Abstract Organisations need to have the ability to recruit and retain appropriate knowledge workers in order to create an inflow of knowledge and skills to develop and maintain their competitiveness. High technology organisations, particularly, rely on knowledge workers to transfer human capital into intellectual capital by turning technological knowledge into products. Taiwan is renowned for information and communication technology (ICT) product design and manufacture. This research uses Taiwan’s high technology industry as a sample to examine the recruitment, selection and retention practices for knowledge workers. Three organisation ownership types exist in Taiwan’s context: Taiwanese-owned,foreign-owned and non-private. This study asks: what are the current recruitment, selection and retention practices for knowledge workers in Taiwan’s high technology industry? Are there any differences in the three types of ownership group? Do ownership groups influence knowledge workers’ decisions to join or stay in their organisations? To answer these questions, a quantitative survey was conducted from September 2009 to March 2010, and two hundred valid questionnaire responses were collected (a response rate: 67%). Additionally, interviews were conducted with human resource managers in 10 organisations under various ownerships to collect information that was unobtainable in the questionnaire survey. This research contributes empirical evidence about the current recruitment/selection and retention practices for knowledge workers in Taiwan’s high technology industry. The results showed that organisations within various ownership groups preferred to use different practices. Taiwanese-owned firms predominantly used on-line agents to recruit knowledge workers and relied on employee ownership bonus programmes to attract and retain knowledge workers. Foreign-owned firms, significantly, used head hunters. They provided their knowledge workers with high base salaries, challenging and interesting work, and influential power over work-related decisions. Non-private organisations were significantly different in their adoption of company websites. They offered good training programmes, opportunities to access new technology, and attractive work-life balance, reflecting their research-oriented ethos.

Despite of the rapid globalisation and international business there has been a growing consensus that the quality of an organisation's human resource is a critical factor in order to manage the change. Economic reform in China has led to rapid business expansion within the region. Chinese policy makers are aware that the development of its managers is crucial to creating competitive advantage in its post-WTO period. Training and education is therefore an important means of management development improving the competencies of managerial personnel with a global view. As a consequence large numbers of Chinese managers have been sent on training and education in the Western countries in order to bring new ideas and approaches to their organisations. This thesis questions whether the training has successfully achieved its objectives and how the effectiveness of such a training intervention can be addressed. It has been widely accepted in the training' community that evaluation of training effectiveness is an essential step in designing a training program. However evaluation is often problematic, particularly when the training seeks to achieve outcomes which are not readily measurable, as is the case in management training and development. Moreover, the involvement of various stakeholders from West and East adds complexity. This research presents a survey study covering 526 stakeholders who are involved in China's overseas management training and development. The approaches to evaluation are explored from a holistic perspective and an evaluation framework which uses stakeholder-based approach is developed for management training and development in a cross-cultural context. Moreover this study addresses the empirical and methodological deficiencies 'of research on Chinese managers' development activities in Western countries. This research therefore contributes not only to theory on evaluation, but also on management training and development in cross-cultural settings. A mixed methods approach by triangulation of quantitative and qualitative information is employed to study training effectiveness from the perspectives of different stakeholders. The findings show important variables affecting Chinese managers' learning in Western countries and factors influencing the transfer of Western management to Chinese organisations. The specific characteristics of China's overseas management training are also examined which lead to the conclusion that the evaluation of a management training intervention should not be regarded as evaluating a training programme, but must be integrating with the processes ofmanagement training and development.

