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The advent of fundamental changes in processing systems towards lean manufacturing has coincided with a period of transition within the field of people management. Many companies are adopting lean approaches, either through their own or through their major customers′ volition. For many this is a potentially fraught route, lined with possible difficulties. This transition, however, can offer personnel practitioners and business managers an opportunity to assess areas of potential synergy between their lean processes and their people policies, a chance to examine the different paradigm offered by this approach. This article examines the implications on human resource strategy and policies of lean processes and highlights the major areas of transition.

This paper aims to describe the development of forms of advertising on radio and internet when they were new media and propose a model of periodization through which the two histories can be understood and appreciated.

Two narrative histories were constructed based on data collected from numerous public and private, historical and contemporary and primary and secondary materials. The methodology of New Historicism informed the research.

When the two histories are viewed through the model, many similarities in terms of milestones and markers become apparent.

Perhaps when the next new electronic mass medium is invented, a future researcher may look back on this model and consider whether it applies.

For practitioners who consider history a relevant source of knowledge and inspiration, this research offers a way of organizing and understanding the history of internet advertising.

Today’s consumers, especially Millennials, continue to seek to avoid advertising on the internet. The use of ad blockers poses a significant threat to the business models of online content providers. This research demonstrates that resistance to advertising is nothing new and that it may be, in the end, futile.

The model is an original creation, based on an original view of history, and offered as a lens through which to understand this history.

This paper aims to report on a recent study that investigated the distance learner's voice in relationship to their “lived experiences” of the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), including new media, for teaching and learning. The study reported on here sought to understand how distance learners are using new technology for teaching and learning in a world that increasingly uses and relies on these technologies.

This qualitative study took a phenomenological approach to investigating the students' experiences with ICTs. Participants were purposively selected to represent a variety of undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as a diverse range of distance learning experiences. A number of strategies for collecting the student voice were utilised, including the Day Experience Method (DEM), Charting the Week's Activities (CWA) and focus group discussions.

The study found that learners vary widely in their use of new media. However, there is emerging evidence that distance learners of all ages are beginning to appropriate new media to support a more mobile and connected learning experience.

These findings suggest that students' learning preferences are changing. This study provides the basis for further studies in this area and the need for institutions to consider how these changing preferences might be considered in relation to policy and practice in the provision of education for distance learners.

The need to make a “theoretical contribution” is a presumed mandate that permeates any researcher’s career in the Social Sciences, yet all too often this remains a source of confusion and frustration. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on, and further develops, the principal themes discussed in the “OM Theory” workshop in Dublin in 2011 and the special sessions at the 2011 and the 2013 EurOMA Conferences in Cambridge and Dublin.

This paper presents six short essays that explore the role and use of theory in management research, and specifically ask what is a good or meaningful contribution to theory. The authors comment on the current state of theory in Operations Management (OM) (Harry Boer), the type of theories the authors have in OM (Chris Voss), the role of theory in increasing the general understanding of OM problems (Roger Schmenner), whether the authors can borrow theories from other fields or actually have theory “of our own” (Matthias Holweg), the different ways in which a contribution to theory can be made (Martin Kilduff), and how to construct a theoretical argument (Mark Pagell).

The authors argue that theory is fundamental to OM research, but that it is not the inevitable starting point; discovery and observation are equally important and often neglected avenues to contributing to theory. Also, there is no one right way to making a contribution, yet consistency between ontology, epistemology, and claimed contribution is what matters. The authors further argue that the choice of theory is critical, as a common mistake is trying to contribute to high-level theories borrowed from other fields. Finally, the authors recommend using theory parsimoniously, yet with confidence.

The paper presents a collection of viewpoints of senior scholars on the need for, and use of, theory in OM research.