A supposed fifth wave of Latin American regionalism and human needs

This article analyzes the evolution, between 2010 and 2020, of the organizations created during the Latin American post–liberal regionalism wave. It describes their rise and decline and includes recent public opinion data to claim that there is no demand or supply for an eventual fifth wave of regionalism that would replicate the previous models. Considering the failure of national governments in fulfilling basic human needs, it nonetheless claims that the deepening of the critical social and economic conditions, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic context, could lead to a fifth wave of regionalism in Latin America. Nevertheless, to succeed, such a wave could be inspired by international and regional technical organizations in a way that would recall the principles of David Mitrany’s functionalist theory.Resumen: Este artículo analiza la evolución de las organizaciones creadas durante la ola de regionalismo post-liberal en América Latina entre 2010 y 2020. Describe su auge y caída e incluye datos recientes de opinión pública para plantear que no existe una demanda ni una oferta para una quinta ola de regionalismo similar a las olas anteriores. Sin embargo, el fracaso de los Estados en asegurar las necesidades sociales básicas y la degradación de las condiciones socioeconómicas, particularmente en el contexto de la pandemia COVID-19, podrían llevar a una quinta ola de regionalismo latinoamericano. Para que dicha ola pudiese tener éxito, podría inspirarse en las acciones de organizaciones técnicas internacionales y regionales, de una manera que recuerda los principios de la teoría funcionalista de David Mitrany.Résumé: Cet article analyse l’évolution, entre 2010 et 2020, des organisations créées durant la vague de régionalisme postlibéral en Amérique latine. Il décrit leur montée et leur déclin et inclut des données récentes d’opinion publique afin de soutenir l’argument selon lequel il n’y a actuellement ni demande, ni offre d’une cinquième vague de régionalisme latino-américain semblable aux vagues précédentes. Cependant, l’échec des États à assurer les besoins humains fondamentaux et la dégradation des conditions sociales et économiques, notamment dans le contexte de la pandémie de Covid-19, pourraient mener à une cinquième vague de régionalisme dans la région. Pour donner des résultats concrets, celle-ci pourrait être inspirée par l’action des organisations techniques internationales et régionales d’une façon rappelant les principes de la théorie fonctionnaliste de David Mitrany.

Exploring Organizational Development Intervention Around Sexual Harassment in Technical Firms

Significant labor shortages in fields like information technology and information security has created a critical need to recruit, hire, develop, and retain more woman. The challenge remains how to make these technical organizations more welcoming and inclusive for women. Sexual harassment continues to be a significant problem in all workplaces. Research shows that harassment blossoms in careers and organizations where men dominate the majority of all management positions and women have such limited representation within the organization. This case study explores an actual organizational intervention in a technical organization.

An Exploration of the Critical Need for Formal Training in Leadership for Cybersecurity and Technology Management Professionals

For many cybersecurity professionals it is often their technical skills, certifications, and technical academic education that gets them hired and even promoted from a line employee to a management role in technical departments and technical organizations. Being in management roles requires the development of new leadership soft skills that include personality traits, attitudes, habits, and behaviors you display when working with leading, coaching, empowering and developing others. While good soft skills are also important for employees, they are critical for managers - and for those who want to be managers. This article explores that nature of those skills and approaches to help organizations develop leaders in these areas.

Engineering Management

This article continues the conversation about the formation, history, and evolution of the EM concept. It contributes to the description and advancement of engineering management (EM) as an emerging discipline, by providing a new conceptual model that depicts a framework for distinguishing a generalist-engineering manager from a discipline-specific one, such as a systems engineering manager. It discusses the challenging social responsibilities facing engineering managers and their roles. It also examines the EM body of knowledge including the engineering design management, and the need for effective engineering managers who can anticipate technical challenges and work with various stakeholders to create a better future in technical organizations.

Gender Norms and Agricultural Innovation: Insights from Six Villages in Bangladesh

The ability of development interventions to catalyse and support innovation for—and by— women and men is undermined by lack of specific understanding about how gender norms interact with gender relations and what this means for innovation. This is also the case for Bangladesh despite substantive research and development investments in the past decade that have placed emphasis on gender norms, particularly those inhibiting women and girl’s education, women and girl’s health, and women’s economic empowerment. This paper analyses how men and women in South West Bangladesh perceive gender norms to affect their ability to innovate, adopt, and benefit from new technologies in aquaculture, fisheries and agricultural systems. Our qualitative findings from six villages in 2014 confirm that the engagement of women and men smallholders with agricultural innovation and its opportunities is gender-differentiated. We explore further: how gender norms shape these differences; which gender norms are most significant in the given context, when and for whom; and, finally, when and how are some women and men able to innovate in the context of these norms. In doing so, we highlight how gender norms interact with gender relations and wider structural inequalities to constrain and/or enable innovation for different women and men. We conclude that technical organizations seeking to promote innovation need to go beyond itemizing gender ‘gaps’ to engage more closely with underlying gender norms and the way they influence various women’s, and men’s, motivations, spheres of innovation, and valuations of outcomes.

An Exploration of the Critical Need for Formal Training in Leadership for Cybersecurity and Technology Management Professionals

For many cybersecurity professionals it is often their technical skills, certifications, and technical academic education that gets them hired and even promoted from a line employee to a management role in technical departments and technical organizations. Being in management roles requires the development of new leadership soft skills that include personality traits, attitudes, habits, and behaviors you display when working with leading, coaching, empowering and developing others. While good soft skills are also important for employees, they are critical for managers - and for those who want to be managers. This article explores that nature of those skills and approaches to help organizations develop leaders in these areas.