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This study aims to scope the profile and application of an advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) roles in primary care in the North of England and how these roles meet the requirements of Health Education England's (HEE’s) ACP workforce capability framework.

A two-stage design was used. Stage 1 analysed health and social care workforce intelligence reports to inform scoping of numbers of ACPs working in primary care. Stage 2 used two surveys. Survey 1 targeted ACP leads and collected strategic-level data about ACP application. Survey 2 targeted staff who perceived themselves to be working as ACPs. Survey 2 was in three parts. Part 1 collected demographic data. Part 2 required participants to record their perceived competence against each of the HEE ACP framework capability criteria. Part 3 required respondents to identify facilitators and barriers to ACP practice.

Despite the introduction of HEE's ACP capability framework, there is inconsistency and confusion about the ACP role. The results indicated a need for standardisation of role definition and educational and practice requirements. The results also suggested that some ACPs are not working to their full potential, while some staff who are employed as “gap-fillers” to provide routine clinical services perceive themselves as ACPs despite not working at the ACP level.

Although previous research has explored the application of ACP practice in primary care, few studies have considered ACP application in the light of the introduction of workforce capability frameworks aimed at standardising ACP practice.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain primary care advanced clinical practitioners’ (ACP) perceptions and experiences of what factors influence the development and identity of ACP roles, and how development of ACP roles that align with Health Education England’s capability framework for advanced clinical practice can be facilitated in primary care.

The study was located in the North of England. A qualitative approach was used in which 22 staff working in primary care who perceived themselves to be working as ACPs were interviewed. Data analysis was guided by Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six phase method.

Five themes emerged from the data – the need for: a standardised role definition and inclusive localised registration; access to/availability of quality accredited educational programmes relevant to primary care and professional development opportunities at the appropriate level; access to/availability of support and supervision for ACPs and trainee ACPs; a supportive organisational infrastructure and culture; and a clear career pathway.

Findings have led to the generation of the Whole System Workforce Framework of INfluencing FACTors (IN FACT), which lays out the issues that need to be addressed if ACP capability is to be maximised in primary care. This paper offers suggestions about how IN FACT can be addressed.

This Symposium reports on the opportunities available to those who take the initiative to introduce materials management approaches. It examines both the anticipate rates of change and development of the underlying factors as well as the organisational implications they entail. A full bibliography of recent literature is provided. The predicted developments are derived from the findings of a Delphi Study in association with the Institute of Purchasing and Supply conducted by the author in 1976.

This study aims to conceptualise how the occupational socialisation of young chefs is conducted in Michelin-starred restaurants in Great Britain and Ireland; the key role of banter and bullying in this process is explored and critically discussed.

This qualitative research critically discusses the data from 54 in-depth, face-to-face interviews with male and female Michelin-starred chefs in Great Britain and Ireland. A flexible interview guide was used to ensure all key areas, and topics discussed earlier in the literature review were covered. The rich data from the interviews were categorised in four different themes.

Drawing upon the fieldwork, fresh insights into the social structures, processes and group dynamics which underpin the socialisation process of young chefs are revealed in the participants’ own words. Four areas emerged from the usage of thematic analysis: occupational status, discipline and hierarchy in kitchen brigades, gender segregation in kitchen brigades and the role of banter and bullying in occupational socialisation.

This study generates empirical data that inform contemporary debates about the role of banter and bullying in the occupational socialisation process of new members in Michelin-starred restaurants. A conceptual framework on the process of occupational socialisation in Michelin-starred kitchen brigades in Great Britain and Ireland is also provided.

The findings of this study suggest that banter and bullying are deeply embedded in chefs’ occupational culture; they also play a key role in the process of induction and occupational socialisation of the new recruits. In addition, gender segregation was found to be a persistent problem in commercial kitchens – young female chefs have to endure the same harsh conditions during the induction and occupational socialisation process. A recommended course of action to eradicate this phenomenon involves HR professionals, hospitality managers and the Michelin Guide.

The understanding of chefs’ induction and occupational socialisation is deemed crucial for successful hospitality operations; nevertheless, this still remains an under-researched area. This study is unique in terms of scale and depth; it is expected to provide useful insights in both theoretical and practical perspective, regarding the induction, socialisation and eventually, retention of young chefs in Michelin-starred restaurants.

The purpose of the paper is to use a case study setting involving the implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to expose and analyze the conflicts in the characterizations of the post bureaucratic organisation (PBO) in the literature. ERP implementations are often accompanied by increasing levels of stress in organizations that place pressures on organizational relationships and structures. Additionally, ERPs are regarded as introducing their own techno‐logic of centralization, standardization and formalization that provides an apparent contrast to the exhortations about employee empowerment.

A case study of ERP implementation in a medium‐sized entity is presented. The paper explores aspects of ERP and PBO from the context of postmodern organization theory.

Some concerns about PBO identified in the literature are reflected in the case situation. For example, there is a commitment to give up private time and work flexibly by some employees. The paper also provides evidence of the way the management team substitute their reliance on a key individual knowledge worker for that of an ERP system and external vendor support. Paradoxically, trust in that same knowledge worker and between core users of the system is essential to enable the implementation of the system.

