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Describes an investigation into the use of the accreditation of prior learning (APL) within management training and development. A review of training managers use and opinions of APL within companies in the East Midlands region revealed some surprises. Despite the promotion of APL and its benefits through the Management Charter Initiative (MCI) managers remain somewhat sceptical and confused about the APL process.

The accreditation of prior learning (APL) is an exciting aspect of the development of management education in the UK. It has been heavily promoted by the UK employer‐led body, the Management Charter Initiative (MCI) within promises of benefits both to individuals and organizations. Examines the level of interest and involvement with an industrial region of the UK. The findings raise some doubts and concerns from training managers and suggest that the initiative may have some way to go.

Management development structures such as training courses and appraisal interviews communicate the values and expectations of senior management to participants and thereby socialize them into an organization and its culture. Symbolism, one of many approaches used to try and understand the concept of organizational culture, is useful in this instance. Management development structures can be seen as symbols of culture in which the rites and rituals of the management role are enacted through their design, content and process. The question is raised as to whether the provision of cultural symbols can provide clear and persuasive pictures as, apparently, they are assumed to do. Explores how a group of managers within one company appeared to use management development in forming their individual impressions of the organization and its culture. The findings suggest that the communication link between management development and organizational culture is not perhaps as direct as is apparently assumed.

Not‐for‐profit organizations are faced with several problems in providing services to consumers. In order to attract sufficient funds, they must respond to consumer needs and competitive forces. This requires identifying which aspects of service provision are valued most. However, services are difficult to evaluate before purchase because of their intangibility, heterogeneity and joint production with consumption. Consequently, consumer attitudes towards actual service provision, and its salience, are likely to change over time with experience. This has implications for both service provision and the way it is positioned, and requires that tracking techniques are periodically used to monitor and control consumer satisfaction. A case study shows how this can be achieved. The findings suggest that consumers may not always be prepared to pay for what they want. By selectively increasing the salience of specific aspects, student choice might be influenced; and by interpreting dissonance effects, satisfaction regulated.

Presents a study of organizational culture in a community health‐care Trust in the UK. The Trust has been involved in attempting to create what was described as an information‐led culture and is concurrent with the implementation of a new information system. Describes some of the recent management initiatives which were intended to improve communications within the Trust and to provide employees with a better understanding of the changes which have been taking place. Identifies findings which suggest that there was some distance between the perceptions of management and those of employees. While the senior management team appear to have been in earnest in attempting to ensure that staff have the information and understanding they need, the results of an organizational culture survey suggest that these efforts may have been ineffective.

The changing role of the manager has been a growing area of both academic and popular literature over recent years. In addition, the interest of the popular press has made terms like “grey suit” and “fat cat” common terminology. Management roles and managerial authority within today’s organisations have seen many changes. This has led to frustration and anxiety for managers as they have watched their role change. In the NHS, like other sectors, managers have become a target for organisational redundancies and have experienced increased responsibility, closer monitoring of performance and heightened job insecurity. This paper aims to offer a contribution to the empirical data on managers by investigating one group of NHS managers’ own perceptions of how others see their role. The findings suggest that NHS managers are very aware of the largely negative perceptions that surround them but accept this as an integral part of their role.

During the mid‐1980s a group of major retailing organizations came together to form the Consortium of British Retail Training Organizations (CORTCO) with the aim of addressing some collective concerns. One of these was that there did not appear to be enough, sufficiently qualified graduates applying for the available management posts within the retail industry. Research studies into undergraduates’ choice of careers had confirmed that: first, retail management was considered an unattractive career by many graduates; and, second, undergraduates’ knowledge of what a retail management career would involve was limited. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of retail management degrees and modules offered by UK universities and various types of promotional activities instigated by CORTCO. The demand for suitably qualified graduates to apply to the industry remains; the question is whether retail management is still a secondary choice of career for undergraduates. Using the results of two recent surveys of undergraduates and retailers, attempts to provide an update of the situation.

Aims to examine medical involvement in hospital management processes, and to consider the implications of current experience for the next generation of clinical directors. Doctors who move into a formal management role often find themselves unprepared for their new responsibilities. Research has thus concentrated on identifying the management competences which doctors lack, and with designing ways to remedy the deficit. Seeks to move beyond this deficit model by adopting a perspective which focuses on the engagement of doctors in the management process. Draws data from in‐depth interviews with six clinical directors and 19 other members of the hospital management team at Leicester General Hospital NHS Trust (LGH). Content analysis of interviews suggests that the engagement of clinical directors in the hospital management process at this site can be described as reluctant, transient, service‐driven, power‐pulled and pressured. This negative portrayal of the role, however, must be set in the context of the “management expectation” held of clinical directors by other hospital managers and staff ‐ an expectation that is not currently fulfilled.

Attempts to establish whether the corporate culture of an organisation can be effectively transferred to a country where a strong national culture exists. Investigates the influence and effects of the national culture in the People’s Republic of China on the work environment and the employees of international hotel companies operating there. Uses the ITT Sheraton Corporation’s Great Wall Sheraton Hotel as a specific case study, but draws on other research conducted in similar joint venture hotel properties. Sutton (1995) demonstrates that hospitality operations in China are predominantly occidental, while both the labour force and the prevalent customer base are overwhelmingly oriental. Ahmed and Li (1996) argue that when different national and organisational cultural values come into contact, conflict tends to emerge. Evidence from both their researches suggests that the “marriage” between Chinese and Western organisations tends to precipitate numerous conflicts. Identifies and illustrates several aspects of Chinese culture which affect the assimilation of a “foreign” corporate culture, and concludes that a strong national culture can have major influences on what happens in the workplace.