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In September 1970 about 50 technical colleges offered, for the first time, the shortened full‐time basic course for new entrants to clerical work. These were the new courses of six weeks' duration which had been designed by a group of eight Industry Training Boards to replace the longer courses, started from 1967 onwards, based on the recommendations of the Central Training Council's publication Training for Commerce and the Office (HMSO 1966). The original, longer courses had failed to attract the support of employers, asked to release new‐entrant trainees for almost the whole of one term on block release and full wages. The first of the new short courses were conducted in the colleges during the Autumn term of 1970 and are already completed. After the six‐week basic course, which emphasises the practical aspect of clerical activities, trainees are required to undertake a project of some 18 hours duration. Dunstable College of Further Education is one of the colleges offering the new basic course. In this article Dr L J Collier describes the project work which they designed for their own course.

This paper in the main considers safety of staff within hospitals, although many of the problems faced by staff, particularly nurses, are experienced in a variety of organisations which come in close contact with the public and are therefore applicable to them. In the paper legislation in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSAWA) is examined in the context of the safety of individuals in hospitals. Hospital authorites owe a duty of care to staff to identify the nature and extent of all risks and to provide a safe working environment. This is a question not only of common law but also of civil liability and of statute criminal liability under HSAWA. At common law employing authorities who fail to take reasonable care for the safety and welfare of staff or, who by negligent act or default create a situation in which employees are placed in danger, may find themselves open to charges of negligence, ordered to pay damages for any injury sustained and be accountable to law. It is the legal duty of employing authorities to take such care. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (CICB) may provide the victim with what amounts to damages if he or she suffered injury through another persons criminal act.

This article reviews the development over the last 20 years of the section 8 powers under the Children Act 1989. In particular, it examines residence, especially shared residence, contact, prohibited steps and specific issue orders. In respect of each order, the review compares the current position with what was originally intended and more generally anticipated. The article concludes that whereas prohibited steps and specific issue orders have broadly worked as expected and intended, residence orders and contact have not. Residence orders have been used to allocate parental responsibility, which was not intended, and shared care arrangements have become much more common than anticipated. Contrary to expectation, contact disputes have proved to be exceptionally problematic and there have been consequential reforms to deal with issues. Despite these developments the overall conclusion is that the section 8 orders have generally stood the test of time and should not be regarded as being beyond their ‘sell‐by’ date.

Although businesses continue to take up artificial intelligence (AI), concerns remain that companies are not realising the full value of their investments. The study aims to provide insights into how AI creates business value by investigating the mediating role of Business Process Management (BPM) capabilities.

The integrative model of IT Business Value was contextualised, and structural equation modelling was applied to validate the proposed serial multiple mediation model using a sample of 448 organisations based in the EU.

The results validate the proposed serial multiple mediation model according to which AI adoption increases organisational performance through decision-making and business process performance. Process automation, organisational learning and process innovation are significant complementary partial mediators, thereby shedding light on how AI creates business value.

In pursuing a complex nomological framework, multiple perspectives on realising business value from AI investments were incorporated. Several moderators presenting complementary organisational resources (e.g. culture, digital maturity, BPM maturity) could be included to identify behaviour in more complex relationships. The ethical and moral issues surrounding AI and its use could also be examined.

The provided insights can help guide organisations towards the most promising AI activities of process automation with AI-enabled decision-making, organisational learning and process innovation to yield business value.

While previous research assumed a moderated relationship, this study extends the growing literature on AI business value by empirically investigating a comprehensive nomological network that links AI adoption to organisational performance in a BPM setting.

Britain's merchant navy dominated the international maritime trade in the 19th century. The strong ship owners' lobby imposed on the shippers the only choice to contract either under bills of lading drafted almost totally on the ship owners' terms or not to contract. The conflict between Britain and its rival the American merchant navy precipitated a movement for the use of model contracts of shipment (carriage) and towards standardisation of the liability of International liner carriers by legislative intervention. The bill of lading through its use in international trade gained the characteristic of being the document which incorporates the contractual terms. So, the orally agreed contract of carriage gave way to the contract of carriage in the form of a bill of lading.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze two process standardization theoretical conceptual constructs: process variants unification; and distinction between standard, routine and non-routine processes.

The authors analyze two conceptual constructs based on a single case study representing a general hospital’s (GH) process standardization, approach and results. The authors research whether process standardization implemented in a GH conforms to the process variants unification concept approach and its assumed benefits and whether implemented process standardization enables process management improvement based on distinguishing standard, routine and non-routine processes.

In accordance with the process variants unification conceptual construct, the hospital task force determined a uniform basic patient comprehensive treatment process at the hospital level, which allows synergy among departments. Uniform process activities reflect the differences between standard, routine and non-routine processes.

Process standardization through unification improves performance by establishing a common framework enabling shared experience based on improved process understanding. Distinguishing standard, routine and non-routine processes is useful for analyzing process management. This distinction provides guidelines for process implementation and measurement improvement. The paper also shows that increased routinization and standardization represent levers for process improvement.

The authors analyze theoretical constructs based on a single case study and confirm that theoretical conceptual construct application can provide better process management, which is important for practitioners.