Prelims

Half Title Page

Responsible Management of Shifts in Work Modes

Title Page

Responsible Management of Shifts in Work Modes – Values for Post Pandemic Sustainability, Volume 2

EDITED BY

KEMI OGUNYEMI

Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria

AND

ADAORA I. ONAGA

Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria

United Kingdom – North America – Japan India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2023

Editorial matter and selection © 2023 Kemi Ogunyemi and Adaora I. Onaga.

Individual chapters © 2023 The authors. Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

Reprints and permissions service

Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters’ suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80262-724-4 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80262-723-7 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80262-725-1 (Epub)

Dedication Page

To our families, especially the generations to come.

May everyone who picks up this book find within its covers some actionable reflections on living sustainably and responsibly in the new normal.

Contents

List of Figures and Tables

About the Contributors

Kyamulabi Agnes is a Research Fellow at Makerere University College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS), Uganda (East Africa). She is a graduate with an MA Development Studies from The International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague. Her research interests are in social development, child protection, adolescent health, public health and policy analysis.

Emmanuel Effa had his medical training at the University of Calabar, College of Medical Sciences, obtained a Specialist Fellowship in Internal Medicine (Nephrology) from the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology from Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He is presently an Associate Professor in Internal Medicine and Consultant Physician at the University of Calabar and University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), respectively. He has also been intensely involved in the science of research synthesis especially systematic reviews and meta-analyses particularly in infectious diseases and maternal, child, and women’s health under the auspices of the Cochrane Collaboration. He coordinates knowledge translation efforts especially clinical practice guidelines development and adaptation by professional groups in Nigeria. As the Deputy Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee in charge of training and research at the UCTH between 2019 and 2021, he directly supervised the hospital’s Covid-19 response.

Henrik Eriksson is a Professor at University West, Trollhättan, Sweden. He has broad international experience as Educator and Researcher in Health and Nursing Sciences. His main research interests focus on consequences of globalisation through digitalisation and addresses in particular how gender, technology, and ageing intersect with health in these postmodern spaces.

Nnanke Essien is a Business Transformation Consultant with a mission to renew, transform, and preserve owner-led businesses in Africa. She is the Lead Strategist at SiSa, a management consulting company focused on providing integrated HR services and culture transformation to owner-led businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). She is a Visionary, an Innovator, and a Gifted Conceptual thinker with over 15 years of professional experience as an HR Consultant, Strategic Planner, Speaker and Coach to entrepreneurial individuals as well as organizations. She believes strongly that the work environment can be fulfilling for both employers and employees. She also believes that businesses in Africa deserve a consistent flow of high performing employees capable of consistently delivering business results and owner-led businesses in Africa have the capacity to maintain excellence 250 years from inception and have the potential to be successful second and third generation businesses.

Her experience spans local and international businesses including startups, consulting firms, multisubsidiary companies across multiple sectors (such as oil and gas, logistics, agribusiness, IT, Telecommunications, NGOs etc.).

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and an MBA in Human Resources Management (HRM) from the prestigious DeVry Univeristy, Houston, Texas, USA. She is a certified John Maxwell Speaker, Trainer and Coach, a business process management professional and a member of several HR related bodies. She is a contributor in BusinessDay and has coached 100’s of entrepreneurs with her work showcased across several media houses and digital platforms.

Having worked with start-ups, consulting firms, multisubsidiary companies in sectors such as oil and gas, logistics, Agribusiness, IT, INGO’s, telecommunications, and 100’s of entrepreneurs, she has learned over the years the secret of companies maintaining market dominance and resonance using her VPC framework.

Emma Etim (Lagos Business School/Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria) is a Doctoral student with the Department of Public Administration, Lagos State University, Nigeria, and a Researcher at Lagos Business School/Pan-Atlantic University. He holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Public Administration and Political Science, respectively. He also has an Advanced Diploma in Business Management and Leadership. Before joining Lagos Business School, he lectured at the Lagos State Polytechnic, where he taught Business Research Methods. He has also worked in the Office of the Permanent Secretaries, Lagos State Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, and Lagos State Ministry of Education, all in Alausa, Lagos State. He is a Certified Asian Reviewer and has Co-authored over 25 articles in reputable international and local journals and has made some book chapter contributions. He has attended and presented papers at many conferences and has won many awards.

