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Framed as a pilot study, the purpose of this paper is to study the perceived appropriateness of an existing collaborative procurement procedure (CPP) framework from the housebuilder’s perspective, seeking to improve its utility and stimulate further exploration.

Informed by an existing CPP framework and conducted by a UK-based development professional, four in-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken with senior housebuilding practitioners from London and surrounding counties. A qualitative analysis was then conducted for this sociological study.

Perceived appropriateness of the framework was high; however, a number of procedural improvements were identified, along with limitations. Future studies are recommended including the influence upon project performance of groundworker integration at the design stage.

Limited to four interviews from one regional area, the study provides an initial insight into the appropriateness of an existing CPP framework. Insights into why CP uptake is marginal within housebuilding were also gained. The research purpose was achieved but by offering a self-reflection upon practice (vis-à-vis wider generalisations), the findings provide a springboard for further studies.

The research identifies with current practice, industry perceptions and paths towards improving the utility of the CPP framework.

This study offers insights into the perceptions of private housebuilding practitioners of their own practices and the factors they find challenging within the social constructs of their industry.

This research constitutes one of the first studies in the UK to examine the CPP framework from the perspective of the private housebuilder and is undertaken with the express purpose of furthering that framework’s utility.

Purpose – This chapter describes how radical aims for community-owned broadband became compromised by the consequences of clientelism and elite patronage as some campaigners engaged in lobbying government.

Design/methodology/approach – Five years of participant observation and an auto-ethnographic methodology richly describe the author's involvement in a community broadband co-operative, various regional and national support groups and finally with a national group conducting campaigning, research and co-ordination activities for community ownership of Next Generation Access broadband.

Findings – This illustrates the difficulties faced by Third Sector and Civil Society organisations attempting to engage in lobbying activities in the same manner as conventional commercial lobbyists. In particular, it describes how lobbying necessitates a complex interlocking of activities, such as research, consultancy, conference organisation and other such forms of networking; and it describes how all of these activities can become subordinated to the interests of political patrons. It also suggests that the uncertainty around the meanings and relevance of the Third Sector/Civil Society has allowed the entry of older forms of exerting power such as clientelism and patronage.

Research limitations/implications – Further research is needed into a much larger group of organisations to examine the processes by which Third Sector and Civil Society groups engage with government.

Originality/value – The chapter uniquely applies Critical Management Studies and a political studies perspective on clientelism and patronage to the analysis of Third Sector and Civil Society organisations.

THE Reference Department of Paisley Central Library today occupies the room which was the original Public Library built in 1870 and opened to the public in April 1871. Since that date two extensions to the building have taken place. The first, in 1882, provided a separate room for both Reference and Lending libraries; the second, opened in 1938, provided a new Children's Department. Together with the original cost of the building, these extensions were entirely financed by Sir Peter Coats, James Coats of Auchendrane and Daniel Coats respectively. The people of Paisley indeed owe much to this one family, whose generosity was great. They not only provided the capital required but continued to donate many useful and often extremely valuable works of reference over the many years that followed. In 1975 Paisley Library was incorporated in the new Renfrew District library service.

Employment can make an important contribution to individual well-being, for example, by providing people with a sense of purpose; however, autistic individuals face significant barriers to entering the workforce. This is reflected in high levels of underemployment and unemployment, with an estimated 80% of autistic people unemployed worldwide. This is higher than both other disability groups and people without disabilities. Research is needed to identify strategies that facilitate the sustained employment of autistic adults. This study aims to examine the perspectives of autistic individuals participating in a specialized employment program within the information and communication technology sector.

Three focus groups were conducted with nine adults on the autism spectrum. Data were analyzed using an inductive approach according to established guidelines, which included coding and categorizing data into themes.

Focus group analysis revealed four themes: trainees’ previous work experiences; expectations of the employment program; recruitment and selection processes; and training and transition. Several factors associated with the changes to the recruitment and selection process were found to benefit the autistic employees.

Few studies have characterized the work experiences of adults on the autism spectrum. Tailored employment processes that challenge traditional human resource management practices can increase the participation of autistic individuals in the workforce. Strategies for promoting the success of these programs are discussed.

To enhance their innovation and reputation, many organizations introduce programs that are intended to attract, retain and support diverse communities. Yet, these programs are often unsuccessful, partly because explicit references to diversity tend to evoke defensive reactions in employees from the dominant culture. To circumvent this problem, the purpose of this paper is to explore the hypothesis that individuals tend to be more receptive to diversity whenever they experience meaning in life. Furthermore, four workplace characteristics – informational justice, a manageable workload, equality in status and a compelling vision of the future – should foster this meaning in life.

To assess these possibilities, 177 employees completed a survey that assessed workplace practices, meaning in life and openness to diversity.

The results showed that informational justice, a manageable workload and a compelling vision were positively associated with openness to other cultures, constituencies and perspectives, and these relationships were partly or wholly mediated by meaning in life.

These findings imply that leaders might be able to foster an openness to diversity, but without explicit references to this diversity, circumventing the likelihood of defensive reactions. Specifically, a program that simultaneously encourages transparent communication, diminishes workload and clarifies the vision or aspirations of the future may represent an inexpensive but powerful means to foster an openness to diversity.

This paper aims to adapt Simons’ (1995b) theory of the role of information technology (IT) in shaping and facilitating the levers of control (i.e. the Levers of Control Applied to Information Technology – LOCaIT) as a framework for investigating how eBay’s business strategy was realized through its management control system (MCS) in the first 10 years of the online auction market.

The qualitative method uses data from public record interviews, teaching cases, books, Securities and Exchange Commission filings and other archival sources to longitudinally trace the realization of eBay’s strategy through its MCS and IT.

