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To provide a concise briefing on the most topical issues and relevant implications from the top 400 management publications in the world.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the argument in context.

Feldman's detailed study reviews the decision‐making processes – and the influences which were brought to bear on those processes – in the years before the space shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986. He demonstrates – with a carefully‐constructed view of the culture of objectivity, of how decisions are made and what knowledge is brought to bear on those decisions – how misunderstandings of flight risk resulted. Robert F. Gratton analyses President Kennedy's style of leadership and decision making during the crucial days of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. He reveals that Kennedy adopted a questioning, Socratic approach and concludes that the collective strategy process can not truly begin until a collective aim has been decided. In addition, the strategy process is best led by a facilitator than an authoritarian, and strategy formulation is an art, guided by whatever science can be brought to bear. Howard Hills demonstrates the benefits of collaborative decision making. He identifies symptoms of teams that fail to make collaborative decisions, and offers actions a team leader may take to enable effective collaborative decisions to be made. He asserts the value of mutual respect, learning from mistakes and welcoming feedback.

Provides implementable strategies and practical thinking that has influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

This article describes a study of a large urban school's teacher appraisal system to ascertain the teachers' perceptions of the purpose of the appraisal system in use. The study initially involved an examination of government promulgations, which establish the requirement for an appraisal system, and a similar examination of the school's documentation, which contextualise the system for the teachers concerned. A survey questionnaire and interviews were then used to establish the teachers' perceptions. The main finding from the study was that the teachers had no clear sense of purpose for the appraisal system and consequently had little commitment to it. The general view from the teachers was that appraisal in this school was of little value and wasted otherwise valuable time; it is ineffective. The findings may provide a useful insight for schools that are reviewing their appraisal systems and policies.

This study examines the negative impacts of mega sporting events on host cities and the relationship between negative impacts and the travel intentions of potential international tourists. Data were collected from Shanghai University students, who were asked about their international travel experiences, London Games awareness, the perceived negative impacts of the Games on London and their travel intentions during the London Games. Travel inconvenience was the most negative impact recorded, followed by price inflation, security and crime concern, risk of disease and pollution and environment concern. Respondents were unsure about any negative impact on service quality degradation. Negative impacts did not vary according to age or gender. Travel inconvenience and price inflation were found to be significantly but negatively related to intention to travel.

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.

This chapter coins the term Development through Mega-Events (DME) in order to propose a next step for developing social legacies in accordance with the principle of social development.

This chapter’s argument for DME is developed using quantitative, indicator-based data from the Olympic Games Impact (OGI) study as well as relevant literature from the sub-fields of Sport for Development and Peace and Sport Mega-Events.

We discuss the absence of a baseline understanding of the properties of sport mega-events. Also absent are progressive efforts to achieve sustainability by means other than competition among prospective bidders. We recommend that hosts tie social legacies to public policy objectives that are concomitant with the properties of the sport mega-events. Retrospectively applied, OGI data from 2010 reveals social inclusion as one potential social legacy that reflects the nature of the Olympics and the policy realm in the host region.

This chapter is original work. It would be of interest to potential host communities, policymakers, and researchers.

This essay aims to develop a new concept of learning for organizations. Change concepts are used to explore and find principles of learning that make employees and their organizations ready for the ever changing reality. Considering the rapid and unexpected changes of today it makes them ready for the future of work.

The approach is anticipatory, utilizing a dynamic knowledge development framework, combined with action research in the organization consultancy and training practice.

The article describes theory and practice of four principles of nomadic learning. It shows the connection with change theories and future of work research.

How to realize nomadic learning within organizations and in that way make that organization a learning company is a recommended topic for new research. The consequences for the way of structuring and organizing within organizations should be taken into account.

When nomadic learning is applied it will change the common practice of leadership development and organizational change programs.

Nomadic learning has the capacity to connect people from diverse backgrounds and functions. In that way it can cope with risks of isolation and exclusion.

The combination of philosophic conceptualization and experienced practice makes this article special. This is simultaneously the way to “do” nomadic learning.

This paper examines the financial aspect of hallmark sport events. It describes the financial requirements and the sources of income. Thereby an integrated concept of financing hallmark sport events has been developed which allows to compare those events independently to situational differentiation. On the basis of literature research the first part shows the mechanisms of action of the event management, the financial requirements and the sources of income. The second part points out the three dimensions of the classification model and the third part illustrates the implications of the model through the case study of the Engadin Ski Marathon 2001 and the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in St. Moritz 2003. The paper concludes with the three major influences on an integrated model and some points for further research.

The aim of this paper is to develop an instrument to assess the developmental space that teams create; examine whether creating more developmental space leads to greater satisfaction with team results; and decide which of three models best predicts perceived results.

The paper presents a quantitative study of individuals (N = 257). An instrument was designed to assess developmental space and was validated with a factor analysis. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine whether creating developmental space led to greater satisfaction with team results.

This study confirms the four-factor structure of developmental space suggested by earlier research. Creating more developmental space is positively related to perceived team results.

This research highlights the importance of creating developmental space and provides teams with an instrument to assess their developmental space as a starting point for improvement.

The interactions teams use are crucial in explaining the effects of teamwork, but seem underexposed in team research. Creating developmental space is a relatively new concept, hitherto only researched qualitatively. This empirical study extends and endorses previous research on developmental space by providing a quantitative assessment.

For generations, Britain has had a household delivery of fresh milk; from the days before the Great War when it was delivered by a horse‐drawn milk float, with the roundsman often bringing the housewife to the door with his cries of “Milk‐O!”. The float had a churn and milk was delivered in a small can, served out by a dipper. This was the start of the distributive trade, organised between the Wars, from which the present industry has emerged. The trade gave universal acceptance to the glass bottle, returnable for household delivery, only the method of sealing has changed. There have been many demands for its abandonment in favour of the carton, of which recent years has seen a rise in its use in the increasing sales of milk by supermarkets and stores. Despite the problems with returnable vessels, the glass bottle has a number of advantages. The milk, including the cream line, is clearly visible, and short measure is most unlikely, which is a growing problem with carton‐filled milk. The number of prosecutions for short measure with cartons must be causing concern to trading standards departments. There is nothing to indicate the offence until the carton is opened.