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Suggestion schemes in the West are alive and well, thanks to a new impetus provided by total quality initiatives. Investment in performance systems designed to encourage and reward good ideas from employees is paying off with major contributions to every area of corporate health.

To inform readers comprehensively and sufficiently about the new (July 1, 2004) legal regime of SOLAS/ISPS code concerning security of ports and ships.

The paper estimates the code's impact on vessels' security and on ships' ownership and control as well as on seafarers.

The maritime security measures costing $626 million (and $168 million per year) had to be seen as the third pillar of the international shipping policy and to facilitate instead of obstructing free flow of international sea transport.

The very recent implementation of ISPS code made this paper prognostic in nature.

This is the first account of the new regime and is of interest to shipowners and ports, US and EU seafarers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of brand-centered human resource management (HRM) on employees’ person–brand fit, brand commitment (BC) and brand citizenship behavior (BCB). In addition, the paper tests effects of BCB on customer satisfaction and citizenship behavior.

Data were collected from managers, front-line employees and customers of 22 international tourist hotels in Taiwan. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to investigate relationships between variables.

Multilevel results reveal positive connections between brand-centered HRM and BCB, mediated by person–brand fit and BC. Positive relationships were also found between BC and BCB, person–brand fit and BCB; BCB and customer satisfaction; and between customer satisfaction and customer citizenship behavior.

When employees’ personal values are consistent with brand values, employees will feel a closer connection to the brand and be more willing to dedicate themselves to brand-related activity. The model developed here can be tested in different cultures to ascertain the generalizability of the findings to Western contexts.

Support is provided for the positive effects of brand-centered HRM when employees internalize brand values as their own personal values. Hotel managers should ensure that employees are highly committed to the brand values and willing to deliver services to customers accordingly.

The paper provides measurement developments for person–brand fit and BC and deeper understanding of how brand-centered HRM can lead to positive changes in customer behavior.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of knowledge sharing among team members on the development of shared leadership and innovative behaviour.

Data were collected from 64 management teams and 427 individuals working in 26 different hotels in the hospitality industry in Taiwan.

The results show that knowledge sharing has both direct and indirect effects on the development of shared leadership and individual innovative behaviour.

Results suggest that knowledge sharing supports the occurrence of shared leadership, leading to an increase in innovative behaviour. The authors infer from the findings that encouraging a culture of knowledge sharing can have a positive impact on the creativity of teams.

This study advances knowledge of shared leadership as a mediator using a multilevel approach to test antecedents of innovative behaviour in the Taiwan hotel industry.

This chapter critically examines the dynamics that exists between employee well-being, line management leadership and governance as experienced and perceived by employees in the public sector context. This chapter is based on research into employee well-being and line management leadership with a British Local Authority in northern England, focusing on employees’ verbal accounts of their own experiences and perceptions of well-being, line manager leadership and corporate social responsibility. Twenty-six interviews were conducted from a diverse range of employees with each interview lasting (45–60 minutes), tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. The research investigated the subjective perceptions of senior managers, managers, senior officers and clerical/secretarial staff regarding their views concerning line management leadership on employee well-being at work. Using the technique of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) provided insight into the life-world of participants, providing the opportunity for employees to share their personal experience of leadership and governance on the front line and its implication for employee well-being at work. The data revealed line management leadership and governance emerged as central to influencing and enabling well-being at work and were linked to individual, social and organisational factors (blame culture, rewards, trust in management, support and communication). Employees’ accounts of line management leadership, well-being and corporate social responsibility identified salient issues, thus providing a basis for broader research in this area. Thus organisations wishing to enhance employee well-being could focus efforts on creating organisational conditions and line management leadership to encourage well-being through the six identified factors. This research has relevance for the employment relationship, corporate social responsibility, service delivery, performance and for practitioners and academics alike.

The nature of affect and creativity relationship has been under debate, with some studies pointing out that positive affect is conducive, while others arguing that positive affect is detrimental to creative performance. In order to clarify the complicated affect-creativity relationship, we examine several factors that have not been sufficiently looked at: the role of affect characteristics (e.g., temporal factors), neuro-cognitive mechanisms (e.g., set-breaking), and the type of creative task performed (e.g., requiring negative versus positive creativity). To improve our understanding of seemingly inconsistent previous findings, we offer a model that links affect, through a set of mediators and moderators, to creative performance in organizations, accompanying our analysis with a set of 14 testable propositions.

This paper aims to report a study into the role of middle line managers, in public services, in relation to devolved HRM. The paper notes that the intermediacy of middle management leads to a distinct and unique form of role tension. A model is offered to explain that phenomenon, which is exacerbated by HRM responsibilities, and emphasises the importance of middle line managers within organisations.

The paper shows that focused, qualitative discussions complemented earlier research. The NHS, Armed Forces and Fire Service were investigated to inform and test an explanatory framework for the phenomenon that is here denoted as role dissonance.

The paper found that middle line managers want to be proactive in HRM and are taking ownership of HRM and are exceeding their job requirements to do so. However, while it can potentially enhance their role, HRM adds to what is already a substantial workload. Especially, middle managers need to mediate tensions between strategic planners. That unique function, formerly shared with personnel managers, exaggerates the middleness of their roles and is a source of strain for individuals.

The model presented in this paper demonstrates how a range of cultural and structural factors impact on individual and organisational expectations and behaviours. The result is a role‐based phenomenon, which is a distinct feature of middle‐line management, and shows many similarities to cognitive dissonance.

The paper offers new concepts to explain a well‐reported phenomenon that has, so far, not been adequately elucidated.