The main themes of this thesis focus on organisational change and learning in different geo-political contexts, bound together in a common moment of globalisation. These topics are explored through three case-studies from the manufacturing sector, one each from the United Kingdom, the Republic of South Africa and the Russian Federation. The project, on which this thesis is based. had a qualitative and interpretive design and took a comparative, narrative approach. It argues on the basis of this comparison, that organisational learning has to be related to the wider environment in which companies operate; individualistic models of learning are inadequate to explain the complex processes involved in learning in organisations. The thesis demonstrates that learning is most productively viewed as a form of sensemaking, which is particularly important in periods of change. This way of thinking about work-based learning subsumes all previous analytical descriptions of learning at work and all methods of promoting it, as sub-sets of a more generic process: making sense of experience. This approach of conceiving learning draws attention to the fact that learning involves the whole person, their sense of self, their understanding of the past and their grasp of the skills and relationships involved in their jobs. The concept of sense-making is explored at three levels - the macro-level with a focus on globalisation, the meso- or organisational level with an emphasis on strategic change and the micro- or personal level highlighting individual experiences of change and learning at the workplace. Narrative analysis is a powerful tool in organisational research to recover accounts of learning because it is through stories that people construct and make sense of the world. The comparative frame to this study highlights the cultural, historical and situated nature of narratives. This thesis shows that globalisation and strategic change are not impersonal phenomena, but become real and meaningful to everybody in an organisation through stories. Comparisons help to make otherwise tacit issues explicit.

Three main areas are addressed: smuggling as a commercial activity; as a form of social crime; and as a problem of policing. The claim that the violence of the Sussex smugglers in the 1740s was atypical is scrutinised, adopting a comparative approach between regions and over time, and it is argued that force was a rational response adopted by many smugglers when their interests were threatened. The contrabanders extended their penetration of legal markets and distribution networks in the second half of the eighteenth century, but this was accompanied by increasing levels of violence. Studying the confrontations between the smugglers and the preventive forces raises the question of how violent a society England was. The discussion is moved away from the homicide statistics to armed defence and calculated intimidation. The use of violence as a business stratagem raises questions concerning the smugglers' status as 'social criminals.' Illicit importation enjoyed high levels of popular support, but whether contemporaries saw the pursuit of the contraband trade as legitimising murder and mayhem, remains debatable. The adversarial model, in which smugglers are pitted against the forces of the revenue, and represented as the defenders of the local economies against commercial monopolists, is an incomplete picture. Smugglers and revenue officers had to establish a modus vivandi, Collectors and Comptrollers were often leaders in their local communities and active in local politics, and some smugglers were themselves men of standing and influence. The intention is to focus on continuity; in terms of attitudes, methods, and the problems presented to the authorities. The involvement of the continental East India companies indicates that the smuggling trade in the first half of the eighteenth century should be seen as more than a number of locally based, small-scale enterprises The problem for government was that smuggling was more of a business than a form of social protest. Members of the political nation were conscious of the need to compromise for the sake of stability, and the use of the state's coercive machinery against smuggling, the army, navy and the law, is perhaps better seen as an exercise in containment rather than an attempt at repression.

