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Research into how the wage fix/employment flex phenomenon operates in a recession.

This article draws from “institutional” labour economics and mainstream industrial relations, but differs from the more usual uses of their ideas in a number of ways. For example, the observation we make, that wages and prices are “sticky” downwards and that labour markets respond to falls in demand by employment and quantity adjustments, is not new. Similarly, the idea that labour markets are different from “normal” commodity markets is not of recent origin Hence, while Clay and Hicks were making such observations and speculating on the labour relations consequences of them, Keynes was using the concept of wage rigidity (stickiness) as a central building block in his General Theory which dealt with the conditions for macro‐economic equilibrium.

The paper uses a procedure called data envelopment analysis (DEA) to compare internal against external (outsource) efficiency in the delivery of finance function activities. The approach allows a direct comparison between the in‐house efficiency of UK small, medium and large companies in managing their accounting activities both with UK outsource contractors and also against the rather larger and more numerous contractors observed in Italy. The paper finds that, through comparative advantages, outsourcing presents a more efficient solution for the management of very small firm accounting than internal provision. Furthermore, there is evidence that substantial scale benefits continue to be available to outsource contractors, while inefficiency on internal provision is mainly technical. The paper concludes that outsourcing provision is likely to offer worthwhile savings to small firms, allowing them to shed competitive weaknesses and operate at efficient or best practice levels. At the same time, by converting an internal fixed cost, fixed capacity activity into a flexible, variable cost activity, SMEs have the potential to transform a previously unmanageable activity into an efficient or best practice activity that can grow or contract with the business.

The purpose of this paper is to test the positive effect of strategy‐technology integration on performance in comparison with the impact of other types of strategies.

General conclusions are drawn and strategic implications derived from a survey of 355 UK manufacturing companies which had expressed interest in the introduction of new computer‐based technology.

It was found that the companies with strategy‐technology integration showed better financial and operational performance. Strategies of technology leadership and market orientation were also associated with enhanced financial performance. However, a number of organisational conditions were found to be necessary for the pursuit of these strategies.

Further research is needed to examine the process and structure in which strategy technology can be better integrated.

Firms should strive to achieve strategy‐technology integration to maximise the benefits of adopting new technologies.

The empirical research presented in this paper fills a gap in the existing literature.

Indigenous students that live in poverty experience contextual socio-economic factors with residual effects of lower educational outcomes than their non-Indigenous counterparts. Indigenous children that live in poverty often have fewer resources, are segregated, and continue to be marginalized in the classroom. The vicious cycle of low education levels for Indigenous peoples confines them to low paying employment or unemployment that results in ongoing poverty or being a statistic categorized as the working poor. The purpose of this research was to gain a better understanding of the strategies that teachers have animated in their classrooms, which they perceived to be successful in encouraging Indigenous students to attend school, remain in school, complete course credits, and persevere to graduate from high school. The intent was to discover the how-to strategies and advance working knowledge of pedagogical practices leading to improved educational experiences and achievement levels for Indigenous students. This chapter will present the observations and qualitative findings of the case studies conducted in New Zealand and Canada, wherein 14 teachers described what they did and what it looked like in their classrooms. A constructivist approach was utilized to make meaning and gain the interpretations from the participants. This was achieved by first viewing the interactions in the classrooms and, through the interview process, being able to garner a better understanding of what was witnessed from the point of view of the participants.

This paper seeks to examine key factors within the control of store managers to optimizing inventory and store results.

This research integrates principles of action research and traditional research in a big box retail environment.

While this study confirms theories that link inventory to sales, merchandise selection, and technology, it emphasizes the role of people. Furthermore, it proves that different stores within same companies and different departments within same stores deliver different results due, mainly, to human factors – specifically, critical thinking, functional knowledge, and leadership.

This study does not address inventory assortment, space allocation, automatic replenishment, planograms design, technology, logistics, and other factors that may impact inventory but mostly outside the control of big box store managers.

This study proposes practical tools and ideas to optimizing inventory and business results in big‐box stores. It also serves as an example of extracting and verifying retail management theory from practice. As such, it benefits both practitioners and academics.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the complicated nature of safeguarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students. First, this paper will address the issues that LGBT students face as a minoritized group in their school system, which inhibits their opportunities to reach their full potential when it comes to emotional and academic growth. Second, this paper will be used to discuss how leadership is vital in order for school communities to help address the issues that their LGBT population face. Third, the author will make the case that a lack of leadership self-efficacy can hinder the process.

Three different research studies were used to highlight the needs of LGBT students. However, there is additional research that is used as well to illustrate the need for leadership self-efficacy to support LGBT safeguards. When it comes to LGBT research the research of GLSEN (formerly known as the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) was used. GLSEN’s research consisted of 7,898 students between the ages of 13 and 21. Second, data from the Every Teachers Project by the Manitoba Teachers’ Society were used which involved 3,400 teachers around Canada. Although there are certain nuances between international examples which include those LGBT students living in the dominant culture as well as within indigenous populations, the author builds the case that the harassment and bullying has a common theme and can be addressed through common methods. Additionally, qualitative doctoral research was used, which consisted of 20 interviews of school leaders from three different school districts in New York State. Lastly, for the purpose of this paper the author will use the acronym LGBT to identify those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. There are many acronyms (e.g. LGBTQ, LGBTI, etc.) representing the community, and only when the research use those other acronyms, will those be used to highlight subgroup populations.

Findings indicate that, as a minoritized population, LGBT students are highly at risk for being verbally and physically harassed at school, and go unprotected by the adults who are in charge of keeping them safe. School leadership is instrumental in the safeguarding of LGBT students. Additionally, safeguarding is not nearly enough. It is important to understand that LGBT students should not just be safeguarded, but should also be surrounded by curriculum and images that will help them feel accepted into the greater school community, which takes an increased level of self-efficacy on the part of the leader.

The topic of engaging LGBT students in the school community is sparse at best. Additionally, this paper provides the case for safeguarding and engaging LGBT students, as well as all minoritized populations, but also discusses why it is the moral purpose of leaders to do so. However, the author believes that the addition of understanding leadership actions around safeguarding LGBT students through the lens of leadership self-efficacy and building collective efficacy is an important one, and will add to the originality of this paper.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to present an Australian mentor preparation program designed to prepare experienced teachers to mentor beginning teachers and second, to identify and discuss mentor teachers’ personal and professional outcomes and the wider contextual implications emerging from the Mentoring Beginning Teachers (MBT) mentor preparation program.

This case study, situated within Queensland, Australia, draws on qualitative data collected via interviews and focus groups with mentor teachers who participated in a large-scale systemic mentor preparation program. The program positions mentoring as supportive, based on a process of collaborative inquiry and encouraging critically reflexive praxis with the mentor professional learning focusing on reflection, dialog and criticality.

Initial findings show the outcomes of the mentor preparation program include building a common language and shared understanding around the role of mentor, consolidating a collaborative inquiry approach to mentoring and providing opportunity for self-reflection and critique around mentoring approaches and practices. Some findings, such as a greater self-awareness and validation of mentors’ own teaching performance, have confirmed previous research. However, the originality of this research lies in the personal and professional impacts for mentor teachers and the wider contextual impacts that have emerged from the study.

The study highlights the impact of the mentor preparation program on the professional learning of teacher-mentors and contributes to the current lack of empirical research that identifies the personal and professional impacts for mentors and the wider contextual factors that impact effective mentoring in schools.

The originality of this research lies in the personal and professional impacts for mentor teachers and the wider contextual impacts more broadly that have emerged from the study.