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This chapter traces the author's journey of change research from positivism to pragmatism and how different types of “engaged scholarship” shape how we know and do change. It takes readers through the ontology, epistemology, and methodology of different types of research and how these were expressed in studies of planned change interventions, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), cynicism and its consequences, “soul work” and community building in business, organizational transformation, and the development of more socially and environmentally conscious people, purposes, and practices. The paper reflects on the author's research as it relates to regulatory versus radical change and whose interests are and might be served by change research.

The purpose of this paper is to enrich the conceptual vocabulary of organisational learning by discussing the relevance of the interdisciplinary work of Gregory Bateson, an original and challenging twentieth century thinker.

The paper debates a number of principles identified by Bateson, which reflect patterns that appear in stories (including, for example, Sufi teaching stories) as well as in practical experiences of organisational learning.

Bateson's ideas have the potential to overturn assumptions about organisational learning and to offer new perspectives on the subject. The belief is that Bateson's thinking implies, for example, that communication is multi‐layered and paradoxical; that learning is always political; that organisational learning is emergent and transient; and that stories can provide more effective encapsulations of the complexities of organisational learning than rational analyses.

The paper offers fresh views on the conceptualisation of organisational learning that may assist practitioners to “think outside the box”, together with some practical insights and good stories.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the enduring, fundamental contributions of accounting practices in the pursuit of decentralization by governments, with an examination of Peter Leopold’s reform of the municipalities in the late eighteenth century in Italy.

An extensive textual analysis of the very comprehensive collection of primary sources of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany during the de’ Medici and Hapsburg-Lorraine’s rule identified the reasons for Peter Leopold’s decision to decentralize his government’s authority and responsibilities. A systemic comparison of the 1765–1766 and 1775–1776 financial reports of the Municipality of Castrocaro and Terra del Sole disclosed the importance of the micro-practices of accounting and reporting for the reform.

In the context of the eighteenth century enlightenment, Peter Leopold legitimized his reform by the introduction of a modern style of government based on the rationalization of the municipal administrative system and decentralization of central authority and responsibility. The reform was made feasible by the substitution of a birth right principle with an economic discourse which linked tax payments to property ownership. This had the unintended consequence of increased taxes, higher municipal expenditures and possible inequalities between municipalities.

The findings of the study are dependent on the resources which have survived and are now preserved in the official archives of Galeata and Florence. This work contributes to the extant literature on administrative reforms in a crucial period for the redefinition of sovereignty by the ruling classes, with the rise of the modern State. It extends historical understanding of the public sector with a focus on local government in the eighteenth century in a non-Anglo-Saxon context.

The examination of the reform of Peter Leopold contributes to an enhanced understanding of present-day decentralization by governments in the context of the new public management (NPM). It provides to NPM advocates a broader temporal and contextual understanding of the impact of current decentralization reforms.

Few accounting studies have considered the micro-aspects of decentralization reforms at the municipal level and tried to identify their impact on the wealth of the population. Moreover, Peter Leopold’s reform is considered one of the most innovative and enlightened of the eighteenth century, while the remainder of Europe was still overwhelmingly committed to the centralization of administrative apparatuses. Finally, this study relates to the multi-disciplinary debate about the recognition, qualification and accountization of the impact of decentralization of responsibility for the delivery of government services.

Presents the three winning entries from the 1997 Scottish Schools Essay Competition, organized by the University of Paisley Library and sponsored by John Smith & Son Bookshops Limited. Sarah Bone’s first prize winning entry discusses J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and explores the darker and more disturbing aspects of the book. Alasdair MacGruer discusses the theme of social progress through science as shown in H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. Rebecca Kelly discusses E. Nesbit’s The Railway Children and its relevance today.

This case study aims to illustrate the interaction of organizational culture, human resource (HR) policy and firm performance. It contrasts the cultures of two science‐driven organizations – the Navy's nuclear submarine force and Merck, the large pharmaceutical firm – and traces the reaction of one individual to two organizations – the United States nuclear navy and Merck & Co., a large pharmaceutical firm.

This paper is a case study based on field interviews and secondary sources.

The task‐oriented culture of the submarine fleet is compared to Merck's relations and team‐oriented corporate environment. Management skills such as flexibility, power and influence, interpersonal communication, self‐awareness and goal setting can influence career outcomes. Managerial skills are important in all settings, but a given style's efficacy is contingent upon organizational context. Adaptability is important, as is personal mission. Thus, the case examines how organizational culture, HR policies and leadership interact with an individual's career outcomes and organizational performance as well.

Because this is a case study it is not generalizable. However, the issues depicted in the case have been recognized in the managerial skills literature. The case study serves to illustrate and deepen managerial skills concepts.

This case study has illustrative value as well as hypothesis and theory‐building value, but is not generalizable.

There is relatively little research on the specifics of how to apply managerial skills in a corporate setting. Hence, the case covers important, sensitive material of practical and theoretical value.

The impetus for this paper was the Channel 5 documentary Who Cares for Gary? and the combined efforts of the author, her family and friends to challenge practice within one of the units featured. The paper describes a fundamentally disruptive sequence of decisions and events in the life of the author's brother and affirms that the consequences of abuse and mechanisms to challenge it go beyond individual suffering.

Many Australian educators believe that it is common in the USA for teachers to be sued by their students for careless teaching. Contends that this is a misconception, as the reported cases indicate that the US courts have been reluctant so far to find teachers liable at common law for careless teaching, or “educational malpractice”. The courts have justified this reluctance on “policy” grounds, arguing that to impose such a liability on teachers would not be in the public interest. However, in a recent decision in Britain, the House of Lords held that educators are under a duty of care when advising on the educational needs of students. Examines the following issues: the extent to which at present Australian teachers could be liable for loss suffered by students as a result of poor teaching; the House of Lords’ decision on educational negligence, the US courts’ policy reasons for refusing to hold teachers liable for poor teaching; whether the Australian courts should follow the US courts or the House of Lords; and the likelihood of Australian teachers being sued for educational malpractice in the near future.

This special issue of Personnel Review on “Quality and the Individual” is very different in style from the editor‐generated issues of this journal, but it has been designed for a very particular purpose. In the rush towards the achievement of high levels of “quality” among organizations, however this is manifested, the effects on the individual have largely gone unnoticed. We are all aware of the high rates of failure among quality management initiatives, and what is becoming clear is that successful organizations are harnessing the talents of individuals, whatever their status, to the quality cause from its very early stages.

What I want to do in this article is to capture the sense of community, of love, of learning, of struggle, of despair, that occurred during a weekend of laboratory training. I am conscious that this task has been attempted many times before, and not always with great success, but for some reason I cannot articulate, I need to try for myself. The incidents I wish to recount took place during a lab held for the first year group of the PhD program in Organisation Behaviour at Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, Ohio. This group had been together for about four weeks. It is important to place this lab in the context of the department's strong concern for creating a community in which the all‐round professional growth of its members could take place; thus one of the objectives of the weekend was to experiment with different ways of relating with each other and develop the kind of community relationships we thought would be most useful over the next three years. Another context of the weekend was that it was held as part of a class titled Personality Theories and Development Processes. Don Wolfe, who takes this class, and who was our trainer for the lab, is concerned that we should learn about personality and growth, both intellectually and through experience, so as to be in a position to develop our own personally meaningful theories as we experience our own processes of growth. Thus another objective of the lab was that it should facilitate our growth as people; it was to be oriented towards PERSONAL GROWTH.