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Seeks to review policy and practice in the English National Health Service (NHS) to show the extent to which medically framed notions of cure act in opposition to attempts to enforce a duty of partnership in the delivery of health and social care.

A review of national policy and the relevant academic literature, spanning two decades, was used to examine the development of inter‐organisational relations at the boundaries of health and social care in England.

The paper finds that, despite an espoused willingness on the part of national and local stakeholders to remove long‐established disciplinary and organisational partitions between sectors, the failure to secure a shift from medically to socially constructed notions of health continues to impede more integrated care. Furthermore, policies emphasising patient through‐put, speed of treatment, episodic intervention and the primacy of hospitals are shown to encourage and empower health professionals to withdraw from cross‐boundary working in line with the isolating tendencies of bio‐medically framed notions of cure.

The paper draws together evidence from policy, research and theoretical literature to identify the underlying causes of collaborative failure, highlighting the manner in which associated processes of public service reform can serve to reinforce long‐established institutional barriers to inter‐organisational working, both now and in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the ways in which certain occupational, organizational and political positions become active sites of leadership construction. Taking as their example the introduction of the Modern Matron in the English National Health Service (NHS) this paper considers how new forms of gender transcending leadership are constituted relationally through a dynamic interplay of historical, nostalgic, social, political and organizational forces.

The research was conducted within an interpretive paradigm of social constructivism and draws on data from semi‐structured interviews with a purposive sample of 16 Modern Matrons working in a single English NHS Trust. In keeping with inductive, qualitative research practice, data has been analysed thematically and ordered using descriptive, hierarchical and relational coding.

Their contention is that the Modern Matron presents as a site for relational leadership in respect of both self and other. This paper argues that the construction of Modern Matron usefully points to the ways in which multiple discourses, practices and relations may be intertwined in defining what it is to lead in contemporary organizations. This paper highlights the extent to which leadership is an on‐going relational co‐construction based – in this instance – in the interplay of four factors: nostalgic authority, visibility, praxis and order negotiation. Together, these produce a mode of leading that is neither heroic nor popularist.

Further research might consider how competing temporal, political and organizational imperatives encourage the development of particular sites for leadership, and how such leadership is then re‐performed in practice, as well as the affects/effect on individual and organisational performance.

The data provides opportunity to consider the “lived experience” of leaders in sites that are traditionally gendered female in non‐standard/public sector settings. Moreover, this paper presents empirical evidence in support of leadership as socially constructed and relational, borne of tension between different temporal, spatial and experiential factors, the on‐going negotiation of which both utilises and transcends masculinized and feminized gender performances. The result is a form of “leading” which is often subtle, difficult to identify and self‐effacing.

The purpose of this paper is to provide background to this special issue and consider how critically oriented research can be applied to health and social care management.

Basic principles of critical management studies are introduced briefly to frame subsequent papers in this issue.

In order to identify the wicked problems and darker sides of the care field, there is a need to study things in alternative ways through critical lenses. Giving a voice to those in less powerful positions may result in redefinition and redesign of conventional roles and agency of patients, volunteers and professionals and call into question the taken-for-granted understanding of health and social care management.

The special issue as a whole was designed to enhance critical approaches to the discussion in the field of health and social care. This editorial hopefully raises awareness of CMS and serves as an opening for further discussion on critical views in the research on management and organization in this field.

Some twenty years ago Ray C. Brewster made a strong plea to revitalise the concept of salesmanship by incorporating the most up‐to‐date psychological knowledge then available. Five years later in the same journal Edward C. Bursk pointed to the danger of relying upon ''scientific' techniques and forgetting to go out and sell. The major intention of this paper is to provide some theoretical legitimation for this latter view and in the process to present a sociological critique of psychological theory as applied to the practical field of personal selling. A final section will concern itself with the practical implications of the critique.

This study aims to identify intra-organisational drivers that enhance the implementation of a purchasing social responsibility (PSR) approach and drivers that influence PSR throughout the phases of the process.

The conceptual framework presents PSR as a process, rather than merely a decision. It focuses on three dimensions (centralisation, specialisation and formalisation) to highlight the role and evolution of key drivers through a three-phase process (set-up, operating and sustaining). The empirical analysis is based on a single qualitative case study of Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF), France’s state-owned railway company, which is particularly advanced in its PSR-related practices.

The intra-organisational drivers differ according to the phase of the PSR process. Transitions across the three phases entail organisational adaptation, which require the company to transform from a mechanistic to an organic structure.

This research contributes to a better understanding of the PSR implementation process through an in-depth study focused on intra-organisational drivers. Although relatively understudied, these drivers play important roles.

This study identifies operational, intra-organisational leverage actions that can benefit firms that aim to adopt or maintain a PSR approach. It also provides comprehensive guidance for activating these leverages throughout the PSR implementation process, and it helps firms identify their level of PSR.

This study proposes the first processual, organisational interpretation of PSR approaches.

In response to recent calls for research relating to employers’ perceptions of the workplace readiness of new graduates in a variety of fields, the purpose of this paper is to report North Florida employers’ perceptions of information technology (IT) program graduates’ workplace readiness. These findings are relevant to stakeholders in growing technology regions.

Researchers conducted 18 semi-structured interviews with IT employers in North Florida. Data were deductively coded with codes derived from national standards. Interviewee verbatim was also inductively coded by theme.

While employers valued a blend of technical and general skills and hands-on experience, they also sought new professionals who possessed fundamental understandings of business and computer programming to tailor their problem-solving skills to the specific company environment.

This research represents a limited number of employer viewpoints in one representative community.

Ongoing industry input into curricula and expanded experiential opportunities may ensure that graduates are prepared to address current and future IT developments. Because the region under study was typical of many regions with growing technology sectors, these findings may inform partnerships, curriculum, and program design.

Given the rapid growth and constant advances of the IT sector, institutions with IT degree programs are challenged to ensure that their curricula are current and meeting the needs of employers. This study’s findings may offer timely insight into elements of workforce preparedness.

Climate change is major global policy issue. The news media play a vital role in conveying information about climate change to the public, giving voice to a variety of perspectives as well as outlining policy responses to this issue. However, the growing distrust of news media could lead to dire outcomes on the public's knowledge and policy support related to climate change. This paper uses a mixed method approach (random digit dialing survey, content analysis of newspaper articles) to examine information sources used in learning about climate change, whose voices are presented in climate change discourse, and whose voices are trusted. While news media are the most popular source of information about climate change (n=1207), only half of respondents reported trusting the news media. Scientists are the most trusted source of information (n=1208) and most cited source in news coverage (n=48). Their messages focus on the sources of climate change and the seriousness of this problem. Scientists' messages about climate change are clouded by high levels of distrust in the news media, the primary venue through which their messages are conveyed. In this context, climate change knowledge, level of concern, and support for public policies may suffer.

Uses data on 1,550 nonlethal assaults recorded by Baltimore County Police Department. Examines factors that are associated with the likelihood of officer injury after an assault. Notes that factors affecting the probability of assault do not necessarily correspond with the factors that affect the likelihood of injury. Analyzes a broader spectrum of contributory factors than those addressed by other research. Finds inter alia that greater officer proficiency in unarmed defensive tactics may reduce their assault‐related injuries, since most incidents do not involve arms; that in‐service training should be biased toward less experienced officers who are at greater risk; that officer height is a significant variable; that many officers suffer multiple attacks; that domestic disturbances do not rank higher than other dangers, but that this may reflect the possibility that officers anticipate potential violence and take better precautions before attending the scene.