Willcocks L P, Currie W, Jackson S
Public Administration, (UK), Winter 97 (75/4)
Start page: 617 No of pages: 33

Assesses the applicability of business process re-engineering to the UK public sector and asks if its prescriptions and practices are suitable for radical organizational change in this context. Studies three major information technology projects, one in the health service and two in different parts of the postal service, which used a business process re-engineering approach. Identifies five factors which affect the outcome of organizational change – the pressure to act, locus of support; levers for change; themes, i.e. messages used in the rhetoric of change; and approach. Uses these as a framework to analyse the cases under study, assessing three aspects of the change: the level of risk in a business process re-engineering project; the role of information technology; and the influence of human cultural and political issues on the process. Concludes that it is unrealistic to undertake such widespread change without recognizing the traditions and practices which will influence and inhibit the change and emphasizing the importance of human, cultural and political issues in any change project. Cautions managers against trying to take a unitary, clean sheet approach to organizational change such as that prescribed by business process re-engineering, stressing instead the importance of continuity as a basis for change.

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Clarke C C, Lipp G D
Training & Development, (USA), Feb 98 (52/2)
Start page: 20 No of pages: 13

Presents a seven-step process which can help people from different cultures understand each other and resolve problems. Based on a case study of a US-based Japanese subsidiary, highlights the difficulties that can arise because of the conflicting work methods and communication styles of team members from Japan and the USA. Sets out a method for resolving such conflicts. Explains the facilitation methods which trainers or organizational development staff can use to explore the problems that are arising at work, analyse the cultural expectations, assumptions and values which are fuelling them and understand the organizational constraints which are exacerbating them. Describes how the case study problem was resolved, drawing out the techniques which can be applied, more generally, in other companies. Outlines how this process can be integrated into corporate learning systems to make sure that the benefits of the conflict resolution are applied in other areas of the business. Sets out the benefits of this approach to inter-cultural training.

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Teare R, Dealtry R
The Learning Organization, (UK), Vol 5 No 1 98
Start page: 47 No of pages: 14

Summarizes the views of a number of management writers on how to create a learning environment and their definitions of a learning organization. Reports an Internet conference which explored aspects of organizational learning and the concept of the learning organization, focusing on the experience of BAA plc, the UK airports organization to look at the nature of a learning organization and to identify the processes within the organization which support learning. Summarizes the main recommendations arising from these discussions. Analyses how organizations can develop organizational learning and, ultimately, the learning organization, commenting on the views of other management writers.

Read more on BUILDING AND SUSTAININ A LEARNING ORGANISATION…

Buckle A
Modern Management, (UK), Oct 97 (11/5)
Start page: 8 No of pages: 4

Discusses the strains that can emerge down the line when organizations change. Suggests that difficulties can be attenuated by effective internal communication to aid middle management to interpret and promote senior managers’ ideas and support and motivate their teams. Stresses that the role of middle management is to facilitate change and that effective communication can promote the organization’s vision and aid employees’ understanding of how and where they fit in. Describes a communication planning model, emphasizing the role of communication in aiding achievement of an organization’s objectives.

Read more on COMMUNICATION AND THE TEAM LEADER…

Benchmarking
Arkin A

People Management, (UK), 19 Feb 98 (4/4)
Start page: 49 No of pages: 2

Looks at the potential for UK organizations to club together to benchmark their operations, setting out the advantages of doing so. Profiles the benchmarking organized by the Financial Services Special Interests Group benchmarking club, indicating how the benchmarking statistics it provides can be used to give organizations a real understanding of problems in their human resource practices. Considers a similar approach to benchmarking undertaken within the UK’s Civil Service which looked at the National Audit Office’s use of secondments.

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(Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust)
Merrick N
People Management, (UK), 22 Jan 98 (4/2)
Start page: 44 No of pages: 3

Profiles how the Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust, (UK) uses simulations and role play in its training workshops on negotiation which are open to managers and trade unionists. Describes how the training supports the Trust’s use of joint negotiating committee and single-table bargaining, illustrating this by showing one such simulation in action.

Read more on THEATRICAL TREATMENT…

Lepsinger R, Lucia A D
Training & Development, (USA), Feb 98 (52/2)
Start page: 49 No of pages: 4

Emphasizes the importance of gaining the support of staff and line employees for 360 degree feedback programmes. Advises trainers and human resource development managers to identify the key decision makers and stakeholders and use this information when assessing where the main resistance to the feedback system will come from. Sets out the main reasons that people may distrust a new system and explains how to defuse their resistance. Underlines the importance of pre-planning any meetings with stakeholders to make sure that the right approach is taken in the meeting.

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Schaafsma H

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, (UK), Vol 18 No 1 97
Start page: 41 No of pages: 9

Examines the role of middle managers in managing change. Considers the recommendations of the Karpin Report which looked at the skills needed by Australian managers, linking this to the literature on change, arguing that shift away from top-down change management gives a new role for middle managers. Introduces the concerns-based networking model of change, which focuses on the middle managers’ networking styles in facilitating change, and considers how it would work in practice. Highlights the importance of action learning in helping managers to test and reconstruct the model, and develop their change management skills in practice.

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The Growth of Local Quangos
Payne T, Skelcher C

Public Administration, (UK), Summer 97 (75/2)
Start page: 207 No of pages: 18

Looks at why there should have been such an increase in the number of appointed local bodies in the UK, such as health commissions, city technology colleges and Training and Enterprise Councils. Considers four explanations: agency-type, which identifies a number of reasons for the growth; the desire of central government to extend its ideological influence over public activities; the restructuring of the state according to a managerialist model; and regulationist explanations, which see the expansion as part of the need to find new institutions to regulate the changed social and political structures that have come about. Assesses the validity of these explanations, rejecting each as a possible explanation on its own. Prefers a framework which integrates three of them – placing the ideological and managerialist explanations in the context of the regulationist approach. Uses this framework to explain the development of the different types of quango over the past 30 years.

Read more on EXPLAINING LESS ACCOUNTABILITY….

Paddock S C
Public Personnel Management, (USA), Winter 97 (26/4)
Start page: 441 No of pages: 20

Explains the process used to develop benchmarks for Certified Public Manager Programmes which are used for management training by a number of states in the USA. Sets out the benchmarks derived for the Programme’s advisory board, the administrative and financial support it has, its management philosophy, its administrative control, the selection and support of programme participants, the accessibility, approach and support for participants’ learning, the training quality, the evaluation of participants and the programme evaluation. Explains the importance of the areas of the programme being benchmarked. Sets out the benchmark scores of the 12 states which participated in the benchmarking. Presents a summary list of the benchmarks and the standards set.

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