Much research has been directed at understanding how people share opinions, attitudes, norms and behaviour but, until recently, relatively little attention has focused on the processes by which groups change and innovate.

Written by leading social psychologists from Europe, the United States, and Australia, this text reviews the influence of minorities on attitude change, on individual and group decision making, and on organizational processes. The book also provides useful insights on how to work more effectively with groups in applied settings.

Timely and innovative, "Group Innovation "provides an important contribution to research in the developing area of consensus and innovation.

This eighth volume in the series on research in organizational change and development deals with such topics as practitioner attitudes to the field of organizational development and the effects of union status on employee involvement.

Analysing the trends that are emerging in sport enterprises such as advancements in technology and social media, the authors of this illuminating book tackle the issue of how to create new opportunities in such a changing industry. Providing valuable reading for sports business scholars, this book draws on examples from inventive companies as well as inspirational sports leaders and illustrates the various drivers behind innovation. Addressing the need for a culture of innovation within sports enterprises, the authors reveal sustainable ways for companies to stay ahead of the game in an increasingly competitive global sport market.

Given the fundamental and growing importance of health to the economy and society, this book addresses some of the key questions being asked in relation to health in the future. What will the health system look like, how much will it cost, what ethical framework will underlie future health policy and can we really have a system that is designed to improve health as well as provide health care? Based on the "Policy Futures for UK Health" project, this collection explores the shape of the health system and its key components, taking a multidisciplinary approach to health policy questions that is designed to appeal to the specialist and those who want to know more about our health system and what it might look like in the future.

The last several years has witnessed a growing interaction between economists and sociologists engaged in the study of organizations' strategies. Economists and sociologists can gain real insight from these interactions. To date, however, these interactions have been to ad hoc and unfocused to bear any real fruit. This volume moves the discussion to the next level by focusing the discussion, and taking a step toward systematizing some of the relationships between economic and sociological approaches to strategic management. To accomplish this, the volume reprints four 'matched pairs' of influential articles on firms' strategies in economic sociology and strategic management and use these articles to frame a conversation between the articles' pioneering authors and other prominent researchers in strategic management and sociology working on closely-related research problems. Each pair of articles followed by provocative essays - inspired by the pairing - written by the articles' original authors. Two contextualizing commentaries penned by influential strategy and organizations researchers - one grounded in strategic management and one in economic sociology - extend each conversation. A reflective reply from the articles' authors concludes the conversation - for now. A framing introduction and concluding epilogue, written by volume editors Joel Baum and Frank Dobbin, set the stage both for the volume and for future conversations between the disciplines in strategic management.

Performance is the key outcome of high morale, and the reason why it should be taken so seriously: with research gathered from some of the world's largest employee opinion databases and best academic centres, the authors lay out the morale-performance connection. Now raised from just 'touchy-feely' to 'mission critical', employee morale is finally getting the attention which it deserves. As it does, organizations are changing everything from their structure to their processes to take account of this fact, and starting to manage themselves around the need to measure and improve morale on an ongoing basis. Starting with the hiring process, to every single promotion, and via ongoing methods which the authors examine in detail, morale is increasingly the focus, high morale the goal. Check out Cary Cooper's Blog: http: //carycooperblog.com/ Check out David Bowles' Blog: www.davidbowles.wordpress.com

This book examines employee welfare in British and German companies from the 19th century through to the present day. Tracing the history of employee welfare, this comparative study reveals new issues beyond the dominant focus on the welfare state, showing that companies are an integral part of welfare systems with surprisingly few differences between the UK and Germany. Maintaining that employee welfare is a key feature of the modern employment relationship, Behling shows how the welfare programme supported industrialisation in the 19th century by cementing the standard employment model of the Fifties and Sixties, as well as how it revolves around corporate social responsibility today. The result is an innovative exploration into the changing nature of employment relationships, contemporary welfare systems, and the co-evolutionary - rather than categorical - development of economic and political institutions. An engaging and well-researched text, this book will hold special appeal to scholars of social policy, welfare politics, as well as anyone interested in the role of the state in people's working lives.

