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This paper aims to describe an attempt to develop a more effective technique to teach self-awareness and relationship skills.

A journal is used in combination with a model of human nature. The model lists human characteristics that the management trainee must identify in themselves and others they interact with. Students kept a journal and analysed their interactions in reference to a list of human characteristics.

Initial plans were disrupted by an earthquake. Analysis in the first journal instalments was limited and students regularly found negative characteristics in colleagues. Feedback was given and the second instalment showed greater quality of analysis. Students regularly found and showed understanding of the characteristics in themselves and others. They also put more thought in to how to manage those traits. The model provided a solution to the problems of marking reflective journals.

A key limitation of this approach is the difference in opinion that may exist between academics as to what characteristics managers should look for in themselves and others. There may be substantial divergence on this.

This paper contributes to management education by suggesting a method for enhancing both relationship skills and self-awareness. Problems in assessing reflection essays and journals can be overcome by grading their knowledge and understanding of the human characteristics.

A key question in the provision of public health concerns how that provision is governed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the governance structure of a public health board and its perceived impact on the efficacy of clinical operations.

Structural issues examined the level of centralisation and public participation, and whether governance should occur through elected boards or appointed managers. These issues were examined through multiple lenses. First was the intention of the structure, examining the issues identified by parliament when the new structure was created. Second, the activities of the board were examined through an analysis of board meetings. Finally, hospital clinicians were surveyed through semi-structured interviews with both quantitative and qualitative questioning.

A contradiction was revealed between intention, perception and actual activities. This raises concerns over whether the public are significantly informed to elect the best-skilled appointees to governance positions.

This research holds implications for selecting governance structures of public health providers.

Few studies have looked at the role of a publicly elected healthcare governance structure from the perspective of the clinicians. Hence, this study contributes to the literature on healthcare structure and its impact on clinical operations, by including a clinician’s perspective. However, this paper goes beyond the survey and also considers the intention of the structure as proposed by parliament, and board activities or what the board actually does. This enables a comparison of intention with outcomes and perception of those outcomes.

This paper aims to examine the economic effect of immigration, in particular, government's ability to select human capital that benefits the economy.

The effects of recent migration to New Zealand are examined, drawing on government statistics. Outcomes are contrasted with policy intentions, and the effect of diversity is considered before examining the economic effect on Auckland city.

The government's assessment of human capital does not reflect market assessment. Reasons include systemic abuse, government valuation of qualifications that are not transferable, and insufficient value placed on language, culture, nor time required for adaptation. The best performing immigrants are those with similar cultures to the dominant NZ ethnic group.

More research is needed to quantify impacts, however migration can also be linked to some barriers to growth including congestion costs and diversion of investment to low growth areas.

Government policies need to recognise culture is not neutral and the economic benefits of diversity may vary in time and region.

Failure to recognise culture results in unemployment and under‐employment while migrants endure un‐met expectations. Migrants not assessed for human capital also exhibit cultural mis‐match, and is in danger of creating an emerging underclass.

There is a need to distinguish between economic leading immigrants and economic followers. Migrants from different cultures can lead economic growth by developing export markets but the market for such migrants can get saturated. The effects of migration change over time and each situation requires its own analysis.

This paper attempts to reduce the gap between management education and practice. It emphasises day‐to‐day decisions that middle and lower level managers make. The purpose is to provide an education framework embodying a flexible approach to interpretation and solution creation, suitable for situations of ambiguity and uncertainty.

The paper examines the current state of tuition in management decision making, then provides a model that, when combined with practical exercises, helps trainees explore the type of problems managers confront on a daily basis.

The model guided students to think beyond problem definition to identify possible causes, and to think beyond the solution to the consequences of the solution. Use of class members as an education resource enabled a large number of interpretations of what might otherwise be considered “common sense”.

Undergraduate students often lack management experience but this paper argues that the use of real‐world examples with in‐built ambiguity can help prepare management trainees for a wide range of interpretations and create a mental “tool‐box” to better facilitate flexibility.

Non‐routine decision making at lower levels of management is an under‐explored academic activity. In an effort to create future leaders, business schools currently instruct on big issues such as strategy and organisational change. This paper argues that management education needs to prepare trainees for the type of problems they will face on a day to basis. To assist with uncertainty and ambiguity, students do not seek the “right answer”, but explore a broad range of interpretations.

Developing interpersonal relationships is widely recognised as a key managerial capability, but business schools have been criticised for the limited attention given to the subject. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to address this deficiency in the area of teaching workplace relationships.

The paper reviews and critiques existing literature on the teaching of interpersonal relationships. It examines possibilities for content and methods by which they could be taught, including the limitations of each method.

The limitations of skills‐based courses are recognised and a case is argued for a broad‐based approach to teaching interpersonal relations that draws on a motivational, behavioural, cognitive, emotion and personality approach. A large number of options exist and it is argued that techniques be used that complement one another.

Lectures of general management courses are frequently constrained by their limited training but the paper provides a cognitive and theoretical framework with which to analyse relationships, which can be combined with a number of other techniques within the abilities of the general management lecturer. More research is required on interpersonal relationship management strategies and relationship variability in the workplace.

The paper moves away from a skills‐based approach to interpersonal relationships to consider cognitive and motivational aspects. The concept of relational capital emphasises the inherent value of workplace relationships. The paper suggests that interpersonal relationship needs to be mainstreamed into management education if graduates are to be prepared for the business world.

The purpose of this paper is to examine Tongan businesses in New Zealand, bearing in mind that they have shared mixed success. Faced with the challenges of competition, compliance, and financial and operational management, these businesses are characterised by a relatively higher failure rate.

A series of open‐ended interview‐type sessions called talanoa were carried out to study their business practices and how these were linked to sustainability. These data were then triangulated with talanoa sessions carried out with business advisers who had worked with many of those Tongan businesses. Further information was collected during individual and group sessions with members of the Tongan community regarding Tongan businesses practices from both a general and a customer perspective.

The results of the talanoa sessions support a theoretical framework that suggests that an entrenched Tongan culture based on a “commons” mentality of sharing is partly responsible for a relatively high failure rate in an “anti‐commons” environment. The findings also suggest that certain aspects of the Tongan culture, in the form of social capital, support business sustainability.

The data gained from the talanoa sessions are based on a small number of Tongan businesses, Pacific business consultants and members of the Tongan community in New Zealand. The findings are therefore not statistically generalisable, although they do provide insights to guide further research in this area.

The findings are likely to provide benefits to a number of key stakeholders including Tongan businesses, policy makers, Government business assistance programmes and the wider small business community.

The research project introduces traditional talanoa to qualitative business research. The findings are specific to Tongan business operating in a western commercial context and provide insights into the drivers of business success and failure for the growing Pacific business community in New Zealand.