Denise Skinner

Policies, promises and trust: improving working lives in the National Health Service

In recent years the UK National Health Service (NHS) has been characterised by radical and continuous change at every level. Within the literature, and the NHS itself, it is argued that successfully changing such an organisation requires the sustained commitment, trust and goodwill of staff. As part of developing and maintaining mutual trust and commitment it is widely argued that employers must meet the employee expectations which form part of the psychological contract, an important element of which, Armstrong argues, is being able to trust in management to keep their promises. Within this paper we argue that policies can be seen as a visible manifestation of management promises and present the improving working lives (IWL) policy within the NHS as an example of one such “promise” that has been made to staff in relation to areas which are important to them at a personal level. Using an anonymous questionnaire that explored areas central to IWL, data were collected from staff in five Primary Care Trusts within one Strategic Heath Authority in relation to their experiences and awareness of what was being done to address these issues. The research found that although the IWL Standard makes very public promises about work‐life balance, harassment, equality and the valuing of staff, at best these have only been partially delivered.

Towards a shared understanding of skill shortages: differing perceptions of training and development needs

The question of how to develop human capabilities to meet current and future needs of organisations has become an important issue at national, organisational and individual levels. An essential ingredient is shared understanding of the skills and competences deemed necessary and/or desirable for current and future performance. Current indications in the UK are that this may not exist and that there is an incompatibility between supply and demand. This paper reports on a research project undertaken in the UK automotive sector to explore the extent and nature of the differences in perception among stakeholders relating to the skills and development needs of current and future employees. Using the template approach data were collected from those providing training and those who are consumers of training. Comparison identified competing demands and differences in expectation and attainment, particularly in relation to prospective employees, potentially resulting in dissatisfaction and disappointment for all concerned.

Trust and control – a symbiotic relationship?

Traditional approaches to management which incorporate top‐down systems of control do not readily accommodate the need, imposed by a changing business environment, for more flexible methods of harnessing the knowledge and commitment of employees. In this situation, trust has been recognized as an important factor for organizational success but any relaxation of control may be constrained by the demands of accountability to internal and external stakeholders. In this paper, we illustrate the complexity of the relationship between trust and control in the context of corporate governance by examining the internal audit technique of control self‐assessment. We argue that the dependence of control processes on trust has been insufficiently explored and that neglecting to consider the reciprocal nature of trust relationships from an employee perspective may hamper the effectiveness of control systems designed to enhance accountability.

An alternative view through the glass ceiling

Purpose – To introduce the reader to a new way of understanding how the glass ceiling, the informal mechanisms and structures that slow or prevent womens advancement, may be configured, using capabilities theory.Design/methodology/approach – Capabilities theory is used as an analytical lens to evaluate the nature of interaction between the senior womens “internal capabilities” (their readiness to act), and the external “work environment” (work and non‐work factors) that in combination with internal capabilities, constitute combined capabilities. In particular, we reflect on how the character of combined capabilities might effect senior womens perception of ambition and risk and the choices that are made during the “career journey”.Findings – From a capabilities perspective, it can be argued that the remit of HRM policy makers regarding the careers of women attempting to break through the glass ceiling needs to be broadened, particularly by those organisations not only wishing to enhance their corporate...

Primary and Secondary Barriers to the Evaluation of Change Evidence from Two Public Sector Organizations

For more than two decades it has been widely acknowledged within the management literature that the evaluation of change rarely takes place within organizations, yet little coherent explanation has been offered as to why this should be so. This article reports on research undertaken in two UK public sector organizations, to explore the reality of evaluation in the context of change, with the intention of identifying the barriers to evaluation that existed and the factors that created them. The analysis of the empirical evidence led to the identification of two distinct types of barrier to evaluation, labelled primary (factors that act against an evaluation being undertaken) and secondary (factors that arise during an evaluation process). Primary barriers were rooted in contextual factors contained in the organization’s history and culture; the background against which the change initiative took place. Secondary barriers relate directly to the choices and decisions involved in the evaluation process itself and therefore only become significant once a decision to undertake an evaluation has been made. In combination, they offer an explanation for the exclusion of the evaluation stage in many change initiatives.