Volume 21, Issue 1 (2020) Highlighting Leadership

July 1, 2020

Dear readers,

It gives us great pleasure to launch the first issue of the Mountain Plains Journal of Business and Technology (MPJBT). After nineteen years as the Mountain Plains Journal of Business and Economics, the journal has been renamed and moved to the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK).

This issue, under the theme of Leadership, is headlined by an essay on leadership from UNK Chancellor Doug Kristensen in which he shares the characters and traits of four leaders after whom he has modeled his leadership style. It provides a fascinating glimpse into silent-leadership in non-profit organizations, be it government, state universities, or family.

You will also read a scholarly article on a new idea of how leaders might manage a challenge faced by IT industry – the high turnover among millennials. In keeping with the sub-theme of silent-leadership, you will find an absorbing case study faced by an accountant when he encounters questionable accounting practices in his firm. Another case study in this issue reveals the necessary leadership in a large company to ensure meeting customer needs when faced with a serious situation – a tornado shutting down power for weeks. This issue also has three book reviews focused on leadership.

Our next issue is slated for publication in December 2020. It will focus on Technology and its interactions with for-profit businesses and other organizations. You will see the related Call for Papers in this issue.

MPJBT is an open-access journal and all articles are downloadable. We have archived all previous publications from Volume 1 to Volume 16 in the journal under its former title, and are still working on archiving volumes 17 through 20. You will find this issue’s publications and all the archived materials at https://openspaces.unk.edu/mpjbt/

We would be seriously remiss if we did not acknowledge the strong support MPJBT received from UNK’s leaders. In 2019, Dr. Charlie Bicak, UNK’s Senior Vice-Chancellor, enthusiastically gave us the green light to proceed with hosting the journal. Dr. Timothy Burkink, then Dean of the College of Business and Technology, provided both the monetary and moral support, and this support was heartily endorsed by the current Dean of the College, Dr. Timothy Jares. The Dean of UNK’s Library, Janet Wilke, opened all the resources available at UNK’s library for us, including the bepress platform, to run and manage the journal. And last, but not least, we want to express our profound thanks to Dr. Peter Longo who became our mentor as we took the baby steps to make our dream of hosting a business and technology-centered journal at UNK.

Dr. Sri Seshadri, Ph.D.
EDITOR

Dr. Larry Carstenson, J.D.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR