Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: Development and Learning in Organizations, Volume 23, Issue 6
Befitting its international focus, this issue of the journal kicks off with a fascinating article from Irene Chiotis-Leskowich looking at the reasons behind failed expatriate assignments. At a staggering cost of up to $1.2 million per failure, she explores the more systemic family reasons behind the lack of success of so many placements. Investing the time to explore the questions and exercises she offers from Family Systems Therapy would seem a wise prior investment.
Two organizations in Hungary are responding to economic slowdown in diametrically opposed ways. Magdolna Csath describes one as having a focus on cutting costs and surviving the crisis; the other on innovation, searching for new markets and learning. Her conclusions as to the potential fate of each make interesting reading. Personal reflection on how our own organizations are responding – are we more like Company A or Company B – could be illuminating.
Our third article from Jayant Meshram and Sasmita Palo outlines the case study of a development program aimed at improving the sales performance within an organization in the white goods sector, based in India. An overall productivity increase of 65 percent is impressive and the learning processes used to achieve this are well worth considering.
Many organizations have been dealing with the difficult issue of making staff redundant – and there is probably yet more to come. Eddie Kilkelly offers a timely reminder of how L&D professionals can make a positive contribution in these potentially negative circumstances with some useful practical guidelines.
Esther Walker shares some intriguing examples of how to use interactive forms of drama to engage learners and create the desire to take follow-up action. For example, a fundamental shift in employee attitudes to Health & Safety was achieved in a UK organization through a play – Jim’s Story. Maybe we should consider “making a drama out of a crisis”?
The review pieces begin with “Time for leaders to reveal the ‘right stuff’”. Drawing on evidence from New Zealand and Africa, the article sets out some interesting findings on how leaders are, and should be, responding to the economic crisis.
If you are planning an upgrade to your learning system, then “Integrating online training systems – a case study of the North Bristol NHS Trust”will be of interest to you. The successes and challenges of implementing this organization-wide system are shared.
In another case study, “A key differentiator – the corporate university at Alcatel-Lucent” describes how the organization has developed an integrated corporate university over the last two years. Their focus on ensuring learning is relevant and the involvement of key leaders has meant it is now seen as a genuine strategic partner to the business.
As our final piece, we have a compelling review of research from the Israel Defence Forces. Responses from service personnel who had shown leadership qualities during basic training reveal they had far more experiences of being given responsibility in their youth than those who showed little leadership promise. Perhaps the pressure on our young people to focus on passing exams should be balanced with encouragement to engage in their own wider interests.
Anne GimsonBased at Strategic Developments International UK. E-mail: anne@stratdevint.com
