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This paper uses case study data to explore the potential of Human Resource Management (HRM) within small firms. It is argued that despite a considerable amount of evidence that emphasises the distinct human resource problems that small firms face because of their size, there is no reason to assume a priori that a formalised HRM approach cannot provide solutions to these — provided that it is sufficiently flexible. The article cautions against accepting the ‘informal’ approach to managing people often associated with small firms as an inevitable or unconditional ‘good’, demonstrating the complexities of small firm employment relations through case studies of four small firms that have adopted the Investors In People initiative. This initiative is shown to embody key principles of HRM thinking and to have provided viable answers to the human resource problems faced by the case companies. The article concludes with a discussion of the issues that will need to be faced if the management of human resources in small firms is to be opened up to new and innovative ideas in a manner that is genuinely constructive and beneficial.

This paper aims to highlight the value of a library led e-textbook programme at a the UK university.

The data for the results were obtained from two surveys of students. First, from an online survey of 575 students who received an individual copy of an e-textbook from The University of Manchester Library. Second, from a face to face survey of 146 students, based on a random sample of students entering the Alan Gilbert Learning Commons at the University. In addition, a series of one-to-one interviews were conducted with 40 members of academic faculty, who were teaching the course modules, on which the students received their own e-textbook.

This research highlights the significant benefits a library led e-textbook service can offer to students, academic faculty, the wider University and to the profile of the library. Provision of the e-textbooks leads to higher engagement of learning from students, their increased satisfaction with the University and Library, plus addresses issue of reducing their direct costs. It also leads to enhanced pedagogy from the perspective of academic faculty.

The paper addresses issues of inequality of provision for individual students and contributes to enhanced learning for all students.

Library led initiatives are very new in this field and this project is one of the first to both undertake this provision and to undertake extensive research to assess the value of the project.

This paper aims to examine the meaning, use and practical application to management education and leadership development of the terms wisdom, practical wisdom, prudence, discretion and discernment as used in the Rule of Benedict.

After a detailed examination of the historical texts, the author draws on his personal experience of facilitating workshops with a number of senior executives. He applies this learning to current trends and issues in contemporary organisations in particular as they apply to the spiritual qualities of leadership.

The paper comes to a number of conclusions: spiritual discernment is an integral and indispensable part of practical wisdom; the acquisition, development of practical wisdom cannot be divorced from the individual's core spiritual and religious beliefs and practice; practical wisdom is not an end in itself but a means to discerning how to live a morally good life in relationship to other individuals and stakeholders.

Any workplace, irrespective of size and activity, must be a community of practice where practical wisdom can develop and flourish. In the frenetic workplace the exercise of practical wisdom needs protected time and contemplative leisure.

The ancient texts of the Rule of Benedict are translated into modern times; consequences for management practice and education are drawn.

A case study of an organisation in transition is examined. It describes a Canadian regional airline which is facing major environmental changes and challenges, and attempts to make the required organisational adjustments. The dynamics of strategic change at that company are then related to the available literature. Of particular interest are the stakeholder model and the literature on organisational learning.

This study aims to fill the gaps in mandated reports with social accounts to provide more inclusive accountability during a crisis using the illustrative example of Anglicare’s Newmarch House during a deadly COVID-19 outbreak.

This study uses a close-reading method to analyse Anglicare’s annual review, reports, board meeting minutes and Royal Commission into Aged Care submissions. Informed by Foucault’s concept of biopolitics, the study collocates alternate “social accounts” in the form of investigative journalism, newspaper articles and media commentary on the events that transpired at Newmarch House to unveil a more nuanced and human-centric rendering of the ramifications of a public health/aged care crisis.

COVID-19 exacerbated pre-existing issues within the aged care sector, exemplified by Newmarch House. The privileging of financial concerns and lack of care, leadership and accountability contributed to residents’ physical, emotional and psychological distress. The biopolitical policy pursued by powerful actors let die vulnerable individuals while simultaneously making live more productive citizens and “the economy”.

Organisations express their accountability by using financial information provided by accounting, even during circumstances with more prevailing humanistic concerns. A transformational shift in how we define, view and teach accounting is required to recognise accounting as a social and moral practice that should instead prioritise human dignity and care for the betterment of our world.

This paper contributes to the limited literature on aged care, extending particularly into the impact of COVID-19 while contributing to the literature concerned with crisis accountability. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is also the first to examine a form of biopolitics centred on making live something other than persons – the economy.

Examines Laughlin Currie's experiences in helping to implement the New Deal, a new monetary system of Roosevelt's administration implemented during the 1930s.

Outlines a case study detailing how a road enlargement project eliminated sidewalk selling space and restructured the edge of a major market in Dakar, Senegal. Explains how the crucial role of location for street and market trade to the fore, covering the ensuing negotiations which revealed powerful hierarchies based on gender, age and class. Shows how these shaped the process of duscussion and led to differential outcomes for individual traders.