First published in 1989, this book presents a unique comparative perspective on the relationship between technological change and human resource management. Following a detailed introduction, chapters deal with a variety of issues, including managing change, industrial democracy and employee involvement, gender and structural change. International and well-renowned authors provide an authoritative analysis, which will be of particular interest to students of Business and Management, organisational and technological change, Economics and Sociology.

Regional Intergovernmental Organizations (REIGOs) have increased in number and importance since World War II and have assumed critical roles in both the economic and the political realms. Indeed, it is difficult--if not impossible--to discuss current economic issues without referring to the European Economic Community or the North American Free Trade Area. Similiarly, political REIGOs, such as NATO, the European Council, and the Organization of American States, are aggressively working to maintain peace and stability on a global scale. In the present volume, sociologist James Hawdon offers a novel approach to understanding the proliferation of these relatively new but increasingly important actors on the world stage.

Corporate Realities, first published in 1995, provides a concise but comprehensive review of the management issues relating to different types of organisation. Avoiding academic jargon, it describes the characteristics of administrative, manufacturing, service and professional organisations. It explores the features of both small and large businesses. The authors demonstrate how the transition from small to large scale can be achieved, as well as reviewing recent attempts to recreate entrepreneurial forms of organisation in the context of larger, more complex ones. Most importantly, it identifies future trends and the skills that will be needed to manage corporations at the turn of the century. This book will be of interest to students of business studies.

Postal service has received considerably less attention in the economics literature than traditional public utilities. Postal service is facing some very important challenges arising out of the increasingly high-tech nature of postal service, the entry of competition into the business, and new attitudes on the part of government to postal service. In the United Kingdom and Germany the increased interest in privatization and recognition of the benefits of competition are likely to have an impact on postal service. These challenges mean that postal managers must learn new ways of doing business, not just in successfully introducing new hardware and in new internal operating procedures, but also in the development of new pricing and costing methodologies and in the introduction of new management information systems. In order to deal with these new developments managers need a solid foundation in applied microeconomic theory as it relates to postal service. This book encompasses the theoretical foundation for postal policy, particularly with regard to pricing, service quality, and competitive issues.

This book provides an introduction to systems psychodynamic theory and its application to organisational consultancy, research and training, outlining systems dynamics methods and their historical and theoretical developments. Systems Psychodynamics is an emerging field of social science, the boundaries of which are continually being refined and re-defined. The 'systems' designation refers to open systems concepts that provide the framing perspective for understanding the structural aspects of organisational systems. These include its design, division of labour, levels of authority, and reporting relationships; the nature of work tasks, processes and activities; its mission and primary task; and the nature and patterning of the organisation's task and sentient boundaries and the transactions across them. This book presents a critical appraisal of the systems psychodynamics paradigm and its application to present-day social and organisational difficulties, showing how a holistic approach to organisational and social problems can offer a fresh perspective on difficult issues. Bringing together the theory and practice of systems psychodynamics for the first time, this book provides an examination of the systems psychodynamics paradigm in action. This book gives an accessible and thorough guide to understanding and using systems psychodynamic ideas for analysts, managers, policy makers, consultants and researchers in a wide range of professional and clinical settings.

This book shows how business process management (BPM), as a management discipline at the intersection of IT and Business, can help organizations to master digital innovations and transformations. At the same time, it discusses how BPM needs to be further developed to successfully act as a driver for innovation in a digital world. In recent decades, BPM has proven extremely successful in managing both continuous and radical improvements in many sectors and business areas. While the digital age brings tremendous new opportunities, it also brings the specific challenge of correctly positioning and scoping BPM in organizations. This book shows how to leverage BPM to drive business innovation in the digital age. It brings together the views of the world's leading experts on BPM and also presents a number of practical cases. It addresses mangers as well as academics who share an interest in digital innovation and business process management. The book covers topics such as BPM and big data, BPM and the Internet of Things, and BPM and social media. While these technological and methodological aspects are key to BPM, process experts are also aware that further nontechnical organizational capabilities are required for successful innovation. The ideas presented in this book have helped us a lot while implementing process innovations in our global Logistics Service Center. Joachim Gantner, Director IT Services, Swarovski AG Managing Processes - everyone talks about it, very few really know how to make it work in today's agile and competitive world. It is good to see so many leading experts taking on the challenge in this book. Cornelius Clauser, Chief Process Officer, SAP SE This book provides worthwhile readings on new developments in advanced process analytics and process modelling including practical applications - food for thought how to succeed in the digital age. Ralf Diekmann, Head of Business Excellence, Hilti AG This book is as an important step towards process innovation systems. I very much like to congratulate the editors and authors for presenting such an impressive scope of ideas for how to address the challenging, but very rewarding marriage of BPM and innovation. Professor Michael Rosemann, Queensland University of Technology

