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Using the backdrop of an (apparently) extended visit to the West Indies, analogies with key concerns of internal audit are drawn. An unusual and refreshing way of exploring the main themes ‐ a discussion between Bill and Jack on tour in the islands ‐ forms the debate. Explores the concepts of control, necessary procedures, fraud and corruption, supporting systems, creativity and chaos, and building a corporate control facility.

Using the backdrop of an (apparently) extended visit to the West Indies, analogies with key concerns of internal audit are drawn. An unusual and refreshing way of exploring the main themes ‐ a discussion between Bill and Jack on tour in the islands ‐ forms the debate. Explores the concepts of control, necessary procedures, fraud and corruption, supporting systems, creativity and chaos, and building a corporate control facility.

Improving the quality of products and services has become a major goal of most sophisticated companies and organisations in the 1980s. The challenge of competition from the Japanese, coupled with a growing awareness that millions of dollars in production and operating costs can be saved when things are done right first time, has captured the interest and imagination of thousands of managers and executives. Businesses that had never thought much about whether their services conformed to requirements, or their products were fit for use, have begun to turn their attention to the issue of quality. Even more mature companies that have earned a reputation for achieving excellence have begun to take a closer look at their internal activities and processes with a view to reducing rework, scrap, and costs in order to remain competitive.

One reason that some managers and executives out‐perform others in their organisations is their problem solving skill. I refer here not just to their ability to solve technical and financial problems, but to the very specific skill of people problem solving. People problems abound in the world of business. People don't do what they said they would do; they arrive late to work or they don't come at all. People make mistakes; they don't do things right the first time, or the second time, and what's worse they don't seem to care about it. People providing service to customers or internal users are rude, abusive and slow; the outputs of their work do not conform to requirements, and are not fit for use by anyone.

Quality is a word frequently on the lips of top executives, managers, employees and consumers. However, it may be one of the most used and least understood words of the 1980s. Philip Crosby, in his book Quality is Free (McGraw‐Hill, 1979), demonstrates the confusion over the term. He shows how some talk of quality as goodness, or use the word to indicate relative worth such as in the terms good quality or bad quality. The word quality is even now being used to refer to entire value systems such as in the term quality of life, and to new relationships between labour and management as in quality of work life (QWL). Crosby points out that if quality is to be managed in the business setting it must be defined precisely, and suggests the definition conformance to requirements.

Managers and supervisors are paid to influence others. The success a manager achieves in this endeavour is directly related to the words a manager says, and the procedures he or she uses. Some words and procedures work better than others. We can learn about those that are effective by interviewing supervisory personnel or by directly observing them as they go about their daily routine. We can also interview and observe the non‐management personnel they supervise.

Women in Hong Kong do not yet enjoy full freedom from differential treatment in access to employment in the managerial field, judging by analysis of the content of nearly 2,000 recruitment advertisements. However, the pace of social change, and change in cultural norms concerning the roles of women will accelerate and evolve towards giving women a better deal. As more women become visible in the management sphere, expectations regarding their future roles in the corporate world are heightened, thus demanding access to all levels of the organisation. The integration of women will mean society adapting to women's life cycles, enabling them to become good mothers, wives, and successful managers.

A month or so after the Stresa meeting, the French ISHM chapter, organising a session on ‘Gallic inks’ (!), summoned me to deliver some comments on the 5th European Hybrid Microelectronics Conference. Although it was only a matter of interlude during this technical session, I felt the task quite a difficult one. It became a hazardous project when Brian C. Waterfield kindly asked me to let what is in fact a personal opinion—my personal opinion, standing back from my daily work—appear in Hybrid Circuits. I'll do my best.

Much of our daily time in social, home, and work situations is spent influencing and modifying the behaviour of others. We all have certain abilities for getting along with people, and generally these abilities are exercised in natural unconscious ways. Without really thinking about it, we constantly act to adjust our own or another's behaviour to create a desirable interaction.

Following on recent articles on Behaviour Modification in Education & Training, literature and catalogues have come to hand on this subject from the following American sources: