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The purpose of this paper is to explore a number of issues pertaining to the conceptualisation, operationalisation, feasibility and effectiveness of workplace partnership arrangements in a non‐unionised setting.

The paper discusses the most common definitions of partnership to discern whether scope exists for non‐unionised forms. It then presents a detailed case study, based on 38 semi‐structured interviews with 29 interviewees, inside a non‐unionised company to analyse whether its people management arrangements conform with the definitions presented, and to examine the employees’ experience of those arrangements.

The paper notes that most partnership definitions can accommodate non‐unionised forms, if the arrangements for people management inside such firms meet certain standards on employee voice mechanisms and the exchange of mutual gains. The evidence from the case study suggests that its unusual policies and practices do conform with a viable model of non‐unionised partnership – albeit with some reservations. The benefits and concerns are discussed in the paper.

The paper presents a credible definition and observable operationalisation of partnership for researchers to adopt. It encourages future research on the extent to which so‐called “partnership” organisations, including non‐union enterprises, comply and suggests comparative research between paired unionised and non‐unionised cases. However, it is limited to one case study.

The paper's primary value is in its extension of the partnership debate beyond its current “union‐only ghetto” into examining non‐unionised forms, as well. The case study is also unique in the literature as an example of non‐unionised partnership.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which measures and operationalisations of intra‐organisational trust reflect the essential elements of the existing conceptualisation of trust inside the workplace.

The paper provides an overview of the essential points from the rich variety of competing conceptualisations and definitions in the management and organisational literatures. It draws on this overview to present a framework of issues for researchers to consider when designing research based on trust. This framework is then used to analyse the content of 14 recently published empirical measures of intra‐organisational trust. It is noted for each measure the form that trust takes, the content, the sources of evidence and the identity of the recipient, as well as matters related to the wording of items.

The paper highlights where existing measures match the theory, but also shows a number of “blind‐spots” or contradictions, particularly over the content of the trust belief, the selection of possible sources of evidence for trust, and inconsistencies in the identity of the referent.

It offers researchers some recommendations for future research designed to capture trust among different parties in organisations, and contains an Appendix with 14 measures for intra‐organisational trust.

The value of the paper is twofold: it provides an overview of the conceptualisation literature, and a detailed content‐analysis of several different measures for trust. This should prove useful in helping researchers refine their research designs in the future.

Football, or soccer as it is known in the United States, is one area in which managerial positions are hugely volatile with what is often called a ‘merry-go-round’ of managers sacked for poor performance at their club and reemployed by another club. Not only does this practice often not increase performance but it is also very costly. Considering the nature of football, that is, the relatively high impact of chance on the rare events that goals are, and the high correlation between success and the wage bill, the influence of managers on performance is often over-estimated. However, potentially better preparation of future managers might help to increase competitive advantages. In this chapter, we are looking in depth at leadership in the context of football and the lessons we can draw for other contexts.

Even more than 50 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination toward a number of groups in employment settings in the United States, workplace discrimination remains a persistent problem in organizations. This chapter provides a comprehensive review and analysis of contemporary theory and evidence on the nature, causes, and consequences of discrimination before synthesizing potential methods for its reduction. We note the strengths and weaknesses of this scholarship and highlight meaningful future directions. In so doing, we hope to both inform and inspire organizational and scholarly efforts to understand and eliminate workplace discrimination.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between ethical leadership and group-level performance outcomes and show that group value congruence and group trust play pivotal mediating roles in the relationship between ethical leadership and work group performance outcomes.

To examine the proposed model, survey data from 116 branches of a baked goods and beverages chain located in Northern Taiwan were analyzed.

The results revealed that ethical leadership was positively and significantly related to group in-role performance and group helping behavior; the relationship was fully mediated by group value congruence and group trust after controlling for idealized influence leadership.

This study features a cross-sectional study design, thus limiting the accuracy of inferences about causality.

The results of the current study revealed that ethical leadership behaviors enhance group trust. Hence, these leadership behaviors could be among the best and most appropriate practices to be implemented in China and Taiwan.

The data suggested that ethical leadership was associated with not only individual-level behavior but also group-level performance. Furthermore, this paper also uncovered the mediation mechanism through which ethical leadership enhances group performance.

The first purpose of this paper is to review the practical and theoretical distinctions between training and development in the organisational psychology and human resource development (HRD) literatures. Then the paper seeks to investigate how managers responsible for the training and development function conceptualise these activities in practice, the factors that guide their decision making, how they evaluate the outcomes and the extent to which they perceive a relationship between training and development.

Taking a critical realist perspective, 26 interviews were conducted with UK managers and analysed through thematic coding using template analysis.

Managers' conceptualisations of training and development vary. Formal training is prioritised due to a perceived more tangible demonstrable return on investment. Perceived success in training focuses on improvements to job‐related skills, whereas success outcomes for development are more varied and difficult to measure. Managers consider that training and development are more valuable when combined.

There is a need for further process‐driven research to understand the interrelationship between training and development and to develop methods that can be used by organisations to evaluate both. This necessitates going beyond methods currently in use and including both qualitative and quantitative measures.

Managers may take a more proactive and directive role in facilitating development than the literature suggests; consequently, their role needs to be considered more actively in HRD learning strategies.

This is one of the first qualitative studies to explore the conceptualisations of managers responsible for training and development, highlighting the inter‐relationship between training and development and the factors guiding decisions regarding these activities.

This paper's aim is to critically review the use of Delphi techniques in qualitative research for utilising “expert” opinions and to explore through a detailed example how Policy Delphi can be used by hospitality researchers as an alternative to the more widely used Normative Delphi.

The paper reflects on the research methodology of a project that explored organisational crisis signals detection using Policy Delphi with a criterion sample comprising 16 senior hotel executives involved in crisis management.

The main methodological concerns regarding Delphi are the definition of consensus, the expertise of the panel, its lack of scientific rigour, and – due to its lack of uniformity – reliability and validity of findings. Policy Delphi by default addresses the first since it does not seek consensus and can, through its design and execution, address the remaining concerns.

Carefully designed Policy Delphi can offer a powerful research tool for exploratory research in hospitality, particularly for development of policies and strategies within an organisation. Unlike Normative Delphi, it is not intended as a decision making tool, but rather as a tool to generate options and suggest alternative courses of action for consideration.

The paper presents a valuable research tool that has evaded the attention of many hospitality researchers offering an illustrative example of its use in exploratory research to deliver credible, transferable and confirmable findings.