Purpose – This paper aims to position leadership as a relationship between leader and follower, and suggests ways that leaders can develop the relationship as a day‐to‐day activity. Design/methodology/approach – Uses current thinking on “followership” as a perspective, and draws on...

Purpose – This paper aims to advance the view that, as organizations realize the limitations of working in isolation and accept the need to develop partnerships and coalitions, they seek a new type of leadership model in which the charismatic individual who, by sheer force of personality,...

Purpose – This paper aims to trace the history of the BT‐Accenture e‐peopleserve joint venture, which provides HR services not only for BT but also for other clients. Design/methodology/approach – Examines the changes to HR at BT post‐privatization, the factors that gave rise to the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain how a training initiative helped to boost customer service and improve customer relations at a UK workwear‐rental supplier, despite difficult trading conditions across its sector. Design/methodology/approach – Highlights the reasons for the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a training initiative that helped to re‐energize call‐centre staff at First Choice Holidays. Design/methodology/approach – Explains what gave rise to the training program, how it was organized and the results it helped to achieve....

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe how training helped UK hire company A‐Plant to improve customer service and profitability, promote more of its own employees to management posts and slash employee turnover by 18 percent. Design/methodology/approach – Highlights the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the Start Lean program, run by the Manufacturing Institute in the UK, which aims to introduce apprentices to the principles of lean manufacturing and to instil a lean way of thinking early in their careers. Design/methodology/approach –...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the award‐winning real‐apprentice scheme, run by support‐services company MITIE, which has successfully linked the company's need for skilled mail and reprographic operators with the needs of young people in a deprived area of east...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to described the new collaborative working and knowledge‐sharing processes made possible at Fugro through the latest e‐learning publishing systems. Design/methodology/approach – Draws on information provided by the company's chief surveyor, Offshore...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe how the customer‐service centre at Fairbairn Private Bank (FPB) was transformed by a training initiative that led to a string of awards. Design/methodology/approach – Details the origins of the training initiative, how it was delivered and...