This thesis explores how the Balanced Scorecard supports management control of knowledge workers. The research takes a case study approach, analyzing three divisions within the Rolls Royce Marine business. The literature is used to both frame the research question and to generate a number of theoretical propositions and a priori constructs which the research explores. The work relies on participant observation, in‐depth interviewing and documentary data as data collection methods. Data analysis is through in vivo analysis of interview data, relying on triangulation between data sources. The analysis yields a number of results. Firstly, the research situates the balanced scorecard as an important strategic communication mechanism, but one that is not used for operational control system. It situates the balanced scorecard as one of a number of control systems within the organisations case studied, providing evidence of where the balanced scorecard supports control activities. This research provides a number of contributions to knowledge. Two frameworks are created: the first – the management control typology is important since it draws together strands of research and provides a single framework for management control systems. The second, the knowledge worker typology provides a system for understanding the different types of knowledge work and hence advances the debate on defining what is a knowledge worker. The empirical investigation provides some tentative conclusions on the different types of control systems used for different types of knowledge worker. It also identifies that the way in which the balanced scorecard is used within the case study organisations differs from the approach suggested by the original literature. The work argues that to understand management control systems in their entirety, it is necessary to both understand what the management control system is and also how it is used. The work concludes by suggesting a research agenda which explores the cultural aspects of management control systems in more depth.

The success of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's (HKSARG) e-government initiatives is dependent on the government employees' acceptance and use of the underpinning information, internet and communication technologies (IT). Unfortunately, only a few empirical researches have been conducted to investigate the drivers of IT usage in government workplaces.To predict IT usage, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been tested and demonstrated its predictive power in various contexts. But it does not provide guidance to managers because Davis grouped the antecedents to the TAM constructs as "external factors" so as to focus on the main part of the model and to keep it robust. Hence, these factors are the ultimate drivers that determine the users' behaviors.This research aims to improve the explanatory power of TAM by identifying and including resistance to change (RTC) as a relevant external factor with the assistance from Max Weber's Theory of Bureaucracy (TB). To test the augmented TAM, an email questionnaire survey to 700 randomly selected HKSARG IT users was conducted. Additional information was gathered from senior management to validate the survey results. The results show that the IT users in HKSARG are not valuing usefulness and ease of use of IT in the same manner as employees in most other contexts. In addition, the results confirm that RTC is a relevant and strong external variable to TAM. In line with theories, HKSARG employees, as a whole, tend to have above average level of resistance to change. But statistical test results also revealed that there are heterogeneous behavioural groups within HKSARG. Specifically, younger or more educated users are more willing to change. The existence of these groups has both practical and managerial implications for implementing change.In particular, it is argued that the government should not be viewed and understood monolithically. A better strategy for management to implement change is to target the younger or more educated users first for piloting and to build up sufficient user mass and exert peer pressure to older or less educated users for a more successful implementation of IT across all staff. Because of the weaknesses of the established policies, the HKSARG has an undesirable structural composition (high percentage of older and less educated employees) in the face of change. To tackle the high level of resistance to change, it is suggested that continuous training is a must. Moreover, the training packages should be tailor-made for various groups in the civil service to suit their specific needs and to enhance their capabilities. In the long term, it is recommended that the human resources management policies should be reviewed and modified with an aim to adjust the structural composition of the civil service toward a more change ready workforce. In addition, more research on the characteristics of the public sector is required for a better understanding of the real nature of these large bureaucratic organizations.

While there is an abundant literature on the moderating effects of formal institutions on changes in economic incentives, there is still little understanding on whether informal institutions – such as beliefs, values and social norms - exert a similar effect. In the current European context, with increasing demands to reform the welfare systems, the question becomes all the more relevant. With this in mind, and focusing on social norms about the role of the family, this thesis aims to provide insights into the following question: are the effects of family values on individual behaviour resilient to changes in economic incentives? Using EU survey micro data the thesis analyses the interplay between the effects of family values and changes in economic incentives in shaping individual behaviour in social care. The results suggest that the effects of family values remain resilient to changes in economic incentives. The first paper confirms that, in line with the existing literature, family values affect individual behaviour. Most importantly, however, it shows that this effect can be overridden by certain individual socio-economic characteristics. The second paper focuses on the strength of the effects, showing that the effect of family values on individual behaviour is strongest when economic incentives are changed in ways that do not directly challenge prevailing family values. Finally, the third paper demonstrates that the effect of family values on individual behaviour is resilient to a policy reform that conflicts with them. The extent of the resilience depends on the socio-demographic characteristics of the individuals. These results have direct implications in the EU context, suggesting that convergence of economic outcomes might be difficult to achieve given that the impact of common problems and policies differ depending on the prevailing family values. At the very least, these differences should be taken into account when designing EU-wide policies.

