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Studies the outsourcing phenomenon, starting with strategic analysis and working through the many practical considerations and decisions that practising managers must make. As outsourcing is not to be taken lightly, the disadvantages are discussed in some detail. Of note too, are sections concerned with managing the outsourcing relationship, post outsourcing and morale, all concerned with the human resource management aspects of outsourcing.

It must be difficult for many to contemplate the numerous changes in progress and projected without wondering why it all has to happen now. Of course, there have always been with us those who would change everything, even those who would spoil; all seemingly unable to leave anything alone; unwillingly to let us be for what we are. Then there are those who dislike change of any kind in their familiar environment and strangely, children are the most conservative of us all, and others who do not object to change when it is necessary, but only when it is change merely for the sake of change. The changeover to the metric system, or to use one of the grating terms of the new technological language, metrication, must be accepted as a natural sequence to decimal currency and advances in industry. A revolution in weights and measures, it will indeed present very great problems throughout the country and at all levels, which will dwarf those presented by the switch to decimal coinage, for at worst, these may be just confusing to the general public and a price‐raiser in small‐value commodities, despite assurances to the contrary.

This report is drawn up by the Director‐General of Health and Medical Services for State of Queensland and presented by him to the Minister for Health and Home Affairs of the State. The report is a record of conscientious and efficient public service by a depleted staff working under great difficulties; over a wide stretch of territory; hampered by shortage of labour and materials for repair or construction. In addition to this was the concentration of large bodies of troops in areas by no means primarily designed for their accommodation. It may be remarked that the huge area now called Queensland was separated from New South Wales in 1859. Its area is 670,000 square miles. Length from north to south 1,300–1,400 miles and from east to west at the widest about 1,000 miles. The greater part lies in the tropics. The east coast and for some distance inland is a trade wind and monsoon belt. With this region the report is mainly concerned. The rainfall diminishes towards west and south. The temperature of the State is by no means excessive. In general the climate is a good one. It is in favour of the public health authorities. On January 1st, 1945, the estimated population was in round figures just over a million, including Brisbane with 384,370. There is closer settlement in the east and along the east coast. Ports, mining and manufactures have developed urban areas so that in addition to Brisbane we have sub‐offices such as Cairns, Toowomba, Townsville, and Rockhampton. Owing to war conditions already referred to, it was not possible without much difficulty for the head quarters staff to carry out sanitary surveys in country areas. It is noted that the limited staff available “carried out all duties assigned to them in the same competent and efficient manner” as before. Rockhampton states that there was only one officer available for a district with a population of 40,000; Cairns that 50 towns were visited with a total of 113 separate visits and a distance of 6,334 miles being traversed. These figures give some idea of the demands made on the sanitary officers. The inspections in one area included anti‐malaria drainage, 39 inspections; malaria investi‐gation, 9; mosquito infestation, 10; swamps, 2; rat infestation, 73; food premises, 77; milk premises, 28; food factories, 129. It will be noticed that much attention is given to the danger of mosquito infestation, with the attendant risk of malaria. In 1943 the Government offered a 50 per cent. subsidy to local authorities for carrying out approved mosquito eradication measures, and though the response was not as great as was expected, the expenditure by those local authorities who, at the time of making this report, had availed themselves of the scheme runs into many thousands of pounds. This was mainly for drainage works, but in addition to this there was spraying and the appointment of additional inspectors. Taking one or two instances, Brisbane expended £173,375; Rockhampton £8,918; Charleville £4,000. It is stated “in Toowomba and to a lesser degree in the other large towns [in the area] the townspeople have become mosquito conscious” and will readily report the presence of even a few mosquitoes. On the other hand in country districts the attitude seems to be that mosquitoes have always been present and will always be present, so “Why worry?” A good instance of bucolic fatalism. After the rains it is obvious that unless water be run off from or sprayed in town puddles and from patches of swampy ground nearby these places become breeding grounds for the nuisance. In the 1944–5 period 696 cases of malaria were notified. Many of these were possibly recurrent attacks among Service and ex‐Service men. Still, the “utmost vigilance” is necessary. The rat nuisance and danger is common to every port in the world. Apart from the fouling and destruction of food and house infestation there is the graver menace of plague. This risk in Queensland most happily seems to be slight, as out of 113,000 examinations of rat bodies and spleen smears no instance of Pasteurella pestis was detected, but again “Vigilance” is the watchword. Poisoning (several kinds of poisons are used), gassing, trapping and hunting are all good within their limits, but rat proofing, removal of harbourages, the use of sanitary rubbish bins, and so forth, are admittedly better, as they strike at the root of the evil. Some seven cities are named where the rat population has not diminished during the last seven years owing to the latter precautions having been more or less neglected. These “starve the rat” and “build out the rat.” Milk claims a large share of attention. The offences are of the kind that we know so well in this country, namely added water and fat deficiency. With regard to added water, some of the figures given range