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The authors compare findings from two studies conducted in an Irish context: a survey of the usage and utilization of management tools and techniques, and a survey of the top challenges facing managers. Although there were some cases where the utilization of the tools and techniques appeared to match the challenges facing the managers, in general this was not the case. The article concludes that rationales for investing in management tools need to be explored in greater detail in order that they might better meet challenges managers face.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceived progress of graduates who have been recruited by organisations and to assess their expectations and corresponding satisfaction levels. Drawing on the psychological contract and graduate development literature, the objective of the study was to compare the opinions of graduates from an organisation that offers a graduate development programme (GDP) to graduates from an organisation that does not offer such a programme.

In this paper there are interviews with HR managers, coupled with the design and distribution of a questionnaire to 126 graduates in two organisations with a response rate of 71 per cent (89 completed questionnaires).

Interesting findings emerged from the research that suggest that while GDPs do have merit, they do not appear to result in graduates who are more satisfied. In fact the opposite appeared to be true. From the sample, it emerged that organisations that employ these programmes have graduates who are less satisfied than their counterparts in organisations with no such programmes.

A number of practical implications and recommendations were identified from the study, including the importance of monitoring graduate expectations and satisfaction levels, introducing short‐term development plans, re‐evaluating the terms of reference of the GDP and providing specific training for supervisors/managers of graduates. To ensure that GDPs play a positive part in ensuring the organisational commitment of the graduate, they must be carefully developed and managed.

The paper offers insights into satisfaction levels regarding GDPs.

Drawing upon survey and interview data, this research paper aims to explore the usage and impact of management development processes and practices in Ireland from an organisational perspective.

The paper examines numerous related issues including: the issue of aligning management development needs to business strategy; the usage of management development methods; the development of high potential managers; and the assignment of responsibility for management development. Tbe paper is the result of a study which included a combination of 13 semi‐structured interviews with HR/training managers and the completion of postal questionnaires by 53 respondents from the HR/training management population in Ireland from a cross section of organisations.

The study suggests that organisations are both concerned for their management population, see their development as a key priority and are willing to invest in them. Organisations are experimenting with the usage of numerous developmental methods and are particularly aware of the benefits achieved from informal methods. Both reactive and ad‐hoc approaches to management development were observed.

This paper adds value to management learning and education theory and concludes by highlighting the fact that before initiating management development activities, organisations must question their rationale for investing resources in development. Failing to devote time at the initiation stage of a management development activity will result in organisations trying to “reverse engineer” and justify developmental initiatives upon completion. Organisations must become more acutely aware of the indirect benefits that accrue from management development instead of focusing all attention to the visible direct outcomes.

The paper provides an overview of research published in the innovation and operations management (IOM) literature on 15 methods for cost management in new product development, and it provides a comparison to an earlier review of the management accounting (MA) literature (Wouters & Morales, 2014).

This structured literature search covers papers published in 23 journals in IOM in the period 1990–2014.

The search yielded a sample of 208 unique papers with 275 results (one paper could refer to multiple cost management methods). The top 3 methods are modular design, component commonality, and product platforms, with 115 results (42%) together. In the MA literature, these three methods accounted for 29%, but target costing was the most researched cost management method by far (26%). Simulation is the most frequently used research method in the IOM literature, whereas this was averagely used in the MA literature; qualitative studies were the most frequently used research method in the MA literature, whereas this was averagely used in the IOM literature. We found a lot of papers presenting practical approaches or decision models as a further development of a particular cost management method, which is a clear difference from the MA literature.

This review focused on the same cost management methods, and future research could also consider other cost management methods which are likely to be more important in the IOM literature compared to the MA literature. Future research could also investigate innovative cost management practices in more detail through longitudinal case studies.

This review of research on methods for cost management published outside the MA literature provides an overview for MA researchers. It highlights key differences between both literatures in their research of the same cost management methods.

