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This paper focuses on the concept of fit as a topic of research. The concept of fit has been viewed as an internal consistency among key strategic decisions or the alignment between strategic choices and critical contingencies with the environment (external), organization (internal), or both (external and internal). A number of research perspectives or approaches related to fit are presented.Research design problems are discussed: definition of terms, theoretical issues, and empirical issues. Emphasis is on how key variables or dimensions of fit are defined and measured in research.

A six-celled matrix is proposed as a conceptual scheme to distinguish different perspectives of fit and to portray congruence relationships more accurately. The matrix includes three common dimensions: strategy, organization, and environment. The matrix also suggests two levels of strategy—corporate or business—and three domains of fit—external, internal, or integrated. These suggest different research perspectives for the study of fit. Examples from the literature are provided to illustrate and support this conceptual scheme. Finally, implications for management and furtherstudy are outlined.

Presents a personalized biographical note of reminiscences and reflections about Stafford Beer. Contains detailed references to his early days in cybernetics, his work at Sigma, a consultancy firm in science and general management, and the important phase in Beer's life in Chile. Looks at its aftermath and comments on his activities in recent years. Discusses Beer's contributions to science together with ethics and his sense of mission. Includes notes on the subject's approach to mysticism, poetry, and his artistic creativity. Lists some criticisms and a brief concluding summary.

Transmission routes that may contribute to the overall picture of campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis were explored by analysing the outside surfaces of 300 retail raw chicken packs for prevalence and enumeration of Campylobacter using a MPN/PCR assay and Salmonella using a MPN/visual immunoassay procedure. The surfaces of 72 packs (24.0 per cent) were externally contaminated with C. jejuni; 32 with counts of <6 MPN/pack and the remaining 40 with counts ranging from 6 to >2,200 MPN/pack. One whole chicken sample (0.3 per cent) was contaminated with S. Tennessee at <6 MPN/pack. The surfaces of offal packs were most contaminated with Campylobacter, with 18 per cent having a count of ≥100 MPN/pack in comparison with chicken portion packs (4/200, 2 per cent) and whole bird packs (1/50, 2 per cent). These observations suggest that packs could be a source of cross‐contamination, however, the contribution of this outer surface contamination pathway to foodborne illness can only be properly determined by development of a validated risk assessment model.

This paper is an extension of the previous study published by Chan and Boer (2016). It seeks to explore deeper into the subject matter, to better aid ex-offenders’ reintegration effort back into society. The purpose of this paper is to expand the sample size of participants from 12 to 25, and to further ascertain any emerging factors (also known as predictors) that influence the reintegration process of ex-offenders in the hope of further reducing recidivism rate.

The study adopted a qualitative research framework where attention was devoted to understanding the experiences of 25 formerly incarcerated males − 12 participants were from the initial study, and now extended with another 13 participants to deepen the scope of the study. All participants who took part in the study had been out of prison for at least five years and had been incarcerated in the prison of Singapore more than once but are no longer on parole.

This study indicated three other new factors that emerged with the additional 13 participants, along with those seven different factors from the previous study that influenced the success of reintegration. These Ten Reintegration Assessment Predictors are critical as they further increase the probability of success of ex offender reintegration to society upon release. The combination of these ten predictors reported are essential for the reintegration process, and when put together, they formed the reintegration model.

A limitation to this research was that only two halfway houses took part in the process. Both of which are faith-based halfway houses. The previous study had 12 participants who took part in the research. Despite of attempts to enlarge the number of participants in the study, only an additional 13 new participants volunteered to take part.

From the themes that emerged from the previous study, critical factors for reintegration of offenders were ascertained. With the addition of three factors identified, it would further strengthen the factors needed to increase the success of reintegration of offenders. Resources could be channelled appropriately to strengthen the factors identified that are critical for the work of reintegrating offenders through their transition from incare to aftercare. Eventually, this is done to decrease the rate of recidivism and reoffending.

Decreasing the rate of recidivism and reoffending is always in the interest of every government. However, it is often not an easy task since most incarcerated persons will encounter numerous challenges after their release as they seek to reintegrate into the community. Under tremendous stress and pressure when facing the challenges, the cycle of reoffending perpetuates which eventually affects the rate of recidivism. This would adversely impact both individuals and the community they are in.

In Singapore, various initiatives to introduce new programmes and alternative sentencing options were initiated by the government to lower the rate of recidivism. Following from the previous study of 12 individuals who had successfully reintegrated back into the community, seven factors were identified to influence reintegration. With the addition of 13 participants to the research, three other factors further emerged and the study now concluded with ten factors deemed critical to strengthen the reintegration of offenders. From the study, a reintegration model for offenders was formulated.

