Due to the rapid change of conditions knowledge is becoming increasingly more importance today. Knowledge is now considered superior to technology and capital as a source of competitive advantage, however needs to be efficiently transferred and well managed to explore its full potential. The process of knowledge transfer is actually the core business of training organisations. Even though, as in the present study, knowledge might be developed and maintained by third parties, yet, it is up to the training organisation to work on transferring this knowledge to their trainees. This study intends to investigate three main issues: 1. How knowledge is effectively transferred into an IT training organisation especially in Egypt. 2. Do cultural, political and socio-economic factors affect the process of knowledge transfer especially if this knowledge is an externally produced one coming from a different foreign context? 3. How knowledge can be repacked to suit local trainees. Attempting to cover these previous issues, a list of research aims and objectives followed by research questions were set up. The literature review which was found convenient, from the researcher's point of view, to cover so far these domains is shown in the contents of this report. In order to get empirical data to allow thorough analysis and investigation different research methodologies and tools were used and initial results and findings that were obtained will be presented during the course of the report.

This dissertation presents the findings of research undertaken to identify the benefits arising over time from Project Management (PM) Education and Training (E&T) at the level of the individual and the barriers that hinder the realisation of wider organisational benefits in the workplace. The research adopts a longitudinal, mixed methods approach and includes an extensive review of the relevant literature pertaining to two key themes of interest, namely, views on the current approaches to PM E&T and secondly, consideration of learning in a complex, dynamic, project-centric workplace. The data set comprised an original sample of 78 Army officers, all male and at the rank of Major but from a number of different regiments. Data collection started at the time of their PM course at the UK Defence Academy (June 2008) and ran over a 15 month period as they moved into posts in defence projects. The research has identified a range of beneficial changes at the level of the individual together with a number of barriers that were found to hinder the application of learning for the wider benefit of the employer organisation, the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD). Four key barriers are identified and described. The research concludes that whilst there continues to be merit in traditional courses in PM E&T, there is a real need for alternative approaches that better support further learning and project delivery in complex, dynamic, projectcentric environments. The research findings suggest that development initiatives built on traditional taught elements alone are inadequate, principally as a consequence of factors beyond the control and influence of the individual student and practitioner. The thesis argues that the project team constitutes the most significant unit of project performance, working within an environment shaped by the wider organisation. Only when due consideration is made of these other levels of learning - as part of a coherent approach to the development of genuine 'corporate competence' - will the benefits from individual learning class room based PM E&T initiatives be fully realised.

This thesis explores the 'Hearts & Minds' approach to managing organisational change. It is based on the author's extensive experience as a management consultant over a period of approximately ten years working with companies that range from small to medium size enterprises to large multi-national organisations. The thesis presents a coherent discourse on some of the problems associated with organisations undergoing significant changes due to a range of factors including, downsizing, restructuring, take-overs, and so on. Within the context of a rapidly changing business environment driven by a global economy, the thesis provides a number of case studies, focusing on the Hearts & Minds approach to developing an appropriate management infrastructure that is best suited to a given organisation. The thesis reports on a number of field studies that provide evidence of the Hearts & Minds approach to change management in terms of introducing an open and transparent approach to personal motivation and team building. This includes the development of a quantitative model for understanding the underlying structures which define organisations of all types irrespective of their size. The model helps to quantify the principles that are inherent in the 'dynamics' of an organisation to which change management is applied and is based on understanding an organisation in terms of a non-stationary self-affine system .for which a computational measure (the Hurst dimension) can be used to measure the coherence of information flow through an organisation. The applications of the model, results and conclusions of the thesis are wide ranging and in principle, should be applicable to a number of organisations and businesses; for industry, commerce and the financial sector. Above all, the thesis attempts to provide a unified account of the issues associated with change management that are becoming vital in industry and commerce and are of international significance as we are required increasingly to function with increased efficiency in an international arena that is undergoing continuous and rapid change.

