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The effective harnessing of human resources is inevitably an issue of considerable moment in any modern nation state. Nevertheless, particularly because of the rapidity of change, in countries in which major processes of economic and technical advancement are in train, this problem undoubtedly assumes a particular significance. In the following analysis, therefore, some of the general forces which affect the personnel function in the organisation will first be examined. This will be followed by a review of the ways in which “human resource management” may be different in “emergent” countries from other developed nations. Evidence from case studies of the constraints upon and the actual operation of personnel departments in the Third World will then be assessed. And, finally, the thesis will be advanced that there is considerable choice in the ways in which the personnel task may actually be performed in the countries under review.

This research investigates the relationship between personnel managers and other managers in the organisation. The evidence reported in this study demonstrates that personnel managers, in the main, perceived themselves to be in the forefront with other professionals in contributing to corporate success, whereas managers in sales, finance and production departments have a less impressive view of personnel managers' influence in achieving corporate goals. However, they recognised the importance of personnel managers and their functions in the organisation per se.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to examine perceptions of need dissatisfaction and need importance in the two groups of orthodox medical doctors in Nigeria, relating these motivational variables to quality in‐patient care.

The paper draws on Maslow's theory, and the question format in Heller and Porter's study; 33 government‐employed doctors, and 29 private practitioners were surveyed. The “t‐test” and Mann‐Whitney test were employed in statistical analysis.

The paper finds that the two groups differed significantly in perceptions of need dissatisfaction with respect to 13 of 26 need items; and in the importance attached to “opportunity to belong to social groups” and pay. When absolute values are considered, the overall picture suggests that the two groups are most dissatisfied with pay, physiological, security, self‐actualization, and transcendence needs.

If doctors as a microcosm of Nigerian workers are to replace poor work habits with quality concepts, their needs for better pay must be satisfied to enable them to meet their physiological needs, and better facilities provided in hospitals to support skill utilization. An economy functions as a system. Doctors consume and render services. If they do not have to procure personal power‐generating sets, self‐protection, and other services that ought to be accessed as public utilities, they will be more emotionally engaged with their tasks.

The main contribution in this paper lies in the evaluation of the motivational needs of Nigerian doctors, healthcare being fundamental to life, and the emphasis on centrality of employee motivation in any planned service improvement efforts.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the critical factors that shape the green purchasing behaviour (GPB) of nursing mothers in their choice of baby diapers. The study also investigates demographic influences on GPB.

Purposive and convenience sampling methods were used in selecting 150 respondents for the study. Questionnaires were administered to nursing mothers in University of Benin Teaching Hospital and Creches within Benin City, Nigeria. A total of 124 questionnaires were returned, out of which 116 (77 per cent) were found usable. The data collected were analysed using mean, factor analysis and analysis of variance.

Results reveal that environmental attitudes and perceived effectiveness of environmental behaviour are the critical predictors of GPB of nursing mothers in the selection of diapers. Age was the only demographic that significantly explain nursing mothers’ GPB.

International green marketers planning to offer baby diapers in Nigeria should seek to influence nursing mothers’ attitude by emphasizing the perceived effectiveness of their GPB. In the same vein, the municipal waste management in conjunction with the post-natal and child healthcare needs to educate nursing mothers of the danger of improper disposal and selection of non-degradable diapers.

The study is unique and seminal in nature, as it is first of its kind possibly in Nigeria to examine the GPB and environmental sensitivity of nursing mothers in the selection of baby diapers.

There is the need to focus on humans while designing engineering facilities for users. The need to focus on Nigerians when designing for them is presented in this paper. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Relevant literatures were consulted on the history of ergonomics and its importance was stressed. Some instances where ergonomics should be applied in the country were identified.

The paper observed that the application of ergonomics in Nigeria is low and some constraints that are militating against the use of ergonomics in Nigeria are discussed.

The paper suggested ways to fully imbibe the use of human-centered engineering (ergonomics) in Nigeria.