To report on the development of a new, more balanced approach to managing the performance of key employees in project‐based organizations.

Following the establishment of the role‐based criteria for performance excellence through focus groups and subsequent factor analysis, performance profiles of a range of superior and average performing managers were compiled. These were based on behavioural event interviews (BEIs) from which job, person and role‐based aspects were derived. The final performance model was validated through assessments with an expert panel of HRM specialists.

This research has developed and demonstrated the potential of a more holistic approach to managing performance which includes reference to the job requirements, personal behaviours and the role context. It was found to be particularly suitable to measuring managers' performance in dynamic team‐based environments.

The empirical work upon which the new performance framework is based was derived from a limited study within two construction organizations. Future work will explore the applicability of the approach within other organizations and industries.

Applying this framework to key HRM activities has the potential to improve the ways in which companies manage, develop and retain their key managerial resources. Notably, they should be able to engender a more participative, developmental approach to the HRM function, thereby helping to ensure sustained performance improvements in the future and improved resource usage effectiveness.

The paper presents the basis for a completely new performance management paradigm which embeds managerial competence/competency in a way which more accurately reflects the realities of managerial practice.

What is it about academia anyway? We profess to hate it, spend endless amounts of time complaining about it, and yet we in academia will do practically anything to stay. The pay may be low, job security elusive, and in the end, it's not the glamorous work we envisioned it would be. Yet, it still holds fascination and interest for us. This is an article about American academic fiction. By academic fiction, I mean novels whosemain characters are professors, college students, and those individuals associated with academia. These works reveal many truths about the higher education experience not readily available elsewhere. We learn about ourselves and the university community in which we work.

The chapters in this volume focus on how university partnerships for pre-service and teacher development apply novel ideas to improve teacher quality in global communities. The purpose of these programs is to improve education systems for all participants. Case studies in this volume present a broad and in-depth review of partnerships that apply novel ideas to transform organizations. This chapter provides an overview to this volume by discussing important elements of teacher quality by defining teacher quality characteristics, shared collaboration, and providing ideas for professional development agendas.

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.

Through a survey of 200 employees working in five of the thirty establishments analysed in previous research about the microeconomic effects of reducing the working time (Cahier 25), the consequences on employees of such a reduction can be assessed; and relevant attitudes and aspirations better known.

In 1992 Joe Jackson, former manager of DuPont Motorsports for twelve years, was angling to get the paint business at Rick Hendrick's sixty-five automotive dealerships across the United States. In order to win the Hendrick car dealership paint contract, Jackson and Hendrick met to discuss the possibility of sponsoring Hendrick's new team and rookie NASCAR driver—Jeff Gordon. As a result of that meeting, DuPont signed on to be the primary sponsor. By 2006 Gordon was a NASCAR superstar, and the DuPont logo—viewed by millions—was a household brand. While this level of exposure was exciting for the company, executives at DuPont could not help but wonder if they were fully leveraging this tremendous marketing opportunity. Gordon was on fire—but was DuPont maximizing the heat? The DuPont-NASCAR case tasks students and executives with designing a creative marketing campaign to activate the NASCAR sponsorship opportunity and maximize value beyond conventional sponsorship marketing. This open-ended challenge encourages students and executives to think outside of the traditional marketing tactics typically employed by business-to-consumer (B2C) NASCAR sponsors. Additionally, the nature of DuPont creates the need to develop a multi-dimensional plan that caters to a breadth of brands. Beyond designing a new marketing campaign, a key objective of the case is to focus students and executives on designing metrics for measurement of the return on investment (ROI) into a campaign plan. As a first step, it is important to clearly articulate the campaign, business strategy, and key business objectives mapped to the strategy.

Students and executives learn how to design a marketing campaign for measurement. Specifically, they are tasked with designing a new marketing campaign for DuPont to activate the DuPont/NASCAR relationship. Students and executives must define metrics for measurement and learn to use a balanced score card approach. Since the DuPont sponsorship of Hendrick Motorsports is a brand campaign built to reach the DuPont business-to-business (B2B) customer, both non-financial and financial metrics are used. The key to success is to have a clearly defined sponsorship marketing strategy and business objectives. The case teaches students and executives how to define key metrics and articulate a methodology for campaign measurement pre and post to quantify the return on investment (ROI).