This study explores attitudes towards employability among a small group of individuals who were in career transition as a result of taking voluntary redundancy. Contemporary models of career suggest that much of the responsibility for career and employability has been transferred from the organisation to the individual. This study indicated that, in general, mid-career individuals were yet to recognise this transfer and to take ownership of their employability. When moving from a stable career within a paternalistic organisation to an uncertain job market they were unsure what they had to offer an employer, how to approach job search or how to market their skills and experience. The majority did make a successful career transition but more in the absence of, rather than because of, individual career management strategies.

The emotional intelligence construct is still the focus of substantial controversy. In this paper we contribute to the current debate regarding the factors that comprise the emotional intelligence construct. While some authors argue that emotional intelligence consists of a number of social and emotional competencies including self-motivation (Goleman 1995; 1998), others maintain emotional intelligence abilities are restricted to abilities that directly link emotions to cognition (Mayer & Salovey 1997). This latter view does not include motivation as a factor, but acknowledges it as a separate, related function. We conducted an empirical study to test these two different conceptualisations. One hundred and thirteen individuals completed measures of emotional intelligence and McClelland's (1987) three motivational needs. Structural equation analyses clearly supported Mayer and Salovey's (1997) conceptualisation that motivation is a factor related to emotional intelligence but is not a component part of the emotional intelligence construct. Implications are discussed.

While there is extensive management and academic literature on the topic area of high performance management internationally, research on high performance management practices in the Australian context is limited. Furthermore, research on high performance management practices has focused predominantly on large organisations and is largely a new direction for research in SMEs. This study attempts to fill some of the gaps in existing studies by considering a wide range of high performance management practices in Australian SMEs. Owing to the dearth of national data on high performance management in Australian SMEs, the results of this study are used to determine whether there is any evidence of a ‘high performing’ scenario in relation to management practices in Australian SMEs. The results, reporting a national study (N = 1435) on employee management in Australian SMEs, reveal a moderate take-up of high performance management practices. The findings by themselves do not support a ‘high’ performing scenario in relation to management practices in SMEs; however the low application of participative practices in the context of low unionization, and a low incidence of collective relations, indicates that many SMEs need a makeover if they are to meet the demands of competition. It is evident from the findings in this study that high performance practices in SMEs stand to benefit from modernisation and improvement.

Call centres have been described as ‘electronic sweatshops’ and ‘slave galleons of the twenty first century’ and, contrarily as progressive, team based and career fulfilling work environments. Drawing on data from a survey of call centre managers in Australia, it is shown that there are elements of call centre management with practices from both extremes of the descriptive continuum and in some instances these elements coexist in the one centre. Whilst call centres are managed with a high level of control and the work of call centre agents is subject to intense scrutiny and monitoring, the simplistic notion that they are electronic sweatshops, or that the metaphor of the Panopticon applies, is rejected.

Workplace bullying is a phenomenon that is attracting increasing interest from researchers throughout the Western world. To date, most of the research into workplace bullying has focused on managers and colleagues as the perpetrators of bullying in the workplace. By contrast, little is known about ‘upwards bullying’, where managers are the targets. We argue that in order to more fully understand workplace bullying as a whole, the phenomenon of upwards bullying requires research attention. In the present study, upwards bullying was explored in interviews conducted with 24 managers from public and private organizations, with the data coded and arranged thematically. Results indicate that potential contributing factors towards upwards bullying include the current work environment, change within organizations and power issues. We recommend that organizations identify the occurrence and processes of upwards bullying as important steps in developing comprehensive workplace bullying policies.