from 19 per cent. to 34 per cent., with, we are glad to note, a correspondingly heavy fine. The Queensland Health Acts prescribe a fine of not less than £1 for each one per centum of added water up to a maximum of £50. It is illegal to carry water on a milk delivery cart when milk is being sold therefrom. Some dishonest vendors had adopted the practice of taking a dip out of a can of water so carried at the instant of delivery to the buyer. It was clearly almost impossible under these circumstances to prosecute successfully a dishonest vendor. Rockhampton states that out of 199 samples of milk officially analysed in the district in the period under review, eleven convictions were obtained for added water, and four for carrying water on the milk delivery van. It is added “Whilst the number of samples of milk which proved to be adulterated with added water was almost twice that of the previous year, it was more than ever apparent that the practice most frequently adopted by offenders is that of carrying water in smaller cans to adulterate the milk when measuring for individual customers.” This evil practice would seem to be widespread, and as its success would seem to depend on delivery from large open containers—an old and almost obsolete method—the remedy is to insist, as far as that be possible having regard to local conditions, that all milk should be pasteurised and sold in bottles. Clearly a person who systematically perpetrates day by day a series of petty frauds on his neighbours is likely to be as careless of their health as he is of their pocket. Pasteurising and bottling are being more widely practised. The periodical examination by the health authorities of milk so treated shows that statutory standards of purity are maintained. Most of the milk sold in Toowomba is pasteurised milk; the same seems to be the case in Townsville, and, as we should expect, in a city such as Brisbane. The game is, or, as we hope, was, an uphill one for milk vendors. Townsville says that local dairymen “still endeavour to carry on under very severe handicaps, such as staff shortages, transport and equipment shortages, and lack of sufficient fodder.” We hope that these drawbacks may by now be referred to in the past tense, for Cairns hopefully stated that “a return to normality is gener ally observable.” During the period under review 2,099 “legal samples” were taken by inspectors in accordance with the provisions of the Health Acts. Of these, 79 85 per cent. passed the standard; 3.95 were adulterated with water; 3.176 were deficient in fat only; 12.44 were below the standard in total solids and/or solids not fat. Of the 2,099 samples taken 1,666 were taken in the “Greater Brisbane Area”; 81.2 per cent. were, it seems, below the standard quality. As the population of the city of Brisbane is about 384,000 it is perhaps not too much to say that 40 per cent. of the total population of the State of Queensland is consuming milk a large proportion of which—about 19 per cent.—is below the standard set by the laws of the State. At Rockhampton 92 out of 135 samples, and at Townsville 28 out of 36, passed the standard. The figures are much the same for seven other towns named and 11 others not named. The results for the whole State is the subject for unfavourable criticism by the Health Department. Proprietary Medicines.—The report states that the prescribing of expensive medicines of this type is a common practice, and that the pharmacist may put the medicine in a different container and usually replaces the proprietary label with his own. “The prescribing of proprietary medicines may maintain the patient's faith in his medical practitioner : it also augments the profit of the pharmacist.” Price fixing has reduced the latter. Homeopathic medicines claim some attention. “As is common with homeopathic medicines those submitted during the year consisted of milk sugar only.” Saccharum lactis seems to be harmless kind of stuff with no particularly marked positive properties. Dose ad lib, says the pharmacopoelig;ia. It is “used for weakly children,” and “diabetics are said to occasionally show slight improvement” by ingesting it. Its normal price is about half‐a‐crown a pound. When, however, it has been “improved ” by the addition of minute traces of the phosphates of calcium, magnesium, and potassium and of calcium fluoride, then made up into tabloid form and sold, the recorded price in one instance had risen to £15 9s. 0d. a pound. The Health Department does not accept an enhanced price to be necessarily a measure of an increase in therapeutic virtues. It observes that“ two hundred tablets of one preparation (a month's course) contained no more mineral substance than one‐third of a teaspoonful of milk,” and after some further remarks to the same purpose, suggests “that in the light of modern therapeutics there would appear to be necessity for health administrations to define their attitude towards homeopathy.” It further quotes responsible medical opinion to the effect that “modern therapeutics has inherited from homeopathy the knowledge of the remarkable power the body possesses of healing itself, if given a chance.” Vitamins. —The grossly exaggerated claims of some food manufacturers and patent medicine manufacturers are referred to. It seems that in 1941 it was suggested to the Queensland Department of Health “that vitamin claims for foods and patent medicines should be re stricted within the known knowledge on the subject or within scientific bounds,” and that the Canadian definition of “vitamin” should be adopted; and that in 1943 the Commonwealth National Health and Medical Research Council recommended that the quantity of each vitamin present in a food should be indicated on the label in units per ounce or pound, and in drugs or medicinal preparations in units per dose. It is perhaps no great exaggeration to say that magic and medicine are still mutually identified in the minds of a sufficient number of people to make the hawking about of what is, in many cases, rubbish, a monetary success. The belief held by such people that what is repeatedly stated must for that and for no other reason be unquestionably true, together with an appeal to their fears and impulses form the psychological basis for success based on the claims made. Thus, it may be said that London, Brisbane, and the aborigines of the Cape York Peninsula are in this respect on much the same level.

