Complexity Leadership and Knowledge Management in Higher Education

Authors: Prabhakar Venugopal Gantasala

Abstract:

Complex environments triggered by globalization have necessitated new paradigms of leadership – Complexity Leadership that encompass multiple roles that leaders need to take upon. Success of Higher Education institutions depends on how well leaders can provide adaptive, administrative and enabling leadership. Complexity Leadership seems all the more relevant for institutions that are knowledge-driven and thrive on Knowledge creation, Knowledge storage and retrieval, Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge applications. Discussed in this paper are the elements of Globalization and the opportunities and challenges that are brought forth by globalization. The Complexity leadership paradigm in a knowledge-based economy and the need for such a paradigm shift for higher education institutions is presented. Further, the paper also discusses the support the leader requires in a knowledge-driven economy through knowledge management initiatives.

Keywords: Globalization, Complexity Leadership, Knowledge Management.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1109237

References:

[1] Adler, P., Heckscher, C., Prusak, L., 2011. “Building a Collaborative Enterprise”, Harvard Business Review, 1-9.
[2] Adler, P., Kwon, S., 2002. “Social Capital: Prospects for a new concept”, Academy of Management Review, 27(1); 17-40.
[3] B. Goodwin, How the leopard changed its spots: The evolution of complexity, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York (1994).
[4] B. Lichtenstein, M. Uhl-Bien, R. Marion, A. Seers, D. Orton, and C. Schreiber, Complexity Leadership Theory: An interactive perspective on leading in complex adaptive systems, Emergence: Complexity and Organization8(4) (2006), pp. 2–12.
[5] Badr, (2012). UAE Qualifications Framework, Presentation by the Director, CAA, p. 2.
[6] Badr, (2012). UAE Qualifications Framework, Presentation by the Director, CAA, p. 10.
[7] C. E. Shalley and L. L. Gibson, What leaders need to know: A review of social and contextual factors that can foster or hinder creativity, The Leadership Quarterly, 15(1) (2004), pp. 33–53.
[8] D. M. Hosking, Organizing, leadership and skillful process, Journal of Management Studies 25 (1) (1988), pp. 147–166.
[9] D. Roy, Efficiency and ‘the fix’: Informal inter-group relations in a piecework machine shop, American Journal of Sociology 60(1) (1954), pp. 255–266.
[10] G. C. Homans, The human group, Harcourt, Brace and World, New York (1950).
[11] G. Hedlund, A model of knowledge management and the N-form Corporation, Strategic Management Journal 15 (1994), pp. 73–90.
[12] http://www.nqa.gov.ae/En/QFEmirates/QualificationsFramework/Pages/ GridLevels.aspx
[13] K. Carley and J.S. Lee, Dynamic organizations: Organizational adaptation in a changing environment, Advances in Strategic Management: A Research Annual 15(1998), pp. 269–297.
[14] K. Mackenzie, The LAMPE theory of organizational leadership. In: F. Yammarino and F. Dansereau, Editors, Research in multi-level issues vol. 5, Elsevier Science, Oxford, UK (2006).
[15] M. D. Cohen, J. G. March, and J. P. Olsen, A garbage can model of organizational choice, Administrative Science Quarterly 17(1972), pp. 1–25.
[16] Manville, B. and Ober, J. (2003). Beyond empowerment: Building a company of citizens, Harvard Business Review, pp. 48-53.
[17] P. Cilliers, Complexity and postmodernism: Understanding complex systems, Routledge, London (1998).
[18] R. A. Heifetz, Leadership without easy answers, Cambridge Harvard University Press (1994).
[19] R. Marion and M. Uhl-Bien, Complexity and strategic leadership. R. Hooijberg, J. Hunt, J. Antonakis, K. Boal, and N. Lane, Editors, Being there even when you are not: Leading through structures, systems, and processes, Elsevier, Amsterdam (2007).
[20] R. Osborn, J. G. Hunt, and L. R. Jauch, “Toward a contextual theory of leadership”, The Leadership Quarterly13 (2002), pp. 797–837.
[21] von Krogh, G., Nonaka, I., Rechsteiner, L., 2012. “Leadership in organizational knowledge creation: A review and framework”, Journal of Management Studies, 49(1); 240-277.