title: Productive sustainability: An emergent methods approach to creating, communicating, and exploring leadership and management practices for contemporary challenges

authors: Murthy, Vikram

subjects: productive

abstract: Chapter one opens with an account of the journey that led to the writing of the thesis. It grounds the research in my own experiences which led to the two central concerns: firstly, businesses face an uncertain and volatile environment that is very different to anything that they have experienced before, and, moreover, that this uncertainty is likely to continue into the foreseeable future; and, secondly, what organisations can do to promote productive sustainability in the midst of these prevailing and impending challenges? The thesis then foregrounds the importance of environmental factors, and 1) explores how they impact on organisations' productivity by questioning the validity of established methods, given their reliance on retrospective data, and 2) looks for better ways forward by maximising the power of the present through emerging methods and practices.

This forward-looking orientation continues with two chapters (two and three) that seek to underscore the efficacy of experiential learning through action research as well as through theoretical explorations of disciplinary interactions and field research into congruent hybrid opportunities for organisations across the for-profit and not-for-profit divide. Chapter four then argues for reconfiguring the sustainability challenge as one of improving innovation performance by creating dynamic balance between exploration and exploitation.
Building on these ideas, the next three chapters examine leadership repertoires for dealing with different challenges. Chapter five posits that a firm's strategy, leadership, and processes are not only correlated to specific environments, but that particular characteristics can be broadly correlated with different eras. Chapter six then identifies the three new challenges - of sustainable development, base of pyramid engagement, and managing risk in a globalised world - that organisations need to address at this particular time. Chapter seven concludes the trilogy by identifying an emerging set of leadership practices for engaging productively with such high velocity change. 
 
The final five chapters focus on a grounded theory study, which is both a piece of original research in its own right, and an avenue that enables an extension and validation of the earlier concerns through the research questions  What existing and likely future challenges face contemporary Australian businesses and what current and emerging practices are leaders using to address productive sustainability? . The study involves senior leaders of successful Australian-based businesses who participate in theorising both existing and future challenges and the parallel emerging practices that leaders are using to address productive sustainability. Chapters eight, nine, and ten frame the grounded theory research, and describe the sampling and analysis of data in the study. Chapters eleven and twelve describe the study's findings, and its conclusions respectively.

The data from the grounded theory research revealed that this environment is described as complex. For the participants, this is evident in the display of one, or more, of the following three key characteristics:  dynamic, layered, interdependent, interconnected, and patterned organisational challenges; marked/radical shifts in markets, competition, technology and customers' definition of value; and uncertain, unpredictable, and uncontrollable global driving forces. 

This research further developed theories that leadership's successful response to this complex environment is the Ensemble Leadership Repertoire. The name has been chosen to provide  vivid imagery  (Locke, 2001, p. 72) to three practices taken together and working in harmony: Firstly, sharing fates and interdependence; secondly, exploring deeper meaning; and finally the emerging practice of  Zeitgeist  (i.e., integrating cognition, conscience and collective spirit). As the name  Ensemble  suggests, these three practices are not manifested individually in exclusion to each other, and/or as a paradigmatic shift from one practice to the other. Rather, successful leadership demonstrates all three practices, as appropriate, as an Ensemble Repertoire in the pursuit of sustainable organisational productivity.

text: Productive sustainability: An emergent methods approach to creating, communicating, and exploring leadership and management practices for contemporary challenges Chapter one opens with an account of the journey that led to the writing of the thesis. It grounds the research in my own experiences which led to the two central concerns: firstly, businesses face an uncertain and volatile environment that is very different to anything that they have experienced before, and, moreover, that this uncertainty is likely to continue into the foreseeable future; and, secondly, what organisations can do to promote productive sustainability in the midst of these prevailing and impending challenges? The thesis then foregrounds the importance of environmental factors, and 1) explores how they impact on organisations' productivity by questioning the validity of established methods, given their reliance on retrospective data, and 2) looks for better ways forward by maximising the power of the present through emerging methods and practices.

