Search results

The personalities, style and job demands of top ranking police officers have never before been seriously analysed. Here, by using a management development survey, key personality characteristics and the management and interpersonal styles of top ranking officers are identified. The views of chief officers are discussed, together with an examination of the necessary qualities required. Ways in which senior officers can improve their performance through management training and development and how this can assist their professional growth and development, are emphasised.

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.

There can be no doubt that the small and medium sized enterprise (SME) plays a pivotal role in most if not all economies, and that social policy makers have an interest in ensuring the viability of this sector of the economy, which plays a crucial role in the contract culture of national and international competitiveness. Quite apart from the essential symbiosis between the large multinationals and public limited companies and this sector, the sustainability of unemployment benefit payouts would be jeopardised should the sector experience a significant downturn. There are already worldwide concerns about the ability to continue to finance state pensions at anything like the present scale, and any loss of viability of the SME sector will simply exacerbate this situation. There are also useful reciprocations to be achieved by comparisons across sectors, including in significant areas such as internal control (Vinten, Lane, Hayes, 1996). The recent flurry of activity has included initiatives of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales 1996) and the information needs of owners (Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales 1996a), an Auditing Practices Board (1996) Practice Note, and a Department of Trade and Industry Consultation Document (DTI 1996).

This study aims to theoretically introduce the notion of responsible managing as educational practice (RMEP).

The study is an essay. Traditionally assumed as individual-driven, rational, neutral and unproblematic, the author alternatively considers management not as managerialism but as a social practice that needs to be responsible.

The author posits that responsible management involves educational experiences enacted through practical wisdom. In this context, education herein is understood not as a scholastic practice taught in business schools or offered within professional training, but that may occur in informal contexts such as managing.

RMEP may contribute to a better comprehension of responsible management in practice. The author draws on the epistemology of practices and the notion of phronesis to support his thesis – that managing can be responsible when assumed as an educative practice performed through practical wisdom and people’s mutual education.

Although much is known about inequalities in the prevalence of CHD, less is known about the barriers experienced in self-managing it. Questionnaires, focus groups, and Internet forums were analyzed to explore obstacles in self-managing CHD. Most people found it difficult and costly to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Gender inequalities included women being more likely to live on their own and with a lower income. Marital status was an issue as several were either caring for an ill spouse or were coping with their recent death. Socio-demographic factors played a key role in influencing people's ability to manage their CHD.

Managing diversity, multiculturalism, affirmative action and equal employment opportunity are words in common currency in a newly democratic South Africa as they are in most democratic countries of the world. However, in South Africa, as elsewhere in the world, these concepts are frequently confused, often misunderstood and, in some instances, form the theoretical backdrop to practical programmes of dubious efficacy at best and which may be counterproductive at worst. Distinguishes between these concepts. Concentrates on managing diversity and how this process is often hampered by an over‐emphasis on “national culture” at the expense of broader individual identity and power relations. Analyses how power relations impact on perceptions of “culture”, and ultimately on the motivation, performance and development of “historically disadvantaged” employees. Describes how this framework of understanding has informed the development of a managing diversity skills training workshop which has been run successfully in corporate and not‐for‐profit organizations alike.

This paper examines how human resources (HR) professionals in the UK have supported employee wellbeing during the coronavirus disease (COVID) pandemic. It considers the extent to which HR professionals were prepared for the crisis and their readiness in supporting the wellbeing of their people.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 senior HR professionals working across the public and private sectors in the UK. Using an in-depth interview structure, the research explored how respondents both reacted to and managed the crisis in their respective organisations. Template analysis was used to analyse the data allowing a certain degree of fluidity in the establishment of ordered relationships between the themes.

This study finds that business continuity plans turned out to be useless during the pandemic because they focussed on data, not people. It highlights the tension between home-working and burn-out as online presenteeism increased due to staff changing their behaviour in response to self-surveillance. The paper emphasises the importance of soft skills and authentic leadership and the tensions in respect of equity.

The study was conducted with HR professionals in the UK, not internationally. Although the sample did include HR professionals from across the public, private and third sectors, the experience may not be representative of all those working in HR.

This research found that those organisations that had engaged in business continuity planning prior to the pandemic focussed on the retrieval and accessibility of data rather than people. This prioritises staff as a resource rather than emphasising people as an organisation's most valuable asset. Furthermore, the study found that staff worked harder and for longer periods of time as a consequence of self-imposed surveillance. Organisational responses were contradictory as despite implementing well-being strategies to promote physical and mental health, there was little evidence of an effective response to this online presenteeism.

In the continuing endeavour to work towards ever better management, the engineering manager has a crucial role to play. The history of the engineer is reviewed and his/her possible present role in management is considered. Management objectives are outlined and defined and the specific role of the engineer emphasised. The best managers are leaders, in particular effective leaders of teams, and this is a management task well within the grasp of the engineer. The engineer′s specific training and initial experience give him/her special qualifications in this area. Indeed, there seems to be no reason why the engineer should not climb the management ladder right to the top, especially these days when technology is continually growing in importance. The demands made on the effective chief executive are outlined. It would seem that engineering management has come of age and that with the appropriate management training the engineer should be well capable of filling a senior management role.

This paper seeks to present the challenges reported by project leaders of cross‐cultural geographically distributed, or virtual project teams operating within the matrix organisation of ABC, a multinational company based in Switzerland.

The research is qualitative and exploratory, taking the form of inductive thematic analysis.

The key themes reported to be of significance were the challenge of leadership, managing virtual aspects of communication and developing trust. Sub‐themes consisted of managing the task, managing people, managing language and cultural issues and, lastly, managing the matrix.

These include attention to the selection of leaders, continued facilitation of face‐to‐face communication in a virtual age and investment in language and intercultural training.

Future research might investigate the complementary perspective of line management and take up the theme of high fluctuation of team members and leaders.