bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The notion of internal market orientation and employee job satisfaction: some preliminary evidence
Authors: Gounaris Spiros
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of Internal Market Orientation (IMO) on the application of internal marketing practices and employee job satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were secured through personal interviews with hotel managers and employees from 20 different five‐star hotels. Hierarchical regression analysis is used to examine the hypotheses put forward in the study.

Findings

Job satisfaction is positively related with the practice of internal marketing. However, IMO is also a significant variable in explaining employee job‐satisfaction while moderating the relationship between internal marketing and job satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

Drawing the analogy from the market‐orientation research stream, this study reveals the importance of developing an internal‐market orientation before internal marketing practices can be truly effective.

Practical implications

Service providers seeking differentiation through customer service and delight have to pay attention to their employees' needs and develop an internal‐market orientation to complement their customer‐orientation.

Originality/value

The paper is important for both scholars and practitioners. It introduces the notion of IMO and its impact on employee job‐satisfaction.
State reform in Greece: responding to old and new challenges
Authors: Spanou Calliope
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The paper attempts to assess the impact of reforms of the last 25 years on Greek administration and more specifically on its Napoleonic features. Given that those have been reshaped by country specific socio‐political dynamics, the analysis starts by pointing out the Napoleonic features but also specific features its Greek variant. These form the context of reforms undertaken and determine their trajectories as well as their limitations.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper examines four basic reform areas linked to important features of Napoleonic states: centrality of the state, centralised bureaucratic structures, labour relations in the public sector, and citizens‐administration relations. The rationale of reforms is discussed in relation to NPM trends but also to domestic challenges and priorities.

Findings

The significance of reforms undertaken varies. The state's presence in the economy has been significantly reduced and decentralisation reforms are more important politically than administratively. Citizens' rights and service delivery have been conceived rather as forms of democratisation and modernisation than as managerial reforms. Only recently labour relations in the public sector have been partly challenged while other reform aspects such as “agencification”, systematically by‐passing existing bureaucratic structures start to be part of the picture. Change has been incremental and followed pre‐established paths. The “Napoleonic” features of the state have not been seriously affected and reforms have hardly been reshaped by the new managerial paradigm. While the state remains the main reform actor and the law a typical policy instrument, a distinctive reform path emerges in Greece, as defined by the apparently contradictory rationale of a number of initiatives responding to old as much to new challenges.

Originality/value

Provides a brief account of important aspects of the Greek variant of the Napoleonic state and the context of recent reforms. Features and limits of reforms are also discussed. Finally, a tentative assessment answers the central question of the paper.
Failed policies but institutional innovation through “layering” and “diffusion” in Spanish central administration
Authors: Parrado Salvador
Published: March 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to show that the Spanish central administration, as a representative of the Napoleonic tradition, has undergone considerable managerial changes in non‐autonomous and semi‐autonomous agencies characterised by their direct involvement in service delivery in spite of the failure of macro‐changes and radical reforms of public administration.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper provides case studies of “paths” of changes in three organisations.

Findings

Through “layering” and “diffusion” of institutions as social mechanisms included in the historical new institutionalism account for innovation, specific organisations like the tax agency, social security and property registry have become more managerial in a state dominated by public law.

Research limitations/implications

More in‐depth case studies would make possible generalisation of how small changes can produce similar impacts or results than reform efforts at the macro‐level.

Originality/value

The use of historical neo‐institutionalism and the exam of mechanisms as “layering” and “diffusion” for explaining change is presented.
The trickiness of IT enhanced competence management
Authors: McHenry Joyce E.H. , Strønen Fred H.
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a critical understanding of IT enhanced competence management and its promise to bridge operational and strategic functions with the aim of revealing potential hidden challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirical data were gathered through interviews and observations during a longitudinal field study over a two year period in a large Norwegian IT consulting firm that has adopted a competence IT tool throughout the entire organisation. The investigation was conducted from a practice‐based approach to studying competence management.

Findings

It was found that IT enhanced competence management that aims to bridge the individual and organisational purposes, is mediated by a universal‐stock versus contextualist approach to competence development. This results in four possible alternatives to IT enhanced competence management. In this study the contextual competence assessment for individual purposes has been objectified for organisational purposes, causing confusion about the value of IT enhanced competence management.

