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The EC has recently ratified a code of practice on sexual harassment in the workplace. Drawing on case study material, argues that initiatives designed to formalize the procedures for dealing with sexual harassment are necessary but by no means sufficient for its effective management. Presents case studies which outline how sexual harassment can be mismanaged both by professional managers and by trade union representatives.

The changing environment within which SMEs are operating is examined by reference to detailed case studies of three medium‐sized firms (one in the pharmaceutical sector and two in engineering). Following the development of a framework for analysis the cases are discussed to illustrate the direct and indirect ways in which pressures in the network of business relationships affect the management of employment relations. Particular attention is given to the effects of these pressures on management structure, work organisation and human resources policies and practices. Far from enjoying greater discretion following the decline in institutional arrangements and labour market deregulation, managers in SMEs find themselves constrained in new ways. It is argued that employment relations in these firms is shaped strongly by specific customer requirements exercised through the supply chain rather than being driven by broad market forces.

The purpose of this paper is to reconsider the role of the body in information in serious leisure by reviewing existing work in information behaviour that theorises the role of the body, and by drawing selectively on literature from beyond information studies to extend our understanding.

After finding a lack of attention to the body in most influential works on information behaviour, the paper identifies a number of important authors who do offer theorisations. It then explores what can be learnt by examining studies of embodied information in the hobbies of running, music and the liberal arts, published outside the discipline.

Auto-ethnographic studies influenced by phenomenology show that embodied information is central to the hobby of running, both through the diverse sensory information the runner uses and through the dissemination of information by the body as a sign. Studies of music drawing on the theory of embodied cognition, similarly suggest that it is a key part of amateur music information behaviour. Even when considering the liberal arts hobby, the core activity, reading, has been shown to be in significant ways embodied. The examples reveal how it is not only in more obviously embodied leisure activities such as sports, in which the body must be considered.

Embodied information refers to how the authors receive information from the senses and the way the body is a sign that can be read by others. To fully understand this, more empirical and theoretical work is needed to reconcile insights from practice theory, phenomenology, embodied cognition and sensory studies.

The paper demonstrates how and why the body has been neglected in information behaviour research, reviews current work and identifies perspectives from other disciplines that can begin to fill the gap.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the controversial repeal of legislation requiring UK companies to disclose an Operating and Financial Review (OFR). After a lengthy period of consultation and the preparation of a reporting standard, legislation was passed in March 2005 requiring UK listed companies to disclose a separate statement of management commentary, an OFR. In November 2005 the Chancellor unexpectedly and controversially announced the repeal of the OFR during a speech to the largest business lobbying group in the UK.

The analysis draws upon internal, private governmental documents prepared by the Treasury ministry to brief the Chancellor, publicly disclosed as a result of a legal challenge against the repeal decision.

The paper describes how Treasury officials were motivated to seek deregulatory opportunities in order to gain political support for their head, Prime Minister-in-waiting, Gordon Brown. The analysis reveals how the repeal of the OFR was identified as an example of corporate deregulation, and how this perception proved to be misplaced following the reaction to the repeal decision which led to the government reinstating many OFR requirements in an enhanced Business Review in 2006.

The paper draws on the conception of “3-D” power to analyse how a political ideology prevalent in the pre-financial crisis environment came to influence accounting technology with unexpected consequences. Using data rarely disclosed in the public domain, it illuminates the “black boxed” processes underlying regulatory decision making. The paper details how the Treasury were politically motivated to influence corporate reporting policy in the absence of concerted political lobbying, and why this episode of government intervention led to an unanticipated regulatory outcome.

David Peace’s Red Riding quartet ( 1974; 1977; 1980; 1983 ) was published in the UK between 1999 and 2002. The novels are an excoriating portrayal of the violences of men, focusing on paedophilia and child murder, the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper and, predominantly, the blurring of boundaries between the activities of police officers, criminals and entrepreneurs. This chapter aims to examine the way in which the criminal entrepreneur draws on socially constructed ideas of masculinity and the capitalist ideal in order to establish identity. This will be achieved through an examination of John Dawson, a character central to the UK Channel Four/Screen Yorkshire’s Red Riding Trilogy, the filmed version of the novels, first screened in 2009. The central role of networks of powerful men in creating space for the criminal entrepreneur and the cultural similarities between police officers and criminal entrepreneur will be explored.

