Search results

Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

The meaning of the term “professionals” in industrial management is discussed as well as its appropriateness. The division of loyalties between a manager's profession and company is not as apparent as some think. In computer management the work, far from becoming more professionalised, has become increasingly deskilled. The “social distance” (Johnson's term) between computer experts and other managers has been reduced and the notion of a “computer professional” is something of a myth.

The first generation of large mainframe computers certainly acted as a centralising force within companies. The arrival of cheaper minicomputers and the development of online terminals to mainframes had a “decentralising” effect in the sense that machines could be purchased and operated at departmental/site level.

In the western world the vehicle industry is declining yet Volvo, now the largest industrial enterprise in Scandinavia, has increased both its sales volume and market shares. What is the secret?

New information technology is having an increasing impact on industrialised countries. The workplace responses from both sides of industry are examined. While British management and industries are somewhat hesitant in responding to new technology, the British public is very “technologically minded”. This suggests that Britain is moving faster “in the right direction” than any other nation (bar Holland) and could be a “winner” again by the year 2000.

A case study, examining the installation of a micro network by a timber group to process their accounting operations, highlights the danger of using personal contracts to set up such a system. It also stresses that the plethora of available computer literature confuses managers with limited computer knowledge and leads directly to the “personal contracts” method of business. The need to approach computer purchases in the same light as any other business purchase is paramount.

There is much discussion of “distributive processing” in computer management circles, but little agreement as to what the term means. Three conditions that must be met for distributive processing to exist are suggested, and it is shown (through two case studies) how different companies may move towards distributive processing in different ways. Two main routes, via distributed and decentralised processing, are identified, and it is suggested (using Mintzberg′s work) that the route a company takes is significantly influenced by the nature and structure of the organisation.

Reports on computer innovation in companies suggest that, in general, awareness lags behind application, and that there is considerable variation between functional areas. Why this should be is considered and five key factors are focused on which suggest that different specialisms lack awareness for different reasons. It is concluded that all managers must move from “ignorance” to “omniscience”.

So swift and dramatic have been technological changes over recent decades that the significant accompanying organisational changes can easily be overlooked. The author considers the effect that such changes have had on larger companies, particularly those that have established specialist computer services departments.