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Companies, irrespective of size or sector, often use ISO 9000 and TQM as a route to world class status. The aim of this paper is to show if this has had any impact on or contributed to raising their competitiveness. This paper gives brief details of a large‐scale UK benchmarking study on the adoption of best practice which provides the data for this research. Then the distinguishing features of some best practices and performance within both ISO and non‐ISO companies are presented for the manufacturing sector. The significance of any correlations between practice and performance are also put forward for further consideration. Finally, the lessons to be learnt from this empirical evidence are drawn out.

Describes how, in order to disprove the misconception that although TQM is a good idea it would not work in their company/sector, the University of Northumbria has set up a Best Practices Club that enables companies to exchange ideas, successes and failures on the subject, for the benefit of others. Asserts that the biggest benefit of the club is that it helps companies to realise that their problems are not unique ‐ other people have experienced them and found solutions. Concludes that no one company has a monopoly on the best ideas and that the club has shown that best practice is applicable to all industries.

This paper aims to provide a review and critique of the benchmarking literature with respect to information and communication technology (ICT) adoption and usage within small firms. This is used as the basis for developing a competence based model contingency framework to be used for comparing practice and performance with respect to ICT within small firms.

A theoretical approach is proposed whereby the key metrics and questions related to the development of an ICT benchmarking framework are derived from recent empirical research reported in the literature.

The main findings indicate a paucity of empirical research with respect to benchmarking ICT and also underdeveloped theory in terms of IT adoption in small firms. The ICT competence and capability approach is proposed as a viable research avenue for investigating IT performance within small firms.

Limitations of this research are related to its current phase as work in progress. Testing of the theoretical framework and its development within the context of comparing ICT performance across small firms has yet to be carried out.

Practical implications of the research are very high as there could be a direct link between adoption and use of the benchmarking tool and improved ICT performance.

The development of an ICT benchmarking framework and tool that is directly focused on improving small firm performance – linked to a human and organisational competence approach as opposed to only measuring technological capability.

Explores the tensions between cost and quality, need and market, and the effects on patient care and service providers within today’s NHS. Builds on research carried out in two hospitals during 1993 to 1995, focusing on perceptions of quality and its management in the context of the nursing discipline. Indicates a divergence of perspectives on “customer requirements” and the emergence of a cultural divide within the total care process. Identifies and illustrates the significant potential for cost savings in health care, which may be achievable while simultaneously improving quality, and suggests that the “prize” for bridging the cultural divide might include a substantial financial gain as well as improved standards of care. In the context of health care, need, expectation, and finite resources are inextricably linked. A shared understanding of the interdependence between the three, and of the balance to be struck, is essential in health care provision today and into the twenty‐first century. Suggests that there is some way to go.

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence to assess the nature and extent of the link between employee satisfaction and organisational performance.

This paper examines the link between staff satisfaction and organisational performance, presenting findings from 21 colleges of Further Education that have participated in both a survey of staff satisfaction (covering over 2,600 staff from these colleges) and in a diagnostic benchmarking exercise using the “Learning PROBE” methodology.

The results suggest that whilst each of the measured aspects of work are regarded as being important by a majority of survey respondents, the level of “satisfaction” displayed in each of these attributes is indicated by only a minority of those surveyed. The findings support the existence of a link between staff satisfaction and organisational excellence. Staff satisfaction levels are most strongly associated with the leadership and service processes indices, and even more so with the overall organisational diagnosis. This suggests that colleges that are implementing “good practices” covering a range of managerial aspects, and who are achieving corresponding organisational results, are likely to be closer to satisfying their staff. Practices relating to people, performance management and organizational results also show association with staff's satisfaction gap, although not as significantly as above. The results suggest an holistic approach to implementing business practices appears to be more effective than concentrating only on deploying good practices in only a single area of the managerial process.

The value of the paper is to the UK Further Education Sector in that it identifies those organisational practices, which improved, can in combination address to some extent the work satisfaction levels of their employees.

First contract arbitration (FCA) provisions are posed as a solution to the difficulties of negotiating a first contract for newly certified bargaining units. FCA is a longstanding, and no longer controversial, element of Canadian labor legislation. FCA provisions now exist in six Canadian jurisdictions and four distinct FCA models have developed (the exceptional remedy or fault model, the automatic access model, the no-fault model, and the mediation intensive model). In the United States the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) included a highly contested proposal to amend the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to include an FCA provision similar to the Canadian automatic access model. This chapter offers a balanced assessment of FCA evidence from Canada addressing the main objections to FCA in the EFCA debates. Individual case level data from jurisdictions representing each of the four FCA models is examined. The evidence demonstrates that although FCA is widely available in Canada, it is an option that is rarely sought and, when sought, rarely granted; that parties involved in FCA are able to establish stable bargaining relationships; and, that this process does not, as critics charge, simply prolong the life of nonviable bargaining units. This chapter concludes by suggesting that the practice under Quebec's “no-fault” model and British Columbia's “mediation intensive” model merit consideration for adoption elsewhere. These models position the FCA process as a mechanism fostering collective bargaining and voluntary agreements, rather than treating it as a remedy for dysfunctional negotiations and as part of the unfair labor practice framework.

The European telecommunications sector is undergoing major structural change in the face of new technology, privatisation and European Commission directives requiring market liberalisation. This study considers the comparative performance of the major European telecommunications operators between 1978 and 1998. This period encompasses an era of state monopolies, market liberalisation initiatives and a number of privatisations. The objectives are to assess: the extent so far to which market liberalisation and privatisation have impacted on the efficiency with which telecommunications services are provided in Europe; and changes in the performance of the different telecommunications operators over time with a view to providing an insight into the comparative efficiency performance of the different telecommunications operators in Europe. Performance is measured in terms of profit margins and labour and total factor productivity.

Privatisation is occurring at various levels within government in many countries around the world. So extensive is the reform programme that the term “re‐inventing government” has taken on a fashionable gloss.