institute

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MBA in International Business Become the international leader the world needs

Welcome to our MBA in International Business Progressive, collaborative, and future-focused, our MBA in International Business takes a different approach to get you where you want to go. Focusing on new knowledge, entrepreneurial thinking, and holistic perspectives, this programme develops leaders who truly understand the impact of their actions. In today’s world, realities change fast and conventional ways of leading will not cut it. So, we break free. Working together, you will gain the skills and knowledge needed to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the world of international 40 business today. PAGE

You will also be equipped with the mindset of a leader who embraces opportunities and overcomes challenges to shape a successful and responsible future. More than a programme, this is both an opportunity and a challenge to join a genuinely progressive community and become an ambitious change-maker equipped to move the world forward. We hope you join us!

Key characteristics Duration 18 months (part-time) Degree MBA Start Each year in September Tuition fee €35,000 (scholarships available) ee.sbe@vu.nl vu.nl/mba-IB

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Joaquim Ribeiro HOW CAN THE IT FUNCTION ADAPT TO THE RISE OF THE DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS

Willem Salentijn THE DARK SIDE OF LEAN

Brian Tjemkes and Edson Hato A CONVERSATION: THE VALUE OF COPRORATE PARTNERSHIPS

Yves Marien EMOTIONALISATION AS A LEGITIMATION STRATEGY IN CROWDFUNDING

SIGHTS PAGE

ABRI - Amsterdam Business Research Institute

HOW CAN THE IT FUNCTION ADAPT TO THE RISE OF DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS

JOAQUIM CARVALHO RIBEIRO

PROF. DR. BART VAN DEN HOOFF

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

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As digital ecosystems increasingly drive innovation across the economy, CIOs are facing a new challenge of transforming the IT function into an innovation engine by becoming a technological leader or innovation partner. If they don’t, they risk irrelevance.

This IT function evolution can assume different forms, which are not mutually exclusive and include: becoming a technological leader or innovation partner. As a technological leader, the IT function’s role could be to identify new innovative business opportunities and to develop completely new business strategies based on emergent technologies that can be exploited within the IT function. As an innovation partner, the IT function could work with line managers to understand business opportunities, co-design new offers, and choose the best innovative solutions from the available technological options.

The choice of which role to pursue will depend on the industry in which the organisation operates, the type of innovation it wishes to pursue and the ecosystems it wants to engage with. However, IT functions across organisations need to evolve to support product and service digital innovation, or they will simply act as a support function that could find themselves outsourced to external parties. Conversely, organisations are also likely to suffer if their IT functions cannot take on a digital innovation role. IT has become a key

Digital innovation process in the context of digital ecosystems Choosing Technology

Matching Technology

Executing & Co-creating Innovation (with Digital Ecosystems)

Realising Customer Value

(with Digital Ecosystems)

Digital Innovation Governance (with Digital Ecosystems)

Inside the Firm [Wheeler 2002] [Tarafdar and Gordon 2007] [Svahn, Mathiassen, Lindgren 2017] [Gregory, Kaganer, Henfridsson and Ruch 2018]

External Market & Digital Ecosystems

insights

IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

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driver of digital innovation—a phenomenon that is apparent in the proliferation of the API business, cloud technologies, software-asa-service, and the demand for seamless interoperability of products, services and information flows, all of which are increasingly central to business strategy and its operations. In parallel, digital ecosystems (defined as a collective of firms that is interlinked by a common interest in digital technology) are also proliferating. O-RAN is an example of a digital ecosystem where members and ABRI - Amsterdam Business Research Institute

contributors have committed to evolving telecommunication radio access networks around the world, based on a foundation of software base/virtualised network elements, white-box hardware and open and standardised interfaces. In such ecosystems, value will be, by definition, co-created. To elaborate, the value created by these ecosystems will often arise through ‘generativity’, a process through which digital infrastructures bring about change by connecting diverse constituencies and supporting open exchanges among these groups. The result is innovative activity that would have been difficult to predict beforehand. At the same time, the re-programmability of digital devices, which breaks the tight coupling between form and function, further fuels this unpredictability. Visa acquired Plaid, a financial service API’s developing firm, in January 2020 for 5,3 billion dollars precisely

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because of Plaid’s digital infrastructure and the capability it provides in expanding VISA’s services by connecting to a rich array of Fintech API’s and information. NEW ROLE, NEW CAPABILITIES In this new ecosystem-orientated era, IT innovation governance is one of four IT capabilities that are particularly important. The others are external relationship management (working with suppliers, outsourcers and customers), scanning and sensing (detecting promising technological opportunities and potential threats) and the search and acquisition of ecosystem resources (locating and harnessing external capabilities from digital ecosystems that are valuable for the pursuit of the desired innovation). In reinventing the IT function, CIOs will need to build/develop their teams to create these additional capabilities. The next step will be to actually deploy these capabilities. That can be achieved through five basic steps: 1) choosing technology, 2) matching technology, 3) executing & co-creating innovation, 4) digital innovation governance and 5) realising customer value. As shown in the diagram below, the latter three steps typically involve interaction with digital ecosystems. DIGITAL GOVERNANCE AS A KEY ACTIVITY As the custodian of digital infrastructures, the IT function is a crucial factor in this digital innovation process. Yet, to contribute and capture customer value, the IT function must strengthen its digital innovation governance activities. Digital innovation in the context of digital ecosystems leads to a fundamental transformation in IT governance, from functional IT governance to platform-based, digital governance. Traditionally, the primary focus of functional IT governance was proprietary and sourced IT assets

fully controlled by the firm. With this focus, the scope of IT governance was solely within a firm, relying on formal processes and relational mechanisms to achieve coordination among multiple internal stakeholders supported, usually, by a complex IT organisation. In light of digital innovations, it is necessary to expand the focus of IT governance beyond the current emphasis on proprietary and sourced IT assets to include the use, reuse and combination of diverse digital services from digital ecosystems. A secondary need is the replacement of the increasingly outdated goal of achieving coordination among multiple internal stakeholders with the alternative goal of achieving automated coordination among internal and external stakeholders through the use of digital infrastructure. In summary, the participation of the IT function in the digital innovation process needs to be carefully planned and executed. When IT becomes involved, it can support firms in leveraging loosely coupled, dynamic digital ecosystems to enrich digital innovation. Evaluating the health and fit of ecosystems is generally a tougher challenge than simply choosing a partner or an alliance based on their expertise. CIOs will have to rise to this challenge, as ecosystems look set to drive digital innovation for the foreseeable future. Based on our research, ‘Technology Leader or Innovation Partner: How can the IT function participate in digital innovation leveraging digital ecosystems’.

