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The purpose of this paper is to explore the opportunities provided by the workplace as an arena for learning and academic credit for first year undergraduates at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School. The research focuses on the evaluation of a work‐based learning (WBL) module designed for full‐time business students who are working part time to fund their progress through university.

Primary reflective data were gathered in a structured evaluation from a cohort of 85 participating students at the end of the WBL module. A self‐selected sample of 14 of these students provided additional data through questionnaires and interviews. Material was also captured from tutor reflections and some employers who volunteered comments. Recent literature on WBL was reviewed.

Some recent literature suggests that part‐time work has a detrimental effect on student study and attainment. However the findings of this research revealed both anticipated and unexpected benefits, not just for the students but other stakeholders. Students liked the flexible delivery and the opportunity to learn in the workplace rather than the classroom. Students also reported short and longer term career benefits as a result of doing WBL and a boost in job motivation. In addition, there were development opportunities for tutors, employers and the employing business.

The research was limited to one cohort and was also undertaken by the tutors and not independent researchers. The sample was self selected and was not representative. Employer feedback was limited and possibly unreliable. However, there is clear evidence of positive enthusiasm for this mode of learning and the rich seam of learning opportunities for all parties in this mode of undergraduate delivery deserves more research.

Given the economic necessity for full‐time students to engage in part‐time employment, this form of WBL that carries academic credit can greatly enhance the curriculum of business students. Linked to the employability agenda WBL could also be included in the curriculum of students taking non‐vocational degrees and this University is currently exploring this development. Working students are offered an alternative form of learning delivery which supports their complex lives by being flexible and perhaps meets the learning preferences of pragmatists and activists more than the traditional classroom.

There is evidence that students who engage in WBL are more motivated and committed employees. They have also contributed to improvements in their workplaces in areas around waste, “green issues” and health and safety. All students, but particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, can use their part‐time employment as an asset rather than a hindrance to learning, thus supporting widening participation in higher education. Employers are encouraged to use the intellectual abilities of their student employees to mutual advantage.

The design of the WBL unit and the research is original to the authors. All secondary sources are cited.

The paper aims to trace the challenges that multinational companies (MNCs) face as they grow out of their national borders into foreign countries and how they attempt to transfer human resource management (HRM) policies and practices across their subsidiaries for a best-fit HRM model.

The paper uses the dilemma theory (involving two opposing values which doing one without the other creates a disadvantage but both cannot be done together) as the main analytical tool and reviews scholarly literature on MNCs’ HRM transfers for the assessment of the transfer challenges.

It is found that MNCs face a dilemma as to how to find best-fit between home-country HRM requirements and host-country demands. In the face of this dilemma, MNCs attempt to build synergy between home-country requirements and host-country demands for a best-fit HRM that is beneficial to both the parent company and their foreign subsidiaries. Despite the best-fit HRM practices to diffuse the tension, parent company has greater influence in the final synergy product which is the trade-off between home-country HRM label and host-country contextual demands, thereby advancing the dominant HRM option of the dilemma.

MNCs should be aware of the possible challenges as they internationalise and should equally be aware that though they may build a synergy (a blend of workable headquarters and subsidiary HRM), the final product will continue to favour headquarters’ HRM policies and practices.

The paper generates theoretical implications into the issues and challenges that arise with HRM transfers within multinational firms by examining how the dilemma theory sheds light on the transfer process and challenges from the dominant-contextual tension till the fight for best-fit HRM. It also contributes to the development of cycle of cross-border HRM dilemma, cross-border HRM transfer framework and Synergy-Dominant theory.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how synergies between lean and green supply chain practices emerge. In particular, the authors explore which practices identified in the literature are actually implemented in a synergic way and determine what synergic results they bring.

An in-depth case study of the Brazilian subsidiary of a large multinational company was conducted using interviews, in-plant observations and document analysis.

The majority of the practices (26 out of 31) bring synergic results to lean and green performance. Synergies can emerge spontaneously (rather than being strategized) even when the implementation of green and lean practices is compartmentalized in different areas, with no department or supportive management team to treat them in a joined way. The strongest synergic results are found in practices related to suppliers and customers because these supply chain actors act as bridges between the lean and green areas.

