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This paper seeks to understand how strategic information systems (IS) alignment takes place in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).

The paper employs a qualitative and quantitative analysis of data from 27 cases.

A contingent model allows re‐interpretation of earlier findings that appear to be inconsistent. First, benefit realisation depends on alignment between IS and business strategies. Second, IS investment is frequently limited to supporting operations and transactions. Third, organizations with more sophisticated IS tend to perform less successfully than those with less complex systems, the greatest alignment and highest performance are reported for systems to improve efficiency, and organizations that adopt a low‐cost approach are unlikely to use IS strategically.

The paper extends understanding of the contingent nature of SMEs' investment in, and use of, IS, and of the effect of market position on IS management. It provides guidelines by describing the dominant paths to alignment. The limitations are that the SME sample is not random, the scoring protocols rely on author coding, whether the research identifies cycles of alignment, alternative interpretations of path hierarchy, and if an SME's location uniquely defines its alignment path.

Performance is a function of the alignment between IS strategy and other business domains. However, prior research has focused on outcomes, rather than the processes by which alignment is developed. Using multiple case data, this paper investigates alignment in SMEs, explaining why different SMEs follow different paths to alignment. Four paths are identified, with the path chosen contingent on an SME's market position.

Our research on leadership is based on the work of Dr. Victor H. Vroom of Yale University and his associate Dr. Philip W. Yetton of the Manchester Business School — work discussed in their book Leadership and Decision‐Making (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973). Following their lead, we can separate potential leadership styles into five categories (the letter‐and‐number labels are arbitrary):

Managers must adapt their leadership styles to fit the demands of the situations they face. One of the necessary manifestations of this view is the need to adapt the form and degree of participation in decision making by subordinates, to the personalities of the subordinates, the decisions to be made and the general organisational circumstances. Managerial leadership is no longer maintaining the status quo. Old habits must be discarded if one is to respond to today's challenges. The authors' experience of working with managers suggests that training focused on analytical models of participation contributes to the critical components of effective leadership.

Myths in organisations are often portrayed as evolving gradually, and perhaps decaying even more slowly, whether the myth seeks to establish internal standards or to provide cause and effect in a turbulent environment. A detailed case study of the start‐up phase in a graduate management school is analysed, together with a dynamic model of organisation operation and adjustment recently developed in the field of corporate strategy.

This paper describes a research program, spanning three decades, on the development of a model of leadership style – specifically, the form and degree to which managers should involve team members in decision making. The model distinguishes five levels of participation and, in its current form, 11 situational factors which influence the effects of participation on decision quality, implementation, time, and team development. Pencil and paper and computer‐based representations of the model are described and compared. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the use of the model in management development. Based on experience in training managers in many countries around the world, the author argues that didactic expositions of the model are largely ineffective in producing behavior change unless accompanied by experiential activities which enable managers to examine their own implicit assumptions about the consequences of sharing their decision making power.

The motivation to manage is a key factor influencing the energy and effort people bring to the job. A review of a training approach outlines action that can be taken.

E‐Teaching as the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education is of growing importance for educational theory and practice. Many universities and other higher education institutions use ICT to support teaching. However, there are contradicting opinions about the value and outcome of e‐teaching. This paper starts with a review of the literature on e‐teaching and uses this as a basis for distilling success factors for e‐teaching. It then discusses the case study of an e‐voting system used for giving student feedback and marking student presentations. The case study is critically discussed in the light of the success factors developed earlier. The conclusion is that e‐teaching, in order to be successful, should be embedded in the organisational and individual teaching philosophy.

The purpose of this case study was to explore senior librarians’ perceptions of successful leadership skills in the 21st century. The data gathered from 10 senior library leaders consisted of demographic information and responses to six open-ended interview questions. From the NVivo 10 analysis, several significant themes emerged regarding successful library leadership skills in the 21st century at two levels: foundational and interpersonal. At the foundational level, technical and knowledge skills form the building blocks for the next level of interpersonal skills. Persuasion and collaborative skills are interwoven with these interpersonal skills, both of which are at the core of the postindustrial paradigm of leadership. These two levels of skills, with an emphasis on persuasion skills, should form the basis of succession planning programs for next generation librarians. Implementing such programs could lead to increased leadership diversity, greater job satisfaction, improved job performance and effectiveness, all of which help retain librarians and ease staff shortages. Further studies are recommended.