Thought Leadership

A UK citizen who has been living in France for 36 years has brought a case to the Court of Justice of the European Union that could have profound implications for British people living in European countries after Brexit. The woman is hoping to retain some citizenship rights after she ceases to be a European citizen.

The current pandemic has brought both threats and opportunities, overturning economic and social norms but also pointing towards new ways of doing things. In the OU’s Business and Law Schools, our response has been: what can we learn?

The OU had a virtual stand at the CIPD’s Festival of Work, a two-day event looking at what is happening in the L&D and HR space, which took place virtually this year.

Whatever the “new normal” turns out to be post-Covid19, the ability to prepare for and adapt to change with resilience are important survival skills for the 21st Century and learning is integral to that. Liz Moody, Head of Executive Education and OUBS Academic, discusses Learning at Work Week.

If there was anything logical about human behaviour we would all see the current strange times as the ideal the opportunity to learn about new things, pursue new hobbies or interests - albeit from the confines from our homes. 

In times of crisis, we demand different things from our leaders, organisations and institutions. Crisis situations stir up feelings of helplessness, and reawaken a primal need for nurturing, comfort, strength and guidance. When the world feels unmanageable, we look to leaders in all walks of life to steer us through the crisis and give us explanations for otherwise inexplicable events.

The latest Business Network Breakfast Briefing saw Dr Anna John use examples from all over the world as she explored three approaches to managing political risks to foreign investments.

Big data analytics seems entirely absent in research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability. Yet the potential of big data to advance environmental and social concerns is enormous.

Article written by Dr Raquel García-García, The Open University Business School and Professor Jędrzej George Frynas, The Open University Business School.

What is needed instead are new revolutionary fantasies of shared global progress.