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The use of time management analyses can be a more effective way of establishing training needs than traditional analytical questions. Blockages to development can be revealed and a base provided for the training programme to tackle them.

The purpose of this article is to introduce the Management Learning Contract as an effective method of developing the skills of individual managers. Part I will describe the origins and potential of the contract methods. Part II will provide a practical guide to application.

In Part 1, we described the basis for the development of the Management Learning Contract at the Northern Regional Management Centre at Washington, Tyne and Wear. The contract method is a powerful tool for the acquisition and enhancement of relevant knowledge and skills. We suggested there were six key advantages in using the mechanism:

Examines the use of learning contracts to achieve supervisory development in an organization with highly centralized decision‐making processes and a strong power‐based culture. Shows that a well‐managed learning contract process can significantly increase the value of supervisory development and help to facilitate more consensus‐ and collaborative‐based approaches to problem solving and encourage learning in the ongoing work activities of the organization.

Reference librarians in today's academic libraries are typically confronted with a growing array of simultaneous demands. Strained financial resources, staffing shortages, the challenge of adding new services, the explosion of information, and the electronic revolution have complicated (and sometimes compromised) the delivery of quality services. In response to many universities' growing commitment to offer nontraditional degree programs, reference staff are also assuming more responsibility for night and weekend instruction.

Because franchising is a popular and important business alternative, we propose that concerted effort be taken by organization scientists to develop and test theoretical perspectives relevant to this business form. Rather than risk “reinventing the wheel”, researchers should first consider findings from outside the franchising arena to assess their generalizability to franchisors. To this end, three common configurations of franchise organization are described and placed within Mintzberg’s (1979) framework, and the logic linking various organization, strategy, and environment features into an harmonious configuration is presented with respect to each. This configuration view is used to describe franchise organization transitions, and propositions to guide future study of franchise organizations are presented. Thus, both franchising and organization theory are extended by showing how the franchising phenomenon fits into a general perspective on organizations.

I present a background on the use and effectiveness of podcasting in higher education, and provide guidance on developing supplementary video podcasts for use in introductory financial accounting courses. Specifically, I discuss how to create, produce, and distribute exercise-based video podcasts that walk students through problems based on material covered during traditional lectures. I distributed a series of 10 exercise-based video podcasts to introductory financial accounting students at my institution during Fall 2011, and documented high levels of student satisfaction in terms of impact on exam performance. Overall, I contribute to the accounting education literature by illustrating how to use a technology in a way that considers the unique characteristics of introductory accounting courses.

The Departmental Committee appointed in June, 1924, to inquire into the question as to whether and to what extent the practice of treating flour with chemical substances is objectionable on grounds of health and whether it is desirable that the practice should be prohibited or restricted, have issued their report. The Committee observe :—

At a recent inquest upon the body of a woman who was alleged to have died as the result of taking certain drugs for an improper purpose, one of the witnesses described himself as “an analyst and manufacturing chemist,” but when asked by the coroner what qualifications he had, he replied : “I have no qualifications whatever. What I know I learned from my father, who was a well‐known ‘F.C.S.’” Comment on the “F.C.S.” is needless.

Life is made up of debits and credits, as Kipling wrote, long accounts have to be paid — mistakes, misconduct, misdeeds, all the mischief and harm they cause, exact payment which has to be met by someone, not necessarily those that cause the trouble; all too often by innocent victims. The recent industrial strife, destruction and violence, despite the plausible excuses for it, will have disastrous results, a colossal debit in the nation's accounts; and the mass of the people, the vulnerable groups including several millions of elderly pensioners, the handicapped and sick, are under no illusions who will have to pay. The posturing defiance — “heads held high”, bands playing martial music — the complete lack of concern or regret for others will make no difference to the overtaking retribution.