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The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare the level of professionalization of the real estate broker's occupation in Victoria, Australia, and Sweden. As previous studies have indicated that the real estate agent occupation in both regions is experiencing low levels of trust, an analysis of the level of professionalization is warranted.

The data used in the analysis in this paper have been gathered from a number of different high-quality sources. In Sweden, information has been obtained from the Swedish Real Estate Agents Inspectorate, the Association of Swedish Real Estate Agents and the Swedish Real Estate Agents Association, and Real Estate Statistics. For the Victorian case, information has been obtained from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, which is the leading professional body in organizing real estate agents. Furthermore, information has also been sourced from the Business Licensing Authority as well as Consumer Affairs Victoria. The focus of the analysis has been on the institutional changes of the real estate profession, including the education required to become an agent, the legislation and supervision of real estate agents and the role of the professional bodies that organize the real estate agents. 10;

The analysis shows that both the real estate brokerage market in Victoria and Sweden could be characterized as mature. Using the definition of a profession from Millerson (1964), the authors conclude that the brokerage industry has a number of the characteristics of a profession such as a long albeit interdisciplinary education, strong professional bodies, code of conduct and some level of self-regulation.

This research examines two countries, both considered mature in their house market process. Findings may be very different if the research methodology was applied to house markets that do not exhibit the same level of regulatory control.

Even though the real estate occupation can be considered as a semi-profession, there is still room for improvement when it comes to how consumers perceive the trustworthiness of real estate agents. Therefore, the professional bodies ought to strive to find ways on increasing the status and trustworthiness of the profession. These could include increasing the transparency as well as continuing education for its members.

Users of real estate services need to have confidence in the skills and expertise of real estate agents they engage. The magnitude of the monies associated with real estate transactions should cause users to seek out agents who are proficient in what they do, and to this end, the professionalism of agents is critical to the provision of accurate and informative information to guide users toward positive and beneficial outcomes.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that analyzes and compares the development of the real estate profession in Victoria and Sweden, using theories from the study of professions.

Legislative protections supporting New Zealand's compulsory arbitration system made unions a vital part of industrial relations from 1894 to 1991. Following a dramatic shift to a more deregulated labour market, the union movement suffered a sharp decline in influence and membership during the 1990s. In October 2000 the Labour‐Alliance Coalition that formed government in 1999 introduced its Employment Relations Act that includes new protections for registered trade unions. The early impact of the legislation has been to promote the registration of a plethora of new unions. However, the new unions formed since the introduction of the Act represent very few workers and have narrow interests. Although they exist formally as unions, these organisations are more accurately alternative forms of employee representation that exist to facilitate enterprise bargaining and, in some instances, to allow employers to frustrate the activities of larger, established unions.

At a meeting of the Barnstaple Rotary Club on November 5th, Mr. Percy Penhale, Borough Veterinary Inspector, read a paper upon bovine tuberculosis. Mr. Penhale said he wished to speak with particular regard to a pure milk supply, which was a vital topic to them all. With consumption so rife as it was among human beings, veterinary surgeons marvelled that “the powers that be” apparently continued to regard the present state of affairs with apathy, and it was high time sweeping measures were adopted. There were various methods of infection, but cohabitation and inhalation were by far the most frequent, and almost always in a cow shippen or other confined space where tubercle bacilli had been voided from the bodies of previous subjects of the disease. In the early stages there were no appreciable symptoms, and the general condition of the animal might afford no information. Following a technical description of the disease, Mr. Penhale passed to its importance on the health of the general public. It did not stretch one's imagination far to see that the dairy herd was likely to be far more affected with tuberculosis than other cattle, as these were more often confined together in buildings. It was estimated by many eminent authorities that at least 33 per cent. of the dairy herd to‐day were tuberculous. In support of that he would say that in 56 herds tested around the Birmingham district 37 per cent. were found to be affected. It then became necessary to show that bovine tuberculosis was transmissible to mankind. This had been completely proved over and over again, but to what degree the general public was in total ignorance. In 1912 Mitchell, working in Edinburgh, discovered that 90 per cent. of cases of tuberculosis in the human being were bovine in origin. Those figures raised considerable criticism in the medical profession, but some time later Beng, working in the same city, confirmed Mitchell's experiences. It might, therefore, be taken as a fact that bovine infection was responsible for the majority of cases of tuberculosis in the human being. And bovine infection was but another name for milk infection. In the early days of life, when resistance to the disease was at its lowest, and cows' milk was the staple article of diet, the child was brought into contact with the constantly‐recurring possibilities of infection. To analyse the methods suggested for our protection, Pasteurization and boiling of milk had been the reiterated cry of many, and it was true that milk heated to 85 degrees centigrade (or 185 degrees Fahrenheit) would destroy all the tubercle bacilli or spores that the milk contained. But scientists were about equally divided. One half said that Pasteurization or boiling destroyed some of the necessary vitamines and salts that raw milk should contain. In any case, such methods should be unnecessary, and to his mind it was merely condoning an evil. Then microscopical examination of milk was very uncertain, and was not the safeguard so many would have them believe. Where could they look for the salvation? He unhesitatingly replied to the tuberculin test—the safest and surest test they were ever likely to know. He would have it applied to every milk‐bearing cow. In his view the milk of re actors should be forthwith condemned, or Pasteurized and used for calves.

