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A comprehensive introductory workshop aimed at building student readiness for participation in project based group work is outlined. This article develops a rationale for teaching such a workshop and outlines a step‐by‐step approach complete with all necessary materials. The core of the workshop is a case developed by the authors, which draws upon the real life experience of a group of graduate students. Debrief questions are provided for the case from the student and faculty perspective. The workshop also contains an exercise aimed at surfacing students’ experiences of group work and a set of recommendations aimed at reducing problems in student project groups. This paper concludes that, along with other benefits, the workshop develops a strong normative framework for legitimising appropriate behaviour in student project groups.

In today's world of microcomputing, there is one given: however much disk storage space you have today, you'll need much, much more tomorrow. Just four years ago Arthur Naiman wrote about microcomputer hard disk storage in Word Processing Buyer's Guide (BYTE/McGraw‐Hill, Peter‐borough, NH: 1983. p.235). He related that “An optional 8.4MB hard disk drive is available for S4500. In fact, you can connect up to three of them, although what you'd need 26 million characters worth of storage for is beyond me.” Today, 20MB of storage is available on an expansion card for under $500 and 20MB is considered to be the minimum acceptable hard disk capacity by most experts.

This paper uses data from interviews with HRM managers of the Australian operations of overseas multinational companies to critically question the analytical utility of a number of standard factors that have traditionally been claimed, in the international HRM literature, to influence decisions concerning the appropriate balance between centralization and localization in HRM. The variables reviewed are primarily structural: industry sector, strategic role of the subsidiary, administrative heritage and formal organizational structure. The data suggest that the firms modify their formal structures frequently in response to environmental turbulence and have evolved towards structural forms that are radically asymmetrical. Two variables that have received limited academic attention to date but which critically mediate the pattern of intended changes are identified. First, the perception by key actors in subsidiaries of HR competence elsewhere in the MNC network, particularly head office. Second, the propensity of the staff in the subsidiary to lobby politically against changes they did not perceive to be rational.

While efforts at understanding how the entrepreneurial spirit is awakened (e.g., unwrapping the cognitive “black box”) have been productive in the new venture context, it remains largely unexplored in a corporate setting.This study extends previous research by investigating the relationship between organizational antecedents and perceptions of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and desirability of entrepreneurial activity. In a field study of organizations consistent with a corporate entrepreneurial archetype typology, we found that (1) individual work discretion and time availability impacted entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and (2) individual interest in work innovation influenced perceived desirability of innovative behaviors.

The structure of social relations between staff and line managers is systematically reviewed and staff‐line models are developed on a basis of coalition theory. A typology of staff‐line coalitions is then suggested, including —the “long arm”, the “counsellor”, the “marginal staff” type, —the “servant”, the “brains trust”, and the “autonomous” type. Basic characteristics of a staff‐line coalition are: —its relative independence of the type of organisation structure —its temporal character, acquiring some stability only for the duration of a particular “project” —its multiple network of managerial relationships, most “elegantly” represented by means of a pentagon, a five‐party system.

In order to assess the current usage of succession management programs in Australian‐based organizations, and gain information on the characteristics and perceived effectiveness of such programs, a national research study was undertaken. A total of 711 human resource management professionals from a range of organizations across the country answered the questionnaire, a response rate of 59 percent. Succession management programs were present in less than half of the respondent's organizations. Furthermore, these programs were generally less than five years old. The prime imperatives for introducing succession management programs were reported as the desire to improve business results, and the need for new skill requirements in the business. A relationship between organization size, industry and type and the likelihood to use succession management was found. Common perceptions concerning the characteristics of effective succession management programs were also identified and are described in the paper. In brief, these are: high level involvement by the chief executive officer; senior management support; line management involvement in identifying candidates; developmental assignments as part of the process; and succession management linked to business strategies.

To say that ‘quality’ has become a fashionable word in the British National Health Service would be something of an understatement. It would be fatuous to claim that those in the NHS only took an interest in ‘quality’ as a result of the publication of the Griffiths Enquiry Report. It is however, fair to say that since the emergence of that document many more individuals have been assigned a specific brief for the topic. People with ‘quality’ in their job title, often also holding a nurse management portfolio, are a feature of the current NHS landscape.

This manuscript explores the contributions of organizational learning to organizational communication. The study of organizational communication is seen in multi‐dimensional terms as the study of how meanings are created, stored, distributed, and modified in the service of organizational performance and change. An overview of organizational communication is provided and organizational learning and its main assumptions are explained. The authors then demonstrate how the incorporation of organizational learning concepts into organizational communication theory permit the integration and extension of much of what is known about how organizational members communicate, learn, and change. An integrative model is presented which explains how individual and organizational understandings are interrelated.

Japanese materialistic behavior and consumption trends are examined by comparing age‐cohort differences between the Japanese “new breed” and “second baby‐boomer age‐cohorts”. Price perception, brand loyalty, and shopping‐information sources of the two age‐cohorts are also assessed. Results suggest that the Japanese new breed is more materialistic, sensitive to prestige, brand loyal, and likely to use media as their shopping information source as compared to second baby‐boomer. On the other hand, second baby‐boomers are less materialistic, value conscious, less brand loyal, and more likely to rely on word‐of‐mouth communication as their information sources as compared to the Japanese new breeds.