Publications

This publication was authored by Kari Hadjivassiliou before she joined IES.

This publication was authored by Kari Hadjivassiliou before she joined IES.

The Small Business Service (SBS) carried out an annual survey of the experiences and opinions of the owners of small businesses in 2003 and 2004. These built on previous experience with its omnibus survey of small businesses. This document is the report of the third, 2005, edition of the new survey. It sought to monitor the needs of small businesses, assess their main concerns, and identify the barriers which prevent them from fulfilling their potential; act as a sounding board for possible government actions to help small businesses; and record small businesses' expectations of government business support.

This publication was authored by Annette Cox before she joined IES.

The Department of Trade and Industry commissioned this report to assess the evidence base on management and leadership, and to make recommendations as to how it could be improved, with a view to designing and shaping policy to improve UK productivity through better management and leadership.

Coaching evaluation is an activity that almost all companies agree is important, but it is one that is often neglected in the perpetual rush to get things done. This report aims to demystify coaching evaluation and provide coaching programme organisers with the practical help they need in planning their own evaluations.

The British Occupational Health Research Foundation (BOHRF) commissioned this research to investigate safe and effective trauma management practices within organisations. It includes evidence on the effectiveness of specific mechanisms for the provision of support for organisations whose employees experience serious incidents at work.

In 2003 and 2004, the Small Business Survey (SBS) completed an annual survey of the experiences and opinions of the owners of SMEs, which built on its earlier Omnibus Survey of SMEs. This document is the report of the third, 2005 sweep of the survey. The survey sought to monitor the needs of SMEs, assess their main concerns, and identify the barriers which prevented them from fulfilling their potential; act as a sounding board for possible government actions to help SMEs; and record SMEs' expectations of government business support.

This book looks at the developments that have brought HR to its present position. It sets out a vision of where HR might be headed, including a definition of its role and activities. It identifies a number of challenges that HR will have to face if it is to be effective and suggest solution. Challenges relate to skills, structures and relationships with stakeholders, be they line managers or employees.

There is evidence that sales force compensation has changed very little over the past few years, even though the role of many sales professionals has done so. The majority of UK companies use a combination of salary and commission for their sales staff because they assume that incentives linked to performance outcomes will stimulate effort. However, over-reliance on variable pay, or a poorly designed incentive scheme can create problems, especially if based on transaction volume but not customer satisfaction.