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How should Office Automation (OA) be introduced? Organisation and Methods (O&M) often get the task but are not well equipped to do so. Case studies show that OA projects often create problems and that O&M receive the blame. O&M staff need to adopt a proactive role. The growth in information technology demands a new kind of manager — one who combines technological skills with an understanding of business.

Notes that the phenomenon of office automation (OA) is continually evolving and that groupworking and computer‐supported co‐operative working, supported by groupware products such as Lotus Notes, are seen as the next phase in the OA saga. Explores the concept of the “office” in today’s changing business and technological environment, and further evaluates whether groupware can lead to truly flexible and co‐operative working by identifying some of the philosophical and managerial issues this topic raises.

The purpose of this study is to narratively explore the influence of leader narcissism on leader/follower social exchange. Moreover, while researchers acknowledge that narcissistic personality is a dimensional construct, the preponderance of extant literature approaches the concept of narcissistic leadership categorically by focusing on the reactive or constructive narcissistic extremes. This bimodal emphasis ignores self-deceptive forms of narcissistic leadership, where vision orientation and communication could differ from leaders with more reactive or constructive narcissistic personalities.

The authors argue that they encountered a compelling example of a communal, self-deceiving narcissist during archival research of Robert Owen’s collective experiment at New Harmony, Indiana. To explore Owen’s narcissistic leadership, they utilize an analytically structured history approach to interpret his leadership, as he conveyed his vision of social reform in America.

Approaching data from a ‘history to theory’ perspective and via a communicative lens, the authors use insights from their abductive analysis to advance a cross-paradigm, communication-centered process model of narcissistic leadership that accounts for the full dimensional nature of leader narcissism and the relational aspects of narcissistic leadership.

Scholars maintaining a positivist stance might consider this method a limitation, as historical case-based research places greater emphasis on reflexivity than replication. However, from a constructionist perspective, a focus on generalization might be considered inappropriate or premature, potentially hampering the revelation of insights.

Through a multi-paradigmatic analysis of the historical case of Robert Owen and his visionary communal experiment at New Harmony, the authors contribute to the extant literature by elaborating a comprehensive, dimensional and relational process framework of narcissistic leadership. In doing so, the authors have heeded calls to better delineate leader narcissism, embrace process and relational aspects of leadership and consider leader communication as constitutive of leadership.

Valuing People Now (DH, 2009) recognises that some people, particularly those with complex needs, have been missing out. It has made ‘including everyone’ a priority for the next three years. With reference to Tom's story, this paper will consider the reasons why people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) remain among the most marginalised people in society today, what has changed since Valuing People (DH, 2001) and what needs to change in the next three years of delivering Valuing People Now (DH, 2009) if we are to rise to the challenge of ‘enabling extraordinary people to live ordinary lives’ (McConkey, 1998).

The fifteen years before Atkinson represented for many British university librarians a golden age, as the number and size of universities expanded, young men received promotion long before they might reasonably have expected, and funds for collections and buildings to house them became available on a scale never before seen in most British universities. The thesis of this contribution is that the “golden age” provided an opportunity for the testing of attitudes and approaches to academic librarianship which before had always been constrained by financial circumstances, and that in that test the traditional philosophies were found wanting. The Atkinson Report was a turning point when the reluctant academic library community was reminded of reality.

‘Making it happen for everyone’ is the subtext of Valuing People Now: a new three‐year strategy for people with learning disabilities (Department of Health, 2009). It seems an appropriate time to take stock and learn from those for whom this strategy will be critical how they view the current services provided, what changes they have seen and where they see the future. This article reviews the experiences of a group of adults in an East Midlands city.

VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. Ittis edited and substantially written by the Information Officer for Library Automation based, from June 1st 1984, at the Polytechnic of Central London and supported by a grant from the British Library Research and Development Department. Copyright for the articles rests with the British Library Board and opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription for 1984 to VINE is: £23 for UK subscribers, £26 to overseas subscribers (including airmail delivery). Second and subsequent copies to the same address are charged at £14 for UK and £16 for overseas. VINE is available in either paper or microfiche copy and all back issues are available on microfiche.