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Outlines four interconnecting factors which are essential to motivating staff: an understanding of the “psychology of excellence in teams”; establishing cross‐functional quality improvement teams; understanding and reviewing processes of care and service; and the use of data display.

The great difficulties which attach to the fixing of legal standards of composition for food products have now to be grappled with by the Departmental Committee appointed by the Board of Agriculture to consider and determine what regulations should be made by the Board, under Section 4 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1899, with respect to the composition of butter. As we predicted in regard to the labours of the Milk and Cream Standards Committee, so we predict now that the Butter Committee will be unable to do more than to recommend standards and limits, which, while they will make for the protection of the public against the sale of grossly adulterated articles, will certainly not in any way insure the sale of butter of really satisfactory, or even of fair, composition. Standards and limits established by law for the purposes of the administration of criminal Acts of Parliament must of necessity be such as to legalise the sale of products of a most inferior character, to which the term “genuine” may still by law be applied as well as to legalise the sale of adulterated and sophisticated products so prepared as to come within the four corners of the law. It is, of course, an obvious necessity that official standards and limits should be established, and the Board of Agriculture are to be congratulated upon the manner in which they are endeavouring to deal with these extremely knotty problems; but it is important that misconception on the part of the public and the trade with respect to the effect of the regulations to be made should be as far as possible prevented. All that can be hoped for is that the conclusions at which the Committee may find themselves compelled to arrive will not be such as to place too high and too obvious a premium upon the sale of those inferior and scientifically‐adulterated products which are placed in such enormous quantities on the food market.

The final report of the Butter Regulations Committee has now been published and it is earnestly to be hoped that Regulations based on the Committee's Recommendations will at once be framed and issued by the Board of Agriculture. It will be remembered that in an Interim Report the Committee recommended the adoption of a limit of 16 per cent. for the proportion of water in butter, and that, acting on this recommendation, the Board of Agriculture drew up and issued the “Sale of Butter Regulations, 1902,” under the powers conferred on the Board by Section 4 of the Food Act of 1899. In the present Report the Committee deal with the other matters referred to them, namely, as to what Regulations, if any, might with advantage be made for determining what deficiency in any of the normal constituents of butter, or what addition of extraneous matter other than water, should raise a presumption until the contrary is proved that the butter is not “genuine.” The Committee are to be congratulated on the result of their labours—labours which have obviously been both arduous and lengthy. The questions which have had to be dealt with are intricate and difficult, and they are, moreover, of a highly technical nature. The Committee have evidently worked with the earnest desire to arrive at conclusions which, when applied, would afford as great a measure of protection—as it is possible to give by means of legislative enactments—to the consumer and to the honest producer. The thorough investigation which has been made could result only in the conclusions at which the Committee have arrived, namely, that, in regard to the administration of the Food Acts, (1) an analytical limit should be imposed which limit should determine what degree of deficiency in those constituents which specially characterise butter should raise a presumption that the butter is not “genuine”; (2) that the use of 10 per cent. of a chemically‐recognisable oil in the manufacture of margarine be made compulsory; (3) that steps should be taken to obtain international co‐operation; and finally, that the System of Control, as explained by various witnesses, commends itself to the Committee.

Explores the Total Quality programme adopted by the National Health Service, highlighting the issues which make sustaining the commitment of all staff to quality improvement processes possible. Discusses the tension created by linking quality improvement to reducing quality costs of health care. Outlines the timetabling of strategy development and implementation, and the management of he timetabled process. Reviews key milestones in staff awareness, looking at co‐ordination and management of quality improvement activities; understanding of the design/conformance/corrective action cycle; understanding of the relationship between quality improvement and costs; and sustaining involvement of staff. Suggests that despite concerns from clinicians and managers alike, regarding the pressures involved with implementing TQM, a successful team should improve service to the patient.

As the pressure and concern for quality throughout all hospitals and community services develops, provider units are beginning to appreciate the relevance of management and organisational approaches to achieving Total Quality Service. A brief overview of Total Quality Management in health care is given and the difficulties experienced in introducing such a system are outlined.

Achieving the best health care delivery involves a tension between quality and quantity of health care and its cost. Usually the latter ‐ the cost ‐ is debated in terms of its insufficiency. In addition, however, the amount of revenue tied up in “failure costs” or the cost of poor quality can, in any hospital or community service, be appreciable. A model of quality costing to address these issues is outlined.

The year opens with omens good, and foreboding, for librarians. Of the first kind is the re‐opening after two years of the Science Museum at South Kensington. The second was the astounding proposal of the Air Ministry to commandeer the British Museum for its administrative work. After three years of a war which has shown the devastating results of the neglect of things educational and spiritual the rulers of this country had apparently acqui sced in a proposal which, in the words of the President of the British Association, would “cause a shudder to run through all civilised countries. Were it carried out it would cover the British nation with lasting obliquy.” As we go to press, however, it is announced that the proposed outrage is not considered to be necessary and will therefore not take place. We rejoice over the repentance of the Government; but the fact that the proposal was made seriously, and for a time upheld, is so significant that it behoves all who value the treasures of the nation to be upon their guard. The war, also, is not over yet.

This chapter presents a holistic view of dynamic external macro environments and their impact on internal organizational strategies. It suggests how events, and particularly major crises at the global or national level, affect organizational responses. Specifically, the authors submit that organizations adapt their strategy in line with the pressures they face from the external environment. Consequently, the day-to-day operations inside the organization change, and managers find themselves faced with new challenges in terms of how they manage their talent. By exploring critical roles that human resource (HR) professionals can play in talent management, the authors delineate several ways in which the HR department can help organizations to react to these external pressures, supporting managers in ensuring that employee behavior and values are aligned with the new organizational strategy. The objective of this chapter is not only to reflect on the HR professionals and their role in helping to manage organizational talent, as their organizations navigate the dynamic macro context, but also to stimulate further research in this field.

Any scheme whereby the treasures of a public reference library are made more widely known is sure of the sympathetic consideration of all serious librarians, for it is a lamentable fact that reference libraries generally, and especially those in the provinces, are very sparingly appreciated. Their primary function is largely defeated by the ignorance of those most likely to be benefited. When there is displayed any considerable use of the facilities for research and study, analysis will often show it to be a mere prostitution by competition‐mongers and acrostic‐solvers; the genuine student is seldom much in evidence.