Search results

I begin by examining some ways in which organisations have attempted to improve their recruitment and selection procedures to minimise bias and unfair discrimination, and focus on the assessment centre as a potentially useful technique in this respect, especially for managerial selection. I go on to examine the assessment centre in more detail, including its origins, construction and uses, before discussing the strong evidence for its validity as a selection and assessment procedure. I then describe some recent British innovations in assessment centre design and practice, especially in its use for management and organisation development purposes, before discussing some of my own recent research, in collaboration with Ivan Robertson and Usha Rout, on participants' attitudes towards the use of assessment centres for selection and development purposes, including gender differences in attitudes.

In recent years, democracies across Europe have been challenged in ways this paper has not witnessed on such a scale for generations. It is therefore unsurprising that innovations within democracy are emerging, particularly in terms of participatory and deliberative practices. Focusing specifically on local democracy and decision-making, this paper aims to examine ways of democratising future studies as a means of enhancing citizen participation in democracy.

The paper draws upon the growing body of work under the umbrella term of “participatory futures” as a way of contextualising and critiquing the “real-world” application and empirical testing of methods within this field by local municipalities.

It identifies the importance of supporting the development of futures literacy in citizens, public administration officials and political and strategic leaders. The paper demonstrates how broadening the application of existing foresight techniques through their confluence with participatory action research (PAR) principles can create spaces that reignite people’s social imagination. This in turn enables citizens and those working in local municipalities to engage in dialogue about the future.

The paper examines the results of a PAR study, in which innovative participatory future methods were tested as tools for enhancing citizen involvement in local decision-making. Through this, it outlines how foresight practices can be democratised, supporting local democracy to thrive, and identifies future research and practice directions within the field.

Development applications of assessment centres represent an emerging and exciting area for human resources practitioners interested in maximising the benefits of such centres to their organisations and the people who work in them. Five applications are emerging: the use of assessment centre feedback, in itself, as a management development tool; early identification of high potential development programmes; use of centres for diagnosing strengths/weaknesses and devising individual training and development programmes; service as an assessor and as a developmental experience; and the centre as a tool for organisational planning/development.

Based on a sample of 65 workers having undergone major reorientation of their careers, this study indicates that Driver′s spiral category is far from being a homogeneous one. Thus, individuals pursuing this type of career path can be broken down into three distinct subgroups both with respect to their interests as well as to their personality dynamics. The first subgroup contains the social‐artistic (e.g. author, housekeeper); the second, the conventional‐enterprising (e.g. accountant, banker); the third, the artistic‐investigative (e.g. psychologist, sculptor). All three sub‐types conform to Holland′s theory and are characterised by different personality variables.

Mr. Fullman is well known to all Aslib members, as Information Officer at British Non‐Ferrous Metals Research Association. He has for years past given generously of his time to Aslib as a very active member of its Council, its Publication Committee, its Conference Committee, and, during the last year particularly, as Chairman of its Education Committee and of the sub‐committees, he has been largely responsible for drafting the syllabus for the Training of the Information Officer, thereby making a signal contribution to our Association.

To diffuse new management fads or to promote existing management practices slogans are often used. In this study eight slogans regarding assessment centres were retrieved from brochures of consultancy agencies and were compared to empirical research. These slogans were that assessment centres work, are expensive, fair, have a potent influence on candidates, provide insight into candidates’ personality, and are not prone to trainability effects. Other slogans include that trained assessors speak the same language and that candidate reactions are positive. Resulting from this comparison a more fine‐grained picture of the strengths and weaknesses of assessment centres emerges. In particular, it is demonstrated that the accuracy of the slogans often depends on design factors. It is suggested that future studies combine multiple research perspectives, examine assessment centre process issues, and validate new assessment centre applications.

The focus of research literature has concentrated mainly on the organisational perspectives of selection techniques, particularly on issues of utility. The participant experience, in contrast, has relatively little representation. This study was designed to examine the subjective experience of assessment centre participants using a case‐study approach with the intention of identifying key factors which contribute to a positive orientation towards the organisation after the event. As well as examining the mechanics of assessment centres and highlighting examples of good and bad practice, the study highlights the range and strength of emotions experienced by the participants. Conclusions are drawn and practical recommendations are made on ways to improve the “candidate experience” without detracting from the original objectives of effective selection.

Here Marx's philosophy is dissected from the angle of bourgeois capitalism which he, Marx, sought to overcome. His social, political and economic ideas are criticised. Although it is noted that Marx wanted to ameliorate human suffering, the result turned out to be Utopian, contrary to his own intentions. Contrary to Marx, it is individualism that makes the best sense and capitalism that holds out the best hope for coping with most of the problems he sought to solve. Marx's philosophy is alluring but flawed at a very basic level, namely, where it denies the individuality of each person and treats humanity as “an organic body”. Capitalism, while by no means out to guarantee a perfect society, is the best setting for the realisation of the diverse but often equally noble human goals of its membership.

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.

The aim of this chapter is to compare the content of two essays: Oskar Lange's 1931 ‘Crisis of Socialism’ and Tadeusz Kowalik's 1996 ‘August – the Bourgeois Revolution of the Epigones’ in order to try to determine the extent to which Lange's paper influenced Kowalik's ideas. We find that Lange's article was possibly Kowalik's only source of theoretical knowledge about bourgeois revolutions and their course when he wrote his 1996 piece. What probably struck Kowalik most in ‘Crisis of Socialism’ in the context of Polish transformations was the similarity (real or apparent) between the situation in Poland in 1905–1918 and that in 1980–1989 (or even 1980–1992), that is, the possibility of constructing a ‘bourgeois class state’ only through a workers revolution immediately preceding such a construction. On the basis of this analogy, in ‘August…’ Kowalik, as we argue, introduced a novelty into his reflections: he fortified his earlier, more lax analyses with the concept of ‘bourgeois revolution.’