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The key design considerations for putting together effective management development activities are briefly reviewed. The Managerial Problems Survey, one mechanism for operationalising these design considerations, is described, followed by a case study of how one organisation used these ideas. Several suggestions are then presented for how organisations and their managers can increase the relevance and benefits of management development efforts.

Clients or users of products, processes or services are currently being identified as potential sources of innovation in construction. There are concerns about the degree of innovation within the construction industry, despite having potential to be innovative. The role that can be played by the construction client to promote innovation in the industry is well documented. However, lack of knowledge on the desirable characteristics of the construction client was identified as one of the barriers for the construction client to be an effective innovation promoter. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the characteristics of the construction client that promote innovation.

Multiple holistic case studies were used as the research strategy and semi‐structured interviews were used as the principal data collection technique. Code‐based content analysis and cognitive mapping were used to analyse the interviews. Data analysis was supported by two computer‐aided softwares, NVivo and Decision Explorer.

Clients can increase the efficiency of work carried out towards the construction process, stimulate team dynamics, and team action through the championing characteristics, which in turn can strengthen the innovation process that lead to the innovative product. Being a team player, promoting respect for people, and knowledge and information dissemination are identified as constituents of the championing characteristics of clients that promote innovation in construction projects. The personal skills of clients such as competence, value judgement, flexibility, and self‐motivation will energise the success of the championing characteristics.

The client characteristics identified from the study widen the knowledge base of the client to successfully engage in construction innovation.

Earliest localism was sited on a tree or hill or ford, crossroads or whenceways, where people assembled to talk, (Sax. witan), or trade, (Sax. staple), in eggs, fowl, fish or faggots. From such primitive beginnings many a great city has grown. Settlements and society brought changes; appointed headmen and officials, a cloak of legality, uplifted hands holding “men to witness”. Institutions tend to decay and many of these early forms passed away, but not the principle vital to the system. The parish an ecclesiastical institution, had no place until Saxons, originally heathens, became Christians and time came when Church, cottage and inn filled the lives of men, a state of localism in affairs which endured for centuries. The feudal system decayed and the vestry became the seat of local government. The novels of Thomas Hardy—and English literature boasts of no finer descriptions of life as it once was—depict this authority and the awe in which his smocked countrymen stood of “the vicar in his vestry”. The plague freed serfs and bondsmen, but events, such as the Poor Law of 1601, if anything, revived the parish as the organ of local government, but gradually secular and ecclesiastical aspects were divided and the great population explosion of the eighteenth century created necessity for subdivision of areas, which continued to serve the principle of localism however. The ballot box completed the eclipse of Church; it changed concepts of localism but not its importance in government.

Legal process by its very nature cannot be swift; step by step, it must be steady and sure and this takes time. There is no room for hasty decisions for these would tend to defeat its purpose. Time, however, is of the essence and this is set for various aspects of legal action by limitation of actions legislation, which sets periods after which the case is no longer actionable. The periods are adequate and in civil law, generous to avoid injustice being done. The one serious complaint against the process of law, however, is the unwarrantable delays which are possible despite limitation. From the far‐off days of Equity, when Dickens' Jarndyce v Jarndyce, caricatured and exaggerated as it was, described the scene down to the present when delays, often spoken of in Court as outrageous are encountered, to say nothing of the crowded lists in the High Courts and Crown Courts; the result of the state of society and not the fault of the judiciary. Early in 1980, it was reported that 14,500 cases were awaiting trial in the Southeastern Circuit Crown Court alone. Outside the Courts legal work hangs on, to the annoyance of those concerned; from house purchase to probate. Here, the solicitor is very much his own master, unhampered by statutory time limits and the only recourse a client has is to change this solicitor, with no certainty that there will be any improvement, or appeal to the Law Society.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

