bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Skill Shortages in a Local Labour Market—the Coventry Case
Authors: Mallier A.T. , Rosser M.J.
Published: March 2008

While unemployment is reaching new post‐war record levels, concern is being expressed about apparent skill shortages in established occupations in many local labour market areas. In Coventry, for example, employment in the engineering industry fell by 9,500 between 1971 and 1976 whilst simultaneously personnel managers were expressing concern about problems in filling vacancies. A number of indicators have been examined to determine whether a shortage situation does exist in the Coventry area and proposals to remedy the situation found are suggested. Attention is also drawn to the implications for general employment prospects in the local economy if action is not taken.
Working Extra Hours: Worker Involvement in the Modern Era
Authors: Kats Rachel , Goldberg Albert I.
Published: March 2008

The profiles of multiple jobholders and overtime workers are contrasted with those of employees working standard hours at one job. The latter hold one job either because they lack the opportunity for doing otherwise or because they are not interested in additional work. The data are based on a study among male urban employees in Israel. The relative importance of personal versus structural factors in determining the decision to work extra hours is assessed.
The Tutor‐Learner Interaction in Management Development, Part Four: The Facilitation of Learning by Discussion
Authors: Snell Robin , Binsted Don
Published: March 2008

This is the fourth part of a five‐part series, based on research done on 17 live sessions in which management teachers and trainers were interacting with groups of learners. Parts 3, 4 and 5 are all concerned with “facilitating behaviour” (defined more fully in Part 3). This behaviour was identified within episodes which occurred during longer sessions. These episodes were “productive” since they were directly associated with learning reported by learners. There were, of course, many other unproductive episodes where no learning was reported.
Managerial Beliefs about Managing: Implications for Management Training
Authors: Stewart Rosemary , Marshall Judi
Published: March 2008

The beliefs that managers hold about managing are likely to influence their reception of management training. Managers' beliefs about what it is important for them to do, about how they should manage, how well they do manage, and about the desirability or possibility of changing how they manage, are likely to affect whether they want to learn and what they may be interested in learning. This article will argue that management teachers need to try and understand how managers think about managing. It will describe the beliefs reported by some middle managers that have implications for management teaching. Beliefs are defined as the acceptance of something as true or real that is not a demonstrable fact.
An Algorithm for the Cluster Analysis of Repertory Grids in Human Resource Development
Authors: Jankowicz Devi , Thomas Laurie
Published: March 2008

As occupational applications of repertory grid technique continue to grow, there is a need for a method of analysis which can be carried out as conveniently by hand as by computer, particularly in the field of human resource development. This article describes such a method, a cluster analysis called “Focus”, and outlines some applications in personnel and training work by means of an annotated algorithm.
The Personalising Behaviour of Managers… or, How They Look After Themselves
Authors: Knibbs John
Published: March 2008

Over the past few years, there has been increasing concern about, and research into, the problems of the low quality of working life of the work force in the UK. This has found expression in the establishment of the Work Research Unit at the Department of Employment, the Work Research Group at Henley College, the Computer Research Unit at Manchester Business School, the work of the Tavistock Institute, the UK links with the International Council for the Quality of Working Life and the research and consultancy activities of many universities, polytechnics and professional bodies.
Personnel Management in Third World Countries
Authors: Poole Michael J.F.
Published: March 2008

The effective harnessing of human resources is inevitably an issue of considerable moment in any modern nation state. Nevertheless, particularly because of the rapidity of change, in countries in which major processes of economic and technical advancement are in train, this problem undoubtedly assumes a particular significance. In the following analysis, therefore, some of the general forces which affect the personnel function in the organisation will first be examined. This will be followed by a review of the ways in which “human resource management” may be different in “emergent” countries from other developed nations. Evidence from case studies of the constraints upon and the actual operation of personnel departments in the Third World will then be assessed. And, finally, the thesis will be advanced that there is considerable choice in the ways in which the personnel task may actually be performed in the countries under review.
Participation as an Interaction, Communication and Influence Process
Authors: Dickson John W.
Published: March 2008

Employee participation is conceived as a four‐stage process (interaction, communication to and from management, influence by and on management, employee effect on decisions). Eighty‐two lower supervisory managers perceived the four stages as highly related except for influence by management. Further, the four processes of participation were found in approximately equal amounts (except for managerial influence). An examination by decision type showed that employee and managerial influence were inversely related on corporate and departmental decisions, but were unrelated on departmental employee and operational decisions. Employees engaged most in participation on departmental employee decisions and least on departmental staffing decisions. This difference in participation was greater for organisations of small size.
Different Side of the Fence?
Authors: Warner Malcolm
Published: March 2008

