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Background: The Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) is an academic institution of the Holy See (Vatican), which aims to develop and promote Catholic teachings on questions of biomedical ethics. Palliative care (PC) experts from around the world professing different faiths were invited by the PAV to develop strategic recommendations for the global development of PC ("PAL-LIFE group"). Design: Thirteen experts in PC advocacy participated in an online Delphi process. In four iterative rounds, participants were asked to identify the most significant stakeholder groups and then propose for each, strategic recommendations to advance PC. Each round incorporated the feedback from previous rounds until consensus was achieved on the most important recommendations. In a last step, the ad hoc group was asked to rank the stakeholders' groups by order of importance on a 13-point scale and to propose suggestions for implementation. A cluster analysis provided a classification of the stakeholders in different levels of importance for PC development. Results: Thirteen stakeholder groups and 43 recommendations resulted from the first round, and, of those, 13 recommendations were chosen as the most important (1 for each stakeholder group). Five groups had higher scores. The recommendation chosen for these top 5 groups were as follows: (1) Policy makers: Ensure universal access to PC; (2) Academia: Offer mandatory PC courses to undergraduates; (3) Healthcare workers: PC professionals should receive adequate certification; (4) Hospitals and healthcare centers: Every healthcare center should ensure access to PC medicines; and (5) PC associations: National Associations should be effective advocates and work with their governments in the process of implementing international policy framework. A recommendation for each of the remaining eight groups is also presented. Discussion: This white paper represents a position statement of the PAV developed through a consensus process in regard to advocacy strategies for the advancement of PC in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study which investigated the international advertising practices of a sample of major advertising spending multinationals, and the rationales behind their policies. The objective was to obtain insights into the efficacy of international advertising standardization options. When the rationales behind the international advertising practices of the sampled companies were examined, it was found that the executives concerned brought a wide-ranging agenda to the decision-making process and that factors beyond the specific benefits of standardization influenced their policies. As regards their actual policies, the practice of some form of standardization was found to be widespread, but the practice of total standardization was rare. As such, the data indicate that standardization is a flexible option, with many possible variants, i.e. it can be adapted to circumstances and is not an either/or policy. The paper concludes that the focus on whether or not multinationals should practice international advertising is misplaced, if only because, just as at the local or national level, there will be good and bad international advertising. Accordingly, more emphasis should be placed on reviewing issues relating to how to improve the quality of international advertising campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a research paper which is part of the State of Play of the Futures Field project on foresight and future in Europe. According to the paper, European Union has encouraged parallel developments at national, regional and local levels. It states that ForSociety ERA-Net [2] is a sustainable and dynamic network where national foresight program managers co-ordinate their activities and then implement efficient transnational foresight programs. It furthers states that European people need to set priorities for investment in science and innovation activities.

Faced with an environment that is changing faster and faster, companies have long sought to encourage the almost automatic emergence of new approaches that can respond or even anticipate these changes. The development of creativity has become an essential theme. For more than 20 years, companies have been promoting the concept of agility at the same time as they attempted to extend creativity to all employees. Managers have been called upon to implement the corresponding actions. Our research, based on semi-structured interviews with 35 global managers, analyses several aspects of the implementation of the concepts. We looked particularly at what managers think of agility, how this concept relates to the efforts made to develop creativity, what they experienced, and the conditions for success. The analysis of the responses highlights the significant differences in perception, often linked to the functions performed in the company or to nationalities. Regardless of the value associated with agility, the interviewees agreed on the importance of the manager's role while directing it in three different directions. The discussions also identify a series of necessary but not sufficient conditions for creativity to emerge. Implications for Central European audience: This paper does not deal with a problem specific to Central Europe. It is a general problem going beyond regional limits, as international management tends to use the same concepts everywhere. However, in its processing, we sought to interview several managers from this geographic area. In the second phase, we plan to improve the representativeness of managers from Central Europe to understand better what is specific to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on executives of the European Society of Neuroradiology (ESNR) and presents a 2012 and 2013 calendar of events related to the ESNR which includes the sixth European Course of Pediatric Neuroradiology, the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Neuroradiology and the ESNR XXXVI Congress and 20th Advanced Course.

Purpose - To provide an overview of recent empirical survey research on human resource competencies in Europe. Design/methodology/approach - The survey data were collected in 2002 in the global human resource competence study (HRCS), an initiative of the University of Michigan. The study was processed online (web-based). The respondents of the European HRCS, the main focus of our empirical analysis in this paper, were HR professionals and line managers of multinational companies located in Europe. Findings - The results suggest that personal credibility and HR delivery have a positive effect on the relative ranking of the HR function and its professionals. According to non-HR respondents strategic contribution is the competency that will lead to financial competitiveness, while HR managers consider business knowledge to be crucial for added value of the HR function. Research limitations/implications - First, the data are cross-sectional and one should therefore be very careful in assuming certain causal relationships between domains and performance. Second, the analyses are built on perception data. Finally, the inclusion of more control variables like "size of the organisation" was limited as a result of missing data. Practical implications - The approach demonstrates how competencies of the HR function (e.g. HR delivery, personal credibility, strategic contribution) can contribute to a stronger position of the HR function within an organization and to agility and long-term viability of an organization (sustainability). Originality/value - This paper gives an overview of the literature on HR roles and introduces the HR competency perspective for strengthening the position of the HR function and the added value of the HR function to the organization's sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify the componsents of consumer-based brand equity from the perspective of experts in brand management in the UK, Germany and Greece. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with senior brand consultants and managers, five in the UK, five in Germany and five in Greece. Findings - The findings suggested four categories of measures which can be used to define brand equity. These are the consumers' understanding of brand characteristics; consumers' brand evaluation; consumers' affective response towards the brand; and consumers' behaviour towards the brand. Specific dimensions are identified as indicators of each category. Research limitations/implications - Although the focus of this study is Europe, data were only collected from the UK, Germany and Greece, countries representing three of the five European cultural clusters. The resultant taxonomy adds to the fragmented literature on brand equity measurement by proposing four categories to gauge brand equity. Practical implications - The suggested taxonomy provides indicators of a framework managers could use when assessing brand equity. Originality/value - There is little agreement on what constitutes brand equity and therefore measures of brand equity are fragmented. To date, the views of practicing managers have not been taken into account in research. This paper draws on the views of practitioners and academics to suggest a taxonomy of categories of measures for brand equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bancassurance has rapidly grown in Europe over the past 20 years catching the attention of managers and academia. Most dedicated studies have only been descriptive in nature, while the number of empirical studies is very limited. Potential efficiency gains are a poorly investigated issue, even though cost and revenue synergies are commonly recognised among the main economic rationales for conglomeration. Our paper aims to assess bancassurance performance gains (from both the banking and the insurance standpoints) in the Italian banking and insurance sectors over the period 2005–2006 by estimating cost and profit efficiency using stochastic frontier analysis. With regard to the banking industry, we do not show any strong evidence in favour of entering the life insurance business. The investigation into the insurance industry highlights the competitive viability of bancassurance as a distribution channel, especially in terms of cost efficiency. In terms of profitability, our findings suggest that the mix of products should be continuously revised to adapt to customer needs and the evolution of financial markets. As a consequence, ownership links are not necessarily the best bancassurance strategy, and the parties involved should also consider more flexible forms of cooperation, such as cross-selling agreements and non-equity strategic alliances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to two related contemporary debates on the changing views of the employment relation and on the adoption of telework as a new work practice by analyzing line managers' general telework-attitude formation processes, and possible outcomes in concrete request situations, mirroring managers' views of the employment relationship. Design/methodology/approach – This multi-method study among 65 managers in six financial-sector organizations comprises two parts. The interview part focuses on managers' arguments for or against telework in their departments, and how these are weighed in the telework-attitude formation process. In the vignette study, managers assess their attitudes towards specific, hypothetical, but realistic telework requests of fictive employees in their departments. Findings – Combining the results of both studies, it is shown that the governance view dominates. Some managers, however, consider telework an "idiosyncratic deal." Particularly in telework-request situations, also the exchange view enters into the managers' perceptual frames. In order to decrease managers' ambivalence towards telework, the human resource management (HRM)-system needs to be internally consistent and based on a view of the employment relationship which stresses commitment and trust as guiding principles, rather than control and coordination. Originality/value – Employing a "configurational approach to strategic HRM," this paper focuses on the importance of the "embeddedness" of telework practices in larger HRM-systems in general, and the role of cultural obstacles in particular. Telework arguments are considered the HR principles guiding the telework-attitude formation process, and mirroring managers' views of the employment relationship as part of their workforce philosophies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In prior research, insights into the degree and type of corporate and divisional level manager involvement in divestiture processes have remained sparse. Based on extant empirical research on managerial processes in divestitures and a review of literature on the antecedents of divestitures, this paper identifies a set of internal and external contingencies which potentially influence the degree of corporate and divisional level manager involvement in divestitures. Findings from an in-depth case study of four parallel divestitures by a major European technology company (TechCo) in the late 1990s indicate which of these contingencies seem to have a relevant influence on the involvement of the different managerial levels in divestiture processes. The contingent approach contributes to theory by providing explanations for existing, conflicting empirical evidence concerning the degree and type of corporate and divisional level manager involvement in divestiture processes. The second major theoretical contribution of the paper lies in the identification and description of the type of managerial actions these different contingencies bring about. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discuses the research paper based on the study related to the development of leaders by organization according to need for the ensurement of sustainability of organization. It mentions the research format consisting of two phases including questionnaire survey on managers from various private sector companies in Europe, and interviews with 11 multinational companies from Europe. It highlights the finding related to the importance of reflexive abilities for the translation of individual into individual managerial behaviors, and informs the small size for the surveys and interviews as the major limitation of the research.

Background: The measurement of consumer satisfaction is an essential part of the assessment of health care services in terms of service quality and health care system responsiveness. Studies across Europe have described various strategies health care users employ to secure services with good quality and quick access. In Central and Eastern European countries, such strategies also include informal payments to health care providers. This paper analyzes the satisfaction of health care users with the quality of and access to health care services. The study focuses on six Central and Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Ukraine).Methods: We use data on past experience with health care use collected in 2010 through uniform national surveys in these countries. Based on these data, we carry out a multi-country analysis to investigate factors associated with the satisfaction of health care users in the six countries. Results: The results indicate that about 10-14 % of the service users are not satisfied with the quality of, or access to health care services they used in the preceding year. However, significant differences across countries and services are observed, e.g. the highest level of dissatisfaction with access to outpatient services (16.4 %) is observed among patients in Lithuania, while in Poland, the level of dissatisfaction with quality of outpatient and inpatient services are much lower than dissatisfaction with access. The study also analyses the association of users' satisfaction with factors such as making informal payments, inability to pay and relative importance of service attributes stated by the service users. Conclusions: These multi-country findings provide evidence for health policy making in the Central and Eastern European countries. Although the average rates of satisfactions per country are relatively high, the results suggest that there is ample room for improvements. Specifically, many service-users still report dissatisfaction especially those who pay informally and those unable to pay. The high shares of informal payments and inability of users to deal with the health expenditures lead to doubts about the fairness of the health care provision in Central and Eastern Europe. There is an urgent need for policy makers in the region to not only acknowledge but also to effectively address this key problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports results of a survey examining the impact factors for shippers to implement risk prevention activities. A regression analysis illustrates the relations between risk and quality related impact factors and the shippers’ ability to implement risk prevention activities. The study identifies the corporate risk culture and product vulnerability as main impact factors for the implementation of prevention activities in transportation. This paper will be beneficial for transportation managers considering the implementation of risk prevention activities in the transportation field, and will support further empirical research in the transportation management and supply chain risk management research area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: While evidence shows that occupational therapists can play a key role in the care of people with palliative care needs, more knowledge about effective occupational therapy interventions for this group is needed. Aim: To identify, organise and prioritise intervention components considered to be effective within occupational therapy for people with palliative care needs from the perspective of occupational therapy clinicians, managers and researchers. Design: Group Concept Mapping utilising a mixed methods participatory approach. Using a focus prompt, participants brainstormed, sorted, labelled and rated generated statements about effective occupational therapy intervention components. Multidimensional scaling analysis and cluster analysis were conducted. Setting/Participants: Snowball recruitment was used to recruit participants. Participants included occupational therapists worldwide who were able to read and write in English and were working as clinicians, managers and/or researchers with occupational therapy interventions for people with palliative care needs. Results: Seventy-two occupational therapists from 15 countries participated in the study representing Asia (n = 3, 20%), Europe (n = 8, 53%), Oceania (n = 2, 13%) and North America (n = 2, 13%). A total of 117 statements were identified and organised into five clusters: (1) being client-centred, (2) promoting occupational engagement to optimise quality of life, (3) involving the social and relational environment, (4) enabling occupations and (5) facilitating occupational adaptation. Conclusions: Five clusters of core occupational therapy intervention components were considered to be effective when supporting people with palliative care needs. Research should use this knowledge to inform future occupational therapy interventions for this group of people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reveals features of a European style of management as the competencies of top managers of international companies enabling them to better understand the processes taking place in modern business environment and to employ them in gaining competitive advantage. The precondition of this kind of management is based on historically formed specific features of social communication in Europe, social changes of recent decades, as well as the processes of integration, highlighting and strengthening other aspects of economy and social development. The paper consists of the introduction, two parts and the summary. The first part deals with the elements of the European management style, as distinguished by the researchers of this area, and the main aspects of international business, in which these elements manifest themselves, are identified. The second part substantiates understanding of the elements of the European style of management as the competencies of the top managers of international enterprises, based on the statements of the resource-based approach and the conception of basic competencies. The summary suggests that the elements of European management style, as the managers' competences, can operate as leverage enabling better exploitation of resources (especially, human) and opportunities emerging in a business environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an algorithm necessary when choosing a new location for the operational facilities within European middle-sized and large companies. In this regard, the first part of the paper will present a short analysis of the present tendencies of operational management regarding the choice of a new location. Next, we will underline the importance of choosing a new location within the European Union area, decision that for many companies (more precisely for companies outside the borders of the European Union) can be a difficult step. In the end, we will present two methods that the operational managers can use in order to decide themselves on which location to choose out of the strategic alternatives they have. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - To demonstrate the added value potential of cross-cultural teams specifically related to Franco–British joint ventures. The paper begins by outlining the current context in M&As across Europe, then homes in on the specific trade links between France and the UK. To what extent are cultural differences a hindrance or a driving force in attaining mutual performance goals? Design/methodology/approach - The main findings are collected from a survey of 300 companies in France and the UK carried out in 1999. The respondents were HR managers, training officers or middle managers in general. The research was supplemented by three in-depth, semi-directive interviews with HR managers at BP, Vivendi and Eurotunnel. Findings - The research uncovers some of the main obstacles encountered when setting up Franco–British teams. Certain factors such as education systems, training systems and employment norms are brought to the forefront in an attempt to explain these fundamental differences. Research limitations/implications - The study is longitudinal and aims at providing a more representative sample since the response rate on the English side was lower than that in France. The authors viewpoint is fuelled by information received during the in-depth, semi-directive interviews. Practical implications - The article provides a useful insight into the workings of cross-cultural teams in France and the UK. Originality/value - Little has been written to date on the specific field of the cultural barriers influencing the success of Franco–British work teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Line manager involvement in HRM is an increasing trend across Europe. With the numbers of employees taking advantage of work-life balance policies also on the increase, line manager responsibility for this specific policy area is likely to become more marked. In this paper, we argue that line managers have a critical role to play in the career development of reduced-hours employees, but that due to a number of cultural and institutional processes, the extent of this involvement is likely to be limited. Using qualitative data from interviews with police managers and police officers who have reduced their hours, we argue that gendered assumptions, deeply embedded in taken-for-granted organisational practices and structures, operate in ways that encourage line managers and reduced-hours workers to locate career barriers in the psyche of the latter. The implications of these processes for line manager involvement in the career development of reduced-hours professionals are explored and explicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - To examine HRM strategies and practices and HRM position within organizations in various cultural, economic and sociopolitical contexts from a longitudinal perspective. Design/methodology/approach - The study uses the 1995 and 1999 Cranet data in a longitudinal methodological framework to explore the changes and trends in 18 European countries with regard to certain HRM issues between the points of time when measurements took place. Country is the unit of analysis, and cluster analysis is used for each of the two waves of data to classify countries into relatively homogeneous groups/clusters. Findings - The overall picture is that the 18 countries form two major clusters. Countries in Europe can be systematically clustered in a North/West-South/East distinction, regarding HRM practices. There is no indication of convergence between the major clusters. However, movement from one cluster to another was observed, with Italy and East Germany moving to the North-western cluster. Research limitations/implications - The level of analysis, which is HR practices at a national (average values) and regional level, is a methodological limitation of the present study. Analysis at this level conceals qualitative differences between countries, which are important in the contextual paradigm. Practical implications - The issue of convergence in HR practices has important implications for HR managers in multinationals who operate in Europe and the transferability of HR practices. Originality/value - This paper addresses the issue of whether over time there is an increasing "Europeanisation" (convergence) of HRM practices in Europe or not, by studying HR practices in 18 European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to examine social networks from a Western and Eastern view. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses case study methodology to gather evidence of how world pioneering firms from Asia and Europe measure and report their social connections from a Western perspective. Findings - It is examined the basic indicators firms use to measure these networks and the major issues managers should consider when measuring and reporting these knowledge-based resources. These indicators can be classified into four categories: customer description, customer portfolio, stakeholder capital and social networks. In total the study finds 29 relevant indicators for organizational social connections. Originality/value - The paper provides great value both for academics and executives interested in the analysis of social networks both from a Western and Eastern view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face major financial losses due to mental health issues affecting employees at all levels but seldom apply programs to promote wellbeing and prevent mental health issues among employees. To support the development of a multi-country workplace-based mental health intervention for SMEs (MENTUPP), a multinational consultation study was conducted. The study aimed to examine the experiences and needs of SMEs concerning the promotion of employee wellbeing, and the prevention and management of non-clinical mental health problems in workplaces. Methods: A survey consisting of open and closed questions was designed to assess key informants' opinion about the acceptability, the use, and the implementation of interventions to promote wellbeing and prevent mental health issues in the workplace. Academic experts and representatives of SME organisations, specific sector organisations, labour or advocacy groups, and occupational health organisations across the nine MENTUPP intervention countries (eight European countries and Australia) were invited to complete the survey. Data were collected via the online platform Qualtrics. Sixty-five of 146 informants responded, representing a 44.5% response rate. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data and qualitative data were analysed through thematic analysis. Results: Measures to create mentally healthy workplaces were most used in SMEs, while more specific mental health interventions, such as training staff on how to promote wellbeing, were hardly used. Managers lack resources to implement mental health interventions and are concerned about employees spending too much time on these interventions during working hours. Receiving information about the economic benefits of mental health interventions and hearing successful testimonials from other SMEs can persuade managers otherwise. Employees have concerns about confidentiality, discrimination and stigma, and career opportunities when using such interventions. Conclusions: The study identifies a variety of challenges, needs and possibilities related to implementing mental health interventions in SMEs. Employers need to be convinced that investing in mental health in the workplace is worth their time and money. This requires more studies on the (cost-)effectiveness of mental health interventions. Once employers are engaged, their knowledge and competencies about how to implement such interventions should be increased and privacy concerns of employees to participate in them should be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report findings from the first comprehensive study of managerial labour markets in Central and Eastern Europe, drawing on field data from 157 firms in six countries. Results indicated widespread and deep changes occurring in the region's managerial markets. Despite differences among countries in reform and economic performance, we found these particular changes to be surprisingly common across the countries studied. They included rapid rises in salary and benefit levels, narrowing of some skill gaps, shifts to more sophisticated methods of recruitment and an overall move towards Western management practices. The study also revealed severe shortages of qualified managers in all the countries studied. The resulting tightness in the managerial labour markets was reducing only modestly, despite other improvements. Foreign and joint-venture firms were relying disproportionately on expatriate managers, and may not have been sufficiently developing locals. We argue that, partly because of this, the distortions in pay, promotions and performance resulting from these tight markets are likely to persist for some time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been considerable academic interest in the consequences of European integration for multinational companies and their subsidiaries, and the co-ordination and control of human resource decision making. Against the backdrop of this debate, this paper examines the impact of European integration on management organization and human resource decision making in 13 British multinational companies. Although there were partial moves towards the development of European managers, a European-wide approach to human resource matters was not yet a conspicuous feature of this sample of multinationals. The global preoccupations of the companies, as well as the persistence of national variations in consumer markets and modes of product regulation, were clearly major constraints on the emergence of European forms of corporate organization and underpinned the lack of enthusiasm for distinctively European approaches to employee management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study of the content of and differences between managerial frames of references with regard to the structure and dynamics of competitive environments. These frames of references are examined and compared at both the industry level and the country level; and the paper shows the influences of both industry and institutional structures and national culture on managerial thinking. It therefore contributes to the field of comparative management, as well as the growing interest in cognitive analysis in the field of management. The study is particularly significant since (a) its context is the rapidly changing industry environment of Europe, and (b) the managers are all involved in the development of strategies for their firms. Thirty three top managers (16 English and 17 French) were interviewed in four industries (brewing, car manufacturing, retail banking and book publishing) on their understanding of their industry and the strategy of their company. Content analysis of the transcribed interviews surfaces cognitive constructs which facilitate the identification of similarities and differences between managers, (a) within industries, (b) across industries, (c) within countries, (d) between countries and (e) between countries within the different industries. The analysis also provides means whereby the constructs can be represented in the form of cognitive maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Data and digital infrastructure drive collaboration and help develop integrated healthcare systems and services. COVID-19 induced changes to collaboration between healthcare organisations, which previously often happened in fragmented and competitive ways. New collaborative practices relied on data and were crucial in managing coordinated responses to the pandemic. In this study, we explored datadriven collaboration between European hospitals and other healthcare organisations in 2021 by identifying common themes, lessons learned and implications going forward. Methods: Study participants were recruited from an existing Europe-wide community of mid-level hospital managers. For data collection, we ran an online survey, conducted multi-case study interviews and organised webinars. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, thematic analysis and cross-case synthesis. Results: Mid-level hospital managers from 18 European countries reported an increase in data exchange between healthcare organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data-driven collaborative practices were goal-oriented and focused on the optimisation of hospitals’ governance functions, innovation in organisational models and improvements to data infrastructure. This was often made possible by temporarily overcoming system complexities, which would otherwise hinder collaboration and innovation. Sustainability of these developments remains a challenge. Discussion: Mid-level hospital managers form a huge potential of reacting and collaborating when needed, including rapidly setting up novel partnerships and redefining established processes. Major post-COVID unmet medical needs are linked to hospital care provision, including diagnostic and therapeutic backlogs. Tackling these will require rethinking of the position of hospitals within healthcare systems, including their role in care integration. Conclusion: Learning from COVID-19-induced developments in data-driven collaboration between hospitals and other healthcare organisations is important to address systemic barriers, sustain resilience and further build transformative capacity to help build better integrated healthcare systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights developments in public health in Europe as of October 2022. Topics mentioned include the acquisition of an operating grant by European Public Health Association from the European Commission, the lessons about health emergencies that can be learned from COVID-19 pandemic, and the advocacy of Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region for public health.