This paper adds empirical insight to a predominantly theoretical literature. The case evidence indicates some conflicting implications in the concurrent adoption of PBO and ERP.

This paper considers the notion of consumer empowerment across the financial, legal and medical service sectors in the UK. Although the advent of the internet is generally seen as potentially enabling consumer empowerment, theoretical papers divide on the question of efficacy. On the one hand, it is argued the much‐vaunted internet opportunity must not be simply taken as evidence of change in the consumer‐producer relationship. On the other the change must not be unquestioningly be taken as advantageous to the consumer.

Empirical data were generated through ten consumer focus groups and eight interviews with professionals.

The paper supports the contention that empowerment is partial and unevenly distributed among consumers. It is argued that characterisations of consumer indifference and producer discipline as preventing effective empowerment are too simplistic. Additionally, any taboo restraining the questioning of professional judgement is largely absent from the assumption of choice and of recognition/respect among the consumers participating in the research.

Focus group research does not enable a judgement about the prevalence or distribution of empowerment assumptions among consumers.

It is inevitable that in the broader consumer market professionals will be required to respond to a complex of consumer assumptions and these will include an assumption of empowerment.

Much of the services research in marketing has been set within the service recovery paradigm; given information, consumer power is an implied function of the market. In this paper, we see consumer empowerment as a process of negotiation partially facilitated by information.

Water‐borne coatings Increasing use of water‐borne emulsion coatings for original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and product finishes is requiring greater efficiency in coalescing‐aid solvents, an Eastman Chemical Co. representative said at a recent Chicago Society for Coatings Technology meeting. Eastman's Ronald K. Litton said emulsions designed for OEM and industrial applications have higher glass transition temperatures than emulsions used in architectural paints. That requires higher levels of coalescing aid to achieve good film formation. As a result, coalescing‐aid efficiency with a given emulsion system is a key factor, both from environmental (lower‐volatile organic compound (VOC)) and economic standpoints. Several properties should be examined when a coalescing aid is selected for water‐borne emulsion industrial coatings. The formulator should consider the evaporation rate and solubility parameter of the coalescing aid, along with its distribution pattern in a specific emulsion system. Those properties are important in defining the efficiency of a coalescing aid in terms of its ability to lower the minimum film‐forming temperature (MFFT) of an emulsion system. The coalescing aids also must be hydrolytically stable to provide minimum loss of efficiency due to ageing, Litton said. He showed several charts designed to assist formulators in the selection of optimum coalescing aids for emulsion systems. At the same conference, James T.K. Woo of The Glidden Co. discussed the grafting of high‐molecular‐weight epoxy resins with styrene‐methacrylic acid monomers, producing a water‐reducible copolymer. Grafting takes place at the aliphatic carbons of the epoxy resin, according to carbon‐13 NMR spectroscopy. The study was a follow‐up to a paper presented 14 years ago. Woo said recent research indicates that five grafting “peaks” were identified on a 400 megacycle carbon‐13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy instrument. The paper provided several theoretical calculation on grafting. Three of the graft peaks resulted from grafting at the secondary methylene carbons ‐CH2‐ and two resulted from grafting at the tertiary carbon ‐CH‐. The ratio of grafting at ‐CH2‐ to ‐CH‐appears to be 2.7:1 — lower than the 4:1 ratio of protons present on the aliphatic carbons that are susceptible to hydrogen abstraction leading to grafting. That indicates that the tertiary hydrogen is somwhat more susceptible to grafting than the methylene hydrogens, he said.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

This article relates one aspect of an action research project on work related stress and mental health problems to its wider context. It is argued that self‐help/mutual aid, including self‐management, could make an important contribution to tackling the current epidemic of work‐related stress in the UK and elsewhere. Initiatives such as the government's Work‐Life Balance campaign indicate that the policy context is appropriate. An overview of the causes, costs of, and policy responses to work‐related stress is followed by a discussion on the nature of self‐help/mutual aid and the benefits that the sharing of experiential knowledge can bring to participants. This includes a specific, structured form of self‐help: self‐management programmes as led and used by mental health user groups. We conclude that self‐help initiatives can make a valuable contribution to addressing work‐related stress if employers support them. Beyond simply ameliorating staff retention problems, the experiential learning communities that could be created could be an asset, particularly in seeking to change workplace cultures to minimise work‐related mental stresses.

The Neoclassical approach to analysing personal choice is compared with an approach contained in a Biblical Christian mode of analysis. This paper compares the Neoclassical and Christian positions via analysis of characteristics of the Neoclassical rational choice model. The main characteristic examined is a basic assumption of the rational choice model that human choice is explained as the optimisation of utility via rational self‐interest. The two positions are compared in terms of how they treat self‐interest and rationality, the degree to which basic assumptions about human behaviour are specified, the importance they attach to the realism of assumptions underlying their models, and the explanatory and predictive purposes for which the models are used. The conclusion of the comparison is that the Biblical Christian perspective encompasses the variables regarded as important in Neoclassical explanation, but presents them in the context of a more embracing worldview perspective than the Neoclassical. This Christian belief perspective is applicable to human behaviour in both “economic” and “non‐economic” domains.