Research limitations/implications

This study has been conducted in only one large IT firm in Norway. Further research is needed to support the finding that it is beneficial to remain in either the contextual or the universal‐stock orientation to competence development when using the same assessments for individual‐operational and organisational‐strategic purposes.

Practical implications

The trickiness of IT enhanced competence management lies in the four hidden belief structures about competence that influence both the design and use of IT enhanced competence tools. Insight gained from this paper may help managers to reflect on their assumptions about competence and may contribute to successful IT enhanced competence management.

Originality/value

The research clarifies possible pitfalls when aiming to satisfy multiple purposes in the design and use of a competence IT tool.
Learning a teacher's work
Authors: Maaranen Katriina , Kynäslahti Heikki , Krokfors Leena
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to bridge the theoretical perspectives of workplace learning and teacher learning. Teacher learning takes place, for example, in the course of a teacher's work as well as in the institutional setting of a school. This article describes research conducted on such learning.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a mixed methods approach. It includes interviews (n=8), which are analysed according to a qualitative content analysis, as well as a survey, which is analysed quantitatively (n=113). In the quantitative analysis descriptive statistics as well as a factor analysis were used.

Findings

The research indicates that teacher learning takes place in several different settings; when these are taken into account teacher education is shown to be important. The study also shows that teacher education has succeeded in integrating work and study to some degree when the perspective of workplace learning is taken into account.

Originality/value

There seem to be few studies that have addressed workplace learning from the point of view of teacher education or teacher learning. This study endeavors to fill this gap.
The linkage between knowledge accumulation capability and organizational innovation
Authors: Chang Su‐Chao , Lee Ming‐Shing
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of knowledge accumulation capability on organizational innovation. This study also attempts to find if interaction between external environment or organizational culture and knowledge accumulation ability will influence organizational innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative research design was employed. A total of 1,000 questionnaires were mailed out and received 129 valid replies.

Findings

The research results indicate that the capability to obtain knowledge can positively and significantly affect knowledge administrative and technical innovation. Knowledge expansion capability can positively and significantly affect administrative innovation. In addition, external environment and organizational culture have significant interaction effects with knowledge accumulation capability on organizational innovation.

Research limitations/implications

This research discussed only some organizational layers like knowledge accumulation, external environment and organizational culture without any further research efforts aimed at any other facets.

Practical implications

With the rapid change of markets and the intense industry competition, business management is deeply affected by any change in the external environment.

Originality/value

Because there is no existing literature on the use of external environment and organizational culture as moderators to explore the effect of knowledge accumulation capability on organizational innovation, this paper provides a basis for future studies that examine the relationship between these factors.
Organizational characteristics as prescriptive factors of knowledge management initiatives
Authors: Magnier‐Watanabe Rémy , Senoo Dai
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The use of knowledge in organizations is largely a discretionary behavior that can be encouraged but not demanded. As such, the firm can only attempt to provide the right conditions for employees to endorse the role of knowledge workers. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the organization of the firm affects knowledge management.

Design/methodology/approach

This research proposes a new framework showing the prescriptive role of organizational characteristics onto knowledge management (KM) initiatives. Based on this framework, data were generated from nine semi‐structured interviews conducted in the American, British and Japanese offices of a major Japanese pharmaceutical company, using a Boolean approach and qualitative content analysis.

Findings

Organizational characteristics, specifically – structure, membership, relationship, and strategy affect KM, namely – knowledge acquisition, storage, diffusion, and application respectively.

Research limitations/implications

Even though the departments of each local office under study were matched in terms of activity, the size of their own domestic market made comparisons sometimes challenging.

Practical implications

This research suggests that practitioners can increase the yield of KM when integrated upstream into the elementary business processes rather than when left voluntary.

Originality/value

This paper uncovers a possible link between the firm's organizational characteristics and KM, and the new practical framework can be useful to both scholars and practitioners.
Knowledge processes: from managing people to managing processes
Authors: Hasgall Alon , Shoham Snunith
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to discuss the necessity of access to the personal knowledge of each employee in order to cope with requirements in an organization's dynamic environment. The research question posed is which type of organizational structure, working environment and management style is most conducive to this access.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was a qualitative study, allowing for examination of behavior in the organizational reality as is, by analyzing interviews and observations of about 60 employees in six private, government and public organizations. The research analysis was based on five criteria regarding performance of a complex adaptive system (CAS).

