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Preliminary interviewing of organization development consultants suggested that, first, they tended to have a strongly developed ability to idealize, and second, they tended to see themselves as being shy individuals with considerable interpersonal difficulties. Such findings, along with an analysis of organization development values taken from -the literature, were interpreted from an object relations viewpoint. From this a hypothesis regarding the psychodynamics of organization development consultants was developed. Operational measures were devised and data collected using the Object Relations Technique (Phillipson, 1973). Some indicative findings are reported from fieldwork and comparisons made with clinical groups. Discussion of the difficulties of interpretation and implications for practice of this explanatory work conclude the paper.

The paper argues that the widespread changes in manufacturing industry are best conceptualised as paradigmatic, in that they constitute a patterned reconfiguration of ideas, beliefs and values about manufacturing philosophy, strategy, structure, organisation and operations. The widespread adoption of teamworking is part of this patterning and is argued to reflect a new institutional form of manufacturing organisation. In investigating teamworking, the paper uses the concept of organisational archetypes to investigate whether or not teamworking takes a single, or variety of interlocking forms. Empirical studies are introduced to justify the articulation of three teamworking forms: a "'self‐directed" archetypal form and two other sub‐types, "lean" and "project", neither of which, it is argued, are truly archetypal. The paper concludes that broad institutional changes toward a teamworked manufacturing organisation impact on the "interpretive schema" of managers operating in specific task environments who prescribe and deploy this new organisational format. This creates the two hybrid sub‐types in practice. The findings of this research have implications for both practitioners involved in designing and introducing teamworking into manufacturing firms, and for academics researching on team based organisational design.

Uses theory and empirical data to develop further the understanding of the strategic regeneration of manufacturing companies. Reviews literature relevant to the areas of management and manufacturing strategy and organisational learning, identifying the importance of taking "resource based" views of strategy as a point of departure for aiding understanding of the process of manufacturing regeneration. Argues that regeneration can be understood from a change management perspective as a redefinition of tacit and explicit organisational routines. Reports the further development of earlier work and uses one exemplar case to describe and help begin understanding the complex process of strategic regeneration using an ecological, perceptual/cognitive, and structural analytical framework. Finally, draws some tentative conclusions on the nature and process of strategic regeneration and regenerative strategy, and notes the value and potential of taking a perspective based on the notion of "organisational routines" in attempting to understand this complex phenomenon.

Implementation is a key process in the effective development of
Advanced Manufacturing Systems. Specifically, implementation should not
be confused with installation of the technology for it involves change
in companies on a much wider front than mere technological change.
Change has to be pursued, not only in terms of technology, but also in
terms of the associated organisational and business dimensions. Failure
to do this can severely limit the impact and success of the application
to the business in question. These three dimensions constitute
conceptually different aspects of the technological innovation process,
and in developing a normative implementation methodology for Advanced
Manufacturing Systems drawn partly from extensive empirical work in
manufacturing companies, it is useful to represent these as three
orthogonal dimensions from which at least eight logical positions can be
explored. An argument is presented therefore for the development of a
strategy containing all three dimensions considered in the order:
business first, technology and organisation afterwards, which aims to
bring about radical change on a wide variety of fronts to support the
effective implementation of Advanced Manufacturing Systems.

Reports the findings of a research project into the development of a
total quality methodology for strategic use by senior management teams
aimed at enabling them to audit current approaches, revise where
necessary, and then implement in order to produce TQM programmes which
are resilient in the medium/long term. Recounts the empirical and
theoretical work underpinning a partially inductively derived map of
approaches to TQM, comprising four TQM paradigms which are postulated to
be the product of managerial mindsets and which result in predominant
and implicit TQM cultures in management teams. Explores the role of TQM
in strategic cultural change. Finally details the development of a
methodology (TQM2) based on the research findings.

English
This article addresses the synthesis and use of research evidence to inform policy and practice. Reviews of the evidence base in many fields have formed a crucial bridge between research, policy making and practice. Systematic review, in conjunction with meta-analysis, has become an established methodology for locating, selecting, appraising and quantitatively synthesising research evidence according to an explicit and reproducible methodology. However, the 'standard' systematic review template associated with the Cochrane Collaboration is often criticised for its perceived inability to cope with variation in study design, nature of evidence and study context. We present five approaches to research synthesis, conducted in different fields, using contrasting methodologies. A number of methodological, practical and strategic implications of conducting research syntheses are explored. The article aims to stimulate debate about what counts as good-quality synthesis, and to demonstrate the growing diversity in its practice. In so doing, the article offers researchers and commissioners a range of approaches to producing reviews of the evidence base.