The authors did not have access to the company customers and suppliers. This restriction made the analysis of drivers skewed towards the perspective of the focal company and the way they framed their interactions. Second, the assessment of synergies was in the majority of cases qualitative.

Empirically, it is the first time that all synergic practices identified in the literature are explored through a case study. Theoretically, the authors developed a model of determinants of lean and green synergies based on constructs emerging from the data; behavioural literature in synergies and research on synergies in mergers and acquisitions.

While previous operations management literature acknowledges the positive influence of Lean and Industry (I4.0) on performance, recent studies examining the synergy between these two factors have produced inconsistent and contradictory results. Therefore, this study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the effect of Lean and I4.0 synergy on firm performance.

This study utilised a meta-analysis approach, examining 23 empirical studies exploring multiple effects of the Lean and I4.0 synergy on firm performance. Multiple subgroup analyses were conducted to assess the contradictory outcomes and identify in what conditions such synergy may achieve performance.

The results affirm the prevailing positivist perspective among most scholars regarding the positive influence of the Lean and I4.0 synergy on firm performance. However, the overall effect size derived from the studies indicates a weak relationship, suggesting that this synergy alone is not the sole determinant factor of firm performance. In addition, the subgroup analyses reveal the presence of contingent conditions that may affect the performance outcomes when integrating Lean and I4.0, as most effects exhibit a weak relationship.

This study represents the first meta-analysis investigating the relationship between the Lean and I4.0 synergy on firm performance. By shedding light on the contradictory effects often depicted in the operations management literature, this study provides a critical reflection for researchers who tend to adopt an overly optimistic view of such synergy.

There is a major lacuna in sustainable human resource management (HRM) research regarding the theoretical context of its adoption or implementation. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to examine the relative influence and interactive effects of different levels of institutional isomorphisms on sustainable HRM adoption.

This study applies the conceptual method and anchors the discussions on the institutional theory and the extant literature on the antecedents of sustainable HRM implementation.

Internal and external institutional isomorphisms will have complementary (synergies) or substitution (trade-offs) effects on sustainable HRM adoption. Furthermore, external institutional isomorphic pressures related to societal values and culture and stakeholders’ sustainability demands are likely to have greater influence on sustainable HRM implementation relative to the internal institutional isomorphic pressures related to managerial sustainability values and attitudes; sustainability-related HRM competencies; resource availability; and perceived sustainability benefits.

This study proposes a novel multi-level conceptual model on the implementation context of sustainable HRM for testing empirically. Furthermore, this study generates insight on how different levels of institutional isomorphic pressures relatively and interactively (synergies versus trade-offs) affect sustainable HRM adoption. This is significant because there is a view that HRM as a discipline is theoretically weak. Although the field has advanced theoretically, one of the areas that need more theorisation is the context of HRM. Hence, this study advances the theoretical context of sustainable HRM implementation through the perspectives of the institutional theory.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an effective synergy measurement model to support the decision-making process in mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Relevant literature is reviewed and critically assessed. An interpretive methodology is used to analyse empirical data from a questionnaire survey and interviews of M&A experts. A framework is provided with the objective to support the process of synergy measurement and the success of pre-deal planning.

The authors find several mismatches in synergy measurement practices. The strategic factors, which are considered very relevant to generating reliable forecasts, are surprisingly not adequately quantified. On the contrary, a synergy measurement model may integrate the assessment of these factors: the type of synergy, the size of synergy, the timing of synergy and the likelihood of achievement.

The paper offers interesting implications for firms, advisors and consultants, pointing out that synergy measurement issues are related to the analysis of strategic factors affecting synergy. These findings suggest that the pre-planning process should integrate people and tools from different backgrounds, from strategy to accounting, to effectively measure the synergy value. The authors also suggest the development of new tools in response to the needs of practitioners for best practices in M&A.

This paper highlights that the effective use of synergy measurement models are critical to improve the success of M&A due diligence.

