Search results

Recent years have witnessed the birth and rapid development of “coworking” spaces that are likely to affect classic models of work and organizations. This paper aims to identify the crucial issues raised by this phenomenon, for both practitioners and researchers, in both management and organization theory.

To describe this growing phenomenon, the current paper presents an in-depth analysis of existing literature and identifies the social, organizational and managerial issues raised by the development of coworking.

A review of how organizational research has analyzed the rapid development of coworking spaces thus far reveals a conceptual framework for grasping the origins, nature and implications of this phenomenon. Such an assessment in turn sheds light on the issues and potential questions raised by the growth of this new type of organization.

Managers and practitioners can gain a better grasp of the phenomenon and the potential evolution of workplaces and organizations, as well as a better understanding of the extent to which developing coworking spaces might invoke evolution in organizations and management practices.

The rise of coworking spaces is unprecedented in its speed and scale. Yet, academic research has largely ignored this phenomenon, and practitioner studies have privileged a descriptive approach. This paper thus covers a topic that has attracted scant attention in prior academic research, despite its vast and growing importance.

Since March 16th the ban on the use of soya in the manufacture of sausages has been removed. The lifting of this restriction, which has been in force since 1946, will be welcomed by some manufacturers who claim that soya is an excellent binding agent. We are doubtful, however, whether these sentiments will be shared by all public analysts, many of whom are of the opinion that the presence of soya in a sausage renders the determination of the meat content if not wholly impossible at best a series of long and tedious processes, the accuracy of which would seem to be a matter of some controversy. Upon our enquiry about this divergency of opinion to the Ministry of Food, we were told that the Ministry were quite satisfied that the new Order could be properly enforced, in other words we assume this to mean that they consider the presence of soya does not prevent the accurate determination of the meat content. This was the answer one would expect to receive from the authority who framed the Meat Products Order, but it is none the less surprising to recall that only a very short while ago the Ministry were of the reverse opinion. In May 1950 a report was published in this Journal of a case heard before Old Street Magistrates. The defendants were summoned under The Meat Products, Canned Soup and Canned Meat (Control and Maximum Prices) Order, 1946, for selling sausages which contained soya. The Order stated that no persons should manufacture or sell any sausage, slicing sausage or sausage meat which to his knowledge contained any soya product. The prosecuting solicitor, for the Ministry of Food, said that it was necessary under the Order of 1946 for sausages to contain a minimum meat content, and if soya flour were used to bind the sausage it was not possible upon analysis to determine the meat content. It would be interesting to know whether the results of research during the past two years have made available new and efficient methods of examination which justify this change of viewpoint. We are advised, however, that if soya is present the amount of meat cannot be accurately assessed, and, moreover, the percentage error of this determination is likely to be directly related to the percentage of soya in the sausage. Thus it would seem possible that this new piece of legislation provides an added incentive to an unscrupulous manufacturer to prepare his mix with a lower meat content than that prescribed and to make up the balance with soya: a practice which would enable him to make more sausages than his honest competitor, and which would probably be difficult to expose.

The management of organisational change has assumed critical importance in English local government. Participant perceptions of this change process are examined, reflecting interviews conducted with Chief Executive Officers in 1989‐90. After considering external pressures for change and emerging roles of CEOs, the prerequisites for effective management of change are identified and the strategic responses necessitated by a natural resistance to change. It is argued that the change process in this particular institutional setting raises some distinctive issues.

This article aims to examine the effects of the best value policy initiative on the human resource function in Scottish local government. The article examines whether best value provides the human resource function with the opportunity and ability to perform strategically, rather than in a reactive and opportune manner. In addition, it will examine whether the policy will enable the human resource (HR) function to move from the mechanistic, repetitive activities HR specialists report consume their time, towards the “softer”, more consultative tasks associated with the HR function.

Since the 1950s the process of information technology (IT) related change in organizations has been problematic regularly resulting in reports of persistent underperformance and failure, a situation well supported by empirical research. On closer inquiry it emerges that this plight is a product of the behavioural patterns of both the executive and IT occupational communities with their respective economic and technical mindsets. This article not only makes explicit the plight with IT related change and its behavioural underpinnings but also establishes the role of clinical inquiry, as an action research form of organization development, in fostering a more systemic approach to change. The article makes explicit the dual roles of organizational scientists in this domain which involves simultaneously attending to effective social action and the development of robust social theory.

