Career soldiers exiting the British Army undergo routine “resettlement” processes to tackle their adjustment into civilian employment. This is a transition made by thousands of leavers each year, but little is known about how coming out of the Army is individually experienced and understood, or what processes of change take place. This thesis provides a qualitative analysis of interviews with 28 (male and female) soldiers and officers who are approaching exit after lengthy careers. In particular, it foregrounds the concept of identity to investigate how such leavers narrate past service and anticipated futures beyond Army relations. The leavers continue to work in all parts of the Army and range in rank from Corporal to Colonel, with service of between 10 and 34 years. Some are leaving early for other ventures; some for medical reasons; and others, because the Army no longer accords. Most, however, are realising scheduled and pensionable endings. With reference to George Herbert Mead (1934; 1959) and Paul Ricoeur (1992) the research applies an inter-subjective conception of identity as forever a “becoming” rooted in social relations. By adopting this approach the thesis explores both gradual and dramatic processes of identity (re)construction and brings into some focus precarious and contingent aspects of identity, suggestive of vulnerability both as a kind of occupational hazard and as an inherent feature of identities-of-becoming.

The aim of this research was to draw upon psychological contract theory to examine solicitors’ perceptions of expectations and obligations. Socialisation processes and the role of Organisational Citizenship Behaviours (OCB) were explored in relation to promotion to partnership. Context is important as law firms have a different ownership structure to other commercial organisations and employ professionals. The legal profession is changing (Empson, 2007a) due to the increasing size of firms and the changing aspirations of those entering the profession. A mixed method approach to researching these issues was adopted. The research was conducted in two stages. Stage One comprised telephone interviews with 128 solicitors to complete a questionnaire and Stage Two comprised 34 in-depth semi-structured interviews. These interviews were analysed using QSR N6 (NUD*IST) software. The research makes a contribution to the understanding of the psychological contract of professionals in two main areas: theoretical and practical. The utility of a promissory based approach to the psychological contract (Conway and Briner, 2005) is critically examined. The role of OCB is considered in terms of what behaviour can be seen as in-role and what as extra-role and how to identify discretionary behaviour. The results from the quantitative analysis in the study revealed a high degree of similarity in the responses. One explanation proposed is that the process of socialisation experienced by solicitors engenders assumptions about appropriate behaviour and thus expectations are defined and communicated. The research led to the production of two explanatory diagrams of the psychological contract of solicitors. The first typology examines the influences upon the contract and the interactions of expectations and obligations. The second schema examines the impact of promotion to partnership upon work satisfaction. The implications of these for the management of law firms are discussed.

This thesis explores ideas about the changing nature of work and general social change. It does this by examining the global call centre industry. The call centre industry serves as a case study within which ideas about globalization and the lived experience of it can be explored. The thesis explored the work and non work lives of those involved with the industry in the North East of England and the Indian subcontinent. The research made extensive use of qualitative interverviews.

Electronic workplace surveillance takes many forms. It includes CCTV, recording telephone conversations, employee ID cards, and electronically gathering and measuring work performance. The increased incidences of electronic surveillance have had a number of effects on employees. This research concentrated on the use of quantified electronic performance measurement. It specifically examined the impact on managers and managing. It examined surveillance from an employment relationship perspective, taking as its primary lens that of exchange and exchange theory. The research demonstrated that the exchange relationships managers have with other managers, workers, or employers, as part of the psychological contract, is being compromised. Managers feel under pressure to manage based on the surfeit of electronic measures rather than by using innate or acquired management skills. Many managers in this research are no longer managers in the conventional sense; instead, they have become “Performance Intermediary Executives” invariably reliant on a plethora of electronic measures provided for them to help them manage successfully. Managers have also started questioning the equitable nature of the psychological contract between them and their employer/line manager. The result of this equity disjuncture was made manifest by the subtle forms of resistance used on a daily basis. Managers are being led down a managerial path leading to further resistance and inequitable employment and exchange relationships. This research suggests that claimed improvements in performance and performance management using electronic surveillance could be wiped out by poor and de-professionalised management. Organisations should be aware that surveillance for surveillance sake is not necessarily always the best way forward. Electronic workplace surveillance is not intrinsically all good or all bad, but judging from the findings in this research, its impact is broadly perceived by managers negatively, which is not good for all parties in the employment relationship.