In this paper, we shall be examining worker involvement in decision making, mostly at shop‐floor level, in a number of British business organisations. The study takes into account the perceptions of both managers' and shop stewards' influence respectively over decision making, and asks whether the level of direct influence of employees appears consistently lower than that of indirect participation via their representatives, either through informal (mainly shop steward) mechanisms or the official channels.
Analysing Decision Behavior: Learning Models and Learning Styles as Diagnostic Aids
Authors: Jeryis Paul
Published: March 2008

The influence of the Experiential Learning Model, and of the Learning Style Inventory, on aspects of management education and development have been substantial. But they have potentially much wider application, particularly in examining managerial decision behaviour and in the analysis of the effectiveness of groups and teams.
Self‐Development in a Changing Organisation, or “Who Pays and Who Gets the Benefit?”
Authors: Skipton
Published: March 2008

Job satisfaction or dissatisfaction has a great effect on individual behaviour with equally important consequences for the organisation. It is to be expected that continuing and increasing dissatisfaction is a source of great tension between individuals and a threat to the organisation as a whole. Individual satisfaction is affected by the opportunities and scope that are available to that individual to pursue his or her self‐development. Dissatisfaction is one result if self‐development opportunities are either not available or are denied.
The Advisory Function of ACAS—A Preliminary Appraisal of In‐depth Work
Authors: Armstrong E.G.A. , Lucas R.E.
Published: March 2008

In carrying out its statutory advisory duties, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) makes a broad operational distinction between the “advisory visits” and “in‐depth” work undertaken by advisers. Typically, an advisory visit may entail a day's work and consist of helping a small company to improve its procedures or particulars of employment. By contrast, the average number of man‐days required for a piece of in‐depth work (which might consist of helping with the reform of a payment system) total approximately twelve.
Communications in Trade Unions
Authors: Marsh Arthur
Published: March 2008

The structure of employee organisations in Britain and the labyrinthine character of our industrial relations system presents to trade unions a communication problem of extreme complexity. Multi‐level union representation, often extending over many industries has, over the past two decades in particular, stretched to the limit traditional branch, district and national organisation. Without the phenomenal growth in numbers of unpaid shop stewards, representatives who frequently act with a sense of independence which may astonish observers from other countries, it would hardly have been possible to service the expanding membership and negotiating activity of that period. This development has brought its own elaborations of problems of communication between paid officials and the rank and file and laid increasing emphasis on those of multi‐unionism, at one time reasonably handleable at national level, but now extended into the more difficult area of the work place.
Leadership and Corporate Culture: Harmony and Disharmony
Authors: Bryman Alan
Published: March 2008

The idea of “leadership” has occupied an important position in the study of management, so that text‐books on organisational behaviour routinely allocate a chapter to discussion about it. It is invariably handled by recourse to a review of the major schools of thought and empirical findings associated with the concept. More specifically, writers of such texts are typically concerned with those aspects of leadership studies which have focused on its possible linkage with various indicators of performance or effectiveness. In addressing such issues, such writers focus on whether it is possible to isolate the personal characteristics of the effective leader, and whether it is possible to discern effective leadership styles.
The Development and Implementation of a Replacement Cost Model for Measuring Human Capital: A Field Study
Authors: Flamholtz Eric G. , Geis George
Published: March 2008

This article builds on and extends previous research in the area of Human Resource Accounting (HRA). Its purpose is to present a study involving the development and application of a model for measuring the replacement cost of people. Specifically, the study involved the development and application of a human resource replacement cost model for Industrial Engineers in the US Navy.
Achieving Organisational Change through Project‐based Training: A Cross‐cultural Experiment
Authors: Hayes John , Butterworth Jack
Published: March 2008

Hessling defines training as “a sequence of experiences or opportunities designed to modify behaviour in order to attain a stated objective”. The operative word in this definition is “designed”. As Hamlyn points out, people can learn to modify their behaviour as a result of all kinds of experience, but when they are being trained they are being put through an experience or given an opportunity which has been deliberately designed to make them learn.
Facilitator Viewpoints on Specific Aspects of Quality Circle Programmes
Authors: Dale B. , Barlow E.
Published: March 2008

