Fahri Karakas

Welcome to World 2.0: the new digital ecosystem

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce and describe World 2.0; the interactive, hyper-connected, immersive, collaborative online ecosystem. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews paradigm shifts in technology and the internet that transform the world of business and innovation. Findings – The author proposes five shifts that characterize and describe World 2.0: creativity, connectivity, collaboration, convergence, and community. These shifts define the new global landscape of business, technology, and innovation. Practical implications – The article provides managers and professionals strategies for innovation in the World 2.0 ecosystem. Originality/value – The concept of World 2.0 provides managers and professionals a fresh perspective and an integrative vision of the twenty-first century business and innovation landscape.

Reorienting self‐directed learning for the creative digital era

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the new role that human resource developers play in the globally connected workplace. Towards that end, this paper explores the changing landscape of self‐directed learning (SDL) within the digital ecosystem based on the concept of World 2.0.Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews and builds on the literatures of self‐directed learning and Web 2.0 technologies to explore how self‐directed learning is being transformed in the creative digital era.Findings – The paper outlines five transformations that change the landscape of workplace learning in the creative digital era: virtual collaboration, technological convergence, global connectivity, online communities, and digital creativity.Practical implications – This paper gives extensive guidance on how HRD specialists and practitioners can transform their strategies to adapt to the training needs of employees in the creative digital era. The paper provides new ideas and vision for industrial trainer...

Positive Management Education: Creating Creative Minds, Passionate Hearts, and Kindred Spirits

The goal of this article is to explore positive management education, a practice-based teaching and learning model centered on positive organizational scholarship. Six signs of transformation in organizations are presented: complexity, community, creativity, spirituality, flexibility, and positivity. A model for positive management education is introduced, based on six related dimensions: fostering integrative and holistic thinking, building a sense of community through high-quality relationships, developing creative brainstorming and skill building through innovative projects, integrating spirituality into the classroom, fostering flexibility and empowerment, and designing positive enabling, nurturing learning platforms. This positive management education model is illustrated through selected best practices from a pilot study of an experiential organizational behavior course.

A Qualitative Investigation into the Meaning of Family Well-Being from the Perspective of Part-Time Professionals

Through analysis of interviews conducted in 1996-98 with reduced-load professionals and managers in organizations, this study examines in-depth the meaning of a good family life from the perspective of those seeking to enhance their personal and family experience by cutting back on hours devoted to work. The results suggest that the concept of family well-being is more complex and multi-faceted than prior research has indicated. Six different dimensions of family well-being are identified through examination of recurrent themes in the interviews: (1) spending high quality time with family members; (2) being able to relax in free time; (3) emotional well-being and health of family members; (4) high quality communication and support; (5) high quality child care and education; (6) satisfaction with work and work load at home. Finally, three paradigms of family well-being derived from interview data are proposed: Family well-being as effective parenting, family well-being as love and being together, family well-being as peace and harmony.

Exploring career and personal outcomes and the meaning of career success among part-time professionals in organizations

Over recent decades, the professional workforce and family structures have dramatically changed. For example, the dual-earner family is now the modal American family (Barnett, 2001). Only 17 per cent of families comprise a male breadwinner and a stay-at-home wife (US Department of Labor, 2004). According to the most recent National Survey of the Changing Workforce (NSCW) (Bond et al., 2002), the demographic occupational profile of the professional and managerial workforce in the US has also dramatically changed. In 2002 women held 39 per cent of professional and managerial jobs, compared with 24 per cent in 1977. Work hours and demands are rising on the job and there is less time to devote to family or other personal life commitments. Over the 25 years between 1977 and 2002, the total work hours of all dual-earner couples with children under 18 years at home increased by an average of ten hours per week – from 81 to 91 hours (Bond et al., 2002). A recent national survey on overwork in America indicates that nearly half (44 per cent) of the US workforce experienced being overworked in their jobs in the past month (Galinsky et al., 2005). Another recent report based on the NSCW survey found that two-thirds (67 per cent) of employed parents believe they do not have enough time with their children (Galinsky et al., 2004). Over half of all employees participating in the NSCW survey said they do not have enough time for their spouses (63 per cent) or themselves (55 per cent). Although these trends are important for all employee groups, professionals are a key labor market group that faces unique challenges in managing work and personal life demands. Many professionals encounter growing organizational pressures to increase workload and work hours