This research project focused on the treatment of safety risks in railways. Existing methodologies for assessment and management of the safety risk on railways are mostly empirical and have been developed out of a need to satisfy the regulatory requirements and in response to a number of major accidents. Almost all of these processes and methodologies have been developed in support of approvals of specific products or very simple systems and do not add up to a holistic coherent methodology suited for analysis of modern, complex systems, involving many vastly different constituents (software, hardware, people, products developed in different parts of the world, etc.). The complexities of modern railway projects necessitate a new approach to risk analysis and management. At the outset, the focus of the research was on the organisation of the family of existing system analysis methodologies into a coherent, heterogeneous methodology. An extensive review of existing methodologies and processes was undertaken and is summarised in this thesis. Relationships between different methodologies and their properties were investigated seeking to define the rules for embedding these into a hierarchical nest and relating their emergent properties. Four projects were utilised as case studies for the evaluation of existing methodologies and processes and initial development. This thesis describes the methodology adopted in support of development of the System Safety Case and the structure of the document. Based on that experience and knowledge a set of high level requirements was identified for an integrated, holistic system safety analysis and management process. A framework consisting of existing and novel methodologies and processes was developed and trialled on a real life project. During the trial several gaps in the process were identified and adequate new methodologies or processes defined and implemented to complete the framework. The trial was very successful and the new framework, referred to as the Engineering Safety Case Management Process is implemented across the London Underground Upgrades Directory.

The main purpose of this study is to understand the nature and maturity level of HRD activities in Libyan manufacturing companies, and to investigate how far Libya has moved along a continuum comprising traditional T&D to HRD practices. It aims to assess whether the concept of HRD can be applied to activities of these companies. This study aims in particular to deduce empirical evidence through descriptive accounts of HRD and to compare them with standard HRD models. A descriptive methodology has been adopted in this research, and multi-methods (qualitative and quantitative) are used to gather and analyse multi-sources of data that comprise observation, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, literature, and official documents. Triangulation analysis has been employed, which is appropriate for multi-source data. The findings include: The majority of the investigated companies do not have a formal HRD system. HRD programs are still carried out on a piecemeal basis rather than through a systematic long-term policy. Findings which were common among the majority of the approached companies were: an absence of a systematic organisational training needs analysis; the use of traditional training methods; and a lack of effective procedures for T&D evaluation. All of this shows that Libya has made little progress along the continuum from T&D to HRD, and that this progress is mostly confined to large manufacturing companies. Findings revealed that in order to move to the practice of HRD in the manufacturing sector, Libya is faced with the challenge of enhancing employees' learning and development in the workplace and coping with the demand for knowledge-workers. These challenges and the various deficiencies in the HRD system are observed to have resulted from the lack of professional and intellectual HRD expertise. This has implications for the continuous development of human resources, as well as for the development of knowledge-workers. From this study, models of HRD have been constructed to simplify the complex and multiple realities associated with developing employees in organisations and to provide a framework against which a clearer understanding of the nature of HRD can be conceptualised and theorised. Therefore, this study contributes to research by mapping the extent of HRD development in the manufacturing companies in Libya and forms a basis upon which future research studies may be developed. From the conclusions of the study, various implications were generated for other researchers, management practitioners and policy makers.

