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Provides a practical case illustration of the development and implementation of Web‐based induction training in an international financial services company. In the context of continuing growth and change, helping new employees to swiftly familiarise and integrate into the company is seen as being critically important. Shows how the power and capabilities of the company intranet are applied to support the induction process. The design of the induction training is examined from the perspective of the Lancaster learning model. Describes how the development of interactive training demonstrator systems is helpful when presenting the proposed induction training process to operational staff in order to clarify operational needs. The practical benefits of this approach to induction training are summarised from the perspective of new employees and for human resource management.

It is a truism that the vast majority of development takes place while a manager is carrying out the job. Also where any management training and development investment can be seen to affect the bottom‐line business results, then commitment at both an organizational and individual level can be more easily secured. Using work‐based projects for individuals and groups is an approach which can secure both bottom‐line payoff and effective learning transfer, while bringing about significant changes. Reviews the development of and experience in project‐based learning over several years at Sundridge Park. Offers and explores critical success factors together with experiences of project‐based learning with Volvo and ICI. Explains the issue of integrating learning with doing and makes links with action learning and career development. Also highlights the potential of information technology in capturing and retaining learning through projects.

Looks back at developments in the European business environment over the last ten years. Details some of the rapid changes, e.g. in use of electronic information systems. Also describes the introduction of advanced groupware systems and the differences in application across national boundaries. Considers the issues of human relationships and cultural change which underlie many of these differences.

Examines the changing structure and culture of organizations in current times and the development towards a more project‐oriented way of operating. Describes how projects can act as multi‐purpose vehicles for achieving personal management development, as well as providing tangible business benefits and help achieve change and organizational learning. Explores the use of information technology networks for supporting projects, capturing learning outcomes and introducing new ways of working. Reviews how projects help to change organizational culture by questioning existing assumptions, by communicating and applying new ideas and by developing new operating assumptions.

Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence down into manageable chunks, covering: age discrimination in the workplace; discrimination against African‐Americans; sex discrimination in the workplace; same sex sexual harassment; how to investigate and prove disability discrimination; sexual harassment in the military; when the main US job‐discrimination law applies to small companies; how to investigate and prove racial discrimination; developments concerning race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; developments concerning discrimination against workers with HIV or AIDS; developments concerning discrimination based on refusal of family care leave; developments concerning discrimination against gay or lesbian employees; developments concerning discrimination based on colour; how to investigate and prove discrimination concerning based on colour; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; using statistics in employment discrimination cases; race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning gender discrimination in the workplace; discrimination in Japanese organizations in America; discrimination in the entertainment industry; discrimination in the utility industry; understanding and effectively managing national origin discrimination; how to investigate and prove hiring discrimination based on colour; and, finally, how to investigate sexual harassment in the workplace.

Financial‐services company De Lage Landen (DLL), a subsidiary of the Rabobank Group, is capitalizing on the power of its information systems to support effective induction training. DLL, founded in The Netherlands in 1969, is today an international leader in providing partnership in high‐quality asset financing. Three divisions – The Netherlands, vendor finance Americas and vendor finance Europe – provide services throughout Europe and the Americas. From corporate headquarters in Eindhoven, the DLL management team communicates with operating offices and sales personnel around the world through the company intranet, the internet and in‐house videoconferencing facilities.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the public policy benefits of ban-the-box laws, the administrative burden for employers created by disparate approaches to these laws among various states and cities and the value of adopting a federal ban-the-box law with a preemptive effect.

The paper uses a descriptive research method that examines statistical data regarding the recidivism and sustained employment and examples of states’ laws regarding restrictions or requirements of when criminal history inquiries can be made during the hiring process, notice requirements related to use of criminal history information and limitations on employment decisions based on criminal history information.

The paper finds that, given the public policy interests at stake and the relationship observed between recidivism and sustained employment, it is difficult to argue that states and local ban-the-box requirements are not rational and well-intentioned. However, a federal ban-the-box law with preemptive effect is likely the only viable solution for employers overburdened by this disparate approach to ban-the-box.

This paper provides an examination of why a federal ban-the-box law with preemptive effect is an attractive alternative to the current disparate approach to regulating criminal history inquiries by different states and local governments.

The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act calls for substantially increased government regulation. Whether those regulations are, in some sense, appropriate is a function of whether the benefits of the increased regulation exceed the costs. Those costs and benefits, however, are probably impossible to measure, at least at this early stage of the implementation of the Dodd–Frank reforms. On the other hand, financial professionals who regularly deal with governmental regulations probably have a good sense of the costs and benefits based on their own experience with other similar regulations. This chapter reports the result of a survey of high-level auditors and CFOs regarding their perceptions of the costs and benefits of the main parts of the financial regulatory reform incorporated into the Dodd–Frank legislation. It concludes that there is support among these individuals for some aspects of Dodd–Frank, but no consensus.