Contends that micro-business owner-managers invariably have objectives, although they do not always make them explicit. These objectives tend to relate to personal rather than business criteria. In addition, the vast majority of micro-business owner-managers indicate little inclination to maximise profit or pursue growth. The supposed non-existence and ambiguity of objectives amongst owner-managers probably arise because they often subconsciously set objectives, rather than make them explicit as part of a written business plan. In practice, microbusinesses generally pursue a number of economic and non-economic objectives relating to factors such as income levels, job satisfaction, working hours, control and flexibility. These objectives were derived from the influence of the micro-business owner-manager's individual, social and economic contexts. Moreover, the behaviour of owner-managers is most appropriately characterised in terms of satisficing behaviour. The impact of this is very important, because it means that there is often no drive to improve the business in terms of growth, sales and profitability. Furthermore, the willingness of owner-managers to alter their aspiration levels, if objectives were not being easily achieved, often means that they do not initiate changes in the way they run their business when perhaps they should.

Despite the importance of micro‐businesses to the UK economy, training has failed to recognise and take into account the way owner‐managers run such firms. These owner‐managers tend to combine informally absorbed information, heuristics and other short‐cut methods in a more intuitively‐based approach to decision making. Does not, however, advocate that more formalised and comprehensive forms of decision making should be adopted. Instead, suggests that intuitive methods of decision making may be the most appropriate for micro‐business owner‐managers. As such, training should attempt to reduce the types of bias that are inherent in more intuitive approaches to decision making.

This article explores the meanings involved in the development and implementation of learning and teaching policies in higher education through a single institution case study in an English university. It draws on interview data collected from middle manager‐academics, located in Schools, who are charged with implementing learning and teaching policies. Tensions and contradictions of practice emerged from a detailed analysis of the data identified through three closely related themes: centre/periphery, time and temporality, and disciplinary locations. The central theme, which frames the discussion of the other two, concerns relations between centre and periphery. The manager‐academics identify themselves with the interests of their colleagues within Schools and use their position to mediate between central pressures and practice on the ground. Rather than identifying with managerialist practices, they rely on projected ideals of collegiality in their relationships with School colleagues. At the core of these experiences are differing conceptions of time in the centre/periphery relationship. Different experiences of temporality, tempo, and timing are explored from the manager‐academics' perspective. There is considerable tension between time understood on the ground and the time‐scales of central learning and teaching initiatives. The final theme concerns the organising role of disciplinary identities in articulating meaning at the periphery. Innovations appear rooted in disciplinary practice and some tensions exist between these and perceptions of educational theory and development. The article suggests that these contradictions and tensions might be a source of strength to the institution rather than having negative effects. It concludes with some reflections on the importance of time to the development of educational theory.

Purpose -This paper aims to examine how students from foundation degrees (FDs) run at local further education colleges coped (academically and to a lesser extent psychologically) with the transition to a final year honours degree at a university. Design/methodology/approach -This paper is based on the experience of FD graduates who joined the final year of a full-time BSc (Hons) in Business and Management at Edge Hill University. The study utilised questionnaires and focus groups with the FD graduates. It also involved interviews with the lecturers at Edge Hill and the programme managers of the foundation degrees. Findings -The study found that the transition from foundation to honours degree created considerable levels of stress for the students. This largely arose because of the different approaches to teaching and learning adopted in further and higher education. In particular, Edge Hill adopted a more academic approach; there was less support; and there was a greater emphasis on independent learning. This paper identifies the need for more support for students making the transition from foundation to honours degrees. It also discusses different options for improving the transition process and highlights issues requiring further research and debate. Originality/value -The experience of students making the transition from foundation degrees to honours degrees is under-researched. This paper addresses this gap in the research. It will be of interest to policy makers, those involved in delivering foundation degrees and those recruiting FD graduates on to their honours programmes.