Stanley Ibeku is a Research Consultant, Information Scientist and Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist, and a Doctoral Student in Science, Technology and Innovation Studies at the Department of Data & Information Science, University of Ibadan, Nigeria where he obtained a Master of Information Science Degree. He has been actively involved in research including multicountry assignments for The British Council, Mastercard Foundation, Oxfam Novib, etc. His research focuses on job creation/empowerment, innovation management, entrepreneurship, strategy, and sustainable development/circularity where he is involved in framing of research agenda, literature review, data collection, data analysis, and reporting. He has published journal papers and did presentations in conferences.

Nkemdilim Iheanachor is a Senior Lecturer in the Strategy Group in Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University. He also serves as an Academic Director in the Senior Management Programme and a Course Director in other executive and open-enrolment programmes. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering, a Master of Business Administration degree, and an MPhil and PhD Degrees in Management. He has presented his research in several international academic conferences. He is a Member of the Editorial Boards of the International Journal of Governance and Financial Intermediation and Digital Economics and Innovation ESIC Journal.

Oluseye Jegede was a Specialist Researcher at the South African Research Chair in Entrepreneurship Education at University of Johannesburg, South Africa between 2019 and 2020. Between 2018 and 2019, he served as African Research Fellow at South Africa’s Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) to strengthen research on the Innovation in the Informal Economy at Centre for Science, Technology, and Innovation Indicators (CeSTII). He has over 11 years work experience in government and academia in Nigeria. He is currently an Associate Editor with African Journal for Science, Technology, Innovation and Development (AJSTID), and Member of the Scientific Council of the last African Innovation Summit.

Mugambwa Joshua holds a PhD from Makerere University. He holds a Masters in Governance and Development (University of Antwerp, Belgium), a Masters in Management (Uganda Management Institute). He is a Senior Lecturer at Makerere University Business School, Department of Leadership and Governance, in Uganda (East Africa). His research interests are in public policy, public health, local development, business and work ethics, and leadership and governance.

Monir Mazaheri is an Associate Professor at Sophiahemmet University and Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. She has extensive expertise working as a Clinical Nurse, Educator, and Researcher. Her primary research interest involves studying ageing population. She is interested in including culturally diverse population in her research and has a major interest in ethics.

Umesh Mukhi is a Professor of Management at Fundacao Getulio Vargas’s Sao Paulo School of Business Administration (FGV EAESP), Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Kemi Ogunyemi holds a degree in Law from the University of Ibadan, an LLM from University of Strathclyde, and MBA and PhD degrees from Pan-Atlantic University. She currently teaches business ethics, managerial anthropology, self-leadership and sustainability management at the Lagos Business School. She is also the Director of the Christopher Kolade Centre for Research in Leadership and Ethics as well as the Academic Director for the School’s Senior Management Programme. Her consulting and research interests include personal ethos, work-life ethic, social responsibility, sustainability, governance, and anti-corruption risk assessment. She has authored numerous publications and is the Editor of the three-volume resource for faculty in tertiary institutions – ‘Teaching Ethics across the Management Curriculum’ as well as of ‘African Virtue Ethics Traditions for Business and Management’, ‘Humanistic Perspectives in Hospitality and Tourism’, ‘Responsible Management in Africa’, and ‘Management and Leadership for a Sustainable Africa’. She also wrote the book ‘Responsible Management – Understanding Human Nature, Ethics, and Sustainability’.

Oluwakemi Ojenike is a Legal Advisor and Chartered Governance Professional. For over a decade, she has helped many businesses to unlock the benefits of corporate governance as a tool for long-term growth. She serves as Vice-President in a financial services group where she enables multiple subsidiaries to achieve their business and impact objectives within an optimal legal and governance framework. She holds the LLB degree of the University of Lagos and was admitted as Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. She is a Member of the Chartered Governance Institute (UK) and Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK).

Nneka Okekearu is a Business Development Specialist who in the last 25 years has delivered programmes focused on deepening the leadership and management competencies of business leaders. She is the Deputy Director, Head of the Gender Desk as well as the Lead on the Business Ethics and Leadership Faculty at the Enterprise Development Centre of the Pan-Atlantic University. As an IFC Master Trainer and Assessor, she also leads the team at the Centre that certifies business development specialists in Nigeria and is a Certified Leadership Instructor and Online Facilitator with the Learning Performance Institute UK. She has worked on various platforms and programmes all focusing on expanding frontiers for business leaders such as the Vital Voices GROW program USA, Federal Government of Nigeria’s YouWin!, the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women ‘Road to Growth Program’ focusing on deepening the financial literacy and management skills of women entrepreneurs, the Goldman Sachs 10,000 women project in Nigeria and Liberia as well as the World Bank’s WomenX program that focused on deepening exponentially skills sets of 500 women entrepreneurs in Nigeria. A firm believer in the power of mentoring, she mentors on different national and global platforms and has mentored over 300 business leaders. She sits on several boards and committees such as the Federal Government of Nigeria’s National Steering Committee for BDSPs, Foundation for Cancer Care, Recycle point, Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Arts, and Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria’s Mentoring committee. Her research interests are in business ethics, women entrepreneurship, and leadership. She has facilitated several strategy and management retreats for small and large corporates in Nigeria and Africa. She has a first degree in Banking and Finance, an MBA, and is currently enrolled on a doctoral programme in entrepreneurship at the SMC University. Her passion lies in helping professionals and business leaders clarify their position, profits, and processes.

