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Raises questions about the effectiveness of education and training for service quality. Suggests that the effectiveness of training can be enhanced by using facilitators to help transfer new skills into the workplace.

Describes the way in which a service provider can identify opportunities for improvement, and target such opportunities within a framework of improvement action.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of the International Journal of Manpower is split into seven sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Human Resource Management; Career Planning & Recruitment; Women/Dependant Care; Health & Safety ; Education & Training ; Industrial Relations & Participation ; Redundancy.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of Employee Relations is split into seven sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Design of Work; Performance, Productivity and Motivation; Patterns of Work; Pay, Incentives and Pensions; Career/Manpower Planning; Industrial Relations and Participation; Health and Safety.

Pre‐employment medical examinations with appropriate testing are required in many industries—a basic tenet of Occupational Medicine—and it has long been a recommendation of many in community medicine and environmental health for those food handlers whose close contact with open food, aspects of its preparation, processing, sale, exposure for sale, make their personal health important and in prevention of diseases and may constitute a health hazard to food consumers. Epidemiological studies have revealed too many instances of a human source of disease, especially in milk and water, for this to be denied or under‐estimated. Food poisioning outbreaks caused by a carrier, of chronic or limited duration, enable those investigating such outbreaks to see there could be advantages in medical screening of certain employees especially in certain areas of food trades. The main problem is to decide the extent of the discipline and who should be subject to it. The fact that by far the majority of the examinations and tests will prove negative should not be seen as removing the need for the service. After all, there are a number of similar circumstances in public health. Meat inspection, for example, in which a 100% inspection of all food animals slaughtered for human food is now fully established, it is not suggested that inspections should in any way be reduced despite the fact that a number of the diseases, eg., tuberculosis, no longer occurs as it once did, which was the prime cause of meat inspection being brought into being. Other areas where routine medical examinations reveal satisfactory health with only a few isolated cases requiring attention, is the school medical service. Here, the “de‐bunkers” have had some success, but if children are not regularly examined at vulnerable age levels and especially in between where the occasion demands, there is no question that much will be missed and ill‐health progress to a chronic state.

Introduction & Objectives Women have been participating in management roles in corporations in growing numbers over the past decade. These roles have been predominantly male, grounded in values and systems created by men and managed by standards using the male perspective. By and large, the territory is unfamiliar to women; excluding their repertoire of experiences, skills, needs and value system.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the engagement of Pacific peoples in mental health services in Aotearoa New Zealand and Pacific strategies for suicide prevention.

This qualitative study involved 22 interviews with Samoans who had made a suicide attempt and/or had suicide ideation, were engaged in a mental health service.

Narratives of mental health services and suicide prevention focused on issues of cultural competency, the importance of family involvement, dichotomous views of western and traditional beliefs around mental illness and the unsuccessful engagement of Pacific youth.

This research argues that cultural considerations for Pacific communities are of paramount importance if mental health service engagement and developments towards Pacific suicide prevention strategies are to be effective.

Reports on the adoption of total quality methods by RNAY Fleetland, a company which undertakes repair and maintenance of military helicopters, and which had to contend with the hurdle of taking the two cultures, military and civilian, within the business and turning them into a quality culture. Focuses on the customer/supplier chain and possible areas for improvement, especially in Customer service. Argues that effective communication and total employee involvement are the keys to the success of their quality initiative. States that the main change in the company culture has been to focus on prevention rather than failure.

Describes how OCS Smarts Group is continuing to find better ways of building relationships with customers and suppliers, whilst emphasising the role of employees in this process. Asserts that key to its success is Customer service. Examines the Smarts Quality Care programme. Discusses two developments designed to build relationships with customers and improve service, the first showing the value of relationship building with strategically important suppliers. Describes the establishment of commercial networks. Concludes that it is a business that has invested as much in its people as in new technology. Both the transponder technology and commercial networks are clearly focused on meeting real customers′ needs by building viable, lasting relationships.

While some women have emerged as leaders within contemporary organizations, they occupy one‐third of managerial and professorial positions in Canada while composing approximately one‐half of the workforce. At top managerial levels, they occupy less than 5 per cent of senior positions. Earlier research identified “female deficiencies” as a reason why few women have made it to the top. Other findings have indicated that following a masculine model has both advantages and disadvantages for aspiring women managers. Developmental differences between both sexes has helped to explain some of the problems for leaders and followers. Interactive leadership styles utilized by women have been beneficial in moving both genders towards a solution insofar as this style involves four factors: encouraging participation; sharing power and information; enhancing self‐worth of others and finally, energizing others. The use of an androgynous leadership model has not yielded significant findings but there are common characteristics of successful leaders combining both the masculine and feminine models. Organizations and their top leaders need to expand their definition of effective leadership so that an interactive style can be valued, allowing these organizations to be flexible in surviving within an increasingly competitive and diverse environment.