Management scholars increasingly seek to make a contribution to addressing the big issues faced by Society (climate change, poverty, migratory crises, etc.), often using the term Grand Challenges to refer to these. However, after an initial phase of enthusiasm, the lack of coherence and distinctiveness of a relatively new management research concept - typical of an ‘umbrella concept’ - has been criticized. This article addresses the research question of how Grand Challenges can pass the tests of validity and rationalization in order to improve the robustness of the concept. To this end, we map out the literature on Grand Challenges using a mixed methodology of bibliometric analysis, combining co-citation and bibliographic coupling. By identifying the intellectual foundations and research streams, our paper analyzes the different uses of Grand Challenges in the literature as well as the resulting inconsistencies – thereby tidying up the concept. The current weaknesses of the Grand Challenges concept call for a clarification of its attributes. We pinpoint the importance of this redefinition and how it can be achieved, and discuss the possibilities for theoretical development of the field.

Continuous learning is central to ensuring organizations remain innovative and high- performing. Corporate trainers play a critical role in educating and training employees. However, in an era of digital transformation and, more recently, artificial intelligence, trainers need new skills and methods to stay current and facilitate the transformation of the workforce. The skills gap is best filled through cooperative learning with other trainers. However, cooperative learning is hindered by different spatial, organizational, and cultural boundaries that are difficult to overcome. This paper attempts to understand how cooperative learning of trainers can be enhanced through boundary spanning. It examines the case of the corporate learning department of a German high-tech multinational through ethnographic action research by the department manager, including 21 semi-directive interviews and direct observation. Using a grounded theory approach, we explore how the concept, causes, context, contingencies, and conditions of boundary spanning enhance cooperative learning among corporate trainers. The findings show that boundary spanning leads to cooperative learning through pedagogical scaffolding, communities of practice, and a new learning culture. Spontaneous boundary spanning occurs in parallel to guided boundary spanning. Both are made possible by appropriate leadership values and attitudes, trust, flexibility, and dedicated time and capacity. Our paper provides recommendations on the key issues managers face in facilitating boundary spanning and cooperative learning among their employees. We also show how key barriers and risks can be mitigated to enable employees to learn cooperatively with colleagues from different and distant organizational units.

La recherche en management vise de manière croissante à contribuer à la résolution des problèmes rencontrés par nos sociétés (changement climatique, pauvreté, crises migratoires), et ce, en mobilisant de plus en plus souvent le terme de grand challenges. Face à cet engouement s’élèvent néanmoins des critiques concernant le manque de cohérence et de différenciation d’un concept relativement nouveau pour la discipline. Cet article soulève la question de savoir comment les grand challenges, assimilables à un concept-ombrelle, peuvent passer les épreuves de validité et de rationalisation afin de rendre le concept plus robuste. Pour ce faire, cet article propose une cartographie de la littérature sur les grand challenges en s’appuyant sur une méthodologie mixte d’analyse bibliométrique, combinant la co-citation et le couplage bibliographique. En identifiant les racines intellectuelles et les différents courants de cette littérature, cet article caractérise la diversité de mobilisations des grand challenges ainsi que les incohérences qui en découlent. Les faiblesses actuelles du concept de grand challenges nécessitent ainsi une clarification de ses attributs. Nous identifions alors les enjeux et les modalités de cette redéfinition et discutons des possibilités de développement théorique du champ.

Quality education is one of the UN’s sustainable development goals. In a corporate human resources context, sustainability relates to both employability of the individuals and organizational learning in order to ensure adaptability and innovativeness of the firm. It is the latter field of organizational learning that we focus on. This chapter aims at understanding how and why boundary spanning, leadership and individuals’ predisposition interact to contribute to social learning, digital transformation and hence, future readiness and resilience of an organization. The special case of a German industrial MNE’s corporate learning division deals with an organization responsible for operations in vocational education and training (VET) and technical upskilling and reskilling. Digital transformation requires corporate trainers to acquire new digital competencies and new methods of teaching. The chapter shows with which methods and activities social learning can be enhanced in the context of digital transformation. Thereby, we show managers how to act in post-covid times with a growth mindset to enable culture change towards life-long learning and trust to ensure corporate sustainability.

This research aims to understand how French multinational companies take into account the environmental issue and more specifically climate change (SDG 13) in the human resource (HR) management of international mobility (IM), and what changes this entails. We identify five levers that are conducive to an environmental commitment by IM departments: the attractiveness of talent, the desire to align with the company's strategy, the personal convictions of IM teams, the company's image and possible cost reductions. Three typical policies stand out, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. However, the impact of these policies remains limited as long as they only address IM. By approaching the subject in a more strategic way, i.e. by linking it to talent management, the impact of the approach is amplified.