This thesis explores the gendered nature of aesthetics within a particular service sector context - fashion retail. Attention focuses upon how gender structures the 'aesthetic labour' (Warhurst et al, 2000; Nickson et al 2001 ； Witz et al, 2003) of workers and in turn how aesthetics must be located within the wider sexual economy. This is achieved through incorporating the concept of aesthetic labour with the practice of 'sexual service' (Adkins, 1995). The notion of sexual service is expanded to adequately account for gendered variations. Adkins uses 'sexual service' to explain the labour of female employees’ but fails to recognise that men too perform sexual servicing. Through linking and extending these two concepts we are able to gain valuable insight into the gendered labour performances of both women and men and how gender, sexuality and other aspects of identity become part of the product' on offer in selling environments. In addition to this I also examine the nature of 'customer service' within this setting and the way employees perceive customers as 'powerful', 'pleasurable’ and 'problems'. Literature elsewhere has argued that control and surveillance are extensive in particular service sector occupations. It is my aim here to explore the mechanisms for control and monitoring as they apply to retail workers in this environment and the potential for employees to develop strategies of resistance and form 'tacit alliances' (Mulholland, 2004).Finally, this thesis aims to consider the extent to which aesthetic labour can become 'mobile' and move beyond the workplace and into other social spheres. This phenomenon is complex as various 'hidden injuries' (Sennett and Cobb, 1977) are inflicted upon workers and yet they manage to derive status, benefits and rewards as a result of their 'extra labour'. The nature of these 'hidden injuries' and the abilities for workers to capitalise upon the 'mobility' of their labour also provide the focus for investigation here. Using ethnographic data and existing research this thesis argues that gender remains a crucial component in structuring the experiences of service workers investigation into the social relations of service work.

This thesis provides an in-depth study of the consultant client relationship. It focuses on the phenomenon of legitimation which has been neglected in the prior literature. Legitimation is critical because it is responsible for signifying how and why knowledge claims come to be accepted or rejected between the client-consultant parties. The consultants' perceived value by the client is an outcome that is dependent on the economic and socio-political processes by which judgements are made. How legitimation takes place helps provides a new locus of understanding about the communication of business advice between consultants and clients. Such exploration helps generate novel insights for how value is created. Through the conduct of in-depth interviews with both consultants and clients, we managed to obtain comprehensive empirical data that helps challenge already held assumptions. Drawing on 64 interviews, with clients and consultants, and through the use of prior theoretical frameworks that are mainly drawn from the work by Suchman (1995) and Habermas (1984a, 1984b), we identify four modes of legitimation. Such modes are characterised in terms of their cognitive, pragmatic, moral and discursive nuances. We argue that each of the legitimatory categories indicate a separate set of conditions that need to be justified and which are driven by a distinct ideological character. Legitimation becomes a process in which implicit and explicit ideological values are mutually managed between the involved organisational actors. Our discussion helps open up a new field of understanding for the consultant client relationship that is relevant for both academics and practitioners.

The study begins with an investigation designed to test the 2-factor theory developed by Herzberg and his co-workers. (Herzberg, Mausner and Snyderman 1959) In this exploratory survey it was possible to measure both the motivational content of the work and people's attitudes towards it. The 2-factor theory (Motivator and Hygeine factors) is supported by the results, but only when certain opinions known to exist are suppressed. This finding is interpreted using the concept of perceptual defence. When people identify with the work they are doing, they are able to talk openly about their successes but report failure experiences defensively. It is postulated that Herzberg's results are a manifestation of this. The process of identifying with work, of seeing a task as a part of oneself, is called in this study Psychological Ownership and becomes the focus of the main investigation. The concept of Psychological Ownership is illustrated from managers' descriptions of tasks to which they feel committed. These tasks are compared with others for which they feel less enthusiasm. The data was collected using an interview with open-ended questions and scaled questionnaires. An association is demonstrated between Psychological Ownership and the Autonomy which the individual had in the task. These factors in turn, are shown to be related to feelings of Task Involvement. Autonomy is compared with a 'Sense of Achievement' as a source of Task Commitment and found to be a more important factor in determining positive attitudes to a task than is reflected in managers' beliefs about what motivates their subordinates. The study concludes with a discussion of Psychological Ownership as a concept, its relation to the other concepts, Achievement and Dob Involvement, and its implications for management theory and practice.

