Editorial

This editorial piece wishes to draw attention to two changes to the Irish Journal of Management.

First, we are adding to our offering of submissions for publication. The Irish Journal of Management aims to publish well-written and well researched articles that will contribute to the understanding of management-related issues in both Irish and international contexts. The Journal welcomes contributions from a wide range of management viewpoints including inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary perspectives as well as traditional disciplines and functions. The Journal seeks the following types of submissions:

Second, this issue marks the beginning of a new editorial board for the Irish Journal of Management. We would sincerely like to thank all members of the outgoing editorial board who gave their time and commitment to promoting and serving the needs of the Irish Journal of Management. The Journal relies on the support of the editorial board and it was a pleasure to work with our outgoing members. To members of the new editorial board, we would like to thank them for taking on the role of editorial board member of the Irish Journal of Management. We look forward to working with them as we promote the Irish Journal of Management as an outlet for quality research. The editorial board membership is available on the Irish Academy of Ireland website www.iamireland.ie.

This issue includes four articles which make significant contributions to research in employment relations, labour economics and HRM and employ a range of methodologies. The article by Lorraine Ryan and Joseph Wallace presents case studies of two organisations which introduced annualised hours agreements and the conditions which may have contributed to their success and failure. The article speaks to two key issues. One concerns the organisation of working time, an increasingly topical subject in employment given the increasing competitive environment in which organisations operate, the need for greater efficiencies and increasing complexity of employment relationships. Second, the article provides much needed empirical research on real-life negotiation interactions between employers and employees, given the dominance of experiment-based research in negotiations. The issue of competitiveness in organisations is not confined to private companies but increasingly, public sector organisations are under pressure to demonstrate efficiencies on tightened budgets. This has translated into heightened managerialism that can lead to negative work environments. These matters form the backdrop to the article by Thomas McCabe and Sally Anne Sambrook on managerialism and trust amongst nurses in Britain. They examine through discourse analysis of interviews, the impact of mangerialism on trust amongst nurses who are also themselves managers. They draw out the tensions between the dual roles of the interviewees as managers but also as professionals with a distinct professional identity and the findings are prescient for healthcare management today. The article by Thomas Turner makes a contribution to labour market economics and presents a statistical analysis of the labour market participation experiences of older age groups in Ireland. Given the concerns over how to best integrate the skills of older people in organisations, and on the impact of ageing populations on public finances such as pensions, Prof. Turner’s analysis has important implications particularly for social policy. The final article by Lorraine Ryan and colleagues explores the issue of zero hours contracts in both the UK and Ireland. They focus on highlighting similarities and differences in relation to the identification and incidence of zero hour contracts and the regulation of such work in both contexts. In doing so they offer explanations for differences across both countries and also address the broader issue of labour regulation in light of the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU) (Brexit).