The evidence presented in this article was elicited by group discussion from Quality Circle facilitators of 22 companies at a recently held North West workshop organised by the National Society of Quality Circles. The typical issues discussed and reported here include: sustaining quality circle programmes over time, monetary rewards, evaluation, management resistance and conflict with the roles of trade union representatives. Amongst the main findings are: that the support of all grades and levels of management and sustained top management recognition for circles are vital for their long‐term growth, direct cash contributions given to circle members are alien to the quality circle philosophy; circle programmes should be evaluated in terms of the quality of working life and cost benefits; middle managers are more likely to resist circle activities than are top and first‐line management, and circle activities do not conflict with the roles of trade union representatives.
New Plant Working Practices
Authors: Beaumont P.B.
Published: March 2008

In a series of recent articles, Lawler has argued that new established plants are especially likely to embody high (employee) involvement work systems. These work systems contain a significant number of mutually reinforcing arrangements and practices such as antonomous work groups, quality circles, gain sharing plans, etc. Indeed he goes as far as to content that in these new plants “… almost no aspect of the organisation has been left untouched. The reward systems, the structure, the physical layout, the personnel management system and the nature of jobs have all been changed and in significant ways” (pp. 6–7). There are certainly individual case studies of the arrangements of such plants in the United States, but in the absence of comprehensive survey data the extent to which they are representative of the population of newly established plants as a whole has been called into question.
The Responsiveness of an Incentive Payment Scheme
Authors: White M. , Ghobadian A.
Published: March 2008

The design and administration of payment schemes present difficult problems for many large manufacturing organisations. These problems have been compounded in recent years by external factors such as unfavourable economic circumstances, high inflation rates and the constraints of government legislation and pay guidelines. It appears, however, that relatively little effort has been devoted by companies to assessing the effectiveness of their payment systems in the face of these pressures. This article is intended as a contribution to the development of appropriate methods of assessment which could be applied within organisations, using commonly available accounting and performance data.
Alcohol Problems at Work — Some Medical and Legal Considerations
Authors: Knox Jean , Fenley Anthony
Published: March 2008

Alcohol abuse can be detected at an early stage in the work setting. Absence of appropriate training and of an alcohol policy often results in negative and collusionist attitudes from employers and colleagues until a crisis arises which necessitates dismissal. A properly implemented alcohol policy allows the employee to gain help at an early stage, is cost‐effective for the employer, and is very relevant to an employer's legal obligations in relation to fair dismissal.
Controlling Hours of Work
Authors: Lee R.A.
Published: March 2008

Organisational hours systems are a major feature of the overall web of controls and influences which are applied to employees. For this reason alone it is surprising how little attention has been focused on them relative to other influence mechanisms, such as pay, job design, appraisal systems, budgets and so on. Yet when we consider that, with the arguable exception of pay, hours systems have the most intrusive effect on the employee's total life pattern, their neglect as a field of study is all the more disconcerting.
Towards Marketing the Training Function, Fart II: Making Marketing Decisions
Authors: Long George , Stuart Roger
Published: March 2008

The first part of this article concluded with an intention to pursue the implications for action of adopting a marketing perspective on training. In this second part, we propose, then, to consider, firstly, the practical consequences of marketing training as a service rather than a good. Following this, we will explore more widely a framework for these and other marketing decisions that a training professional may assemble, organise and implement towards marketing his/her training function.
Getting Started: How Graduates Adjust to Employment
Authors: Arnold John
Published: March 2008

Entering a work organisation is a time of uncertainty both for the newcomers and for the organisations they join. For new graduates, uncertainty surrounds their own skills and attitudes, their future work and colleagues, and organisational practices. This uncertainty is particularly marked for the many graduates who have never worked full‐time. For the organisation, sources of uncertainty include the graduates' competence, motivation and ability to “fit in” with their work colleagues.
Continuous Development: Theory and Reality
Authors: Barrington Harry A.
Published: March 2008

Regular readers of Personnel Review may be surprised to encounter a style that does not involve a theoretical or principled base, and prefers reflections on experience as the route to new learning. It is my belief that the latter reflects the personnel practitioner's reality, whilst the former tends to limit it; the typical personnel manager's political role forces him/her to see any sophisticated set of logically related concepts as unlikely to satisfy future operational needs. My aim is to show practitioners that continuous management development processes can be integrated with everyday work without waiting for new or superior theoretical models.
Correlates of Specialisation and Training among Personnel Managers in Britain
Authors: Beaumont P.B. , Deaton D.R.
Published: March 2008

