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The value of the consultant project manager is questionable when the recent track record of project delivery within the UK construction sector is examined. Clearly, a new building which does not adequately satisfy a client’s business needs (in relation to time, cost and quality objectives) is not capable of contributing optimally to a client’s core business function. The business process expertise that the facilities manager should possess, together with the core skills related to managing operational building assets, mean that it is reasonable to suggest that the facilities management role could be extended to include responsibility for project delivery. Some facilities managers are presently undertaking this role. This paper explores this issue, concentrating upon the failure of the project management discipline to perform adequately. A review of literature is presented and a number of case studies are appraised. These are used to contrast the management of project delivery when conducted by the project manager with that conducted by the facilities manager.

This article focuses on leadership as a job: what challenges leaders actually face and what they need to do to meet them. It argues that leaders of organisations in the public sector need to focus on improvements to frontline services to the public, while also satisfying government agendas and targets. A leader's role should not focus on managing people but on improving the system with the people and this systems view requires leadership against demand.

The world needs to pave a path towards sustainable development to solve global poverty and inequality, thereby ensuring that no one is left behind. The transformative changes brought about by the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), encompassed by the new world of work (NWOW), pose a significant threat to the displacement of jobs, especially in developing contexts, where many jobs are susceptible to automation. This results in a tension between the stakeholder and shareholder perspectives, which results in the phenomenon referred to in this study as the People Versus Profit Paradox. The purpose of this study is to determine business leaders’ perceptions of this paradox by generating an in-depth understanding of its nature and potential consequences. This study generated insights through a generic qualitative research design based on 10 semi-structured interviews with business leaders from multiple industries in developing countries. This study’s major contribution is the development of an up-to-date understanding of business leaders’ perceptions of sustainable development with respect to the 4IR and the People Versus Profit Paradox in developing countries. The two main findings of the study reveal that organisational purpose has changed towards a more inclusive stakeholder perspective, and that business leaders’ perceptions reveal a relative state of bias regarding the current impact of the 4IR in developing contexts. This study aims to inspire business leaders in developing contexts to embrace sustainable development and the disruptive changes brought about by the 4IR, to usher in a sustainable future where no one is left behind.

Eyewitness testimony can determine the outcome of criminal investigations. The cognitive interview (CI) has been widely used to collect informative and accurate accounts. However, face-to-face interviews have been restricted during the current pandemic, raising the need for using video-conferencing. The authors tested whether virtual interviews could produce elaborate accounts from eyewitnesses and if the CI superiority effect against a structured interview (SI) could be fully replicated online.

The authors used a 2 × 2 factorial design with interview condition (CI vs SI) and environment (face-to-face vs virtual) manipulated between-subjects. A total of 88 participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. Participants watched a mock robbery and were interviewed 48 h later using either the SI or the CI. Both interviews contained the same structure and interview phases but only the CI included its key cognitive mnemonics/ instructions. Both sessions were either face-to-face or online.

Participants interviewed with the CI recalled more information than participants interviewed with the SI, regardless of the interview environment. Both environments produced a comparable amount of recall. Report accuracy was high for all groups.

This can be crucial to inform police practices and research in this field by suggesting investigative interviews can be conducted virtually in situations such as the current pandemic or when time and resources do not allow for face-to-face interviewing.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study showing that the CI superiority effect can be replicated online and that a fully remote CI can produce elaborate accounts.

Decision-making in human resources management is done at both the micro and macro level of organizations. Unfortunately, the decisions at each level are often executed without consideration of the other, and current theory reflects this issue. In response to a call for integration of micro- and macro-level processes by Huselid and Becker (2011), we review the extant literature on strategic human resources and high-performance work systems to provide recommendations for both research and practice. We aimed to contribute to the literature by proposing the incorporation of the situation awareness literature into the high-performance work systems framework to encourage the alignment of human resources efforts. In addition, we provide practical recommendations for integrating situation awareness and strategic decision-making. We discuss a process for the employment of situation awareness in organizations that might not only streamline human resources management but also result in more effective decisions. Additional considerations include implications for teams, boundary conditions (e.g., individual differences), and measurement.

This paper aims to draw on values theory, associative network theory and schema congruity theory to examine how consumers attribute human-like values to product categories and products, and how these attributions affect product evaluations.

Study 1 randomly assigned 925 respondents to one of three product categories (cars, mobile phones and vacations). They were asked about their values and to attribute values to an assigned product category. Study 2 randomly assigned 919 respondents to one of the four value-expressive car conditions. They were asked to attribute values to the car, and then about their attitudes and purchase intentions.

Respondents attributed human-like values to product categories and products that were distinct and reflected the motivational compatibilities and conflicts inherent in the circular structure of human values. Moreover, multifaceted value congruity effects were found to positively influence attitudes and intentions to purchase a car, including congruity with product category values-schema, consumers’ personal values-schema and the structure of human values.

The authors demonstrate how a cognitive memory-based view can be used to better understand the complexities of the attribution of human-like values to products and product categories. Moving beyond the attribution of brand personality, this study shows the importance of not only understanding the attributions of values to a product but also considering how these attributions interact with the more abstract product category values to influence evaluations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Amartya Sen’s notion of adaptation and his views on identity politics by focussing on the issue of slavery and, more specifically, on the example of the happy or contented slave.

The paper is text based. The methodological approach adopted is that of conceptual analysis, as is typical for work of this kind.

The paper concludes that the example of the happy or contented slave is indeed a fruitful one for those interested in exploring the relationship between Sen’s views on “the adaptation problem” and his views on identity politics, especially in relation to the subjection of women. Here Sen’s debt to the ideas of Mary Wollstonecraft and John Stuart Mill is particularly important.

One implication of the argument of the paper is that there is a need to consider more carefully the differences that exist between the views of Wollstonecraft and Mill, so far as the example of the happy or contented slave is concerned.

One practical implication of the paper is that, hopefully, it establishes the continued relevance of the ideas of thinkers such as Wollstonecraft and Mill today, not least because of the influence that they have had on theoreticians such as Amartya Sen.

The paper addresses issues which are of considerable social and political significance, especially for women in underdeveloped societies today.

The example of the happy or contented slave has not received much discussion in the literature on Sen, although Sen himself has suggested that the distinction between happiness and contentment is an important one, which does merit further discussion.

As the world of higher education has become increasingly sensitive to employers’ needs so attention has focused on the development of skills and competences which will equip graduates to function effectively in the labour market. High on the list of graduates’ desired qualities are first, the ability to work in a team and second, the capacity for independent thought and action. At the same time, there has been a growing recognition that traditional methods of teaching (primarily tutorials and lectures) may be serving to perpetuate the opposite, namely dependency and passivity. With these issues in mind, the article outlines the experience of using leaderless group discussions and associated peer assessment as an integral part of an undergraduate degree programme. The practicalities of running the groups, the lessons which have been learnt over time, and the benefits for student learning are also discussed.