Resilience and Strategy Execution in Public Organisations


Book Description

Public organizations are often not at the centre of management studies, at the same time they are the engines of a good functioning society. In this research, organisational resilience and strategy execution are studied in the context of Italian municipalities. The thesis explores traits and characteristics allowing municipalities to successfully adapt to changes. Important results are the practical recommendations that will enable the strengthening of organisational resilience and execution characteristics. In a world where the only constant is change and a pandemic is shuffling the world paradigms, this book might represent an enlightening reading for public managers who want to fulfil the mission of their organisations.




Resilience and Strategy Execution in Public Organisations


Book Description

Public organizations are often not at the centre of management studies, at the same time they are the engines of a good functioning society. In this research, organisational resilience and strategy execution are studied in the context of Italian municipalities. The thesis explores traits and characteristics allowing municipalities to successfully adapt to changes. Important results are the practical recommendations that will enable the strengthening of organisational resilience and execution characteristics. In a world where the only constant is change and a pandemic is shuffling the world paradigms, this book might represent an enlightening reading for public managers who want to fulfil the mission of their organisations. About the author: Lorenzo Gios is an engineer and manager. He is working in the private sector and he is an expert in the field of continuous improvement, change management and consulting. He is passionate about leadership, effective communication and public speaking; he has covered multiple leadership roles in Europe for Toastmasters International - an educational non-profit organisation. He took the challenge to embark in this study to discover an unusual field of research and to have the opportunity to work together with his father, an esteemed university professor in Italy. .




Strategic Execution


Book Description

CEOs regularly identify strategic execution as their biggest challenge, and the top priority facing today's business leaders. Based on their research with senior executives across a variety of industries—and including firms like Marriott, Microsoft, SunTrust, UPS, and Vail Resorts—Kenneth J. Carrig and Scott A. Snell have distilled the elements that are most critical for execution. This book addresses the challenges of execution, why it matters, and why the approach remains elusive. It introduces an integrated framework for understanding four priorities underlying execution excellence. Ultimately, it all comes down to alignment, agility, ability, and architecture. The authors lay out a process for applying the framework, helping business leaders to diagnose their challenges and to determine their path toward breakthrough performance.




The Focused Organization


Book Description

In The Focused Organization Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez shows you how fewer, more effectively elected and managed projects are the key to strategic and long-term success. Using his own research and work experience he explains how and why those organizations that focus on just a few key initiatives can perform significantly better than unfocused organizations, not only financially but also in achieving their strategic objectives and motivating their staff. The author introduces a new way of looking at a company through two very different and often conflicting dimensions: running-the-business and changing-the-business. What you add to one dimension you have to subtract from the other one. Finding the right balance between these two dimensions represents one of the major challenges to successful strategy execution. Becoming a focused organization involves a radical change in the way companies are organized and the way they select and manage projects - the creation of a new culture. The Focused Organization discusses the characteristics that comprise a focused organization. It describes key areas where a focused organization builds its levels of maturity; provides examples of focused organizations that outperform the rest; and explains in practical steps how all enterprises can become focused. The book finishes with a unique and inspiring case study that transports us to the early days of the current business world. Through the main character, Benny White, we learn how a business was conducted and how management evolved over decades with the introduction of business theories, including project management.




Resilience Reset


Book Description

Drawing on evidence from urban resilience initiatives around the globe, the authors make a compelling argument for a "resilience reset", a pause and stocktake that critically examines the concepts, practices and challenges of building resilience, particularly in cities of the Global South. In turn, the book calls for the world’s cities to alter their course and "pivot" towards novel approaches to enhancing resilience. The book presents shifts in ways of acquiring and analysing data, building community resilience, approaching urban planning, engaging with informality, delivering financing, and building the skills of those running cities in a post-COVID world grappling with climate impacts. In Resilience Reset, the authors encourage researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to break out of existing modes of thinking and doing that may no longer be relevant for our rapidly urbanising and dynamic world. The book draws on the latest academic and practice-based evidence to provide actionable insights for cities that will enable them to deal with multiple interacting shocks and stresses. The book will be an indispensable resource to those studying urbanisation, development, climate change and risk management as well as for those designing and deploying operational initiatives to enhance urban resilience in businesses, international organisations, civil society organisations and governments. It is a must-read for anyone interested in managing the risks of climate impacts in urban centres in the Global South.




The Resilient Organization: How Adaptive Cultures Thrive Even When Strategy Fails