Leah Okenwa-Emegwa is an Associate Professor of Public Health Sciences at the Swedish Red Cross University, Stockholm, Sweden. Her research is anchored in social medicine and deals with issues related to social determinants of health, inequalities in health, and human rights-based approach to health. Her research area thus includes global perspectives on interpersonal violence, (including family- and gender-based violence), workplace health promotion, mental health, migrant and refugee health, among others. She teaches public health-related subjects at undergraduate and graduate levels, such as research methods, epidemiology, gender, inequalities in health, human rights, and occupational health promotion. She is also interested in issues related to teaching and learning in higher education and how they can be applied to address issues related to social change.

Rukevwe J. Olughor, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Business Administration at Augustine University, Nigeria. She teaches entrepreneurship, strategic management, and organisational behaviour. Before joining the academics, she worked in the Insurance and Banking sector. Her research focuses on the people side of entrepreneurship and address questions on corporate entrepreneurship, innovation, and integrates the background of strategic management, organisational culture, and customers satisfaction.

Adaora I. Onaga is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Humanities, Pan-Atlantic University (PAU). She holds an MBBS degree from the University of Ibadan and a specialisation in Internal Medicine and Nephrology from the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She is a Fellow of both the National Postgraduate Medical College and the West African College of Physicians. She holds an MSc degree in Philosophy from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, Italy and a PhD in Philosophy, Summa cum Laude, from the same university. Her doctoral thesis focused on the interfaces between the biological and philosophical sciences in the confrontation of human pain. She currently teaches general ethics, peace studies, and Nigerian peoples and culture to undergraduate students. She has taught medicine, nephrology, philosophical anthropology, and gnoseology in the past. Her current research interests are in the areas of medical humanities, phenomenology of illness, and ethics. She has published in nephrology and philosophy journals.

Akunna Osa-Edoh is Centre Manager at the Christopher Kolade Centre for Research in Leadership and Ethics (CKCRLE) at Lagos Business School, Nigeria. She is a graduate of Law from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, as well as a graduate of the Nigerian Law School, Abuja. She has served in the financial sector as a Retail Marketer, Customer Service Supervisor, and Branch Manager Operations for several years. She is passionate about ethical leadership and is interested in research that will help change the narrative of leadership in Nigeria, Africa and the World.

Akaninyene Otu is a Medical Doctor and Researcher with diverse experience in infectious diseases and global public health that spans over two decades. He has actively participated in research, training, programme development, and implementation particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). He obtained Specialist Training both in Nigeria and the UK and also worked alongside leading Clinicians and Researchers in infectious diseases and global public health over the years. Through the Foundation for Healthcare Innovation and Development (FHIND), he has worked in partnership with government and non-governmental agencies to design, scale-up and evaluate health programmes and services in LMICs. He has participated in numerous multidisciplinary research projects in different capacities. His interests are in medical education, pragmatic approaches to managing disease outbreaks, mycology and antimicrobial resistance. He has over 100 scientific publications to his credit and has contributed chapters to several books.

Camilla Quental is a Professor of Organization Studies and Ethics. She is located at Audencia Business School, Nantes, France.

Foreword

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought out the worst, and the best, in people and organisations. The worst has been reflected in the abuse of emergency funds released to ease the economic burden faced by business and society; public–private collusion and sheer corruption; and putting people, especially workers, in harm’s way to further profits. The best has been displayed by business and civil society leaders, and their organisations, going beyond the call of duty to support society as it grappled with an unknown and frightening future. Values can be broad and inclusive, or they can be narrow and self-serving. Positive values show conscience, a sense of duty towards others – values such as integrity, transparency, support, care, and many other positive values come to mind. When thinking of some of the most disgraceful examples of greed that have come to light, values such as dishonesty, selfishness, and self-indulgence, reveal themselves.

