Internal audit is a suitable canvass on which to explore cross‐cultural themes since these professionals possess a bird's eye view of an organization, and frequently swoop on their prey for short periods. It is vital in these short skirmishes, which nowadays tend to result in constructive and...

Redundancy is a risk to all employees, and needs careful handling and counselling. Less recognised are the needs of those left behind. On the analogy of major disasters, they too demand meticulous attention to avoid deleterious effects both to themselves and to their organisations. The...

Skills shortage and recruitment is an area of undeniable importance to the SME sector and a challenge for human resource management. This article reports on the findings from a study of people management in over 300 organisations employing typically between 20 and 200 people. It aims to provide...

Corporate governance has emerged from obscurity into being a mainstream topic about which there is a need to know, as well as being incorporated into industrial and commercial training courses. There has been a plethora of reports starting in the USA and spreading to the UK, which has then...

The failure of the Enron Corporation in late 2001, apart from signalling the largest corporate bankruptcy in the USA, has also thrown up a myriad of questions about the effectiveness of contemporary accounting, auditing and corporate governance practices. There are strong historical antecedents...

Some view whistleblowing — informing on illegal or unethical practices in the workplace — as being undesirable. However, if whistleblowing is incorporated as a natural part of the internal corporate communications system it can be transformed into an extremely valuable aid. Provides examples...

The small and medium enterprise (SME) sector is receiving increasing recognition and, as part of this, its human resources needs is a comparatively neglected area. This study of 300 companies consisted of a comprehensive investigation of all aspects of human resources. The focus here is on the...

Corporate governance has emerged from obscurity into being a mainstream topic which there is a need to know, as well as being incorporated into industrial and commercial training courses. There has been a plethora of reports starting in the USA and spreading to the UK, whose influence, example...

The Institute of Personnel and Development has long recognized the impact that small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises make in encouraging innovation in human resources management. It was, therefore, perfectly consistent that as part of their major initiative to assess the current status and...

The reconvening of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (The “Earth Summit”) from 3 to 4 June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, preceded by a meeting of the Commissioners in London in April, to debate “nothing less than the fate of the planet”, emphasized the urgency of...