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The relative merits of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) over conventional methods of dispute resolution, namely litigation and arbitration, is well documented, but as yet, the various ADR procedures currently available are not being extensively utilized within the construction industry in the UK. The purpose of the present paper was to discover from UK experts in dispute resolution why ADR has not become a more frequently used technique for resolving disputes in the UK construction industry, and to suggest ways in which this problem can be overcome. The findings indicate that there is a lack of understanding of the principles behind ADR and a lack of experience in dispute resolution in general. The findings strongly suggest that the lack of understanding and experience in ADR can best be overcome by educating and training. This should be carried out early on in the working lives of professionals by universities, professional institutions and specialist bodies such as the CEDR.

Clinical data capture and transfer are becoming more important as hospital practices change. Medical record pro‐formas are widely used but their efficacy in acute settings is unclear. This paper aims to assess whether pro‐forma and aide‐memoire recording aids influence data collection in acute medical and surgical admission records completed by junior doctors.

During October 2007 to January 2008, 150 medical and 150 surgical admission records were randomly selected. Each was analysed using Royal College of Physicians guidelines. Surgical record deficiencies were highlighted in an aide‐memoire printed on all A4 admission sheets. One year later, the exercise was repeated for 199 admissions.

Initial assessment demonstrated similar data capture rates, 77.4 per cent and 75.9 per cent for medicine and surgery respectively (Z=‐0.74, p=0.458). Following the aide‐memoire's introduction, surgical information recording improved relatively, 70.5 per cent and 73.9 per cent respectively (Z=2.01, p=0.045). One from 11 aide‐memoire categories was associated with improvement following clinical training. There was an overall fall in admission record quality during 2008‐9 vs 2007‐8.

The study compared performance among two groups of doctors working simultaneously in separate wards, representing four months' activity.

Hospital managers and clinicians should be mindful that innovations successful in elective clinical practice might not be transferable to an acute setting.

This audit shows that in an acute setting, over one‐quarter of clinical admission data were not captured and devices aimed at improving data capture had no demonstrable effect. The authors suggest that in current hospital practice, focussed clinical training is more likely to improve patient admission records than employing recording aids.

Recent writings have demonstrated how accounting provides a facilitating or conflict‐resolving role in organisations and society. However, some studies have argued that conflict‐creating and conflict‐enhancing roles of accounting are equally prominent and in some cases may overshadow accounting’s facilitating roles. This paper provides evidence supporting the latter thesis within an enterprise bargaining context. Using the University of New England, as a case study, the paper highlights how opposing parties engage similar accounting technologies to support their positions in the bargaining process. The paper draws on the 1992 union heterogeneity and employer equivocality model of Amernic and Craig to argue that the perceived facilitating roles of accounting not only disappear, but accounting also becomes largely obstructive in reaching a settlement.

This paper aims to consider the role of the bank clerk in the Victorian era and to provide insights into clerical life in a London bank during the period.

The paper draws on the archival records of Hoare and Company. Founded in the seventeenth century, it is the oldest surviving independent bank in the UK.

Drawing on the company's archival records, the paper examines issues such as recruitment, house rules, acts of paternalism and the overwhelming concern with maintaining respectability. While Hoare's clerks humorously referred to themselves as the Association of the Sons of Toil, the records support the literature in revealing the relatively cosseted career of the bank clerk within Victorian clerical circles. He generally enjoyed a higher salary, longer holidays and more favourable working conditions than his clerical counterparts. It was therefore a highly sought after position. Only those of impeccable character however, were recruited into its ranks.

The paper suggests the potential significance of Victorian values to the recruitment and general working conditions of contemporary members of the financial community.

The paper's value lies in supplementing the existing literature with further insights into the life of the Victorian bank clerk.

This article aims to explore the meanings of positionality and demonstrate how reflective memos can illustrate positionality in a constructivist grounded theory (CGT) study.

Acknowledging the positionality of the researcher through a reflective approach is an essential element of CGT studies. The first author (IS) used reflective memoing in her CGT study on Indian immigrant children's asthma to practice reflexivity and make her positionality explicit. Through memos, IS acknowledges her knowledge, beliefs, practices, experience and pre-existing assumptions about the research topic. This article is a compilation of the reflective memos that IS wrote during the initial phase of her research and draws on her motivations as they relate to the topic under study in the context of current literature.

The reflective accounts of a researcher's background and experience can act as a lens for understanding the research question and the choice of methodology.

This article may be useful to novice qualitative researchers who are struggling to define and establish their own positionality. John Dewey's and David Schon's works on reflective thinking serve as valuable tools to practice reflexivity. Philosophically underpinned reflections in the form of memos, employed from the outset and throughout the study, can enhance the study rigour by making research decisions transparent.

This article provides practical guidance on how to outline positionality at the outset of a CGT study.

Examines popular theories of learning in organizations to highlight their limitations for reform and change. Divides learning approaches into four general strategies ‐ organizational learning, learning organization, learning environment, and “learning space”. Examines how issues of power, diversity, indeterminacy and hierarchy are treated in each approach and the extent to which multi‐vocal strategies of learning are engendered. These issues have been central to concerns raised in the literature about organizational control. However, much of what is popularly promoted as prescriptions for learning in organizations ‐ on dimensions such as teamwork, leadership, and culture ‐ have significant elements in which there is little evidence of reflection on issues of control. Gives particular attention to Peter Senge’s book, The Fifth Discipline, which has become the blueprint for many organizational learning projects and other learning approaches. Also gives attention to a popular account of learning, an address by the CEO of the Australian telecommunications firm, Telstra. The analysis provides a basis for raising questions about popular learning strategies and underlines the need for managers to reflect on the complex, contextualized, and contentious nature of learning and its macro‐level constraints and its micro‐level impacts.

The Librarians of Glasgow University since 1641 are identified, and their periods of office summarised and assessed as far as information allows. The terms of appointment in early years and pattern of town and university alternating nominations are outlined, and the gradual development of the post into that of a professional librarian in the twentieth century is illustrated.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

The Equal Pay Act 1970 (which came into operation on 29 December 1975) provides for an “equality clause” to be written into all contracts of employment. S.1(2) (a) of the 1970 Act (which has been amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975) provides: