Motivation in project management: The project manager's perspective

Project motivation is a key aspect to a successful project, yet few studies exist that shed light on this important subject. This article reviews the current literature and theoretical aspects of motivation and provides an analysis of the data. A survey was conducted by soliciting project managers to tell how they perceive their ability to influence motivation. In total, 115 certified project managers responded to the survey. A discussion and suggestions for future research follow the data.     

Designing and rolling-out a global style in process innovation

This paper discusses a consultancy project for a large multinational-manufacturing client. Style is explored as a concept originatirg in 'cultural' rather than economic disciplines. Three interpretations of culture are explored which have differing, complementary implications for managing style in technology-related organizational learning. The overall intenlion is not to identity and install a global 'best' style or a universal model of IT-related organizational culture. Rather it is to develop heuristics, which highlight what may require attention and handling in a practical situation, within a dialopue-based and learning-oriented approach to global-local strategy in complex production systems.     

Impacts of WTO restrictions on subsidized EU sugar exports

The study evaluates the impact of World Trade Organization (WTO) restrictions on the European Union (EU) sugar sector and the world sugar market. A small reduction in production quotas would be sufficient to satisfy the export subsidy limitations of the Uruguay Round agreement. Complete elimination of export subsidies by 2005 would require either a 10% reduction in production quotas or the combination of an 8% reduction in quotas and an 11% reduction in intervention prices. Higher world prices resulting from reduced EU exports would result in increased production of unsubsidized C‐sugar, with different impacts across EU member countries explained by differences in institutional pricing arrangements and marginal production costs.     

Social Exclusion—New Language, New Challenges for Local Authorities

National policy initiatives such as the establishment of the Social Exclusion Unit and the new government strategy, 'Opportunity for All', have provided a new stimulus to local authorities to develop more effective local strategies to promote social inclusion. The major features of current local initiatives are described, and the leadership and management challenges presented to local authorities are discussed. However, for local government to tackle social exclusion and poverty more effectively it is also necessary for the structural and regional dimensions of social exclusion to be taken more into account by central government, and for a new equilibrium between central, regional and local initiative to be achieved.     

‘Everybody's talking at me’: the dynamics of information disclosure and consultation in high‐skill workplaces in the UK

This article examines the dynamics of direct and indirect consultation processes in three high‐skill work establishments in the UK. Drawing on a mix of case study survey and interview data, it analyses the experiences and attitudes of predominantly well‐qualified professional employees. Adopting the concept of ‘embeddedness’ of employee consultation at the workplace level, we find that despite considerable breadth and depth of practice, many employees remain dissatisfied with the extent of their individual and collective influence over management decision‐making processes. Four underlying contributory factors are presented: extant hierarchical and bureaucratic management styles, the negative impact of work overload, the individualisation of consultation through computerisation, and the weakness of cooperative forms of union engagement.     

Postschool education and training: Accessible to all?

This article examines knowledge and skill development during early adulthood when the individual has severed ties with formal education and entered the world of work. Focusing on a cohort of young men from the National Longitudinal Surveys, the paper examines the economic and social forces influencing participation in various forms of postschool education and training. A recursive model is used to explore skill development patterns over the lifecycle. Attention is focused on the role of early human capital development and its influence on the cost and incentives for subsequent skill development in the adult working years. The findings point to the cumulative nature of skill development over the lifecycle with some important implications for efforts to reduce economic and social inequalities for blacks and whites.