FOR FURTHER INQUIRIES ABOUT THE LITERATURE REVIEW PAPER, PLEASE CONTACT JOAQUIM CARVALHO RIBEIRO OR PROF. DR. BART VAN DEN HOOFF

insights

IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

WILLEM SALENTIJN VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

JIJU ANTONY HERIOT WATT UNIVERSITY

THE DARK SIDE OF LEAN

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Lean—you either like it or you don’t. For whoever missed it, Lean is concerned with reducing all types of waste and originated with Toyota around the time of the Second World War and further developed in the years afterwards. In the West, we learned about Lean after the bestseller ´The Machine that Changed the World´ was published in 1990. Since the introduction of Lean, there have been proponents and opponents amongst both scholars and practitioners. The proponents focus on how Lean results in shorter delivery times, less waste, lower operational costs and satisfied customers and employers. The opponents are concerned with the dark side of Lean, including stress, burnout and the diminishing creativity of workers. Research has provided evidence supporting both sides. There are cases of engaged workers and more efficient and effective processes after the implementation of Lean, as well as cases of worker stress and a decrease in productivity. So, what is true? From a practitioner’s perspective, it is important to understand how Lean contributes to achieving the goals of a business.

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LEAN REQUIRES PROCESSES TO BE ORGANISED IN A DIFFERENT WAY From a scientific perspective, it is imperative to understand which factors in Lean mediate business outcomes.

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After the introduction of Lean in the popular literature by the bestsellers ‘The Machine that Changed the World’ (1990) and ‘Lean Thinking’ (1996), research has focused on performance outputs primarily defined by the cost of production and quality of goods. The reason companies choose to implement Lean is primarily from the perspective of reducing costs. Still, even today, most Lean projects are financially-driven. The distrust of Lean often arises when, after its implementation, more work has to be completed and often by fewer people. However, at Toyota, which is the gold standard for Lean, no one has been fired as a result of more effective and efficient processes. So, it seems there are two versions of Lean. In the Japanese version, there is a focus on the long-term, while, in the Western version, the primary focus is often on the current and sometimes next accounting year. In the short term, it is easy to get results when implementing Lean as there are points of waste such as waiting time, overprocessing and extra inventories in any non-Lean organisation. In the long term, it is about at least maintaining the results after implementation and even improving them. This is known as Kaizen or continuous improvement. Lean requires processes to be organised in a different way. Principles such as Just-in-Time, visual management, mistake-proofing processes are some of the hard factors applied to facilitate a Lean workplace. Yet, little is known about the effects of Lean on workers

themselves and on social outcomes, including workers’ engagement. The dark side of Lean concerns negative influences on social outcomes, and, currently, there is a gap in our understanding of the human factors involved in the existing literature. Therefore, research on this dark side of Lean, in particular these human factors and how they cohere with social outcomes, are subject of the study. In our literature review, 59 factors were found, of which 24 are considered ‘hard factors’ and 35 are considered ‘soft factors’. The literature defines soft Lean factors as those concerning people and relationships, such as small group problem-solving, employee training in multiple tasks, supplier partnerships, customer involvement and continuous improvement. In contrast, hard Lean factors are the tools and practices that seek to structure work using technical and analytical methods. The five most mentioned Lean factors mediating business outcomes are: 1. Just-in-Time: Having the right material and information in the right place at the right time. The material and information are neither too early nor too late and are neither more nor less than what is needed. 2. Eliminating Waste: Eliminating common points of waste such as Transport, Inventory, Motion, Waiting times, Overprocessing, Overproducing and Defects. 3. Training. Training workers (continuously) in their work. 4. Kaizen/Continuous Improvement. Actively participating in improvement activities. 5. Empowerment. Involving employees in participation and decision making for being in control of the work.

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IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

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Of these factors, the first two are typical ‘hard factors’, involving the structure of work, while the last two are typical ‘soft factors’ concerning people. The third, training, can be organised in a ‘hard way’, such as collecting certificates and it can also be organised in a ‘soft way’, such as developing competences. Both the empirical and theoretical groundings for soft factors and how they relate to business outcomes is thin. There seems to be a general understanding that Lean is about job characteristics and job design, including visual management, the close involvement of employees in work practices and worker autonomy in their tasks and jobs. However, the question remains as to why, when implementing Lean, the soft factors have either positive or negative results.

Over the years, the interest in soft factors has increased, enabled by research into Lean failures and case studies describing the ‘dark side’ of Lean. While previous research on Lean has predominantly focused on the hard factors, this study demonstrates that the social outcomes of Lean are also mediated by soft factors. This not only has implications for professional practice but also for our understanding of how social outcomes are influenced by various factors. Future research is needed to build upon this.

