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The study aims to discover influences on the career intentions of millennials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Qualitative data about career intentions were collected from a sample group (#50) of students at an international university in the UAE. Participant's responses were recorded in five groups, composed of undergraduates, males and females, expatriates and citizens. Transcripts were formed of these data, which were thematically analysed to identify influences on career intentions.

Four emergent themes were identified of influences on career intentions: (1) influenced by societal obligations, (2) influenced by a traditional approach to career plans; (3) influenced by own aspirations; (4) influenced by country considerations. Findings recognised career intentions for this sample group resulted from cultural orientation and millennial's characteristics.

The study was limited by the one country/one university context and a direction is to replicate for an expanded sample group and/or to extend this research scope to other countries.

These findings have implications for university career advising, and the recruitment and retention of millennials in the UAE by international companies.

This is an original study in its exploration of influences on millennial's career intentions in the UAE. Research value lies in the addition of academic knowledge about those millennials' future career intentions.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the symbolic meaning attributed by women in academia to workplace artifacts.

The research approach is that of auto-ethnography, whereby the authors, as researchers and participants, explore symbolic meaning from artifacts in their working environment.

Three themes emerged on the symbolic meaning from artifacts for women in academia. The theme of “affect” revealed women as uncomfortable in their surroundings; “representation”, renders women invisible within the institution; and women felt themselves to be under “surveillance”.

The investigation is limited to one university, which limits generalizability. The implication is to replicate this auto-ethnographical study in other institutions of higher education.

This paper implies that architectural, institutional and personal artifacts play an important role in defining women’s workplace identity.

Women in academia identify themselves as “outsiders” in the workplace because of the symbolic meaning they attribute to artifacts.

This study on women in academia is original as it is the first auto-ethnographical study on artifacts in an international institution of higher education.

The purpose of this paper is to present a discussion of three “grey” areas which emerged from a study on adult learning provision both within and outside public libraries in England – formal and informal learning, promotion and attracting learners, and evaluation and feedback.

The paper utilises a literature review, interviews with the regional agencies of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), and interviews with a purposive select sample of public library services in England.

The public libraries sampled demonstrated their expertise in reaching out to a range of different social groups and their willingness to work with a variety of partners to provide the wide range of courses and services needed. Good reciprocal partnership relationships have been established. The need for more sophisticated market research and promotion is identified. Evaluation and feedback are subject to various interpretations and form an area surrounded by difficulties.

The study undertaken for the MLA is the first phase of a project on public libraries and adult learners.

Examples of reciprocal arrangements and their implications are provided. The impact on library staff roles of the grey area between informal and formal learning is identified with different expectations for staff by different library authorities. The variety of methods used to promote adult learning services could be more sophisticated and specifically targeted in some communities. Highlights the conflict between obtaining robust feedback and the effect this may have on tentative learners by changing a relaxed informal atmosphere.

The paper draws on a study undertaken for the MLA that selectively reviews adult learning provision within and outside public libraries in England and identifies key strengths in public libraries for adult learners.

This chapter deals with teaching and learning knowledge creation in higher-education institutions (HEI) via collaborative writing. The challenge of HEIs is that teaching should build capabilities that enable learners to make use of and advance academic knowledge while simultaneously developing skills relevant for the future work life. In practice, teaching at university is often disconnected from authentic work life and the tasks are far more simplified than those in the future jobs. Therefore, to address the challenge HEIs face, this chapter focusses on knowledge creation, expanding it from bounded-learning communities to online communities in social media. In online communities, it is intrinsic to act and think globally, as demanded by the new imperative. This chapter portrays the case of one knowledge management course at an HEI in which the syllabus included collaborative writing for both a bounded-learning community and the online community of Wikipedia. The student group was multidisciplinary and multicultural, with both classroom learning and distance learning options available. The research material, analysed with qualitative methods, consisted of pre-course and anonymous post-course feedback surveys, as well as learning diaries. The results show that although prior to the course many students held a prejudice and lacked knowledge about social media as part of knowledge management, they expressed they had had eye-opening learning experiences because of the expanded learning community from the traditional bounded to the online community. Based on the results of the study and the experience of teachers, recommendations are given for developing learning activities of knowledge creation in HEIs.