Hostage and crisis negotiators are police officers who have been trained to respond to and resolve hostage and crisis incidents. They are often required to respond to highly-pressurised and emotive incidents that may last for protracted periods of time and are likely to encounter situations whereby their actions could play a role in whether individuals live or die. The first aim of the current thesis was to identify whether negotiators in the United Kingdom (UK) possess certain traits or characteristics that serve to enable them to perform their role effectively and differentiate them from the wider police population. The first phase of the research involved a quantitative cross-sectional comparison of a sample of hostage and crisis negotiators (n = 117) with a sample of non-negotiator police officers (n = 118) from 21 UK forces and a sample of students (n = 203) utilising a psychometric test battery measuring five constructs previously identified within the literature as playing a role in success within occupational settings: Personality, Coping Style, Cognitive Emotion Regulation, Decision-Making Style and Emotional Intelligence. The findings refuted the existence of a “unique hostage and crisis negotiator profile” but confirmed the existence of a unique “police officer profile” by demonstrating significant differences between both police samples and the student sample in relation to all constructs measured. These findings are discussed with reference to the implications for the selection, training and CPD of UK negotiators. Hostage and crisis negotiation is one of many options available to police incident commanders and is well-established as an effective means of resolving hostage and crisis incidents. Whilst there is a plethora of published literature relating to the entity of hostage and crisis negotiation, the majority of this literature has been developed within the United States of America (USA), on the basis of USA negotiator deployments and experiences. The second aim, therefore, was to provide an insight into the discipline of negotiation in the UK by conducting a constructivist grounded theory analysis of the experiences of negotiators as derived from semi-structured interviews with 15 negotiators from nine UK police forces. The findings allowed for the development of five grounded theoretical micro-models: a) The Nature and Characteristics of UK Hostage and Crisis Negotiation, b) The UK Hostage and Crisis Negotiator Journey, c) The UK-Centric D.I.A.M.O.N.D. Procedural Model of Hostage and Crisis Negotiation, d) The UK Hostage and Crisis Negotiator Experience, and e) The Self-Perceived Successful UK Hostage and Crisis Negotiator Profile. These micro-models are discussed with reference to their implications for hostage and crisis negotiation policy and practice in a UK-centric context.

The purpose of this study was to provide an exploration of the experiences and perceptions of law enforcement officers who responded to the December 2nd, 2015 San Bernardino Attacks, specifically addressing what interventions and factors they found helpful in promoting their well-being following the attack. To do this, eight semi-structured interviews were held with officers who either were involved in the scene at the Inland Regional Center or were involved in the shoot-out with the attackers later that day. From these interviews several themes emerged, including: the importance of social support, critique of department responses, unique characteristics of law enforcement culture, and stigma against seeking mental health treatment among law enforcement officers. Recommendations based on these findings for social work practice, law enforcement departments, and further research were discussed.

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There continues to be much debate in the criminal justice academic community about the value of the degree in the practice of law enforcement. Most of the debate centers on earlier research that was both non-discipline specific and did not include direct data collected from persons holding the degree and serving as police officers. Unfortunately, there is little identifiable research into whether criminal justice graduates perceive their degree as having a positive impact on their career in law enforcement. This research is an exploration of the relationship between criminal justice higher education and the majoring graduate?s success in a law enforcement career. The research is vital in understanding the perceived relationship between the criminal justice degree and the law enforcement career from a program graduate/law enforcement practitioner perspective. The study utilized qualitative inquiry and interpretive phenomenological analysis to develop major themes of the graduates' perceptions of how their criminal justice degree has contributed to their success in a law enforcement career. The findings of the study indicate that most graduates perceive the degree as having direct links between college course curriculum and the academy training programs for law enforcement officers. There is also an indication that strong criminal justice related writing requirements improve career opportunities. In addition, the study supports the inclusion of required internship programs in the criminal justice curriculum, and the use of regular and adjunct faculty with career experience in law enforcement.

Road barriers were traffic violations which affects traffic order, safety, and life quality. The behavior of bullying disadvantaged groups via traffic barriers harms human dignity, social justice, and the city's and nation¡¦s image. Although the Traffic Executive Law has reached maturity, road barriers are still all over the place. In order to fully understand these phenomena and come up with right decisions, the social, political, economic, and legal dimensions should be included and studied. Based on theory and practice, this study conducts literature review and data collection and analysis from road barriers removal perspective, especially in Kaohsiung City. According to the basic principles of Traffic Executive Law, the structure of this study is divided into five parts: Establishment Principle, Administrative Organization, Administrative Authority-Limits, Administrative Remedy,and Administrative Supervision. In our diverse and democratic society, the government authority has become more liberal and road barriers cases are endless. To pay attention to people¡¦s opinions and feelings and create the win-win situation, the authority should integrate department¡¦s resources, implement administrative measures efficiently, legally, and rationally. Therefore, the administrative purposes of ¡§people obey the law¡¨ and "Traffic are in an orderly manner and smooth" can be reached.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 43 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 30-31).

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