The growing range of EEC Directives and Regulations for food products, some of which have never been subject to statutory control in this country, with compositional standards, and in particular, prescribed methods of analysis — something which has not featured in the food legislative policies here — must be causing enforcement authorities and food processors to think seriously, if as yet not furiously. Some of the prescribed methods of analysis are likely to be less adaptable to modern processing methods of foods and as Directives seem to be requiring more routine testing, there is the matter of cost. Directive requirements are to some extent negotiable — the EEC Commission allow for regional differences, e.g., in milk and bread — but it has to be remembered that EEC Regulations bind Member‐states from the date of notification by the Commission, over‐riding the national law. Although not so frequently used for food legislation, they constitute one of the losses of sovereign power, paraded by the anti‐market lobby. Regulations contain usual clauses that they “shall enter into force on the day following publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities” and that they “shall be binding in their entirety and directly applicable in all Member States”.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

The need for businesses to gain profit through the provision of high-quality services has driven the organizations to outsource business activities and functions that are considered not integral to the core business. The purpose of this paper is to identify key outsourced activities and to explore their influence on the organizational performance of the targeted locally owned oil and gas companies in Ghana. Also, the study explores key benefits and challenges associated with adopting outsourcing strategies.

The primary data were collected using a survey from 80 participants working for different oil and gas companies in Ghana.

The study revealed that most of the outsourced activities include transport services, information technology (IT) consulting and business consulting services, system infrastructure provision and management and logistical services. Also, key outsourcing reasons were reducing operational costs, avoiding major investment costs in technology, providing consistent and improved service delivery, accessing current technology and expert knowledge and focusing more on core business activities. Outsourcing is significant to enhance the performance of an oil and gas company; however, outsourcing could also result in the conflict of firm culture with outsourced vendors, and inefficient management and loss of innovative capacity are possible negative effects of outsourcing.

The study targeted mainly locally owned oil and gas companies operating in Greater Accra regions of Ghana and including other areas is recommended in the future. Also, the research sample size was 80 participants for this study, and a larger sample should be used in the future.

There is a paucity of research in management outsourcing in Ghana’s oil and gas industry. To the best knowledge of the authors, this study presents the first research of its kind and the findings will be valuable for the targeted companies. The results from this study can also be used by other companies operating in similar oil and gas business environments operating in other oil and gas producing countries particularly in Africa and Asia. Also, the result from this study can greatly benefit other companies already adopting, or considering adopting, outsourcing and operate in similar service-providing sectors within Ghana or in other countries with similar business environments.

Although existing studies demonstrate positive relationships between ethical cultures and innovativeness, their explanations of why an ethical culture leads to innovativeness are limited. This study explores the relationship between ethical organizational culture and knowledge workers' innovativeness

Based on Kierkegaardian existential philosophy, this study proposes a research model that employs knowledge workers' existential affirmation as the link between ethical culture and innovativeness. The main hypothesis proposed in this study is that ethical organizational culture offers knowledge workers the opportunity to find their existential affirmation, which leads them to become more innovative. A structural equation modeling analysis is based on data collected from a survey of 348 knowledge workers from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in different hi-tech industries.

The findings suggest that among the four subdimensions of an ethical organizational culture, ethics training and awareness raising had the strongest relationships with knowledge workers' existential affirmation, which, in turn, had a significant relationship with their innovativeness.

Based on this philosophical reflection, this study develops a research model that examines knowledge workers' existential affirmation as the factor that links ethical organizational culture and knowledge workers' innovativeness. The authors test ethical organizational culture as an environment that allows knowledge workers to validate their existential affirmation. Further, they test the link between knowledge workers' existential affirmation and their innovativeness.

There is a relationship between eating behaviours and the development of speech-language competences during childhood. This study aims to evaluate the impact of interdisciplinary sessions on food and speech-language education with children’s parents.

The session was focused on healthy eating habits and behaviours that may improve or impair child speech competence. Using a self-administered questionnaire, before and immediately after the session, parents from 11 preschools, answered 12 questions, on a five-point Likert scale. Questionnaires from the final sample (n = 96) were statistically analysed using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test.

Statistical analysis revealed statistically significant differences in answers to six questions between pre and post intervention: items 1 (Z = −5.04; p < 0.001), 2 (Z = −3.68; p < 0.001), 3 (Z = −4.12; p < 0.001), 4 (Z = −5.87; p < 0.001), 9 (Z = −2.73; p = 0.006) and 12 (Z = −2.00; p = 0.046). The questionnaire responses after the session showed that parents became more aware of the relationship between the two areas addressed. In addition, the subjects presented more assertiveness in their answers after the educational intervention of the nutritionist and the speech therapist.

The study showed the importance of associating topics on food and speech-language education and both being addressed simultaneously to parents. The empowerment of parents and other caregivers about feeding and speech-language development may increase their motivation to foster child healthy eating behaviours. It is also desirable to extend this kind of interdisciplinary intervention to other preschools.

This study fulfils an identified need to study the perceived knowledge of parents about the food-related behaviours influencing speech-language competences of children.