Although relationships, interaction and networks in business markets have been well documented (Turnbull and Cunningham, 1981; Hakansson, 1982), there is a lack of research analysing relationships between international joint venture partners. A joint venture parent company needs to understand how to interact with their partner, together with the impact cultural values have on performance, in order to prevent possible conflict. Many of the empirical studies into joint venture performance have focused on measures such as control, financial data and partner satisfaction (Killing, 1983; Beamish, 1984; Geringer and Herbert, 1991; Yan and Gray, 1994). China's recent entry into the World Trade Organisation, underlines the importance of understanding the influence cultural values have on performance. This project is an empirical study into inter-partner relationships and performance in Western and Chinese joint ventures. The research primarily focuses on the Western parent perspective. Most of the relationships studied featured British firms. Measures are used to examine how interaction constructs, exchange episodes, and cultural values in these relationships impact joint venture performance. China's accession to the WTO is also addressed as a possible change factor to existing joint venture relationships. This project draws on literature on inter-firm relationships from the IMP tradition in industrial marketing, from Chinese management studies, and from the field of cultural analysis. Since the research is cross-cultural, emic and etic; constructs that can be used in the measurement of the joint venture have been applied in order to attain conceptual equivalence. Methodological triangulation is used to address the research questions. First, a total of 25 interviews were conducted with mostly British parent company managers responsible for establishing, and/or involvement with the joint venture. Second, a questionnaire survey was administered to 'fill in gaps' identified by the qualitative study. This produced a total of 57 responses. Findings suggest that cultural values, in particular guanxi, continue to be regarded as an important part of relationships in Chinese and Western joint ventures. Based upon the case findings, the author proposes an empirically testable model of factors impacting joint venture performance. These factors include (1) Commitment; (2) Cultural understanding; (3) Control; (4) Communication; (5) Co-operation and (6) Consensus. The research contributes to the three bodies of literature: IMP, foreign direct investment and Chinese cultural values, by illustrating how combining elements of these disciplines can be applied in the context of joint venture performance.

The research interest for this study began with a general observation of the lack of theory-practice integration between the academic context of recycling and entrepreneurship set against the growth in the recycling industry. The research thus began by asking, ‘how well does entrepreneurship explain the recycling industry?’ This research focuses on the recycling entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial experiences and their relationships with their social context. Twenty-five recycling entrepreneurs were interviewed in-depth using unstructured interviews as the primary data collection method. Inductive analysis has been applied to these data on multiple levels. Firstly, a context (structure) level analysis identified a green culture and structure arising from social demands pertaining to environmental concerns and the corresponding political responses that gave rise to socio-cultural and economic implications. Secondly, an entrepreneur (agent) level analysis revealed that the entrepreneurs’ motivation to start and continue recycling businesses was attached to a particular value perception of the recycling opportunity. This orientation underlies the different forms of opportunity constructions. Analysis at the process level drew upon the interactive processes between the preceding two levels to understand the dynamic relationship between structure and agency. The analysis demonstrated the entrepreneurs’ role in manifesting entrepreneurial events via value extraction processes realised through embeddedness. This included different ways of adaptation to the green structure, adoption of green values and the forging of ties. In doing so, they imbued the structure with an apparent overarching creation of green values. The novel analytical approach adopted for this study provides avenues of advancement in entrepreneurship research: firstly, in the adoption of value orientation as the unit of analysis; and secondly, in the dynamic nature of the analytical approach which explored the interrelatedness between structure, agent and agency. This analysis has identified a paradox whereby entrepreneurs who lack green value orientations are nevertheless performing green actions and thus perpetuating the green socio-political context. Another contribution of this research lies in its thesis that the increasing emphasis in the recycling industry is a social construction of reality, but one given an objective nature attached to the language of ‘green’. This is intensified by the entrepreneurs’ articulation of their reality. Thus, as well as its contribution to both entrepreneurship and recycling literatures, the study provides an informed platform for policy makers and practitioners.

This study used qualitative interviews and grounded theory to develop a model of how cabin crew (N=8) cope with the impact of their disrupted lifestyle on psychological wellbeing. Of special interest were the implications for personal, social and professional relationships, which taken together, is likely to lead to increased loneliness, anxiety and depression even for the most resilient crew member (Bor and Levitt, 2003; Partridge and Goodman, 2006). A model was developed to help understand the complex ways in which cabin crew members' experience of psychological disruptions were contingent on their abilities to adapt the demands of their personal lives according to work requirements. Moreover, cabin crew appeared to actively manage and moderate the extent to which the combined effects of psycho-social interruptions and sleep deprivation affected their cognitive, emotional, and physical wellbeing. It is anticipated that the model will help crew members to cope with work-life dichotomies as well as encouraging counselling psychologists to become more involved in various aspects within the provision of stress reducing interventions in the workplace. Implications for future research, crew rostering, and counselling psychology practice and training needs are discussed.