Findings

There are indications that in organizations where a higher number of CAS characteristics existed, employees were better able to provide immediate solutions to the dynamic requirements. To allow this, managers should focus more on the synchronization of organizational processes and less on the control and the direct command of their subordinates.

Research limitations/implications

Organizations in a dynamic environment require a change in their structure and management method to resemble in line with CAS characteristics. In a CAS organization employees are autonomous, applying personal knowledge in developing immediate and systematic responses to change.

Originality/value

The research shows that the effective use of personal knowledge does not readily occur in hierarchical organizations. Knowledge management in organizations in the knowledge era requires a greater focus on process management than on people management.
Knowledge transfer in developed‐developing country interfirm collaborations: a conceptual framework
Authors: Narteh Bedman
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The aim of the paper is to explore the theoretical underpinnings of knowledge transfer within developed‐developing country based interfirm collaborations and to develop a theoretical model on knowledge transfer in interfirm collaborations.

Design/ methodology/approach

The vast literature on knowledge transfer in interfirm collaborations has been reviewed. A synthesis of this prior research has resulted in a theoretical model on knowledge transfer, especially between developed‐developing country based firms.

Findings

The reviews have resulted in the conceptual framework proposed here. The model distinguishes the sources of knowledge to be transferred and the antecedents to the knowledge transfer from the transfer process. Tentative propositions are also developed that could be explored during empirical investigations.

Originality/value

The framework presented provides a deeper understanding of the characteristics of transferors and transferees as well as their interaction and how these influence knowledge transfer across firm borders. Previous papers have failed to clarify this distinction between unique and relationship factors. The model thus advances theory on knowledge transfer between strategic alliances partners and provides practical insights into the management of knowledge within alliances.
Knowledge transformation among virtually‐cooperating group members
Authors: Feghali Tony , El‐Den Jamal
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present how in a virtual setting a cooperating group of individuals could transform their tacit knowledge, and what is the necessary infrastructure needed for such transformation.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper highlights the different perspectives on knowledge as well as its classification and perception by researcher's to‐date. It also examines current theoretical questions of knowledge management and knowledge transformation. Opinions and ideas are introduced as the easier parts of tacit knowledge that can be transformed into explicit form. The paper also introduces a knowledge management definition, which presents three phases for managing knowledge among virtually cooperating group members.

Findings

The paper has the following items as vital for knowledge transformation among virtual group members: a definition for knowledge management among group members; adoption of classification of knowledge as explicit, embodied, and not‐yet‐embodied (Scharmer); and opinions and ideas as the parts of tacit knowledge which could be easily transformed.

Originality/value

Knowledge management and knowledge transformation have been addressed in the literature at the organizational level. The paper addresses these issues from a group level and introduces definition, concepts, and ideas that form the backbone of such management and transformation. The points raised are expected to be of interest to researchers working on knowledge management and transformation among virtually cooperating group members.
Improved organizational performance through communities of practice
Authors: Schenkel Andrew , Teigland Robin
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to empirically investigate the relationship between communities of practice and performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Interviews, surveys, and company records from a case study of several communities of practice within a multi‐billion dollar construction project are investigated. Using the concept of learning curves, the authors look at the relationship between four communities of practice and their performance as well as taking an in‐depth look at the communication patterns within each community of practice.

Findings

Three communities of practice that operated under stable conditions were found to exhibit improved performance. However, the one community of practice that experienced changes in its communication channels due to a physical move was never able to regain its previous ability to continuously improve, indicating a strong relationship between communication channels and performance.

Research limitations/implications

The research presented here focuses only on communities of practice within one organization and one industry, thus limiting the degree to which the results can be generalized.

Practical implications

The results provide support for the recent efforts by managers to sponsor and even “formally define” communities of practice within organizations. This article also illustrates how sensitive communities of practice are to changes in communication channels, thus alerting managers to the importance of understanding the impact of their actions on a community's cognitive processes and structural dimensions.

