Reward management: a critical text

This, the second edition, adopts a critical and theoretical perspective on remuneration policy and practices in the UK, from the decline of collective bargaining to the rise of more individualistic systems based on employee performance. It tackles the conceptual issues missing from existing texts in the field of HRM by critically examining the latest academic literature on the topic. [Taken from publisher's product description].

The assessment and development of drug calculation skills in nurse education: a critical debate

The drug calculation skill of nurses continues to be a national concern. The continued concern has led to the introduction of mandatory drug calculation skills tests which students must pass in order to go on to the nursing register. However, there is little evidence to demonstrate that nurses are poor at solving drug calculation in practice. This paper argues that nurse educationalists have inadvertently created a problem that arguably does not exist in practice through use of invalid written drug assessment tests and have introduced their own pedagogical practice of solving written drug calculations. This paper will draw on literature across mathematics, philosophy, psychology and nurse education to demonstrate why written drug assessments are invalid, why learning must take place predominantly in the clinical area and why the key focus on numeracy and formal mathematical skills as essential knowledge for nurses is potentially unnecessary.

Economic restructuring in New Zealand: A classical account

New Zealand's recent experiment with radical neoliberalism is well rehearsed in international policy circles. Yet, given the economic restructuring premise for the reforms, there has been little assessment of their structural impact. In this paper I take up this challenge, utilising [Shaikh, A., Tonak, E. Measuring the wealth of nations: the political economy of national accounts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1994] methodology for deriving classical value categories from official national accounts data but extending this to the industry level. This approach allows changes to the production and appropriation of surplus value in different industries during the period to be identified, underpinning a Marxian interpretation of restructuring. Beyond the methodology, the research makes four contributions. First, conventional analysis is found limited by its concentration on changes to the distribution of value rather than its creation. Second, land rents are significant. Third, the role of financial capital is found more complex than traditionally argued. Finally, the approach provides a firm grounding for the unfashionable concept of class fraction.

Environmental science and sustainability: some critical thoughts

Environmental science is often described as an interdisciplinary subject, but one firmly grounded in positivist science. Less well recognized is the idea that interdisciplinarity actually challenges fundamental conceptions concerning how reality is understood from an orthodox science perspective. Drawing on recent non-dualism (or post-natural) literature, it is suggested in this paper that there is a need for greater awareness and debate concerning the underlying challenges that ideas of interdisciplinarity and holism present for environmental science. It is argued by aligning environmental science more strongly with non-dualistic traditions (spanning the sciences, arts and religion), fundamental issues are raised concerning how reality is understood and what constitutes valid research methodologies. The concept of intrinsic value is used as one example of the way non-dualistic theory can open up new territories for exploring reality.