Organizations profoundly create development paths of individual’s careers. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to gain understanding about how organizational context (shaped by the complex relationship between trade union strength and HRM strength) influences the application of organizational career management (OCM) practices seen through the lens of the theory of cooperation and competition (Deutsch, 1949; Tjosvold, 1984).

Inferential statistical analyses (Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney tests) were applied to test the CRANET survey data collected from 92 large-sized private-sector organizations within an EU country characterized by a medium to high-trade union density.

Results offered consistent empirical evidence that a comprehensive set of OCM practices are applied differently across four distinctive modalities of the union-HRM relationship. Specifically, the “union-HRM synergy” relationship (high-HRM/high-unionization) has been recognized as the most promising for adopting such developmental practices, providing an evidence of complementarities between trade unions and HRM professionalism.

The research suggests that synergistic collaboration between trade unions and HRM might provide employees with even more career development opportunities than when organizations pursue the asynchronous single-sided “Total HRM strategy.”

This study rejuvenate a traditional career management research agenda by introducing a new theoretical lens for studying the interplay between trade unions and HRM and have put an emphasis on how their strength is related to the incidence of OCM practices.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the synergy between strategic resources and operational tool orchestration for organization development.

The article has a progressive empirical multiple-level research design. With a cross-sectional analysis, this investigation confirms the organization development can be related to strategic resources and a complex interplay of factors. Along with this method, our study enables rich empirical conceptualization and helps with extending theory.

The results indicate that in operational tool orchestration, the higher the synergy in the factors of production, the greater the strategic development, competitive positioning and sustainability of the organization. In sum, according to these results, the synergy between operational tool orchestration and the factors of productivity could have a significant effect on organizational objectives achievement.

This research provides researchers with an empirical base stating that organization development can be related to strategic resources in an operational context. The article also provides a new contribution to the existing literature in management development by confirming the significance of vital resources and functional tool orchestration in organization optimization and will be referenced by other authors in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a new requisitely holistic definition of business ethics (BE) as a crucial component of business cybernetics and practice. The present contribution considers a basic problem: how humans use BE to influence their business processes. Therefore, business is/should be investigated from the viewpoint of ethics. Requisite holism of understanding and consideration of BE in business reality is unavoidable; it can (and must) result from findings and considerations of the interdependence between business practice, ethics, and BE.

In this paper, qualitative analysis is applied on the basis of the cybernetics (e.g. especially business cybernetics), dialectical systems theory, and ethics theory.

Ethics is a crucial emotional part of human attributes. They can be viewed as the subjective part of the starting points of any human acting/behavior process, including business. Thus, ethics (may) have/has a crucial role in business cybernetics and practice as BE. To clarify and beneficially use BE, one must understand relations between business cybernetics and BE, between business practice and BE, and understand the diversity of content of BE in literature, etc. On this base offered here is an understanding of BE, a definition of the content of BE as a specific type/part of ethics, and a view at source of BE content.

Content of BE. Research is limited to hypothesis and qualitative analysis in desk research. Practical experience is considered implicitly.

This is a step toward development of business cybernetics with a requisitely holistic approach founded on requisite wholeness of insight. A more specifically created and target‐oriented approach to cybernetic understanding and research of BE of business systems is encouraged.

This paper presents a very new approach, rarely found in main‐stream literature; a new perception and definition of content of BE.

This paper sets out to provide a new systems theory supporting requisite holism and innovation in organizations of the public sector, such as medical care.

Mulej's dialectical systems theory is applied.

Currently, the many existing systems theories are applied in separation rather than in synergy. Here, a fourth attempt to make a new systems theory in Slovenia is presented: after the dialectical system theory, the dialectical network thinking, and the business cybernetics this is the control systems theory.

Research was limited to management of public health care and attainment of the requisite holism in it.

Managerial efficiency and processes in organizations with a rather small influence of the market pressure can be innovated more easily.

This is the first attempt, to the best of one's knowledge, to make a new synergy of the dialectical systems, living systems, and viable systems theories as potentially complementary systems theories and three methodologies supporting informal requisite holism of thinking, decision making and action.