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While it is impossible to measure with any degree of certainty the efficiency and effectiveness of a national public administration system, there is evidence – empirical and impressionistic – to suggest that in many African countries the situation gives serious cause for concern. It is argued that African administrators face problems of a type and a degree of seriousness not experienced by their counterparts in the wealthy developed nations. These factors should be taken into consideration when judgements about organisational performance are made.

Action learning is presented by its originator, Reg Revans, as an ancient idea. But for those who encounter it for the first time it may be difficult to grasp for several reasons. In this article the author describes the reactions to a visit to Sri Lanka by Revans, and identifies several issues which seemed to emerge as he talked about action learning to a variety of managers and management teachers. These issues may be barriers to understanding its concepts and potential. The author makes several suggestions for minimising these barriers.

Contends that the vacuum left by the collapse of colonial empires has been filled by new forms of cultural and ideological imperialism conceived largely in the West. Signs of the new imperialism are to be found in many fields including human resource management. Explores this theme, focusing particularly on ideas about leadership. Examines leadership patterns in East Asia and Africa. Suggests that no single model of leadership can accommodate significant variations in societal culture and their influence on organizational behaviour.

Highlights the opinion that the importance of national culture in cross‐cultural management is diminishing, suggesting that the world is moving towards a single, global management culture that is basically Western and, more specifically, American. Attempts to test this hypothesis by examining values held by future managers from five different cultures. Uses the Kruskal‐Wallis One Way ANOVA and the Mann‐Whitney tests to show that future managers from different cultural backgrounds will neigher adopt a mirror image of current management style in their cultures nor a global unified management style regardless of local culture.

The total number of samples analysed in 1911 was 103,221, an increase of 2,472 samples over the number for the previous year. The principal increases were the following: Milk, 2,954; flour, 405; bread, 291; and spirits, 255. The principal decreases occurred in lard, 973; cheese, 285; and margarine, 208.

Purpose: This chapter aims to critically explore the nature of mentoring initiatives through the conceptual lenses of social capital and communities of practice offering a distinctive understanding of talent management (TM) innovations in the international hospitality industry.

Methodology/approach: It achieves its aim through identifying and analysing current mentoring initiatives operating in the international hospitality sector, and scrutinises how they provide a sector level approach to TM challenges.

Findings: Industry level mentoring initiatives emerge as TM innovations connecting employees within networks across the international hospitality sectors. Mentoring creates bonds and bridges between senior and junior employees beyond their own workplaces, connecting them to the industry and supporting TM by enhancing the identification of opportunities and the recognition of talent. These initiatives also act as learning communities where contemporary TM dilemmas can be explored by participants from diverse backgrounds and between generations.

Research limitations/implications: The findings rely on the identification and exploration of publically available data, and therefore future primary data collection would yield richer insights into the experiences of stakeholders of these mentoring initiatives as TM innovations.

Social implications: Mentoring initiatives can exemplify innovative ways of supporting TM and addressing diversity and inequality issues in fragmented and dispersed sectors, such as the international hospitality industry.

Originality/value of paper: The exploration of contemporary mentoring initiatives in the international hospitality industry identifies the value of cross-industry TM innovations stretching beyond stakeholders, such as educators, employers and policy-makers. It identifies mentoring initiatives as mechanisms for creating bonds and bridges between those industry aspirants at various career stages where diversity and inclusion may be a challenge in a fragmented and dispersed sector.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

“The destiny of the great majority of this planet's doubled and trebled population might be to live unemployed in shanty towns, subsisting on inadequate dole which would be given grudgingly by the productive minority, who would themselves be living in fear of being massacred by the resentful unemployed majority…”. Toynbee's frightening scenario seems remote from today's reality, but “mass unemployment” is even now seen by our politicians as the nation's most pressing problem. Despite short‐term palliative measures, it seems clear from emerging trends that unemployment, caused by inexorable technological progress and the consequent reduction of the need for human involvement in work processes will double or treble before the end of this century.

Reviews the development of systems and techniques in the hospitality industry. Describes the transfer of quality management applications from the manufacturing sector to hospitality and discusses their further development to cope with the diverse, tangible/intangible product mix. Also deals with the repertoire of techniques which have grown up within the industry.