Originality/value

This paper offers empirical support for a positive relationship between communities of practice and performance, thus filling a research gap that has been difficult to fill due to the ethereal nature of communities of practice.
Knowledge management systems success: a contingency perspective
Authors: Khalifa Mohamed , Yan Yu Angela , Ning Shen Kathy
Published: March 2008

Purpose

This paper aims at clarifying important contingencies for the success of knowledge management systems (KMS). More specifically, a model is developed based on the IS success model, the resource‐based view and the knowledge‐based view to explain both direct and indirect effects of KMS on organizational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the proposed model, a survey study was conducted involving over 100 organizations that implemented various functions of KMS. The data were analyzed using structural equation modelling for the simultaneous testing of the measurement and structural models.

Findings

The empirical results provided strong support for the proposed research model. KMS usage was found to have both direct and indirect effects on organizational performance. In particular, organizational agility and innovativeness were confirmed as important mediators of KMS effects.

Research limitations/implications

The findings of this research highlight the necessity of adopting a contingency theory for studying the effects of KMS on organizational performance and demonstrate the important role of some of these contingencies.

Practical implications

Practically, the empirical results shed light on the significance and relative importance of specific KMS applications. i.e. enterprise portals, supply chain management, customer relationship management, and competitive intelligence.

Originality/value

This research fills an important theoretical gap in KM research and provides valuable insights for practitioners.
The use of tacit knowledge within innovative companies: knowledge management in innovative enterprises
Authors: Seidler‐de Alwis Ragna , Hartmann Evi
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of tacit knowledge within innovative organizations. It addresses what organizations can do to promote knowledge sharing in order to improve successful innovation. Compared to available research material on explicit knowledge, the use of tacit knowledge within companies is relatively unexplored. The use of tacit knowledge is assessed with special emphasis on its significance and implications in the innovation process.

Design/methodology/approach

Existing research is structured with the objective of examining how companies make use of tacit knowledge. Key levers for tacit knowledge management are identified and the positive impact of tacit knowledge on innovation success disclosed.

Findings

The role of tacit knowledge in innovation management is analysed. Creation, availability and transfer of tacit knowledge within an organization are highlighted. Competitive advantage will be gained when companies value their tacit knowledge because explicit knowledge is knowledge we are already aware of and is public by its nature. Tacit knowledge can be the source of a huge range of opportunities and potentials that constitute discovery and creativity.

Practical implications

As this paper focuses on the transfer of tacit knowledge, barriers to successful knowledge transfer are described and success factors are explored which help to secure and improve the transfer of tacit knowledge.

Originality/value

It is proven that tacit knowledge has a crucial influence on the success of innovation processes in companies and plays a vital role as a company resource and success factor.
Tacit knowledge utilization in Thai construction projects
Authors: Teerajetgul Wasan , Chareonngam Chotchai
Published: March 2008

Purpose

Tacit knowledge, which is developed through experience, is used by Thai construction managers to perform their tasks and deliver project performance. The purpose of this paper is to explore and describe the utilization of tacit knowledge in executing construction projects.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is qualitative in nature and carried out through a case study approach. Empirical evidence was collected from three construction companies, each handling projects of a diverse nature of project characteristics and knowledge management styles.

Findings

The main findings particularly arise from the following four factors that were observed from on‐site observations of work practice and interviews: flexible and adaptable thinking due to dynamic products and processes in the construction project; problem‐solving and heuristics that facilitate a novelistic, re‐combination of knowledge; knowledge networks amongst individuals that support and transfer non‐codified knowledge; and management conditions conducive to knowledge creation. These four factors are inherently embedded in Thai construction management practices for creativity and competitiveness.

Originality/value

The study is an examination of the contributions actually made by each aspect of a knowledge‐management oriented project, and identification of the lessons learned therein and new improved practices. These are thereafter captured and incorporated into the next learning cycle in order to facilitate a steady evolution for best practices.
Six pillars: futures thinking for transforming
Authors: Inayatullah Sohail
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach to the study of the future.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper describes six foundational concepts (the used future, the disowned future, alternative futures, alignment, models of social change, and uses of the future), six questions (will, fear, missing, alternatives, wish, and next steps as related to the future) and six pillars (mapping, anticipating, timing, deepening, creating alternatives, and transforming), giving examples and case studies where appropriate.

Findings

In an increasingly complex and heterogeneous world, futures studies can help people to recover their agency, and help them to create the world in which they wish to live.