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RECENT PHD DISSERTATIONS LUC GLASBEEK Department of Management & Organisation

produces practical advice for social entrepreneurs on such topics as building symbiotic relationships with regular businesses. MARILIEKE ENGBERS Department of Management & Organisation

SOCIAL ENTERPRISES WITH EXCEEDINGLY TIGHT RESOURCES: IMPLICATIONS FOR WORK AND LEADERSHIP

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This dissertation examines how social enterprises and their leaders function when they have extremely limited resources and the contextual circumstances are changing rapidly and radically. Greece was selected as the source of empirical data because this country was in a protracted economic recession during this research and, therefore, offered meaningful opportunities for studying social entrepreneurship under resource constraints. This study first investigates the academic foundations of social entrepreneurship and subsequently considers how social enterprises function with scarce resources. Next, it examines the way in which social entrepreneurs, i.e., individuals, manage their businesses. It subsequently investigates the theme of uncertainty, focusing on tacit unknowns. Finally, this study

HOW THE UNSAID SHAPES DECISIONMAKING IN BOARDS: A REFLEXIVE EXPLORATION OF PARADIGMS IN THE BOARDROOM Despite board of directors are of institutional importance, scholars still have a limited understanding of boardroom processes. Uncovering the black box of board decision-making requires direct observation of what goes on in the boardroom and overcoming many methodological challenges. This abductive subjective account reflexively explored board’s decision-making, not through what is said, but through the unsaid. The author observed 37 board meetings of 17 boards and interviewed 119 board members about what happened during those meetings. The author more specifically explored how board members responded ‘in action’, what they had not said and why

and when they consciously or ‘preconsciously’ chose to silence their thoughts and feelings. Putting the unsaid, instead of the said, front and center, meant exploring the difference between what is said and thought, and thus how blind spots, incongruities and perceived incongruities, shape board decision-making. This dissertation offers an emerging explanation of 1) how taken for granted and automatic, sociocognitive processes between board members shape board decision-making; 2) how board members who consider their governance paradigm objective - and therefore, are considered paradigm-attached - enact a spiral of unsaid when they try to manage silent conflicts through informal decision-making 3) how four silence climates shape four different levels of cohesiveness and cognitive conflict towards board effectiveness and 4) how being aware of different levels of consciousness and perspective is required to investigate ‘taken for granted assumptions’ as well as automatic behavior in boards. EMILIA BUNEA Department of Management & Organisation

LEADING AND LEISURE: HOW SERIOUS LEISURE INFLUENCES LEADERS’ DEVELOPMENT AND EFFECTIVENESS Being a leader can be central to one’s sense of self. Yet one is never only a leader, but also maybe a parent, a spouse, a friend. These nonwork selves, especially when one identifies with them strongly, influence the leader one. But what happens when one of the leader’s strongest nonwork identities is moonlighting as a DJ, volunteering as a running guide, being an amateur but passionate painter? This dissertation explores how such “serious leisure” pursuits can influence leaders’ development and their effectiveness in the leader role. Its findings reveal that serious leisure can not only provide important resources to the leader role, such as stress management and valuable skills, but is also a source of “diversification” from the overpowering leader identity that threatens to engulf how one defines oneself. Moreover, leaders with serious leisure create numerous connections between the values, qualities and “philosophy” expressed by their nonwork passion and those desirable in their leadership role, making their leader identity not just richer, but also more layered and interesting. This thesis also examines when serious leisure can negatively impact the leader identity, such as when it is practiced at obsessive levels. For leaders and HR departments, this is a message that passion

recently published outside of work can encourage and enrich passion for one’s leadership work.

further research in the area. The results firmly establish personal branding in the field of career studies, demonstrating how it leads to a wide array of positive career outcomes.

SERGEY GORBATOV Department of Management & Organisation

AGOTA SZABO Department of Management & Organisation

SERGEY GORBATOV

AGOTA SZABO

ADOPTION OF GOVERNANCE PRACTICES IN HOSPITALS The role of directors’ multi-level frames in the governance decision-making process in the boardroom

PERSONAL BRANDING:

SELF-PRESENTATION IN CONTEMPORARY CAREERS SERGEY GORBATOV

This doctoral dissertation studies the adoption of governance practices on not-for-profit hospital boards as perceived by the individual board members. A series of qualitative studies were performed to investigate how these hospital directors use multi-level frames to legitimize their decision-making process of implementing governance practices to their respective organizations. By drawing on the board governance and practice implementation literature, the empirical chapters investigate how cultural, organizational and individuallevel frames influence the implementation process of governance practices in the perspective of the board members. At the country-level, with cultural frames this study investigates the taken-forgranted realities and the definition of good governance in a certain culture. At organizational-level, frames are shared systems of meanings about what good governance entails within a given organization and how these frames can manifest in internal bylaws and governance practices. At the individual–level, frames reflect on the mind set and tautology of the individual board members and their influence on the individuals’ decision-making process. As decisionmaking on governance implementation happens in the boardroom, decisions could not be made solely by individual directors. Besides looking at the frames of the individual directors, this dissertation also sheds light on the influence of group dynamics in the overall decision-making process on practice implementation.

ABRI AMSTERDAM IN AMSTERDAM SCIENCE, BUSINESS RESEARCH INSTITUTE WWW.ABRI.VU.NL BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

About the author Agota Szabo is a University Lecturer in board governance and organizational behaviour at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Next to this position, Agota was a Ph.D. candidate at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, VU University Amsterdam. She holds a Master’s degree in International Business Administration from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and a Bachelor’s degree in European Studies. Her research interests lie in board behaviour and good governance practices of the boardroom.

PERSONAL BRANDING: SELF-PRESENTATION IN CONTEMPORARY CAREERS ISBN 978 90 3610 578 1

ABRI AMSTERDAM IN AMSTERDAM SCIENCE, BUSINESS RESEARCH INSTITUTE WWW.ABRI.VU.NL BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

In the modern labor environment, more people opt for frequent employer changes, self-employment, or gig work. Creating, positioning, and maintaining a desired professional impression – personal branding – has become an essential career competence, but our knowledge about what it is and what career outcomes it leads to is limited. What is your personal brand? This question may be puzzling, yet, today, the answer is vastly consequential for your career. The objective of this thesis is to provide greater clarity around the concept of personal branding, as well as examine its predictors and outcomes. It is the first comprehensive attempt in science at establishing conceptual clarity of the personal branding, personal brand, and personal brand equity constructs. Furthermore, this thesis reports on the development of the measures of personal branding and personal brand equity, which, hopefully, will spur

ADOPTION OF GOVERNANCE PRACTICES IN HOSPITALS

xperience, Sergey Gorbatov delivered results in like AbbVie, PMI, and Shell. Sergey earned his and Intercultural Communication at Orel State ented with an MBA from IE Business School in speaks and writes about the complex science ile keeping it simple. His most recent book is Powerful Feedback”.

