The aim of this paper is to provide a representation of the employee viewpoint on emerging issues related to HRM practices associated with the ‘new employment relationship’. Data obtained from employees across two studies in two very different countries – South Africa and New Zealand has been used to represent the employee perspective. Interestingly, a number of shared perceptions about these HRM practices are found to exist between employees from South Africa and New Zealand, suggesting the problems employees currently experience with the HR practices in the workplace that aim to promote this new relationship could be more widely shared.

The areas of shared concern highlighted by employees were mainly related to the implementation of HRM practices. For example, insufficient line management commitment, unfairness and inconsistency in the application of HR policies were all issues that were commonly raised, as was poor communication. Employees attributed these problems to the inadequate skills of those responsible for the implementation of HRM, and tended to be of the view that they could effectively be resolved through the HR department playing a more central role in the implementation of HRM in an organisation, training of line managers to carry out their HR responsibilities more effectively and increased consultation with employees.

Employees participating in these studies appeared to demonstrate a surprisingly high level of awareness and cognisance in identifying problems with HR practice and more significantly how these problems might be rectified. This would support the importance of accessing the employee perspective in both the implementation and research into HRM in practice. Based on the issues highlighted by the employees, increased co operation between line management, the HR department and employees is suggested to facilitate the effective design and implementation of HRM practice in this era of new employment relations.

Exploratory research into the expectations of advertising managers concerning agency creative work was undertaken as the first stage of a grounded longitudinal study. A series of depth interviews revealed how major advertisers attempt to obtain desired creative work through an extensive agency briefing and response process. ‘Power and influence’ during this process emerged as a key issue for these managers. Analysis of depth interviews with managers with direct responsibility for the commissioning of creative work for major advertisers suggested a range of influence strategies were used in their pursuit of the desired work. Such strategies seemed to follow a pattern of rapid escalation similar to a pattern observed in the management of urgent change.

The last two decades have seen an unprecedented growth in the use of outsourcing interventions in diverse organisational contexts. This phenomenon can be viewed as a means of unbundling the vertically integrated activities of organisations in response to existing strategic wisdoms that focus upon value-creating activities as a means of enhancing an organisation's sustainable competitive advantage. This paper explores the delicate balance between these more conventional strategic motives and the more complex, emergent and interconnected behavioural impacts and considerations in the context of a decision to outsource the meter reading activities of a well-established, publicly listed Australian energy company. By drawing upon the idiosyncratic experiences reported by particular groups of individuals involved in, or affected by, an outsourcing decision, the authors note some important lessons that may inform the pursuit of such decisions in the future.

In recent years the outsourcing phenomenon has fundamentally altered the processing and delivery of a wide range of goods and services by organisations in public, private and not-for-profit sectors (Auguste et al. 2002; Osterman 1998: Industry Commission 1996; Domberger & Hall 1995). Despite the stellar rise of outsourcing as a mainstream management tool, outsourcing's proponents seem unable to successfully distance themselves from ongoing questioning of the rationale for, and fallout resulting from, its adoption (Jennings 2002; Doig et al. 2001; Humphry 2000; Hunter & Gates 1998: Commonwealth Ombudsman 1996; Rees & Rodley 1995).

Much of the debate and research relating to outsourcing has been informed by the principles of transaction cost economics (Williamson 1979; Williamson 1975; Coase 1937) whereby the make-or-buy decision is crystallised by simply comparing the costs of managing transactions (using the market) with production costs (producing internally). In short, the transaction cost approach suggests that markets are most efficient for all transactions, except those that involve assets of a highly specialised nature used frequently as these represent a set of circumstances open to opportunistic behaviour by the market.

However, the hard lessons learned with the passage of time have shown (the informed observer) that managers who limit their sourcing decisions to cost comparisons alone are likely to run the risk of seeing their organisation wither and die: rigorous cost analysis is a part, albeit an important part, of a plethora of other strategic considerations that combine to move an organisation toward its long-term goals and objectives (Fill & Viser 2000: Rule 1999; Meredith 1998; Domberger 1998; Hunter & Gates 1998: Hodge 1996; Koehan et al. 1994). Indeed, this strategic context forms the cornerstone from which this paper proceeds to explore the appropriateness and meaningfulness of the strategic literature's conception of outsourcing decisions for the realities of a complex and dynamic operating environment.

Theory about what constitutes entrepreneurial success is explored using case studies of the 2003 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winners for Australia and New Zealand. Findings suggest the need to more equally emphasize what theory presents as elements of successful entrepreneurship, and importantly, incorporate ethics as a key dimension. Further, the analysis offers insight into how business awards processes in general might be conducted.

Entrepreneurship has long been considered an important economic activity. The past twenty years has witnessed an explosion of research into entrepreneurs and their actions (Venkatarman 1997; Hannafey 2003) with considerable emphasis on the elements that constitute successful entrepreneurship. However, there has been little empirical work substantiating these elements or exploring the extent to which they appear to be considered when judgements are made about entrepreneurial success. Additionally, some entrepreneurs that are judged successful, such as Monty Fu who won an entrepreneur of the year award in the United States, are later shown to be unsuccessful along a number of elements. It may be that some elements are more emphasized when judging entrepreneurial endeavours, than are others. For these reasons, the current paper focuses on the construction of successful entrepreneurship. It addresses the following research questions: Are there some elements of entrepreneurship that appear to be more emphasized than are others when judgements are made about successful entrepreneurs? Would recourse to theory help decide successful entrepreneurship?

This paper examines the learning process within collaborations from a political perspective and explores the implications of power for the process of learning. The central argument is that the processes of collaboration and collaborative learning are inherently influenced by dynamics of power that occur at the organisational, collaboration and collaboration-environment levels. These power dynamics develop as a consequence of the interactions among collaborating organisations and their power bases. The paper presents a theoretical basis for considering the nature and impact of power dynamics at the various levels on the collaborative learning process and outcomes and sets forth some propositions that provide an agenda for future research.

This research tests the extent to which the social processes of leadership, as derived from the full grounded theory method, may be tapping constructs other than those measured by existing measures of transformational leadership. The impact on work unit outcomes of two measures of transformational leadership and the social processes of leadership scale (SPL) were tested. Comparative structural equation modelling was undertaken. It was found that, with one exception – ‘active management processes’, normally classified as transactional management – measures of transformational leadership are probably pre-existing measures of the social processes of leadership in organisations. The use of the grounded theory method to research leadership is supported. Hierarchy of Abstraction Modelling is useful as a training tool and as a representation of research findings.