Originally published in 1989. Management styles in developed western countries are undergoing a crisis phase. Increased levels of international competition and volatile trading conditions are creating new demands of job skills and responsibilities. The management challenge is to find work organization and employment strategies that sustain and develop employee performance and commitment. This book analyses the 'high performance work systems' that a number of American and European companies have evolved to meet this challenge. It particular, it describes in detail the experiences of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) at their UK manufacturing plant. This study not only illustrates the benefits of new forms of work organization, it also explores some important myths, notably that technical and organizational changes can produce 'effortless excellence'. It also provides practical management guidelines for the effective application of high performance work design.

This important book examines issues affecting the sustainability and spread of new working practices. The question of why good ideas do not spread, 'the best practices puzzle', has been widely recognized. But the 'improvement evaporation effect', where successful changes are discontinued, has attracted less attention. Keeping things the way they are has been seen as an organizational problem to be resolved, not a condition to be achieved. This is one of the first major studies of the sustainability of change focusing on the example of the NHS, by a unique team of health service and academic researchers. The findings may apply to a variety of other settings. The agenda set out in 2000 in The NHS Plan is perhaps the largest organization development programme ever undertaken, in any sector, anywhere. The NHS thus offers a valuable 'living laboratory' for the study of change. This text shows that sustainability and spread are influenced by a range of issues - contextual, managerial, political, individual, and temporal. Developing a processual perspective, this fresh analysis considers policy implications, and strategies for managing sustainability and spread. This book will be essential reading for students, managers, and researchers concerned with the effective implementation of organizational change.

This important book examines issues affecting the sustainability and spread of new working practices. The question of why good ideas do not spread, 'the best practices puzzle', has been widely recognized. But the 'improvement evaporation effect', where successful changes are discontinued, has attracted less attention. Keeping things the way they are has been seen as an organizational problem to be resolved, not a condition to be achieved. This is one of the first major studies of the sustainability of change focusing on the example of the NHS, by a unique team of health service and academic researchers. The findings may apply to a variety of other settings. The agenda set out in 2000 in The NHS Plan is perhaps the largest organization development programme ever undertaken, in any sector, anywhere. The NHS thus offers a valuable 'living laboratory' for the study of change. This text shows that sustainability and spread are influenced by a range of issues - contextual, managerial, political, individual, and temporal. Developing a processual perspective, this fresh analysis considers policy implications, and strategies for managing sustainability and spread. This book will be essential reading for students, managers, and researchers concerned with the effective implementation of organizational change.

This volume, first published in 1988, examines the challenge to management which is posed by ever more sophisticated applications of information technology. It reports on cases of actual practice, and seeks to draw lessons from these experiences which will be of practical value to managers and their advisers. The book will also be a useful source of ideas, experience, and examples to students of economics, business studies, and management.

Originally published in 1989. Management styles in developed western countries are undergoing a crisis phase. Increased levels of international competition and volatile trading conditions are creating new demands of job skills and responsibilities. The management challenge is to find work organization and employment strategies that sustain and develop employee performance and commitment. This book analyses the 'high performance work systems' that a number of American and European companies have evolved to meet this challenge. It particular, it describes in detail the experiences of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) at their UK manufacturing plant. This study not only illustrates the benefits of new forms of work organization, it also explores some important myths, notably that technical and organizational changes can produce 'effortless excellence'. It also provides practical management guidelines for the effective application of high performance work design.

This volume, first published in 1988, examines the challenge to management which is posed by ever more sophisticated applications of information technology. It reports on cases of actual practice, and seeks to draw lessons from these experiences which will be of practical value to managers and their advisers. The book will also be a useful source of ideas, experience, and examples to students of economics, business studies, and management.

Most researchers in organization and management studies stick to two or three traditional research methods like surveys and interviews. Sticking with the familiar is seen as a safe bet, and innovation is discouraged by academic incentives and rewards. But research participants are now suffering from 'survey fatigue', and using the same old methods runs the risk of generating the same old findings. This book describes twelve unconventional methodologies in organization and management research. These include unconventional research settings and data sources, unconventional research designs and data collection methods, unconventional analytic approaches, and designs and methods that exploit new technology developments. The aim is to encourage dialogue and experimentation with regard to the development of innovative, unconventional approaches to organization and management research. Several commentators have criticized the way in which research methods have become more formulaic, and have argued for greater diversity in research approaches. The methodological perspective that the we adopt shapes our interpretation of the information that we gather. Different methods generate different kinds of information, leading to different ways of understanding the phenomena that we are investigating. Our methods influence our styles of theorizing, ways of thinking and reasoning, and forms of writing and reporting research. This book will be of value to academic researchers in organization and management studies, Doctoral candidates, and Masters students on MBA and similar programmes.