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.

PUBLISHERS of ‘Findex’, Business ratio reports, studies and surveys, Inter Company Comparisons Ltd, known as ‘ICC’, have now joined the producers of computer data‐bases. ‘ICC Database’ carries details of 60,000 companies with updating weekly. From print out which I have examined ICC have made useful added value factors to the basic information from the Companies Registration Office. It tabulates the financial figures for four consecutive years, lists a Standard Industrial Classification number for the company's product, gives directors, registered office address and trading address, company number, and a brief statement of the company's business. The database is already available on Dialog, and is expected to become available on Prestel shortly. Any ASC11 coded terminal may be used to access DIALOG, and the prices seem to be fairly reasonable for the speed of the service. ICC have organised a number of free demonstrations of the service in different parts of the country, and anyone wishing to attend the demonstration in Manchester on Thursday, July 26, should contact Diane Dalmon at ICC on telephone number 01–250 3922. Further information about the database may be had either from DIALOG, PO Box 8, Abingdon, Oxford OX13 6EG, tel 0865 730969, or Inter Company Comparisons, 28–42 Banner Street, London EC1Y 8QE, tel 01–253 3906, tx 23678.

One of the nine thought provoking essays assembled by Peter Vergo in the recently published The New Museology (Reaktan Books, ISBN 0 948 462 035 hardback, ISBN 0 948 462 043 paperback) is “The Quality of Visitors' Experiences in Art Museums” in which Philip Wright discusses the lack of awareness among museum personnel of what exactly their institutions are doing, and indeed should do, in a period when “films, television, video and pop access photography have inevitably altered, if not actually undermined the hierarchy of images that museums aim to display”. Few curators have had professional surveys of their audience undertaken, some have dismissed colleagues' changes as pandering to commercialisation, and invest in sophisticated technology and displays in such a way as to distract from the integrity of the objects in their care.

Many employers lack disability confidence regarding how to include people with disabilities in the workforce, which can lead to stigma and discrimination. The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of disability confidence from two perspectives, employers who hire people with a disability and employees with a disability.

A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted using 35 semi-structured interviews (18 employers who hire people with disabilities; 17 employees with a disability).

Themes included the following categories: disability discomfort (i.e. lack of experience, stigma and discrimination); reaching beyond comfort zone (i.e. disability awareness training, business case, shared lived experiences); broadened perspectives (i.e. challenging stigma and stereotypes, minimizing bias and focusing on abilities); and disability confidence (i.e. supportive and inclusive culture and leading and modeling social change). The results highlight that disability confidence among employers is critical for enhancing the social inclusion of people with disabilities.

The study addresses an important gap in the literature by developing a better understanding of the concept of disability from the perspectives of employers who hire people with disabilities and also employees with a disability.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of competences in medical education and training and to discuss some existing standards, curricula and competency frameworks used by the medical profession in both the UK and internationally to inform leadership development.

This research reinforces the message delivered by the medical profession and policy makers in recent years that all doctors should attain management and leadership competences in addition to clinical knowledge and skills to be an effective and safe practitioner. In the UK, this message and research has helped inform the development of a Medical Leadership Competency Framework (MLCF) published by The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges[1] and NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement[2].

Widespread acceptance of the MLCF is now resulting in the integration of leadership and management competences into all undergraduate and postgraduate curricula.

Other countries with similar histories of low medical engagement in planning, delivery and transformation of services may also benefit from the research undertaken and the MLCF

The paper shows that the MLCF may well inspire more doctors in the future to seek formal leadership positions.

Addresses the need to interrelate academic and workplace domains from the perspective of management development. To address either domain in relative exclusion from the other risks creating a workplace context where learners are able to grasp real‐world problems but lack the underlying academic knowledge to solve them. Outlines how action learning can be used to bridge the two domains and provides actual examples from the USA, Australia and the UK. Provides an overview of action learning as a methodology.

The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss the effects of the introduction of lean into healthcare workplaces, phenomena that have not been widely investigated.

The paper draws on discussions and findings from the literature. It seeks to bring the few geographically dispersed experiences and case studies together to draw some conclusions regarding lean’s negative effects.

Two recurring themes emerge. The first is there is little evidence of Lean’s impact on work and the people who perform it. The literature therefore suggests that we understand very little about how work conditions are changed and how Lean’s negative effects arise and may be managed in healthcare workplaces. A second observation is that Lean’s effects are ambiguous. For some Lean seems to intensify work, while for others it leads to improved job satisfaction and productivity. Given this variety, the paper suggests a research emphasis on Lean’s socio-cultural side and to derive more data on how work and its processes change, particularly in the context of healthcare team-working.

The paper concludes that without improved understanding of social contexts of Lean interventions its value for healthcare improvement may be limited. Future research should also include a focus on how the work is changed and whether high-performance work system practices may be used to offset Lean’s negative effects.