The problem examined in this thesis falls under the broad question of the nature of effect of performance measurement and management (PMM) on organizational performance. Responding to the unsuccessful attempts of the current literature to produce conclusive evidence of the effect of PMM on performance and building on the recent studies documenting the effect of PMM on organizational processes, the work reported in this thesis employs the organizational routines perspective as an analytical lens for examining the way in which a particular PMM practice – a performance management review meeting – affects organizational processes that generate performance. More specifically, the study uses Feldman and Pentland’s (2003) model of routines in order to explore the ways in which organizational actors experience the ostensive aspect of organizational routines in the context of a performance management review meeting. Based on two case studies conducted in the UK in 2009, the thesis develops a model suggesting that performance management review meetings influence the dynamics of organizational routines by affecting a number of specific processes that constitute the engagement of the participants at the meeting with the ostensive aspect of the routine. The results highlight the critical role of attention in these processes and suggest a number of ways in which the attention of the participants may be influenced. As such, the study explicates the micro dynamics of the link between a PMM intervention in the form of the performance management review meeting and the organizational processes that generate performance, thus making a step towards increasing the understanding of the direct impact of PMM on performance.

In recent years, we have witnessed a veritable explosion in leadership training and in management coaching. Despite these two trends, research on leadership ZP coaching methods and their usefulness remains scarce. As a practitioner of leadership communication coaching for the past ten years, my research interest stems from a desire to explore and evaluate the effectiveness of such coaching endeavours. Thus, the overall goal of this research is to perform a formal study to test, and to generate hypotheses about, a coaching system I had been using for several years before the research began. This coaching activity involves teaching leaders to communicate and inspire others. To achieve this goal, a comprehensive review of the literature was conducted, in order to demonstrate the theoretical basis that underlies the coaching methods. Next, I structured three lonaCiýtu dinal, in-depth case studies in which I was simultaneously researcher,c oach, and chanZg> ea gent. Three diverse leaders,p ersonalities,a nd companiesw ere chosen. As a primary data source, I kept extensive coaching notes, and I recorded frequently the impressions and observations of the three leaders. For triangulation, I used both solicited and unsolicited commentary of employees, clients, board members, and other key observers. The research was aided greatly by the extraordinary access and the frequent contact I enjoyed with many of these individuals at each of the companies. Results of the research were twofold. First, the three cases confirmed the legitimacy and effectiveness of the system of coaching in question. Second, in comparing the three cases, conclusions were drawn and hypotheses generated concerning the factors that contribute to the success of the coaching methodology. While each the three leaders benefited form the coaching, the research sheds light on why the system is more useful and productive in some cases than in others.

China is coming under the international spotlight for hotel investment as a result of its rapid economic growth and tourism development in the last three decades. Although different economic indicators have suggested that the growth of the nation's hotel industry will continue at high speed, the industry is facing increasing pressure from a serious shortage of skilled labour and a lack of human resource management (HRM) efficiency and research effort. Whilst human resource development (HRD) theories have been developed in the West with the hope of creating organisational competitiveness through training and developing human resources, the usefulness of the HRD models in helping Chinese hotels to solve their HR challenges has not yet been explored. Research, therefore, was undertaken to examine t~aining and development practices from a Western HRD perspective using a sample of 4- and 5- star hotels in three popular tourist cities in China; namely, Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing. Due to the fact that high star-rating tourist hotels in China are mainly owned by the State and Sino-foreign joint-venture partners and their way of managing is traditionally considered to be different, a comparative analysis of the practices between the two types of ownership were also conducted. A mixed-method research strategy was employed, which included eight case studies at hotel unit level (using semi-structured interviews with hotel managers and training-related document reviews) in conjunction with a mailed survey to 135 HRfTraining managers in hotels in the three cities (response rate 43.7%). The findings have suggested, firstly, although many improvements were noticeable, the general training and development practices in the sample of hotels in China were less systematically designed and implemented than that required in Western normative HRD models. Furthermore, although certain differences of training and development practices were found between the state-owned and Sino-foreign joint-venture hotels included, they were not merely caused by the differences in ownership but contingent to a number of other factors, such as the degree of government interference, managers' learning attitudes and competency, Chinese culture and other issues. Additionally, the findings support the general argument proposed in the general HRD literature about the importance of having integrated HR policies and structures to support training and development in luxury hotels, but also indicate that this structure alone may not be sufficient in generating Chinese employees' commitment to organisational learning. It is proposed that interventions to improve emotional attachment between a hotel and its employees, through learning leaders, for instance, is likely to improve the learning environment in China's hotels compared with a sole reliance on the rational model proposed in the Western HRD literature. The research contributes to both empirical investigations of a set of HRD rationales in the international hotel industry and theoretical modifications of western generic HRD models in the Chinese context.

No description available.

No description available.

Over the last 15 years there has been a rapid expansion in sport related degrees with concerns raised about the appropriateness of sport graduates to the sport industry. In contrast, a number ofreports have identified the need for a higher skilled sports workforce. Consequently, the aim ofthis study is to investigate the employability of sport related graduates in the sport ind~try, through an analysis ofthe 'factors affecting the transition of the graduate from undergrilduate studies to employment in the sport industry. This study comprises of two phases. Phase One used surveys to examine the patterns of employment and experiences of sport graduates (n=294), and the attributes and career expectations of sport students (n= 585). Focus groups of sport students (9 groups) and HE staff (4 groups) were undertaken to gain further insight into the motivations and expectations of students and the nature of sport courses. The surveys found that 37% of sport graduates were employed in sport and these tended to be low level jobs that did not tend to utilise graduate attributes. Sports graduates were also successful in finding jobs in bther industries. The results also showed that the initial sport graduate career was dynamic with a number ofjob changes. Phase Two of the study used four case studies of graduates and found that their transition into sports employment was influenced by the interaction between the nature of the graduate, the nature ofthe job and the nature ofthe employer. A major outcome ofthe study is the development of an Interaction Model and Theory of Graduate Employability in the Sports Industry which, in contrast to other theories, suggests that graduate employability is located external to the graduate, as a synthesis' of the inter-relationship between the nature of the graduate, job and employer.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.