Reports on trends and developments related to industrial management in Europe, compiled as of December 1990. Business plan of Hotel and Catering Training Board for its Hotel & Catering Training Co.; Accounts of the annual congregation of the International Management Centres held in London, England on July 1990; Publication of the research policy paper on West German Apprenticeship Training System.

Background: Volunteers make a huge contribution to the health and wellbeing of the population and can improve satisfaction with care especially in the hospice setting. However, palliative and end-of-life-care volunteer services in the hospital setting are relatively uncommon. The iLIVE Volunteer Study, one of eight work-packages within the iLIVE Project, was tasked with developing a European Core Curriculum for End-of-Life-Care Volunteers in hospital. Aim: Establish an international consensus on the content of a European Core Curriculum for hospital end-of-life-care volunteer services which support patients in the last weeks of life. Design: Delphi Process comprising the following three stages: 1. Scoping review of literature into palliative care volunteers. 2. Two rounds of Delphi Questionnaire. 3. Nominal Group Meeting. Setting/participants: Sixty-six participants completed the Round 1 Delphi questionnaire; 75% (50/66) took part in Round 2. Seventeen participants attended the Nominal Group Meeting representing an international and multi-professional group including, clinicians, researchers and volunteer coordinators from the participating countries. Results: The scoping review identified 88 items for the Delphi questionnaire. Items encompassed organisational issues for implementation and topics for volunteer training. Three items were combined and one item added in Round 2. Following the Nominal Group Meeting 53/87 items reached consensus. Conclusion: Key items for volunteer training were agreed alongside items for implementation to embed the end-of-life-care volunteer service within the hospital. Recommendations for further research included in-depth assessment of the implementation and experiences of end-of-life-care volunteer services. The developed European Core Curriculum can be adapted to fit local cultural and organisational contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key feature of a company's safety culture is shared perceptions between managers and employees concerning the importance of safety. The purpose of the study was to assess senior managers' perceptions of the current safety culture in Estonian SMEs from different branches of industry, based on a sample of 463 senior managers. The relationships of different aspects of safety culture and safety management systems, senior managers' and employees' perceptions and attitudes to safety were explored through the deployment of different research measures and methods. In addition, a qualitative approach to assessing safety culture is presented. Studies of eight SMEs included observation, analysis of documentation and semistructured interviews with senior managers and focus group interviews with employees. This paper reports on the empirical examination of the relationship between a safety climate and a safety culture through a knowledge management dimension with a special focus on management of safety knowledge. The results of this study indicate that safety climate has impact on the three dimensions of safety culture, namely, psychological, behavioral and organizational aspects of safety culture. Several specific features of safety and knowledge management, such as management commitment to safety, safety information dissemination, communication and workers' involvement in safety were found to influence the relationship between a safety climate and a safety culture. It is concluded that the development of 'communities of practice' is an effective way for employees to exchange explicit and tacit safety knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines organizational identification construction in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The majority of existing studies have focused on antecedents and outcomes of post-merger identification (PMI) in Western contexts. While more and more Chinese cross-border M&As are taking place, how Chinese employees construct PMI remains underexplored. We adopted a qualitative case study approach to investigate how Chinese managers construct PMI after acquiring a European company. As the main contribution, we introduce the concept of agile organizational identity (AOI), wherein agility is a central, enduring and distinctive characteristic of an organization, i.e. 'who we are and who we want to be'. Our findings reveal that AOI is leveraged by Chinese managers to deal with their perceived inferior status, help them cope with the change and contribute to the construction of a strong PMI. We believe that our study provides a new perspective on how employees can effectively cope with organizational change while maintaining a sense of identity continuity. This article examines organizational identification construction in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We provide novel insights by introducing the agile organizational identity (AOI) concept, wherein the agility is a central, enduring and distinctive characteristic of an organization, i.e. 