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The aim of the present study was to measure the effects of a management training course on the work behaviour of a group of scientists and technicians who performed supervisory roles within their organisations. A matched control group consisted of non‐trainees who were scheduled to take part in similar courses in the future. The study was designed to determine whether the observed changes in behaviour were due to the training course itself or to other factors operating within the work environment, and for this reason, a no‐training control group was employed as well as measures of organisational climate. Both self reports and the assessment of the subjects' superior officers were recorded. A longitudinal design evaluated effects on trainees work behaviour at three, six and 12 months following training. Moderate effects were observed throughout the follow‐up period although some gradual fall‐off in behaviour occurred. Both qualitative and quanitative aspects of the observed changes were examined. In addition to measuring actual changes in behaviour, immediate post‐training intentions were compared with post‐training outcomes. Personal characteristics of age, tenure and leadership experience were not found to be significantly related to behavioural changes at work.

Management training ranks among some of the most common approaches used to bring about organisational change and development. The goals of such training include improving organisational effectiveness and improving the lot of employees so that they become more satisfied, more productive and more affluent. Given its importance to both individual employees and the organisation, it is asserted that the impact of management training programmes should be assessed to determine whether the large expenditure of time and money invested in them is justified and to provide the basis for well‐informed decisions concerning their future improvement. According to writers like Hamblin, evaluation should be thought of as an integral part of the total training system and should include the measurement of outcomes at a number of levels, including trainees' reactions, immediate changes in knowledge, skills and attitudes, intermediate effects on job behaviour and ultimate level of organisational effectiveness outcomes. It may not be possible to measure all levels of training within a single study, but an attempt should be made to measure effects at least up to the intermediate job performance stage, and for this to occur, it is necessary to employ a longitudinal design with measurements taken before, and at several points after, training. In the report which follows, changes in knowledge or understanding following a management training course are assessed.

Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.

This study was conducted as the first stage of a project to evaluate a management training course designed especially for a group of research scientists and senior technical staff employed by several government and quasi‐government organisations engaged in scientific and industrial research. The training courses had been instituted two years previously for the purpose of preparing these senior scientists and technicians for the administrative and managerial duties associated with their positions as section, group or project leaders of research teams.

Interpersonal skills training is commonly carried out by skilled tutors who provide feedback and guidelines to trainees, based on their performance in role played interactions. Unfortunately, such tutoring sessions do not always go as planned. The result may be minor “hiccups” which impair the smooth flow of the proceedings or a “tutor's nightmare” where all appears lost. It can be very unnerving for the inexperienced tutor who encounters problems such as a role player who dries up or a course member who resolutely refuses to accept feedback. In this article we describe 13 of the more common tutoring problems, together with our suggestions concerning ways in which they may be handled. These suggestions are not intended to be prescriptive, but they may provide trainee tutors with something to fall back on whilst they are developing their own ways of handling tutoring problems.

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.

Through a survey of 200 employees working in five of the thirty establishments analysed in previous research about the microeconomic effects of reducing the working time (Cahier 25), the consequences on employees of such a reduction can be assessed; and relevant attitudes and aspirations better known.

This study aims to investigate the impact of entrepreneurs’ decision-making styles on enterprise performance and suggests several entrepreneurial ecosystems – factors are impacting this relationship. The authors extend this line of work by examining how regional entrepreneurial culture, educational institutional support and business and social networks mediating the relationship between entrepreneurs’ decision-making style and small medium enterprises (SME)s’ financial performance.

The data were collected through an e-survey of SME owners in New South Wales, Australia. This study developed a model combining a set of entrepreneurial ecosystem factors, entrepreneurs’ decision-making styles and SMEs’ financial performance. Data were analysed using partial least square structural equation modelling.

The results suggest regional entrepreneurial culture, educational institutional support and business and social networks mediate the relationship between entrepreneurs’ decision-making style and SMEs’ financial performance. Hence, this study developed a more complete methodical understanding of entrepreneurs’ decision-making styles and their impact on SMEs’ financial performance. This study provides deeper insights into the conditions and processes by which an entrepreneurs’ decision-making style impacts SMEs’ financial performance.

The focus of this study was to understand the relationship of entrepreneurs’ decision-making styles on SMEs’ financial performance. The authors identified that the entrepreneurs’ decision-making style positively impacts SMEs’ financial performance. This study augments the body of knowledge by proposing ways in how the entrepreneurs’ decision-making style can be more strengthened.

At an anecdotal level it is puzzling that senior management will often spend more time in researching and assessing their needs towards the goal of getting the right colour co‐ordinated office furniture or equipment than they will assessing and selecting employees. It is my personal observation that staff selection interviews in local authority schools and colleges tend in terms of cost to, and commitment of, the organisation, to be given relatively less attention than buying less expensive equipment. A 20 minute “chat” may commit the school or college to £1,000,000 of salary expenditure over a length of employment with low productivity and poor performance outcomes.

‘A University for a rainy day’. This might have been a fanciful description of the demand for higher education in an age of leisure, but it wasn't. It was the graphic way of describing what the construction industry could get for its industrial training levy.