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As trade unions have continued to decline in membership and influence across the developed economies, so academic attention has turned to the prospects for renewal and a search for the conditions under which it might plausibly occur (Fairbrother, 2000; Martin & Ross, 1999; Turner, 1999). One leg of this search has been directed towards the changing context which unions face and has resulted in the prescription that unions must change their policies, structures and culture to accommodate a “new workforce” (Cobble, 1994; Heckscher, 1988; Wever, 1998). A second leg has been directed within unions themselves and has been concerned more with the internal processes through which renewal can take place (Fiorito et al., 1995; Hurd, 1998; Pocock, 1998). In the U.K., two distinctive theories of change in trade unions have emerged along this second line of inquiry, one of which, the “rank and file” model, holds that significant change occurs from the bottom-up and requires the mobilisation of members against a conservative leadership (Fairbrother, 1996). The other, the “managerial” model, claims the opposite is true and that renewal is conditional on effective systems of union management and occurs from the top–down (Willman et al., 1993). Both theories are venerable and in Britain their roots can be traced on the one hand to the Webbs and their conviction that effective unions required professional leadership and on the other to the apostles of industrial syndicalism (Fox, 1985, pp. 66, 256–260). They continue to structure debate, however, and the purpose of this article is to provide an empirical examination of each with regard to an issue, which seemingly is critical to the internal renewal of unions, the development of organising activity.

The Academy of Wine service was founded in 1988 to raise the standard of education and skills in the service of wine in the hotel, restaurant and catering industry. In September 1991, the Academy launched its ‘Professional Wine Service Training Package’, which was specifically designed to satisfy waiters' wide‐ranging needs and time constraints. The programme provides a single, open and flexible learning package to develop trainees competence and thus help them secure a national vocational qualification (NVQ). Following extensive field trials, the success of the Traning Package is clear to see: volume sales and average spend per head rose substantially, with sales up +18% in participating Forte Hotels and +16% in participating independent hotels and the investment in training was recovered with an avarage 15 weeks. Additionally, the Academy of Wine Service has organised an annual programme of tutored tastings, produced a bi‐monthly newsletter, “Wine Line”, set up awards, scholarships and national competitions, and expanded its membership benefits. Five years on, The Academy of Wine Service is now recognised as the national education and training authority for professional wine service and is now being developed into The Academy of Food & Wine Service to provide a total training package for the entire industry by the beginning of 1994.

This chapter provides a theoretical framework that links ecojustice education to concepts of eco-intelligence and collective social intelligence. This theoretical framework informs the creation of innovative university academies that highlight sustainability and the revitalization of the cultural commons. The culture commons or those intergenerational face-to-face practices are evident in all communities worldwide. These practices include craft knowledge, the knowledge of growing, cultivating and preparing food, medicinal practices, and other forms of knowledge that are largely non-monetized and do not contribute to environmental degradation. Academies are sustained multiday events that incorporate the knowledge and work of activists, community members, faculty, and students who come together for the purpose of providing a platform for the discussion and resolution of critical environmental issues. Two examples are provided and details about the construction and execution of these events are provided.

Dunning’s eclectic paradigm of international production, which focuses on the ownership, location and internalisation factors, presents a useful framework to explain the foreign value‐added activities of transnational corporations. “Eclectic paradigm” means a general framework or model chosen from what is preferred from various theories, systems or doctrines. The present study extends the eclectic paradigm to a study of Singapore transnational construction corporations (STCCs) and examines what location factors are viewed as the most significant for STCCs engaged in foreign value‐added construction‐related activities in their major international construction market. This study examines if these location factors vary significantly according to firm‐specific contextual variables in the STCCs, such as size, international age, multinationality and extent of specialisation/diversification, as well as the major reasons for STCCs to export their services overseas. The most important host location factors identified by STCCs operating in other Southeast Asian countries are: the host governments’ attitudes, policies and regulatory framework; the social, political, cultural and geographic factors; and the cost of doing business factors.

The concept of an “organizing model” of trade unionism has shaped union strategies for revitalization in a number of countries in recent years. This article examines the transfer of “organizing unionism” to the UK in two ways. It presents findings from a survey of unions to identify the extent to which the organizing model is influencing national recruitment policy and presents case studies of three union campaigns which have drawn upon the organizing model, in an attempt to assess its strengths and weaknesses in a UK context. The survey results indicate only limited take‐up of the organizing model, though there is a group of vanguard unions which have embraced it with enthusiasm. The case studies demonstrate some success in applying the model, though identify employer resistance and internal opposition as significant constraints.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how the UK’s Trade Union Congress, in the 150th year of its formation, has been responding to the significant changes in the labour market, working practices and union decline. The paper considers Trades Union Congress (TUC) initiatives to recruit and organise new groups of workers as it struggles to adapt to the new world of work many workers are experiencing. Although the paper reviews progress in this regard it also considers current and future challenges all of which are becoming increasingly urgent as the current cohort of union membership is aging and presents a demographic time bomb unless new strategies and tactics are adopted to bring in new groups of workers – particularly younger workers.