The decade of the 1970s is widely regarded as one in which the personnel management function in Britain enjoyed substantial gains in authority and status within organisations. These gains were typically attributed to three basic industrial relations developments, namely, the passage of a substantial volume of employment legislation, the sizeable increase in the overall union density of the work force (and associated structures and behaviour) and the movement away from multi‐employer industry‐level bargaining arrangements to single‐employer bargaining structures at the plant and company level. As evidence of such gains, reference can readily be made to a number of samples of personnel managers reporting a rise in their own status over this period. However, whether such self‐reported status improvements have been matched by, or reflected in, more objective tangible indicators of such change has been much less thoroughly investigated; certainly, one recent industry‐specific study found little evidence of such a relationship.
Are the Rewards Worth the Effort? Changing Managerial Values in the 1980s
Authors: Goffee Robert , Scase Richard
Published: March 2008

The manager was once depicted as the “organisation man”. Managers, it was claimed, regarded their work and careers as central life interests around which other activities and relationships were structured. If families and friends were not entirely neglected, they were nonetheless, regarded as secondary to career progress. Within organisations, managers were seen as the creators, custodians and, in career terms, the prime beneficiaries of hierarchical authority structures. If corporate expansion and economic growth during the 1950s and 60s underpinned this view, contraction and recession in the 70s and 80s have begun to undermine it.
Recruitment and Selection: A Review of Developments in the 1980s
Authors: Anderson Neil , Shackleton Viv
Published: March 2008

Developments in personnel recruitment and selection “technology” have been both varied and extensive in the 1980s, and a number of overlapping and simultaneous developments are immediately apparent. Here, “technology” refers to methods, strategies, techniques, theories and practices of staff resourcing.
Counselling Services in Organisations
Authors: Orlans Vanja
Published: March 2008

This article considers the case for providing a counselling service for organisational employees, and reviews the forms that such facilities might take. While counselling facilities have been available in the community for a long time (e.g. as “pastoral care”), the provision of these services within organisations is a relatively recent phenomenon.
The Relationship between the Factor Model of the Occupational Personality Questionnaires and the 16PF
Authors: Saville Peter , Munro Andrew
Published: March 2008

That R. B. Cattell, in the development of his model of personality in the late 1930s and early 1940s, made an outstanding contribution to the measurement of personality is widely recognised, and needs no further comment here. But it has, of course, been the potential applications of the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) in the occupational field that has been of most interest to those working within personnel. Certainly, the 16PF came to be the preferred instrument for the assessment of personality in many organisations, and is now extensively used in occupational selection, placement and counselling.
Personnel Management and Organisational Culture: A Case of Deviant Innovation?
Authors: Kirkbride Paul S.
Published: March 2008

The concept of organisational or corporate “culture” has in recent years forced its way to the forefront of the managerial and academic literature. So much so that the 1980s seem destined to be the “culture” decade. This organisational culture “movement” has been seen as part of a wider change of direction in managerial theory, led by the so‐called “new management thinkers”. Very briefly, organisational culture is usually seen as the “atmosphere” of the organisation, or the attitudes, feelings and beliefs of employees. Others have suggested that it conveys to employees “the way things are done around here”.
The Perceived Clarity of Personnel Objectives: Some Determinants
Authors: Beaumont P.B.
Published: March 2008

This article utilises a large scale body of survey data to investigate the extent, and determinants, of managers' perceptions of the clarity of personnel objectives. The article consists of five basic sections. In the first, we briefly review the reasons for examining this particular issue or question. Section Two indicates the nature of our sample data, with the framework of analysis being outlined in Section Three; the results, conclusions and suggestions for further research are presented in the remaining two sections.
A Question of Equal Opportunities — A Survey of Staff in a Large Insurance Company
Authors: Collinson David L.
Published: March 2008

The persistence of occupational segregation by sex, as a primary characteristic of the UK labour market, has exposed the failure of anti‐discrimination legislation to achieve its purpose. The absence of significant organisational change in the past decade has fuelled the growth of “positive action programmes” as an alternative voluntary method for promoting equal opportunities.
International Joint Ventures: Implications for Organisation Development
Authors: Shenkar Oded , Zeira Yoram
Published: March 2008

Amidst the diverse forms of international direct investment, the international joint venture (IJV) appears to have become the fastest growing, most popular type of operation. An IJV may be defined as “a separate legal organizational entity representing the partial holdings of two or more parent firms, in which the headquarters of at least one parent firm is located outside the country of operation of the joint venture. This entity is subject to the joint control of its parent firms, each of which is economically and legally independent of the other”.
Testing for Local Management Autonomy: A Question of Perception?
Authors: Edwards P.K. , Marginson Paul
Published: March 2008

