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A major objective in the development of new systems is to fulfil customer requirements in a cost‐effective manner. Cost‐effectiveness relates to the measure of a system in terms of mission fulfilment (the degree to which it performs its intended function) and total life‐cycle cost. Experience has indicated that these factors are significantly influenced by logistics. Implementation of the concept of Integrated Logistic Support (ILS) is essential in order to ensure a cost‐effective product output. The relationships between ILS and cost‐effectiveness are discussed.

Many systems in use today are not performing as intended, nor are they cost effective in terms of their operation and support. Manufacturing systems, in particular, often operate at less than full capacity, productivity is low, and the costs of producing products are high. In dealing with the aspect of cost, experience has indicated that a large percentage of the total cost of doing business is due to maintenance‐ related activities in the factory; i.e. the costs associated with maintenance labour and materials and the cost due to production losses. Further, these costs are likely to increase even more in the future with the added complexities of factory equipment through the introduction of new technologies, automation, the use of robots, and so on. In response to maintenance and support problems in the typical factory environment, the Japanese introduced the concept of total productive maintenance (TPM), an integrated life cycle approach to factory maintenance and support. TPM methods and techniques have been successfully implemented in Japan through the past decade, and more recently in the USA. Inherent within the TPM concept are the aspects of enhancing the overall effectiveness (efficiency) of factory equipment, and providing an optimal group organizational approach in the accomplishment of system maintenance activities. Both the equipment and the organizational sides of the spectrum need to be addressed in fulfilling the objectives of TPM. It is believed that while many successes have been realized in structuring organizations to respond better to the maintenance challenge, very little progress has been made relative to the influence of equipment design for minimal maintenance and support (i.e. the incorporation of reliability, maintainability, and supportability characteristics in design). Briefly addresses this aspect of the problem, identifies some design analysis/evaluation tools that can be used, and recommends an approach for the continuous improvement of manufacturing systems in terms of operation and support.

The role of engineering asset management (AM) system as a controlling element within organizations is not well defined or understood. The purpose of this paper is to include the role of AM in the organizational strategy making, an issue that has not received sufficient attention. The focus of the paper is on how such role is maintained by the AM system activities, relationships and mechanisms over the asset-related activities of an organization.

As an approach, a reference framework is required that allows research of this area. By combining a number of possible views of an organizational management system a comprehensive view can be established. A review of literature was used to establish a framework identifying the AM system as an integrated part of the organization's management system.

A framework is established that focuses on planning and controlling asset-related activities by involving a set of activities, relationships between these activities and feedback mechanisms. A system functional model is proposed integrating the established framework as part of the control of the enterprise system.

The framework and system functional model are established on a theoretical basis and practical experience requiring applicability to be proven by further research.

Asset managers in capital intensive organizations can utilize the framework and the system functional model in order to study their AM system, its relationships and to consider how it may be improved.

Exploring a holistic and relatively new concept.

In the last few years, money, energy and labour costs have strongly risen as well as social claims for a better life and work conditions. In this situation, new strategies are required in order to restore better efficiency conditions and cut down costs.

This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of academic scholarship on the development and practice of experienced managers.

Semi-structured interviews with experienced managers, modelled on the critical incident technique. “Intertextuality” and framework analysis technique are used to examine whether the use of academic scholarship is a sub-conscious phenomenon.

Experienced managers make little direct use of academic scholarship, using it only occasionally to provide retrospective confirmation of decisions or a technique they can apply. However, academic scholarship informs their practice in an indirect way, their understanding of the “gist” of scholarship comprising one of many sources which they synthesise and evaluate as part of their development process.

Managers and management development practitioners should focus upon developing skills of synthesising the “gist” of academic scholarship with other sources of data, rather than upon the detailed remembering, understanding and application of specific scholarship, and upon finding/providing the time and space for that “gisting” and synthesis to take place.

The paper addresses contemporary concerns about the appropriateness of the material delivered on management education programmes for management development. It is original in doing this from the perspective of experienced managers, and in using intertextual analysis to reveal not only the direct but also the indirect uses of they make of such scholarship. The finding of the importance of understanding the “gist” rather than the detail of academic scholarship represents a key conceptual innovation.

