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Offers many new ideas in the field of marketing, and argues that marketing is a complex, strategic thought process, based on an exchange of customer‐related values. A new model of need and want is offered, and developed into a strategic framework which considers the functional and perceptual nature of what is loosely termed “the delivery of care”. Argues that, in marketing terms, strategic focus in the NHS can only be achieved by getting close to the mind of the customer.

Offers some new and different insights into the field of management development. Begins by inviting the reader to consider that bottom‐line profit results are influenced by the behaviour of, and attention to, both internal and external customers. An example is then used to explain how the context for management development hinges on three key organizational factors, namely culture, consultation and commitment. Links this contextual framework to two important business profiles, namely the business strategy profile and the business planning profile, in order to locate the management development context. Reinforces the view that training initiatives such as “customer care” programmes only really work when the context is not only explained to staff, but that such initiatives are finite, measurable in results terms, and carry customer‐related benefits which affect the profitability of the business. Argues that unplanned staff development initiatives can militate against real progress being made, simply because of the lack of contextual integration.

Advances the case for a new marketing paradigm: a paradigm that is driven by the needs of the market, rather than the organization. Examines the notion of targeting, from the perspective of the buyer, a concept labelled by the author as “buyer disposition” ‐ the process undertaken by buyers when sourcing a product or service. Argues that the disposition of the buyer towards a product or service, or supplier, during the sourcing process can be represented by five criteria, termed the “five Vs”: value, viability, volume, variety and virtue. Proposes that the five Vs can be used in conjunction with the marketing mix to enable a supplier or provider to achieve a more detailed understanding of the buying process, and ultimately of product/service adoption. Argues that a fundamental understanding of buyers’ needs and wants, through the eyes of the buyer, will help to generate a stronger and more strategic focus on the achievement of marketing objectives.

Advances the case for the use of one particular business planning technique within a National Health Service Trust. At the present time, NHS trusts are required to write strategic direction statements. Evidence suggests that these documents provide an accurate account of past performance and present position of the trust, but do not express the future position intended to be achieved. These documents also tend to be lengthy and lack strategic focus, which means that they are not helpful to managers who want clear organizational goals and objectives to which to work. Attempts to address the difficulties associated with determining how existing skills and resources can be used as the platform for future growth strategies by using the Ansoff Matrix and SWOT Analysis planning tools, given the external changes in the marketplace. Also attempts to shed light on some of the important links between business strategy and management development by extending planning theory into practice.

Theory and practice indicate that managers experience considerable difficulty and exhibit limited rationality as they attempt to grasp, process, and understand the often ambiguous requirements of managerial tasks. Argues the efficacy of mental imagery and visualization as a means to overcome such human limitation. Notes the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of mental imagery and applies them to the “episodic performance situations” inherent in the reality of management practice. Imagery techniques allow managers to create and manipulate actively a much more information‐rich and thorough projection of the once ambiguous, abstract management scenario. Discusses some example uses of mental imagery in the steps of the strategic planning model, in decision‐making applications, and in organizational communication. Provides some guidelines for developing effective mental imagery scripts and outlines important considerations for their use in organizations.

The role of managerial cognitive processes has so far been largely neglected within strategy research which examines organizational decline and recovery. Proposes that heuristics used by managers such as: availability, representativeness, adjustment and anchoring may contribute to the declining performance of the organization. Suggests that mental imagery could be used to adjust these heuristics and change the cognitive processes of the existing managers instead of replacing the top management team in declining organizations. This change in cognitive processes could help increase the ability of a declining firm to improve its performance.

Organizational researchers studying well-being – as well as organizations themselves – often place much of the burden on employees to manage and preserve their own well-being. Missing from this discussion is how – from a human resources management (HRM) perspective – organizations and managers can directly and positively shape the well-being of their employees. The authors use this review to paint a picture of what organizations could be like if they valued people holistically and embraced the full experience of employees’ lives to promote well-being at work. In so doing, the authors tackle five challenges that managers may have to help their employees navigate, but to date have received more limited empirical and theoretical attention from an HRM perspective: (1) recovery at work; (2) women’s health; (3) concealable stigmas; (4) caregiving; and (5) coping with socio-environmental jolts. In each section, the authors highlight how past research has treated managerial or organizational support on these topics, and pave the way for where research needs to advance from an HRM perspective. The authors conclude with ideas for tackling these issues methodologically and analytically, highlighting ways to recruit and support more vulnerable samples that are encapsulated within these topics, as well as analytic approaches to study employee experiences more holistically. In sum, this review represents a call for organizations to now – more than ever – build thriving organizations.

Professional touching behavior (PTB), defined as intentional touching behavior that occurs between organizational members and that falls within the boundaries of appropriateness and professionalism in the workplace, is prevalent in organizations. Scholars from multiple disciplines, including human resources researchers, have acknowledged the importance of physical contact for facilitating interpersonal communication and relationship-building. However, PTB may not only elicit positive reactions from those who receive it but also negative reactions as well, with implications for social dynamics in organizations. PTB can, on the one hand, fulfill employees’ desires for interpersonal connection; at the same time, such physical contact at work can represent a threat to employees’ health. To explain the nature and implications of these divergent effects of receiving PTB, the authors draw upon sociometer theory and behavioral immune system (BIS) theory to model the emotional, cognitive, and physiological processes via which, and the conditions under which, receiving such behavior will result in socially functional responses and prompt subsequent prosocial behavior, and when PTB will be perceived as a health risk and prompt withdrawal behavior. The theoretical framework of this chapter expands our conceptual understanding of the consequences of interpersonal physical contact at work and has important human resources management (HRM) implications for organizational managers.

Constructive deviance has received increasing attention across the last 20 years. However, because the distinction between constructive and traditional forms of deviance (i.e., destructive) is based on the intent behind the behaviors, it can be difficult to determine which acts are constructive. As an umbrella construct consisting of several forms of deviant acts (e.g., whistle-blowing, employee voice, necessary evils), research into constructive deviance has largely remained focused on the individual behaviors to date. While advancements have been made, this focus has limited the consideration of an overarching understanding of constructive deviance in the workplace. Further, constructs like constructive deviance that straddle the bounds between beneficial and detrimental necessitate the exploration into their antecedents as determined by the employees (i.e., apples), their environments (e.g., barrels), or some combination of the two. The author seeks to advance the research in constructive deviance by proposing a testable model. In which, the author develops an interactionist perspective of the antecedents to reposition constructive deviance as the acts of good employees in restrictive or negative environments. In doing so, the author considers how various aspects of individuals, their organizational environments, and the influence of their leaders interact. The author then develops a multi-stakeholder approach to the outcomes of constructive deviance to consider how the various parties (i.e., organization, coworkers, customers) are expected to respond and how these responses impact the more distal outcomes as well as the likelihood of engaging in future constructive deviance.

The Minister of Technology, Mr Anthony Wedgwood Benn, in agreement with the Secretary of State for Defence, has appointed Captain W. E. Morris, R.N., as Director, Royal Naval Aircraft and Helicopter Development.