Originality/value

The paper integrates and builds on a variety of futures studies' concepts, ways of thinking and techniques and integrates them into a new approach.
Employees, employers and the institutions of work: the global competition for terrain in the ageing workforce agenda
Authors: Jorgensen Bradley , Taylor Philip
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess risks and prospects for older workers and to provide a number of recommendations designed to marshal the interests of employees, business and government.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines the terrain of competing interests and dynamic complexities of workforce ageing, by elaborating on the topic of economic globalisation, the policy approaches adopted by government, the actions taken by industry and the working and life preferences of older workers.

Findings

In the absence of a deep understanding of the current relationship between demographic ageing, the labour market and economic globalisation, the policy aspirations of government face the prospect of limited success. The currently popular premise, that ageing populations go hand‐in‐hand with ageing workforces, appears to be contradicted by much of the available evidence, which points to rather more complex scenarios, in which outcomes are uncertain, but clearly where late career workers may not necessarily fare well.

Originality/value

The paper brings analysis to the area of ageing populations and the labour market in the context of globalization – a complex and important topic that is usually dealt with far too simply.
Social computing: implications for the EU innovation landscape
Authors: Pascu Corina , Osimo David , Turlea Geomina , Ulbrich Martin , Punie Yves , Burgelman Jean‐Claude
Published: March 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the main implications for innovation and competitiveness of social computing trends that promote swift social and economic relations. They are increasingly being considered by policymakers, both as tool and object for policymaking (i.e. how social computing could play a role in information society policies). Therefore, a general issue for the paper is represented by the lessons to be learned in terms of policy‐related consequences for Europe.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on an extensive desk‐based survey of secondary data available from reports, studies and most recent statistics, from internet audience measurement companies, international research companies, research projects of non‐profit centers, international firms or the industry itself.

Findings

The diffusion and usage of social computing applications have been growing at an exponential rate. A powerful feature emerges, i.e. the new user as supplier, co‐producer or innovator of the service. New areas of innovation lie at the crossroads of an increasingly complex process of both tacit and codified knowledge production. They affect the way people find information, learn, share, communicate and consume and the way business is done. New players and markets provide significant threats and opportunities for the ICT and media industries. New players have a smaller cost base, viable business models and a real market.

Research limitations/implications

Comparative and systematic research of the fast growing social computing trends is needed over longer periods of time.

Practical implications

The paper provides the first evidence on the size and weight of these trends, as well as on their social and economic relevance. It raises the need for more research, e.g. on the areas that would be most impacted and to what extent, as well as a wealth of policy‐related research questions.

Originality/value

Since social computing is an emerging phenomenon, the work is innovative and novel because it attempts to draw a first solid overall picture of the development of these trends.
Commitment or contract: what drives performance in public private partnerships?
Authors: Indridason Thor , Wang Catherine L.
Published: March 2008

Purpose

As the practice of outsourcing business activities has become more common than ever, partnerships have increasingly been forged. The aim is to ensure superior performance through organizational relationships characterized by trust and cooperation. Strategic human resource (HR) management highlights the importance of practice for competitive reasons. However, companies' strategic decisions on outsourcing are primarily driven by economic and financial aspirations. As a result, the HR issues fundamental to the effectiveness of the outsourcing practice are often overlooked. Based on a distinctive outsourcing activity involving a public‐private partnership, the purpose of this paper is to reveal how the outsourcing process influences employee commitment and citizenship behavior (willingness to go the extra mile), and to provide insights for strategists, executives and HR managers to enhance their strategic HR practices in line with their outsourcing decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is an embedded case study of a British National Health Service hospital based on quantitative and qualitative data collected from: 101 questionnaires completed by ancillary (non‐clinical) staff employed by the NHS but seconded to a private partner under the ROE (Retention of Employment) model; and 15 semi‐structured interviews with managers and frontline staff.

Findings

The findings reveal that: whilst employees developed notably strong emotional attachment to their managing organization their bonds with the employing organization, the hospital, seem to have weakened somewhat; moreover, employee commitment proved to be an effective predicator of citizenship behavior and job performance; and the nature of the contractual relationship, performance management and HR management practices had significant influence on employees' job performance and the private company's ability to meet the performance requirements defined by the NHS.

Research limitations/implications

Although based on a unique case of the public‐private partnership, the findings reflect the challenges of strategic HR management in outsourcing in public and private sectors.

