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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/02683949610109354. When citing the article, please cite: Manoucher Mossadeghian Golestani, Nigel van Zwanenberg, (1996), “Teamwork aspects of fixed-price and cost-plus contracts in ‘bespoke’ engineering companies”, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 11 Iss: 1, pp. 4 - 14.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/02632779610108521. When citing the article, please cite: Viktor Baron, Nigel van Zwanenberg, (1996), “Decision making in the provision of security services”, Facilities, Vol. 14 Iss: 1/2, pp. 9 - 16.

The research on which this report is based was carried out between 1979 and 1980. The main part of that research concerned the effects of the one year industrial training that constituted the third year of a four‐year degree in Business Studies on the orientations to work of students of this course.

Examines the processes used to make decisions about security operations within universities, analysing crime and financial data obtained from a sample of 21 UK universities, the security managers of seven of the sample universities having been interviewed. Only three indicators of the need for security were reported: internal crime, external crime and institution size. Of these, expenditure on security was significantly correlated (r = 0.42) only with internal crime. The security managers measured performance mainly by crime statistics. Presents a critique of this and an action/outcome matrix for security operations. Discusses the place of “disconfirming data” in this framework. No evidence was found in the study of a search for and use of such data. Puts forward various proposals for improving this type of decision process.

The use of the Person Specification in recruitment and selection has masked a number of fundamental problems. Reviews existing Person Specification systems and identifies these problems identified. Proposes a model of the Specification process which brings together person, context and selection. Presents an outline of an expert system which assists the specification process.

Even for a personnel specialist, the production of a person specification for a specific managerial job is a difficult task. The knowledge requirements for this task are not well structured, nor are the procedures to be followed well defined. Yet such tasks are increasingly being delegated to line managers. Describes an attempt to structure the knowledge in this non‐formal domain and then the development of a computerized knowledge‐ based system to support the non‐expert in this task.

Aims to measure the differences which may exist between a number of team aspects for groups working on projects with two different contractual bases: cost‐plus (CP) and fixed‐price (FP). Investigates work groups from engineering companies. Measures team characteristics and their perceived value to team members using self‐report questionnaires. Analyses the primary data obtained using statistical means. The findings show that team members did perceive differences in about half of the team aspects studied. Generally the feeling of “teamness” was higher in the CP project groups. Discusses the implications for management of the impact of the contractual base on the environment of teams, and suggests that the questionnaire may have application elsewhere as a management tool.

This paper is written in memory of the late Stafford Beer. The paper engages with only one dimension of the whole man: Stafford Beer as the diagnostician and prognostician of the social conditions that he so keenly observed.

The paper revisits a talk that Stafford Beer gave, over three decades ago, to administrators of the UK National Health Service (NHS). It uses the content of the talk, entitled “Health and Quiet Breathing”, to diagnose the problems that have been encountered in the development of NHS information management strategies. The paper concludes with some brief personal recollections of Stafford Beer as a friend and as a teacher.

The paper finds Stafford Beer's managerial cybernetics to be a useful tool in understanding many of the problems that have beset NHS information management strategies: lack of operational research, problems in the commodification of information, financial scandal, and bureaucracy. In its examination of these issues, the paper recognises Stafford Beer's status as a legatee of not only Norbert Wiener but also of the great philosophers.

The paper demonstrates how the problem‐orientation of Stafford Beer's managerial cybernetics continues to be fresh and relevant to today's society and provides a brief portrait of him both as a friend and as a teacher.

Index by subjects, compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals: Facilities Volumes 8‐17; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐17; Property Management Volumes 8‐17; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐17.