Surveys based on standard questionnaires have long been a major research tool of the social scientist. The great majority have focused on one type of respondent — the workers of a given firm, the voters in a particular constituency, or whatever. For one sort of survey, namely, those that seek to know about the individuals in question, this is plainly sensible. But another sort of survey uses a respondent to provide information about the organisation for which he/she can be taken to be an authoritative informant. Questionnaires sent to the head offices of companies or unions and asking about the organisation's policy are a good example. How do we know whether the replies are in some sense representative of the organisation or are just the views of the respondent chosen?
Employee Retirement Decisions: Perceptions of American Personnel Administrators — A Note
Authors: Beutell Nicholas J. , Brenner O.C.
Published: March 2008

Retirement is a complex and important transition in an employee's life. The merits of retirement policies have been discussed from both the individual and the organisational perspectives. Shaw and Grubbs, for example, have emphasised the need for additional research as a guide to managing the retirement process effectively. Clearly, this need is critical in light of the extension of the mandatory retirement age to 70 (Age Discrimination in Employment Act — ADEA) and the rapid increase in the number of age discrimination lawsuits.
Cognitive Performance Appraisal — Mapping Managers' Category Structures Using the Grid Technique
Authors: Dunn William N. , Pavlak Thomas J. , Roberts Gary E.
Published: March 2008

A very promising development in research on performance appraisal has been the increased emphasis on the cognitive processes that underlie raters' performance judgements. This shift in research emphasis was brought about by disillusionment with classical psychometric research that focused primarily on the rating instrument. For example, research has consistently shown that rating accuracy does not vary significantly, irrespective of the type of instrument used.
In‐tray Exercises and Assessment Centres: The Issue of Reliability
Authors: Smith David , Tarpey Tony
Published: March 2008

An assessment centre typically involves several trained assessors evaluating the performance of individuals working in a small group. This evaluation is based on a number of different techniques such as group discussions, in‐tray exercises and psychometric tests. The roots of the assessment centre method are usually traced to the Officer Selection Programmes used during the Second World War. These were further developed after the war both by the armed forces and the Civil Service who instituted the Civil Service Selection Board in 1945. The first commercial organisation to utilise the assessment centre method was AT & T in the US, and other large American firms soon followed suit. However, it is only in recent years that a number of British business organisations have committed themselves to the use of assessment centres.
Identifying Rewards for Strategic Thinking — A Survey of CEOs and Middle Managers
Authors: Thakur Manab , Hoffman Wilma
Published: March 2008

Recently, the senior author of this study conducted a series of seminars for top executives on “Strategic Management: A Problem of Implementation”. The series followed the traditional seminar format in that a brief theoretical introduction was followed by lengthy open‐ended discussions. The most critical problem relating to strategic management, as perceived by the participants, was how to create an environment that encourages and rewards middle managers for thinking strategically. One of the executives aptly summarised the reasons for rewarding middle management for strategic thinking:
A Long‐term Profit‐sharing Plan to Stimulate Motivation and Innovation among R&D Personnel
Authors: Schroeder Edward A. , Sherman J. Daniel , Elmore Robert C.
Published: March 2008

Technological innovation has been a highly significant engine of economic growth, and will continue to be a critical factor in the future. It plays a crucial role in maintaining competitiveness in international trade, in finding substitute goods and processes to replace those that are affected by increasing scarcities or are environmentally objectionable, and in ensuring the long‐term viability of firms in dynamic industries such as electronics, aerospace, defence, computers, pharmaceuticals and communications. These are issues of major importance in industrialised nations today.
Banking on Women: Selection Practices in the Finance Sector
Authors: Collinson David L.
Published: March 2008

This article reports on research designed to explore recruitment, training and promotion practices in the banking and finance industry. In recent years, the initiatives of the major banks in the area of equal opportunities have received substantial publicity. Recruitment patterns are now monitored, career break schemes have been introduced, equal opportunity training has been undertaken, policy guidelines have been specified and circulated, and managers with specific responsibility for equal opportunities have been appointed. The research findings suggest, however, that deep‐seated and self‐fulfilling vicious circles of sex discrimination, inherited from a paternalistic past, can still characterise the industry's selection practices.
Factors Contributing to the Implementation of Unbiased Job Evaluation Schemes
Authors: Ghobadian Abby , White Michael
Published: March 2008

The aim of this article is to identify some of the factors that contribute to the implementation of “unbiased” job evaluation schemes. The data used for the present analysis were collected as part of a major survey concerned with the extent and nature of job evaluation schemes in operation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Department of Employment. We focus particularly on the unbiasedness of pay between female and male workers.
The Manager's Work in Context: A Pilot Investigation of the Relationship between Managerial Role Demands and Role Performance
Authors: Hales Colin
Published: March 2008

