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This article focuses on the various important attributes of a self‐directed work team that are necessary to create a successful team effort. These aspects of a successful team were examined through the coaching philosophy of John Wooden, former basketball coach at the University of California, Los Angeles. In his philosophy, he stressed the need to be prepared to adapt to any situation by way of conditioning and the mutual accountability and co‐operation of the team members

On 24th January this year the new and long‐promised legislation for public libraries in England and Wales made its bow in the shape of the Public Libraries and Museums Bill. Its first reading took place in the House of Commons on that day, and the unopposed second reading was on 5th February. As we write, future timing is uncertain, and it may be that by the time our readers are perusing these pages that the Bill will hare been passed in all its stages. The 23 clauses of the Bill occupy only 12½ pages. Briefly, the Bill will place the development of the public library service under the superintendence of the Minister of Education, and will set up two advisory councils as well as regional councils for interlibrary co‐operation. Non‐county boroughs and urban districts of less than 40,000 population which are existing library authorities will have to apply to the Minister for approval to continue as such. Clause 7 states that every library authority has a duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service, while the succeeding clause provides that, apart from certain exceptions, no charges shall be made by public library authorities. The Bill places considerable powers upon the Minister. Like most Bills, there is much in it which is open to interpretation. Does, for instance, clause 8, subsection (1) mean that those library authorities which are at present charging for the issue of gramophone records will have to cease doing so? This would seem to be the case, and we hope it is the case. On the other hand, which precise facilities are meant in subsection (4) of the same clause? Librarians will be disappointed that there is no reference to the need for library authorities to appoint separate library committees, nor is there a duty placed upon them to appoint suitably qualified persons as chief librarians. The Minister is given the power of inspection, and few library authorities or librarians will fear this. On the other hand no state financial assistance to library authorities is mentioned. In the 1930s and 19405 many wanted state aid but feared the consequential inspection. Now we have got the inspection without the money! When the Bill appeared, The Library World asked several librarians for their brief first impressions and in the following symposium will be found the views of a city librarian, a county librarian, two London librarians, a Welsh librarian, the librarian of a smaller town, and a member of the younger generation whose professional future may well be shaped by this new legislation.

This study examines the social and environmental disclosures of BHP Ltd (one of the largest Australian companies) from 1983 to 1997 to ascertain the extent and type of annual report social and environmental disclosures over the period, and whether such disclosures can be explained by the concepts of a social contract and legitimacy theory. This research is also motivated by the opportunity to compare and contrast results with those of Guthrie and Parker, in whose study the social and environmental disclosures made by BHP Ltd were also the focus of analysis. In testing the relationship between community concern for particular social and environmental issues (as measured by the extent of media attention), and BHP’s annual report disclosures on the same issues, significant positive correlations were obtained for the general themes of environment and human resources as well as for various sub‐issues within these, and other, themes. Additional testing also supported the view that management release positive social and environmental information in response to unfavourable media attention. Such results lend support to legitimation motives for a company’s social and environmental disclosures. A trend in providing greater social and environmental information in the annual report of BHP in recent years, and its variable pattern, was also evidenced.

IN all probability it will not cheer the heart of the librarian to know that 1912 has been a record year in British publishing. Nevertheless the “Analysis of books published in 1912,” appearing in The Publishers' Circular, gives many facts that are both interesting and informative. During the year 12,067 books were published, an increase of 1,153 on the figure for 1911 (the previous highest). The totals for the various classes of literature are set forth in a table arranged according to the recommendations of the International Congress of Librarians at Brussels in 1910, and each class is sub‐divided into “new books,” “translations,” pamphlets,” and “new editions.” The totals for the various classes are as follows:—

The purpose of this paper is to add information on which voices contributed to the scientific management narrative from Frederick Taylor’s 1915 death to the early 1930s with a focus on the role of labor union representatives. The strategy is to analyze the role of labor representatives as participants in Taylor Society meetings and publications. The research contributes to the management history literature by bolstering the picture of the Taylor Society as a liberal, pro-labor organization. The research also shows that the Taylor Society was an early proponent of the idea that assembling diverse groups for dialogue improves organizational problem-solving.

The research analyzes historical sources including all issues of the Society’s bulletin from 1914 to 1933 and unpublished material from the Morris Cooke papers and the papers in the Frederick Taylor archive at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Taylor Society leaders took a proactive view of encouraging labor voices to join managers and academics in society meetings. At the beginning, few labor leaders spoke at the society, and often, at least some of their comments were critical of scientific management. By 1925, labor participation increased with William Green, American Federation of Labor (AFL) president appearing several times. In addition, labor leaders became positively inclined toward having scientific management experts working in industrial settings. The labor leaders who participated at Taylor Society meetings in the late 1920s and early 1930s considered scientific management insights as useful for labor and wanted to cooperate with the researchers.

The paper augments a revisionist view of interwar scientific management as progressive and pro-labor, a contested point in the management history literature. The research also shows how the Taylor Society was an early proponent of the importance of diversity, at least in the areas of gender and socioeconomic status, for effective problem-solving.