Reflections on zero and zero‐centered spirituality in organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to invite managers and practitioners to reflect on the meaning and implications of the concept of zero for individual and organizational spiritual growth.Design/methodology/approach – Building on spirituality and complexity literatures, this paper stimulates non‐traditional thinking in organizational change and leadership. The paper uses the concept of zero as a creative metaphor for organizational development.Findings – The paper introduces a systemic, unified, multidimensional, holistic, complex, chaotic and dynamic paradigm for organizations based on spirituality: paradigm zero. Zero represents paradox, transcendence, interconnectedness, balance, modesty, creativity, inspiration, and the essence and mystery of human existence.Practical implications – This paper invites managers to consider a futurist perspective called zero‐centered thinking that enables creativity and reflection in the middle of complexity.Originality/value – This paper builds on cutting edge spi...

The use of benevolent leadership development to advance principles of responsible management education

This paper proposes benevolent leadership development as a framework to incorporate principles of responsible management education to mainstream management curriculum, specifically within the context of leadership courses. This paper makes three contributions. The first is the development of a practical framework for benevolent leadership as a means to impart the principles of responsible management. The second contribution is the review and integration of four anchors of benevolent leadership: ethical sensitivity, spiritual depth, positive engagement, and community responsiveness. The third contribution is sharing knowledge about pedagogical strategies including implementation of the benevolent leadership model in leadership development courses through use of individual and team projects and exercises, which attempts to respond the challenges about teaching leadership (Hay and Hodgkinson, 2006). The illustrative processes and projects in this paper come from leadership development courses offered in Turkey and in Canada.

Creative Brainstorming and Integrative Thinking: Skills for Twenty-First Century Managers

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to introduce examples and methods of incorporating creative brainstorming and integrative thinking skills into training programs. Design/methodology/approach - The paper discusses an innovative training program as a case study to demonstrate the application of creative brainstorming and thinking skills into the design of the program. Findings - Interdisciplinary thinking, engagement, flexibility, individual customization, collaboration and inspiration are critical to the development of creative and integrative thinking skills for managers. Practical implications - This paper invites trainers and practitioners to consider new perspectives and customized approaches to develop creative and inter-disciplinary thinking skills for managers. Originality/value - This paper opens up new possibilities for innovation and customization in training programs to develop creative thinking skills.

Service-Learning 2.0 for the 21st Century: Towards a Holistic Model for Global Social Positive Change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce service-learning 2.0 model based on four new paradigms in the global business landscape: connectivity, creativity, community, and complexity. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews four paradigm shifts and their effects on service-learning practices and methodology: wikinomics and mass collaboration, collective intelligence and open innovation, appreciative inquiry and positive organizational scholarship (POS), and self-organizing systems and the new sciences. Findings – Service-learning 2.0 can be used to develop our students’ twenty-first century thinking skills through applied community engagement projects, namely: interactivity and interconnectedness, innovation and insight, and inspiration and intuition, integrative and interdisciplinary thinking. Practical implications – Service-learning 2.0 principles and pedagogy can help students appreciate and prepare for increasing complexity and paradox of management and organizations in the light of global, social and organizational changes of the twenty-first century. Originality/value – Service-learning 2.0 model represents the pedagogy, principles, and processes that are better suited to the global, technological, and social changes and challenges of the 21st century.

A Holistic View of Spirituality and Values

The objective of this paper is to explore the dimensions and characteristics of values and spirituality in organizations in the Gulen network. This study is based on a qualitative case study of seven selected Gulen organizations and utilizes a triangulation of various qualitative research methods: 32 qualitative interviews, participant observation, multi-sited ethnography and documental analysis. The Gulen network is a unique case of global social innovation based on spirituality in a number of respects. Owing to the principles of diversity, love and dialog, Gulen enjoys voluntary participation of people from different backgrounds, ideologies, nations, classes, races and faiths throughout the world. Gulen network proposes: a) a model of spiritual partnership and networking based on shared passion and idealism, b) a global agenda for interfaith and intercultural love, cooperation, and dialog, c) a multidimensional view of universal values and spirituality in the workplace, d) a unique case revealing insights for integrating management, religion and spirituality.