The evolution of an increasingly systematic approach to management training, recruitment, appraisal and development has spawned an increasing interest in the nature of managerial jobs as both a reference point towards which training and development may be pertinently oriented and a yardstick against which managers' performance and potential may be appraised. Any discussion of managers' training needs, potential, performance strengths and weaknesses, incentives and rewards or development needs is predicated on some idea, perhaps implicit, of what managers should be doing and, hence, some assessment of the extent to which managers are doing or could do it. But whilst managerial performance and potential have been variously investigated and measured, the question of what managers should be doing in their respective jobs has not been so systematically addressed. Certainly, there has been increasing use of managerial job descriptions as formal statements of managers' responsibilities, tasks and, perhaps, detailed activities. However, these “descriptions” often contain a heavy dose of prescription, not to say exhortation, and tend to be non‐behavioural, abstract and open to considerable interpretation. In particular, it is often difficult to deduce unambiguously from them which observable behaviours or performance indicators would be consistent with “doing the job” or, indeed, doing it well. Moreover, the content of managerial job descriptions tends to derive from limited sources — either the manager's immediate boss's beliefs about what the manager should be doing, or a process of negotiation between manager and immediate boss. Both of these approaches are at odds with the general recognition that managers' jobs are neither static nor neatly circumscribed, but lie at the intersections between shifting networks of organisational relationships. In short, there has not, hitherto, been a serious attempt to evolve, through a process akin to triangulation, accurate descriptions of managerial jobs as they are constituted by the expectations, demands and requirements of the managers' network, and then to use those descriptions as a yardstick for training, development, recruitment, appraisal and reward.
Collaborating over Meanings in Management: Drucker Looks at Effectiveness
Authors: Hannabuss Stuart
Published: March 2008

In personal relationships, the clarification and negotiation of meanings is central. We live within a web of language and, by giving things names and through sharing and restructuring knowledge, we communicate with each other. In personnel management in organisations, therefore, the management of meaning lies at the heart of things. Such management entails the ordering and co‐ordinating of work done by ourselves and other people, as well as the mastery of complex social and technical patterns of thought and behaviour.
Personnel Managers As Social Engineers: Harmonisation And New Technology
Authors: Ribbens G.F.
Published: March 2008

This article concerns itself with one personnel management policy and explores its indirect link with the introduction of new technology. The implications of new manufacturing processes for harmonisation policies are discussed under two broad headings. The article will consider firstly how the introduction of new technology disturbs the social ecology of the organisation so that harmonisation is seen as a cure for this disturbance. Secondly new technology can be seen as indirectly enabling personnel managers to pursue harmonisation and single status policies.
The Contribution Of Personnel Specialists To Technology Related Organisational Change
Authors: Preece David A. , Harrison Michael R.
Published: March 2008

Two recent empirical studies of new technology adoption, one focusing on employee resourcing aspects and the other on employee relations, have concluded as follows: in many instances, it may well be “that on balance it is employment policies that are more likely to determine the way in which technological change is implemented” (rather than the other way around); and “it is more sensible to talk of the impact of industrial relations on technological change than the reverse…”. These findings are supportive of the work of Buchanan and Boddy, who have argued that “the changes to structure that accompany technological change reflect strongly and directly the expectations and objectives of management, and weakly and indirectly the characteristics of the technology”. We broadly concur with these views, and, given that there is potentially a good deal of space within which managers and others can decide and act when new technology is adopted, we focus on the part that personnel specialists have played here, on the basis of case studies both authors have conducted of new technology adoption and implementation. But first, we need to review what the relevant social science literature can tell us about this matter.
The Personnel Profession In The Age Of Management Accountancy
Authors: Armstrong Peter
Published: March 2008

Over the last decade, writings on the personnel profession have been pervaded by a sense of exclusion from the major management decisions. For example, Hunt and Lees report that human assets are rarely considered in decisions on company acquisition policy and that personnel managers are only involved in relatively peripheral aspects, such as the transfer of pension rights. Daniel found that personnel managers are normally excluded from decisions on re‐organisation which follow the introduction of new technology, although they are sometimes involved in other forms of organisational change. In fact even this latter involvement may be of a fairly passive character in view of Evans and Cowling's finding that personnel managers do not usually take an executive role in company re‐organisation.
Employee Relations Strategy In The Multi‐Divisional Company
Authors: Ahlstrand Bruce , Purcell John
Published: March 2008

In the last few years increasing attention has been paid to employee relations management within the multi‐divisional company. This has come about partly because of the recent growth in the incidence of such organisational structures within Britain and partly because of the growing realisation that employee relations management within multi‐divisional structures differs from other organisational structures; for instance the unitary or functionally organised company.
The Question Of Flexibility
Authors: MacInnes John
Published: March 2008

