Suchergebnisse

Following on from the first part of the article the authors present the results of a survey which shows the continuing popularity of joint consultation during the recession.

Joint consultation has had a checkered history during the last 50 years. Both in the Second World War and in the late 1940s, consultative committees were widespread in manufacturing companies. Many observers of the industrial relations scene at that time based their great optimism for post war industrial relations in Britain on the efficacy of joint consultation. Subsequently, joint consultation came to be regarded as a failure and as in a state of decline due to the growth of workplace bargaining. In the course of the last three or four years, the results of several surveys have been published which cast light on current arrangements and have led to claims of a renaissance in joint consultation.

Despite the wide‐ranging debate on industrial relations in Great Britain, relatively little is known about management attitudes on a number of key issues. Data was collected from 300 managers, mainly top level management in the private, manufacturing sector in London and the South East, using a postal questionnaire. The article begins with a summary of their work situation and educational and social background and then proceeds to an examination of their attitudes. The attitudes are discussed under three headings: the nature of relationships in industry, management's role, and their problems. It is reported that there was a widespread belief that management constituted a third party, not allied to either employer or employee.

Through contemporary case studies of strategic management at work in the US and Europe, this collection shows that it can no longer be seen as a discipline for long term decisions but has become a central feature of the public sector. Individual chapters offer insights into strategic management capabilities at the national and sub-national level, Through up-to-date studies of public services, an outstanding cast of contributors provide in-depth and innovative perspectives on the state of strategic public management in the USA and Europe. Collectively, these compelling case studies offer profound insights into the emergence of strategic management practices and capabilities at both the national and sub-national level. Moreover, the individual contributions also investigate the nexus between strategic planning and other public management systems alongside the strategic dimension of networks and partnerships. This volume shows that strategic management, far from being simply a disciplined approach to long-term decisions, has become a central feature of public organisations at large in the US and Europe. The result is a collection that is essential reading for all students and scholars of public management and administration

Through up-to-date studies of public services, an outstanding cast of contributors provide in-depth and innovative perspectives on the state of strategic public management in the USA and Europe. Collectively, these compelling case studies offer profound insights into the emergence of strategic management practices and capabilities at both the national and sub-national level. Moreover, the individual contributions also investigate the nexus between strategic planning and other public management systems alongside the strategic dimension of networks and partnerships. This volume shows that strategic management, far from being simply a disciplined approach to long-term decisions, has become a central feature of public organisations at large in the US and Europe. The result is a collection that is essential reading for all students and scholars of public management and administration.

In July 1985 the government decided in favour of major reform of wages councils. It restricted their scope to setting minimum hourly and overtime rates of pay and removed people under 21 completely from their coverage. This raises questions about the functions of wages councils within the British industrial relations system. There is a need to adopt an industrial relations perspective on wages councils. Contemporary debate on the continued usefulness of wages councils is biased against them by virtue of failing to recognise that they exist not only to protect workers from low pay, but also represent state attempts to create collective bargaining and industrial democracy in situations where the capacity of workers for collective organisation has been too low to support voluntary developments. All these different identities of wages councils need to be understood and combined to achieve a comprehensive conception of their actual significance. There is a need for more research based on appropriate methodologies, studying the wages council sector itself and for studies to measure the effects of wages councils on efficiency and productivity.

Abstract
Boards of directors that have a leadership role in corporate strategic planning go beyond merely caring for shareholder interests and take a proactive role in the success of the business. They do this by setting the strategic direction and evaluating company performance.
The cultural and organizational conditions for the development of leadership boards are however, not well understood. The roles of executive and non‐executive directors need to be clearly defined in order that such boards can be effective and assert control over strategy and performance. Executive directors can only be effective when they clearly differentiate their role of providing direction from their daily role of working with managers in the company.
Recent research has begun to push back the ignorance surrounding the development of leadership boards. This will be examined in order to define the barriers standing in the way of more empowered directors. It will then be used to identify the actions and approaches that can be used by directors to develop their involvement in, and influence over, corporate strategic planning.
This is then followed by a discussion of boards that places the issue in their contemporary policy context. It leads to the conclusion that the organization of partnership between board and management is important and that business success increasingly rests on openness and trust supported by creative and challenging dialogue.
Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Guidance for designing and delivering Masters in Public Administration (MPA) programmes has just been approved by three key stakeholder bodies - the Public Administration Committee (of the Joint University Council), the Public Management & Policy Association, and the Public Administration Specialist Group of the UK's Political Studies Association. The Guidance benefitted from contributions by staff of the National School of Government and of Government Skills. Why is the development of this Guidance timely, what was the thinking behind it, and what are the principles that should be followed in designing and delivering MPAs? As will be seen, we give a lot of attention to the needs of the civil service and the new skills agenda for central government, because this is an important recent development, but the Guidance has been drafted for central government, regional bodies, local government, and all other public services organizations.