2022 international webinar facing vuca, How Academics navigate the new normal part 1

VUCA stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. In essence, the VUCA world means the world we live in today, where change is very fast, unpredictable, influenced by many factors that are difficult to control, and truth and reality become very subjective. If we want to survive in today's world, we cannot avoid progress. We can only adapt. As Albert Einstein said, "The measure of intelligence is the ability to change."


Awareness of VUCA theory today encourages many people to adapt more quickly and effectively. If someone resists change, then it is likely that that person will experience various lags that are quite far. Moreover, with the rapid development of information and communication technology as it is now, any changes in one place will be very easily and quickly transmitted to other areas.


STEKOM University as a professional educational institution with a global outlook is also trying to build an academic community that is responsive to the VUCA phenomenon. This reason is one of the reasons that prompted STEKOM University to hold an international webinar involving speakers from within the country and abroad who specifically discuss various fields related to the VUCA phenomenon. The webinar uses the title “Facing the changing business world in the VUCA Era”.

The seminar was held on October 20, 2022 with 2 speakers from Malaysia and one speaker from Indonesia. The first speaker at the event was an associate professor. His full identity is Assoc. Prof. Dr. Umm Naiemah Saraih. Dr. Ummi serves as a leader at the Center of Excellence for Social Innovation & Sustainability (CoESIS), Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), MALAYSIA. The title of his presentation was “Living in a VUCA World: How Academic Leaders can Navigate the New Normal”.


At the beginning of his presentation, Dr. Ummi explained about the table of contents of her presentation. There are approximately 4 main points that will be conveyed by Dr. Ummi, namely introduction, leader navigating VUCA, role of followers, and conclusion. This article will discuss Dr. Ummi in the introduction to VUCA.


In the introductory slide, Dr, Ummi begins to explain about the VUCA acronym which was first used at the US Army War College in 1987. It was publicly published in 1991 by Herbert F. Barber in the emerald journal “Developing Strategic Leadership: The Army War School Experience USA.” Prof. Barber states that War College derives these ideas from the writings of Warren Bennis and Burt Namus, in their book: Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge in 1985.

Next Dr. Ummi gave an explanation of the nature of VUCA. In his explanation Dr. Ummi says that VUCA combines four different types of challenges that demand four different types of responses. Volatility is a situation that is understandable, but not predictable. The nature, speed, volume, and magnitude of the change are also remarkable in volatility. Then in Uncertainty, understanding of impact exists, but information is not available. Uncertainty will also have an impact on the lack of ability to predict. Then in complexcity, many parts are interrelated; predictable, but the impact is huge. Chaos in complexcity will also meet problem management. The last in ambiguity, there is no previous experience so that we do not know what we do not know. Ambiguity causes reality to be blurred and its meanings mixed up.


Regarding the relevance of the VUCA issue today, Dr. Ummi explains that the term VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) has been around for quite some time - more than three decades to be exact. But its relevance has never been felt and experienced as much as it is today. The world of VUCA with the impact and extent of the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented. This issue actually feels very relevant to the term "New Normal" in the post-pandemic period.


The explanation of the relevance of VUCA today continues. Regarding the "New Normal" and its relationship with VUCA, Dr. Ummi explained the current issues which actually fit perfectly with the VUCA theory. Diantaraya is an online education that encourages the implementation of online teaching and learning. This online education situation will bring all educational platforms into one platform. In it there is a faculty of program development which is carried out digitally, examinations and evaluations are also carried out digitally, development of digital learning models, campus placements supported by digital technology, research and development work carried out online, webinars or study sessions can also be done online. , online administration, and online project collaboration.