Using the research approach of bricolage, the chapter provides a reflexive commentary on the films, drawing on a number of other texts and sources, including news accounts of featured events and interviews with the author David Peace and the series co-producer Jamie Nuttgens – an analysis of the texts, using a framework suggested by van Dijk (1993) and McKee (2003) features.

The centrality of the idea of hegemonic masculinity to the activities of both police officers, and criminals and businessmen and Hearn’s (2004) assertion that the cultural ideal and institutional power are inextricably linked are examined through an analysis of the role of Dawson (and his three linked characters in the novels) in the Red Riding Trilogy.

The chapter provides an analysis of one film series but could provide a template to apply to other texts in relation to topic.

The social implications of the findings of the research are discussed in relation to work on the impact of media representations (Dyer, 1993; Hall, 1997).

It is intended that the chapter will add to the growing body of academic work on the criminal entrepreneur and the ways in which media representation of particular groups may impact on public perception and construction of social policy.

The paper considers gender identities in higher education. It examines how people involved in university life engage in (re)creating gender identities and in (re)producing gender‐related expectations (and stereotypes) of managerial behaviour. The process of construction of feminine identities is explored through the discourses of academics from a UK university (mainly women who hold managerial positions). The paper reports findings from a series of in‐depth interviews with women managers (dean, associate deans and heads of departments) and with university academics (men and women) from a Business School, part of a large British new university. The school was of special interest because women held the majority of senior managerial posts. It appears that the process of construction of femininities is mainly developed around four (stereo‐)typical aspects generally associated with feminine management practices (multi‐tasking, supporting and nurturing, people and communication skills, and team‐work).

