Controlled Therapeutics About the firmLocated at the Peel Park Campus in East Kilbride,ralph lauren Outlet Controlled Therapeutics was established in 1987 to develop, manufacture and license pharmaceutical products. The company currently has one product in worldwide use, a hydrogel-based drug delivery device to assist in childbirth, and is continuing to work on further developments, including products in advanced clinical trials. Motivations and benefitsControlled Therapeutics has grown to employ around 65 people, of whom half are engaged in research and development. Recruiting, retaining and effectively deploying such highly qualified staff is a challenge for any firm, and is commonplace in the competitive field of pharmaceuticals. As a manufacturer, the company also has teams covering engineering, quality control, production and logistics. As the company has grown, Controlled Therapeutics has found it important to ensure their skills utilisation practices continue to develop in order to support business performance. Key actionsControlled Therapeutics research, develop and manufacture. To cover all stages of the process requires the development of management approaches that engage and harness all employees. In relation to skills utilisation practices, two significant lessons can be drawn from the company's experience: Management, both senior and mid-level, is essential in successfully introducing new practices Individuals will respond differently to flexible approaches, and not always in a positive fashion. The development of skills utilisation practices within Controlled Therapeutics has been driven by the Managing Director, and as the person in this post has changed, so too has the company approach evolved. The current Managing Director has a clear vision as to how staff should be supported and managed. The company has also found that middle-managers are essential to the successful implementation of many of these approaches, for instance staff appraisal practices or the monitoring of flexible hours. Where teams are functionally different, the same skills utilisation practice may require a different interpretation. The middle-manager therefore needs to embrace the spirit of the approach, as well as its outward form, for implementation to succeed. As a larger employer, Controlled Therapeutics has found that freedoms could be used by employees in a way that was not always optimum for the company or for colleagues - for example, using a flexi-time system in a way that left essential tasks undone (the original policy allowed staff to leave at 2. 30pm). The company has needed to be flexible in revising skills utilisation approaches, despite coming up against some employee resistance, in order to ensure that working practices were aligned with company performance.