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Construction of devices is not the most important element of flexible assembly systems; the true value lies in the realisation of systematic and need‐oriented planning.

The paper aims to describe and understand the gap between the psychodynamic literature on groups and the social psychological perspective on group dynamics.

As Wilfred Bion is the most influential group dynamics representative of the psychodynamic tradition the authors performed a citation analysis of Bion's work to find out whether it influenced the social psychological research on group dynamics. They compared three domains of literature: therapy/clinical, management/organization studies and social psychology. Moreover, they depict (by drawing on interviews with European pioneers in social psychology) the historical context in which European social psychology developed to explain the gap between the psychodynamic and social psychological approaches in the study of group dynamics.

The results clearly indicate the existence of a gap between the social psychological and psychodynamic perspectives on group dynamics. Moreover, the authors show that Bion did influence scholars studying or working with real-life groups and is cited more by American than European scholars. The attempt to build a legitimate scientific identity for social psychology provides a context for understanding of the neglect of the psychodynamic tradition.

The authors conclude by exploring ways in which the psychodynamic tradition may fertilize the social psychological tradition in studying groups.

The paper is one of the first to address the discrepancy between the social psychological and psychodynamic perspectives in the study of group dynamics.

The evidence suggests deductions for non-performance and competitive solicitation methods are key determinants of contractor performance. A penalty provision is strongly associated with an increase in unit cost, while a competitive solicitation method reduces unit cost. The evidence is inconclusive for fixed price contract and contract length. The findings support the idea that contracting techniques impact contractor performance. The potential for cost savings may not be fully realized unless techniques that focus on competitive contracting are employed. Future research that addresses contract design factors for other services in other settings will provide information to help policy makers choose among the numerous contract design options.

Challenges traditional models and approaches to performance management and presents an alternative methodology for developing performance objectives and managing performance. Argues that existing approaches generally do not succeed in meeting their objectives, are flawed in implementation, act to demotivate staff, and are often perceived as forms of control which are inappropriately used to “police” performance. Suggests that the alternative approach utilized in the case study organization, the British School of Osteopathy, is particularly appropriate for professional staff in the not‐for‐profit sector. Attempts to incorporate ethical concerns over performance management and, using a stakeholder approach, involves those affected in a dialogue over the design of performance measures and methods for performance improvement. Addresses four main ethical principles, namely: respect for the individual, mutual respect, procedural fairness and transparency of decision making.

Public agencies contract out to pursue a variety of goals. But, these goals cannot be realized if the performance of contractors is not assessed and monitored. This study examines the state of performance measurement and contract monitoring in the U.S. transit agencies. We focus on three research questions: (1) What monitoring capacity exists within transit agencies? (2) What monitoring methods are used by transit agencies? (3) What performance measures are tracked by transit agencies? We find monitoring units are common in a third of agencies in the study. Service and customer complaints are the most common performance measures, while penalties and liquidated damages are the most frequent form of penalties. Finally, we find that transit agencies utilize a variety of output and outcome measures to monitor contractors.

Performance-Based Contracting (PBC) is widely accepted as a useful tool. It is believed that the use of PBC can assist the efficient utilization of the public resources. The objective of this research is to assess the extent of PBC application and the obstacles to applying it in the public procurement systems of developing countries. Interviews and factual analysis of procurement guidelines and contracts are used to collect data for this research. The analysis results indicate that the majority of public organizations have not yet used PBC even though it is allowed by the law. This is due partly to lack of clarity in the procurement laws and lack of capacity to use PBC.

A considerable proportion of donor aid is dedicated to technical assistance to support developing countries in their development initiatives. The majority of this aid comes from globally-operating international donors including the World Bank and the European Union. In spite of several harmonization attempts, there still exist major differences in their procurement regulations and standard contracts. Based on an extensive literature review on consulting services and an in-depth analysis of the standard forms of contract, it was found that divergence between both forms is not only clear but also paradigmatic owing mainly to market orientation paradigm differences. The findings and recommendations help advance research on and practice of various types of consultancy services in general.

Muzafer and Carolyn Wood Sherif are among the founders of social psychology. Their theoretical and empirical findings made important contributions to the management literature. This paper aims to attempt to underline these contributions and highlights the Sherifs’ interdisciplinary work and their impact on management research specifically.

Using a citation content analysis, the influence of the Sherifs on management research is detailed by examining how their work has contributed to research published in top management journals.

The Sherifs’ work has influenced numerous research streams related to organisational groups, social norms, assimilation contrast theory and a combination of various other topics. Additionally, these works helped originate team and workgroup research in organisation theory.

This is the first manuscript of its type to examine the influence of the Sherifs on management research. Their story is a testament to the impact that social psychology researchers have had in developing modern thought about organisational issues. This work also addresses potential areas for future research building on the Sherifs’ work.

Many public sector organizations use outsourcing in an effort to take advantage of a private contractor’s experience and economies of scale, thereby allowing them to provide high quality public services at a low cost. Although it has received considerable attention in the public policy and management literature for almost three decades, outsourcing has not always achieved a municipality’s goals. To address the strategic and managerial issues of outsourcing, we combine a literature review with data obtained from a field study of three Italian municipalities. The resulting framework can assist public sector managers to determine both the services that are the best candidates for outsourcing, and the issues that must be considered in managing the chosen vendors to guarantee high quality and cost-effective results.