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The purpose of this paper was to determine the value and impact of the Leadership Development – Coaching and Mentoring Programme at Counties Manukau Health and understand how the skills gained are applied.

Mixed-methods approach including surveys of programme participants and senior staff and semi-structured interviews with programme participants.

The survey response rate was 24.4 per cent for programme participants and 30 per cent for senior staff. Eight programme participants participated in semi-structured interviews. Of the 70 programme participants, 69 utilised their learning from the programme; 45 of 70 changed their approach to managing staff; and 40 of 68 programme participants reported that meeting with peers for triad group coaching was the most challenging aspect of the programme. Key themes identified through interviews included: working with others; not owning others’ problems; professional support and development; coaching and mentoring; future participants.

The majority of participants changed their leadership behaviours as a result of the programme, which has resulted in improved communication, a more supportive culture and distributed leadership. These changes contribute to better patient care.

There is a paucity of evidence in the literature about the impact of coaching and mentoring programme on leadership development and how the skills gained in such programmes are applied in practice in a healthcare context. This evaluation helps to address that gap.

Interactions between customers and service providers are ubiquitous. Some of these encounters are routine, but many are characterized by conflict and intense emotions. This chapter introduces a new theory, service encounter needs theory (SENT) that aims to elucidate the mechanisms through which service encounter behaviors affect outcomes for customers and employees. Evidence is presented for the preeminence within these encounters of eight psychosocial needs, and propositions are advanced regarding likely antecedents to fulfillment and violation of these needs. Emotional experiences and displays are viewed as important consequences of need fulfillment and violation, as are numerous cognitive, behavioral, and health-related outcomes.

This paper presents an interactionistic perspective that proposes three hypotheses: (1) Cultures have a life of their own: they change due to interactions in the cultural ecology; (2) Different modalities of a culture change at different paces and to different extents; (3) There appears to be an isomorphism between economic performance and cultural change. Should a cultural explanation of the Asian “growth” and “fall” be sought, it would be more meaningful to link economic performance to changes in Confucianism than to the static perception of that tradition. Managers should give more attention to the processes and impacts of cultural change in organizational behaviors in, especially, emerging markets.

The “Peter Principle” is contradicted here. Alternative methods of decision making and research are examined and it is concluded that many organisations have untapped reservoirs of skill and experience which, if utilised, could increase the talent available to companies.

Governmental agencies are interested in improving the quality of their service delivery. One tool that has been used to manage their performance is performance based reward schemes (PBRS). The aim of this paper is to examine the degree to which a sample of these plans, used within the Botswana public sector, is customer-focused. Being more customer-focused should deliver improved public sector service quality.

This study carried out an evaluation of a sample of Botswana PBRS plans, using multidimensional content analysis undertaken by four expert “evaluators”, to identify the degree to which the PBRS were customer-focused.

Classifying PBRS plans as being customer-focused was difficult, as the plans had few objectives related to customer experiences or outcomes. Those that did had poorly defined performance objectives, their targets were not specific, or there was limited explicit role responsibility. Thus, PBRS plans seemed not to focus on improving customer outcomes.

The PBRS evaluated do not appear to be customer-focused and, thus, would have limited ability to improve customer experiences (i.e. public sector quality). Further research is needed in other countries to see whether these results are generalisable, and whether service levels vary with more customer-focused PBRS plans.

The results suggest improvements that could be adopted by organisations seeking to make their PBRS schemes customer-focused.

Extensive research suggests that PBRS plans can be used to improve service quality. Most of the studies have focused on the employees' perspectives and have not looked at the degree of customer orientation within the plans.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

The chapters in this volume are drawn from the best contributions to the 2008 International Conference on Emotion and Organizational Life (Emonet VI), complemented by additional invited chapters. The 2008 conference was hosted by INSEAD, beautifully situated within the picturesque surrounds of Fontainebleau, France. We acknowledge INSEAD and especially local hosts Prof. Quy Huy and Ms. Marie-Francoise Piquerez for ensuring a flawlessly organized and superbly resourced conference experience. We also acknowledge the conference paper reviewers (see appendix) whose time and expertise are such an essential part of ensuring the high quality of the Emonet conference and the book series Research on Emotion in Organizations. In the year following publication of this volume, the 2010 conference (Emonet VII) will be held in Canada, and Volume 6 of Research on Emotion in Organizations will be available in print. Readers interested in learning more about the conferences or the Emonet listserv should check the Emonet website at http://www.uq.edu.au/emonet/.

This introductory article of the Special Issue on ‘Men, Masculinities and Leadership’ provides some necessary background information for the other articles in the issue. It outlines major social changes that have contributed to the disassociation of leadership and maleness, and the more general reappraisal of men's leadership. The major focus of the article is a review of literature on leadership seen in terms of it being the theories and practices of men. The article continues with discussions of the nature of feminism, and feminist challenges to men and leadership, and the crisis of men and masculinities; and concludes with men's responses to these changes, in men's groups, and mixed group and organisational contexts.