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This paper presents a platform for analysing public relations in the future. The author suggests a reintroduction of concepts of the public sphere in public relations theory and calls attention to an emerging function of the public sphere. This function is called the public sphere of organisational legitimacy and identity. Further, the paper describes three different concepts of the company in society. These concepts are labelled “The economically successful but socially innocent company”, “The economically successful and legal company”, and “The economically successful, legal and responsible company”. Examples are provided to show that these three images represent a historical trend and that they logically exclude each other, but that they prevail simultaneously. The role of public relations is analysed in relation to each of the three concepts of the company. Combined with the analytical concepts of the emerging functions of public sphere they are suggested by the author as an analytical framework for reflecting potential viable or problematic aspects in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of new nurses in Singapore of their experiences of role transition and to examine the implications for managers in terms of employee training, development and retention.

This qualitative study was conducted using a constructivist grounded theory approach. In total 26 novice nurses and five preceptors (n=31) from five different hospitals participated in the study. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews and reflective journal entries and analysed using the constant comparative method.

The findings revealed that novice nurses remained emotionally and physically challenged when experiencing role transition. Two major constructs appear to play an important part in the transition process; learning how to Fit in and aligning personal with professional and organisational identities. The findings highlight factors that facilitate or impede Fitting in and aligning these identities.

Although the concept of Fitting in and its relation to the attrition of novice nurses has been explored in global studies, that relationship has not yet been theorised as the dynamic alignment of multiple identities. Also, whilst most research around Fitting in, identity and retention has been conducted in western countries, little is known about these issues and their interrelationship in the context of Singapore. The study should inform decision making by healthcare organisations, nurse managers and nursing training institutions with respect to improving the transition experience of novice nurses.

This paper sets out to explore health professionals' views and experiences regarding the work culture that exists in their hospital units, and further how patients influence these experiences.

The paper employs a qualitative approach involving individual interviews with 60 health professionals in Canada employed in what is conceptualised as “open” (emergency room and maternity care) and “closed” (intensive care, head and neck surgery) units.

The paper finds that the influence of the hospital unit outweighs the influence of professional boundaries but for some groups more than for others. Health professionals in more open units tend to be less satisfied with their work, have more difficult relations with patients, and experience tensions with co‐workers and management. Those in closed units tend to be more satisfied with their work, have relatively better relations with patients and co‐workers, and tend to have more cooperative relations with management. The different structural conditions of work in open and closed units are also clearly important.

The sample for the study was self‐selected from one hospital, which may limit the generalisability of some of the findings.

The insights garnered from the study may help professionals and managers to develop unit‐specific policies to create a more positive workplace culture.

There is a growing body of research on professional culture and oganisational culture that often does not clearly delineate how the two exist concurrently. The paper explicitly investigates this issue by examining work culture across various health professional groups and also across hospital units, and further how patients figure in these experiences.

Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.

The paper takes up the challenge offered in the call for papers for this special issue to explore the notion of public relations as “ethical guardian”. The approach taken is to review some influential academic perspectives as well as practitioner perspectives that emerged throughout the 20th century. It is argued that the ethics and social responsibility have long been an intrinsic part of public relations self‐identity. The paper identifies a number of problems for the public relations occupation that arise from its historical legacy and considers the implications for professional status.

Reports on a study in a system of public education that is widely believed to be at the forefront of efforts to create world class schools. The aim of the study, thought to be the first of its kind, was to determine the extent to which five disciplines in the Senge model of a learning organisation are apparent in management practices of schools within the system. Concludes that Senge’s model of a learning organisation provides a helpful template for conceptualising progress towards world class schools. Implications for leadership are identified as an avenue through which to energise the quest for world class schools.

Under the European Union’s 1977 Acquired Rights Directive, workers transferred to another employer can expect the majority of their original terms and conditions of employment to be protected and changes made without consultation can constitute constructive unfair dismissal. Confusion over the application of the directive greatly affected the introduction of compulsory competitive tendering to the provision of local authority services in the UK. Many of the issues remain unresolved and will cause problems as compulsory competitive tendering is replaced by the duty on authorities to “achieve best value”. This article seeks to clarify the position for employers by reviewing the most recent case law from both British and European courts.