Realizing its strategy through the eBay MCS necessitated a diagnostic control system unlike any previously seen. This system created a close-knit online community and enabled buyers and sellers to monitor one another’s performance and trustworthiness.

The LOCaIT theory facilitated understanding the core aspects of the realization of eBay’s strategy through its MCS and IT. However, LOCaIT largely omits the strong linkages evident among elements of the MCS, the importance and necessity of building a core IT infrastructure to support eBay’s strategy and the central role of building consumer trust in the realization of this strategy.

eBay’s MCS is now, perhaps, the world’s most widely imitated model for creating online trust and user interactions (e.g. Yelp, TripAdvisor, Amazon). In addition, eBay’s MCS was “sold” as a consumer product that was instrumental in facilitating consumer trust in the online auction market.

Contributions include: tracing the creation, growth and evolution of, perhaps, the world’s largest and most widely imitated MCS, which redefined the boundaries of accounting systems monitoring; and testing the range, usefulness and limitations of Simons’ LOCaIT theory as a lens for understanding eBay’s use of IT in their MCS.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between CEO pay slice (CPS) – the fraction of the top five executive directors’ total compensation that is captured by the chief executive officer (CEO) – and the value of firms in the UK. Specifically, this paper examines whether CPS alters the effectiveness of board performance by influencing cooperation and cohesiveness among its members.

This paper analyses a large sample of non-financial companies listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1997 to 2010. The empirical methodology includes the analysis of panel data by using a dynamic generalized method of moments estimator.

The evidence supports social comparison theory and demonstrates that high CPS is likely to impact negatively on executive team’s spirit and motivation. However, the tournament argument is supported when a subsample of companies with CEOs close to retirement age has been analysed. In addition, the findings suggest that companies perform better after the introduction of non-binding say on pay law in the UK in 2002.

The results have major implications for the on-going debate on how to reform executive remuneration, and highlight the importance of considering remuneration issues at the board level, supporting the principles of UK Corporate Governance Code (Financial Reporting Council, 2010).

The results indicate that CPS can provide a useful tool for research on firm performance, and that its relation with the value of firms is an important issue to be considered in the UK context. The findings also highlight the importance of considering board-wide remuneration issues without narrowing them down simply to the details of CEO compensation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how business schools can better engage with business practice, building on literature that highlights their lack of impact and questions their business-model sustainability. Reporting exemplars of good practice in engagement (in both research and teaching), the paper offers six recommendations for Deans of business schools, government, and businesses.

The research was undertaken for a report commissioned by the Association of Business Schools for the Minister of State for Universities and Science. Methods included a review of published literature; surveys of practising managers, managers who had changed careers to work in business schools, managers who had taken MBA degrees, doctoral students, deans of business schools, and fellows of learned societies; and interviews with individuals close to government who were themselves preparing reports on shaping government policy for business development and economic growth. Examples of good practice were examined for both content and lessons on how they developed.

Six recommendations are proposed, on programme design; faculty skills and experience; developing partnerships and relationships; assessing impact; managing and organizing research; and differentiating business-school offerings for enhanced profile and distinctiveness. Two further crosscutting themes relate to the incentives that might be required for change to happen, and the capabilities needed for delivery.

Originality in the paper stems from its focus on the solutions to the problems identified, as opposed to the restatement of the problems themselves.

The paper investigates the mediation role of external integration in the relationship between internal integration and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) performance. Information and communication technology (ICT) was used to moderate the relationship between internal and external, and external integration and SMEs performance.

Cross sectional method was used to distribute questionnaires to owners of SMEs in Abossey Okai business enclave to assess the various dimensions in the study. Structural equation modeling was employed to assess the relationship among the dimensions, based on 163 validated questionnaires. Analysis of Moment Structures (Amos) and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) were used in analyzing the data.

The results indicate that, external integration mediated the relationship between internal integration and SMEs performance. In addition, ICT had positive moderating effect in the relationship between internal and external integration, and external integration and SMEs performance.

Practically, this research informs owners and managers of SMEs to appreciate the importance of developing internal structures of a firm and further linking their operations with external partners. Additionally, findings will aid managers’ and owners’ leverage on ICT capabilities to enhance performance in their operations.

Engaging external integration to mediate the relationship between internal integration and SMEs performance and extending the relationship to include moderating role of ICT in both relationship that is internal and external integration on one side, and external and firm performance, the current study contributes to supply chain integration (SCI) and ICT available literature.

This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the informal and incidental learning that takes place in project work among individuals who must adapt to deviations from project plans.

Reflections in the study are built on four power plant projects found in an integrated provider of projects of this type. The projects were followed by participative observations during ten weeks of onsite visits. Furthermore, 26 interviews were done among participants in the organisation on working practices and implications. Data included interviews, reports, minutes‐of‐meetings, observations, and e‐mail correspondence that characterised the cases.

The paper finds that learning occurred at two levels. First, there was the learning that occurred as each of the deviations was handled. The second aspect of learning involved the patterns in which remedies were handled.

Because research was built on case studies, one has the reservations common with that approach. Nevertheless, the learning architecture that Sense related to intra‐project learning has features that relate to the situation where learning has occurred from projects. Further, by associating observations with the background provided by Lindblom and Simon, suggestions carry inherent credibility.

The organisation that was set up seemed particularly effective in handling the deviations. Also, intuition came into play. Both these items may interest consultants and trainers as well as academics.

Although the need to handle project deviations is appreciated in practice, it is not clear that there is an understanding of how response occurs. The paper documents response across the stages of projects, which is original. Value is associated with the interpretation.