“We received a memorandum from the Manufactured Foods Division of the Ministry of Food requesting our advice on a proposal to make an Order prescribing maximum limits for the fluorine content of calcium acid phosphate (A.C.P.) sold for use in food, and certain articles containing it. The memorandum stated that two processes are used for the manufacture of A.C.P. In the first process elementary phosphorus is used as the raw material and the product is of a high degree of purity. Something like 80 per cent. of the total output in the country is made in this way. In the alternative process the raw material is rock phosphate and the product is contaminated with compounds of fluorine. We were informed that manufacturers using this process claim that they have been selling A.C.P. containing as much as 3,000 p.p.m. of fluorine for many years without exception being taken by Food and Drugs Authorities. During the last few years these manufacturers have had to use such rock phosphates as have been available and no doubt the resulting A.C.P. has often been more heavily contaminated than it was before the war. We were also informed that the possibility of harmful contamination of foods with fluorine has been giving concern to Public Health Authorities. From 1942, Food and Drugs Authorities brought proceedings in certain cases under the Food and Drugs Act, 1938, in respect of baking powder or articles containing it contaminated with fluorine, but they failed in some of them to obtain conviction. In August, 1943, the Society of Public Analysts and Other Analytical Chemists, which had been giving consideration to this question, issued a statement recommending that no action should be taken under the Food and Drugs Act where the following proportions of fluorine, however combined, were not exceeded: In acid phosphates, 200 parts per million; in baking powder, 70 parts per million; in golden raising powder, 50 parts per million; in self‐raising flour, cake mixtures and like compositions, 5 parts per million. Nevertheless, in the absence of a legal standard it is difficult to convince a Court that where any of these proportions is exceeded an offence has been committed. In at least one case subsequently a Food and Drugs Authority failed to secure a conviction and in general Authorities appear to have been reluctant to take action. In view of this unsatisfactory situation, several Authorities have proposed that limits should be defined by Regulation. Manufacturers have also urged that steps should be taken to clarify the position, and at our invitation the manufacturers submitted a report of work carried out on their behalf by H.E. Archer, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., F.R.I.C, and B. Leech, M,A., F.R.I.C. In this report it was suggested that: (i) In the combination in which it occurs in food products after aerating ingredients have interacted, fluorine is insoluble in normal gastric juice even when the acidity approaches the upper limit of normality. Further, phosphates present in a food after interaction of the aerating ingredients buffer the gastric juice at a pH on the alkaline side of neutrality so that any fluorine present is insoluble and unabsorbable. (ii) Within the limits of experimental error, any fluorine ingested in the form of baking powder containing contaminated A.C.P. after interaction of the aerating ingredients is excreted completely in the faeces. The report was discussed at a meeting between the manufacturers representatives and the committee. We pointed out that since the experiments described related to only one adult, who was on a high milk diet, the results could not be accepted as evidence of what might take place in the case of other persons, especially children, taking a more varied diet. Dr. Archer, however, indicated that the case for the harmlessness of fluorine rested not merely on the experiments described in the report, which he recognised as being chiefly of a confirmatory nature, but also on the fact that mottling of teeth is rarely or never found except where the water supply is known to be contaminated. He asserted that this condition was a highly sensitive indicator of fluorine absorption, and since A.C.P. contaminated with fluorine was extensively used, the absence of mottling of teeth showed that fluorine was not absorbed from A.C.P. It was further asserted that even if widespread mottling had occurred, the condition was to be regarded merely as a cosmetic disability and not as evidence of the toxicity of fluorine. Reference was made to work by Roholm stated to show that cryolite workers enjoyed excellent health and that comparatively large amounts had to be ingested daily for many years before any symptoms developed. It was stated further that investigations in this country had failed to reveal any radiological evidence of skeletal changes in either adults or children with mottled teeth, except in under‐nourished children from bad homes. The manufacturers' case therefore was the fluorine was not absorbed from A.C.P., and even if absorbed was harmless. On the other hand, our attention was drawn to various statements in medical literature suggesting that mottling of teeth is more common than usually supposed. Moreover, with other toxic elements, for example lead, almost complete excretion in the faeces does not necessarily justify the assumption that oral ingestion is harmless. We felt that the arguments advanced by the manufacturers could not be dismissed without further investigation and that their validity could be assessed only by persons having the requisite physiological and toxicological knowledge. The following questions were accordingly addressed to the Medical Research Council: (1) Is there any authoritative evidence that injury to human health has resulted from the absorption over lengthy periods of small amounts of fluorine from food other than water? (2) Is it true that widespread mottling of teeth in the community does not occur? (3) If the answer to question (2) above is in the affirmative, can the absence of widespread mottling be accepted as evidence that absorption does not occur at all or not to any harmful extent? (4) Having regard to the available evidence, including that advanced in the report prepared by Dr. Archer and Mr. Leech, is it in the opinion of the council desirable that an Order should be made limiting the amount of fluorine in calcium acid phosphate? (5) If the answer to question (4) is in the affirmative, what limit should be imposed? The following specific answers were given to these questions: (1) Answer is no, because so far no one would have recognised the effects of such ingestion; analysts have only been interested in fluorine determinations in recent years and pathologists have not clearly established the criteria of milder forms of chronic fluorosis. (2) Answer is no: in any case mottling of enamel is not the most suitable indication of fluorine ingestion except by the water supply. (3) Animal experiments have shown that fluorine is ingested by pigs, rabbits, rats, cattle, sheep and dogs from food, pasture and rock phosphates. Widespread fluorosis occurs in cattle and humans in Algeria, one of the regions from which much rock phosphate is obtained. The ingestion of fluorine from rock phosphates, besides producing the well‐known bone changes, produces in different species different effects, including pathological changes in the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal, and nephrosis. (4) Yes, an Order should be made. (5) The limit for calcium acid phosphate should be 300 p.p.m. In recommending that the limit be somewhat higher than was suggested by the Society of Public Analysts and Other Analytical Chemists, the Council stated that in their view a limit of 300 p.p.m. would still be safe having regard to the proportion of A.C.P. which is used in foods containing it. In amplification of these answers the Council informed us that in their opinion it is essential that a limit be set for the amount of fluorine permissible in any material used in food production and suggested that the safest procedure would be to prohibit the use of A.C.P. made from rock phosphate for food purposes. The view was expressed that since the effects of fluorine are cumulative, absorption from the alimentary canal could only be proved or disproved by determining the urinary excretion of fluorine during administration over a period. The argument that the absence of mottling of teeth showed that absorption does not occur was criticised on various grounds. In addition, it was suggested that Roholm's monograph on fluorine poisoning, the recent work of Ockerse in South Africa and Shortt in India, and reports from industries using fluorine compounds, all tended to show that fluorine was a potentially toxic contaminant. In view of the possible effect such an Order would have on certain manufacturers we felt it desirable to acquaint ourselves more fully with the grounds underlying the Council's recommendation, and Dr. Margaret Murray, who had advised the Council on the matter, kindly attended a meeting of the Committee to provide further information. Dr. Murray suggested that it was not justifiable to base any opinion on a short term experiment, since, for example, in the parts of India where fluorosis is endemic, the effects may not become evident for 25 to 30 years. She considered that the balance found by Dr. Archer and Mr. Leech in the intake and excretion of fluorine by their patient must have been largely fortuitous because, apart from the difficulty of accurately determining small quantities in the excreta, fluorine is cumulative and the fluorine excreted on one particular day is not necessarily that ingested the previous day. She agreed that small amounts, in drinking water, had a beneficial effect in tending to prevent caries, but was nevertheless of the opinion that this did not justify the ingestion of fluorine in larger quantities, or from other sources. The further evidence provided by Dr. Murray may be summed up by saying that fluorine, if absorbed in small quantities over a sufficient period of time, can produce gross lesions of bone; there is abundant evidence from animal experiments and analyses of human bones that fluorine can be cumulatively absorbed; and there is radiological evidence that a mild spondylitis occurs in some children living in areas where the drinking water contains fluorine, although it is possible that the affection occurs only in those children whose nutritional state is poor. We record our appreciation of the assistance rendered by the Medical Research Council and by Dr. Murray. In view of the unquestionable harmfulness of large amounts of fluorine, and of the cumulative effect of small doses, we feel that the risk to the public health from the repeated ingestion of small amounts of fluorine is too serious to be ignored, and that an Order should be made prescribing maximum limits for the contamination.”

