This paper examines the problems involved in developing collective bargaining in the traditionally non‐union environment of the strategically important UK offshore oil industry. In doing so it provides evidence on the success of the “new”, stakeholder industrial relations environment...

Human Resource Management in the literature has been considered a second‐ or third‐order strategy largely related to implementation. Argues that the process of strategy formulation and evaluation has not been correctly conceptualised. The evidence that HR issues are fundamental to business...

This paper reports an employee‐management consensus approach for identifying safety initiatives that are both appropriate to the working environment and also perceived to be appropriate by the workforce. Issues affecting the success of employee involvement schemes are discussed and the methods...

Juran defined the basic quality problem as “to strike the optimum balance between cost of quality and value of quality for each quality characteristic and to do so in the lower levels of organisation”, explaining that increased conformance reduces the losses which are due to defectives but...

Texaco in the UK introduced self‐development using 360° feedback as part of the company’s quest to move away from hierarchical management. Describes the firm’s Mpower initiative.

Purpose – The main purpose of the paper is to present a framework for the development of performance‐based service strategies for the oil and gas industry in Norway. The framework considers various influencing factors and their attributes, as well as performance factors categorized as...

The authors note how the lack of proper support services impedes the adoption process for capital goods characterized as installations. Unstructured interviews were conducted with key managers, technical personnel, and boundary role individuals. In particular, service support factors between...

The invited tender‐bid procurement auction used by oil companies to procure intermediate inputs into oil gathering has to find solutions to several problems. Assesses the nature of these problems and the peculiarities of the operating rules designed to solve them. Develops an economic...

Purpose – The primary purpose of this paper is to merge two traditions in management accounting change – design theory and action research – to explain findings from a case study of introducing a cost leadership initiative. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is an example of action...

Over the past 15 years, firms have entered increasingly into international strategic alliances, often with a partner firm in the same business in order to accelerate market growth. However, limited empirical attention has been devoted to this alternative means of organizing international...