Explores employee experiences of HRM within a division of a non‐unionised Korean owned MNC, which comprised a mix of greenfield site and brownfield site factories. Explores employee perceptions of the effectiveness of communication and consultation within the company. Incorporates a consideration of the role that gossip, rumour and the grapevine play when formal systems for communication and consultation are not trusted. Examines the conditions that led to a disjunction between the existence of “sophisticated HRM” systems for communication and consultation and positive outcomes in the workplace. Concludes that management action and behaviour were more important in determining HR outcomes than “typical” greenfield site variables such as a brand new factory or a “new” employment philosophy.

The history of Organizational Development (OD) reveals a much older tradition of organizational science than the conventional wisdom would suggest. By the 1960s and 1970s OD became self‐confident and dynamic. This period was not only highly experimental but established the principles of OD for much of the twentieth century. By the end of the twentieth century new images of OD had occurred and much of the earlier thinking had been transformed. This review illustrates some examples under a series of themes that have had a major impact on the discipline of OD and on the wider thinking of organizational theorists and researchers.

The ability to working effectively with others (WEWO) is critical yet industry continues to lament deficiencies in new graduates. Progress in developing this highly valued skill in undergraduates is impeded by a lack of conceptual clarity and evidence of how best to measure it, and a tendency to adopt an outcomes-focused, rather than process-oriented, approach. This paper aims to investigate undergraduate perceptions of how well a stand-alone employability skill development programme, operating in an Australian Business Faculty, is fostering the WEWO skill set and which pedagogical practices are considered to add most value.

The study examines undergraduate perceptions using data gathered from a skills audit of 799 business undergraduates from all four sequential units within the skills programme. Undergraduates rated and described their development against an established framework of WEWO behaviours.

Findings indicate that, overall, skill development is rated highly among the undergraduates although the behaviours of conflict resolution, social intelligence and influencing others were rated less highly than others within the skill set. The importance of class activities and assessment items, including the use of virtual learning tools were identified by students as critical to the development of WEWO behaviours.

The study highlights the important role of constructive alignment, sequential skill development, consistency of delivery and ensuring student “buy-in” to education practitioners in their efforts to meet industry expectations of graduates who can WEWO.

The purpose of this paper is the investigation of Chinese students' learning styles through managed learning environments. Despite the diversity of cultures in the world and the implications of it within the teaching strategies and learning styles, knowledge transfer across cultures has been one of the most challenging tasks for the academic institutions.

The paper discusses a case study of Asian undergraduate students in terms of their learning styles and the on‐line delivery of courses from western academics. A review of relevant research is presented and certain issues of the multicultural character of education are discussed.

Learning styles is the only information available to western academics, so that they can adjust the teaching strategy, enhance students' imagination and challenge them to the new for them “student‐centered” teaching strategy. On‐line managed learning environments can bridge the gap between the east and west academic pedagogies.

It is hoped that the growing interest of on‐line delivery of courses will be of particular value for courses delivered from western academics to Asia. The awareness of students' learning styles will provide the opportunity for the teachers from the western institutions to substantially contribute to global knowledge transfer across cultural borders.

The diversity will always exist in the classroom and the success of teaching is based on the ability to use the awareness of differences, and facilitate skills to make these differences benefit the students and the class as a whole.

Child neglect is the most common form of maltreatment but is also one of the most complex. Neglect has a long-term negative impact on children and young people’s development and wellbeing. This study examined 20 recent serious case reviews that had taken place in England where neglect was a feature. The purpose of this study is sought to explore the barriers, which exist for social workers in England in identifying and responding to neglect in a timely, appropriate and effective manner.

Thematic analysis identified four main themes that were likely to impact upon effective interventions.

Challenges in terms of the definition of neglect and how to identify it; the use of neglect toolkits; the impact of organisational cultures on practice and the voice of the child.

In spite of its prevalence there is a dearth of literature relating specifically to the issue of neglect. There is a need for further research to be undertaken because of the acknowledged, seriousness and potential longstanding negative impact on children even into adulthood (Horwath, 2013). It is hoped that this study provides a useful insight into some of the barriers that exist for social workers in working effectively with children and families for whom neglect is an issue.