While most companies recognize the key significance and importance of innovation, this is frequently overwhelmed by short term objectives and constraints. This is the innovation paradox. The aim of this book is to describe management practices that resolve this paradox by decisively choosing the route of sound business and wealth creation, focussing in particular on the role of the CEO, redefining the firm's innovation perimeter, providing opportunities where entrepreneurial energy can be unleashed to generate innovation-led growth and motivating the main actors in the innovation process. All of these approaches demand that boards and shareholders develop a much more activist perspective in supporting longer-term ventures. Examples are taken from a number of technology and other companies, including Philips, Sony, Hitachi, British Telecom, Aventis, 3M, and Vivendi.

* End: pro?t and loss account. As a result, there will be a stage at which the parties have developed relations and prospects of gain, while there are still a number of problems that are dif?cult to solve and that fail to evoke consensus. Each party will then draw up a pro?t and loss account. On the positive side of the balance are the relations developed and the gains collected, on the negative side there are the losses and the unsolved problems. For particular parties, who have no interest in the problem, the latter side is uninteresting; for others, who have an interest in a particular solution of this problem, it represents a form of loss. * Pro?t and loss balance positive for a critical mass: speed. The speed of the process will increase if the pro?t and loss account shows a positive balance for a critical mass of parties. They wish to collect their gains and therefore to make ?nal decisions. At this point there will be an important psychological mec- nism: parties tend to anticipate on collecting their gains, which increases their urge to speed up the process. It is clear from the above, however, that the end of a process is dif?cult to predict.

First published in 1944, this title analyses the qualities that contribute to a successful manager. Receiving widespread praise from the business and academic community on publication, Walter Puckey discusses what the personal, organizational and technical qualities required of a good manager are; the social responsibilities of the manager; and, provides advice on how to train and select managers and considers a possible future for management. This is a timely reissue that will be of particular value to business students with an interest in the basic principles of the managerial role, as well as those concerned with the promotion of good management within their own organizations.

Build a cohesive and high-performing virtual team with this fantastic resource full of actionable advice and practical tips Engaging Virtual Meetings: Openers, Games, and Activities for Communication, Morale, and Trust offers concrete strategies and practical tips for bringing teams together across the digital divide. While many struggle to build teams in a virtual environment, accomplished author John Chen has found ways to create team cohesion, promote engagement, and increase virtual participation. In Engaging Virtual Meetings, he shares these methods with you, and also: Describes virtual tools for promoting effective teamwork, like the Participant Map Teaches you to optimize your teleconference setup for ideal audio and video Illustrates ways to apply these methods in any virtual environment, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and more Explores how to debrief your participants to improve your methods over time Perfect for anyone working in or with the increasingly prevalent virtual environment, Engaging Virtual Meetings is a great addition to the bookshelves of anyone interested in how to create and build engagement in team settings of all kinds.

Decisions twenty years ago during the fIrst generation of modern traffIc safety policymaking were easier than today. Afterall, the mandate for specifIc mandatory motor vehicle safety standards was dermed rather clearly during legislative hearings. Since the initial standards, decisions have been based on the more general guidelines of "practicality" and avoiding "unreasonable risks. " Now, with more diffIcult decisions pending, the demand for analysis is greater. My purpose in writing this book is to promote second generation policymaking in traffic safety. The dominant theme is that an "individual net benefIt approach" is useful in the design, evaluation and improvement of traffic safety policy. Hopefully, this book provides some guidance for today's tougher decisions. Evaluative review of modern traffic safety policy, especially automobile safety standards, yields several results. The technological approach, the basis for the 1966 legislation, is shown to produce mistakes. Benefits are overestimated and endangerment of nonoccupants is ignored. The risk homeostatic approach, the devil's idea to some in the safety community, is shown to be a limiting case of the more general individual net benefIt approach. Rationality and competency in travelers' safety decisions are reviewed in a broad context. Evidence beyond the realm of behavioral ix x The Regulation of Motor Vehicle and Traffic Safety psychology indicates considerable, albeit imperfect, competency in traffic safety decisions. Conventional benefit-cost analysis is critiqued. Existing studies of passive restraints are shown to overestimate net benefits because travelers' responses and costs are ignored.

