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Outlines key areas of the Government White Paper Fairness at Work. Identifies the training implications in the proposed changes in collective law and in the improvements in the individual rights of employees. Concludes that the most important training needs are likely to arise in the extension of unfair dismissal protection and the right for employees to have trade union representation in disciplinary and grievance hearings. Also examines the training needs arising out of the arbitration option in unfair dismissal proceedings and those arising out of the establishment of a National Minimum Wage and other legislative developments, including the Working Time Regulations. Examines also the issue of collective bargaining about training. This is an issue that the Government is considering, as opposed to proposing.

This paper aims to examine the relation between SEC regulations centered on board of director independence and financial reporting quality and investigates the different routes to board independence.

The sample includes 1,248 firm observations whose board composition is compared between 2001 and 2008. Each firm is categorized based on how they increase board independence. The authors test the hypotheses using ordinary least squares regression models.

Results show that firms choose between multiple routes when complying with the independence requirements, and how firms operationalize the SEC requirement impacts financial reporting quality. Specifically, firms that achieve increased board independence through increased board size are associated with higher financial reporting quality. However, there is no association between higher financial reporting quality and a subsequent increase in audit fees. Suggesting the reporting quality results from the board monitoring function and not from an increase in auditor effort.

No evidence exists on how a firm’s chosen route to increased board independence relates to financial reporting quality.

Management training for international students is an increasingly large, but competitive and volatile, global market. Training providers need to ensure that they are market‐oriented and avoid an ethnocentric approach. Programme delivery needs to take account of the national context in which students are, or will be, working. Potential action points are identified that may help improve the quality of management training in particular. Developing a positive reputation is part of the marketing process. In‐house training of lecturing staff in the special needs of international students may be necessary.

The purpose of this study is to examine what job-related training interventions female expatriates seek and can access in order to build necessary knowledge and skills to progress into further career-enhancing expatriate positions.

This study uses a cross-sectional qualitative research approach, drawing upon semi-structured interviews in respect of organisational training practice with 26 current female expatriates and nine human resource, international assignments and training managers in two oil and gas exploration firms.

Budgets, time and travel restrictions and competitive business pressures constrain on-the-job training provision for expatriates. Assignees require specific knowledge and skills ahead of appointment to subsequent expatriate positions. HR personnel believe training provides appropriate knowledge and capability development, supporting women expatriates' career ambitions. Women assignees view training available within their current roles as insufficient or irrelevant to building human capital for future expatriate posts.

Longitudinal research across a wider spectrum of industries is needed to help understand the effects of training interventions on women's access to future career-enhancing expatriation and senior management/leadership positions.

Organisations should ensure relevant technical skills training, clear responsibility for training provision, transparent and fair training allocation, positive communication regarding human capital outcomes and an inclusive culture that promotes expatriate gender diversity.

Set within the framework of human capital theory, this study identifies the challenges that female expatriates experience when seeking relevant job-related training to further their expatriate careers. It identifies clear mismatches between the views of HR and female assignees in relation to the value of job-related training offered and women's access to it.

The problems of operating employee appraisal schemes effectively are identified in this two‐part article. Appraisal of formal appraisal schemes suggests that most do not operate satisfactorily. Multipurpose schemes can be cumbersome and include conflicting objectives. The feedback process can also cause major problems. Such problems can be exacerbated with schemes of 360‐degree appraisals, according to their complexity and the role conflicts that they precipitate. In the second part of the article, the level of organisational investment needed for schemes to operate effectively is considered. The ways in which competencies, self‐appraisal and peer audit can be constructively used are examined. The crucial link between formal and informal appraisal processes is considered as is the importance and skills involved in an informal appraisal. Finally, the way in which the training needs of appraisees need to be realistically identified and assessed is also explained.