The purpose of this paper is to consider the role of culture in international business studies, viewed from the perspective of textbooks in the field.

This paper analyses the separate chapters on the role of culture in 19 survey texts in international business at three levels: factual assertions; social and historical interpretations; and application of general theories.

Although all textbooks in international business emphasize the importance of culture, the survey reveals serious weaknesses at all three levels, including straightforward errors of fact, more subtle errors of interpretation, and serious problems with definitions and application of theories of cultural difference. The weaknesses are strikingly consistent, and the paper examines a range of possible common causes. Imbricated in the professional structures of the field, the authors appear to be under pressure from publishers, they share a US‐centred bias, and they appear professionally isolated.

Parallel to theories of nationalism and some postcolonial theorists, it can be argued that the implicit purpose of the texts is not to engage sympathetically with actual cultural differences, but rather to mould the next generation of American managers into a common pattern, by identifying an exotic cultural Other against which students will form their new identity. One of the consequences is that it does not matter greatly to the authors whether other cultures are presented accurately, or not. In practical terms, however, cultural differences are important and are recognized as such in international business studies, and so there is reason to hope that the texts will be improved.

The purpose of this article is to suggest that doctoral student socialization is a gendered process.

This article uses a qualitative case study methodology, studying engineering students in one university department.

The author considers how various norms and practices, including competition and hierarchy along with overt objectification of women, point to the masculine nature of the discipline.

Although stage models of socialization are helpful in that they provide an outline of students’ various tasks as they progress through their doctoral programs, they can account neither for the culture of disciplines nor for the identities of students who populate them. The author suggests that students in engineering are prepared to embrace competition and hierarchy, norms that point to a gendered disciplinary culture. Although, certainly, particular interests will lead students to pursue different majors, the discipline serves to reinforce culture.