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A previous attempt to implement the use of historical measures of asset management effectiveness – as part of a value improvement model (VIM) for repetitive processes – had not been 100 percent successful within an airport operational engineering environment. Taking into account the more holistic approach realised through applying a soft systems methodology (SSM), the purpose of this paper was to use the CATWOE (Customers, Actors, Transaction, World View, Owner and Environment) tool to gain an understanding of the root definition of the problem statement developing a conceptual model used to facilitate an improvement to the implementation process.

The research methodology taken incorporated an action research approach combining case study research with an action research process of planning, observing and reflecting summarized as taking an action case research design.

This research has developed a visual and systematic framework that enables managers to understand, analyse and improve value in their asset management repetitive processes. The CATWOE root definition tool has been used to create a conceptual model of the problem area providing a holistic view of the stakeholders and the internal and external environmental constraints that the VIM for asset management sits within.

The research was completed in‐situ at a single airport focused on a single group of assets managed by a single group of stakeholders. Future research should look to further develop the VIM and CATWOE approach in other asset management environments such as manufacturing as well as asset intensive service industries.

This research has taken a soft systems approach and successfully applied it to the implementation of hard systems measurements of asset management effectiveness within an airport operational engineering environment. Other managers with asset management responsibilities will find this approach useful in achieving their core objective to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their assets and the teams employed to maintain them at minimal total cost.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a useful framework for identifying a new lean waste classified as polarization. Complementing the extant lean conceptual framework, the authors argue there is a need to understand how resources are deployed and how these can be best aligned to maximise their value‐adding contributions. The purpose of this paper is therefore to identify a conceptual framework and a supporting practitioner approach for understanding and identifying instances of the non‐value adding polarization of resources.

A captious and taxonomic review of the lean conceptual literature is made and the link to the resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm is acknowledged. A conceptual framework is developed and adopting an action case study approach through practitioner intervention, a lean resource mapping framework is presented.

A useful mechanism is developed following a sequential processing mapping framework concluding with a “current state” lean resource matrix. Visualising how resources are aligned to functional needs to deliver customer‐based products, a “future state” lean resource matrix can then be developed to remove the non‐value adding activities of the resources employed.

The outcomes of this paper include a useful conceptual framework for understanding how resources are aligned to a business's processes, products and plant. Operationalising the conceptual framework, a useful practitioner approach to reducing resource waste and increasing value, is also presented.

The current paradigm for assessing overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is challenged as being anachronistic to the needs of businesses that now require a more holistic indicator of plant and process effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new framework that expands the original OEE measure to inform business performance at multiple levels focusing on adding benchmarkable indicators of asset management effectiveness and process capability. The ability to compare internal performance against external competition and vice verse is argued as being a critical attribute of any performance measurement system.

The research methodology taken incorporated an action research approach using a pilot study combining case study research with an action research process of planning, observing and reflecting summarized as taking an action case research design.

The OEE and related literature is replete with many different enhancements to the original OEE framework. Many of the revised OEE frameworks move away from a standard OEE format taking away the opportunity to benchmark against plant and process performance at multiple levels.

The enhanced OEE framework is developed and tested in situ at a single factory manufacturing large batches of similar products. Future research should look to further develop the OEE framework in both continuous process environments and asset intensive service industry environments.

The enhanced OEE framework introduces a measure of Six Sigma process capability using extant data from the OEE framework. Similarly, indicators of plant reliability, maintainability and asset management effectiveness are calculated taking extant data from the OEE framework. This enhanced OEE framework combines measures of process effectiveness, asset management effectiveness, gross process performance, net process performance and Six Sigma process capability into a single lean Six Sigma key performance indicator of process/plant performance.

The labor regulatory framework in India provides a conducive environment for social dialogue and collective participation in the organizational decision-making process (Venkata Ratnam, 2009). Using data from a survey of workplace union representatives in the federal state of Maharashtra, India, this paper examines union experiences of social dialogue and collective participation in public services, private manufacturing, and private services sector. Findings indicate that collective worker participation and voice is at best modest in the public services but weak in the private manufacturing and private services. There is evidence of growing employer hostility to unions and employer refusal to engage in a meaningful social dialogue with unions. These findings are discussed within the political economy framework of employment relations in India examining the role of the state and judiciary in employment relations and, the links between political parties and trade unions in India.

Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.

The management of children′s literature is a search for value and suitability. Effective policies in library and educational work are based firmly on knowledge of materials, and on the bibliographical and critical frame within which the materials appear and might best be selected. Boundaries, like those between quality and popular books, and between children′s and adult materials, present important challenges for selection, and implicit in this process are professional acumen and judgement. Yet also there are attitudes and systems of values, which can powerfully influence selection on grounds of morality and good taste. To guard against undue subjectivity, the knowledge frame should acknowledge the relevance of social and experiential context for all reading materials, how readers think as well as how they read, and what explicit and implicit agendas the authors have. The good professional takes all these factors on board.

Status constitutes a core research concept across the social sciences. However, its definition is still contested, and questions persist about its consequences. We begin with a flexible, provisional definition: status is a relational asset possessed by social actors insofar as they are highly regarded by highly regarded others. Using this definition as a backdrop, we develop a fourfold typology based on how status is used as an asset and from where it is derived. The typology allows us to explore the implications of considering status as either a quality signal or a good and of viewing status-conferring ties as either deference-based or dominance-based. We then consider the implications of our framework for the generation of novelty. Although status has been connected to many social and economic outcomes, because of competing predictions in the literature – the generation of novelty has been linked to all regions of the status distribution – we sketch intuitions for future research on the status–novelty linkage. We also work toward greater conceptual clarity by comparing and contrasting status with selected related concepts: quality, reputation, and legitimacy. We conclude with considerations for future research, including cautionary remarks regarding network-analytic measurement in light of the definition we propose.

Investigates the importance of English language sources of Friedrich Theodor Althoff (1839‐1908), a German of great influence both in his own country and, indirectly, in the United States. Explores some measures of his influence in education and international understanding. Examines a wide variety of sources. Explains how it could happen that an influential person would end up in intellectual history with almost no recognition. Challenges several conventional assessments. Althoff′s most important contributions are in print and more almost certainly exist in university archives, but the material is scattered and unorganized. Because we do not yet have the full story of this remarkable and complex man, firm conclusions about his influence are not yet possible.

The aim of this analysis is to review the Indian manufacturing organizations practicing Lean Six Sigma (LSS) tools/techniques with an objective of monitoring the performance of an organization and to develop recommendation for strategies to benchmark organizational operational efficiency.

This study offers insights of the LSS performance measurement aspects of the Indian manufacturing organizations based on Data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. The five inputs and two outputs are considered on the basis of literature review and discussed with the practitioners.

In this analysis, the relative efficiency score of 18 Indian manufacturing organizations has been determined in order to assist evaluation of the impact of monetary investment on the outputs. The present analysis not only investigates the optimum level of input variables but also lays down a significant observation that an organization having higher profit and inventory turnover ratio is not necessarily an efficient organization.

The results assist to determine the best practice units, potential source of inefficiency and deliver beneficial data for the consistent enhancement of the operational efficiency. The DEA results assist managers and decision makers to derive appropriate strategies to enhance their performance with reference to the efficient organization and to regard it as their role model.

This analysis renders a DEA based framework of LSS practicing Indian manufacturing organizations. The framework is unique in terms of its input-outputs variable selection and measurement procedure.

Some recent research lends support to the evolving idea that management is specific to the situation, so that neither the work nor development of managers can be considered without reference to many variables. Case studies of four organisations and interviews with more than fifty managers in the construction industry suggest that managers rely heavily on interpersonal, decisional and problem handling skills, which they consider are largely derived from their work experiences. Management development programmes may assist the learning of such skills but are unlikely to make their best contribution unless organisations acknowledge learning as a mainstream activity, giving more thought to their long range development strategies, evolving suitable ‘learning climates’ and encouraging their managers to take a greater measure of responsibility for their own development. On the basis of this research we concluded that the contribution of the management development practitioner should be more variable than has usually been the case. His role, like that of the manager, should be largely determined by the situation and he should be responsive to the particular needs of organisations and individual managers. The research supports the argument for greater emphasis on the relationship between managerial action and learning and suggests that the methods used should be more carefully selected to suit individual managers' learning styles and development objectives.