This forward-looking orientation continues with two chapters (two and three) that seek to underscore the efficacy of experiential learning through action research as well as through theoretical explorations of disciplinary interactions and field research into congruent hybrid opportunities for organisations across the for-profit and not-for-profit divide. Chapter four then argues for reconfiguring the sustainability challenge as one of improving innovation performance by creating dynamic balance between exploration and exploitation.
Building on these ideas, the next three chapters examine leadership repertoires for dealing with different challenges. Chapter five posits that a firm's strategy, leadership, and processes are not only correlated to specific environments, but that particular characteristics can be broadly correlated with different eras. Chapter six then identifies the three new challenges - of sustainable development, base of pyramid engagement, and managing risk in a globalised world - that organisations need to address at this particular time. Chapter seven concludes the trilogy by identifying an emerging set of leadership practices for engaging productively with such high velocity change. 
 
The final five chapters focus on a grounded theory study, which is both a piece of original research in its own right, and an avenue that enables an extension and validation of the earlier concerns through the research questions  What existing and likely future challenges face contemporary Australian businesses and what current and emerging practices are leaders using to address productive sustainability? . The study involves senior leaders of successful Australian-based businesses who participate in theorising both existing and future challenges and the parallel emerging practices that leaders are using to address productive sustainability. Chapters eight, nine, and ten frame the grounded theory research, and describe the sampling and analysis of data in the study. Chapters eleven and twelve describe the study's findings, and its conclusions respectively.

The data from the grounded theory research revealed that this environment is described as complex. For the participants, this is evident in the display of one, or more, of the following three key characteristics:  dynamic, layered, interdependent, interconnected, and patterned organisational challenges; marked/radical shifts in markets, competition, technology and customers' definition of value; and uncertain, unpredictable, and uncontrollable global driving forces. 

This research further developed theories that leadership's successful response to this complex environment is the Ensemble Leadership Repertoire. The name has been chosen to provide  vivid imagery  (Locke, 2001, p. 72) to three practices taken together and working in harmony: Firstly, sharing fates and interdependence; secondly, exploring deeper meaning; and finally the emerging practice of  Zeitgeist  (i.e., integrating cognition, conscience and collective spirit). As the name  Ensemble  suggests, these three practices are not manifested individually in exclusion to each other, and/or as a paradigmatic shift from one practice to the other. Rather, successful leadership demonstrates all three practices, as appropriate, as an Ensemble Repertoire in the pursuit of sustainable organisational productivity.

year: 2008

title: Phosphine functionalized polyaniline nanostructures

authors: Laslau, Cosmin

subjects: polyaniline

abstract: We study the problem of limited functionalization options for polyaniline through the surface attachment of phosphine coupling reagents. These studied linkers are P(CH₂OH)₃ and Ph₂PCH₂OH, and are attached to both conventional and nanostructured polyaniline. Additionally, model compounds are considered, extending the scope of our analysis. The successful attachment results indicate the potential for further functionalization, using the hydroxymethyl terminal groups of the phosphines for primary and secondary amine chemistry. These results should enable the development of sensitive and molecule-specific polyaniline-based devices.

text: Phosphine functionalized polyaniline nanostructures We study the problem of limited functionalization options for polyaniline through the surface attachment of phosphine coupling reagents. These studied linkers are P(CH₂OH)₃ and Ph₂PCH₂OH, and are attached to both conventional and nanostructured polyaniline. Additionally, model compounds are considered, extending the scope of our analysis. The successful attachment results indicate the potential for further functionalization, using the hydroxymethyl terminal groups of the phosphines for primary and secondary amine chemistry. These results should enable the development of sensitive and molecule-specific polyaniline-based devices.