What is now known as the Canning Industry commenced on the 30th January, 1810, when Montalivet, the French Minister of the Interior, wrote to Francois Appert and informed him that his—Appert's—new process for preserving foods was assured of success and thereby granting to the process the official recognition of the French Government. Official recognition also carried with it a money grant of twelve thousand francs—about £500 in those days—Appert won this prize on the principle of “Delhi taken and India saved for one rupee eight annas”—and died in the year 1841 a comparatively poor man and the founder of one of the world's greatest industries. As a result of the warlike operations in which it had been engaged, multitudes of sick and wounded were thrown on the hands of the French Government, and scurvy was terribly prevalent in the fleets. Hence the French Government gave a public notice that it would award a prize to anyone who should discover a cheap and satisfactory method of preserving foodstuffs, without either drying or pickling, so that they could be kept for a long period and still retain the natural flavour and other characteristics of the fresh product. Appert had worked at and perfected his process during the preceding ten or fifteen years and had thoroughly assured himself of its practicability. He was therefore well prepared to demonstrate the details before the Board of Arts and Manufactures of which Board Gay Lussac had been a member since the year 1805. The report of this body to the Minister of the Interior was entirely favourable, as was also that of General Caffarelli, the Maritime Prefect of Brest. Caffarelli had found that soups and vegetables prepared by Appert's process had retained their goodness after three months' bottling, and he had been able to supply what seemed to the diners to be fresh vegetables in mid‐winter. It need hardly be said that Appert's process for preserving foods is the one in use now. Appert, however, knew nothing of the principles on which his process depended, nor did anyone else at that time. He supposed putrefaction to be due to the action of the air alone. In this view he was supported by the great authority of Gay Lussac who, it will be remembered, imagined atmospheric oxygen to be the cause. Appert at the request of the Minister of the Interior wrote a short book on the subject—a practical treatise explaining the methods of preserving animal and vegetable substances. This book was almost at once translated into several languages. It would seem that one of the chief advantages that Appert hoped the French people would gain by his invention was the saving of sugar. Up to that time the only means of preserving fruit other than by drying was to immerse the fruit in strong syrup made with cane sugar, and sugar was almost impossible to obtain in France at that time owing to war conditions. He also says that the French Government wished to draw “the utmost advantage from the productions of our soil in order to develop our agriculture and manufactures, and to diminish the consumption of foreign commodities” ! This is exactly what we in this country are trying to do now in the building up of a trade in canned food, a hundred and twenty years later. The English translator of Appert's work complacently observes:—

Dr. EASTWOOD'S report to the Local Government Board on this subject is of special interest to the people of this country at the present time in view of the steps that are being taken with the object of checking the spread of tuberculosis, and the undoubted connections that exist between that and other diseases, and the sources and character of the milk supply. In this country little attention has hitherto been paid to the condition of cows or cowsheds, except perhaps in rare instances where the former were obviously diseased, or the latter constituted a public nuisance; while the connection between milk supply and disease has scarcely been recognised by the Legislature and by public authorities, and has been entirely ignored by the general public. For some years past the health authorities in the United States, as well as those of some other countries, have been making very serious efforts to eradicate tuberculosis from dairy herds, if that be possible. The way in which some of the various States and Cities of the Union are attempting to do this is of importance and interest to us for various reasons. Their problems are very much the same as ours. The success or failure of milk regulations in the United States may, therefore, be taken as an indication of the probable success or failure of ours. Such methods are, therefore, valuable as broadly suggesting those which we may usefully adopt or avoid. The United States also send us a large proportion of our oversea meat supply, and any question relating to the general health of dairy herds cannot be dissociated from one affecting the general health of animals that are slaughtered for their meat. It may also be remarked that such questions relate not only to the meat supply from the States, but also to the great cattle ranches of the Southern American continent, in which British and American capital is becoming increasingly employed. The Americans are nothing if not practical. They are almost proverbially unhampered by tradition. They are quick to adopt what may prove to be new remedies for old evils. While the independent control exercised by each State of the Union over its own internal affairs results in the attempted solution of any general problem being presented in almost as many forms.

This paper deals with the management of complex environmental turbulence and organizational change in English local government. Research has been conducted to assess the perceptions of the strategic élites, chief executives and chief officers, to these change processes. However, no work had been undertaken to assess the extent of support and ownership amongst non‐élite actors, the middle managers and street‐level operatives, in English local authorities towards these élite change strategies. This paper identifies that different management styles do impact upon the roles of these non‐élites in a number of distinct ways. It provides evidence that one of the management styles is more appropriate than the others identified in the paper in terms of effecting successful change management.

Outlines previous research relevant to the risks involved in residential mortgages and suggests some reasons for the gap between theory and market practice. Develops a model which adds household income, ability to pay problems and mortgage underwriting constraints to the standard pricing models, using a combination of Monte Carlo simulation and the backward finite difference method to apply it to data on house prices, income and interest rates for 62 US metropolitan areas. Discusses the results which suggest that prepayment risk dominates default risk in all except very low growth housing markets. Adds that increasing loan‐to‐value levels decrease loan values in low growth markets, slightly increase them in high growth/low volatility markets (due to decline in prepayment risk), but have little impact on high growth/high volatility markets (because they are offset by changes in default and prepayment costs). Considers the practical implications of the findings, e.g. for portfolio managers.

Dr. J. Johnstone Jervis, Medical Officer of Health for Leeds, referring to the Milk and Dairies (Amendment) Act, 1922, points out that whilst the new Act gives additional powers to local authorities for the registration of retail purveyors and producers, and to remove the name of milk purveyors who fail to comply with the regulations, the same power is not given with regard to the producer—“he is still at liberty to produce milk where and how he pleases so long as his cows are free from tuberculosis and his cowsheds conform to the requirements of the Dairies, Cowsheds and Milkshops Order, or any regulations made under that Order. This distinction between the purveyor and the produced is most unfortunate inasmuch as it creates an anomaly, because, whereas the purveyor will be compelled to maintain his premises and utensils in a condition of cleanliness satisfactory to the local authority and the quality of the milk of a satisfactory standard, there will be no obligation on the part of the producer to take any pains to keep his milk clean. The result will be the reception into clean vessels of milk of a dirty and low‐grade quality more suitable for the swill tub than for a clean churn. It is neither fair nor equitable to make one standard for the farmer and another for the purveyor; both should have to work to the same standard.” Dr. Jervis also expresses disapproval of “grading.” Certified milk at 1s. 3d. a quart is only possible for the well‐to‐do classes and altogether outside the purchasing power of poor people. Nor is he “so convinced as some are that pasteurisation is a solution to the milk problem.” Cleanliness and purity are the essential factors, and if these are secured the public will be well served.