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The desirability of having a more flexible workforce is emphasised across many health systems yet this goal is as ambiguous as it is ubiquitous. In the absence of empirical studies in healthcare that have defined flexibility as an outcome, the purpose of this paper is to draw on classic management and sociological theory to reduce this ambiguity.

The paper uses the Weberian tool of “ideal types”. Key workforce reforms are held against Atkinson’s model of functional flexibility which aims to increase responsiveness and adaptability through multiskilling, autonomy and teams; and Taylorism which seeks stability and reduced costs through specialisation, fragmentation and management control.

Appeals to an amorphous goal of increasing workforce flexibility make an assumption that any reform will increase flexibility. However, this paper finds that the work of healthcare professionals already displays most of the essential features of functional flexibility but many widespread reforms are shifting healthcare work in a Taylorist direction. This contradiction is symptomatic of a failure to confront inevitable trade-offs in reform: between the benefits of specialisation and the costs of fragmentation; and between management control and professional autonomy.

The paper questions the conventional conception of “the problem” of workforce reform as primarily one of professional control over tasks. Holding reforms against the ideal types of Taylorism and functional flexibility is a simple, effective way the costs and benefits of workforce reform can be revealed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role played by follower's trait emotional intelligence (EI) in the relationship between follower's ability EI and transformational leadership.

The authors hypothesised that there is a positive moderating effect of follower's trait EI on the relationship between follower's ability EI and the transformational leadership rating they receive from their supervisor. Using moderated hierarchical linear regression this hypothesis was tested using a random sample of 208 supervisor-subordinate dyads from three organisations in Ireland covering FMCG, banking and financial Services.

After controlling for the effects of personality, moderated hierarchical regression analysis showed that follower ability EI significantly predicted transformational leadership ratings and that this relationship was positively moderated by follower trait EI.

This study presents a path-finding, integrative model linking trait and ability EI which offers an expanded understanding of the phenomenon of EI in relation to leadership.

The findings show how trait and ability EI can be used in concert by HR and leadership development professionals to optimally design EI-based leadership development programmes.

This is the first study to integrate the trait and ability approaches to EI and to show how they interact in predicting transformational leadership. This study also took the perspective of leadership as assessed by the leader rather than the follower, which has been the norm in most previous studies.

As a prerequisite to pursuing business excellence companies build learning organisations and companies that want to transform their organisations to a continuous improvement philosophy need to embrace the notion of organisational learning, whether they like it or not. Aims to analyse quality management initiatives in the context of organisational learning. At the start of this research Excellence Ireland and Advanced Management Technology secured the participation of four manufacturing organisations. These companies wanted to implement the Business Excellence Model. They were encouraged to form a network called “Best in class”. Presents a review of the organisational learning literature; the research agenda; sample design and the methodology. Presents a case history of a company which has implemented quality management initiatives. Discusses the findings and analysis, and draws a conclusion in the context of organisational learning. Focuses on presenting the organisational learning literature and not the quality management literature.

This case examines the decision by the Swiss pharmaceutical Roche Holding AG (Roche) to offer a record $42 billion bond in February 2009. In light of a pending acquisition of U.S. biotechnology leader, Genentech, Roche management planned to sell $32 billion in bonds at various maturities from 1 year to 30 years and in three different currencies (U.S. dollar, euro, and British pound). In a context of substantial uncertainty in both world financial markets and the value of the Genentech deal, students are introduced to the pricing of corporate bonds by being invited to price Roche's bold global offering.

Over the past twenty years, the management of F. Hoffman‐La Roche, a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical and chemical producer, has developed a comprehensive process for the analysis of important investment decisions. This process has evolved gradually and naturally, according to management needs and readiness. Today it embodies a full range of decision and risk analysis procedures, which allow rapid but thorough quantitative evaluations of important investment, business development and strategy decisions. The results of this analytical process are routinely presented to top management. In addition, the quantitative evaluation is actively sought out by line managers and functional experts throughout the company.

The engagement and retention of older workers is a major concern for organisations and has been an increasing focus for human resource scholars internationally. Drawing on social exchange theory (SET), the purpose of this paper is to examine the conditions under which retention and engagement of older workers could be enhanced, together with the potential for perceptions of age discrimination to negatively influence these outcomes.

The study surveyed a large sample of New Zealand workers aged 55 years and over from across 28 New Zealand organisations of varying size and from a wide range of industrial sectors. A moderated-mediation model was proposed to examine the relationship between perceived organisational support (POS) and intention to leave, the mediating effect of job engagement in this relationship, and the moderating influence of perceived age discrimination on this mediation.

While POS was negatively related to workers’ intention to quit, job engagement partially mediated this relationship. Age discrimination moderated this mediation. As perceived age discrimination increased, the mediation of job engagement was weakened as POS had less influence on the job engagement of older workers.

Implications for human resource management practice include the importance of providing organisational support for older workers along with protections from age bias and discrimination.

The study is one of the first to apply SET to the context of older workers, and has extended the SET literature through its examination of the role of employee engagement as a mediator of this relationship, and how perceived age discrimination, as a negative aspect of the work environment, can negatively impact these relationships.

This paper assesses the incidence and contribution that mentoring has to the career development of retail managers. Previous research has identified the benefits that mentoring relationships have for the protégé, the mentor and the organisation, although none have compared the experiences and attitudes towards mentoring within the retail environment. Drawing on a sample of 132 UK retail managers, this research found that half the sample had experienced being a protégé in a mentoring relationship. No significant differences were found between a respondent’s sex, age, position in the organisation and whether they have been mentored. Mentoring was found to play an important role in the development of a protégé’s current job, career and self development. It was less apparent whether the incidence of mentoring affected retail managers’ ultimate career ambitions. However, it appears that the advantages of mentoring as a management development tool far outweigh any disadvantages for the protégé.