Practical implications

The findings offer practical insights for company executives, HR managers and policy‐makers. When selecting an outsourcing partner and managing outsourcing activities the structure and nature of the inter‐organizational relationship and the strategic potential of employees and employee management need to be considered.

Originality/value

The paper provides first‐hand insights based on viewpoints from employees at different levels who are involved in the NHS outsourcing activities under a partnership arrangement. The findings caution strategists, executives, managers and policy‐makers to re‐visit their outsourcing and HR practices.
Research Report: How Do I Learn?
Authors: Downs Sylvia , Perry Pat
Published: March 2008

This article describes the design of an induction programme for post school students and the research findings. The objectives were to help young people develop their skills and confidence in learning through an experiential approach. A very simple taxonomy was introduced based on things which need to be memorised, understood and done (MUD). This led to further exploration of ways of memorising, understanding and learning to do things.
The “Coming of Age” of a Leadership Programme
Authors: Harding H.A.
Published: March 2008

During the last two years management training and development has endured the same strong pressures as other sectors of the British economy, the same questioning, the same reluctant pruning in the interests of cash flow, and even survival. Management attention has therefore been focused on short‐term returns rather than long‐term developments, and this has led to a different attitude towards short management courses. No longer do sponsoring managers turn readily to an educational experience of 3–10 weeks' duration as a background for further development of their staff, unless it forms part of a special development programme, and then only for a few favoured people.
Managerial Strategies of Influence—
Authors: Swaffin‐Smith C.
Published: March 2008

All managers have to exercise influence over their boss, peers and subordinates if they are to be successful in achieving organisational and personal goals. The particular methods of influence that they use therefore are of potential interest to management trainers, consultants and management educationalists. However, although such a statement is a truism, until recently there has been an imbalance in the emphasis of the research which has systematically examined the range of methods used by managers to influence others. Very little attention has been devoted to considering how managers influence their superiors.
The Transfer of Learning to the Workplace: A Practical Study
Authors: Jago Alison
Published: March 2008

Much has been written on the subject of training evaluation but most has concentrated on whether trainees like the training and how much they have learnt rather than on the application of training results. Whatever is learned on a training course, however much and however useful it is, the problem still exists of transferring the learning from the course back to the workplace. Having observed the euphoric mood which overtakes trainees on the last afternoon of any course, and having read the highly favourable comments on the course appraisal sheets, it all seemed to me too good to be true. I decided, therefore, to find out whether learning was being effectively transferred to the workplace (if at all) and to what extent, in the belief that the end of a course should not mark the end of the training process but rather its beginning. According to Brethower and Rummler there are four potential levels of training evaluation:
Training through Consultancy to Improve Maintenance Management
Authors: Donarski Jerzy , Heath Robert W. , Wallace John B.
Published: March 2008

In 1981, the International Labour Office in Geneva began receiving exciting news from the National Productivity Cente (NPC) of Ethiopia about its results‐oriented maintenance management programmes. NPC was achieving measurable success in helping almost 50 firms solve maintenance problems. Over 360 people from supervisors to plant managers and ministry officials had been trained to identify maintenance problems, find and carry out solutions. Hundreds of recommendations for improved maintenance were being tested and implemented, and many of these solutions were achieving measurable results in the form of increased output, reduced down‐time, improved quality, fewer rejected products, fewer imported spare parts and longer machine life. Several of the factories had estimated savings of over $1.2 million in the first year of the programme. The costs of the training, consulting and implementation were much less than the first year's estimated savings. The cost/benefit ratio, even by rough estimates, appeared to be at least 8 to 1.
Boundaries and Boundary Management in Interpersonal Skills Training
Authors: Phillips K.
Published: March 2008

This article examines the nature and impact of boundaries and boundary management in interpersonal skills training (IST). The definition of IST used is:
Training Designs for Organisational Change
Authors: Huczynski Andrzej
Published: March 2008

Whatever diverse aims and objectives company training policy may have, there tends to be a general agreement on the need to ensure that any new ideas, skills, knowledge or attitudes which are presented to trainees on training courses are actually transferred back into their work situations. As a result of the author's research, we now know more about the key factors which influence the transfer of training. A great deal of this research has focused on variables in the trainee's own work situation which appear to influence training transfer. The research has stressed the need for the returning course member to have developed interpersonal transfer skills, so as to enable him to act as an individual change agent. The results have also emphasised the important role played by the trainee's immediate boss with respect to the application of the learning within the organisation.
Interactive Video
Authors: Parsloe Eric
Published: March 2008