Corporate Assessment, first published in 1993, looks at four types of company audit and provides a pragmatic, readable guide for managers. The authors show how assessment of a company in terms of its culture, climate, communications and customers can enhance management vision and lead to recommendations designed to improve employee satisfaction, motivation, loyalty and performance. Insight is provided into the kinds of measurement tools and assessment techniques that are available, and the authors offer recommendations for the use of these instruments, and how best to utilize the information they can produce. This book will not only be of interest to managers who need to assess their companies, but to students of business, organizational psychology, and human resource management.

This is the 15th volume in a series of monographs whose main topic of concern is that of organizational behaviour and industrial relations. This volume deals with the theory and management of work commitment.

Over the past 15 years Nancy Kline has identified 10 behaviors that form a system called a Thinking Environment, a model of human interaction that dramatically improves the way people think, and thus the way they work and live.

The power of effective listening is recognized as the essential tool of good management. In this book, Kline describes how we can achieve this, and presents a step-by-step guide that can be used in any situation. Whether you want to have more productive meetings, solve business problems or build stronger relationships, this book offers you a new world of possibilities.

Nancy created and pioneered the development of The Thinking Environment and is Founder and President of Time To Think. A published author and public speaker, she also teaches Time To Think courses, leads the Time To Think Faculty and delivers keynote presentations around the world.

Time To Think began in 1984 and grew out of Nancy's consulting and teaching work near Washington, DC, where she had served as a Founding Director of The Thornton Friends School for twelve years and as Director of The Leadership Institute for six years. She is a Fellow of Ashridge Management College, UK, and the International Listening Association's Listener of the Year 2010.

This title, first published in 1993, was one of the first books to analyse the forces behind the increasing globalization of professional business services. Based on contributions from leading authorities in international business, both academics and members of organizations such as GATT and UNCTAD, it looks at the opportunities for growth, environmental and regulatory problems, and the major problems of managing the international expansion of professional firms. Crucially, it discusses such issues from the point of view of managers of such organizations, and the role of governments in negotiating multinational agreements. This highly international and timely reissue will be of interest to students of international business, as well as managers of professional business firms and policy makers involved in international trade issues.

The class is theory of price regulation assumed that the regulator knows the fIrm's costs, the key piece of information that enables regulators to pressure fmns to choose appropriate behaviors. The "regulatory problem" was reduced to a mere pricing problem: the regulator's goal was to align price with marginal cost, subject to the constraint that revenues must cover costs. Elegant and important insights ensued. The most important was that regulation was inevitably a struggle to achieve second-best outcomes. (Ramsey pricing was a splendid example. ) Reality proved harsh to regulatory theory. The fmn's costs are by no means known to the regulator. At best, the regulator may know how much is currently spent to provide services, but hardly what costs would be if the fmn vigorously pursued effIciency. Even if the current cost curve were known to the regulator, technologies change so swiftly that today's costs are a very poor indicator of tomorrow's, and those are the costs that will determine the fIrm's future decisions. With the burgeoning attention to information considerations and game theory in economics, the regulator's problem of eliciting host information about cost has received considerable attention. In most cases, however, it has been in context that are both static and stylized; such analyses rarely capture many of the essential elements of real world regulatory issues. This volume represents a fresh approach. It reflects Glenn Blackmon's twin strengths, a keen analytic mind and important experience in the regulatory arena.

This book consists of an anthology of writings. The aim is to honour Marco to celebrate the 35th year of his academic career . The book consists of a collection of selected opinions in the field of IS. Some themes are: IT and Information Systems organizational impacts, Systems development, Business process management, Business organization, e-government, social impact of IT.