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In recent years, practitioners have identified a number of problems with traditional performance management (PM) systems, arguing that PM is broken and needs to be fixed. In this chapter, we review criticisms of traditional PM practices that have been mentioned by journalists and practitioners and we consider the solutions that they have presented for addressing these concerns. We then consider these problems and solutions within the context of extant scholarly research and identify (a) what organizations should do going forward to improve PM practices (i.e., focus on feedback processes, ensure accountability throughout the PM system, and align the PM system with organizational strategy) and (b) what scholars should focus research attention on (i.e., technology, strategic alignment, and peer-to-peer accountability) in order to reduce the science-practice gap in this domain.

To generate effective long‐term solutions to contemporary management problems, information from a multitude of disciplines, not just economics, must be employed. The difficulties of integrating these different kinds of information is discussed. A six‐step model for implementing a multi‐disciplinary approach to management decision making is presented. The model also yields a by‐product which may ultimately prove more significant than the model′s output, namely, promotion of a genuinely integrative perspective towards generating and implementing managerial strategies.

As the US moves from a production‐oriented to a technology‐oriented economic base, information itself has begun to acquire the characteristics of a basic resource, much like oil or labour. Recognition of this transformation, especially its implications for managerial decision‐making, is critical for effective economic and management decisions.

An intriguing development in the realm of commercial software has arisen over the last decade, from highly improbable beginnings. From its inception in the ‘hacker ethic’, freeware has had a huge impact on IT businesses around the world, most strongly in the guise of its spin‐off, open source software. The eventual consequences are that, for example, more than 60% of all the servers on the World Wide Web are running the Apache open source system, and Linux, the open source cousin of Unix, is challenging Microsoft’s products as the most popular business server operating system. Major IT users such as multinational banks, and major IT companies including IBM, Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems, Dell, Oracle, Informix, Intel, Fujitsu, AMD and Computer Associates are investing in and supporting Linux. In 1998, Netscape Communications made public (‘opened’) the source code for its Netscape web browser. In 1999 Apple published the source for the ‘Darwin’ core of its Mac OS X. The Perl freeware programming language continues to gain popularity for web‐based applications.

The aim of this paper is to describe the opportunity for public relations professionals in the new communications environment

The authors developed a point of view, and conducted secondary research to confirm and supplement it.

The communications environment has changed. The new climate requires organizations to engage in a two‐way dialog with their constituencies. “Push” communication has lost effectiveness. In this environment, people trained in public relations are in a unique position to take the lead in forming communications strategies for their organizations or clients.

This work is based on the authors' personal views of the current communication environment, and is supported by the views of many of the leading players in the public relations world.

The primary purpose of this paper is to explore the importation of the convergence idea into the Indian regulatory and institutional context.

The objectives of this paper were largely achieved by utilizing textual or policy document analysis. This methodological technique involves an analysis of primary and some secondary sources including: statements from policy makers and direct quotations from policy documents. In theoretical terms, this inquiry is grounded in institutionalism.

Barriers to achieving real convergence are not merely a function of perceptual flaws in regulatory measures or shortcomings of the industries involved, but are endemic to unrealistic conceptualizations of the phenomenon in the literature.

More quantitative metrics could be added. However, if more quantitative methods are added the paper needs to be re‐written to accommodate them. Also a comparative perspective could be added, but then again the paper would have to be re‐designed.

This paper offers numerous concrete and practical applications for those in government and industry who are struggling with the convergence issue. For policymakers it provides insights for how governments and consultants may impact the progress of convergence. The paper also illustrates structural factors that industry will face in India in rolling out converged or multi‐media services.

Convergence in the Indian case is greatly under researched. While there has been considerable research into regulatory issues of the nation's telecommunications and broadcast industries, few if any studies have addressed convergence among distinct mediated communication forms. Inquiry into role the regulatory role of consultant firms is particularly lacking.