PERSONAL BRANDING

uent employer changes, self-employment, or gig ofessional impression – personal branding – has edge about what it is and what career outcomes question may be puzzling, yet, today, the answer of this thesis is to provide greater clarity around mine its predictors and outcomes. It is the first ng conceptual clarity of the personal branding, nstructs. Furthermore, this thesis reports on the nding and personal brand equity, which, hopefully, sults firmly establish personal branding in the field ds to a wide array of positive career outcomes.

ADOPTION OF GOVERNANCE PRACTICES IN HOSPITALS: THE ROLE OF DIRECTORS’ MULTI-LEVEL FRAMES IN THE GOVERNANCE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS IN THE BOARDROOM AGOTA SZABO

frames this study investigates the taken-for-granted realities and the definition of good governance in a certain culture. At organizational-level, frames are shared systems of meanings about what good governance entails within a given organization and how these frames can manifest in internal bylaws and governance practices. At the individual–level, frames reflect on the mind set and tautology of the individual board members and their influence on the individuals’ decision-making process. As decision-making on governance implementation happens in the boardroom, decisions could not be made solely by individual directors. Besides looking at the frames of the individual directors, this dissertation also sheds light on the influence of group dynamics in the overall decisionmaking process on practice implementation.

ADOPTION OF GOVERNANCE PRACTICES IN HOSPITALS: THE ROLE OF DIRECTORS’ MULTILEVEL FRAMES IN THE GOVERNANCE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS IN THE BOARDROOM

LARA A. TCHOLAKIAN Department of Management & Organisation

ON BECOMING HISTORICALLY CONSCIOUS LEADERS: EXPLORING THE UNDERLYING EFFECTS OF TRANSGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF COLLECTIVE TRAUMAS

IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

This doctoral thesis investigates how leader identity and values are shaped by historical collective traumas. Drawing on the phenomenon of transgenerational transmission of trauma, we analyze the role of historical narratives and historical consciousness in leader development. The study sheds light on three areas related to leader development from a historical perspective. First, the study explores the role that historical narratives and collective memories play for leaders, and how the process of historical consciousness becomes a basis for their sense of self, their motivations, and identities. Second, the study explores how historical inheritances offer a lens on ethnicity and ethnic inheritances, whereby leader participants identify their ethnic and historical inheritances as components of their way of seeing the world. Finally, the study examines how management and leadership executive learning programs can help incite historical consciousness by introducing the topic of transgenerational transmission of collective traumas as a pertinent instrument for participants to critically engage in self-reflexive processes. Overall, this thesis contributes to extending the study of leaders and leadership and the role that historical collective traumas and historical narratives play in the general make-up of leaders, their identities and their values, consequently attaining a deeper understanding of leadership in organizational ecosystems. Section intro Coaching

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BRIAN TJEMKES

EDSON HATO

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR STRATEGY & ORGANIZATION

CORPORATE LIAISON

B.V.TJEMKES@VU.NL

E.A.HATO@VU.NL

A CONVERSATION: Leadership is transitioning from simply commanding the internal organisation to orchestrating the broader ecosystem. Moreover, leadership entails directing transformation, requiring a developed understanding of know-what and know-how. VU School of Business & Economics (SBE) collaborates with organisations to enact science with purpose, and together, build a thriving community of change-makers. Below, read a conversation with Dr. Brian Tjemkes and Edson Hato, who both advance corporate partnerships at the SBE’s Management & Organization Department.

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Q1: WHAT IS THE VALUE OF A CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP WITH SBE?

For us, the value we deliver for our corporate partners lies in the alignment of our joint ambition to contribute to innovative leadership development. And specifically innovative leadership development that connects company strategy to real business challenges and creates symbiotic connections between the organisation’s inner world with the needs and wants of the external world, facilitating the continuous development of contemporary (leader) behaviours and organisational culture. Our unique selling point is the alignment of ambitions between SBE and our partners, and to jointly deliver leader development interventions with impact. Our programmes are embedded in companies’ real-time wants and needs, incorporating market expectations, and catering to society’s demands and challenges. Through our programme, these connections and learnings are built with ‘spot on’ delivery, grounded in science.

Q2: WHAT DOES ‘SPOT ON’ DELIVERY MEAN, AND

HOW DO YOU GROUND THIS IN SCIENCE? IS IT NOT THE GENERAL BELIEF THAT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ALWAYS LAGS BEHIND REAL-LIFE DEVELOPMENTS?

There is value in interrogating a development, crisis, or shift’s before, during, and after. We are active in all three arenas. However, when offering interventions, we pride ourselves in our real-life behavioural approach to leader development. Human beings learn by building awareness, experimenting, and experiencing a ‘new’ prototyped reality. Through this process, we innovate new capabilities. With our partners, we practice collaborative knowledge creation to build innovative learning realities, supporting their change processes, and the need to shift organisational perspectives and acknowledge biases. In this process, we use state of the art research, either historic or current, to experiment with transformation, innovation, and inclusion. We deliver new capacities, related to the business challenges, that are immediately practised through real-life, business-driven experimentation. Together with our corporate partners, we create real, practical change instead of merely advising change.

THE VALUE OF CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS PAGE

Q3: WHAT WILL THE FUTURE LANDSCAPE OF CORPORATE-ACADEMIC PARTNERSHIPS LOOK LIKE?

At SBE, we believe in collaborative knowledge creation, contextualisation, life-long development, and a focus on everevolving career paths and choices. As change and transformation are increasingly prevalent, we need to connect and exchange ideas. We believe that organisations that ‘go it alone’ will eventually miss out on an academic-corporate partnership’s competitive advantage. Alone, organisations will be less equipped to ride the wave of transformation with such speed and determination. Our present reality demands life-long, continuous development. The only way to guarantee this is by establishing strong industry relations and collaborative knowledge creation, building in-company educational programmes, conducting joint research projects, and including practitioners in teaching.

Q4: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE EXCITING PROJECTS YOU ARE WORKING ON?

