Integral Research and Innovation: Transforming Enterprise and Society

by Ronnie Lessem, Alexander Schieffer

Overview

At a time when business practitioners and others responsible for organizational development are desperate for usable knowledge the authors of this book contend that social science research is failing to support business and management. In Integral Research and Innovation, they explain how research has to be transformative, rather than just informative if it is to contribute usefully to building integrated and sustainable enterprises.
Drawing on their experience of environments where researchers and practitioners do engage constructively, resulting in research that is active, participative, and genuinely innovative, Professor Lessem and Dr Schieffer are in territory that is far beyond that covered by standard works on research methodology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781409459484
Publisher:	Ashgate Publishing Ltd
Publication date:	08/28/2012
Series:	Transformation and Innovation
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Professor Ronnie Lessem is a graduate of Harvard Business School and the London School of Economics. He has been an adjunct professor at IMD, Lausanne and is now Director of the Trans-cultural Centre and programmes at the University of Buckingham, UK. Ronnie Lessem was the managing director of a clothing business in South Africa and he has acted as a consultant and adviser on organisational learning, knowledge creation and cross-cultural management to international companies such as the Anglian Water Group in the UK. He is currently working with Virgin Group companies. Professor Lessem has written over twenty books on subjects including organisational development, change and transformation. Dr Alexander Schieffer studied economics, business administration, law and social sciences at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland. He also gained a Doctorate in Leadership at St Gallen. Dr Schieffer is a member of the Society for Organisational Learning and the World Business Academy. He has published a variety of articles and books in the last ten years. Both authors run doctoral programmes at Bethel University, USA , and Buckingham University, UK on Social and Economic Innovation, and are currently designing curricula for sustainable business and economics at Sekem's Heliopolis University in Egypt. They are co-founders of the Geneva-based TRANS4M Four World Center for Social Innovation. www.trans-4-m.com

Editorial Reviews

'...this remarkable book on 'Research Methodology' which is responsive to all relevant stakeholders. Researchers from the North, the South, the East and the West are now able to draw on their own roots to turn social research into social innovation. A major achievement!' - Martin Hilb, Managing Director, Institute for Leadership and Human Resource Management, Switzerland 'This is a unique book since it blends social transformation with business and culture...It is about re-thinking, grounding and framing research to new domains. In an era of global challenges from poverty to climate change, this book offers new notions for enabling and harnessing research to transform organizations and societies.' - Prof. Odeh Al Jayyousi, Regional Director Middle East, IUCN The World Conservation Union, Geneva 'A readable and rigorous book, which is characterised by comprehensiveness, insights, structure and clarity; and which is aided by informative executive summaries, figures and illustrations... It is a timely and pioneering book ...I strongly believe that the book's provocative, grounded and convincing arguments will extend the horizons of prevailing research thoughts and practices and would leave a positive impact on social and management research scholarships and students.' - Adel Rasheed, Professor of Management, Yarmouk University, Jordan '...a bold new way of framing transformation processes that crosses the boundaries of several disciplines...Their way of generating innovation provides a valuable road map that enables change agents to creatively synthesize local identities and global context.' - Prof. Dr Raoul C. D. Nacamulli Universitş di Milano-Bicocca, Italy '...superbly balanced research methodologies for both master and doctoral students focusing on social innovation and on social and economic transformation...' - Kensei Hiwaki, Professor of International Economics, Tokyo International University 'I am convinced that this book, and the integral approach to re

From the Publisher