Management learning technology is viewed as one possible solution to overcoming the training barriers faced by managers and other employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether higher education institutions can provide effective management development opportunities for SMEs using learning technology. Its objectives are: to explore the potential for the transfer of such materials to SMEs; to examine the specific pedagogic approaches that might be most effective in higher education and the SME sector; and to identify factors which can maximise the effective use of management learning technology across a range of contexts. The empirical work described has two main aspects: the first is a case study of learning technology implementation among undergraduate business studies students at the University of Edinburgh; the second is a case study of a technology-based management development programme for SMEs at the University of East London. From these studies barriers to SME learning are identified, both traditional and arising from the introduction of new learning technologies. The traditional barriers identified reflect the SME learning environment in which, for example, time, staff resources and finance are in limited supply. Barriers identified that arise from the introduction of new learning technologies include problems with speed of networks, inappropriate content and socialising distance learning. It emerges that there is potential for transfer of new learning technologies from higher education to SMEs. However this is a difficult undertaking, particularly where there is a lack of general SME training skills. The pedagogic approaches required in the higher education and SME sectors exhibit similarities and differences. The main similarity is that learning technology must be fully integrated into the context of learning delivery if its effectiveness is to be maximised. The main difference is that among SMEs there is often a need for one-to-one guidance, at least initially, owing to their diversity in terms of business type and learners’ educational backgrounds. In both sectors implementation will be most effective when attention is paid to the context of learning development (designing the teaching materials and activities) and the context of learning delivery (the delivery system and its associated support mechanisms).

Manpower planning is concerned with planning the use of human resources. In this thesis, manpower planning is defined as the process of determining manpower policies which ensure that suitable numbers of qualified people are in appropriate positions at the right times in order to meet organisational goals, while taking account of the career development opportunities of the individuals within the organisation. A number of different mathematical models have been developed for manpower planning. These models are reviewed and it is noted that a weakness of the optimisation models which have been proposed is that promotion rates, i.e. the proportion of staff promoted per year, can vary substantially from year to year because of the limitations of the techniques used. Since staff morale is likely to be affected if promotion rates vary significnatly from one year to another, the results from these models may be unacceptable to management. In this thesis a mixed integer programming (MIP) manpower planning model is developed for determining minimum cost manpower policies in which promotion rates remain stable over time, and which satisfy specified staffing level requirements. In this MIP model promotion rates are treated as decision variables by using a binary variable representation. An iterative procedure is developed for solving this MIP model. The computational aspects of using the MIP manpower planning model are investigated. A demonstration decision support system based on this MIP model is developed, and the use of this system is illustrated using representative data for a military manpower system. The experience with this demonstration system suggests that the approach could be developed to produce a practical tool to aid management decision making.

No description available.

The demands on professionals in the construction industry are considerable, both in terms of time commitments at work and the range of skills necessary to execute their job effectively. One element in ensuring the continued effective delivery of projects has been the recognition that continued learning is an underpinning aspet for successfully delivering projects. This results in more certainty around the time of completion, to the appropriate quality and within budget. The aim of this research is to formulate a strategic framework that will serve both educational institutions and the construction industry, bring industry and higher-level education closer in the delivery of lifelong learning. These issues were investigated via the primary research, which consisted of a survey of construction professional bodies, the evaluation of a pilot portal for continuing professional development and the evaluation of a formal continuing professional development programme from both a participant's and an instructor's perspective. This research work suggests that it is vital to recognise the importance of understanding pedagogy and how learning takes place and that a "one size fits all" approach does not recognise the inherent differences in individuals in terms of how people learn. There are a number of key issues that must be addressed in effectively delivering lifelong learning in the construction industry. These can be clustered around four principal themes; (i) continuing professional development, (ii) understanding the learning process, (iii) higher education's role and (iv) technological issues and challenges. Key success factors in delivering lifelong learning include; (i) acting professionally, (ii) collaboration between education, professional bodies and industry and (iii) creating an environment that encourages and facilitates access to lifelong learning. An important output from this research is the formulation of a framework that may be applied for deploying blended learning continuing professional development in an educational setting.