During the year 5,399 samples were taken under the Food and Drugs Act. Of these, 398 (7·4 per cent.) were against, as adulterated, below standard, or incorrectly labelled. The remainder, 1,173 samples, included water, 602, pasteurized milk 400—eight of these indicated a slight, technical error in preparation, and three “gross error.” Soot gauges 24. The total number of milk samples examined during the year was 2,844—excluding those just mentioned. Of these, 9·9 per cent. were found to be adulterated. This percentage of adulteration or for non‐compliance with the legal limit of 8·5 per cent. non‐fatty solids and 3 per cent. is the highest for six years. It is remarked that the freezing point test shows that the milks were naturally low in solids not fat. This would seem to be due to the cumulative effect during the last few years of feeding‐stuffs shortage, though the average annual composition of samples taken has varied but little during the war years and compares favourably with pre‐war milks. The Public Analyst points out that 9·9 per cent. does not mean that 9·9 per cent. of the Birmingham milk is adulterated, as more than one sample was taken from vendors whose milk was under suspicion. Tables given show that the average composition for all milks and farmers' milk were identical. The prosecutions call for no very extended comment. The milk cooler—that great source of surprises—was in each case found to be in working order. The cows were in “good heart.” In one case the cowman was fined £3 for adding water. The farmer, for not exercising due diligence under Section 83 of the Food and Drugs Act, was fined £20 on each of six summonses issued against him, £120 in all, with £1 costs. The farmer seems to have been, and probably still is, a hopeless case. He had been fined £30 and costs in 1940, and £580 with £46 costs in 1942. About £750 in all! We suppose he still carries on, but what about the consumers! Baking powder and self‐raising flour were reported against for carbon dioxide deficiency. This was apparently due to the use of old stock. The vendors were cautioned. Old stock—at least we suppose age to be the explanation—is also distinguished in other ways: cheese, infested with mites, unfit for consumption; cocoa, mouldy, and paper wrapper contained book lice; coffee, contained a mass of cobwebs; lentils, grubs and mite eggs; and so on. The immediate origin of another dealer's wrapping paper would seem to have been the coal scuttle since paper, lard and butter were speckled with coal particles. The Veterinary Inspector was requested to visit all the places of sale which would seem to be half‐way houses to the hospital for the consumer. An interesting point is raised in the matter of a sample labelled “lemon flavour.” This delicacy consisted of a 6 per cent. solution of citric acid, containing in suspension a small amount of starchy matter to make it look like lemon juice. It was flavoured with oil of lemon and contained 118 parts per million of sulphur dioxide. As the Preservatives Regulations forbid the introduction of sulphur dioxide into an article of this kind the firm was written, and replied that they considered the article to be “an unsweetened cordial, and that therefore sulphur dioxide was allowed up to 600 parts per million” (italics ours). The relevant Section referred to states: “Non‐alcoholic wines, cordials and fruit juices, sweetened and unsweetened, 350 (not 600) parts per million sulphur dioxide or 600 parts per million benzoic acid.” The Public Analyst points out that in the final report of the Departmental Committee on the use of preservatives in foods (1924) a comma appears after the word cordials in the above (italics ours) “making it clear that the words sweetened or unsweetened refer only to fruit juices, and that no such article as an unsweetened cordial is recognised. Such a description is a contradiction in terms, for the essential ingredient of a non‐alcoholic cordial is sugar.” The Ministry of Food was written and their attention called to the apparent omission of the comma in the published text of the Preservatives Regulations, and drawing attention to the fact that whether the omission were unintentional or deliberate the result was to permit the use of preservative in an instance where the committee of experts appointed do not choose to make such a recommendation. The Ministry in their reply did not reply to this question, but said the firm had no licence to manufacture the flavouring but asked for particulars of sale. The soot gauges show on the whole a steady decline in atmospheric smoke pollution. The average amount of insoluble matter expressed in tons per square mile per month. The Central Station figures are 13·5 in 1945. It was 37·6 in 1936. The West Heath Station 4·9 in 1945. It was 10·9 in 1938. Satisfactory as far as the reduction in atmospheric pollution goes. May it continue.

On another page we reprint some of the specially library paragraphs from the Fourth Annual Report of the Carnegie Trustees; and we believe that no apology is necessary for bringing them thus separately to all library workers. This beneficent institution is pursuing a policy in regard to our movement which, in its generosity, liberality, and at the same time cautious and wise restraint, must have the warm approval of librarians. It has been realized in a practical fashion that the library movement should not be allowed to stagnate during the war, because the most insistent calls upon the services and resources of libraries are likely to be made very soon after the cessation of hostilities, and if libraries are prepared now to meet those calls there should then be an impetus to the movement that will establish it finally.

Globally, prefabrication in housebuilding has evolved as an innovative approach to attain sustainability and affordability. However, the SC, including non-producers and producers, of prefabricated housebuilding projects is still not perceptually aligned, hindering innovation diffusion. This paper investigates the contemporary industry perspective on PHB for conceptualisation, market share and growth, innovation diffusion and the producer's role in the context of New Zealand.

An exploratory qualitative research design was chosen to learn the perceptual stance of the industry. A semi-structured survey was conducted, followed by interviews with selected supply chain participants, who were producers and non-producers and had relevant experience in the PHB industry.

This study reports the common terminologies used by supply chain members, with justification and explanation. Further, the perceived market share and growth of the PHB industry are obtained and compared with subsequent studies to determine the capability and capacity. The perception of the diffusion of PHB by type is reported to portray the overall trend of the industry. In the last, the role of producers as the suppliers of PHB projects is investigated to establish the stakeholder positional criticality.

This study can help researchers and practitioners gain insight into the PHB industry from a multi-dimensional perspective. This study is a potential first step to formalise the policy, programme, strategies and action plan for the uptake of the PHB in the New Zealand.

PHB diffusion in the supply chain perspective, considering multi-dimensional aspects, has not been considered in previous studies as government agencies produce most of the literature. This academic research establishes the theoretical linkage towards PHB diffusion and reports the current status.

Much to the relief of everyone, the general election has come and gone and with it the boring television drivel; the result a foregone conclusion. The Labour/Trade Union movement with a severe beating, the worst for half a century, a disaster they have certainly been asking for. Taking a line from the backwoods wisdom of Abraham Lincoln — “You can't fool all the people all the time!” Now, all that most people desire is not to live easy — life is never that and by the nature of things, it cannot be — but to have a reasonably settled, peaceful existence, to work out what they would consider to be their destiny; to be spared the attentions of the planners, the plotters, provocateurs, down to the wilful spoilers and wreckers. They have a right to expect Government protection. We cannot help recalling the memory of a brilliant Saturday, but one of the darkest days of the War, when the earth beneath our feet trembled at the destructive might of fleets of massive bombers overhead, the small silvery Messerschmits weaving above them. Believing all to be lost, we heaped curses on successive Governments which had wrangled over rearmament, especially the “Butter before Guns” brigade, who at the word conscription almost had apoplexy, and left its people exposed to destruction. Now, as then, the question is “Have they learned anything?” With all the countless millions Government costs, its people have the right to claim something for their money, not the least of which is the right to industrial and domestic peace.