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This paper aims to propose a framework which connects perspectives on knowledge and learning to various approaches of social networks studies. The purpose is twofold: providing input for the discourse in organizational studies about the way different views on knowledge and networks drive design choices and activities of researchers, policy makers, and practitioners; providing relevant questions which can support researchers, (human resource) managers, policy makers and practitioners to reflect on their views and their endeavors to study, understand and facilitate knowledge and learning processes in organizational networks.

In exploring the conceptual connections the authors draw on distinctions made between views on knowledge and networked learning in the fields of organizational development, human resource development and social networks. The proposed framework is built from connections identified in the literature review.

The paper proposes a framework which identifies four different ways of studying and understanding the outcomes of learning and knowledge processes in organizational networks.

The framework supports researchers, policy makers, (human resource) managers and practitioners in their endeavor to study, understand and facilitate the relationship between knowledge, learning, networks and their outcomes. The four perspectives can be used in designing and evaluating interventions and policy which are intended to foster knowledge processes and learning in organizations.

Studies on knowledge processes and learning in organisational networks are increasingly based on a variety of knowledge theories, which are not always based on a clear academic synthesis. Often these views of knowledge remain implicit and do not fit approaches adopted for understanding or evaluating knowledge processes and learning in organisations. This paper proposes a framework which integrates different concepts of knowledge and approaches to network studies.

The purpose of this article is to report progress of the development of a method that makes sense of knowledge productivity, in order to be able to give direction to knowledge management initiatives.

The development and testing of the method are based on the paradigm of design science. In order to increase the objectivity of the research findings, and in order to test the transferability of the method, this article suggests a methodology for beta testing.

Based on experiences within this research, the concept of beta testing seems to fit design science research very well. Moreover, applying this concept within this research resulted in valuable findings for further development of the method.

This is the first article that explicitly applies the concept of beta testing to the process of developing solution concepts. This article contributes to the further operationalization of the relatively new concept of knowledge productivity. From a methodological point of view, this article aims to contribute to the paradigm of design sciences in general, and the concept of beta testing in particular.

In an emerging global competitive environment, the Malaysian semiconductor industry is facing threats from low cost countries with limited innovative capabilities. It urges for improvement in competitiveness of the Malaysian semiconductor industry. This study focuses on the perspectives of the managers towards the enhancement of competitiveness. Through a focus group interview and data collected from 200 managers working in semiconductor‐manufacturing units in Malaysia, the study identified twenty‐two competitive factors for the improvement of competitiveness of the semiconductor industry in Malaysia. Since the collected data did not form a normal distribution, nonparametric tests such as Chi‐squire test and Mann‐Whitney U test were used to test the framed hypotheses. Based on the analysis, ten key competitive factors were identified out of the identified twenty‐two competitive factors through focus group interview. Further, the study also highlighted the differences in the opinion of competitive factors of technical and non‐technical job functioning managers.

THE Fifty‐First Conference of the Library Association takes place in the most modern type of British town. Blackpool is a typical growth of the past fifty years or so, rising from the greater value placed upon the recreations of the people in recent decades. It has the name of the pleasure city of the north, a huge caravansary into which the large industrial cities empty themselves at the holiday seasons. But Blackpool is more than that; it is a town with a vibrating local life of its own; it has its intellectual side even if the casual visitor does not always see it as readily as he does the attractions of the front. A week can be spent profitably there even by the mere intellectualist.

The purpose of this paper is to explore what “critical” could mean in “critical management studies” (CMS) in the current (Dutch) regime of re‐commodification.

Conflicts that typify the context, within which “criticalness” does or does not emerge, are examined. The specific circumstance of “criticalness” in organizational studies within the Dutch political and intellectual circumstance is appraised.

The critical management studies of experimentation (“essai”) can respond to de‐solidarization and the need for ethical democratic governance; but it can also lead to philosophizing without contextual engagement.

CMS has to be judged for what it tries and how it engages with its context and not the cleverness of its ideas.

CMS is examined not idealistically but in terms of current social and intellectual conditions

This paper seeks to analyse and explore the results of a research project, which aimed to identify recent and current research on TLA within HRD programmes. From that base the project also intended to identify areas for future research and a basis for establishing a Special Interest Group.

A comprehensive review of the literature was undertaken and an electronic questionnaire survey was conducted of academic members of the UFHRD, EHRHD and AHRD databases. This provided coverage of widespread international population.

Findings suggest that while research into HRD as a subject and academic discipline is very healthy, there is a dearth of research into the TLA of HRD educational programmes or at least research that is published. They also suggest that academics involved in delivering HRD programmes would welcome support in TLA through additional and new resources as well as ideas on innovative approaches and methods of TLA. TLA in HRD, though, is subject to some constraints, including the role of the professional body in the UK and parts of Europe, the status of HRD in relation to wider business management as a subject and HRM in particular and the size and diversity of student groups. Respondents to the survey, however, were confident that these problems can be addressed.

A key conclusion drawn is that innovative practice in the TLA of HRD is probably more widespread than is evident from the literature. In addition, the notion of “innovative” does not have a fixed meaning and is context specific. This means that TLA practice, which is considered normal or usual in one context could and probably would constitute an innovation in different contexts.

Provides the first overview of research into the TLA of HRD educational programmes.

The purpose of this study is to identify how themes and contributions featured in the four scholarly journals sponsored by the largest human resource development (HRD) research association (the Academy of Human Resource Development, AHRD) reflect the changing identity of the HRD field.

A frequency and content analysis of articles published during the period 2002-2011 was conducted to identify the dominant themes and research trend. Further, comments were made on the aims and scope and editorial discretion for each journal to understand how the journals influence the direction of scholarship in HRD.

It was found that the boundaries of the field are constantly expanding with some of the older and mature themes losing momentum and new themes coming to the forefront of scholarly interest. The journals were found to play a critical role in setting the future direction for the field.

Future researchers can examine if the waxing and waning themes identified in the findings remain same after analyzing contributions featured in journals that are not sponsored by the AHRD, but publish articles on topics closely related to HRD. Also, the findings can guide further examination of the editors’ leadership role in driving the evolution of the HRD field.

Considering the characteristics of HRD as an applied discipline, the findings can guide future researchers to explore if the thematic changes as identified in the study are associated with the needs of HRD practice.

The study attempts to understand the landscape of HRD research by looking at how the field’s identity boundaries have shifted over time and how different entities, like authors and editors publishing scholarly articles in the four HRD journals in the past decade, have interacted to contribute to the shift.

In financial markets investors and borrowers are faced with a whole structure of prices and interest rates on financial instruments. The determination of equilibria in these markets is a complex process and presents a challenge to researchers and practitioners alike. In this article we are concerned with a single section of these markets where we study the relationships between the interest rates or yields on financial securities which can be distinguished from each other (as far as possible) only by their term to maturity. We only cover the structure of money or nominal yields, as an examination of the real returns would require another arti‐cle in itself.