This chapter addresses two identified weaknesses in entrepreneurial ecosystem studies: there is a lack of focus on the relationships between the components of entrepreneurial ecosystems and little understanding of the underlying processes that determine how entrepreneurial ecosystems change over time. Both entrepreneurial ecosystems and solutions ecosystems from social entrepreneurship studies are place-based complex adaptive systems that are emergent in nature. While neither of these ecosystem types can be controlled, they can be influenced and guided to follow a direction by designing conditions for emergence and transitions. In this chapter, the proposition that an online tool, that is used to strengthen solution ecosystems and support their emergence and transition, could also be used to strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems and guide their emergence and transition is examined. Two cases are used to investigate this proposition: a food security solution ecosystem case study that demonstrates how the online tool is used for solution ecosystems, and an impact economy entrepreneurial ecosystem case study that highlights how the online tool could be used for an entrepreneurial ecosystem. It is demonstrated in this chapter that the online tool can be used to address the current weaknesses of entrepreneurial ecosystem studies. In addition, it is suggested that by combining solution ecosystems with an impact economy entrepreneurial ecosystem, the online tool can be used to support the creation of conditions for social entrepreneurial places to emerge that are capable of addressing the most pressing problems that places face including the sustainable development goals.

This paper aims to investigate the influence of individual customer characteristics on frontline employees’ (FLEs) customer need knowledge (CNK), a construct that objectively measures FLEs’ ability to accurately identify a given customer’s hierarchy of needs.

The study uses hierarchical data involving the customer and bank advisor levels in the banking sector of three European countries. The matched sample consisted of 1,166 customers and 332 employees. To account for the nested structure of the data, the study used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) using HLM software.

The results show that customers’ financial experience and risk aversion positively influence CNK and customer-perceived responsibility for the service outcome negatively impacts CNK. The results further show the impact of individual customer cultural values on CNK, which can be influenced by customer-oriented employee training. Cross-level interaction effects indicate that training measures can reverse negative influences of customers’ high power distance and uncertainty avoidance on CNK, whereas for customers characterized by high long-term orientations, training measures can backfire.

This study contributes to research on the antecedents of FLEs’ CNK by examining the currently overlooked influence of individual customer characteristics that are pertinent to the employee–customer interaction process. The study reveals customer characteristics as a new area of antecedents influencing FLEs’ accurate perceptions of customer needs.

This study examined the impact of school leadership on teacher professional collaboration, with collective teacher innovativeness and teacher self-efficacy (TSE) playing the mediating role. Two most commonly used leadership styles, instructional leadership (IL) and distributed leadership (DL), were analyzed using a multilevel design, i.e. teachers are nested within schools.

The proposed model was validated using data of Taiwan TALIS 2018 collected from both teachers and principals and analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling.

Results showed that IL and DL influence teacher professional collaboration through different paths. IL had a significant direct impact on teacher professional collaboration alone, while DL had a significant direct impact on both teachers' collective innovativeness and their professional collaboration. While TSE had a direct effect on collective teacher innovativeness, TSE and collective teacher innovativeness had a direct effect on teacher professional collaboration.

This study highlights the significant impact of principal leadership as both principals and teachers work in the same environment and culture co-shaped through the interaction and collaboration. Research evidence regarding the effects of IL and DL on teacher professional collaboration is limited; this is even less evidential when the indirect effects of variables mediating between school leadership and teacher outcomes, including teacher collective innovativeness and TSE, are added to the total effects. The present findings provide useful references for principals and teachers when promoting professional collaboration to achieve desired outcomes in school and student improvement.

Social capital, an important mechanism for the creation and maintenance of healthy organizational life, may be developed through initiatives such as leadership development as effective leadership development not only enhances individual effectiveness, but serves to build relationships, coordinate actions, and extend and strengthen the social network. An ongoing iterative process which engages all participants such as action learning can facilitate this process. This research supports the connection between leadership development and social capital based on an extended action learning engagement in a healthcare system.