The various pressures that managers are under to accept ready‐made solutions to problems that they face are identified. However, if the causes of the problems are not carefully diagnosed in the first instance it can be a matter of luck whether the solutions work or are actually counter‐productive. Management training needs to include an emphasis on diagnostic techniques and to enable managers to look beyond departmental boundaries for both the causes of and solutions to problems. Managers also need to learn how to deploy the right mix of people to tackle problems and in so doing demonstrate to others the importance of a diagnostic and integrated approach to problem solving.

The authors draw on their considerable experience in writing and using case studies both in the UK and abroad to explain the potential benefits of using the case study method in management teaching. In this, the first of two articles on the subject, they elaborate on the potential benefits of using the case study method but also the ways in which the method can be misused. They go on to explain how case studies can be used effectively in developing management skills. In the second article they will deal with the topics of writing case studies, their use in assessment and cross‐cultural issues in using case studies. Details of the on‐line access to over 40 management case studies and exercises, with supporting teaching notes, are contained in the 5th edition of their book Skills of Management (http://thomsonlearning. co.uk).

In this two‐part article the problems of operating employee appraisal schemes effectively are identified. Appraisal of formal appraisal schemes suggests that most do not operate satisfactorily. Multi‐purpose schemes can be cumbersome and include conflicting objectives. The feedback process can also cause major problems. Such problems can be exacerbated with schemes of 360‐degree appraisal according to their complexity and the role conflicts they can precipitate. In the second part of the article the level of organisational investment needed for schemes to operate effectively is considered. The ways in which competencies, self‐appraisal, and peer audit can be constructively used are examined. Competencies developed for selection purposes may be usefully applied in appraisal, provided they are accurate. The crucial link between formal and informal appraisal processes is considered as is the importance and skills involved in informal appraisal. Finally, the way in which the training needs of appraisees need to be realistically identified and assessed is explained.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the re‐branding of much management education and development under the heading of leadership and to identify the dangers this may bring particularly if it results in key management skills being neglected.

The authors use their extensive background in management education and development in the UK and abroad to consider the implications of the increasing emphasis on leadership as opposed to management education and development. Recent trends are identified as is both the distinction between and overlap between the terms leadership and management. Relevant literature is examined and the potential dangers of the re‐branding process identified

Increasing use is being made of the term leadership. Whilst there is considerable overlap between the concepts of leadership and management, the market appeal to providers and users of qualification and short course programmes implies that leadership is a higher level of organisational activity than management. This may be an unrealistic view of organisational activity and ignores the concept of strategic management. However, it may create a market pressure for people to aspire to be leaders rather than managers. Four specific potential dangers are identified. These are the lack of emphasis on the need to match people to situations, a failure to distinguish between process and task leadership, the general lack of obvious pathways for people to become leaders rather than managers and neglect of the development of critical managerial skills. Whilst much useful work may take place under the title leadership there is also the overall danger that some of the activity is superficial and even counter‐productive.

The paper is a timely and necessary counter‐balance to the bandwagon effect of the use of the term “leadership” in the generic area of management education and development. It encourages readers to examine carefully what is covered under leadership activities and the extent to which these meet real as opposed to status needs.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the importance of the concept of delegation, highlighting the lack of attention to it in management textbooks and identifying the key skills involved in effective delegation.

The authors use their background as lecturers and authors in management combined with their management and consultancy experience to do a literature search of the topic of management and use their experience to comment on how the understanding and practice of delegation can be improved.

As a result of a thorough search through the standard business studies textbooks, the authors found little coverage of the topic of delegation. They found many examples of failures of delegation, sometimes with catastrophic results. Despite the evidence to the contrary, there seems to be a general and highly over-optimistic assumption that an understanding of delegation and good practice can be taken for granted.

Evidence has been collected about the alarming lack of attention to this critical management skill. The authors have attempted to remedy this by a clear explanation of the skills involved and the potential consequences of neglecting it. The core concepts include accountability, the rationale for delegating authority, associated skills and obstacles and how they can be dealt with; and the overlapping concept of empowerment. Case studies of recent world events illustrating the need for good governance and risk assessment are included.