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The purpose of this paper is to examine the attitudes of employees in a company dedicated to strategic recruitment towards the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into their work processes and to consider the implications for training and development.

Semi-structured interviews were carried out with seven employees who were using the new technology. Survey data was gathered from 109 employees who had not, at the time of the research, used the new technology.

The introduction of AI considerably improved the speed and efficiency of the work processes. The research found that those employees who had used the new technology were positive about its effects, indicating that it was easy to use, robust and highly productive. A proportion of employees who had not, at the time of the research, used the new system, were less sure that it would improve their ability to do their job. Implications for introducing such a system and for employee training are discussed.

This is a relatively small sample in one organisation; further research should be undertaken to assess whether these findings apply more widely.

If these attitudes are found elsewhere, there are a number of simple, practical suggestions for how to introduce AI into similar work processes.

The use of AI is a topic attracting increasing interest and speculation, but there is as yet little empirical research on factors affecting its introduction and use.

Leaders in health-care organizations introducing electronic medical records (EMRs) face implementation challenges. The adoption of EMR by the emergency medical and ambulance setting is expected to provide wide-ranging benefits, but there is little research into the processes of adoption in this sector. The purpose of this study is to examine the introduction of EMR in a small emergency care organization and identify factors that aided adoption.

Semi-structured interviews with selected paramedics were followed up with a survey issued to all paramedics in the company.

The user interfaces with the EMR, and perceived ease of use, were important factors affecting adoption. Individual paramedics were found to have strong and varied preferences about how and when they integrated the EMR into their practice. As company leadership introduced flexibility of use, this enhanced both individual and collective ability to make sense of the change and removed barriers to acceptance.

This is a case study of one small organization. However, there may be useful lessons for other emergency care organizations adopting EMR.

Leaders introducing EMR in similar situations may benefit from considering a sense-making perspective and responding promptly to feedback.

The study contributes to a wider understanding of issues faced by leaders who seek to implement EMRs in emergency medical services, a sector in which there has been to date very little research on this issue.

The purpose of this paper is to answer the research question: what recent experiences – other than undertaking training and development programmes – do mature managers and professionals regard as important for their development as leaders?

A survey was issued to mature managers and professionals, asking them to rate the contribution of certain experiences to their recent development of leadership capabilities, and to provide qualitative data on the most important experiences.

The experience that was rated most highly in developing leadership capabilities was “tackling a significant challenge or challenges”, followed by “taking, or contributing to, major decisions”, and then by “taking on new responsibilities”. Controlled interventions such as coaching/mentoring, appraisal feedback, and temporary new responsibilities were awarded relatively low ratings.

The sample was drawn from graduates of an executive master’s degree, who are likely to have positive attitudes to self-development and to learning from experience.

The findings can be used to help mature leaders, and those who facilitate leadership development, to identify and use experiences that may develop leadership capabilities.

There are few recent studies on the kinds of experiences that are perceived to develop leadership capabilities of mature managers and professionals.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a process change in physiotherapy services and to explore factors that may have influenced the outcomes.

This is a multiple case study and information was gathered from eight physiotherapy teams over 24 months.

The process change was successfully implemented in six teams. It had a clear, positive effect on service quality provided to patients in three teams. Whilst quality also improved in three other teams, other issues make changes difficult to assess. Factors that enabled process change to be effective are suggested.

The findings are based on results achieved by only eight English teams.

This process change may be appropriate for other teams providing therapy services if attention is paid to potential enabling factors, and a learning approach is adopted to designing and introducing the change.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other longitudinal process change study in therapy services has been published.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of a training intervention designed to develop and encourage the use of coaching skills in a small arts-based organisation and assess the factors that appear to have influenced this impact.

The programme, its effects and factors that influenced its impact were assessed through ongoing feedback and evaluation and through information gathered in a focus group and in one-to-one interviews with participants at the conclusion of the programme.

The programme had individual and organisational benefits, including improved skills in communication and problem-solving and a better understanding of a range of problems affecting the organisation. Factors enabling these benefits included participation of senior managers in the programme and coaching practice that focused on real workplace issues. Factors limiting these benefits included a lack of a clear statement about the purpose of the programme.

This relates to a programme within a single organisation, and the findings may not be generalisable.

Through training individuals in coaching skills, it is possible to improve the skills needed for cooperative working and joint problem-solving. A corporate training programme in coaching skills can surface a range of organisational problems and enable progress to be made in tackling them.

There is little empirical research evaluating the impact of training in coaching skills. This paper identifies how such training can develop leadership skills and indicates practical factors that may enhance or limit the impact of the training.

The use of time management analyses can be a more effective way of establishing training needs than traditional analytical questions. Blockages to development can be revealed and a base provided for the training programme to tackle them.

A simple and practical approach to helping learners to assess themselves against models of good practice is described. Many models of good practice – are available to help learners assess themselves and to improve their performance but it can be difficult for learners to use these models to assess degrees of ability. The most common way of dealing with this problem at present is by providing a single linear scale of grades of ability. It is argued that people who are assessing themselves against models of good practice are thinking not in the one dimension of a single linear scale, but in three dimensions: quantity (or consistency); quality (or degree of skill), and range (ability in a variety of circumstances). The use of these three, quite different dimensions can lead to accurate self‐assessment.

In Part 1, we described the basis for the development of the Management Learning Contract at the Northern Regional Management Centre at Washington, Tyne and Wear. The contract method is a powerful tool for the acquisition and enhancement of relevant knowledge and skills. We suggested there were six key advantages in using the mechanism:

The purpose of this article is to review the use of competence frameworks in the UK healthcare sector and to explore characteristics of the sector that may influence the success of projects to develop new frameworks.

The paper draws on project reports and evaluations of practice in a range of recent projects to develop new competence frameworks.

There are a number of competence frameworks in use in the UK healthcare sector, principally the NHS, designed for a range of purposes. There are many potential benefits of such frameworks. The main characteristics of the UK healthcare sector that can present difficulties to the development, and ultimate use, of such competence frameworks are the size, complexity, professionalisation and extent of other simultaneous change in the sector. Potential difficulties caused by these characteristics can be ameliorated by measures to align the development of the framework with priorities, interests and concerns of practitioners and stakeholder bodies. A case study of effective implementation of a framework demonstrates the benefits of integrating the competences with other measures to deliver a new service.

The paper gives practical guidance for those who intend to develop and implement competence frameworks in healthcare and other complex environments.

The paper applies established organisational change concepts to the specific issue of developing new frameworks of competence. The article provides high originality and high value to those who commission and those who develop competence frameworks.

This study aims to propose a typology of team learning processes, based on a study of teams of health care therapists across England who were engaged in improving their services.

Information was gathered from 35 teams of health care therapists, through analysis of reports produced by the teams and by interviews with team leaders. The actions taken to achieve service improvements were analysed through a lens of team learning.

Team learning is an appropriate frame of reference for analysing actions designed to bring about change and improvement. Seven distinct team learning activities are defined.

The implication of the study is that it is useful to apply a theoretical framework of organisational learning to service improvements undertaken by work teams. The study indicates learning processes that were important elements in these changes. The study limitation was that information was gathered mainly from the leaders of each team; other team members may have contributed different perceptions.

Leaders of organisations and of teams should adopt team learning as a useful perspective for improving services and should consider how to encourage and support team learning.

This is one of a small number of empirical studies of team learning processes in work organisations.