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Previous research has not demonstrated a consistent relationship between pre-employment measures of good impression (GI) response bias and subsequent job performance. The purpose of this paper is to study the likelihood that such effects would be present for the extremes of the GI dimension, noting that opposite predictions about these effects would be made from the two competing conceptions of GI: motivational and positive self-presentation.

Three groups were studied in which the job performance was investigated for high and low pre-employment GI scorers ( > 1 and < −1 SD) and also for extreme high and low SD scorers (approximately the highest and lowest 5 percent). Participants included two groups of nurses and one of chain store managers.

The low GI groups showed consistently poorer-than-average job performance, and the highest GI scorers showed a trend toward better performance. The extreme highest and lowest groups showed greater differences than the high and low groups.

This study demonstrates that extreme pre-employment GI scores are relevant to performance, and support the self-presentation rather than the motivational conception of GI, at least for these employment groups. Attention is drawn to the practical relevance of low GI scores in predicting poorer work performance.

The European Union (EU, formerly the European Community) celebrated, in November 1993, the ratification of the Maastrict Treaty pushing European union another step closer to realization. In the face of growing external forces (the disequilibrium caused by the disintegration of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the war in Bosnia and global economic recession) that affect the planned progress and strategy the European Union (EU) leaders pursue, the authors of this article use a strategic management framework to analyze the EU. To our knowledge, this has not been attempted before. There is a growing volume of literature on the adaptation of the strategic management model to public sector institutions (Rainey, Backoff & Levine, 1976; Eadie & Steinbacher, 1985; Bryson & Williams, 1983; Nutt & Backoff, 1993). Public enterprises sometimes pursue objectives different from those of private — and third‐sector (non‐profit) enterprises (Jauch & Glueck, 1988). Public managers must be able to deal with more complex internal and external environments than private — and third sector managers. Despite these and other difficulties, a strategic analysis provides clues for effective strategic management in the public sector (Eadie & Steinbacher, 1985; Ring & Perry, 1985; Nutt & Backoff, 1993). A strategic management model is used here to provide a framework of analysis and direction on which critical areas of concern need to be addressed for the EU to continue with their creation of a community wholly open to the free and unimpeded circulation of people, services, capital and goods (Wechsler; Hahn, 1991).

Reference librarians in various library settings are often assigned responsibilities for training students, support staff, or other new professionals, a task for which they rarely have sufficient professional education. This bibliography recommends readings on topics that will assist reference librarians in understanding the philosophy of staff development. The readings listed here cover subjects such as: establishing an atmosphere that facilitates learning, assessing training needs, describing competent performance, writing clear and specific objectives, selecting appropriate training methods, maintaining skills and providing feedback, and evaluating the effectiveness of a training program.

Although it is widely acknowledged that health care delivery systems are complex adaptive systems, there are gaps in understanding the application of systems engineering approaches to systems analysis and redesign in the health care domain. Commonly employed methods, such as statistical analysis of risk factors and outcomes, are simply not adequate to robustly characterize all system requirements and facilitate reliable design of complex care delivery systems. This is especially apparent in institutional-level systems, such as patient safety programs that must mitigate the risk of infections and other complications that can occur in virtually any setting providing direct and indirect patient care. The case example presented here illustrates the application of various system engineering methods to identify requirements and intervention candidates for a critical patient safety problem known as failure to rescue. Detailed descriptions of the analysis methods and their application are presented along with specific analysis artifacts related to the failure to rescue case study. Given the prevalence of complex systems in health care, this practical and effective approach provides an important example of how systems engineering methods can effectively address the shortcomings in current health care analysis and design, where complex systems are increasingly prevalent.

Unlike previous studies which emphasize market oriented performance from the perspective of firms or customers, but mainly internally, the paper proposes that firms should prioritize customer‐focused performance defined totally externally from the perspective of targeted customers, which are the fundamental drivers of purchasing or repurchasing behaviors of customers and consequently the key to successful competition in the customer‐centered era. Then, the role of customer‐focused performance in the overall business performance system is examined. After the components and dynamics of customer‐focused performance are analyzed, much attention is given to its key determinants in perspective of a resource‐based view, which aims mainly at bridging the current gaps between strategic management and service management. In addition, important propositions are presented and future implications are discussed.

Value is one of the most central concepts in mergers and acquisitions (M&As); however, a broad and systematic examination of value’s various connotations and respective uses is yet to be developed. The chapter canvasses wider theory on value and illustrates how its varieties across economics and ethics share common roots through which they supplement each other. It reviews how these forms of value have been used in research on M&As. Studies in strategic management have predominantly used ‘value’ to address shareholder value or have left it undefined by assuming a common understanding of value creation. Research in organisational behaviour and human resources has addressed ‘values’, often through culture, but the focus is largely with the utility of values to value. The authors outline an agenda for future research on value(s) in M&As, whereby it is theorised in integrative, relational, dynamic and pluralistic terms. Studies need to: (i) clearly articulate value(s): for whom? how? and to what effect?; (ii) examine value relations in both social and economic terms, and address the value(s) that are good for a range of internal and external stakeholders; (iii) recognise that at the heart of both value and values are processes and practices of evaluation whereby value(s) are regenerated through multiple contextual positions and contingent relationships, and (iv) explicate the contestation that shapes which values ought to be valued and articulate the ethics inherent in the varieties and values of value and their consequences for a range of M&A constituents.

After the Second World War the U.S. emerged as an industrial power and remained the world's dominant economic force for a number of years. Europe, due to heavy infrastructure and capital damage brought about by the war, was in no position to challenge the U.S. in any manufacturing or industrial venture. Thus after the war the U.S. enjoyed its longest period of economic expansion in history. This economic boom was to continue, off and on, well into the early 1970s.