What Is “Interactive Video”? Interactive video is a phrase which is suddenly cropping up all over the place, in journals, at seminars, in the popular press. But what does it mean? And what does it mean to you? Is it just another buzz‐phrase? Or is it a term which is soon going to enter our training vocabulary? Well, I think it is a revolutionary new medium — and in the course of this article, I mean to convince you of my belief.
Personnel Appraisal: The System Approach
Authors: Ferrari Sergio
Published: March 2008

Staff appraisal is an aspect of personnel management with which it is unlikely to find companies expressing their satisfaction. If they already have a method, they are in search of a better one; if not, they are on the look‐out for one which is new and effective.
An Action Learning Programme for Between‐Jobs Managers
Authors: Hiscock L.R.
Published: March 2008

Origins and Objectives, A little over six years ago a programme for unemployed managers registered with Professional & Executive Recruitment (the UK Government's job agency —PER) was started at Sundridge Park Management Centre under the auspices of the Training Services Division of the Manpower Services Commission. Called the Management Application Programme, it was designed to assist managers back into useful work who, for one reason or another, needed more help than the shorter courses, with their emphasis on interview skills, CV and letter writing, could provide.
An Evaluation of Management Training
Authors: Brook J.A. , Shouksmith G.A. , Brook R.J.
Published: March 2008

This study was conducted as the first stage of a project to evaluate a management training course designed especially for a group of research scientists and senior technical staff employed by several government and quasi‐government organisations engaged in scientific and industrial research. The training courses had been instituted two years previously for the purpose of preparing these senior scientists and technicians for the administrative and managerial duties associated with their positions as section, group or project leaders of research teams.
The Small Business Challenge to Management Education
Authors: Gibb Allan A.
Published: March 2008

One result of the recent upsurge of national, and indeed international, political interest in the small firm sector of the economy has been a focus on the role of management training and development in the small firm and on the wider, but related, issue of education and training for entrepreneurship. The basis for this renewed government attention seems to lie in recognition of the employment potential of small firms rather than in the contribution that training and education might make to productivity and efficiency. Added to the weight of official concern is pressure from individuals who, without the early possibility of becoming an employee, are being forced to look to their own resources and initiative. It is, therefore, scarcely surprising that much of the recent stimulus to small firms training has come from government training schemes and, in the UK, from local community‐based ventures aimed at improving local job prospects. The accent in the UK has been on encouraging the new small business start up.
Training Distribution Professionals
Authors: Granville D. W.
Published: March 2008

Recent years have seen the introduction of tremendous changes in the world of physical distribution. Never before has there been so much interest from industry's top management in the business of storing, handling and moving their goods.
The Approach to Retirement:
Authors: Beveridge W.E.
Published: March 2008

With the development over recent years of Preparation for Retirement (PFR) courses, it has become a matter of concern to evaluate the relevance of their content and method to those who participate. Beveridge and Rives and Siegel suggest that programmes have tended to concentrate too much on information giving, largely on environmental issues like health, finance and housing, to the neglect of problems of psychological adjustment. Gilmore has pointed out that there is no evidence that teaching styles and methodologies appropriate to older people have been given sufficient consideration by course planners.
Research Report: Training, Part II —
Authors: Brook J.A. , Shouksmith G.A. , Brook R.J.
Published: March 2008

Management training ranks among some of the most common approaches used to bring about organisational change and development. The goals of such training include improving organisational effectiveness and improving the lot of employees so that they become more satisfied, more productive and more affluent. Given its importance to both individual employees and the organisation, it is asserted that the impact of management training programmes should be assessed to determine whether the large expenditure of time and money invested in them is justified and to provide the basis for well‐informed decisions concerning their future improvement. According to writers like Hamblin, evaluation should be thought of as an integral part of the total training system and should include the measurement of outcomes at a number of levels, including trainees' reactions, immediate changes in knowledge, skills and attitudes, intermediate effects on job behaviour and ultimate level of organisational effectiveness outcomes. It may not be possible to measure all levels of training within a single study, but an attempt should be made to measure effects at least up to the intermediate job performance stage, and for this to occur, it is necessary to employ a longitudinal design with measurements taken before, and at several points after, training. In the report which follows, changes in knowledge or understanding following a management training course are assessed.
Training for the Metaindustrial Work Culture
Authors: Harris Philip R. , Harris Dorothy L.
Published: March 2008