'who we are and who we want to be'. To maintain such a pre-merger identity after M&As, people strive to continue changing as change is the continuity. Thus, psychological bonds between an employee and the employing organization do not become weaker. As agility is incorporated in the organizational identity, AOI helps employees to cope with the low status of their organization, accept organizational changes, and identify with the post-merger organization. Organizational leaders might want to foster AOI in order to successfully conduct strategic change initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that the style used by a supervisor to manage his/her subordinates determines the organizational climate perceived by the latter. At the same time literature argues that organizational climate perceptions affect the work performance of the subordinates. Most of this research has been conducted with samples of managers from North America and Europe. Nevertheless employee management tends to be highly determined by the characteristics of local culture. This paper presents the results of a study about the managerial styles used by a sample of Chilean managers and its relationship to the organizational climate perceived by their subordinates. Two measures of managerial styles perceptions are used to predict the subordinate's organizational climate perceptions. These results are discussed in consideration of previous literature, local results are compared to those obtained in other cultures, and findings are discussed in relation to local work culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Becoming a father is a major life event for men and is accompanied by new role expectations and behavioural changes. While earlier research focused on the conflictual facets, more recent work-family enrichment theory emphasises the positive aspects of multiple roles. Previous quantitative and qualitative research has found that parenthood positively influences overall leadership and management behaviour at work. Our quantitative study uses a more granular definition of leadership behaviour with data from 157 male managers from Central Europe collected with a web-based survey. We find that 14 out of 15 transformational leadership behaviours (TLB) improve significantly with fatherhood. The individual behaviours supporting, recognizing, and developing progress the most. Only networking remains unaffected. Parental role enrichment outweighs conflict, and the resulting net effect correlates strongly with TLB. Also, parental role commitment and job level (position and number of subordinates) have a positive effect on TLB improvement. Parental role commitment and net enrichment show strong multicollinearity. Despite the positive effects of fatherhood on TLB in general, these decrease as the number of children increases, contradicting the intuition that "the more, the better". The findings should be considered in both managerial theory and practice as they concern the majority of men in leadership positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under which circumstances are women appointed to ministerial positions? In this article, I provide a theoretical framework for the role of gender in ministerial selection by considering the policy, office, and vote-seeking motivations of party leaders. I present an original data set which details, at the party level, the appointment of female cabinet ministers in 30 European countries between 1970 and 2015. Using negative binomial regression models, I find that left-wing party leaders appoint more women than leaders of right-wing parties. Female party leaders appoint more women ministers than their male counterparts. Women are better represented in governments in gender-progressive countries, and survey data analysis shows that party leaders appoint more women when their supporters have more progressive gender attitudes. This analysis provides an original insight into how gender has shaped the partisan dynamics of ministerial selection across Europe over 45 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traces the career progress of general managers in Great Britain and Ireland, to identify competencies and personality characteristics associated with current success and rate of advancement. Comparison between salary and responsibilities; Criteria for success; Types of managers based on occupational personality.

This article focuses on the book "Technology Management and Public Policy in the European Union," edited by William Cannell and Ben Dankbarr. This book contains seven papers based on a study conducting interviews with top managers in over 250 enterprises in nine European countries, explore firm-level competencies underlying technology management in European firms and consider the policy instruments that can be used to promote them. Ben Dankbarr provides an over-view of the patterns of technology management found in European firms.

