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This paper focuses on the possibilities of the long‐term development of flexible working as a work‐life policy, through understanding the power dynamics between the individual and the organisation. The study presents a framework which summarises the factors influencing the employee‐employer power dynamics, and leads us to the research questions. The methodology involves triangulation in case studies in two organisations based on surveys of representative samples in each organisation (n = 243 and n = 128) and interviews with the management. Findings support the long‐term development of employee‐friendly flexible working. There is a strong desire, and a lack of polarisation of attitudes, among employees for greater flexibility. Certain employee groups with stronger negotiating power have initiated the work‐life debate, but in doing so, they have increased the power of all employees through lowering ideological barriers, and creating knowledge of new possibilities and aspirations. Favourable external pressures and changing business needs also improve the position of employees.

This study examines and compares the employment strategy used by Japanese and British retail companies in Hong Kong. Hendry’s structured employment systems model is adopted as the theoretical framework for this research. Three case companies – Morioka and Okadaya (Japanese‐owned) and Supercom (British‐owned) – are studied regarding what employment strategies they have adopted to expand in Hong Kong, and to adjust to the changing consumer market. The evidence shows that the Japanese companies adopt more structured employment systems, employing more employee groups than the British company. Both Japanese companies vary employment practices to different employee groups on the basis of national origins, hierarchy, employment status and gender. Furthermore, skills/profession is also used in Okadaya to differentiate employment practices. Supercom mainly varies employment practices on hierarchy and employment status. Therefore, five to six groups of employees are identified in the Japanese companies, while two to three employee groups are identified in Supercom.

With continuous learning being so essential to corporate wellbeing in the future, the learning organization concept is seriously taking root. Examines how learning organizations are created.

In part I of this paper a case study was considered in which I described my use of contingency analysis to solve a problem of organisation design. It was argued that the account underplayed the character of the organisation as a political system and, in consequence, failed to treat the political character of the relationship between the consultant and members of the organisation. What was presented as a rational design solution was, therefore, not so. It was influential more for its pragmatic value in suggesting a form of organisation which fitted the managing director's preferences.

In the United States in the last few years there has developed a notion of “strategic human resource management” (HRM). As with other high‐sounding phrases in the management of people, first reactions are likely to divide between “let's have some of it” to “it won't work here”, with the latter possibly predominating. Where American pragmatism inclines towards trying new things to see if they work, British pragmatism tends to mean sticking with the actual and the evidently possible. Nevertheless, reviewing ideas which run ahead of practice can, on occasion, be useful in suggesting new possibilities. This article will review the implications of “strategic HRM” and ask whether it has any relevance to some of the issues which currently exercise personnel managers in the UK — notably, decentralising the personnel function and increasing workforce flexibility.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

While the concept of the learning company has now become a fairly well‐established idea within academic and practitioner circles, it is still a concept which is in emergence and thus a certain amount of ambiguity and confusion surrounds it. It is, therefore, necessary not only to develop an understanding of the concept to the point at which it is possible to begin to understand the implications for practice, but also to establish the relationship between the presence and the development of learning company characteristics and organizational performance. Reviews the application of learning company ideas in a primarily small to medium‐sized enterprise environment, and using a case study approach considers the training, development and learning potential of one company after the application of The Learning Company Project questionnaire, developed by The Learning Company Project in Sheffield.

In spite of escalating efforts to curb abuse, fraud, and corruption in Congress, members of Congress persist in violating the norms, rules, and laws that aim to ensure they behave ethically. This chapter combines qualitative and quantitative analysis to describe congressional corruption in the modern era. Case studies illustrate consequential financial scandals while also differentiating four categories of corrupt financial practices.

Existing datasets on congressional scandals span the time period from 1972 to 2010, and this chapter extends the dataset to 2018. The analysis next uses the dataset to answer important questions empirically. Which types of scandals occur more often? Have these scandals grown more common or less common over time? What are the consequences of financial scandals for representatives' careers as public servants?

This chapter examines the literature surrounding stakeholder theory. Section 2.2 outlines the nature of what is a stakeholder, whereas Section 2.3 overviews the literature on social accounting and reporting and details how it served as an antecedent to the specific literature on stakeholder management. Section 2.4 covers the mainstream literature on stakeholder management by examining the three distinct categories of stakeholder literature as outlined by Donaldson and Preston (1995): (1) descriptive; (2) instrumental; and (3) normative. The normative category includes a discussion on how the theory's fundamental aspects have been rejected outright by some authors, as a basis for a theory of the firm, due to the perceived paradox in relation to the firm's multi-fiduciary duty beyond the shareholder. Section 2.5 summarises the literature to date and outlines its main limitations, including the primary emphasis on seeking to normatively ground the theory. Section 2.6 then provides the conclusions with a table summarising the research objectives and outcomes.