Power, People, and Performance: Rethinking Organizational Leadership and Management
A special issue of Merits (ISSN 2673-8104).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 January 2026 | Viewed by 80
Special Issue Editors
Interests: women’s entrepreneurship; commercialization; leadership; management; aging; the role of higher education institutions (HEIs); the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue of Merits, entitled “Power, People, and Performance: Rethinking Organizational Leadership and Management”. This publication focuses on the critical need to reimagine leadership and management practices in response to the disruptions, transformations, and challenges shaping today’s organizations. In a world marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), organizations must go beyond traditional leadership and management models. The ability to lead with vision, manage with agility, and empower people has become essential for fostering resilience and achieving sustainable performance. This Special Issue seeks to explore how leadership and management can evolve to meet these demands—through inclusive practices, ethical frameworks, and people-centered strategies that drive organizational transformation.
We welcome contributions that examine the changing nature of leadership and management in diverse organizational contexts. Particularly, we encourage the submission of research that investigates how power dynamics, employee engagement, and performance outcomes intersect; how leadership and management roles converge in practice; and how technology, crisis, and culture influence these dynamics. This Special Issue aligns with the mission of Merits to explore organizational behavior, workplace strategy, and the dynamic relationship between individuals and institutions. Our goal is to curate a collection of high-quality, insightful research articles that can also be compiled in book form.
Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Inclusive and ethical leadership approaches;
- Leading in digital and hybrid work environments;
- Human-centered and participatory management practices;
- Power, influence, and decision-making in organizations;
- Leadership and management during periods of crisis or change;
- Emotional intelligence and soft power in leadership;
- Leadership development and succession planning;
- AI, automation, and the evolving role of managers;
- Cross-cultural leadership and global management strategies.
We welcome tha broad range of methodologies and research formats, including original empirical studies, conceptual frameworks, case studies, literature reviews, and meta-analyses. Interdisciplinary research drawing from fields such as business, psychology, public administration, education, and technology is highly encouraged. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches—such as interviews, grounded theory, regression analysis, SEM, ethnography, and mixed methods—are valued. We are particularly keen to publish research that offers innovative perspectives, integrates theory and practice, or provides comparative and global insights into leadership and management practices.
We look forward to your contributions to this timely and relevant publication. Submission guidelines and deadlines are available on the Merits journal website. For any inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Dr. Shaista Noor
Dr. Chaudhry Shoaib Akhtar
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Merits is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- leadership
- management
- organizational change
- power dynamics
- people-centric strategies
- organizational performance
- ethical leadership
- human-centered management
- digital transformation
- leadership in crisis
- agile organizations
- remote work
- global leadership
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