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In this article, the authors discuss the characteristics and dynamics of effective teams. They consider the factors influencing interpersonal interactions within a team and consequently propose that there is a variety of strategies which may be employed in any teambuilding initiative. The authors suggest a number of key points which they consider to be vital to any intervention to improve team effectiveness.

Governing boards are a bit like meteors above an organizational “planet”. If they position themselves too far above it all, they are likely to float at an innocuous distance, meaningless and without impact. On the other hand, if they plunge too deeply and quickly they are likely to burn up in the atmosphere, dissipating their well‐intentioned energy in a spate of “micromanagement”. This article describes a process for capitalizing on a market “crossroad” as an opportunity for board and staff alike to “rehearse” alternative views of the future, gain experience in the process of grappling with associated policy matters and make peace with both a shared vision and a more appropriate relationship with one another. Relevant concepts, tools and processes are outlined for adaptation by governing bodies in similar circumstances.

Michael Kipps describes some organisms which have become prevalent in recent years

In early April this year there was much media coverage of a government preliminary report that was stated to have commented about the eating habits of a sample of 3000 children aged 10–15 years old. The report was said to have contained results which indicated that many children were eating foods high in animal fat and sugar, while low in fibre. Diets were said to be deficient in vegetables and fruit, and in lean meat. Concern was expressed about the levels of vitamins and minerals in children's diets. We will have to await publication of the full report before commenting further, but it is appropriate to mention it now because it provides a useful context in which to view the results of a study of school meals in the ILEA carried out at the University of Surrey. Michael Kipps MSc, Carol Noble BSc and James Thomson PhD describe their study and summarise the results.

Each year, thousands of companies go through a ritualized process they hope will prompt new vision, renewed energy, and sufficient focus to enable them to prevail into the next century. Nearly 70 percent are disappointed.

With food wastage in many hospitals estimated at up to 30% of the costs of the service, most of it plate waste, there has to be every incentive to do better. It is impossible to contemplate the potential role of marketing and the introduction of better choice and quality of meals without first appreciating the totally unnatural environment in which the bulk of hospital meals are chosen and consumed.

Recognising a problem of calculation. Anyone who has had to analyse a diet using the data from food composition tables, will know that by far the most time in the project was spent on tedious arithmetic, rather than the principles of nutrition or dietetics. Such analyses form a necessary part of many student courses at colleges and universities involving a serious study of food and its consumption by human beings. In the authors' experience such subject areas as: home economics, hotel, catering and institutional management, nutrition, dietetics and food science may all require an analytical evaluation of foods, menus or diets in relation to those who may consume them. It is therefore possible that workers in all these fields would find the use of a computer in such analyses an invaluable tool.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the Association for Strategic Planning Conference.

The paper provides a conference report for the 2012 Association for Strategic Planning Conference, held in Lincolnshire, Illinois, USA from May 30‐June 2, 2012.

The paper reveals presentations of practitioners and veteran consultants who share what is working in their practice of strategic management.

The paper provides reviews of papers presented at the 2012 Association for Strategic Planning Conference provided by practitioners and veteran consultants who share what is working in their practice of strategic management.

We are writing with regard to an item of news in the Observer on the 11th September 1983 in which it was reported that the EEC is proposing to raise the fat content of all types of milk, which would also affect yoghurt and other dairy products, in an effort to dispose of some of the butter mountain. It was also reported that there is a proposal to make cheap butter available to biscuit, cake and confectionery manufacturers in order to reduce the butter mountain.