SoM Working and Occasional Papers
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Item Open Access The 1988 Local Government Act and compulsory competitive tendering(1990) Parker, DavidItem Open Access 1992 : an investigation of strategies for management development(1991) Tyson, ShaunItem Open Access 30 years on - what have we learned about careers?(1996-01-01T00:00:00Z) Adamson, Stephen; Doherty, Noeleen; Viney, C.In everyday conversation, the term ‘career’ is generally understood to refer to the sequence of work-related experiences an individual has over the course of their working lifetime. For many people, a ‘career’ is distinct from a job’, since it also conjures up images of steady, even logical, progression up organisational hierarchies. It is not simply about what one does for a living, but about what an individual has done, does now, and might do in the future; the notion of career therefore embraces the dimension of time. In the light of widespread organisational restructuring and economic uncertainty since the late eighties, many of the taken for granted assumptions which have underpinned traditional notions of career, and in particular the organisational career, no longer seem valid. Both individuals and organisations are finding it increasingly difficult to conceptualise the idea of a logical ( long term) sequence of work-related experiences; there is no longer a clear and mutual understanding of what the career means to both individuals and organisations. This paper argues that both individuals and organisations can meaningfully redefine the notion of career by reconsidering its broader theoretical undeItem Open Access Academic entrepreneurs?(1989) Birley, Sue; McMullen, Ed; Myers, AndrewEntrepreneurial education has exploded over the past ten years in both the United States and the United Kingdom. In the USA there are now more than 50 institutions seeking academics to fill endowed posts; in the UK, there are more than 200 courses in small business in institutions of Higher and Further Education. The reasons for the growth has been essentially the same in both countries - in time of economic decline, with large firms shedding labour, new firms and small firms have been seen as a significant strand in future strategies. As a result, academic institutions have been forced to respond to a demand from both students and potential entrepreneurs, a demand fanned by a growing band of “academic entrepreneurs” . . . ..but are they?Item Open Access Accountability for public sector it projects and the senior responsible owner: a theoretical background and research agenda(2005-06-03T18:32:25Z) Lupson, Jonathan; Partington, DavidThe history of public sector IT capital projects is littered with examples of projects that have been delivered late, or have exceeded their budgets, or have proved unsuitable for their intended use. Such projects include the computerised passport processing system, the National Insurance Recording System and the Libra project (Comptroller and Auditor General, 1999,2001, 2003). Other projects such as the Benefits Card Payment project (Comptroller and Auditor General, 2000) have been cancelled prior to completion after the expenditure of significant sums of public money, having made little progress over an extended period of time. These project failures and their consequent negative impacts on the delivery of public services have been widely reported in an almost continuous stream of newspaper headlines. This succession of revelations about the problems of public sector IT capital projects has been accompanied by high levels of political and public concerns that the benefits of the projects are lost and that large sums of public money are being wasted. In the first part of the paper we argue that there has been a historical focus on institutional accountability at the expense of research into individual accountability. We explore how and why the traditional doctrine of civil servant accountability has declined, with a resultant increased emphasis on both the accountability of civil servants and on managerial performance. We examine the effects of managerialism on the changing subject of civil servant accountability and on the emergence of the SRO role. We formalize our arguments by developing two propositions that illustrate the basic flaws in the SRO concept that arise from subjective and cognitive aspects of understanding. In the second part of the paper we explore the potential and limitations of five different approaches to the study of SRO accountability that might take into account its cognitive and subjective components. We conclude that one of the five - experientialism, or phenomenography - offers to overcome the limitations of the others. We present three further theoretical propositions using phenomenographic principles to illustrate the argument for the existence of a range of understandings of SRO accountability. We conclude that the subjective and cognitive limitations outlined open the way for further research into the field of accountability and the management of IT projects across the public sector.Item Open Access Achieving high response rates : a survey of postal research(1989) de Chernatony, LeslieItem Open Access Acting on information: Performance management for the public sector(2006-07-01T00:00:00Z) Neely, Andrew; Micheli, Pietro; Martinez, VeronicaThis briefing examines how public sector organisations can use performance data more effectively to support decision-making and produce improvements in organisational performance. In particular it looks at the challenge of converting performance data into insights and then acting on those insights. Drawing on the academic literature, as well as some notable case studies from the private sector, we have identified five key ‘best practice’ lessons for organisations that want to extract greater insight from their performance data and to ensure that those insights are actedItem Open Access The admission of mature adult students to executive MBA programmes(1990) Elkin, GrahamItem Open Access After sales service in UK manufacturing(Cranfield School of Management, 1988-04) Clark, GrahamItem Open Access After sales support strategy(1990) Armistead, ColinItem Open Access After sales support strategy : a research agenda(1991) Clark, GrahamItem Open Access Agility and flexibility: what's the difference?(1996) Baker, JohnThere is growing interest in the concept of “agile organisations” amongst management practitioners and academics. Early publications have been largely practitioner-oriented and have been at pains to claim that this is a new idea, with fundamental differences to other concepts such as flexibility and lean production. However, there has been little direct explanation of what these differences actually are. A particular area of confusion appears to be over the difference between “agility” and the established concept of “flexibility”, a confusion which this paper starts to attempt resolving.Item Open Access Aligning HRM with service delivery(1997) Viney, ClaireItem Open Access Aniko Jewellers Private Ltd : A case study and teaching notes(1992) Brown, RobertItem Open Access The application of foresight in UK research and development(1997) Hambly, MarkItem Open Access Item Open Access An appraisal of media weight tests(Cranfield school of Management, 1973-10) Corkindale, David; Kennedy, SherrilThis report considers the topic of media weight testing: that is,the examination of the effect of different levels of media advertising spending on behaviour in the market. In a simple test, for example, the level of expenditure is increased above normal in one area and the sales, brand shares or attitudes in that area are compared to those in other, comparable areas where normal weights of advertising are maintained. Although media weight tests are a much practised marketing exercise they would seem rarely to produce conclusive, or useful results. The MCRU has found that within the body of experiences of Sponsor companies only about one in twenty media weight tests have produced conclusive results. Similarly, discussion with other market researchers has suggested the same order of magnitude for the success ration. Also a study reported by Clancy (1972,1638) suggests the situation is not much better in the U.S.A. In order to formulate guidelines for successfully conducting media weight tests, it is necessary to establish, illustrate and understand the reasons giving rise to the usual failures. These reasons can be categorised in two ways: A - statistical, quantifiable reasons B - conceptual and managerial reasons, which tend to be less easily quantifiable After the problem has been defined, this report is set out in three parts:¬ Part A considers and establishes why the circumstances of the market place may render it unlikely that many media weight tests will produce any detectable changes in the market place; Part B considers the market and organisational context in which this sort of exercise is usually conducted and against which it has to be assessed; and Part C discuss the implications of these findings and presents guidelines for successful media weight tests.Item Open Access Approaching acquisitions strategically(1988) Payne, AdrianItem Open Access The appropriateness of incentives for small scale enterprise location in less developed areas(1987) Ramachandran, KavilItem Open Access Assessing and managing the risks of IS/IT investment(1992) Ward, John