SBE currently offers multiple in-company leadership projects. Clients include large organisations, such as ABN AMRO bank, mid-size public and private organisations, and start-ups. In our projects, we frequently collaborate with our network partners to ensure we have a constant influx of innovative ideas and a sustained impact on leadership development interventions. For example, for ABN AMRO we deliver a leadership development programme to the top 450 executives aimed at sustainable transformation and strategy execution. Would you like to learn more about how we support organisations and society? Stay tuned, as we are currently busy preparing a series of webinars and podcasts on leadership development with C-Suite executives in order to build a community of change-makers. ABRI - Amsterdam Business Research Institute

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EMOTIONAL LEGITIMACY Crowdfunding focuses on collecting small investments over the Internet from a wide variety of supporters. What initially began as a novel way of acquiring resources, is gradually gaining acceptance as a valid fundraising method within mainstream entrepreneurship. However, with every successful crowdfunding campaign, questions arise about how the project garnered support from its backers. In a sense, while crowdfunding has become more popular, so has the gap in research about the methods behind crowdfunding. In particular, the role of the campaign pitch in legitimising new ventures remains underexplored. This need for legitimacy is critical because crowdfunding projects have to justify the intake of financial resources that investors could otherwise allocate to other (more deserving) ventures. Although research acknowledges that a personal appeal contributes to the success of crowdfunding campaigns, deliberate emotional legitimation strategies have never been examined. In contrast to the literature on organisational legitimacy, our study argues that creating an emotional connection is an essential part of the legitimation process of crowdfunding campaigns.

YVES MARIËN PAGE

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

We studied the campaign text and videos of 180 successful reward-based, crowdfunding campaign pitches. Unlike other types, such as lending- or equity-based, reward-based crowdfunding provides no financial or other ‘hard information’. Entrepreneurs can only present themselves as legitimate by sharing information through their campaign narratives. We collected data from one of Europe’s largest crowdfunding platforms and compiled a data set that includes projects from six different categories: innovation, charity, community, environment, business and social enterprise. Our study has several consequences. First, in crowdfunding campaign pitches, legitimacy is conveyed through multiple ‘modes’. Legitimation is no longer limited to textual project descriptions. Campaign pitches, instead, use multimodality or a combination of modes such as written language, still pictures, moving images and sound. In business communications, writing has traditionally been the primary mode. However, with computer and phone screens being the dominant medium, the written word has become less effective than images and video. Consequently, in today’s digital society, solely using textual project

IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

descriptions is no longer an option. Secondly, videos humanise the campaign pitch through the emotive power of the human voice and facial expressions,, making videos an exceedingly useful communicative practice. Videos show campaigners telling their stories in an impassioned and personal way. Overall, textual rhetoric is less effective, shows less enthusiasm and is most likely less crucial to pitches than the emotive and human message of videos. Finally, we argue that emotions are an undeniable part of the legitimation process in the context of a multimodal environment characterised by both text and video. Our study identifies three distinct emotionalisation strategies. The first form is Connecting, which describes how the pitches focus on creating relationships with others, making people want to help each other. The second form is Creating, through which the pitch is framed around how the product(s) or service(s) is making a breakthrough or is uniquely solving a problem. Creative solutions make funders want to do something different and try new approaches to solve problems. A final form of emotionalisation is Challenging. A pitch utilizing this form describes a protagonist succeeding against an ‘enemy’. In the pitch, obstacles initially seem impossible to deal with; however, funders are inspired by the appeal to their appreciation for perseverance and courage. In conclusion, we are witnessing the growing impact of emotionality in investor decision making. This legitimisation of emotions is a fundamental shift in the expectations of funding pitches. Essentially, traditional offline resource acquisition occurs in the past tense. An entrepreneur has a business idea, writes the funding application and presents it to a small number of professional investors. Online (crowd)funding has moved this to the present tense. Entrepreneurs show, in real-time, what is happening while it is happening. There is no longer a middle-person between entrepreneurs and the crowd, just a powerfully emotional story.

Tuende Erdoes SHOOTING FOR GOALS IN COACHING: ARE WE MISSING THE GOAL?

Charlotte Goedmakers PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVE COACHES

COACHING PAGE

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At its core, coaching is a goal-directed change intervention. The over-arching goal is to narrow the gap between clients’ current situations and their desired end states. Therefore, we know coaching has been successful when clients have reached their goals. This global understanding is based primarily on outcome research that focuses on linear explorations, as well as explanations of goal attainment with only two measurement points: one at the outset of coaching and one upon completion of the coaching engagement.

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SHOOTING TO SCORE IN COACHING: ARE WE MISSING THE GOAL?

What we would like to further understand is: a) To what extent are goals self-directed rather than ‘should’ goals. Or in other words, are the goals self-concordant and in alignment with clients’ true personality. b) The mechanisms by which clients attain self-directed goals during the coaching process. So, we chose to explore clients’ authentic self-development as the over-arching goal of the coaching enterprise. Authentic self-development is important, as it expresses how well we actualise our sense of self, without which we fail to meet our three basic human needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness as expressed forms of self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 1985). In coaching, the result is that clients experience a relapse once the coaching engagement is over. We see this

coaching

IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

phenomenon unfold in other areas of life as well—earning multiple academic degrees or top salaries or finding fame and fortune through significant achievements often leave individuals with a sense of yearning for more or a sense of void. Therefore, our study explored how clients’ personalities (based on the Big Five personality model) predicted their capacity to attain goals that are aligned with their intrinsic interests, needs, values and motivations. We also explored how clients’ capacity to regulate positive and negative affect (i.e., mood) influenced the relationship between personality and authentic selfdevelopment from session to session and beyond the full coaching engagement. The longitudinal quantitative process study was conducted from November 2018 to August 2019. The research population was 176 pairs of professional coaches and real clients who engaged in up to 10 coaching