Responsible Management of Shifts in Work Modes – Values for a Post Pandemic Future comes at an opportune time as management faces a forever changed work-life environment – the ‘new normal’. It is a stage when businesses must plot the course forward in a still-uncertain future. To do this with integrity will be the challenge of our business leaders. The book reflects on the past, present, and the future in the face of the pandemic, founded on excellent thought leadership and empirical research, to provide important observations into the new reality of work modes. The editors, Kemi Ogunyemi and Adaora Onaga have made an exemplary attempt to chart a course and stimulate conversation on the important topic. The book is well-structured, reads well, and is a must-read for not just academics, but business practitioners and policy-makers as they confront this changed working environment. What values should be inculcated in business during this shift in work modes? This book provides some valuable insights in this regard.

The introductory chapter (Kemi Ogunyemi and Adaora I. Onaga) considers the business–health intersection and reflects on the ‘chaotic and unprepared (health-care) system’ – this vulnerability constrained healthcare delivery during the pandemic. The narrative then turned to the significance of leadership and the importance of building collaborations starting with the employer–employee relationship. This relationship, I concur, is critical. At the heart of such collaboration, at the heart of such engaged relationships, lie values. Values are the invisible tie that binds people and creates an aligned organisation committed to ethical values and as a result, effective service delivery should naturally occur. The chapter is then followed aptly by a focus on ethical leadership, this time considering small- and medium-sized enterprises – possibly more susceptible to the economic challenges the pandemic posed (Nneka Okekearu and Stanley Ibeku).

The book then continues its journey, contemplating Arianna Huffington views on the new normal, and the relationship between corporate governance and organisational resilience post-pandemic (Oluwakemi Ojenike). The workplace then takes centre stage with a chapter (Gloria Nnanke Essien) on people management in fluid workspaces, and which suggests a need for adaptation, flexibility, and intentionality by organisations to ensure survival during such a shift to survive. A management perspective of responsible leadership during a pandemic was presented (Kemi Ogunyemi and Akunna Osa-Edoh). A later Chapter 12 focuses on the future of work and the need for adaptability from an employee perspective and upskilling in order to develop resilient people, which in turn, will contribute to resilient businesses (Rukevwe Olughor).

The healthcare sector from a specific African perspective, is often reflected upon in the book. This is an important contribution by the book as it contextualises the unique challenges faced on the continent during the pandemic. For example, medical doctors providing their insights on ethically complex decisions during the pandemic triage process and the need to ensure inequities are not exacerbated in the procedure (Emmanuel Effa and Akaninyene Otu). It speaks to the necessity of introducing well-considered protocols and capacity building for health workers that takes onto account acceptable ethical considerations. Inequities and vulnerabilities received further attention suggesting a need to address the ‘structural and systemic racism’ in the healthcare sector (Monir Mazaheri and Henrik Eriksson). A later chapter focuses on Nigeria suggesting that while there have been positive and negative consequences for the healthcare sector in Nigeria, the negative impact has been overwhelming with grave consequences – highlighting the need for investment in infrastructure and support for healthcare workers (Nkemdilim Iheanachor, Oluseye Jegede, and Emma Etim). The rural, low-resource setting in Uganda received consideration by Kyamulabi and Mugambwa, suggesting that village health teams faced a difficult task when the basic necessities, such as water, soap, and masks were not available.

Another important topic on intimate partner violence receives scrutiny in the book – a topic relevant considering the shift of many employees to remote working from home. It identifies the responsibility of business to be proactive in protecting employees at risk of such violence and presents some useful guidelines for businesses such as introducing relevant company policy, providing team support, and access to information and training (Leah Okenwa-Emegwa).

This book concludes with an in-depth inquiry into the principles and virtues needed for the future with specific reference to the healthcare sector in which the editors, Kemi Ogunyemi and Adaora I. Onaga, carefully navigate the various philosophical views. They suggest that such a time of disruption during the pandemic sets the stage for moral learning and that the virtues of humility, fortitude, patience, and resilience can be acquired or improved.

Responsible Management of Shifts in Work Modes – Values for a Post Pandemic Future (Vol. 2) is a compelling read that eloquently considers the challenges posed by the pandemic on the health care sector, small business and business in general, and on business leaders. It investigates the impact this has and will continue to have on employees as the workplace evolves and identifies constraints to employee engagement and risks the employees face. The African context is important, and issues of vulnerabilities and inequalities are established and evaluated. Values remain the ‘golden-thread’ that binds the book, and that provides the orientation for responsible management for the future.

Bryan Robinson

President of the Business Ethics Network of Africa (BEN-Africa)

Nelson Mandela University Business School