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Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.

The work described is part of three‐stage project on the practice of quality management in the textile industry. This article is concerned with the results of structured in‐company interviews in 23 organisations. The interview programme examined the background of the company and the “quality manager”, the organisation for quality, quality systems, quality control (including process control) and quality costs. The findings show, in many of the respondents, the absence of quality policies, lack of attention to quality training, and generally poor quality systems. The conclusions are that, in spite of a general increase in awareness of the importance of quality to competitiveness, actual management practices in the textile industry have not changed greatly.

This paper presents the results of the second part of a study into the “barriers to acceptance of production management techniques in UK manufacturing industry”. The results of a telephone survey and detailed in‐company work carried out with seven manufacturing companies are presented. The important factors contributing to the successful usage of the techniques and concepts are discussed in detail and a proposed methodology for widening the application of techniques is outlined.

This paper describes the results of surveys which provide information on the relative status, qualifications, knowledge, practices and needs of production/operations managers within the UK. The qualifications and ambitions of production managers are shown to be lower than managers in other functions. A disturbing finding is the level of knowledge of established operations management techniques and concepts. Moreover, those who do have knowledge make low utilisation of it. Comparison of American and British‐owned companies indicates that production managers in the former make greater use of good management techniques. There is demonstrated a need for active career development to enable well qualified and ambitious recruits to enter the profession and progress to senior management positions.

The work described in this article concerns the practice of quality management in the UK textile industry. This part describes the detailed in‐company work, the results of assessments to BS 5750 Part 2 (ISO 9002), and the quantification of a system audit, using conjoint analysis. There was found a distinct lack of good quality management practices in the industry. A technique for rating quality systems was established.

The first stage of a research project concerned with an examination of the practice of quality management in the textile industry is described. It deals with the results of a postal questionnaire survey, which indicate that in some areas quality management in this industry is less well developed than in others. The findings confirm that the implementation of documented quality systems influences performance in other areas of quality management. As might be expected, the larger textile factories and/or companies have the best quality assurance and suggestions are made regarding the improvements necessary in smaller companies.

In any country which relies heavily on manufacturing for a healthy economy, its production managers constitute a major asset. Yet a recent study has revealed that the qualifications and ambitions of production managers are lower than those of other managers in other functions. More disturbing still, is the low level of usage of operations management techniques and concepts in Britain. Indeed, if British manufacturing industry is to survive, let alone succeed, much needs to be done to improve the education, training and status of the production manager in the UK.

The results of a survey of production managers in the UK, carried out in 1986, on behalf of the British Institute of Managers (BIM). It compares these results with those from an earlier, similar survey carried out in 1977. The evidence shows that changes in production management have not kept pace with changes in technology and competitive priorities, such as the importance of consistent quality. Recommendations include the closer involvement of production managers in determination of manufacturing policy, reorganisation to allow responsibility to be taken for quality, production control, and maintenance, increased training, and better liaison between production, marketing, and design functions.

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.