sessions. Sessions lasted a minimum of 60 minutes, as is standard in coaching. Coaches were recruited from 31 countries, which reflects participants’ culturally diverse backgrounds, from which we can draw solid generalisable conclusions. Clients completed one pre-coaching questionnaire, post-session questionnaires after each session, and one post-coaching questionnaire three months after completing the coaching engagement. The study revealed the following: a) The Big Five trait levels of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, and Openness, as well as the psychological components of these traits (i.e., ABCDs: Affect, Behaviour, Cognition and Desire), both predicted three out of four aspects of authentic selfdevelopment: higher levels of perceived competence, goal commitment and goal self-concordance. They did not predict the fourth, goal stability;

b) The overall affect balance over sessions rather than the change in affect balance explained the direct relationship between personality and two aspects of authentic self-development: perceived competence and goal commitment, but not selfconcordance and goal stability. These findings imply that: a) While clients’ affect balance increases across sessions over time, coaching as a change intervention in and of itself has a self-regulatory influence on clients. Each coaching session forms more than the sum of its individual parts. What seems to be important for clients’ authentic self-development is ‘how well’ rather than ‘how much more or less’ they arrive at regulating their emotions across sessions and over time. This may explain why a change in affect balance is not found to explain the relationship between personality and authentic selfdevelopment.

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TUENDE ERDOES VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

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For instance, if you have a conscientious personality, your change in mood does not explain why you stay committed to a goal. Instead, your average increased capacity to balance your moods may determine how well you can stay committed to goals over time. b) From a humanistic perspective, goal stability is a X) way of developing continuity and coherence across potentially contradictory behaviours and the Y) capacity to integrate our inconsistent behaviours into a coherent self-concept. Contradictory behaviours may imply that goals are malleable depending on complex situational factors (i.e., clients feel safe in the coach-client relationship). They may also depend on the extent to which our aspirations, motivations and intentions evolve over the course time. So, clients’ capacity to develop authentically may be about maintaining their stability of goal-directed functioning rather than the stability of a goal per se. c) Coaching functions as a complex selfregulatory engagement. It serves as the key contextual factor in which clients show up as self-determined individuals to adjust goals in concordance with their true selves. Repeated goal-orientation and task-setting are likely to foster clients’ ‘continued adjustability’ in how they pursue their goals. Therefore, clients’ continued adjustability rather than goal-

stability will support their ‘becoming one’ in line with their personality during a coaching engagement. d) Clients experience coaching as a learning process in which they can attain goals with minimal pressure and compulsion (i.e., they feel more ‘self-concordant’ in their goal pursuits) when coaching is in line with their personalities. For instance, clients whose goals match their implicit personalities will feel a strong conviction and will be interested in pursuing their goals in line with their true self, which implies that self-concordance does not require any self-regulatory resources through affect balance in coaching. Based on these findings, authentic selfdevelopment is formulated during the process of becoming a continuously congruent self with contradictory behaviours, most probably against someone else’s taste in a social context. Coaching, as a social context, illustrates a unique selfregulatory intervention that supports clients in their process of ‘becoming one’. For leadership, which requires key coaching competencies, the findings imply that leaders need to: a) foster authentic self-development among their staff as the ultimate means to sustained outcomes, b) engage with their staff’s self-perception of competence, goal commitment and

goal self-concordance towards ‘becoming one’ at work, c) adopt a leadership style that sustains their staff’s balanced affective, cognitive, behavioural and motivational aspects of their personalities while on their paths to goal attainment, d) integrate coaching competencies that support staff’s self-regulatory resources (i.e., affect balance) to support their attainment of self-congruent goals, e) apply leadership as a contextual factor that has the potential to influence staff’s capacity to self-regulate beyond their own self-regulatory resources. Ultimately, leadership as a coaching capability is a contextual factor that influences how staff can attain goals in congruence with their true self, which ultimately impacts how organisations reach their own goal of sustained success and organisational development.

coaching

IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVE COACHES CHARLOTTE GOEDMAKERS

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM YVONNE BURGER

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM MANON RUIJTERS

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM

We know, from practice and academic research, that executive coaches are highly successful in helping their clients grow into their role at work and to develop in demanding, complex and changing work contexts [1]. In a conversation based, one-on-one, dyadic relationship, developing trust and achieving a deep level of psychological reflection and understanding between a coach and their client are the criteria for success. The effectiveness of coaching is strongly related to the strength of the working alliance between a coach and their client. It is also related to the personality of the coach and common factors such as honesty, authenticity, empathy, warmth, respect, and trustworthiness [2].

To make coaching work, executive coaches have, on the one hand, the freedom and autonomy to do their complex work in their own way. On the other hand, similar to other professionals, they want to do good work and deliver quality to systems of clients and their organisations. Further, they want to also contribute to other systems by being critical to the development of their professional communities and society in general. In other words, ‘noblesse oblige’ or choosing to contribute to all those systems with different relationships and interests at stake, brings forth the responsibility of remaining professional by continuously reflecting on one’s own being in one’s specific role [3].

The concept of professional identity can provide guidance [4]. Although the coaching industry is professionalising [5], the concept of professional identity is not very explicit in the research on executive coaching and the coaching profession is absent in the research on professional identity. Little is known about the journeys of executive coaches in terms of their professional identity development. Reviewing the existing literature on professional identity in other ‘helping professions’ shows an agreement that identity in the context of work, can be seen in (at least) three dimensions: the personal, the relational in interaction with others and the collective in terms of sharing a common purpose, meaning, joint action and belonging to the same group. Professional identity development has been researched in, for instance, medical and teaching professions that are characterised by uniform schooling, training and career paths; however, the coaching profession is characterised by more diversity. We discovered four different, but connected, perspectives related to professional identity development that will be helpful in introducing systematic research to the field of executive coaching.

