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The aim of the paper is to demonstrate and explain the importance of redeployment as a HRM policy. The literature and empirical work on labour flexibility identifies three types of labour flexibility. The principal writers associated with this approach claim that the numerical/functional/financial distinction is one which explains virtually all the important dimensions of innovation in manpower management in Britain in recent years. (Atkinson 1985(b), p. 26). This paper will suggest that there is a fourth type of labour flexibility, that is redeployment which is defined as spatial or geographical flexibility or flexibility of place. Redeployment is ignored in the HRM and labour flexibility literature, but the empirical results reported in this paper suggest that it is both widespread and seen by many managers as an essential link between their HRM policies and their competitive strategies.

Manpower planning consists of three stages. These are: forecasting manpower demand, forecasting manpower supply, and the formulation of manpower policies (See Figure 1).

The paper aims to show how professional identity is constructed at a very early stage of initial management education. In so doing, it questions the notion of le métier in management.

The paper is based on a study of the experiences of six French management apprentices (or apprentis) who participated in a management apprentice programme in 2005. The research methodology is qualitative and illuminates the process of professional identity building. The central question of the study concerns the manager as an individual, an actor, and the link between the individual and his or her métier.

The findings suggest that from their very first immersion into the real world of corporate employment at junior management level, students construct different types of professional identity which can be shown as a 2×2 matrix whose independent axes are the type of acting displayed by the apprentis; and the degree to which the apprentis enacted their roles. This can be interpreted using the coupling system metaphor. Some of these types of professional identity are born of cynicism and disillusion engendered by their experiences.

The research is based on a small number of students drawn from one business school and concentrated in one job function – marketing.

The paper draws attention to the implications of the findings for those in business schools and organisations concerned with the formation of professional identity in young graduates.

The article proposes a new model for the formation of professional identity; and is the first study that deals with the French Apprenti manager programme.

To describe and analyse the Compagnons du Devoir (CdD), a French Compagnonnage; that is, a labour brotherhood and a community of practice; and to identify the reasons for its success as a human resource development system (HRD).

A one‐off case study of the CdD using data gathered by the authors in their capacity as members of a Conseil Scientifique evaluating a project to internationalise the CdD's approach to vocational education and training (VET). Primary sources include the UK apprentices who passed through the system, and employees of the Compagnons du Devoir.

Much of the success of the CdD rests on its capacity to develop knowledge, skills, and savoir‐être in young people through the volume of off‐the‐job training; near‐peer and peer mentoring, the systematic use of older and retired workers and the management of movement and change through a network of residential colleges.

The research design is a single case study, whose primary data is cross‐sectional, and based largely on data gathered from UK rather than French apprentices. Policy implications include the importance of a training rich in culture and humanity for the training of young people.

These include the positive role of older workers in VET; the importance of off‐the‐job training and mentoring; and the centrality of geographic flexibility in knowledge creation.

The paper is a case study of a French Compagnonnage from a managerial/HR perspective rather than those of labour history or sociology. It describes and analyses the functioning of the CdD using the idea of the honour principle. The CdD's approach to HRD can be usefully contrasted with that offered by other national systems.

The “classical” logic of organisations existing as generators of shareholder value, with the human “resources” seen as a means to this end, has been the subject of criticism regarding alienation in its members and the instrumentalisation both of work and of people. This paper aims to look at the way a medieval monastic rule is used to govern secular for‐profit organisations and trace its potential relevance as an alternative example for the structure and governance of organisations today.

Based on an in‐depth case study, the paper critically discusses the feasibility of applying aspects of the rule of Saint Benedict (RSB) to modern organisations.

Some of the principles of the RSB (such as fitting jobs around people, inverse delegation, and a critical attitude towards organisational growth) are quite different from standard management practice. Yet these monastic organisations turn out to be highly successful businesses with remarkably low employee turnover and high profitability.

The paper claims that the principles of the RSB can contribute, outside of the monastic context, to the creation and running of more “humane” organisations.

The paper illustrates that several of these monastic communities are important commercial organisations in their own right, producing goods and services for the market place. Some are businesses with multi‐million euro turnovers, the scale of whose activities compels them to rely on lay employees from outside the monastery on conventional contracts of employment. Yet these outsiders are managed under the same principles of the RSB as the monks.

It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.

The purpose of this article is to find decision‐making models for the design and control of processes regarding patient flows, considering various problem types, and to find out how usable these models are for managerial decision making.

A systematic review of the literature was carried out. Relevant literature from three databases was selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria and the results were analyzed.

A total of 68 articles were selected. Of these, 31 contained computer simulation models, ten contained descriptive models, and 27 contained analytical models. The review showed that descriptive models are only applied to process design problems, and that analytical and computer simulation models are applied to all types of problems to approximately the same extent. Only a few models have been validated in practice, and it seems that most models are not used for their intended purpose: to support management in decision making.

The comparability of the relevant databases appears to be limited and there is an insufficient number of suitable keywords and MeSH headings, which makes searching systematically within the broad field of health care management relatively hard to accomplish.

The findings give managers insight into the characteristics of various types of decision‐support models and into the kinds of situations in which they are used.

This is the first time literature on various kinds of models for supporting managerial decision making in hospitals has been systematically collected and assessed.