Chapter 5 focuses on the labor process to analyze what industrial modernization meant for the workers and how coercive practices and welfare measures were employed to curb workers’ mobility. It depicts the industrial transformation and mechanization in the Imperial Arsenal under the supervision of American, and then British engineers. It examines the labor-management policies and practices that developed in response to the formation of a heterogeneous labor force, and examines the regulations and instructions on the production process issued by the naval bureaucracy in the early 1870s. In parallel with the increasing division of labor and the desire of the state elites to control the labor process, the Arsenal administration attempted to consolidate capitalist relations through top-down supervision of the labor process, time discipline, and the spatial-administrative reorganization of the labor force. In addition, intending to halt the problem of turnovers and increase workers’ loyalty to their workplace, the administration implemented policies aimed at bonding civilian workers to the arsenal, including the social security benefits as institutionalized in the mid-1870s.

Effective strategic planning, implementation and management drive organisational performance. Healthcare managers have recognised the increasing importance of strategic planning and management as the healthcare industry has become more dynamic and complex. However, development of feasible strategy can be difficult, and implementation of even well-developed strategy is often challenging. This has become increasingly complex as healthcare organisations aim to implement triple bottom-line (TBL) reporting to better ensure sustainability. This chapter provides advice on leading and improving strategic planning and management for sustainability in health-service organisations.

Understanding, managing and building positive culture within a workplace are key responsibilities of leadership and management. This chapter outlines what workplace culture is, the effects of poor culture on an organisation and what managers can do to improve workplace culture. the Austrian American management theorist Peter Drucker once famously said, ‘Culture eats strategy over breakfast’. This might seem implausible, because there is an expectation that healthcare managers plan, set out, implement and then evaluate strategy. Drucker’s point is that unless there is a positive workplace culture, seeing a strategy move to successful implementation and adoption is very difficult, sometimes impossible.

Matching available health resources to consumer needs is challenging. Governments and health bureaucracies with finite resources face increasing demands from their client populations, which often have complex health issues. No country prioritises resources to meet every single health need of every citizen; consequently, effective health service planning is critical to maximising population health outcomes and ensuring value for the available money. Due to the inherent contradictions existing between the high demand for and the limited responsive supply capacity by health services, health service planning is often characterised by negotiation, lobbying and compromise among various interest groups. A consensus can best be achieved if stakeholders agree upon a set of core values, and all involved in the process endorse principles and the procedures of planning. This chapter focuses on the practice of health service planning.

A 2021 report on a study of workplace conflict in the United Kingdom concludes that, in 2018–19, more than 35 per cent of respondents reported workplace conflict, with an estimated 485 000 employees resigning as a result. Managers need to understand that conflict does not resolve itself; rather, it tends to gather intensity and energy. Gupta, Boyd and Kuzmits have found that ‘employees spend as much as 42 percent of their time engaging in or attempting to resolve conflict and 20 percent of managers’ time is taken up by conflict-related issues’. Managing conflict is one of the primary responsibilities of managing staff and teams, particularly in multicultural work environments. Understanding what is ‘culturally normative in terms of self-worth, confrontation, emotional expression, and managerial intervention can help [staff] involved in workplace conflict understand what they are experiencing’. Additionally, it can help managers intervene appropriately. In this chapter, different types and origins of conflict are discussed, as well as approaches to managing and resolving conflict.

This chapter introduces the world of change management. Firstly, it sets out the case for change – why change management matters – then looks at the theories concerning individual and organisational change. Finally, the role of the professional change manager is discussed.

The construct of emotional intelligence (EI), also interchangeably referred to as EQ, has engendered considerable scholarly attention within the field of psychology over the past three decades. Despite its significant appeal in business, education and popular literature, EI remains a theme of scientific controversy and investigation. This scrutiny arises from discernible disparities between popular and scholarly interpretations of EI, which are further complicated by the methodological challenge of devising reliable measurement instruments.

Chapter 5 addresses the application of the law on disfigurement from the point of view of employers. It analyses the findings from interviews with HR and EDI professionals about their approaches to disfigurement equality at work. It explores employer approaches to visible difference in a variety of contexts – from recruitment to workplace culture to making reasonable adjustments. This chapter reveals considerable uncertainty among employers about how to address the social barriers of looking different. This uncertainty is addressed by guidance in Appendix 1. Moreover, drawing on literature about the legal consciousness of human resources departments, it also uncovers tensions in the daily reality of HR practice which may impact both their ability and motivation to create appearance-inclusive workplaces.

In this chapter participants reflect on the steps that senior academics and academic institutions could do to better support early career autistic academics. They also reflect candidly on the things that non-autistic colleagues and friends could do to make them feel more comfortable in both work and social settings.

While the concept of reasonable adjustments is well-established in academia, and it is enshrined in university policy that we must support the provision of these adjustments for our students, autistic employees may not always feel empowered to ask for necessary adjustments to thrive in an academic workplace. In this chapter participants reflect on the process of requesting and receiving adjustments, including those that have been denied and those that they wish they could ask for.

This chapter explores the bi-directional challenges of autistics in the academy. Many of the challenges experienced by autistic people in academia are similar to those experienced in other aspects of our lives – dealing with sensory challenges, different processing styles, social interaction, and communication. Other challenges that are inherent to academia include the breadth of activity, the performance and competitive aspects of the role, and complicated institutional politics.