Occupational or vocational identity refers to the question of what it means to be an executive coach. This relates to the aforementioned collective dimension of identity, in which reflection on the profession in general—its background, origin and history, the dos and don’ts, the shared beliefs and values and the common body of knowledge are central. Informed by this collective identity, an individual executive coach might ask themself, ‘What does it mean for me to be a coach and what stance do I take?’ This brings the second perspective, Professional identity, to the fore. This perspective is used to refer to a set of attributes, beliefs, values, motives and experiences, or a mental ABRI - Amsterdam Business Research Institute

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‘mini-theory’ based on the knowledge and practical experiences that affect the attitudes, affect and behaviour in work that makes an individual coach recognisable, despite changes in circumstances and time. Instead of a state of being, the third perspective, Identity Work, represents a dynamic or process view by referring to the cognitive, discursive, physical and behavioural activities that professionals undertake with the goal of forming, repairing, maintaining, strengthening, revising, or rejecting collective, role and personal self-meanings within boundaries of their social contexts [6]. An interesting question in this respect is, ‘What is at stake for me as a person in my role and how do I (re-)act?’. The fourth perspective, Identity Workspaces, can best be illuminated by asking the question, ‘What do I need, as an executive coach, to ensure a safe setting for identity work?’[7]. A holding environment for identity work might be offered through either the form of trusted supervision

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REFERENCES 1 Longenecker, C., McCartney, M. (2020). The benefits of executive coaching: voices from the C-suite. Strategic HR review, Vol. 19, No.1, pp. 22-27. 2 De Haan, E., Grant, A.M., Burger, Y., Erikson, P-O. (2016). A largescale study of executive and workplace coaching: the relative contributions of relationship, personality match, and self-efficacy. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, Vol. 68, No.3, pp.189-207. Shoukry,H., Cox, E. (2018). Coaching as a social process. Management Learning, Vol. 49, No.4, pp. 413-428. De Haan, E. (2019). A systematic review of qualitative studies in the workplace and executive coaching: the emergence of a body of research. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, Vol. 71, No 4, pp. 227-248. Cavicchia, S., Gilbert, M. (2019).

The theory and Practice of Relational Coaching: Complexity, Paradox and Integration. New York: Routledge. 3 Simons, P.RJ., Ruijters, M.C.P. (2004) Learning Professionals: Towards an integrated Model. In Boshuizen, H.P.A., Bromme, R., Gruber, H. (eds), Professional Learning: Gaps and Transitions on the Way from Novice to Expert. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 207-229. 4 Ruijters, M.C.P. (ed), (2015) Je Binnenste Buiten: Over professionele identiteit in organisaties. Deventer: Management Impact, Vakmedianet. Ruijters, M.C.P., Van Luin, G.E.A., Wortelboer, F.Q.C. (eds), (2019). Mijn Binnenste Buiten: Werken aan je professionele identiteit. Amsterdam: Management Impact, Boom uitgevers. 5 https://coachfederation.org/whyicf ; https://www.emccglobal.org/ about_emcc/# ; https://www.

or safe spaces provided during training programs; however, other possibilities remain to be explored [8]. Since the coach-client relationship is the main contributor of success in their work, the question of how executive coaches make use of this relationship as a workspace for their professional identity development is a challenge to explore. As a test, we analysed the recent work of Burger [9], reflecting on her practice of coaching and concluded that these four perspectives are notably different, but related ways to continuously develop her professional identity. Those four perspectives will guide empirical research on how executive coaches develop their professional identity. Apart from contributing to academic research in the field of professional identity development and executive coaching, this research is helpful for practitioners to gain more insight in how to engage and develop professional identity, in how to continuously develop as a professional and in how to maintain quality of service in an ever-changing world. Educational institutions and professional bodies will gain more insight in how to further facilitate executive coaches in their continuous growth and professional development, as well as how to further profile the profession of executive coaching to their clients.

nobco.nl/over-nobco; https:// www.lvsc.eu/over-lvsc 6 Caza, B., Vough, H., Puranik, H. (2018). Identity Work in organizations and occupations: Definitions, theories, and pathways forward. Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 39, pp. 889-910. 7 Petriglieri, G., Petriglieri, J.L. (2010). Identity workspaces: the case of business schools. Academy of Management Learning and Education, Vol. 9, pp. 44-60. 8 Carroll, M. (2010). Supervision: Critical Reflection for Transformational Learning (part 2). The Clinical Supervisor, Vol. 29, No.1, pp. 1-19. Gray, D.E. (2010). Towards the lifelong skills and business development of coaches: An integrated model of supervision and mentoring. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, Vol. 3, No.1, pp. 60-72.

Leggett, R., James, J. (2016). Exploring the benefits of a Coach Development Process…on the Coach. International Journal of HRD Practice, Policy and Research, Vol. 1, No.2, pp. 55-65 Moore, L., Koning, J. (2016). Intersubjective identity work and sense making of adult learners on a postgraduate coaching course; Finding the balance in a world of dynamic complexity. Management learning, Vol. 47, No.1, pp. 28-44. Passmore, J., McGoldrick, S. (2009). Supervision, extra-vision or blind faith? A grounded theory study of the efficacy of coaching supervision. International Coaching Psychology Review, Vol. 4, No.2, pp. 143-159. 9 Burger, Y. (2020). Reflecties over coaching- Werken met individuen, teams en jezelf. Neer: Uitgeverij Kloosterhof B.V.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS BY EXECUTIVES

Gorbatov, S., Khapova, S. N., Oostrom, J. K., & Lysova, E. I. (Accepted/In press). Personal brand equity: Scale development and validation. Personnel Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12412 Botke, J. A., Jansen, P., Khapova, S. N., & Tims, M. (2018). Work factors influencing the transfer stages of soft skills training: A literature review. Educational Research Review, 24, 130-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2018.04.001 der Kinderen, S., Valk, A., Khapova, S. N., & Tims, M. (2020). Facilitating eudaimonic well-being in mental health care organizations: The role of servant leadership and workplace civility climate. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(4), 1-17. [1173]. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041173 Ghaempanah, B., & Khapova, S. N. (Accepted/In press). Identity play and the stories we live by. Journal of Organizational Change Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-07-2019-0238 Schinagl, S., & Shahim, A. (2020). What do we know about information security governance? “From the basement to the boardroom”: towards digital security governance. Information and Computer Security, 28(2), 261-292. https://doi.org/10.1108/ICS-02-2019-0033 Gorbatov, S., Khapova, S. N., & Lysova, E. I. (2019). Get Noticed to Get Ahead: The Impact of Personal Branding on Career Success. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, [2662]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02662 Bouland-van Dam, S. I. M., Oostrom, J. K., De Kock, F. S., Schlechter, A. F., & Jansen, P. G. W. (2020). Unravelling leadership potential: conceptual and measurement issues. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2020.1787503

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MANAGEMENT BOOKS ecosystems. It contains a user guide, showing when managers may use them and when to avoid them. In addition it discusses implementation strategies, governance issues and the dark side of new organizational forms. Many practical cases illustrate the ideas. English | ISBN13: 9789063695217

DOET MARKETING ERTOE?

