HomeResponsible Management in the Digital Age and in the Face of Global Challenges
Responsible Management in the Digital Age and in the Face of Global Challenges
La gestion responsable à l’ère du numérique et face aux défis mondiaux
Crises of Leaders or Leaders of Crises?
Crises de leaders ou leaders de crises ?
Published on Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Abstract
The aim of this international conference is to bring together researchers and professionals from a wide range of disciplines to find out about the current state of research in this field. On the other hand, the aim is to contribute to the sharing of knowledge between researchers and professionals from different countries. With this in mind, the scientific committee is very open to receiving not only theoretical research but also practical feedback from companies, associations, local authorities, and NGOs.
Announcement
Argument
Today, all developed, emerging, and developing countries are faced with a host of large-scale crises: health, social, economic, financial, political, security, and energy. Added to these crises are natural disasters that stop at no border: droughts, floods, fires, and hurricanes. Jem Bendell (2018) rightly calls it a "climate tragedy"; according to this researcher, "radical adaptation" is needed to "navigate" this tragedy. All of humanity and its activities are thus inevitably affected.
Do we find ourselves, particularly in the fields of politics and economics, but also beyond, in education, the arts, or religion, facing crises of leaders or leaders of crises? What models and modes of cohabitation and management do we need to (re)invent in the digital age and in the face of today's global challenges? What "tools" do we need to equip ourselves with? And, above all, what values and skills—as managers, leaders, researchers, artists, and citizens of the world—do we need to cultivate in order to co-construct a "sustainable" future? How can we do this?
Societies are no longer characterized solely by uncertainty and volatility (Schwab, 2017), but also by a movement of anxiety resulting from an awareness of the limits of our planet's resources in being able to meet needs and expectations. Wars, like the current one between Russia and Ukraine, but many others, less recent, in the Middle East, on the African continent, and in Central and South America, only tarnish the picture. These multiple crises, the conflicts between countries, and the decline of multilateralism are largely hindering progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and multiplying the stakes and challenges ahead. It is therefore clear, as Simone Romagnoli (2017: 77) points out, that "there are many reasons to worry about the world (...). Faced with the enormity of the challenges, it is quite understandable to feel resigned, helpless, or even powerless. However, we cannot leave it at that.
Indeed (and not to leave it at that), meetings, debates, and congresses have multiplied. What are our hopes? Where are we headed, and how can we make concrete changes? We need to bring together researchers, managers, philosophers, artists, managers, decision-makers, and politicians to address the many facets and dimensions of these crises. It's vital to call on and involve diverse knowledge and skills from all over the world to assess, analyze, innovate, and evolve. Businesses are seen as the main culprits behind the economic, environmental, and social problems that stand in the way of achieving the SDGs and, in turn, undermine the foundations and links that make up living together.
States are no longer solely responsible for achieving the SDGs, and companies must be aware that their role is no longer confined to the economic aspect but that they also have an important social and environmental role to play. This includes corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, in the logic of the SDGs, CSR is a corollary of Territorial Social Responsibility (TSR) in the mechanisms for the emergence of sustainable territorial development. Researchers from all disciplines have been called upon to provide answers to the major challenges articulated in the SDGs (Montiel et al. 2021; Sinkovics et al., 2022).
The COVID-19 crisis has only intensified and accentuated the crises and challenges. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, made it clear in the 2020 Millennium Development Goals Report that, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, "an unprecedented health, economic, and social crisis is threatening lives and livelihoods, making it even more difficult to achieve the goals" (p. 2).
The corruption of certain decision-makers, denounced via digital social networks, is also a stumbling block to achieving the SDGs. Thanks to the transparency brought about by socio- numerical networks (SNS), which have made it easy to access, share, and produce information, several scandals linked to corruption, fraud, etc. have come to light. The Transparency International Report (2020) goes further, stating that "COVID-19 is not only a health and economic crisis but also a corruption crisis because of the large number of lives lost due to the insidious effects of corruption that weaken a fair and equitable global response."
In addition to the question of values, the COVID-19 health crisis and its effects have also shown the limits of the forecast-based and progressive management model. "Was this health crisis unforeseeable? Perhaps it was. However, we're going to have to get used to this unpredictability because we're likely to experience others, as well as climatic or demographic crises, with comparable consequences." (Barberi 2020: 159–243). We should therefore consider management and leadership models based on the short term and the unexpected (Barberi 2020). But we must also opt for management and leadership models that can lay the foundations for a more sustainable, fairer, more equitable, and more positive future. Indeed, "the COVID-19 crisis calls into question the approach of progressive change for crisis change (...). It is not a perception of urgency that is being experienced, but a reality of crisis. In terms of importance, people fear for themselves and their loved ones, for their health, their work, their business, and their future in general. But this fear is expressed more broadly for their work, their company, their country, and more generally for the future." (David Autissier, 2020: 159–243).