This paper aims to identify and conceptualize a set of relational capabilities that school libraries in the Alentejo region of Portugal develop for acquiring new knowledge that exists externally in the wider community.

A qualitative research design operationalized via case studies was followed for the empirical analysis. Empirical findings are based on the analysis of the 84 narrative reports submitted by school libraries as part of a national performance evaluation exercise that took place between 2010 and 2012. Data analysis followed the techniques of inductive data categorization, within case-analysis, and cross-case analysis.

The exploration of the relational capabilities that school libraries in the Alentejo region of Portugal develop for acquiring new knowledge that exists externally in the community resulted in the identification of relationships that school libraries in the region have established to acquire new knowledge: connecting with and supporting organizations committed to civic engagement; facilitating discussions about challenging issues through strategic partnerships; convening community conversations to identify shared concerns and solutions; and embracing local culture to foster endogenous development.

The ability to seek and recognize the value of new and external knowledge, assimilate it and apply it to organizational ends has been traditionally linked to the concept of absorptive capacity. While absorptive capacity literature in business settings is prolific, literature that focuses on school libraries’ ability to identify and explore external knowledge and applying it to improve their performance is scarce. Focusing on the specific context of the Alentejo region of Portugal as an archetypical rural area, this paper identifies how knowledge existing externally in the community is absorbed by rural school libraries through specific relational capabilities that reflect school libraries’ community orientation and engagement in participatory processes that develop social resilience.

To investigate and explain the extent to which communication systems and practices may enhance or undermine organisational commitment in field service engineers. To identify communication principles underpinning both successful (intentional and unintentional) and counter‐productive strategies for engaging commitment in remote technical workforces.

The approach of the study is critical interpretive. Data were obtained from two UK service companies, in the form of interviews and observation (primary sources), and organisational texts and publications (secondary sources).

The findings illustrate management strategies and practices through which remote technical workers form a sense of organisational attachment, and the communication principles underpinning them. In doing so, they suggest that availability of digital technology and frequency of electronic communication are not necessarily key to developing and maintaining a sense of organisational attachment in workforces of this kind.

As an interpretive study, the findings relate to the way the identified communication systems are perceived and interpreted. This could usefully be supplemented by quantitative analysis of actual systems use.

This paper firstly expands what may be understood as effective use of communication systems in remote work contexts, and secondly poses new questions regarding the relationships between types of employee commitment and the role of communication technology as a means of fostering and perpetuating them. It also emphasises the value of distinguishing between types of teleworkers when researching the complex needs and practices of this diverse work form. This paper also provides insight for practitioners the forms of organisational commitment encouraged or undermined by remote communication systems.

Based on self-determination theory, the paper investigates the link between environmentally specific transformational leadership (ETFL) and subjective well-being (SWB) of employees working in an energy intensive industry. The paper also aims to examine pro-environmental behavior (PEB) as a mediator mechanism between ETFL and SWB relationship.

An empirical research design was used for the analysis. In total, 293 respondents working in different energy intensive Indian companies filled the questionnaire for the study. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling SMART-PLS 3 software which is a graphical user interface for variance-based structural equation modeling using the partial least squares path modeling method. Two stages of analysis were conducted: the measurement model and the structural model.

The results indicate that (1) ETFL has a significant positive impact on PEB. (2) PEB is positively correlated to SWB. (3) ETFL has a significant impact on SWB. (4) The underlying mechanism process of ETFL and SWB relationship is explained by mediation of PEB.

Overall, the study insinuates that PEB act as underlying mechanism in environmental leadership and SWB of employees. The study further suggests that the management should promote green leaders for enhancing the overall SWB of the managements' employees especially in energy intensive sector. Doing so helps the managers to enhance managers' environmental conscious behavior for inducing SWB of employees.

The study contributes to novel findings in existing literature particularly to determine ETFL and PEB as predictors of SWB especially in energy intensive sector. The study also leads the ways for organizations by promoting green conscious leaders, which stimulates PEB among employees that ultimately contributes to SWB of employees. Furthermore, the research methodology can be used in other studies for variation of contextual variables such as size of the industry, developed or underdeveloped country and manufacturing or service industry.