Evolutionary Transformation of the Global System and the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Search for a New Development Trajectory

In this study, we aim to determine how the global turmoil of COVID-19 acts as a catalyst for global transformations. After examining recent sociological and economic implications of this pandemic crisis, we analyse specific theoretical frameworks that can be helpful to illuminate some of the features of the current global evolutionary readjustment from an elliptic point of view. These theoretical approaches are the techno-economic paradigm shift, the notion of ‘endless transition’, the fourth industrial revolution analytical framework, and the approach of ‘new globalisation’. Finally, we identify that the current pandemic crisis has caused a ‘stroke’ to the world economy that accelerates developments and radically intensifies the pre-existing challenges. Especially for the less developed, stable, and resilient socio-economic systems and organisations (the case study of Cyprus is examined, respectively), we conclude that their survival and growth depends primarily upon their potential for adaptiveness, innovation, and on building efficient change management aptitudes and mechanisms. © 2021, University of Nicosia. All rights reserved.

Designing Integrated Business Training Programs Focused on the Unemployed in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Human resource development and continuous training are a precondition for organizational and socio-economic resilience and development. It is also vital to build integrated training programs, especially for the unemployed nowadays, considering the major challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in various labor markets internationally. This article aims to distinguish fundamental theoretical and practical dimensions of structuring business training programs and supporting learning and innovation after investigating critical trends of conceptual readjustment of modern management theory. A significant conclusion is that a business training program has to synthesize the organization's strategic, technological, and managerial potential and goals (Stra.Tech.Man approach), valorizing the basic principles of integrated planning, organizing, implementing, and controlling. A novel training program framework is suggested, attributing particular weight to developing structured mechanisms for training unemployed population groups at the local level.