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The purpose of this paper is to explore political behaviours associated with the implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in a public service organisation from an emerging market country, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The authors’ theoretical framework is based on the notions of trust, agent reflexivity, ontological security, routines, control and power proposed by Giddens (1984, 1990). The authors explore how the political behaviour of organisation members emanates from the introduction of an ERP system (particularly its accounting modules), and how the interaction between individual power, trust and control shaped its implementation process. The case study methodology relied on diverse data collection methods including semi-structured interviews, documentary evidence and personal observation.

The authors show that the accounting-based ERP system created an episode of discomfort in the organisation, which facilitated reflexivity and critical reflection by organisation members and led to a re-assessment of ways of thinking pre- and post-dating the implementation of the ERP system. The findings illustrate the entangled relationship between the new accounting-based ERP system and the feelings of trust emerging during organisational change.

Although case studies are intrinsically limited in terms of generalisability, the authors’ investigation provides practical insights into the management of the needs of trust, ontological security and sources of power experienced by organisation members, since the fulfilment of such needs is the underlying pillar which the success of ERP systems rests upon.

This study is one of the first to apply Giddens’ (1984, 1990) conceptualisation to examine organisation change caused by the implementation of an accounting-based ERP system in an emerging market economy.

Two librarians, Patrick Noon and Sue Clegg, who have previously studied for an MBA, describe their different experiences of the course; what it offers a librarian, in terms of personal and career advancement and its worthwhile nature despite the time constraints, costs and intellectual effort. Patrick Noon found great value in the opportunity to mix with other managers from business and industry. Sue Clegg found that developing a more holistic and strategic approach to organizations has personal relevance and can promote development, opening out possible, future career moves.

Over the last five years, governments, think‐tanks and public alike have re‐focused their minds on the future development of British cities. Why are such diverse social organizations producing visions of urban futures? What kinds of techniques and tools are they using, and what are their implications? What types of city do they envision? And most significantly, what are the resonances and dissonances between the development paths they propose?

For the Muslim faithful, the Islamic week indirectly derives from an act of “divine revelation” for the Prophet Muhammad that directs them to use Friday as a congregational day of prayer.⁷ The Koran is strict about this prescription and presents it as an obligation to the faithful. Verses 9 to 11 from chapter 62 provide the social context and religious meaning of the peak day of the Islamic week.⁸ 9. O you who believe, when the call is sounded for prayer on Friday, hasten to the remembrance of Allah and leave off traffic. That is better for you, if you know. 10. But when the prayer is ended, disperse abroad in the land and seek of Allah’s grace, and remember Allah much, that you may be successful. 11. And when they see merchandise or sport, they break away to it, and leave thee standing. Say: what is Allah is better than sport and merchandise. And Allah is the Best of Providers.The exegesis of verses 9 and 11 reveals or implies that the day of congregation is a work day and that Muslims, upon hearing the call for prayer, must leave all their earthly activities – commerce, sport, or any other – and attend the gathering (Juma’a) at the mosque. So work is permitted before the congregational prayer. Verse 10 also indicates that after prayer, one may return to work, confident that entrepreneurial activities may be successful because of the grace of Allah. Friday thus is parceled out in three distinct moments according to the Koran: the half-day’s work in the morning, the prayer time around noon, and the later half-day’s work in the afternoon. It is the only day of the week that is thus fractured.

This chapter reviews work that examines the potential causes of inequality for women in employment in the UK. Amongst developed economies and based on mean hourly earnings, the UK has one of the highest gender pay gaps (ILO, 2018). The UK, therefore, illustrates some of the key theoretical and practical issues associated with greater gender equality that affect other countries to varying degrees. This chapter sets out key theoretical perspectives on gender inequality, summarizes important research, identifies research gaps and provides an agenda for future research. It highlights how there is no simple explanation for the disparities in pay between men and women; these disparities persist in the UK and elsewhere. Theories and empirical analyses, therefore, need to expand to identify other potential causes of gender inequality, extending ‘upwards’ to examine how the nature of firms varies across countries and ‘downwards’ to assess how union representatives influence equal opportunity policies in organizations.

A time and motion study was conducted in an accident and emergency (A&E) department in a Hong Kong Government hospital in order to suggest solutions for severe queuing problems found in A&E. The study provided useful information about the patterns of arrival and service; the throughput; and the factors that influence the length of the queue at the A&E department. Plans for building a computerized simulation model were dropped as new intelligence generated by the study enabled problem solving using simple statistical analysis and common sense. Demonstrates some potential benefits for management in applying operations research methods in busy clinical working environments. The implementation of the recommendations made by this study successfully eliminated queues in A&E.

The purpose of this study is to examine social conflicts with co-workers (SCCWs) as a predictor of job satisfaction with co-workers (JSCWs) on a daily basis. Moreover, dispositional emotion regulation (ER) was suggested to moderate the within-person relationship between daily conflicts at work and JSCWs.

Ninety-eight employees from German civil service agencies completed surveys across five consecutive work days. Dispositional variables and controls were assessed in a general survey which was completed before the start of the daily surveys.

Hierarchical linear modeling showed that SCCWs at noon were significantly related to employees’ JSCWs in the evening and that dispositional ER moderated this relationship, indicating that people with high abilities of ER reported higher levels of job satisfaction with their co-workers than people with low abilities of ER after experiencing SCCWs.

The present study links conflict research with organizational and personality research. The findings broaden the understanding of social conflicts in an organizational context and further highlight ER as an important factor which can buffer the negative effects of workplace conflicts.

Food from Britain (FFB) is the UK’s leading international food and drink marketing consultancy, providing companies with a range of cost‐effective and results‐orientated marketing services. FFB’s clients are UK food and drink companies with international vision and speciality food companies keen to build a bigger UK business. FFB’s work with these companies is considered and some of its recent successes are outlined.

The purpose of this paper is to share the research processes and results of secondary analysis using GIS to map usage of a university library to contribute to ongoing efforts to help identify how library spaces are used to explain how university libraries can continue to evolve as teaching, learning, and shared communities of scholars. This paper details the use of ArcGIS to visualize where students are in the library in order to explain how this method can used by libraries to visualize the use of their facilities.

This research utilized secondary analysis of data collected during seating sweeps; through secondary analysis, data were analyzed and visualized in ArcGIS. The seating sweeps were conducted three times a day during a sample week, with researchers noting on maps of the library floor plan where students were sitting. Data were entered into an ArcGIS database file and mapped to display usage directly on the library map to improve stakeholders’ understanding of the ways students are using the library as a place.

Even though this project used consistent instruments and procedural instructions and trained observers, a combination of factors resulted in an incomplete data set, including the length of time between research design and data collection and lack of agreement about the use of map worksheets. It was still possible to make maps that depict heavier and lighter areas of use, present data to library stakeholders, and show what can be accomplished when data are collected on copies of the floor plan.

This research is limited by being a conducted in one university library, but the implications far outweigh the limitations. While bar and pie charts are effective at visualizing data, they do not provide a way to visualize where activities occur; maps provide multi-layered visualization, allowing libraries to visualize the same usage data as bar, pie, or other charts in addition to seeing where that usage occurs. The implications for librarianship include better understanding of how library spaces are used and the ability to use visually appealing maps to demonstrate the library’s use, value, and impact.

Mapping library statistics is an area that has been growing in the last decade, but practical examples of using GIS to map facility usage are few. This paper explains in detail how the mapping process works and how libraries of all types can adapt this method for their own usage assessments to more vividly depict the value and impact of the library facility as a place.