With regard to sharing as a value intrinsic to sustainability, Alain Akanni (2020) recommends reviewing managerial rules and placing "the emphasis on sharing power, wealth, respect for gender and greater legitimacy for leaders. A new vision of the company that is more partnership-based, or even co-shared by all stakeholders, pursuing an efficiency that is mindful
of the preservation of nature and the human species". Gilles Verrier adds that "during the crisis, the importance of maintaining social ties and the impossibility of close management led, willy- nilly, to the development of accountability." (Verrier, 2020: 159–243). Given the impossibility of close management during the health crisis, digital technology has made it possible to maintain the majority of human activities at a distance: commercial, financial, economic, legal, political, cultural, and educational. In practice, it has transformed the way we learn, produce, and consume and altered our relationship with time and space.
The participatory approach, which is a key element of sustainable development, has been reinforced by socio-numerical networks (SNNs). The latter have reconfigured the space for public debate and facilitated freedom of expression for different stakeholders. As a result, all citizens see themselves as leaders and actors rallying to a cause via RSNs: they militate online or in the public arena to influence political, economic, and social decisions with a view to a better world. The figure of the influencer remains both unavoidable and problematic: is every influencer ipso facto a leader? A role model? And what about critical, decolonized, and therefore new perspectives on responsible management and leadership (Boussebaa 2023, Canagarajah 2023, or Ndhlovu & Makalela 2021)? All these digitally-induced transformations and crises are prompting us—decision-makers, leaders, managers, researchers, artists, citizens, etc.—to question our behavior, our share of responsibility, our ways of managing, guiding, teaching, and training, our skills, our influence on others, their influence on us, and on ecosystems—near and far—in general.
- How can we re-examine the foundations of a responsible manager and leader who goes beyond the image and concept of Homo oeconomicus?
- How can we place human values at the heart of responsible management and leadership training? Which values?
- What models and tools do we need to re-invent?
- How can we transform our research and teaching practices to become more inclusive and less ethnocentric?
We need to move beyond rhetoric and theory, from a cognitive understanding of people's values to a performative understanding of values as practices in deeds and actions (Gehman et al., 2013).
Universities, and more specifically business and management schools, in partnership with the various socio-political and socio-economic players, have a crucial role to play in developing, in the digital age, skills for forecasting and managing crises and training in inclusive, supportive, and responsible management and leadership.
The aim of this international conference is to bring together researchers and professionals from a wide range of disciplines to find out about the current state of research in this field. On the other hand, the aim is to contribute to the sharing of knowledge between researchers and professionals from different countries. With this in mind, the scientific committee is very open to receiving not only theoretical research but also practical feedback from companies, associations, local authorities, and NGOs.
The expected proposals will focus on the following (non-exhaustive) axes:
1. Theoretical and Conceptual Axis
This axis involves theoretical discussions and "modeling" of key concepts, e.g.:
- What does "global responsibility," "being responsible," "acting responsibly" mean today? Especially in crisis management contexts?
- How to define, interpret, and implement a so-called "global" responsibility at the individual and/or collective level? Different perspectives are relevant here: private and public – at the "micro" level (individual-family, close social circles), meso (associations, cities, regions), macro (national, international, global dimensions)...
- What skills do we need for responsible, inclusive, and supportive "global" management and leadership (political, economic, cultural, religious, broader social perspectives)? What models, methods?
2. Economic and Political Axis
This axis includes scientific and practical proposals on topics such as:
- Responsible global management in the context of businesses, organizations, institutions, associations (scientific research, case studies, experience narratives)...
- Crises and major challenges? Management of these crises (initiatives in economic, political, and social domains)?
- Responsible management and leadership, initiatives and projects for solidarity and social inclusion?
- Social responsibility in local practices of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE)
- Emergence of new models of responsible leadership in national and international (inter)national politics in Africa, Europe, and beyond.
- Responsible leadership and governance of territories, social responsibility in territory management (local, regional, national, international perspectives).
3. "Digital" and Artificial Intelligence Axis
- Management and leadership in the digital age and during crises: challenges and necessary
- Responsible leadership in the face of challenges posed by artificial
- Digital skills between serving and undermining responsible leadership (in times of crises).
- Digital transformation of businesses: what challenges does it pose for responsible leadership in achieving the SDGs?
- The role of digital influencers in responsible management and
4. Discourse Analysis Axis
- Actors and discourses of "global responsibility," "responsible management and leadership": "fantasies" and "realities."
- Staging of sustainable development values in discourses vs. practices of responsible management and
- Social imaginaries in the North and South: what social representations of "responsible management and leadership" exist (e.g., in company reports or reports from international organizations)?
5. Higher Education and Research Axis
- What is the responsibility of teachers, researchers, administrative and technical staff, and students in constructing new corporate values (professional cultures, professional microcosms, e.g., the entire university, faculty, administrative staff, students, etc.) and in methods of inclusive, supportive, and environmentally responsible management that we share?
- What is the responsibility of these corporations in relation to higher education institutions and the proposal and implementation of social and community innovations? How to teach global and responsible management and leadership? What training, models, and methods for managers and leaders who care about "tomorrow"?
- How can international collaboration for research, innovation, and (higher) education be achieved while considering climate emergencies, violent conflicts, and forced migrations?
6. Cultural and Artistic Axis
- How are responsible global management and leadership interpreted in and by the arts?