Flexibility has become a buzz word in the 1980s. It has been seen as crucial to improvements in productivity. It has been cited as a prominent example of how markets have been made to “work better” and how changed market forces surrounding firms have produced changed working arrangements within firms. In a number of articles, Atkinson and his colleagues have argued that employers have developed a new “flexible firm” manpower strategy. It has an inner “core” of stable, skilled employees with secure employment and good conditions. Here flexibility is qualitative. Traditional craft demarcations are relaxed and workers are trained to be multi‐skilled. Around the core is an outer layer of peripheral workers with poorer conditions more directly determined by the market and with security of employment dependent on how busy the firm is. Here flexibility is quantitative. In addition the firm may employ other still more peripheral groups: temporary workers on short‐term contracts, part‐time workers, trainees on special government schemes. Finally, the firm may depend less on direct employment. It can subcontract to specialised suppliers of services, to self‐employed workers, rely more on out‐sourcing and so on. The overall effect is to rely far more on the market to bring different aspects of production together, rather than to rely on management in a much larger production unit organising everything with its own workforce.
Personnel Strategy In Eleven Japanese Manufacturing Companies In The Uk
Authors: Khi Pang Ken , Oliver Nick
Published: March 2008

For some years now the contemporary management literature has been burgeoning with articles on Japanese management practice. There is debate as to how representative of reality some of these accounts actually are, which practices are crucial to business success and whether their transfer to a Western context is possible or desirable. These concerns are by no means limited to academic circles; many prominent Western companies with manufacturing operations in the UK are experimenting with elements of “Japanese” management practice, particularly within the motor industry.
Assessing The Impact Of Human Resource Accounting Information On Managerial Decisions: A Field Experiment
Authors: Ogan Pekin
Published: March 2008

The purpose of this article is to report the results of a field experiment designed to assess the impact of human resource accounting (HRA) information on layoff decisions made by managers. The study is a partial replication and extension of studies by Tomassini and Oliver and Flamholtz. The findings of this study are similar to the earlier studies; human resource accounting information does make a difference in personnel layoff decisions and enables managers to increase their level of confidence regarding decisions of this sort.
Developing Effective Managers: A Review Of The Issues And An Agenda For Research
Authors: Sisson Keith , Storey John
Published: March 2008

After a degree of retrenchment in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the late 1980s has brought a burst of enthusiasm and almost frenzied activity on the management education and development front. Consultants specialising in management development activities appear to be flourishing. The private sector management colleges offering “executive programmes” are enjoying a boom period. The MBA, having survived a period of intense scrutiny and criticisms earlier in the decade, appears to be going from strength to strength; scarcely a day goes by without an announcement by a university or polytechnic that it is launching a new MBA or a variant of an existing programme.
Costing Labour Turnover Through Simulation Processes: A Tool For Management
Authors: Dawson Chris
Published: March 2008

Over the years, there have been many words written on the subject of labour turnover. Many models have been put forward to understand the phenomenon and to provide a basis for its diagnosis and analysis. A variety of measures of labour turnover have been developed to assist in this analysis. Standard measures have concerned stability, survival and the propensity to leave relating to a wide range of factors either individual, organisational or societal. Most of these measures have been developed so that the user, usually the personnel specialist, can better appreciate the phenomenon and then improve the chances of diagnostic success in reducing labour wastage.
Information Technology In Management Education: Myths And Potentialities
Authors: Gunz Hugh
Published: March 2008

There is a curiously static quality to the debate about management education. For example, over 20 years ago Lord Franks was commissioned to report on whether one or more business schools should be founded in the UK. His recommendation (for two schools) was based on an analysis which referred to the need for more managers who were competent to respond to a rapidly changing environment, the accelerating pace of technological innovation, and the growing international competition facing British business. This list sounds nothing if not contemporary.
Seniority Promotion Systems — A Review
Authors: Dobson John R.
Published: March 2008

In reviewing the personnel management literature, this article argues that promotion has been a very neglected area, especially in Britain. Personnel management writers have tended to assume that most appointments are made by recruitment from the external labour market, even though many employers have shown a preference for the promotion of existing employees.
Discounts On Company Products Sold To Employees
Authors: Cowton Christopher J. , Wirth Andrew
Published: March 2008

