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A high level of low compliance with continuing professional development (CPD) among construction professionals in developing countries is well acknowledged in existing literature. In spite of several interventions in CPD implementation, reforms and approaches in recent times, there does not seem to be an immediate improvement. This development calls for a re-think among stakeholders to adopt strategies that can yield the best results in uptake. Though several strategies have been proposed to potentially result in CPD uptake and compliance among construction professionals, these possible strategies have not been considered in an integrated manner. This study aims at identifying CPD delivery and implementation strategies that can significantly contribute to compliance and uptake among construction professionals in South Africa.

Using a quantitative research design and a questionnaire survey, this study sought to identify effective CPD implementation strategies for construction professionals from a plethora of suggested ones that can engender increased uptake and compliance.

By using multiple regression analysis, the results revealed “flexible e-learning platforms”, “standardisation of CPD model and formats by professional institutions”, “inclusion of CPD in tertiary curriculum to easily understand its importance” and “encouraging practices to have frequent in-house training sessions sharing experiences” as the most significant strategies that are likely to improve CPD uptake and compliance.

Against the backdrop of the need to increase CPD uptake and compliance among professionals through flexible integrated approach comes to the fore the understanding and knowledge of the strategies that can engender CPD uptake and compliance among construction professionals in the construction industry in South Africa.

The purpose of this paper is to present a model to assist school leaders in managing the professional development activities of teachers. The model illustrates the important role of principals in promoting continuing professional development (CPD), chiefly by cultivating a collaborative learning culture and formulating policy.

This study tested a framework based on the input of 103 CPD coordinators in Hong Kong, who participated in a quasi-experimental design questionnaire survey. Factor analysis and reliability tests were applied to verify the constructed validity and reliability of a self-developed instrument. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was then applied to confirm the model.

The result of the SEM shows that principal support has a predictive effect on CPD policy and a collaborative learning culture, while the effectiveness of a CPD plan is predicted by collaborative culture and management strategy.

This study contributes theoretically to existing literature and practically to school leaders, by supplying a model for managing teacher CPD.

This paper aims to present the results of a qualitative study of the continuing professional development (CPD) activities of academic librarians in Ireland. The benefits of CPD, the methods and strategies of engagement, and the role played by professional organisations are examined, with particular emphasis on the attitudes of librarians towards CPD.

In total, 25 academic librarians were interviewed in depth from four universities in the greater Dublin region. A qualitative approach was chosen to allow the collection of data which was rich and informative.

Academic librarians engage in CPD in multiple ways, both formal and informal, but it falls primarily to the individual librarian to find, participate in, or even create such opportunities, which raises the question of personal motivation and drive. Support from employers and professional organisations is key. Barriers to participation in CPD include time, financial restraints and lack of encouragement from employers.

The authors are cognisant of the inherent limitations in using interviews as a data collection method, including the possibility of bias.

Academic librarians need to exploit innovative and accessible modes of CPD if they wish to navigate the changes occurring within the profession. Professional library organisations must also reinforce their support of their members in this endeavour. Incentives to participate should build on librarians' personal motivation and job satisfaction, likelihood of career progression, and deepening working relationships with non-LIS colleagues.

To date there has been no comprehensive Irish study which has addressed the question of how academic librarians engage with the professional body of knowledge through pursuing professional development activities. This research seeks to present an Irish perspective, but also explores issues which are globally applicable within the profession.

Reports a study which investigated the attitudes of information and library staff in two parts of the ILS sector, the business and the academic, to continuing professional development. Interviews were held with 17 ILS workers, including training/development staff. Experience of in‐house and external CPD activities, attitudes to professional organisations and CPD, views on CPD and career development, and on the Library Association’s Framework for Continuing Professional Development, were among the areas explored. Attitudes of staff to the introduction of a compulsory CPD scheme for the ILS sector were also investigated. The findings show that ILS staff have a considerable commitment to both the principles and practices of CPD. However, very few staff reported using the Library Association’s Framework for Continuing Professional Development, and levels of support for the idea of a compulsory scheme of CPD for the ILS sector were not high.

The purpose of this research is to establish whether employers specify the requirement of CPD when recruiting managers and, in doing so, to open up the debate on the importance attached to CPD by employers.

An observational analysis was undertaken of job advertisements placed in four regional newspapers and a national online job web site over a two‐month period (August and September 2006).

From the newspaper job advertisements scrutinized none indicated CPD either directly or indirectly as a requirement for managerial jobs. Job experience (84 per cent) and personal attributes (82 per cent) were the most important requirements indicated for managerial jobs. An online national jobs web site, however, implied or specifically mentioned CPD for only five managerial posts.

Some of the job advertisements provided very scant details. The study has only taken a surface view of the posts, as opposed to a detailed reviewing of the person specification for jobs. Targeting “Managers” focused on only middle level positions and even this could have excluded some posts.

The lack of CPD evidence now challenges employers to consider the importance of CPD when preparing managerial job advertisements.

The paper highlights the gap between the value of CPD and its absence in job advertisements and discusses the impact of the findings on relevant stakeholder groups. It argues the need for employers to detail CPD implicitly or explicitly in job advertisements to enhance the quality of job applicants.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how one company built and sustained market leadership by implementing a market‐oriented business strategy involving defensive and offensive management.

With an historical approach, this article examines how L'Oréal's Consumer Products Division increased its dominance in its domestic cosmetics industry. Data were extracted from the IRI Census Database (retail panel data). Some data, as they remain confidential, were not included in the paper.

The transition from an offensive to a defensive management style (and vice versa) is part of the dialectic in relations between the company and its environment, including consumers (demand), competitors (their behaviour in the market) and market conditions (growth, stability, decline) in an extended sense (see Kohli and Jaworski).

The joint management of offensive and defensive market‐oriented strategies leads to enhanced competitive positioning and increased market share of a portfolio of brands and products.

The trade‐off between offensive and defensive management, involving whether managers are influenced by or influence the structure and the behaviour of market players, depends on their mental disposition toward challenges in increasingly competitive mass markets.

Prior discussions of offensive and defensive management approaches have remained mainly theoretical. Through the illustration of the undisputable leader of the cosmetics sector, this study offers a practical example that can help companies reconsider how they differentiate themselves from competitors with respect to market conditions. This case offers an initial investigation of offensive and defensive management.

This paper seeks to explore changes taking place in a curriculum design for postgraduate teaching in personnel and development, aimed at enhancing lifelong learning. A scheme is described which aims to improve the alignment for professional development of students, in ways that facilitate critically reflective practice.

The authors draw on their personal experiences as a programme leader (Master's in HRM) and an educational consultant to describe their strategy for critically reflective continuous professional development (CPD). In doing so, their practice is related to some of the theories underlying critical reflection, and the key challenges in seeking to engage student practitioners in professional development of this kind are drawn out.

It is argued that achieving an alignment between the development and assessment of student capabilities is vital to the development of critical reflection, and it is explained how the strategy presented for CPD supports self‐management of this process.

Although the paper is grounded in the authors' particular experiences and structure for student support, it is hoped that reflections on these can be of general value to those interested in developing critically reflective practice amongst students which is both effective and practical in the increasingly demanding world of higher education.

The self‐managed process explored in the paper is framed by a social approach to learning that places peer interaction at the forefront of the learning processes involved.

The purpose of this paper is to examine professional accountant’s views on their satisfaction with Continuing Professional Development (CPD) offered by members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB). While there is a great deal of research on CPD and accountants in developed countries, less developing countries are absent from this literature, and there have been calls for this type of research.

The present study employed a survey of members of the ICAB.

Results show that accountants in Bangladesh are satisfied with the CPD provided by their profession, and when satisfaction is compared with more developed countries, Bangladesh is greater on a number of measures. ICAB members would like to also be provided with opportunities to undertake CPD in more ways than just face to face.

The study has important implications not only for accountants from emerging economies such as Bangladesh, but also for the International Federation of Accountants and other less developed countries (LDCs). The results advance the understanding of professional accounting bodies from an international perspective.

This is the first study of CPD and accounting professionals in LDCs. The information obtained can inform the development and practice of other professional accounting bodies in emerging economies.

This paper reports the results of an investigation in current continuing professional development practices, perceptions of academic library employers about skills that need to be developed in their staff in the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries. A mailed questionnaire was used to collect data from 15 publicly funded academic institutions; 13 responded. Analysis shows that a systematic staff development program is generally lacking. Current continuing professional development activities focus on immediate institutional needs. Information and communication technology skills preferred relate to automated systems, electronic resources, networking, and multimedia applications. Writing and research skills related to measurement and evaluation, studying information needs, and report writing received higher ranks. The paper concludes with a number of recommendations which are made in order to improve the situation.

There is evidence of growing tensions in the increasingly privatised system of in‐service education and training (INSET) within England and Wales, especially between school‐managed institutional development, group development needs, and the need for individual professional development. These tensions highlight the need for an effective ‘professional development culture’ with the kind of leadership which supports both pupil and staff learning. INSET privatisation and increasing local accountability also raises questions about why and how some schools are better at creating appropriate development cultures. The article explores school leadership in the newly privatised and marketised professional development environment; it considers a model which helps to identify key elements in a “professional development culture” and helps schools review “where we’re at”; it examines the emerging role of the professional development co‐ordinator as a “delegated leader” and suggests a possible model for exploring the differing nature of the relationship between CPD leadership and staff commitment.