Background: A pan-European approach to evaluate policy impact on health behaviour requires the employment of a consensus set of established and relevant indicators. Methods: As part of the Joint Programming Initiative on a Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life, the Policy Evaluation Network PEN identified key indicators of health behaviours and their determinants. These key indicators are already, or have the potential to be, adopted by large European Union surveillance systems for the assessment of policy impact. The iterative selection process included consultations in two rounds via email prior to a 2-days expert workshop. The experts collated a list of dietary behaviour, physical activity and sedentary behaviour indicators for European policy monitoring in young and adult populations based on existing frameworks and literature reviews. The expert panel was composed of researchers, policy makers and representatives of major European surveillance systems and related initiatives, as well as, representatives of organisations providing monitoring data, such as the European Commission and Eurostat. Results: The process provided two lists of key indicators including 37 diet 'policy' indicators and 35 indicators for dietary behaviour and their 'determinants'; as well as 32 physical activity 'policy' indicators and 35 indicators for physical activity, sedentary behaviour and their 'determinants'. Conclusion: A total of 139 key indicators related to the individual, the setting and the population level, and suitable for the assessment of dietary behaviour, physical activity and sedentary behaviour were prioritised by policy makers and researchers with the ultimate aim to embed policy evaluation measures in existing surveillance systems across the European Union. In a next step, data sources and suitable instruments will be identified to assess these key indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a measure of confusion as Europe moves toward a 1992 target of unity. The management of corporations in and outside of Europe is watching many factors of change including product liability. Managers must be cognizant of the tri-legal environment created by going international and this will especially confusing in Europe 1992. This paper focuses on product liability in Europe with special attention given to the 1985 Council Directive on Product Liability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With regard to the governance structures of European universities, changes have been proposed aimed at their democratic nature, the composition of governing bodies, the degree of centralisation in decision-making and redirecting the balance between collective and individual governing responsibilities. In this article, we address the effects of such governance reforms in public, comprehensive universities in Norway and the Netherlands. Differences across countries, even within a relatively homogeneous region such as Northwestern Europe, can be traced back to differences in underlying political visions towards university governance. After an overview of the main features of university governance structures in the two countries, we argue that a specific regional university governance practice has emerged with different combinations of executive and democratic elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents several stories on the present economic trends and data. A study from Hewitt Associates says that companies in Europe are losing lots of money by not being able to focus on very important people management matters throughout the merger and acquisition (M&A) agreement procedure. A Hay Group and Worldatwork research finds that 57% of firms plan to improve their concentration on employee engagement in assessing their reward programs throughout the following years. A report shows that just 15% of European firms project their workforce over three years ahead. A research by SDA Bocconi's Public Administration Human Resource Community (PAHRC) presents that the bulk of Italian public sector employees and managers have the maximum potential incentives.

Rationale and aim: External review is important when developing clinical practice guidelines. Involving pharmaceutical companies may influence guideline recommendations in their favour and is therefore controversial. Our study aimed to measure stakeholder participation in the external review of the 2016 European acne guideline and assess the extent to which comments submitted by pharmaceutical companies suggested changes favouring their own products. Methods: Retrospective, partially blinded case study using qualitative analysis of comments submitted during external review. Results: Four stakeholder groups participated in the review: pharmaceutical company representatives (five out of five invited), professional association members (2/222), journal reviewers (n = 2), and visitors to the project website (n = 1). Of 78 comments submitted, 48 were from company representatives, 24 from journal reviewers, and six from others. Each comment suggested one change to the guideline. Of the comments submitted by companies, 41.7% related to "writing or formatting," 16.7% to "presentation of results," 12.5% to "background information for main recommendations," and 12.5% to the "strength of treatment recommendation". In 54.2% (26/48) of these comments, a change was suggested that put the companies' own products in a more positive light. Five of these changes were implemented by the guideline authors in the way suggested by the company representatives. Conclusion: Participation of professional societies, patients, and the general public in the external review of the 2016 European acne guideline was unacceptably low. This is in concordance with reports of low participation of these groups in other European dermatology guidelines. While involving the pharmaceutical industry in the review substantially increased the number of comments received, many of these sought changes that would have put companies' own products in a more favourable light. Our findings underscore the need to manage reviewer comments in a robust and transparent fashion. Solutions to encourage participation of all relevant stakeholders are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an abstract of the paper entitled, "The Decision-Making Process in Japanese International Joint Ventures," by Yasumi Sakamoto, published in a 1977 issue of the journal "Management Japan." In his paper, Sakamoto describes problems that Japanese have encountered with joint venture associates because of cultural differences in management methods. At the board-of-directors level in both the United States and Europe there is the concept of non-management custodial members who are viewed as representatives of stockholders and the public. The U.S. version is the outside director while in Europe it is in the custodial board that supervises the managing board. In both cases the boards function as a body by voting on decisions. The Japanese boards are quite different having no non-management members and decisions are made by the chief executive officers with no vote. Therefore, the author concludes that Japanese executives assigned to top positions in joint ventures in Europe or the United States and not understanding these role characteristics may act improperly.