Introduction to the Metaindustrial Work Culture, Are human professionals in the forefront of the profound global transition now underway from the industrial to the Information Society? Are they cognisant of the driving forces of new technologies, especially microelectronics and genetic engineering? Are they exercising leadership in the creation of the work environments characterised by information processing and performed by knowledge workers? For these questions to be answered in the positive, the respondent must be aware of the emerging metaindustrial work culture. The term “metaindustrial” comes from an AT and T report on the New Industrial Revolution. It describes the ongoing social or second industrial shift away from the traditional manufacturing industries, organisational models and roles and managerial styles. That industrial way of life not only produced its unique approaches to training, development and education, it was a way of life that enacted social legislation and systems of support. It is rapidly disappearing, and the evidence is present in economic downturns, huge unemployment and bankruptcies. It is evident in the occupational trends toward information/ knowledge/education enterprises — 50 per cent of the US work force is already in the information industries, and this is projected to rise to 66 per cent by the year 2000.
Applying Learning Techniques to On‐the‐job Development:
Authors: Richardson Jim , Bennett Ben
Published: March 2008

The focus of an increasing amount of interest in management training and development in recent years has been on the application of learning to learn and self‐development approaches. We have been working on this area for several years now with some success. We have produced three articles for publication in JEIT through which to share our ideas, of which this is the first. They are based on several in‐company applications and include our starting assumptions, practical techniques for application, our conclusions and our ideas for future uses of the approach.
Team Mapping: A New Approach to Managerial Leadership
Authors: Margerison Charles , McCann Dick
Published: March 2008

Managers are team leaders. The days of traditional authority based solely on respect for the position have gone. Today respect has to be earned in organisations where managers will increasingly manage people who are in different professional and technical fields from themselves. A major key to success, therefore, is understanding the personal work preferences and motivations of both themselves and their team members. The approach outlined here emphasises the choices people can make between roles which are “advising” or “organising”. However, in choosing such roles, individuals will usually prefer either more of an “exploring” or more of a “controlling” approach to their job. It is possible, therefore, to use the “team leadership wheel” to identify one's own personal preferences and strengths and compare them with the requirements of the job and the contribution of other team members. This should enable managers to select and develop more effective teams which have a balance of abilities and skills. Moreover, the framework provides a language and a visual system for thinking through and discussing personal issues in appraisal and considering issues in promotion and career choice.
Developing Learning Skills
Authors: Downs Sylvia , Perry Pat
Published: March 2008

The aim of the Youth Training Scheme [1] is to provide young people entering the labour market with a broad‐based and integrated training programme which will:
Applying Learning Techniques to On‐the‐job Development Part II
Authors: Richardson Jim , Bennett Ben
Published: March 2008

This is the second of three articles describing our approach to self‐development. Two case studies of individual managers are provided to illustrate the process and some of the outcomes of the approach. An organisational case study is also provided to illustrate how organisational structure and culture can interact with the learning and problem‐solving styles of its members. We conclude the article with some suggestions as to the range of actual and potential applications of this approach to training and learning: management and organisation development, team building, coaching skills, the manager's training role and the design and management of training programmes.
Games for Research
Authors: Fripp John
Published: March 2008

A previous article showed how business games could be used more effectively for educational purposes. What may be less familiar to many readers of this Journal, however, are the growing number of ways in which a variety of games are being used for research into behavioural and organisational issues. This article discusses a number of different examples. The underlying methodology is described and compared with other approaches to organisational research. The key requirements for the use of games for research purposes are outlined.
The Use of Role Play in Quality Circle Member Training
Authors: Dale B.G.
Published: March 2008

Quality circles are organisational interventions that seek to increase an organisation's productivity and the quality of its products through direct employee participation. The underlying assumption is that such participation will result in useful suggestions for improving work methods and quality, and for increasing employee commitment to implement these changes. Quality circles typically are small groups of volunteers from the same area who meet regularly, under the leadership of their supervisor, to identify, analyse and solve quality and related problems in their respective areas of responsibility.