Beauty Essential, a medium‐size company in the Thai clothing industry, has changed its working procedures to conform to an international standard on social responsibility – and improved productivity into the bargain. The company produces garments for such international brands as Calvin...

Top managers at Life Care Centers of America, the USA’s fifth‐largest provider of nursing care to the elderly, believe that by creating a strong, consistent organizational culture they create an environment where employees will provide high‐quality service to residents. The importance of...

Imagine the scene. A manager at a blue‐chip company has a heart‐to‐heart with his staff. They talk openly and freely, even admitting personal weaknesses and failings in the workplace. They develop such a rapport that before they know it they have unanimously agreed on suitable working...

Economic downturns often see a reduction in training budgets. In some cases, they are axed altogether. But mentoring can help organizations and, in particular, information‐technology (IT) departments, to protect the investment they have made in technical personnel, and continue to develop the...

The Chubb Group of insurance companies and Bear Stearns security company are among the large corporations that have, over the last decade, been gradually liberating their internal labor markets. The traditional system of management determining the employee’s career path has been replaced by a...

Over a five‐year period, AT&T Consumer Services experienced radical structural change, in preparation for US deregulation of the telecommunications and information‐services markets in 1996, and afterwards. This had far‐reaching internal impacts, including waves of downsizing, growth and...

Deutsche Bank (DB) is using project‐orientated learning, new technology and academic input as part of a radical transformation of its HR function. In 1999, after acquiring Bankers Trust, DB had more than 90,000 employees at five globally‐operating business divisions and a corporate center,...

South African Breweries (SAB) Group, one of the world’s largest beer distributors, is at the forefront in addressing social inequities in its hiring, promoting and training practices, and combating discrimination. The 49,000‐employee, multidivisional company operates in 19 countries around...

A telecommunications company, trade union and university are involved in one of the most ambitious examples of workplace learning undertaken in Britain. BT plc, a company considered to be at the forefront of partnership working, has teamed up with the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU),...

Research commissioned by the UK Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development described industry’s failure to evaluate its investment in management education and development as “nothing short of scandalous”. But in practice, it can be very difficult to quantify the benefit of training...