- What is the responsibility of artists (authors, directors, designers, painters, sculptors, graffiti artists, etc.) today in terms of global coexistence?
- What role – economic, political, social – do artists and, more broadly, cultural actors (all fields included) play today in terms of "global responsibility"?
- How do cultural and artistic creativity and innovation threaten or encourage respectful and peaceful cohabitation and collaboration in the world?
Submission guidelines
Communication proposals must be submitted at the following address: h.idabbou@uiz.ac.ma
by November 1st, 2023
Calendar
- Launch of the call for papers: September 5, 2023
- Deadline for submission of abstracts in French or English: November 1, 2023
- Response from the scientific committee: December 4, 2023
- Conference Dates: March 4 and 5, 2024 (a comprehensive abstract will be required before the conference)
- Submission of the full paper / initial version: June 30, 2024
- Feedback to authors: October 30, 2024
- Resubmission of the revised paper by authors (if necessary): February 10, 2025
- Planned Publication: May 2025.
Format of Expected Abstracts
Communication proposals must be submitted by November 1st, 2023, in the form of an abstract in French or English. In these proposals, you are requested to:
- indicate the title of the proposal;
- provide the name, first name, affiliated institution, and email address(es);
- place the abstract under a specific thematic axis;
- write an abstract of a maximum of 3,500 characters, including spaces and bibliography, along with 5 keywords and a title;
- present the problem related to the announced title, as well as the theoretical and conceptual framework within which you are situated;
- present the corpus (in the case of empirical study: study area, linguistic or literary corpus, case study, etc.) and the adopted methodology (data collection and analysis) or the main guiding ideas and their articulation (in the case of a substantive contribution);
- conclude on the main stages of the contribution;
- include a list of up to 5 keywords after the abstract;
- conclude with a brief indicative bibliography;
- papers must be written in French or English and should not have been presented at another conference or published
Please use the suggested template for your submission.
Members of the scientific committee can also submit a proposal, which will also be evaluated through a double-blind review process.
Proposals will undergo a double-blind review process. These proposals should be submitted
no later than November 1, 2023
to Ms. Hasna IDABBOU at the following address: h.idabbou@uiz.ac.ma
Registration and Participation Fees
- 1200 MAD for researchers and professionals (120 Euros).
- 500 MAD for doctoral students and junior researchers (50 Euros).
- The participation fee covers:
- Two coffee
- Two lunches.
- Gala Dinner
Scientific Committee
- ABENTAK Malika (Morocco)
- ABRIANE Ahmed (Morocco)
- ASSELLAM Lahoucine (Morocco)
- ATCHOUA N’guessan Julien (Ivory Coast)
- BA GNING Sadio (Senegal)
- BENSLIMAN Moulay Hfid (Morocco)
- BOGUI Jean-Jacques (Ivory Coast)
- BOUAZIZ Si Mohamed (Morocco)
- BOUMESKA Mustapha (Morocco)
- COULIBALY Nanga Désiré (Ivory Coast)
- DRAME Mamadou (Senegal)
- GAIBROIS Claudine (Switzerland)
- GOA Kacou (Ivory Coast)
- KAMATE Banhouman André (Ivory Coast)
- LAHFIDI Abdelhaq (Morocco)
- LEMSAGUED Fadoua (Morocco)
- MIMOUNI Abderrahim (Morocco)
- MOUNIR Younesse (Morocco)
- NDIAYE Marième Pollèle (Senegal)
- NDIAYE Sambou (Senegal)
- OULMOUDNE Aziz (Morocco)
- SAIR Aziz (Morocco)
- SOUSSI Houssine (Morocco)
- STALDER Pia (Suisse)
- SY Kalidou (Senegal)
- THIAM Khadim Rassoul (Senegal)
- YOKOLI Amani Charles (Ivory Coast)
Reading Committee
- ABENTAK Malika & STALDER Pia
- COULIBALY Nanga Désiré
- GAIBROIS Claudine
- NDIAYE Sambou SY Kalidou
- YOKOLI Amani Charles
Organising Committee
- SAIR Aziz
- ABENTAK Malika
- STALDER Pia
- GAIBROIS Claudine
- COULIBALY Nanga Désiré &
- BENSLIMAN Moulay Hfid
- HANTEM Aziz
- MADI Ahmed
- MAYSSOUR Yasser
- SOUSSI Houssine
Subjects
- Economics (Main category)
- Mind and language > Information > Information sciences
- Society > Economics > Management
Places
- Ecole Nationale de Commerce et de Gestion, BP 386
Dakhla, Kingdom of Morocco (73000)
Event attendance modalities
Full on-site event
Date(s)
- Wednesday, November 01, 2023
Keywords
- gestion responsable, leasership, crise, numérique
Contact(s)
- Hasna Idabbou
courriel : h [dot] idabbou [at] uiz [dot] ac [dot] ma
Reference Urls
Information source
- Hasna Idabbou
courriel : h [dot] idabbou [at] uiz [dot] ac [dot] ma
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Responsible Management in the Digital Age and in the Face of Global Challenges », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, https://doi.org/10.58079/1c07
