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Based on research carried out in three European countries, Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK, the following text highlights the experiences and perceptions of European managers in organisational and managerial contexts. The findings reveal a number of convergent trends manifested through the experiences and consciousness of middle managers. What is specifically highlighted is the transformation of the role of manager in Europe against the background of a multitude of contingent influences; not only in the practices of middle management function but also in the cacophony of the accompanying discourses. It is posited that structured HRM support can considerably aid the middle manager to cope with the contradictory role demanded by this new world of work; and, paradoxically, it is a plea for self managed learning conducted by middle managers themselves within an HRM supportive environment.

This paper outlines how the UK Royal Mail Group Property Holdings selected the relevant SAP modules (Real Estate, Project Systems, Material Management, Plant Maintenance) to provide their management information system (MIS) requirements. It discusses the business case, how the project was managed, the benefits to date (18 months after implementation) and the key lessons learnt. Hopefully the paper will allow the reader to understand the context for the project and how the selection decision was reached, the general approach to the benefits case (quantified and unquantified), the key aspects of the implementation, governance, project team, training and key lessons learnt. While every property organisation is different and the challenges are unique, a number of the issues are likely to be the same even if the solutions are different.

New product “time to market” in the information technology (IT) industry is increasingly critical to a company′s competitiveness. Early product release into the marketplace will ensure higher profit margins, quicker returns on investment and therefore greater opportunity for a company to retain its market leadership in that product area. ICL Manufacturing Division is in the process of implementing information systems which support concurrent engineering concepts and facilitate automated processing of information from design to manufacturing. These integrated systems are based on distributed relational database technologies and open system standards. Provides an overview of the facilities and topology of the implemented environments within the engineering planning areas.

This study examines the impact of the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on small business in Australia in the context of the experiences faced in similar countries overseas. Using a case study methodology, data was gathered from six small businesses that were observed throughout the introductory period of the new tax system. In particular, this article considers the costs for small businesses in complying with the new tax system. Businesses reported actual GST compliance costs ranging from $3,331 to $30,140 per business in the cases examined. For the two smallest businesses, their compliance costs amounted to over 3% of the firm's reported annual turnover. The study also identified significant on‐going record keeping and accounting costs that are required by small businesses in order to meet their GST obligations. These findings indicate that governments need to be more aware of the impact of tax reforms on small businesses if they wish to implement changes with minimal adverse impacts on business operations.

This paper seeks to explore the impact of new forms and organisation of work on a medium sized engineering company on Tyneside. It will involve an analysis of the way management have used the heterogeneous nature of the workforce in question to implement change. This change includes the introduction of TQM, JIT and HRM policies as well as fundamental change in the way the work is organised in the factory itself. This paper will seek to link these internal conditions with the impact of external factors. These will include a discussion of the product market, and the labour market at both local and regional level.

This paper is based on the research of middle managers in three countries (The Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK) in public and private sector organisations. The findings indicate that increasing pressures on managers to perform within a surge of management initiatives and policy moves to make organisations more profitable (in the private sector) and more “efficient” and accountable (in the public sector) invariably lead to contradictions in their performance and perceived roles. In the context of the oxymoron that “they are to do more with less”, this will lead to increased stresses and strains on those performing this pivotal operational role. Terminologically, middle managers are becoming increasingly “depowered”.

Drawing on recent research on communication for urban development and on new research on ’Localising the Habitat Agenda’, this article focuses on the communication aspects of transferring projects and good practices to different cultural contexts.

Communicating knowledge for the poor has been a research priority for development agencies in UK and USA for the last decade, as communicating best or good practices for achieving development has not been particularly easy or successful. In order to understand the reasons for these communication gaps, the Max Lock Centre at the University of Westminster, UK, undertook research into the complexity of the communication process, and developed methodologies to ensure the effective transfer of knowledge to differing contexts. There are two related challenges to this task. The first is the understanding that communication is a complex process involving actors and actions. The complexity of the interplay between these explains why the communication process suffers gaps that are difficult to bridge; this is why knowledge or best practices can be only communicated if certain conditions are met. The second involves finding a methodology for communicating projects and best practices to different contexts in which practices can be applied.

A major cause of the relatively low power transfer to the load on an induction heater, of either the pulsating or travelling field type, is the low magnetising reactance due to the large effective airgap when compared with a conventional transformer or induction motor. Although the power factor of an induction heater can be improved by capacitors connected in parallel with the induction coil, this does not lead to any improvement in the performance of the heater. This paper discusses how the power transfer to the load can be improved by using a compensating winding connected to capacitors, to improve the performance of the heater. The technique leads to an increased airgap voltage, resulting in both a greater power transfer to the load and an improved input power factor.