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This paper aims to underline the importance of the training and communications process in implementing business integration solutions, securing employee commitment and building a customer‐centric culture. Also, to demonstrate how the benefits of a systematic based approach can help organizations by improving customer service skills and building effective teams.

These points are illustrated through the use of a supporting case study example that describes the process. Initial research and consultation with management and staff was used to understand issues and anxieties and identify skills gap. Results are used to inform the strategy development and to agree how the required information needs to be presented to achieve maximum buy‐in. In the case of Trend, the training and communications process commenced with an introductory letter from the managing director to introduce the aims of the program. The program was delivered in two streams which were cascaded down through the organizations: managers attended a two day workshop to build coaching skills and reinforce service skills. The rest of the company attended a two day interactive workshop focusing on the service excellence and looking at customer/employee integration.

Tangible and measurable results from training initiatives can sometimes take a long time, but at Trend there was an immediate impact in staff morale, motivation and departmental communications with a plethora of glowing internally referenced e‐mails supporting the increase in service standards. More importantly, the difference has been recognized by Trend's customers and acknowledged in a series of congratulatory testimonials.

This paper demonstrates the value of a strategic approach to learning and managing change – increasing motivation, improving departmental communications and raising service standards.

These details and drawings of patents granted in the United States are taken, by permission of the Department of Commerce, from the ‘Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office’. Printed copies of the full specifications can be obtained, price 25 cents each, from the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. They are usually available for inspection at the British Patent Office, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.2.

In 2007, BP sought and received regulatory approval to expand operations at its Whiting Refinery in northwest Indiana. Had the project gone forward as planned, the refinery would have discharged significantly higher levels of pollutants into Lake Michigan, but would have also contributed to economic development in the region. The result of BP seeking and being granted regulatory approval triggered a firestorm of controversy from multiple segments of society. This case study draws from secondary sources to examine the positions of a variety of stakeholders who influenced BP's decision as to whether or not it should expand its Whiting Refinery. Relevant stakeholders included for analysis are citizen and environmental organizations, political groups, trade associations, BP's employees, and stockholders. The intended target audience for this case is upper-level undergraduate business students studying issues related to business and society, such as corporate social responsibility and sustainable development.

The purpose of this paper was to analyse the academic context of the Hawthorne studies from 1936. More specifically, great attention was paid towards those articles that were critical of the Hawthorne studies. This study aimed to analyse why the Hawthorne studies were so criticized during the time period.

The author analysed various critical articles/books from the time period. The author developed the sample through the use of Landsberger’s Hawthorne Revisited. The author used one of the first critical articles, Daniel Bell’s, as a means to analyse the critics. In addition, secondary literature was used to place the articles in context.

The author found that the majority of the critics were sociologists; these criticisms reflected larger debates in sociology in terms of theory, method and ethics of research. They reflected the great changes that occurred in sociology during the time period, as opposed to industrial/organizational psychology, for example, where there was little criticism at the time.

The purpose of this study was to continue the work of Muldoon (2012) and Hassard (2012) and place the work of the Hawthorne studies in a larger academic context.

This case focusses on management and customer service issues at a historic hotel, the Hawthorne, in Salem, Massachusetts. By 1999, when Juli Lederhaus was hired as the new general manager, the Hawthorne had a reputation of being well past its prime and customers were dissatisfied with the quality of service and outdated physical facilities. This case describes the actions she took, up to 2012, to improve service. The case ends with Lederhaus contemplating whether more changes are needed given that she had just heard a rumor that a company was considering building a new hotel just a few blocks away. The case gives students the opportunity to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the Hotel in relation to customer service, and propose recommendations for future improvements.

A qualitative, interview based, methodology was used. The researchers held numerous, face-to-face interviews with the owner and employees of various ranks. Information was also gathered from archival data and traveler review sites such as TripAdvisor.com and Yelp.com.

The case is targeted to undergraduate business and hospitality students at a sophomore or junior level. Classes in which this case could be used include: Organizational Behavior, Human Resource Management, and Hospitality Management.

This paper aims to analyze the political background of the Hawthorne criticisms, positing that the political atmosphere of the 1940s, influenced by the decline of the new deal liberalism and the rise of the conservative coalition, stimulated scholars to challenge the Hawthorne studies.

Primary sources used in the guise of archival commentaries, journal articles and other published works (books and book chapters). Secondary sources are offered to provide additional insight and context.

The findings show that politics unnecessarily discredited Mayo. As a result, contemporary scholars failed to recognize Mayo’s work as an important part of the basis for modern management theory.

The purpose of the research is to look into the political context of the Hawthorne studies to understand how management practice and research is impacted by ongoing political issues.

To date, no work has fully accounted for or understood the political climate of the time in considering the criticisms of the Hawthorne studies. By more fully understanding the political context, scholars can reevaluate the weight they place on the then criticisms of the Hawthorne studies.

This collection of commentaries on the reprinted 1987 article by Nancy C. Morey and Fred Luthans, “Anthropology: the forgotten behavioral science in management history”, aims to reflect on the treatment of the history of anthropological work in organizational studies presented in the original article.

The essays are invited and peer‐reviewed contributions from scholars in organizational studies and anthropology.

The scholars invited to comment on the original article have seen its value, and their contributions ground its content in contemporary issues and debates.

The original article was deemed “original” for its time (1987), anticipating as it did considerable reclamation of ethnographic methods in organizational studies in the decades that followed it. It was also deemed of value for our times and, in particular, for readers of this journal, as an historical document, but also as one view of the unsung role of anthropology in management and organizational studies.

A subprime loan to straw borrower Charlotte Delaney was used to fraudulently strip equity from an elderly African American couple in Chicago. Following this loan from origination to securitization highlights responsibility for the wave of early payment default loans that contributed to the implosion of subprime lending. The Delaney loan, funded by subprime lender Mortgage Investment Lending Associates (MILA), was representative of the stated income, no down payment loans that defaulted in 2006 at the peak of the subprime bubble. MILA was suffering financially from demands to repurchase loans and was insolvent as early as 2004. MILA underwriters approved the Delaney loans despite obvious indications of fraud. Goldman Sachs bought MILA loans for inclusion in a $1.5 billion residential mortgage-backed security. Goldman Sachs warned investors that subprime loans were high risk and promised extensive due diligence. When subpoenaed for evidence of due diligence on MILA, Goldman Sachs provided none. The drive to generate profits through securitization explains why Goldman Sachs did not investigate and did not uncover MILA's inability to repurchase a growing portfolio of early payment default loans. Competition to buy subprime loans for securitization relieved lenders like MILA of pressure to verify that their loans were sustainable and not fraudulent.

What is it about academia anyway? We profess to hate it, spend endless amounts of time complaining about it, and yet we in academia will do practically anything to stay. The pay may be low, job security elusive, and in the end, it's not the glamorous work we envisioned it would be. Yet, it still holds fascination and interest for us. This is an article about American academic fiction. By academic fiction, I mean novels whosemain characters are professors, college students, and those individuals associated with academia. These works reveal many truths about the higher education experience not readily available elsewhere. We learn about ourselves and the university community in which we work.