This is a review paper so it mainly draws on writings (both academic and practitioner) on trade union strategy and tactics in relations to organising approaches and in particularly the TUC’s initiatives from the period of “New Unionism” onwards.

The authors note that while unions have managed to retain a presence in workplaces and industries where they membership and recognition, there has, despite a “turn to organising” been less success than was perhaps hoped for when new organising initiatives were introduced in 1998. In order to expand the bases of organisation into new workplaces and in new constituencies there needs to be a move away from the “institutional sclerosis” that has prevented unions adapting to the changing nature of employment and the labour market restructuring. The paper concludes that in order to effect transformative change requires leaders to develop strategic capacity and innovation among staff and the wider union membership. This may require unions to rethink the way that they operate and be open to doing thing radically different.

The paper’s value is that it provides a comprehensive overview of the TUC’s role in attempting to inject an organising culture with the UK union movement by drawing out some of the key debates on this topic from both scholarly and practitioner writings over the last few decades.

Organization and management scholars are increasingly interested in understanding how “fluid” forms of organizing contribute to the tackling of grand challenges. These forms are fluid in that they bring together a dynamic range of actors with diverse purposes, expertise, and interests in a temporary and nonbinding way. Fluid forms of organizing enable flexible participation. Yet, they struggle to gain and sustain commitment. In this case study of the SDG2 Advocacy Hub, which supports the achievement of zero hunger by 2030, we explore how the temporality of narratives contributes to actors’ commitment to tackling grand challenges in fluid forms of organizing. In our analysis, we identify three types of narratives – universal, situated, and bridging – and discern their different temporal horizons and temporal directions. In doing so, our study sheds light on the contributions by the temporality of narratives to fostering commitment to tackling grand challenges in fluid forms of organizing. It suggests the importance of considering “multitemporality,” i.e., the plurality of connected temporalities, rather than foregrounding either the present or the future.

We conduct a literature review on forms of organizing that address grand challenges, which are operationalized as the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, as this framework is universal and widely adopted. By analyzing the articles that match our criteria, we identify six differentiable organizational forms: movements, temporary organizations, partnerships, established organizations, multi-stakeholder networks, and supranational organizations. These six forms are differentiated based on the two following categories: organizing segment and communicational technological approach. Our analysis shows that tackling a grand challenge often starts with collectives as a protest culture without any expected goal, besides sending an impulse to others. This impulse is received by criticized institutionalized organizations that have the capacity and resources to address the problem properly. However, new challenges arise as these organizations inadequately resolve these problems, thereby leading to conflict-laden areas of tension, wherein emergent organizations complement institutionalized organizations that have created the first infrastructure. To solve the most complex problems, a trichotomous relationship between different forms of organizations is necessary. Moreover, communicational technological approaches become more sophisticated as grand challenges increase in complexity.

The McDonnell International Scholars Academy was founded in 2005 to bring together future leaders during their time at Washington University as master’s or doctoral students. The Academy recruits Scholars from partner universities around the world and a few from the United States, and it provides tuition and a living stipend for their time to degree. The annual cohorts of 15–20 Scholars represent all seven schools at Washington University and to the extent possible all 31 partner institutions. The Academy currently has 72 alumni and 67 in-residence Scholars.

A basic assumption of the McDonnell Academy is that diversity does not just happen when we put a diverse group of people together; it has to be fostered. In addition to recruiting students who say they want to be part of a diverse community, we need to encourage productive forms of interaction. To do this, the Academy strives to build trust, encourage networking, and foster friendships and professional relationships that yield “McDonnell Academy Scholars for Life.”

Through the Academy’s experience, we have learned that some useful ingredients for “doing diversity” are bring together a wide mix of people who would not normally meet; build trust among this group by creating a “safe place for unsafe topics”; discuss topics that divide as well as unite the group and find the common threads that lead to productive engagement; organize initiatives and events that are part of the institutional structure of the university so as to foster involvement from all constituents; and create living communities that encourage interaction and deepen connections among a wide variety of individuals.

The Academy experiences and structure can serve as a possible model to expand the idea of “doing diversity” across graduate schools, across disciplines, and across cultures and backgrounds.