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Whether organizational change results from a merger, acquisition, new venture, new process improvement approach, or any number of flavors‐of‐the‐day management fads, employee communications can mean the success or failure of any major change program. The Strategic Employee Communication Model with the best practice definitions, which are composites of effective employee communication examples collected from researching selected Fortune 500 companies, help management understand the strategic role of employee communication in a high‐performing company. The model functions as an analytical tool to diagnose a company’s strengths and weaknesses in employee communication so that the company can structure the change communication program and position communication to facilitate the overall change program. In this paper, I explain the Strategic Employee Communication Model and best practice definitions, demonstrate a change communication approach to improving employee communications using the Strategic Employee Communication Model, and provide a case study of the successful use of the model and approach during a major change program.

This article is designed to help senior managers be better leaders by being better communicators. The article explains my original concept of “leadership communication” and provides an original framework to help map out the levels of communication ability business leaders need, including developing a positive ethos and emotional intelligence.

The objectives are achieved by providing specific and practical definitions and illustrations. The article is based on research on leadership, communication, and emotional intelligence and on extensive experience coaching and working with executives.

I found that the best business leaders share similar, specific characteristics of good communication that fall into three major groups: core (strategy, writing, speaking), managerial (emotional intelligence, listening, coaching, teams, meetings), and corporate (communicating with all internal and external stakeholders).

Future research could include further developing the leadership communication concept by adding to the framework as I discover other major capabilities needed by business leaders.

All managers can apply my definition of leadership communication and my framework. I have witnessed the improvement managers can make in their leadership ability by focusing on the communication capabilities discussed in my article.

My concept, definition, and framework are all new. The value is in helping managers improve their communication abilities and recognize the importance of emotional intelligence in effective business communication. It is important for all managers and for teachers/coaches who work with them as well.

Questions why the analysis of class is being overlooked in the sociological mainstream. Presents some symptoms of this development followed by an evaluation. Suggests some new directions for class research which could appeal to younger researchers. Advocates work in this area to bridge the lack of information now available.

Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.

The purpose of this paper is to study women’s entrepreneurship from the family-firm context and radical subjectivist (RS) economics. While women’s entrepreneurship is a long-standing topic of research interest, there have been calls for more theory-oriented research and research which takes context factors in women’s entrepreneurship seriously. The paper responds to this by using an RS’s view of economics as a theoretical lens to consider women’s entrepreneurship in family firms.

The paper briefly reviews the potential of the family-firm context for examining women’s entrepreneurship in a non-reductive fashion, then outlines radical subjectivism (RS). The three main elements of RS’s “entrepreneurial imagination” are explained, then linked with other theories of family-firm behaviour and applied to casework on women entrepreneurs in family firms.

Each element of the entrepreneurial imagination, empathy, modularity and self-organization, generates new research questions which contest previous apparently settled views about women entrepreneurs. Protocols for investigating the questions are suggested. The third element, self-organization, while more difficult to operationalize for empirical testing, suggests how women’s entrepreneurship might generate new industries.

While this is primarily a conceptual study, its case studies invite further exploration of both women entrepreneurs and family firms. The RS perspective could also increase understanding of shared leadership and innovation in family firms. Specific research questions and protocols for investigating them are offered.

Insights from the research have practical implications for entrepreneurship education, for understanding entrepreneurship at the level of society, the firm and the individual.

The importance of both family firms and women entrepreneurs to society makes it important to understand both of them better. The RS perspective can help.

The paper highlights the value of combining attention to entrepreneurial context (family firms) and theory (RS) to reinvigorate some old research questions about women entrepreneurs. The combination of family firms and RS is also novel.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

Quality of care in the residential aged sector has changed over the past decade. The purpose of this paper is to examine these changes from the perspectives of staff to identify factors influencing quality of residential aged care, and the role and influence of an aged care accreditation programme.

Focus groups were held with 66 aged care staff from 11 Australian aged care facilities. Data from semi-structured interviews were analysed to capture categories representing participant views.

Participants reported two factors stimulating change: developments in the aged care regulatory and policy framework, and rising consumer expectations. Four corresponding effects on service quality were identified: increasing complexity of resident care, renewed built environments of aged care facilities, growing focus on resident-centred care and the influence of accreditation on resident quality of life. The accreditation programme was viewed as maintaining minimum standards of quality throughout regulatory and social change, yet was considered to lack capacity of itself to explicitly promote or improve resident quality of life.

For an increasingly complex aged care population, regulatory and societal change has led to a shift in service provision from institutional care models to one that is becoming more responsive to consumer expectations. The capacity of long-established and relatively static accreditation standards to better accommodate changing consumer needs comes into question.

This is the first study to examine the relationship between accreditation and residential aged care service quality from the perspectives of staff, and offers a nuanced view of “quality” in this setting.

To investigate the factors predicting the career progression of hotel managers working in international hotel chains in Ireland, Europe and Asia.

The study uses a cross‐sectional questionnaire design consisting of 337 respondents. It investigates individual‐ and organisational‐level factors that potentially explain the career progression of hotel managers.

The study reveals significant differences in managerial progression in the three sub‐samples. A multiplicity of factors explains differences in advancement. These include demographic, human capital, psychological characteristics of the manager and organisational characteristics. The model developed in the paper explained significant variance in three measures of managerial advancement: salary level, number of job moves, and position reached in the hierarchy.

The study is based on self‐report data and the response rates are slightly below those reported for behavioural science research. The study does not gather the perceptions of the managers' superiors. The findings indicate that managerial advancement is explained by a complex set of factors, which would benefit from further investigation.

The study findings suggest important practical implications for the provision of training and development, individual and organisational career strategies, the role of networking in advancement and the respective roles of managers and organisations in managing careers.

The paper has a cross‐cultural dimension which to date is largely absent from this area of research.

The capacity available to deliver outpatient surgical services is outweighed by the demand. Although additional investment is sometimes needed, better aligning resources, increasing operational efficiency and considering new processes all have a role in improving delivering these services. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the safety of a physician associate (PA) delivered virtual outpatient department (VOPD) consultation service that was established in a General and Colorectal Surgery Department at an Irish teaching hospital.

A series of low-risk surgical patients were referred by senior surgeons to a PA delivered virtual clinic (VOPD). Medical records belonging to half the included patients were randomly selected for review by two doctors three months following discharge back to primary care to confirm appropriate standards of care and documentation and to audit any recorded adverse incidents or outcomes.

In total, 191 patients had been reviewed by the PA in the VOPD with 159 discharged directly back to primary care. Among the 95 medical records that were reviewed by the NCHDs, there were no recorded adverse incidents after discharge. Medical record keeping was deficient in 1 out of 95 reviewed cases.

Using a PA delivered VOPD consultation appears to have a role in following up patients who have undergone low-risk procedures irrespective of age or co-morbidity when selected appropriately. This may assist in reducing the demand on outpatient services by reducing unnecessary return visits, thereby increasing the capacity for new referrals.

While there are reported examples to date of virtual clinics, these relate to services delivered by registered medical practitioners. Here, the authors demonstrate the acceptability of this model of care in an Irish population as delivered by a PA.