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Britain’s New Labour Government has radically shifted its policy aims away from securing traditional full employment towards the improvement of “employability”. This paper briefly assesses what is meant by employability and how the Government has integrated its “supply side” approach to the unemployed with the stricter benefit regime it inherited from its Conservative predecessor. It describes the various New Deal and area‐based employment programmes that have been introduced during an intense phase of policy development and experimentation and outlines the immediate impact they have had. The Government’s long‐term aim is to build on this experience and create a “work‐based welfare state” for all those of working age who receive state benefits. In conclusion, the paper highlights some of the weaknesses of the new strategy and draws out the implications that existing evaluations of active labour market programmes have for the likely impact of the New Deals.

The purpose of this paper was to examine the additive and joint effects of trainer directiveness and trainees’ learning goal orientation on training satisfaction and transfer.

Survey responses from a sample (N = 243) of undergraduate business students enrolled at a large US university were examined.

Trainer directiveness and trainee learning goal orientations each additively predicted training satisfaction and transfer over and above one another and study controls. Further, trainer directiveness and trainee learning goal orientation jointly predicted satisfaction and transfer, such that the positive relationship between trainer directiveness and both outcomes was accentuated (more positive) when learning goal orientations were high (compared to low).

This study suggests that scholars and practitioners need to be mindful of both trainer and trainee characteristics when evaluating potential training programs. In addition to selecting competent trainers, organizations might be well-served to encourage trainers to use a directive style. Further, organizations might be able to boost the positive effects of trainer directiveness on trainee satisfaction and transfer by priming (or selecting on) trainee learning goal orientations.

With few exceptions, prior research has devoted comparatively little attention toward understanding how trainer characteristics influence training outcomes. Of this research, even less considers possible interactions between trainer and trainee characteristics. The present study provides an initial step toward addressing these gaps by examining the additive and joint influences of trainer directiveness and trainee learning goal orientations. Results support that additional variance in training satisfaction and transfer can be explained by considering both trainer and trainee characteristics in tandem.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interplay between perceptions of instructor competence and trainees’ motivational orientations (autonomy orientation) as predictor of trainee satisfaction.

Simulating a realistic training initiative, the paper examines survey responses from a sample (n=132) of students enrolled in an introductory business course at a large US university.

Perceptions of instructor competence predict course satisfaction over and above trainees’ motivational orientations. Further, trainee satisfaction is an interactive function of both instructor competence and trainee orientations, with instructor competence being more important for trainees with high autonomy.

The results of the present study should be considered in the light of the limitations, including limited generalizability, an exclusive focus on trainee satisfaction as outcome, and a test of only one moderator.

This study confirms the need for instructors to be knowledgeable, organized and prepared, and to establish rapport with their trainees in order to promote high levels of satisfaction with the instruction – even for trainees who are often assumed to naturally thrive in training (i.e. those high in autonomy).

If extended to other contexts and settings, the results point out toward the need to consider multiple venues, including both trainer and trainee-based factors to increase trainees’ course or program satisfaction. In a broader sense, aptitude-treatment (Cronbach, 1957) remains a valid perspective and needs to receive renewed attention.

The current literature suggests that positive course reactions (e.g. high trainee satisfaction) can enhance learning, learning transfer, and ultimately application of acquired knowledge and skill. This study provides support for the notion that trainee satisfaction is a function of both instructor competence and trainees’ motivational orientations. Training professionals can enhance training outcomes by emphasizing trainer and trainee factors when designing initiatives. Related, trainee motivational orientations should not be viewed as a substitute for highly competent trainers.

French Libraries Sign Retrospective Conversion Contract with OCLC OCLC will convert to machine‐readable form more than 600,000 bibliographic records for six French academic libraries. The records will also be loaded into the PANCATALOGUE, France's national union catalog of monographs.

Argues that although the four Nordic countries are commonly lumped together, given their historical ties, they show many differences. While all share a deeply rooted love of nature and solitude, the prevailing egalitarianism in these countries manifests itself differently when it comes to management or communication. Finland has the most autocratic management style but Norway, which shares a similar literary tradition has a very participative management style. While unions play an important role in Norway and Sweden, Denmark and Finland avoid collective bargaining and manage less democratically. The adjustments required by a Euromanager to adapt to the Nordic lifestyles are very demanding, requiring corporations to select and filter candidates seriously for any Scandinavian mission. Outlines the main characteristics of the people of the four Nordic countries, both on a personal level and in a work context. Compares and contrasts the management styles of the four countries.

The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of paternalistic leadership behaviour in the Finnish organisational context by investigating its relationship with Chinese immigrant employees’ occupational well-being.

This research was based on a survey of 117 Chinese immigrants working in Finland. The snowball sampling method was adopted in the present research.

The findings show that the dimensions of paternalistic leadership, specifically benevolent leadership behaviour, can be influential in Chinese immigrant knowledge workers’ occupational well-being in the Finnish organisational context.

Paternalistic leadership style can also make sense in a Western organisational context, especially when dealing with well-being among immigrant employees from China or other Asian countries.

Some misunderstanding of paternalistic leadership behaviour in Western societies may impede the theory’s further development. The study enhanced the understanding of paternalism in the Finnish organisational context by illuminating the effect of paternalistic leadership on Chinese immigrant employees’ occupational well-being.

This study investigates labour market fluctuations and gender issues in the health and care sector. A large data set from public registers has allowed us to compile a comprehensive picture of the job categories that particularly attract men. We find a polarisation of men in the upper and lower positions in the job hierarchy. In the metropolitan area, men tend to be discouraged from taking jobs in the health and care sector, as opposed to the peripheral region, where alternative job offers may be more scarce. A logistic regression analysis shows that (young) age is the major explanatory factor for leaving the health and care sector to find occupation elsewhere. However, gender (male), wage levels (low), marital status (single) and education (none) are also significant. The study discusses seven theoretical perspectives for male and female careers in the health and care sector: The need for flexibility. Destandardising of jobs. Devaluation of feminised work areas. Human capital as a stabiliser. Feminisation. The prospects of boundaryless careers. The spatial dimension.

Bibliographic information from one of the world's most celebrated botanic library and archive collections, the Library and Archive of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, will be added to the OCLC On‐line Union Catalog through a conversion project by OCLC's RETROCON Service.

Expenditures on beauty, fitness and body shaping by females have increased significantly in recent years. Most previous studies examined this from the psychological perspective of self-acceptance and self-liking. However, this phenomenon may also have social implications. This study aims to provide a profound understanding of the social environment for female professionals as well as actionable insights for the government and social institutions.

A research model was developed based on impression management and social identity theories incorporating impression management motives, impression construction consumption and social identity. A survey study of 419 Chinese female professionals was conducted to test the research model.

This study surveyed 419 Chinese female professionals and found that impression management motives significantly drove female professionals to spend on their faces and bodies for impression construction, which in turn contributed to the enhancement of their social identities in three dimensions: relational identity, public identity and collective identity.

In a male-dominated society, it has become a norm that females should be cautious about their facial appearance and body shape. Females are often forced to consume to attain physical attractiveness and to construct a favorable social image. This study shows that consumption for impression construction has become a frequently used strategy for impression management and identifies key areas of societal concern.