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Most management courses, these days, embody syndicate group exercises, discussions or projects of one sort or another. The division of a large group into sub‐committee or syndicates gives the advantage of a high level of participation in discussion plus the opportunity of considering and comparing different sets of findings. One of the tasks facing the trainer is to group course members in such a way that the syndicate composition provides for an effective working group. In some cases this will mean drawing together individuals with compatible personalities or similar “views of the world”, because the learning objectives are related to an expertise in technical or systems areas, such as work study or accountancy techniques.

For a good part of the U.S. system of federalism municipal incorporation has been the formal structure for local communities. Over the last 60 years there has been a shift in this structure to special district government. The Woodlands, Texas presents an interesting case study on the incremental development of a former New Town community, the change in formal government organization and the potential for a different model of local governance structure in the 21st Century. The authors explore the four stages of development for The Woodlands over the past 40 years and assess this development through several model theories including institutional, urban regime, and urban governance. Contrary to some current literature on governance, The Woodlands appears to have transitioned from decentralization to more centralization while at the same time avoiding full incorporation as a municipality. It may be indicative of the new governance.

The Council for National Academic Awards has adopted the degrees of Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) as its awards at first degree level. An extra mark of distinction — denoted by a star (B.A. or B.Sc.) — will be awarded to students who have successfully completed a sandwich course aimed to integrate academic study and industrial training.

States with Right-to-Work (RTW) law coverage have increased since 2012, with union membership decreasing. In such states, employees in union-represented positions cannot be required to be union members and/or pay dues, even though the union must still legally represent them. While union member retention in RTW states provides new challenges for unions, it has not been extensively studied. The purpose of this paper is to extend the literature by testing a model of intent to remain a union member in an RTW context using union loyalty as a mediator.

The model is based on how different types of exchanges shape intentions to remain a union member. To test the hypotheses, a sample of 475 members was used where an RTW law was about to be implemented in a Midwestern American state.

Union loyalty mediated the relationships between social and ideological exchanges with the union and employee intent to remain a union member and similarly mediated the organization–employee exchanges. Economic exchanges with the union were not a significant predictor in the full model.

This study extends the employment-relations literature by helping us better understand member intent triggered by RTW laws. Insights are provided for both unions and organizations to better manage their relationships with employees.

This study advanced the employee-relations literature by providing a more holistic theoretically based understanding of how unions may retain members by using multiple forms of exchange, often studied separately in previous literature of member–union relationships.