In Libya today, there is a movement towards improvement in organizations and to achieve this goal the Government has introduced liberalization of the economy. It is also creating stronger ties with the Western world, now that sanctions have been lifted. There is now greater scope to allow to private enterprise. Although there has been previous research carried out, into the ways that the competitive nature of all Libyan organizations can be improved, this thesis however, is the first that compares the governance structure, management style and culture of organizations in both the Public and Private sectors of Libya and the UK and focuses on employee involvement participation (EIP). Previous studies suggest that organizational culture is significantly influenced by the national culture in which the organization is located. The influence of culture in general, and more specifically in the sub-divisions of national, organizational, and occupational culture, has been the subject of much discussion over the last few decades. However the debate on whether national culture has an impact on organizations and their human resource management practices remains unresolved. The main aim of this study is to compare two very different cultures to discover any significant differences that exist between the two countries and between organizations in the two sectors particularly with regard to EIP. Therefore this research entailed a survey of the organizational culture, and structure as well as the EIP apparent in a sample of Public and Private sector companies in Libya and the UK. The research was carried by questioning a purposive sample of managers and employees, by distributing a self-completion questionnaire and conducting interviews in these companies, to provide both quantitative and qualitative data, which could then be analysed to discover any link between national and organizational culture, corporate governance, management style, the employment relationship and the implementation of EIP. The literature reviewed for this research- generated a number of research questions and allowed hypotheses to be generated. These were then tested to investigate the differences in national and organizational culture between organizations with different organizational structures in capitalist or state-owned enterprises. Also considered were their implementation of employee involvement and participation practices (EIP), to allow workers greater participation in the decision making process. This research concludes that there are significant differences between UK and Libyan public and private sector employees with regard to the national culture in their country. However, there appears to be areas in the organizational culture of the companies sampled that indicate some level of convergence, in their use of HRM practices, management style and preferred forms of EIP. The specific conclusions drawn from this study contribute to our knowledge and understanding in a number of areas, including, national as well as organizational culture, the apparent transfer of Western management techniques and practices, and their effect on the direct or indirect nature of communication with employees. Furthermore this research contributes to our understanding of the degree of autonomy offered to employees, within different organizational cultures, which although they exist in dissimilar economies and are operating different methods of corporate governance in either publicly or privately owned enterprises, now appear to be implementing EIP practices which are converging on the Anglo-Saxon model of HRM.

It has long been recognised that inter-organisational collaborations have great potential for learning and knowledge creation, although there has been very limited attention paid to the way in which organisations actually create new knowledge jointly. The present study contributes to this area of research, and examines the processes that facilitate and constrain new knowledge creation in inter­-organisational collaboration. It draws upon five longitudinal case studies of inter-­organisational collaborations across different sectors: pesticides, biotechnology, life sciences, engineering manufacturing, and software development. The study conceptualises inter-organisational learning as production and re-production of inter-­organisational rules that govern inter-organisational relationship, and facilitate and shape joint knowledge creation. The study advances understanding of the mechanisms underlying inter-organisational learning which rely on such aspects of collaboration as the nature of inter-partner interactions, interdependency between collaborating organisations, and power balance among partners. The longitudinal analysis of inter-organisational learning in the course of collaboration development also contributes to understanding of the relationship between inter-organisational learning and collaboration dynamics. The findings indicate that inter-organisational learning can have positive, as well as negative, effects on collaboration development. The results also suggest that inter-organisational learning closely co­evolves with the developmental dynamics of collaboration, meaning that inter-­organisational learning is not only a product of collaboration development, but is also a force capable of shaping it.

The research attempted to relate quality of falsework erection to the organisation and competence of personnel involved. The study involved field investigation using a sample of fifty four sites throughout England And Wales where different types of falsework arrangements were being erected by a range of organisations and personnel. By the establishment of a rigorous method of evaluating quality of workmanship of falsework construction this was the first study which enabled quality standards to be compared across different types of falsework arrangements. In addition this study, combined with a sociological analysis, enabled an assessment to be made between organisation, competence and quality, which to the author's knowledge, has not been undertaken prior to this study. Subsequent analyses of the data, used the two models of organisation: the economic and occupational orders. These indicated that all sites essentially adopted the same methods and assumptions. Any attempts to formalise the management of the process of control of falsework, along the lines of the procedures outlined in the Code of Practice for Falsework, were limited in extent and their degree of success. The investigation found that the quality of falsework on building sites was generally of a lower standard than on civil engineering sites. This was found to be attributed to the competence of the manual workforce. This study addresses the organisation structure of the industry at large. Although peculiar, in that it leads to a temporary product, the falsework process may be regarded as a microcosm of the overall construction process. The conclusions presented in this thesis have relevance to the current issues of concern to the industry: competence, skill shortages, training and quality (including safety) and the implementation and efficacy of Quality Assurance schemes.