| July 2008 | View back issues |
|
|
|
| July 2008 | ||
|
Click on any of the headlines to go to the story:
Best Paper at CIPD Conference A paper by a team of researchers from the Department of Human Resource Management won the prestigious Professor Ian Beardwell prize for the best research paper at the recent Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Centres Conference. The paper, presented by Dr Dennis Nickson and Scott Hurrell, focuses on the perceptions, expectations and experiences of full-time students studying the CIPD-accredited Postgraduate Diploma/MSc in Human Resource Management. The research, which is being co-ordinated through the department's Scottish Centre for Employment Research, involves a number of staff and draws on surveys, focus groups and interviews to consider students perceptions of the role of human resources (HR) in the organisation, how their views changed during the course of the academic year, their initial thoughts on pursuing an HR career and early experiences as HR practitioners. The research, which is funded by the Principal’s Strategic Fund, aims to provide the basis for longitudinal research to assess continuity and change in the HR profession, as well as helping the department to retain an on-going relationship with alumni. The winning paper can be viewed at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B227B99E-72CF-491A-B460-D4648F64E92B/0/Centres_Conference08seminarResearchNicksonetal.pdf Back to top Keynote speaker at CompTIA forum  Professor Phil Taylor was keynote speaker at Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) Services and Support
Section Forum which took place in Maynooth, Ireland on 26 to 27 June 2008. Phil's topic "The Offshoring of Call Centres to
India and Beyond" led to vigorous discussion amongst the senior managers in attendance who represented diverse segments of
the computer and IT industries.Prof. Phil Taylor Back to top Professor Taylor addresses CCA forum Professor Phil Taylor addressed a Contact Centre Association (CCA) Forum in Glasgow on 25 June 2008 on the launch of the CCA's new magazine inTouch, in which Phil contributed a lead article on call centre offshoring. Phil's presented evidence on trends at the global scale but focused also recent detailed developments on the contact centre sector in Scotland. The session was important for helping to identify the issues for debate at the CCA's annual convention in November. Back to top Doctoral student wins best paper  Hazel Baxter, a first year doctoral student from the Department of Human Resource Management, recently attended and
presented a paper at the Scottish Doctoral Management Conference in St Andrews University. She won the best paper in the
Human Resource Management track, which is a great achievement for a first year PhD student. Furthermore, she received
excellent feedback on her paper and recommends the conference to all PhD students due to the supportive environment created
and maintained by academics and fellow doctoral students.
Hazel Baxter Back to top Dr Burt returns from work in Vietnam 
Dr George Burt, of the Department of Management, has recently returned from a trip to Vietnam where he helped the Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development to develop at set scenarios that considered the future of rural development and
poverty reduction. Dr Burt worked with members of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Communist Party's
Economic Commission, Ministry of Construction and Industry, academics and various other Governmental bodies interested in
policy development on poverty reduction. As part of the project Dr Burt interviewed key politcians, civil servants and
senior policy makers as well as facilitate a two-day scenario Dr George Burtworkshop. The challenge of facilitating the scenario workshop
was a little more complex than usual due to the need for simultaneous translation of English to Vietnamese and Vietnamese
to English. The scenarios are now being discussed within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and they have
indicated that they wish to circulate them for wider consultation, as well as undertake research on the implications of the
issues that were identified. The project was sponsored by the World Bank and was the first project of its type in Vietnam.
