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The purpose of this paper is to philosophically address the issue of managerial opportunism and to describe the paradox of the opportunistic executive, particularly when the CEO could be considered as a “criminal-to-be”.

It will be seen to what extent governance mechanisms really contribute to prevent managerial opportunism, particularly through compensation packages (“financial carrots”). Then, Oliver E. Williamson’s viewpoint will be analyzed on opportunism, as his theory has largely influenced the way agency theories actually define managerial opportunism. Williamson was thinking opportunism without referring to philosophical works. The gap in exploring three basic types of opportunism will be filled: the Smithian egoist, the Hobbesian egoist and the Machiavellian egoist.

The Smithian egoist tries to reach an equilibrium between self-interest and compassion, while the Hobbesian egoist is motivated by self-interest, desire of power and the attitude of prudence. The Machiavellian egoist is always searching for power and makes followers’ fear arising. The way governance mechanisms and structures should be designed and implemented could be quite different if the CEO actually behaves as a Smithian, Hobbesian or Machiavellian egoist. CEO’s propensity to commit financial crime could largely vary from one type to another: low risk (Smithian egoist), medium risk (Hobbesian egoist) or high risk (Machiavellian egoist).

Smith’s, Hobbes’ and Machiavelli’s philosophy was chosen because the agency theory sometimes refers to it, when defining the notion of opportunism. Other philosophies could also be analyzed to see to what extent they are opening the door to opportunism (for example, Spinoza).

The paper analyzes managerial opportunism from a philosophical viewpoint. Whether executives are Smithian, Hobbesian or Machiavellian egoists, their opportunism cannot give birth to similar behaviors.

Machiavellian, narcissistic, and psychopathic traits are often viewed as negative or undesirable personality traits. However, recent research demonstrates that individuals with these traits possess qualities that may be personally beneficial within the business contexts. In this chapter, we conceptualize a balanced perspective of these traits throughout the entrepreneurial process (opportunity recognition, opportunity evaluation, and opportunity exploitation) and discuss human resources management strategies that can be employed to enhance the benefits, or minimize the challenges, associated with Machiavellian, narcissistic, and psychopathic traits. Specifically, we propose that Machiavellian qualities are most beneficial in the evaluation stage of entrepreneurship, and Machiavellian, narcissistic, and psychopathic qualities are beneficial in the exploitation stage of entrepreneurship.

The 1988 Education Reform Act marked a fundamental shift in direction for the education service and represented a radical shift from the past. One of the major areas of change has been on existing relationships and the subsequent challenge to traditional structures and practices. Responsibilities and accountability have been decentralised to the individual institution. Subsequently this has led to pressure from sources, such as the Government and teaching profession, for a more articulate approach to leadership and management development. In 1990 Handy warned that not all staff are equally experienced or capable of leadership roles. Williams suggested that the position of principal/headteacher is not necessarily the most appropriate for some members of the teaching profession. This paper looks at a proposed initiative for the development of a qualification for headship in general and the implications for implementation in Northern Ireland in particular, and considers it against existing management literature and practice.

When a society overthrows a ruler – call the ruler Caesar – what determines whether Caesar is killed or enslaved? This chapter presents a model of killing versus enslaving Caesar, based on a new theory which unifies justice, status, and power. The model pertains to societies which value ordinal goods like bravery, yielding predictions for three of the five types of societies – justice-nonmaterialistic, status, and power-nonmaterialistic. Results cover members’ gains, effects of own rank and group size, and relative gains from killing or enslaving Caesar. Further results suggest that Caesar will be killed only in a justice-nonmaterialistic society, and from the noblest of motives – to achieve equal gains for members.

This paper seeks to understand whether significant senior management and structural changes within an Australian university is the result of learning or other influences and how these explain the impact of change on the careers of two individuals within the organisation.

The organisation and the changes are introduced followed by a microcase study of two individuals aspiring to the same position. The cause and effect of changes are considered from organisational learning, structural, political and emotional perspectives.

Organisational learning was not found to be the primary cause of the changes. (Re)structure was used to increase horizontal power and authority. Decision‐making ranged from rational to emotional based on the strengths of one's political affiliations.

Limitations exist by virtue of a restricted number of objects of interest being studied.

This paper seeks to challenge the individual to understand the dynamics within their organisation and to respond in a rational rather than emotional way to organisational change so that they can benefit from or at least learn from the changes at a personal level.

The paper considers a range of organisational perspectives and offers a general model of the relationships between structure, power, rationality, emotions, and the unitary v. pluralist views.

Full‐text CDROM is a powerful tool and publishers are finding ways to build more into their product. World Library has upgraded Library of the Future with a third edition (World Library Inc., 1991–1994, Library of the Future, 3rd Edition. Irvine, CA, USA). Library of the Future is a CDROM tool to access classic literature, some religious works and some important documents in full text. World Library has added Windows operation and new graphic effects to the product.

The article guides the process for each aspiring leader to develop his or her own unique approach to leading.

Executives and managers can deepen theirunderstanding of leadership by mining three sources: the burgeoning archives of contemporary leadership theory and practice, case histories of leaders and leadership and the classic writings of literature, history and philosophy.

More managers must learn to be leaders, and the best way to make it happen is to avoid the clichés, the leadership training marketing hype, the platitudes and the pseudo-scholarly research and take charge of your own leadership journey.

The core of the do-it-yourself approach is to learn to lead by doing. Mastering the role of a leader is a challenge that, like mastering any craft, requires continual practice.

The article is an antidote to leadership training marketing hype. Instead of buying dubious advice, potential leaders can seize the opportunity to be creative, to discover a personal approach to leading that fits the time and place and is compatible with their own persona, values and beliefs.

ESTABLISHING the right degree of diversification needed for a company's product lines can be a vexing task. In their eagerness to offer variety and selectivity to the customer, sales people tend to push for an ever increasing variety of models, designs, styles, patterns, colours and sizes. In contrast cost conscious production people may view this proliferation with misgivings. They realize only too well the tremendous toll—in terms of additional set‐up times, scheduling problems, training tasks and other expenses—that can result from needless diversity.