Surveys, from an American perspective, the existing literature on economic explanations of the behaviour of universities and scholars. The modern literature is put in historical perspective introduced by a brief discussion of the positions of two of the earliest and most distinguished contributors to the literature: Adam Smith and Max Weber. Discusses the human capital and implicit contracts literatures of the behaviour of scholars, the latter elaborated in terms of the issue of tenure. The most common theoretical economic analysis of the university is the view that it is best thought of as a non‐profit organization. Discusses variants of this view, with special attention to the literature on rent‐seeking in academe. Goes on to the empirical literature on the economics of academe in the areas of academic institutions, academic earnings functions, the earnings and status of minority scholars and academic production functions. Briefly considers the relevance of the current literature to the Althoff system, suggesting that Althoff′s able, trusted advisers, and his system of institutes, may have allowed him to avoid several inefficiences that have been identified by economists as present in other academic institutions. Although the centralization of decision making in the hands of one decision maker may be efficient if the decision maker is exceptionally able, more commonly the most efficient system will be a decentralized system that allows for greater diversity and competition. Concludes with a discussion of how hypotheses on the efficiency (and fairness) of various aspects of the Althoff system could, in principle, be tested.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the contributions made to the social and environmental accounting literature by papers that comprised a 2002 Special Issue of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ) entitled social and environmental reporting and its role in maintaining or creating organisational legitimacy. This paper will also provide insights into the origins of legitimacy theory as used in the social and environmental accounting literature as well as providing reflections about the strengths, and shortcomings, of the theory. Suggestions are made with respect to the ongoing application, and development, of legitimacy theory.

As a commentary, this paper utilises a review of the social and environmental accounting and institutional literature across a number of decades to reveal insights about the development and use of legitimacy theory as a basis to explain social and environmental reporting practices. Citation data are also used to indicate the potential impact that the papers in the 2002 Special Issue had upon subsequent research.

This commentary shows that the 2002 Special Issue is the most highly cited issue in the history of AAAJ. It also shows that individually, some of the papers in the Special Issue represent some of the most highly cited papers in the social and environmental accounting literature. The commentary provides arguments to suggest that the development of legitimacy theory is in need of further refinement, and suggests a way in which this refinement might take place.

This paper is largely based on the opinions of one researcher, and the evidence presented in the paper is selected on the basis that it is deemed sufficient to support the opinions being projected. The paper also relies on citation data as an indicator of “impact”. The implication of the research is that it identifies a “way forward” for the development of theory applicable to the understanding of organisational social and environmental reporting practices.

The study provides evidence to show that the 2002 Special Issue was significant within the context of AAAJ, and also within the context of the evolution of the social and environmental accounting literature. The description of the history of the development of legitimacy theory, and of the theory’s subsequent application, provides a solid impetus for future refinements to the theory.

Examines how the different concepts of rationality have been used (and confused) by economists who have followed modern philosophers′ understanding of human reason. Offers a philosophical discussion as a means to understanding rationality and its incumbent problems of interpretation.

This study aims to explore blockchain potential for digital marketing (BlkChn-Mk-KAP) by developing and validating a measurement model for assessing the constructs of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) related to blockchain technology in digital marketing.

A four-study process was used. The first study reviewed the literature to develop a pool of possible measurement items. Using exploratory factor analysis and reliability assessments, Study 2 (n = 162) investigated the dimensionality of the items developed in Study 1. The factorial structure from Study 2 was validated in Study 3 (n = 204), and the measurement model invariance was assessed using covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM). Finally, in Study 4 (n = 203), the predictive validity of the BlkChn-Mk-KAP was tested using a CB-SEM approach, testing its constructs correlations with the perceived usefulness of blockchain for digital marketing.

The findings indicate that the BlkChn-Mk-KAP measurement model comprises three-dimensional multi-item scales: knowledge, attitude and practice.

This study introduces a promising BlkChn-Mk-KAP model to examine blockchain’s role in digital marketing. The authors acknowledge the sampling limitation in this research. To enhance the generalisability of the findings, future research should expand to different groups, including generation, gender and age. In addition, further exploration of the explicit links between blockchain knowledge, attitudes and subsequent digital marketing performance is warranted.

Educating employees about blockchain technology’s unique features can shape favourable attitudes and stimulate the utilisation of blockchain-enabled technologies in digital marketing practice. BlkChn-Mk-KAP can offer a reliable and valid instrument to benchmark marketers’ KAP of blockchain-powered digital marketing as they implement blockchain technology to gain a competitive advantage.

This study helps to adopt sustainable practices ensuring the wellbeing of the key stakeholders.

This research introduces the first validated conceptualisation and measurement model, BlkChn-Mk-KAP, to evaluate blockchain KAPs among digital marketing professionals.

A report is provided of an evaluation of two “Senior Colleges” designed to offer viable alternatives to traditional secondary education for students above the age of compulsory schooling. The evaluation involved several researchers working independently and information collected using a variety of both quantitative and qualitative methods (including student and staff interviews and questionnaire surveys, nominal group procedures with staff and administration of instruments assessing student perceptions of classroom‐level and teacher perceptions of school‐level environment). The most striking finding emerging from almost every aspect of the evaluation was the success of the Colleges in creating a positive ethos for both students and staff. Some of the areas of concern which were identified included a relatively low level of student cohesiveness, confusion about the purpose of the Colleges, the distracting behaviour of some younger students and staff's conditions of service.