Back to top Strathclyde economics course comes highly recommended  A Scots postgraduate course that develops the professional economists of the future has become the first in the UK to be
formally recommended by the Government Economic Service (GES).The MSc in Economic Management and Policy, based at the University of Strathclyde's Business School, gives graduates the high-level skills they need for a career in business and public organizations both home and abroad. It has been granted the seal of approval from the GES, the UK's largest recruiter of economists, from this month (July 2008). Andy Ross, Deputy Director at HM Treasury and Head of Professional Development for the GES, said: "We were very impressed with Strathclyde's understanding of the needs of economists as professional practitioners in the public sector, their willingness to work with the GES in developing this approach to programme design and the glowing testimonials we had received from GES economists who had graduated from the programme." Roger Perman, Reader at Strathclyde's Department of Economics, said: "Economists are behind many of today's news headlines, from labour market trends to finance, public health, the housing market and criminal justice. "Our graduates go on to a variety of careers with national and international organizations, and many play a key role in policy-making. For that reason, it's vital that graduates leave university with the skills and knowledge required by today's employers and wider society. "We're delighted to be given the recommendation by the Government Economic Service, an award which reflects our commitment to excellence in economic analysis." The course is now in its tenth year and has a strong practical element, with an emphasis on investigations and problem-solving. Students can choose to graduate with a general MSc in Economic Management and Policy, or specialize in: Business Economics; Environmental Economics; Industrialisation, Trade and Economic Policy; International Financial Economics; and Regional Policy. An Open Leaning mode of study is available to enable people in full-time employment to study in an environment that fits with their job requirements. The Department of Economics has an international reputation for teaching and research, and is also home to the renowned Fraser of Allander Institute - a research unit which analyses the Scottish economy. For more information about the MSc, visit: www.strath.ac.uk/economics Back to top How Strathclyde Alumni can make a difference.  The Cranfield Trust held its first joint alumni networking event with Strathclyde Business School on 24 June 2008. The
event marked the launch of a combined campaign between Strathclyde Business School and The Cranfield Trust to recruit SBS
alumni as executive volunteers for project work with Scottish charities. The evening proved a great success with over 30
people attending and many registering their interest in becoming Cranfield Trust Volunteers. During the evening, the
Cranfield Trust outlined ways in which alumni could help charities by sharing their business skills in areas such as
strategic and business planning, marketing and communications, developing good HR Practice, financial management and using
and managing information technology.The School's alumni recruitment campaign is an ongoing exercise, and any alumni who could not attend the networking event are strongly encouraged to contact the Trust and offer their support. To register an interest in executive volunteering with The Cranfield Trust, or to learn more about volunteering assignments and the organisations needing help, please contact Iain Ferguson on 0844 800 3390 or e-mail: iain.ferguson@cranfieldtrust.org Website: www.cranfieldtrust.org Registered charity Number:800072 Back to top Recent publications 
1) "Advances in Mathematical Methods in Reliability" edited by Bedford, Quigley, Walls, Alkali, Daneshka & Hardman has just
been published. This is an edited collection of papers developed from those presented at the Mathematical Methods in
Reliability conference hosted by the Department of Management Science in July 2007. 2) Also coming out in July 2008 is the Wiley Encyclopedia of Quantitative Risk Assessment for which the Reliability section
was edited by Lesley Walls in collaboration with Professor Frank Coolen of Durham University.3) Abi Jagun has recently co-authored a book chapter: (2008) "Mobile Phones and Commonwealth Development: Understanding Implications of Rapid Diffusion" in Commonwealth Ministers Reference Book 2008. London: Commonwealth Secretariat (with Richard Heeks). Back to top 2008 Group decision and negotiation conference presentations Last week Colin Eden and Fran Ackermann were at the 2008 Group Decision and Negotiation Conference in Coimbra Portugal where we were organizers and chairs for a session entitled "Exploring the Contribution of Soft Operational Research to Group Decision and Negotiation (I and II) and co-chairs with Gwendolyn Kolfschoten and Gert-Jan de Vreede on a session entitled "Facilitation of Group Decisions and Negotiations I and II" We also presented a paper (with David Andersen and George Richardson of SUNY) on 'Using Group Explorer to Add Value to Group Model Building Sessions' Back to top Resource based strategy conference Fran Ackermann and Colin Eden with John Morecroft from LBS organized a 2 day conference/workshop on Resource Based Strategy. Held at Ross Priory the workshop involved 11 participants from Australia, the US, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, UK and Chile. Notably Prof Margaret Peteraf, Prof Kim Warren, and Profs Ron Sanchez and Aime Heene attended along with Dr Peter Galvin, Dr Martin Kunc, Dr Shayne Gary and Christoph Moesli. The conference involved each of the participants presenting particular aspects/perspectives on the Resource Based View in relation to Strategy which was designed to promote debate and discussion over the course of Monday and Tuesday morning with time spent Tuesday afternoon reflecting on the emergent areas of commonality and difference. The workshop concluded on Tuesday evening with agreement from all that a huge amount had been learnt along with plans for further meetings and projects. 
Resource based strategy conference at Ross PrioryBack to top Recent invited talks/seminars 1) Professor Paul Nutt, of the Fisher College of Business (Iowa State University), gave a seminar at the Management Science Department. The title of his talk was 'Investigating the Success of Decision Making Processes'. Paul Nutt is an extremely distinguished Professor of Management Science from the US. He has written many excellent papers on decision analysis and he has been given a fixed term part-time appointment with SBS. Paul is not only a leading researcher in areas of interest to us, but he has also played a major role in OR/MS in the US and hence has insights into how the subject is developing. 2) John Quigley gave an invited talk to the Business and Industrial Statistics Section of the Royal Statistical Society entitled Modelling the Performance of UK Maritime Coastguard Search And Rescue Coordination Centres. 3) Mik Wisniewski was one of the invited speakers at a recent research seminar aimed at analysts in Scottish Police services organised by the Scottish Institute for Police Research. His presentation was titled 'Hard and soft approaches to performance measurement in police services' Back to top Recently won grants  The Management Science Department has been awarded an ESRC Collaborative Doctoral Studentship in partnership with the
Scottish Government to undertake a Comparative Study of Scottish Police Boards. The PhD will be supervised by Mik
Wisniewski at Strathclyde and Professor Nick Fyfe, Director of the Scottish Institute for Police Research at Dundee University.