Book Description

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A "RESILIENT" ORGANIZATION? It means you are not a prisoner of past performance, good or bad; you don't rely on the right leader alone for success but build the capability to be resilient into the organization. You constantly rehearse the culture of anticipating and responding to change, and you innovate even when you don't yet need to. You don't just survive, you thrive--amidst challenge and opportunity. This essential guide, written by a renowned expert in global resilience strategy, shows you how to be smart about success and failure. With these field-tested forward-focused tools, you can: SURVIVE SHOCKS AND SETBACKS TURN THREATS INTO OPPORTUNITIES ANTICIPATE CHANGE BEFORE IT HAPPENS ENSURE YOUR SUCCESS IS SUSTAINABLE As a bonus, the book features Postcards from the Resilient Edge, a powerhouse selection of frontline lessons from leading corporations that demonstrate ways you can marshal skill and master luck to take control of your organization's destiny. THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE NEW RESILIENCE MOVEMENT One of the most powerful trends born of the New Recession, resilience has become the operative word for business leaders and entrepreneurs facing an unpredictable market. On the forefront of this movement, global innovator and strategy consultant professor Liisa Välikangas has created a step-by-step system of proven survival strategies you can put into action immediately. Whether you need to bounce back from a downturn, take the fight to new competitors, or change your game plan at a moment's notice, The Resilient Organization shows you how to rethink your current strategies--and rebuild your company’s foundation--using four basic tools . . . INNOVATION with high impact and low overhead DESIGN that is robust, sustainable, and evolvable ADAPTABILITY to changing circumstances STRENGTH in the face of adversity By creating a culture of resilience in your organization, you'll be prepared for any challenge the future might hold. The Resilient Organization's fascinating case studies provide real-world examples of resilience in action: how to recover faster from hardships, how to experiment on new opportunities in a timely manner, how to avoid repeating bad business decisions, and when to scrap old strategiesthat just don't work anymore. Using the timetested principles of resilience, you can find golden opportunities in any situation--whether it's tough competition, reduced resources, or a roller-coaster market. If you're strategically resilient, you not only survive crises, but you can turn these crises into opportunities. LIISA VÄLIKANGAS, PH.D., is professor of innovation management at the Aalto University School of Economics (formerly Helsinki School of Economics) in Finland. She is the cofounder and president of Innovation Democracy, a nonprofi t global organization dedicated to supporting local innovation and entrepreneurship. Her research on innovation, strategy, and organization has been published in Harvard Business Review, MIT/Sloan Management Review, and The Wall Street Journal. With Gary Hamel, she coauthored the Harvard Business Review article "The Quest for Resilience" and cofounded the Woodside Institute, a research organization dedicated to advancing management innovation. Professor Välikangas currently divides her time between Helsinki and California.




Strategic Regeneration: The Roadmap for SME Recovery & Resilience in the Age of Global Disruptions


Book Description

The global pandemic has turned the world upside down for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), hurling them into a whirlwind of never-before-seen challenges and game-changing opportunities. As these businesses step into the post-pandemic world, they're at a critical juncture. It's no longer just about clawing back what was lost. It is about completely reimagining their game plan to flourish in this modern business world. This book, "Strategic Regeneration: The Roadmap for SME Recovery & Resilience in the Age of Global Disruptions; A Methodological Framework on Navigating Business Complexities with the Agency to Reform" serves as a comprehensive guide for SMEs to deal with the aftermath of the pandemic. It offers a structured approach focusing on three essential themes: recovery, resilience, and regeneration, each critical to rebuilding and future-proofing SMEs. Structured as a practical toolkit, the book encourages SME owners and stakeholders to actively engage with its content, applying the lessons and strategies to their unique contexts. As we delve into the human aspects of business transformation and the technical integrations essential for agility, we prepare SMEs to meet the challenges of today and to shape the opportunities of tomorrow.




Beyond the Storms


Book Description

This book deals with both actual and potential terrorist attacks on the United States as well as natural disaster preparedness and management in the current era of global climate change. The topics of preparedness, critical infrastructure investments, and risk assessment are covered in detail. The author takes the reader beyond counterterrorism statistics, better first responder equipment, and a fixation on FEMA grant proposals to a holistic analysis and implementation of mitigation, response, and recovery efforts. The recent Oklahoma tornadoes and West Texas storage tank explosion show the unpredictability of disaster patterns, and the Boston Marathon bombings expose the difficulty in predicting and preventing attacks. Egli makes a compelling case for a culture of resilience by asserting a new focus on interagency collaboration, public-private partnerships, and collective action. Building upon the lessons of the 9/11 attacks, hurricane Katrina, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the basic findings are supported by a creative mix of case studies, which include superstorm Sandy, cascading power outages, GPS and other system vulnerabilities, and Japan's Fukushima disaster with its sobering aftermath. This book will help a new generation of leaders understand the need for smart resilience.




The Collaboration Imperative


Book Description




Resilience-Oriented Urban Planning


Book Description

This book explores key theoretical and empirical issues related to the development and implementation of planning strategies that can provide guidance on the transition to climate-compatible and low-carbon urban development. It especially focuses on integrating resilience thinking into the urban planning process, and explains how such an integration can contribute to reflecting the dynamic properties of cities and coping with the uncertainties inherent in future climate change projections. Some of the main questions addressed are: What are the innovative methods and processes needed to incorporate resilience thinking into urban planning? What are the characteristics of a resilient urban form and what are the challenges associated with integrating them into urban development? Also, how can the resilience of cities be measured and what are the main constituents of an urban resilience assessment framework? In addition to addressing these crucial questions, the book features several case studies from around the world, investigating methodologies, challenges, and opportunities for mainstreaming climate resilience in the theory and practice of urban planning. Featuring contributions by prominent researchers from around the world, the book offers a valuable resource for students, academics and practitioners alike.