Fringe, or “non‐wage”, benefits typically form an important part of the compensation package provided for employees, having grown considerably during the 20th century. One of the more traditional types of benefit, of interest in this article, is the provision of goods and services to employees at a price below that which they would normally expect to pay. More specifically, we are interested in the sale, at a discount, of a company's own products, rather than the provision of other goods and services, such as meals or private health insurance, at low rates made possible by company subsidy or the exploitation of its buying power or facilities. While a company may sometimes sell discontinued lines or damaged stock to its employees, our focus is on the sale of normal products. Our primary purpose is to show how, with an understanding of cost and revenue relationships, the problem of setting the rate of discount can be approached. The analysis draws on and extends previous work on shareholder concessions.
Employee Theft
Authors: Anderton Bob , Kiely Julia
Published: March 2008

Because of a lamentable lack of evidence, no‐one really knows how extensive theft is in economic terms in companies. Employee theft is estimated by the US Government to be $40 billion a year. The enormity of this figure can be put into perspective when compared to the estimate of $4 billion annually for street crime. Moreover, law enforcement officials maintain that more than 90 per cent of crime today occurs inside businesses rather than in the streets.
Corporate Strategy And Corporate Culture: The Management Of Change In The Uk Supermarket Industry
Authors: Ogbonna Emmanuel , Wilkinson Barry
Published: March 2008

Strategy and Culture Corporate strategy refers basically to a firm's relationships with its environment, its main objectives and its means of accomplishing them. Corporate culture, on the other hand, is a nebulous concept with almost as many definitions as there are “experts” on the subject. The working definition for this article is derived from anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn, who defined culture as “the set of habitual and traditional ways of thinking, feeling, and reacting that are characteristic of the ways a particular society meets its problems at a particular point in time”. Our working definition of corporate culture substitutes the word “organisation” for “society”.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

Because sets of music are not held by the British Library Document Supply Centre they can only be borrowed from other libraries by direct application to the library which holds a particular set. This is by no means as straightforward as locating and handling other material so the United Kingdom Branch of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML:UK) decided that there was a real need for a guide to help library staff (including those with no specialist musical knowledge) to obtain and supply sets of vocal music to their users as efficiently and effectively as possible. This guide, prepared by a team of specialist music librarians from public and academic libraries, has now been published as Sets of Vocal Music. A Librarian's Guide to Interlending Practice, Malcolm Lewis (Ed.), ISBN 0 9502339 6 X, at £7.50 and is available from the Music Section, British Library Document Supply Centre, Boston Spa, Wetherby, Yorkshire LS23 7BQ. Note that it is not a British Library publication and cheques should be made out to IAML.
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

A 97‐page directory, It's my City. Project Directory, BBC TV North West in association with the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, ISBN 1–870053–16–8, supported by Volkswagen, and with a foreword by HRH the Prince of Wales, was produced as a resource booklet for the BBC Television Series “It's my City” which looked at the work being undertaken by people in the UK's largest cities to improve their own environment. It gives short descriptions of hundreds of projects countrywide, lists useful organisations, and it is available free from BBC TV North West, New Broadcasting House, Oxford Road, Manchester M60 1FA.
Review
Authors: Pugh Simon
Published: March 2008

This collection of 11 papers seeks, inter alia, to recover technical services staff from “invisible anonymity”. The image of libraries and librarians is a leitmotiv in all the essays and they challenge us to consider that the most stereotypical librarians, cataloguers and indexers, have actually done more with technology and created greater access to information than any other group of staff. “They have furthered and expanded the mission of the library — making it more than a repository for books and serials — converting it into an information centre where data of all kinds is available, regardless of its form.”
Columns
Authors: Lacey Bryant Sue , Cheshire David F. , Bunch Allan , Fleming Edwin
Published: March 2008

“‘Personable’ is management‐ese for ‘crumpet’”. Thus observed an old friend late last Sunday; much too late indeed for the subsequent dialogue about equal opportunities, in which we drew heavily upon anecdotal evidence, experiential learning and totally unsubstantiated surmise. What better cocktail for an evening's imbibing, and where better than the pages of NLW to air one of the hidden agendas of professional life?
Alerts
Authors: Ashworth Wilfred
Published: March 2008

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 1990 as International Literacy Year. Activities in the UK are being handled and coordinated by ALBSU, the Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit, funded by grants from the Department of Education and Science and the Welsh Office. A 16‐page booklet, obtainable from ALBSU at Kingsbourne House, 229–231 High Holborn, London WC1V 7DA (01 405 4017) gives some uncomfortable statistics about the low levels of literacy and numeracy in the UK and describes ALBSU's aims and plans for Literacy Year, with details of local initiatives for activities. There are posters and stickers for libraries and others wishing to become involved in the improvement of literacy.