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It has been both a privilege and a pleasure to be directly involved with The International Professional Managers Association in development and presentation of this new and exciting venture. The International Journal of Professional Management (IJPM) has a principal undertaking that is the continuing advancement of the research, teaching, learning, and practice of management. The critical objectives of IJPM are the development and dissemination of new ideas and approaches that assure the advancement of research, teaching, and practice of management. The journal will strive to keep both its valued members and subscribers abreast of new knowledge and practices in the field and to create and develop a professional community that exchanges ideas and provides assistance to others. In addition, IJPM maintains the currency of knowledge and skills of members, as well as shares expertise about how to achieve excellence in the performance of both our academic and professional roles.
Our readership will appreciate a journal of this caliber does not simply appear, indeed the background to its emergence spans more than a decade of dedicated hard work and unbridled enthusiasm by the various members of the Council of the Association. A visit to the current website www.ipma.co.uk will reinforce our collective belief that the time is right for such a journal in qualitative representation of the Associations underlying ethos of continuous improvement in the wide and varied field of ‘The Professional Manager’ . In highly positive furtherance to that, the Association is set to launch its 1st International Conference in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia July 2010 and this event will be an unforgettable experience for both presenters and honored attendees alike.
For and on behalf of the Association and IJPM I express my sincerest thanks to our esteemed editorial board members who have both grasped and appreciated the validity of high intention and proffered their professionalism and reputation in support. Furthermore, I take pleasure in applauding the unstinting contribution and support of Professor Bob Haigh, Dr Navaneetha and Mick Dilcock all of whom have worked very closely together with our Association and me in bringing us all now to this stage of the journal's first issue.
I am extremely encouraged by the breadth and depth and indeed the quality of the contributions to this, the first issue. Our featured article on Teamwork is an essential read for the Professional Manager and the subject area I felt was suitably appropriate to this first edition given the due process of effective team working that has resulted in this journals emergence. Professors’ Haigh and Morris present a succinct appreciation of teamwork aligned in large part to their respective specialism in Total Quality Management. It is a simple fact that very little can actually be achieved without contribution of a collaborative effort in some measure. This is a basic appreciation that must be fully embraced by the professional manager and this article provides a sufficiency of comprehension in that field such that it might be repeatedly called upon as an effective term of reference prior to and during any field of managerial operation.
Our longstanding good friend and colleague Dr Suliman takes a scholarly approach to the appreciation of commitment, an absolute imperative in both effective team building and working. This article seeks to zero in on the very concept of commitment by way of his critical analysis of the current literature and at same time brings to the fore the cross-cultural arguments existent in terms of the effectiveness of the normative approach to commitment. It is fair to state this article is principally academically based, however I would respectfully suggest that from a practitioner stand point the article presents particularly interesting findings as the research is set in and around the modern day workplace and takes due cognisance of the respective impacting environments.
This journal's underlying intention is and will remain to present our readership with a balanced approach to the world of professional management. This balance comes by way of clear appreciation of the inherent need to increasingly dovetail the practitioner (the Professional Manager in action) with the academic (the theorist in consideration). The now globalised world of management and practice is by very nature of its own unprecedented dynamic demanding knowledge on an extraordinary scale not only in terms of volume and quality but increasingly with respect to the immediacy of its delivery. It is our felt view that this demand is not by any means on the descending scale. Philip Taylor’ s article is an excellent example of his organisation sponsoring his postgraduate study at same time expecting a quid-pro-quo in terms of his final dissertation.
This journal actively and enthusiastically encourages such valuable contribution from the work placed professional. The Professional Managers Association is indeed a standard-bearer of derived benefits accruable from work-based projects such as Philip’s. The article is refreshing in approach to a very real and clearly identifiable problem and tracks Philips endeavours in bringing practically applied solution to said problem. His grasp, appreciation and self-growth as a professional manager is I feel readily mapped out in this article and should provide inspiration for our practitioner readers to identify their own potentials along similar vein.
Dr Zainal’ s empirical study on leadership styles is an interesting, empirically applied Malaysian based appreciation. The sample size of her research is more than viable and in tandem with a well reasoned methodology the findings present cogent verifiable results in promoting what she terms the ‘brain gain’ of ‘k-workers’ in the Malaysian multi-media industry. Dr Zainal presents an interesting perspective on the existence of a significant knowledge gap in the areas of organisational justice and leadership styles when profiled against knowledge workers job satisfaction.
Professors’ Forman and Wigmore provide us with a swift, concise evaluation in review format of postgraduate school developments in the UK. Their consideration is informative and insightful and their conclusion in terms of cross-university schools facilitating the share of best practice and common approaches would provide interesting reading/benchmarking for educators not only in the UK but in the international arena also. The information contained within the article is succinctly presented and perhaps presents a framework of approach to this issue that might be utilised and built upon.
Dr Mikel J. Harry suitably endorses Arun Hariharan’ s paper from the very start; ‘I would strongly recommend that executives and practitioners alike read this enlightening paper’ . His article simply goes from strength to strength, repeatedly reinforcing in the reader confidence that here is an individual who has operated at the very sharp end of Six Sigma implementation. I would be very hard pressed to better Dr Harry’ s quote, for my part anyone interested in the field of management irrespective of specialism, this article is a quality read.
Finally, Dr Al-Harthy presents us with an extremely interesting and highly focused article based within the specialised field of petroleum and chemical engineering. The issues raised however have no real alignment to the more traditional sciences of physics and chemistry as Dr Al-Harthy makes an informative assessment of a growing issue in this particular industry that is motivation and retention. He picks up the mantle of recognition as being a key contributory factor in both the motivation and retention of workers. The article goes further in presenting evidence that recognition comes in differing guises and cannot be simply applied broadly. This paper presents interesting reading to practicing executives/senior managers/managers directly involved in the oil and gas industries. The principal content and concerns arising would also provide interesting reading to HRM practitioners across all areas of consideration, for example teamwork – enter Professors’ Haigh and Morris.
Dr Philip E Dunn
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