year: 2010

title: Time to Diagnosis and Persistence: The Two Major Determinants of Effective Tuberculosis Control

authors: Ruthe, Alaine Tess

subjects: tuberculosis

abstract: The greatest challenge confronting effective tuberculosis (TB) eradication is the time to diagnosis, and duration of treatment of chronically infected individuals which represent a pool of infection. In an attempt to help limit the spread of TB in New Zealand, a fast SNP based diagnostic test was developed, to quickly identify the highly transmissible and virulent endemic Rangipo strain. The role of VapBC toxin-antitoxin systems in M. tuberculosis has been the subject of great interest recently, due to their expanded number in the genome and links with virulence and the regulation of cell growth in response to environmental stress. Their ability to regulate growth under adverse conditions for presumed survival advantages possibly leading to dormancy or persistence, make them ideal candidates for the development of new M. tuberculosis treatments. To establish differential expression of vapC, and therefore identify possible pathways and functions of the VapBC proteins, RT-qPCR was used to assess the expression levels of vapB and vapC in M. smegmatis under conditions of stress. No consistant changes in vapC mRNA levels were observed, resulting in the hypothesis that it is not the transcriptional differences which are important in the regulation of VapC, but post-transcriptional factors. In order to investigate the function(s) of M. tuberculosis VapBCs, these VapBC proteins were expressed and purified in M. smegmatis, and the VapC toxin tested for RNase activity. The purification, expression, RNase testing and bioinformatic analysis of M. tuberculosis VapCs suggested that VapCRv2530c, VapCRv0065 and VapCRv0617 may all target the same recognition sequence, UA*GG. Bioinformatic analysis revealed an abundance of this target sequence in horizontal gene transfer and TA genes, raising the possibility that VapC toxins could be functioning as selfish elements, or initiating transcriptional regulation cascades when a rapid change in the proteomic response and metabolic state of the cell is required. It is intriguing that the three M. tuberculosis VapC proteins tested thus far appear to target the same recognition sequence, possibly suggesting that all 47 VapCs are RNases and are targeting the same sequence. Alternatively; VapCs may belong to sub-groups targeting different sequences, allowing M. tuberculosis to exude both gross and fine metabolic control; or, they may share the same target, but are regulated by different activators triggered in response to different environmental stimuli.

text: Time to Diagnosis and Persistence: The Two Major Determinants of Effective Tuberculosis Control The greatest challenge confronting effective tuberculosis (TB) eradication is the time to diagnosis, and duration of treatment of chronically infected individuals which represent a pool of infection. In an attempt to help limit the spread of TB in New Zealand, a fast SNP based diagnostic test was developed, to quickly identify the highly transmissible and virulent endemic Rangipo strain. The role of VapBC toxin-antitoxin systems in M. tuberculosis has been the subject of great interest recently, due to their expanded number in the genome and links with virulence and the regulation of cell growth in response to environmental stress. Their ability to regulate growth under adverse conditions for presumed survival advantages possibly leading to dormancy or persistence, make them ideal candidates for the development of new M. tuberculosis treatments. To establish differential expression of vapC, and therefore identify possible pathways and functions of the VapBC proteins, RT-qPCR was used to assess the expression levels of vapB and vapC in M. smegmatis under conditions of stress. No consistant changes in vapC mRNA levels were observed, resulting in the hypothesis that it is not the transcriptional differences which are important in the regulation of VapC, but post-transcriptional factors. In order to investigate the function(s) of M. tuberculosis VapBCs, these VapBC proteins were expressed and purified in M. smegmatis, and the VapC toxin tested for RNase activity. The purification, expression, RNase testing and bioinformatic analysis of M. tuberculosis VapCs suggested that VapCRv2530c, VapCRv0065 and VapCRv0617 may all target the same recognition sequence, UA*GG. Bioinformatic analysis revealed an abundance of this target sequence in horizontal gene transfer and TA genes, raising the possibility that VapC toxins could be functioning as selfish elements, or initiating transcriptional regulation cascades when a rapid change in the proteomic response and metabolic state of the cell is required. It is intriguing that the three M. tuberculosis VapC proteins tested thus far appear to target the same recognition sequence, possibly suggesting that all 47 VapCs are RNases and are targeting the same sequence. Alternatively; VapCs may belong to sub-groups targeting different sequences, allowing M. tuberculosis to exude both gross and fine metabolic control; or, they may share the same target, but are regulated by different activators triggered in response to different environmental stimuli.

year: 2015