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Surveys based on standard questionnaires have long been a major research tool of the social scientist. The great majority have focused on one type of respondent — the workers of a given firm, the voters in a particular constituency, or whatever. For one sort of survey, namely, those that seek to know about the individuals in question, this is plainly sensible. But another sort of survey uses a respondent to provide information about the organisation for which he/she can be taken to be an authoritative informant. Questionnaires sent to the head offices of companies or unions and asking about the organisation's policy are a good example. How do we know whether the replies are in some sense representative of the organisation or are just the views of the respondent chosen?

Since the late 1970s, the study of the role, structure and functions of personnel management in the United Kingdom has been greatly facilitated by surveys emerging from a number of large‐scale surveys. A major interest in interpreting the data from these surveys has been to evaluate the impact of recession, and, latterly, recovery on the power, structure and roles of personnel departments and personnel specialists in recent years. The survey data are used comparatively to evaluate the empirical plausibility of the different scenarios which have arisen, and to account for the results that emerge.

The monograph analyses (a) the potential impact of information technology (IT) on organisational issues that directly concern the personnel function; (b) the nature of personnel’s involvement in the decision making and activities surrounding the choice and implementation of advanced technologies, and (c) their own use of IT in developing and carrying out their own range of specialist activities. The monograph attempts to explain why personnel’s involvement is often late, peripheral and reactive. Finally, an analysis is made of whether personnel specialists – or the Human Resource Management function more generally – will play a more proactive role in relation to such technologies in the future.

Post‐industrial predictions of a rapid growth in new technology homeworking have gained widespread currency to become part of the conventional wisdom. However the evidence, including primary research material, suggests that the claims for new technology homeworking, both regarding its extent and its alleged benefits, have been considerably overestimated. In particular, new technology homeworking by itself does not appear to open up opportunities for women to improve their position in the labour market; the demographic changes predicted for the 1990s may provide a better bet. Nevertheless, there is a danger in assuming that all firms apply the same strategy when employing homeworkers; at least three different variations can be identified and this has important implications for personnel managers. The overestimation of new technology homeworking stands in stark contrast to traditional homeworking where the extent has been considerably underestimated. This marginalisation of traditional homeworking stems in large part from the distortion caused by the conceptual split between private and public realms. The failure to find evidence to support the growth of new technology homeworking leads to a consideration of how the arguments may better be considered as rhetoric designed to advance a certain set of ideas – in particular that set associated with “privatisation” as a political ideology.

Drawing on the social exchange theory, this study aims to explore line managers' perceptions of diversity management, as well as their perceptions of their role and responsibilities in shaping and implementing diversity practices. The senior management's leadership support, as it is perceived by line managers, in assisting them to manage diversity successfully is also examined.

Semi-structured interviews with 51 line managers across different sectors in the UK were conducted to address the following three research questions. First, how do line managers perceive diversity management? Second, what are the actual roles and responsibilities of line managers in shaping diversity practices' implementation? Third, how do leadership interactions within the organisation influence line managers' perceptions of diversity practices?

Line managers present high levels of personal determination and commitment towards diversity supplemented by a consensus on the strategic role of leadership in relation to diversity management. In addition, poor levels of organisational support, leadership values and style are identified; all highly related to their ability to deliver results and, most importantly, to form effective relationships in the workplace.

Data included line managers' views but not senior managers' perspectives, thus limiting the study in identifying the holistic impact of social exchanges in shaping effective relations. In addition, quantitative research could test and enhance the generalisability of existing findings.

Investing in social relationships can positively influence line managers' ability to deliver results. Action is required at the organisational level by senior management to support and recognise line managers' critical roles to enable them to apply and promote diversity management.

These findings address a theoretical gap relating to the evaluation of the critical role played by line managers in the delivery of diversity practices. The study further demonstrates how social exchange relationships can influence line managers' perceptions of diversity management, an unexplored area within the diversity literature.

Following the passage of the Children Act, 2004, the leadership of children's services in England has been unified through the appointment of Directors of Children's Services. The role is demanding as it requires leading a range of services in each local authority, which are often subject to a high degree of public and political scrutiny. The change of government in May 2010 shifted the nature of these challenges by reforming the guidance to local authorities and by placing restrictions on local authority expenditure. This paper aims to explore the skills required by leaders in this complex and changing environment.

The paper draws on the findings of a scoping study conducted for the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services and describes and analyses the skills and capabilities required by leaders of children's services in England.

The paper offers a view of what might constitute “effective” leadership, and the skills needed to meet the requirements of improving the lives of children and young people.

The paper offers an analysis of the way in which interventions to enhance leadership in this area might contribute to better outcomes for children and young people in the future in an era of significant change following the formation of the UK Coalition government in May 2010.

The purpose of this paper is to offer new reflection upon the contested interaction of social enterprises with the public sector. It does this by fore fronting the notions of boundaries, boundary work and boundary objects.

The paper reports qualitative research with social enterprise practitioners (from social enterprises and support agencies) in the north of England. Accounts elicited through interviews are combined with visual data in the form of pencil drawings made by practitioners when the authors invited them to respond to and rework diagrammatic models from the literature about the social and economic dimensions of social enterprise.

Participants explained in words and images how normative images of social enterprise depicting linear and static boundaries inadequately represent the complexity of ideas and interactions in their world. Rather, they perceived an iterative process of crossing and re-crossing boundaries, with identities and practices which appeared to shift over time in relation to different priorities.

Through participant generated visual data in which social enterprise practitioners literally redrew models from the literature, the paper open space to show movement, transgression and change.

This paper is timely as social enterprises are becoming increasingly prominent in the welfare mix. The authors make novel use of conversations and drawings in order to better understand the dynamic and everyday practices of social enterprise within public services. In doing this, the authors also potentially contribute to richer methodological resources for researching the movement of services between sectors.

This paper examines changes in industrial relations in a large number of provincial newspapers (existing and acquired) following expansion through acquisition by previously medium‐sized newspaper groups. It considers whether acquisition leads to forces for change or continuity, diversity or uniformity, resulting in differing industrial relations outcomes. It concludes that while there are severe difficulties in evaluating the consequences of acquisition on industrial relations, the degree of change is much less than might be expected.

Conventional wisdom is that decentralized bargaining, performance pay and individualized remuneration schemes enable managers to utilize human resources more effectively. Examines employers’ recent experiences of such arrangements by drawing on data on company pay policies. Argues that moves to fragment bargaining and individualize reward systems have created new difficulties and problems in the management of pay, and that such initiatives can have costly consequences for employers.

Discussions about the position of British trade unions under Thatcherism continue to interest scholars and practitioners in the UK, and a variety of theories have been put forward which suggest that unions are becoming increasingly marginal to workplace employee relations. Three of these are focused on, namely, the roll‐back of union organisation, the separation of collective bargaining from strategic decision making, and the impact of employee involvement on union activity. These ideas are evaluated against data from a longitudinal study of four multi‐plant private sector organisations, each of which has high levels of union density and some forms of employee involvement. The data, which were collected in the late 1980s, suggest that simple monocausal correlations – such as employee involvement is directly undermining trade unions – are not robust enough to cope with the reality of organisational life. Much more credence needs to be given to the environmental and more broader managerial context within which employee relations takes place.