Ruud Frambach

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Is marketing misleading and a waste of money? This impression can certainly arise if marketing is used incorrectly. A price is always paid for this, in the long term also by marketing itself. This undermines confidence in the profession and limits the important and especially valuable role that marketing can play. When used properly, marketing can create value for customers and at the same time realize value for companies, shareholders and society. There is still much to be gained, both for experienced marketers and for organizations where marketing hardly plays a role. From a strong focus on practice and based on the latest scientific insights, this book shows how marketing can offer demonstrable value for organizations and their stakeholders. Dutch | EAN: 9789024418725

HOW TO SURVIVE THE ORGANIZATIONAL REVOLUTION: A GUIDE TO AGILE CONTEMPORARY OPERATING MODELS, PLATFORMS AND ECOSYSTEMS

Ard-Pieter de Man, Pieter Koene, Martijn Ars Today companies face a bewildering choice of new organizational design options. Information technology enables the emergence of new organizational forms that go beyond traditional business unit and matrix structures. This book is the first complete overview of these new organizational forms that underpin the information economy. It provides practical descriptions of Holacracy, open source organizations, the Spotifymodel, platform organizations, multidimensional organizing and

RIDING THE WAVES OF CULTURE, FOURTH EDITION: UNDERSTANDING DIVERSITY IN GLOBAL BUSINESS 4TH EDITION

Fons Trompenaars, Charles Hampden-Turner 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. English | EAN: 9781260468649

Researchers confirmed that the less facetime employees have with their managers, the more impact seeking and receiving feedback will have on their performance. Gorbatov and Lane propose a simple, systematic approach to giving fair and honest feedback, in ways that improve performance and prove that, if done properly, feedback simultaneously improves performance while engaging and developing employees. English | ISBN13: 9781912555093

S.L.I.M. MANAGEN VAN AI IN DE PRAKTIJK: HOE ORGANISATIES SLIMME TECHNOLOGIE IMPLEMENTEREN

FAIR TALK: THREE STEPS TO POWERFUL FEEDBACK

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Lauren Waardenburg, Marleen Huysman, Marlous Agterberg The authors describe how eight organizations deal with the implementation and use of artificial intelligence (AI). They identify the following four key challenges of implementing AI: organizing for data, testing and validating AI, creating bridges between AI design

and use, and changes in work. Using a combination of existing literature and thorough practical examples they make four recommendations for WISE management of AI. This means that managing AI requires Workrelated insights, Interdisciplinary knowledge, Socio-technical change processes, and Ethical awareness. These recommendations for managing AI provide the reader a unique insight into the roles and responsibilities of management in this process and provides clear guidance on how to shape this process in your own organization. Dutch | EAN 9789490463809

success. If you are a manager, consultant, or counselor the authors show how you can support other people’s careers, enabling them to define and meet their career goals and aspirations. The book unfolds in two parts, first encouraging reflection and then turning to action. In Part One, you will come to grips with your own intelligent career experience to date. In Part Two, you will learn how to create and leverage new opportunities offered by the contemporary work environment. English | EAN: 9780190866310

AN INTELLIGENT CAREER: TAKING OWNERSHIP OF YOUR WORK AND YOUR LIFE

Michael Arthur, Svetlana Khapova, Julia Richardson Using examples and insights from around the globe, the authors explain how you can take stock of your career; combine assets such as your commitment, experience and relationships; determine future action; and earn greater career ABRI - Amsterdam Business Research Institute

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EXECUTIVES IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY For more information visit www.abri.vu.nl Application deadline December 1 Start January (each year)

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PART-TIME PhD IN BUSINESS THE ULTIMATE DEGREE FOR BUSINESS LEADERS Join us to attain the highest level of professional development and to generate business innovations that will move your organization and your career forward. Embrace a stimulating scientific environment, and learn to leverage your expertise and extant scholarly knowledge to make original contributions at the frontiers of business and management practice.

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CONTACT Do you have a question for the editorial team, do you want to learn more about collaborating with VU, or would you like to get in contact with one of the contributing authors? We invite you to contact the editors:

Prof. dr. Svetlana Khapova Professor of Organisational Behaviour Head of the Department of Management & Organisation VU School of Business and Economics s.n.khapova@vu.nl

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AMSTERDAM IN SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY

AMSTERDAM BUSINESS RESEARCH INSTITUTE The Amsterdam Business Research Institute (ABRI), established in 2009 by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, is one of the largest institutes of business and management research in Europe. Located in the midst of the business and financial district of Amsterdam – the Amsterdam Zuidas – the distinct expertise of ABRI lays in the business performance and management of professional and financial services. With a specific focus on this sector, ABRI’s researchers conduct research and offer doctoral (PhD) education in six areas: 1. Accounting & Financial Management 2. Information & Innovation Management 3. Logistics & Operations Research 4. Marketing 5. Organisational Behaviour & HRM 6. Strategy & Organisation Dozens of public and private organisations, among which are ABN AMRO, Deloitte, and KPMG, collaborate with ABRI in research and business intelligence and in addressing today’s business and management challenges. These business-science partnerships are aimed at delivering rigorous and relevant contributions not only to better business practices and processes within organisations in the Netherlands, but also to contribute to a stronger European economy. Visit our web-site www.abri.vu.nl to learn about recent research findings concerned with business and management, and to initiate a new collaboration to benefit your organisation!