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The purpose of this paper is to develop a deeper understanding of the role of the balanced scorecard in strategy implementation.

This paper provides a review of strategy implementation literature to identify the main inhibitors of successful strategy implementation and then proceeds to critically review the balanced scorecard and evaluate the contribution it can make to strategy implementation, in particular how it may be able to mitigate the problems associated with strategy implementation.

It is argued in the paper that the balanced scorecard, subject to the adoption of suitable processes, can address the key problems associated with strategy implementation including communication, the role of middle managers and integration with existing control systems. The study raises a series of research questions and proposes avenues for further research.

More than half strategies devised by organisations are never actually implemented. At a time of increasing competition and globalisation; shorter lead times and increased customer sophistication, the effectiveness of strategy implementation is even more important. The findings of this study will provide the basis for research that will improve this vital management activity.

The effective implementation of corporate strategy is often overlooked in strategic management literature. There is still recognition that there is a need for further research. By combining two eclectic fields of research, i.e. strategy implementation and performance measurement, it is proposed that new insights can be gained to inform future practice.

With the intention of successfully meeting the challenges of an increasingly complex competitive environment, organizations in many industries are rethinking their performance measurement systems. More effective performance measurement features identified include linking operations to strategic goals, and presenting a balance of indicators. Traditional performance measurement systems, meanwhile, typically stress the short term, focusing on past achievements while largely ignoring the drivers of future performance. Concern has been expressed that UK hotels are still focusing on these traditional performance measures – and so may be overlooking important issues, potentially leading to detrimental outcomes. This concern is supported by new empirical evidence obtained regarding the current range of performance measures used within UK hotels. This evidence suggests that although they appear to monitor performance in great detail, with few notable exceptions, UK hotels do appear to emphasize traditional measures and therefore still seem to have some considerable rethinking to do.

For hospitality organizations to compete successfully in the emerging information age, with its emphasis on innovation, quality and speed, it is suggested that they must adopt more flexible, responsive and empowered management structures. However, if such developments are to prove effective, it is essential that hospitality organizations also overhaul their accounting systems, most of which were designed to support the previous industrial era’s focus on volume and productivity. Indeed, there is a concern that traditional budgeting systems – with their typical bureaucratic encouragement of internally‐focused, department‐centred cost minimization – may present a significant barrier to effective change. It is proposed instead that a fresh approach to the objectives of budgeting is needed, involving “alternative steering mechanisms” that promote empowerment, flexibility and knowledge‐sharing. This suggestion is supported by evidence from an American hotel where such a fresh approach to budgeting has been developing, “matching” its more progressive management structure.

In this chapter, we discuss menopause transition in the workplace and its implications for workplace well-being. This is an important work-life interface topic, given the increasing number of women who will work during transition. It is also a topic that we currently know relatively little about, particularly in relation to well-being. We present findings that demonstrate both that many women experience symptoms that are bothersome at work and that these frequently have negative effects for two elements of workplace well-being, job satisfaction and health well-being. We evidence that individual/job characteristics and workplace context can either improve or worsen experiences of transition symptoms and make recommendations on how organization and HR practice can be designed to support women in menopause transition. We argue that working with line managers to create a more supportive context is one of the most important strategies to implement. Our research is situated in the UK police service and has wider relevance across the Global North, where similar demographic patterns are experienced, and in other male-dominated organizations and sectors.

Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.

A great deal of contemporary research in education, and in the social sciences more generally, is conducted through interviews. Interview-derived accounts and narratives have been used as data for many decades. We argue that, despite their popularity and their long history, such data are not always subjected to rigorous analysis. Researchers too often treat interviews as sources of insight about informants’ experiences and feelings, but pay insufficient attention to the forms and functions of such accounts. We argue that they need to be approached through the analytic lens of accounting devices and narrative structures. We exemplify this approach through ‘academic’ narratives: scientists’ discovery accounts and accounts of doctoral supervision. We emphasise how such accounts need to be examined in terms of the discursive construction of reality. Such an approach is an important corrective to the selective reporting of ‘atrocity stories’ about postgraduate education.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential to use infographics to capture, represent and communicate important information to construction designers, such that it improves their ability to understand the implications of design choices for construction workers’ health and safety.

Drawing on information obtained through a photographic Q-sort, supplemented with a literature review, health and safety information related to the design of a façade was collected from subject matter experts. This information was used to develop infographics representing the subject matter knowledge. A facilitated workshop was then held with 20 design professionals to engage them in a hazard identification process using a case study scenario. The designers were provided with the infographics and asked to comment upon how the infographics changed their assessments of the health and safety risks inherent in the case study building design. A sub-set of participants was interviewed to explore their perceptions of the impact and usefulness of the inforgraphics.

Infographics were developed at different levels of detail, representing potential health and safety issues associated with the site location and surroundings, the construction site environment and the detailed façade design. Workshop participants identified a number of potential health and safety issues associated with the case study scenario. However, this number increased substantially once they had viewed the infographic. Further, the health and safety issues identified when participants had access to the infographic were more likely to be less visible issues, relating to ergonomic hazards, procurement or the organisation and sequencing of work. The workshop participants who were interviewed described how the infographics enabled them to make a more global assessment of the health and safety implications of the case study building design because it helped them to understand the design in the physical construction site context. Participants also favoured the visual nature of the infographics and suggested that this format may be particularly useful to communicate important health and safety information to novice designers with limited on-site experience.

The infographics developed in this research were relatively simple two-dimensional representations produced and presented in hard copy format. It is possible that more sophisticated forms of infographic could have produced different results. Thus, it is important that future research develops different types of infographics and rigorously evaluates their effectiveness in developing designers’ health and safety-related knowledge and improving decision making.

The results indicate that simple infographics can help design professionals to better understand the health and safety implications of design decisions in the context of the construction site environment. In particular, the infographics appear to have increased designers’ ability to recognize less visible health and safety-related issues. The designers interviewed also described the potential usefulness of the infographics in design workshops as a tool to stimulate discussion and develop a shared understanding of the health and safety aspects of a particular design decision or choice.

The value of the research lies in the development and evaluation of infographics as a tool supports the integration of health and safety into design decision making. The potential to develop these tools into digital or web-based resources is also significant.

Presents a study of the somewhat retarded initiation of a public library in a very typical Victorian seaside resort, a balanced society and economy of residents and holidaymakers, whose first faint beginnings came in 1792‐1798. Based on a thorough and detailed study of primary materials (specifically the minutes of the local library committee between 1878 and 1901), essentially, it depicts an interesting and significant microcosm of that evolving Victorian community. It is also set against the very noteworthy background of the proximity of both Liverpool and Manchester, as the pioneers of the public library movement in Victorian England. It denotes, therefore, the first motivations for a public library, in the setting of a Victorian seaside resort: the cross‐party support, the funding, and the alliance with the comparable and parallel movement for “popular” education. In summary, it is a valuable epitome of the story of a Victorian public library, perhaps the more interesting because it is so small, parochial and detached.