Behavioural change is the purpose of Human Resource Development (HRD), the researcher's chosen field of practice. This study describes the evolution of professional practice and the research that, through critical study and analysis, has yielded a conceptual framework, fit to guide HRD practitioners, in pursuit of that purpose. The study is predicated on two propositions, that behavioural change requires changed decisions and in order to facilitate such changes, HRD practitioners must first understand that which we seek to change. A single case study monitored the influence, over time, of an HRD intervention, on the decision making of a group of legal professionals. In doing so, it examined the credibility of the principles of decision making and behavioural change embodied in a literature inspired conceptual framework. The framework comprised a four phase decision making cycle, adapted from Stacey (1996), over which was mapped propositions regarding the availability and influence of schema, the role of identity, goal, context, emotion and conscious attention and the prompting, sustenance or inhibition of behavioural change. In-depth longitudinal semi-structured interviews, conducted before, and one, three and six months after the HRD intervention, yielded data that was subsequently, guided by principles proposed by Graneheim and Lundman (2004), analysed into themes drawn from the original conceptual framework. The resulting contribution to original knowledge is a novel conception of how decision making occurs, and how it might be influenced in pursuit of behavioural change, that can be drawn on to inform the design and delivery of set piece HRD interventions and to guide in-the-moment developmental interventions, such as coaching opportunities. In particular, it proposes a broadening of the focus of HRD practice, beyond behavioural requirements and their implementation, to include the antecedents of choice and action, the discovery and exploration of relevant contexts.

Human Resources Best Practices are essential for any organization as these practices are well known for the effective role they play in increasing the organization productivity and efficiency. Many years ago, scientists started studying these practices, analyzing them and accordingly raise their findings and recommendations to guarantee boosting the productivity. This study presents Human Resources Best Practices theories presented by many scientists. Believing in the importance of these practices, many organizations started to take more attention in deploying and applying them in their organizations and in specific, this research is interested in the approach that has been taken and still being taken by Abu Dhabi Police to apply these practices in reality. This research is studying the deployment of the Human Resources Management Best Practices in Abu Dhabi Police. It started with giving a detailed explanation of the Human resources Management and the HRM Best Practices. Then it was narrowed towards studying the HRM Best Practices in Abu Dhabi Police through analyzing three specific case studies that they had effective roles in applying these practices in reality. At the end, in order to make sure that these HRM Best Practices were achieved successfully at Abu Dhabi Police, three surveys were carried out as part of this research to measure the satisfaction rate of Abu Dhabi Police employees. Accordingly, the final model of the HRM Best Practices in Abu Dhabi Police was derived. The final model included all Best Practices that were applied in reality, and the Best Practices that were not yet applied in reality, but we still think they are essential for the affectivity of the organization. According to surveys results, it was found that the satisfaction rate was very high for most of the measured criterion. That means the cases studies were successful in implementing a number of HRM Best Practices, thus, the decision makers in the Abu Dhabi Police were able to observe the results of applying these factors. At the end, this thesis presents our recommendations to carry out the same research in the other gulf countries in order to prove that what could be implemented successfully in one of the gulf countries could be applied in other gulf countries as they share the same traditions, norm and mentality.

The United Kingdom (UK) construction industry has long been the centre of criticism and debate for its relative poor performance and high turnover. In this respect, the UK Government embarked on reviving Offsite Production (OSP) in an attempt to negate these issues, whilst simultaneously reducing the dependence on manual skills. However, extant literature highlights that professional (non-manual) skill shortages are just as acute. Notwithstanding these factors, from a training and education perspective, it is widely acknowledged that the myriad of approaches currently deployed to address professional education and training needs have systematically failed to fully satisfy industry's expectations. This is due in part to the lack of a 'common language' between the construction industry and the training/education providers. Given that OSP training and education is a predominant driver for the successful and wider uptake of OSP, there is no direct empirical evidence on the type, level, or priorities of OSP training and education required to meet the new exigent business drivers. This research focuses on addressing the polarised silos that currently exist between industry and training/education providers through the provision of a flexible collaborative model. This model embodies multi-criteria and multistakeholder perceptions and imperatives in order to help provide a 'shared' language and understanding across these multivariate issues to formally identify and prioritise OSP training and education needs. This research adopted a system approach to OSP training and education using the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method to develop an OSP-QFD model. The positioning of this research adopts the positivism paradigm to infer OSP skills requirements, underpinned and supported by a triangulation approach to define the measures to satisfy those needs and help increase the validity and reliability of the data obtained. The model was iteratively tested and validated using domain experts from industry, academia and research organisations. Research findings confirmed the scepticism and misconception of the construction industry and academia with regard to OSP and industryacademia collaboration. However, the developed OSP-QFD model demonstrated that it could be used to shape, structure, and document the skills needed from multivariate viewpoints, thereby addressing the different drivers and expectations of the polarised stakeholders. Furthermore, the OSP-QFD model accommodates design flexibility, so that individual priorities can be independently assessed and analysed.