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Problem alcohol use (PAU) is common and associated with considerable adverse outcomes among patients receiving opioid agonist treatment (OAT). The purpose of this paper is to describe a qualitative feasibility assessment of a primary care-based complex intervention to promote screening and brief intervention for PAU, which also aims to examine acceptability and potential effectiveness.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 patients and eight general practitioners (GPs) who had been purposively sampled from practices that had participated in the feasibility study. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically.

Six key themes were identified. While all GPs found the intervention informative and feasible, most considered it challenging to incorporate into practice. Barriers included time constraints, and overlooking and underestimating PAU among this cohort of patients. However, the intervention was considered potentially deliverable and acceptable in practice. Patients reported that (in the absence of the intervention) their use of alcohol was rarely discussed with their GP, and were reticent to initiate conversations on their alcohol use for fear of having their methadone dose reduced.

Although a complex intervention to enhance alcohol screening and brief intervention among primary care patients attending for OAT is likely to be feasible and acceptable, time constraints and patients’ reticence to discuss alcohol as well as GPs underestimating patients’ alcohol problems is a barrier to consistent, regular and accurate screening by GPs. Future research by way of a definitive efficacy trial informed by the findings of this study and the Psychosocial INTerventions for Alcohol quantitative data is a priority.

To the best of the knowledge, this is the first qualitative study to examine the capability of primary care to address PAU among patients receiving OAT.

Although many authors examine relationships, few attempt to classify alternative structures. In this research a relationship strength construct is developed to distinguish among alternative relationship structures based on a key mediating variable set derived from an assessment of the dominant behavior process and economic content variables underlying important buyer‐seller relationships. Results using a cluster analysis procedure based on a sample of 200 industrial company respondents from the UK engineering, electronic and telecommunications sectors support the classification. This allows us to discriminate between four relationship structures in main buyer‐supplier relationships, which are labeled: bilateral, recurrent, dominant partner, and discrete. Such a classification can provide managers with a mechanism for analyzing and planning for the development of their inter‐firm relationships.

This paper argues that human resource development (HRD) can make an important contribution in facilitating the effective management of boundaries and interfaces in organisations. Organisations are increasingly required to network and collaborate both internally and externally in order to achieve key strategic objectives. HRD can facilitate and contribute to this process at four levels of intervention.

This chapter presents a theory for developing an adaptive high commitment, high performance system of organizing, managing, and leading. It is a synthesis of my 50 years of action and field research presented in my books and articles. It operationalized and makes actionable the ideas of Lewin and systems theorists. Its features are three organizational outcomes that must be achieved simultaneously, features of the system that must be targeted for change, six silent barriers to change, a governance system for continuous learning, change in large complex systems, and elements of a system that needed to immunize it against ultimate destruction.

This idea brief explores the leadership lessons displayed by the characters of Louis L’Amour’s western novels. Western fiction can be a powerful tool to engage students and demonstrate many leadership theories and models. This brief examines how L’Amour’s characters can be used to illustrate Kouzes and Posner’s Five Practices of Exemplary Leaders. The author will demonstrate how western literature, specifically L’Amour’s novels, can be a tool to help students see leadership in a new light.

It's morning drive time in northern New Jersey. All the stations in New York's empire of commercial broadcasting, home to Howard Stern and two major all‐news venues, are vying for your aural consciousness. You've got Don Imus on WFAN. Hot 97 shouts out your hip‐hop traffic updates. National Public Radio is jammed between the Christian Family Broadcasting Network and The Classical Station of the New York Times. But wait…over to the left. Isn't that…Klezmer music? Did that guy just say “morning chizuk?” What radio station is this?

Purpose: An examination of the uptake and application of Robotic, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation (RAISA) technologies by the events industry.

Design/methodology/approach: Academic and practitioner literature review and analysis pertaining to the relevance of RAISA in events.

Findings: The events industry has tended to rely on automation in staging and event production and the application of RAISA in events has been limited but holds great potential for the future. Whereas, in the hospitality and tourism industries RAISA has been applied across a range of service functions. For example, in such industries, artificial intelligence, machine learning and service robotics technologies have become commonplace. Nonetheless, the same level of adoption of RAISA in events is less evident particularly in front-of-house operation, due largely to the incompatibility with the raison d'être of event attendance – the purposive congregation of people seeking an event experience.

Research limitations/implications: The findings are the views of the authors and are therefore reliant upon existing events management literature on RAISA and their interpretation of this information and its application to the events industry.

Practical implications: RAISA has the capacity to play a crucial technical function in the events industry. However, it needs to be acknowledged that an event is essentially an experiential product which is simultaneously delivered and consumed in a particular setting/venue. RAISA applications and techniques avail event management immense sustainability and growth potential.

Social implications: Events are expressions of human social interactions and activities. Given the recent trend in sports media consumption as a substitute for live event attendance compounded by barriers to event attendance such as heightened terrorism threat and high expense/cost, there is a real risk of degradation of the social significance of the events industry. The prudent uptake of RAISA has the potential to emolliate the barriers to attendance while facilitating effective marketing and industry sustainability.

Originality/value: This chapter provides a new perspective in focusing on the potential applicability of RAISA in event management practice.

Business schools need to prepare students for effective, ethical decision-making. When faced with stressful life events that negatively affect wellbeing, making decisions can become more challenging. As future managers, students will need to learn how to make decisions when they are at the same time faced with stress and cognitive overload. In such situations, the brain looks for mental shortcuts in making choices to make things faster and easier, which leads to less optimal decision-making. Research shows that mindfulness meditation can effectively decrease stress and anxiety. Mindfulness meditation increases metacognition and, in the process, reduces the effects of biases, ethical blind spots, and psychological traps. Therefore, introducing students to these techniques has significant pedagogical potential for business education as students learn mindfulness meditation and show a need to include such practices in the curriculum. This chapter sheds light on two mindfulness technique cases with business school students in Lebanon and Switzerland. In these cases, the authors explore the impact of mindfulness practices on students by applying the emotional intelligence mood metre and mindfulness meditation. The authors also apply the ‘response time testing’ (RTT) methodology in the Swiss case to measure students’ attitudes. As a result, the authors provide simple confirmations from their classrooms that engaging in mindfulness activities and meditation is a simple and productive exercise that is essential for student wellbeing, learning, and decision-making. Therefore, the authors’ purpose is to encourage and give mindfulness practices a viable place in business education.

The purpose of this paper is to trace how and why the market-designed Libor benchmark turned bad, thereby necessitating a regulatory response.

The study relies on primary and secondary data in the public domain and complemented by a single-case study.

The study demonstrates how and why Libor benchmark rigging led to reforms in the UK and elsewhere.

The study relying mainly on the secondary data analysis needs to be enhanced by further empirical-based studies.

Insights generated by the study suggest why it might not be worthwhile for market participants to game the system.

Libor benchmark affects the financial system widely with varying significance to the wider public. With better regulatory oversight, its negative impact is expected to be mitigated considerably.

The seriousness with which the enforcement agency and judiciary now treat financial crime weakens the earlier public perception that white-collar crime is enforced differently.