Mik Wisniewski Back to top Guest Editor Mik Wisniewski is guest editor of a special issue of the International Journal of Public Sector Management (IJPSM) "Delivering and Measuring Success in the Public Sector". The special issue seeks to highlight applied research and practice surrounding success in the public sector service excellence in areas such as: performance measurements and management systems; innovation and creativity in process delivery; business/knowledge process outsourcing services; least-cost infrastructure; deployment of improvement techniques. Closing date for submission of articles is 30th September. Back to top Debating the future of Cohesion policy .bmp) On 18 June, John Bachtler was an invited keynote speaker at an Austrian government conference on the future of EU Cohesion
policy held in the Federal Chancellery in Vienna. Under the title 'EU Kohäsionspolitik: 2014: hat die Zukunft schon
begonnen?!' (EU Cohesion policy 2014+: Has the future already started?), the meeting was organised by the Austrian Spatial
Planning Conference (ÖROK) to present different European perspectives on the reform debate and to discuss the views of
Austrian stakeholders from national, regional and local levels. As part of a session which included Dirk Ahner,
Director-General for Regional Policy, and Wolfgang Bulfon MEP, John Bachtler was invited to assess the state of the reform
debate and the views of Member States.
Back to top Behind closed doors: Study reveals importance of 'invisible' businesses The home is the most important location for small businesses today - but the home-based business sector is not being recognized by policy makers, according to research from academics at the University of Strathclyde. The study found that more than one-third of all small businesses in the UK operate from home. Moreover, a significant minority of these businesses are substantial, with one in 10 making sales of more than £250,000 and employing at least 10 people. But home-based businesses are often 'invisible' and regarded as being small and economically marginal, according to the report's authors, Professors Colin Mason and Sara Carter at the University's Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship and Dr Stephen Tagg of the Department of Marketing. Professor Mason said: "There is a perception that local authorities are against home- based businesses while nationally they are dismissed as being of little economic significance. "But although many are small, their size does not indicate lack of ambition or vitality - indeed, more than half (57 per cent) of our survey respondents had increased their turnover in the previous year. "As more and more entrepreneurs choose to base their companies at home, we need to see a change in enterprise policy at local, regional and national levels to actively encourage home-based businesses. We hope our research will act as a first step in helping to debunk some of the common myths about this growing and important sector." The findings of the report, Invisible Businesses: the characteristics of home-based businesses in the UK, include: Professor Mason added: "The study shows something of a reversal of business habits in the post industrial age, with more and more small companies operating from home rather than from premises in the cities. "This blurring of home and business life has a number of implications. We are likely to see a growing demand for domestic properties that can accommodate home businesses. Moreover, some types of housing, such as high rise apartment blocks, are likely to be significant barriers to operating a home based business in a large city. "We also found that home businesses can breathe new life into communities by increasing social and economic activity in their neighbourhoods, from increasing demand for complementary business services such as copy and printing shops and postal services, to coffee shops for meetings with clients. "But many home-based business owners feel unsure of their legality and fear the complex tax system and what regulation might mean for them. The sector needs more clarity and encouragement if it is to reach its full growth potential." The full report can be found at: http://www.strath.ac.uk/huntercentre/research/wp/ Back to top BAE Systems university link gives students vital experience CIMA has linked up with Strathclyde University in Scotland and BAE Systems to provide students with a valuable insight into working in the finance department of a major global employer. CIMA has a close working relationship with the Department of Accounting and Finance at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, where each year a number of the BA Accountancy students go on to study for the CIMA professional qualification. Helen Watts, our business development manager for Scotland, put Strathclyde University and BAE Systems in touch with each other, so that the students studying at Strathclyde could get hands on experience of what working for an international employer might be like. Adam Collins, finance manager for BAE Systems, Technology and Engineering Services, prepared a case study for the students at Strathclyde. The case study was designed to look at a wide range of financial issues that BAE Systems must consider carefully during the process of bidding for new work. Prior to the event at BAE Systems’ ship yards in Scotstoun, Glasgow the students were tasked with producing a report on an export bid with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence as the customer. Back to top |
||
| Back issues of the SBS Newsletter are available on our website: http://www.sbs.strath.ac.uk/newsletter |