To determine how the correlational structure of emotion differs for individuals age 60 and above, compared to those under age 60, and to discuss the profound implications these differences may have for the experience and management of emotion.

Structural equation modeling and shortest path analysis of emotion items from the General Social Survey (GSS)’s (1996) emotions module.

Some positive and negative emotion pairs are more distant for individuals over age 60, while others are in fact closer. This variability leads to differences in available shortest paths between emotions, especially when emotional transitions require segueing through intermediary feelings. The segueing emotions most readily available to those over 60 are limited to the poles of affective meaning, whereas those used by ones under age 60 are more variable. The majority of negative emotions are more tightly correlated, whereas the majority of positive emotions are less so, among those over age 60.

Although the measures are limited to 18 of the 19 emotions recorded by the GSS, and are based on self-report data regarding feelings felt over a period of seven days, these results suggest that attempts at intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion management may differ depending up the age of the actor/object.

Addresses the need for more nuanced analyses of emotional experience that goes moves beyond simple frequencies. Also suggests potential bridges between sociological and psychological approaches to the study of emotion.

Purpose – The aim of this study is to determine the impact of feeling bored on managers' decision-making in the digital age under conditions of increased uncertainty by examining the role of personality trait openness and empirically testing such relationships within the context of retail middle managers.

Design/methodology/approach – Feeling bored was defined within a broader Decision-Making Process Model, which included the personality trait openness. An empirical study with retail middle managers was conducted to examine the relationships between feeling bored and decision-making competence (DMC). Regression models were fit to test whether feeling bored affects DMC and whether the associations were moderated by personality trait openness.

Findings – In the relationship between feeling bored and DMC, the moderating role of the personality trait openness was established. Results showed that feeling bored has a significant negative association with middle managers' confidence levels and risk perceptions when making decisions. Results also provided evidence that the learning component of personality trait openness plays a moderating role in the relationship between feeling bored and DMC. Most notably, the learning component of personality trait openness neutralizes the negative effects of feeling bored on managers' ability to remain appropriately confident when making decisions. In addition, the learning and inquisitive components temper the positive association between mood excited and risk perceptions. Limitations to the study are outlined.

Practical implications – Since trait openness (specifically its learning component) benefits decision-making contexts, it makes trait openness a worthy criterion to include when screening aspirant retail middle managers. The benefits of trait openness (specifically its learning component) for middle managers and their teams (especially when they are feeling bored) are indicated, since learning neutralizes the negative effect feeling bored has on appropriate confidence levels in retail management decision-making contexts.

State ownership has been common especially in industries with restricted competition. In Russia, state-controlled firms represent around 41 percent of the market value of all listed firms (Deloitte, 2015). Yet, there is a significant gap in the literature regarding the effects of various forms of government control in listed firms. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by exploring the impact of the complexity of state ownership and competition on the performance of Russian listed firms.

The sample consists of data for 72 firms (360 firm-years) in the Russian MOEX broad market index during 2011–2015. The complexity of state ownership is captured by studying forms of state control including majority/minority, direct/indirect, federal/regional, mixed structures and golden shares.

The authors find significant differences in performance relating to different forms of state ownership. State control is negatively related to firm valuation and the sales/employees ratio. Performance is weakest when state ownership takes the form minority, regional or direct ownership. State control through golden shares typically outperforms other state-controlled firms. The authors find indications of employment prioritization beyond the economical optimum. In addition, the relation between state ownership and profitability becomes positive in sectors where state firms appear to enjoy lower competition.

While the effects of state ownership have been studied on many markets, there is a lack of studies on the effects of different forms, or the complexity, of state ownership beyond direct and indirect ownership. The authors contribute to the literature on the performance effects of state ownership by studying a multitude of forms of governmental ownership as well as the role of competition in Russia. Especially the profitability of state-controlled firms is significantly affected by industry characteristics. Implications of the results are discussed both from firm and policy maker perspectives.