Action Research (AR) is presented as an interpretive conceptual framework through which an understanding of management systems can be achieved. The proposed interpretive framework is briefly described and examined as a comparative management framework. The merit inherent in AR as an interpretive...

Corporate use of video offers new solutions to many of the problems of corporate communication. It has become so sophisticated and can be used in so many ways that many large companies are using it extensively, especially firms with multi‐site operations and/or high staff turnover, such as...

There are a vast number of foreign‐born and minority employees in the United States. Using Hofstede's four dimensions of cultural values — power distance, individualism, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance — as well as some more basic cultural differences between nationalities, the...

Japanese and American management decision‐making patterns are compared. The Daido Steel Company of Nagoya, Japan, was a very co‐operative partner in providing both demographic and action step information. Overall, three research hypotheses are focused on relating to decision pattern, length...

What does it take to lead a company which is learning to change and changing to learn? Discusses the practices and principles of proven leaders from firms such as PepsiCo, Tata, Toyota and Wal‐Mart.

As the speed of change in the business world continues to increase, it is clear that few companies can afford to slow the momentum of continuous transformation merely to give themselves time to find and install a new chief executive. The experience of US telecommunications firm Ameritech...

When advances by competitors and rising price‐consciousness from consumers intensified the battle for market share, the Quaker Oats company reacted by striving to create a high performance organization. Explains the role which the Quaker University played in the process.

What does your human resources department do? More particularly, what should it be doing? A recent survey of more than 1,000 human resources and employee relations executives in North America sheds light on these and other questions.