Clergy working in the Church of England are a rich opportunity for research. Their employment situation is anomalous and from the perspective of my own epistemological location in Human Resource Management there is little tradition of exploring the employment relationship within the Church of England. This scenario provided a unique environment for research. I teach Human Resource Management (HRM) in a university business school. I am also married to a clergyman. The catalyst for the research was bringing together these two different aspects of my life. In my research I use the frameworks of HRM to explore and understand working in the Church of England. I use the psychological contract, a well established concept in HRM. The psychological contract is a concept that can be used to explore the non-contractual elements of the employment relationship. Initially I explore the employment relationship through a series of group interviews. My research then documents through narrative inquiry the individual working lives of the clergy. I generate insights and understanding of both working in the Church of England in the twenty-first century and the psychological contract. I explore my own stance in relation to the participants. I come to understand my stance as a ‘conversant associate’. I am conversant with their ‘world’ and inhabit a role that associates me with the clergy while not being fully a member of the group. My original contribution is in two areas; Human Resources (HR) and the psychological contract and understanding the Church of England. My findings challenge the existing concept of the psychological contract for being too narrow and requiring revision. My participants work in a role and organisation with a long history. My findings indicate the power of this historical role on the expectations of the contemporary work. By expanding the scope of the psychological contract my findings challenge existing approaches to teaching and practising HR. HR is currently only identified with the business performance model. My findings indicate that this association is far too limited in scope. My research documents my participants’ perception of change in the Church of England. I report a stable understanding of the relationship and expectations between clergy and senior staff. This finding challenges contemporary understanding of the effect of change on the psychological contract. By giving voice to the current parish clergy I explore and make a contribution to the Church of England’s understanding of working as contemporary parish clergy. The Church of England is on the cusp of reforming its historical employment system, known as freehold. My findings indicate that the clergy’s understanding of the past paradoxically strengthens their understanding of contemporary working life and I report a ‘narrative of regret’. Clergy perceive that they are unable to fulfil their own expectations. As indicated above my research contributes to knowledge in two ways: understanding the psychological contract and working in the Church of England. These two areas of original contribution coalesce. Simultaneously I document working life in the Church of England and explore the psychological contract of contemporary clergy.

This research study evaluated the use of Personal Development Planning (PDP) as a strategy to help a group of ten doctoral and fourteen postdoctoral research scientists, based in eight developing countries in Africa, enhance and progress their career development. To achieve this, a PDP system, with built-in tools and support systems was developed specifically for this purpose. Using an Action Research approach, within a framework adapted from Kirkpatrick’s “Four Levels of Evaluation” the research study evaluated the PDP system, tools and processes; and from lessons learned developed a transferable system and tools for future use with research scientists based in these and other developing countries in Africa. The study explored the following questions: (1) How do these research scientists feel about using PDP, the system and tools? (2) What is being done differently as a result of engaging with PDP – are there any learning gains, and are they applied in practice? (3) To what extent has PDP helped these research scientists feel confident about planning and managing their career development? (4) How far is it feasible to implement PDP more widely with other research scientists in Africa? Using both quantitative and qualitative data from the Group’s PDP documentation, questionnaires, nominal group technique, an online focus group discussion, and semi-structured interviews, the main study findings showed that overall the majority of the group felt that PDP made a positive contribution to helping them enhance and progress their career development; and was successful in helping them to feel confident about planning and managing their career development and progression. Given the focus and limited time, the study does not evaluate the broader impact that engagement with PDP might have on career progression. A longitudinal, follow up study would be needed to evaluate this aspect of PDP in relation to career development in Africa. The data showed that PDP is a concept that can be transferred successfully to developing country settings in Africa. It also indicated that, with the essential support elements of personal support, financial support, time and institutional support built into a PDP programme, it would be feasible to implement PDP with a similar group of research scientists in Africa. Further studies are needed to evaluate feasibility of implementing this strategy more widely in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The term ‘tipping event’ is used to describe a certain class of phenomena as observed in many different fields of science. It refers to an event where a gradual change of external forcing causes a sudden, large, often unwanted, transition to the state of the system. Some examples of known tipping events in science include: Arctic sea ice melting (climate), epileptic seizures (biology), collapse of ecosystems and populations (ecology) and market crashes (finance). Three mathematical mechanisms for tipping events have been proposed in the literature: bifurcation-, noise- or rate-induced tipping. Recent research has focused on developing early-warning indicators to potentially offer forewarning, which can extract from output time series whether the external forcing approaches a critical level at which tipping occurs. Two commonly used early-warning indicators are an increase of autocorrelation and variance in the time series data for the system’s output. The theory behind the presence of these indicators is the loss of stability of the system’s current state known as ‘critical slowing down’ for the approach of a bifurcation-induced tipping. Rate-induced tipping occurs when the external forcing reaches a critical rate instead of level. For rate-induced tipping there is no loss of stability of the system’s current state and therefore it is not clear if the early-warning indicators should exist. In this thesis we investigate the presence of early-warning indicators for models that show rate-induced tipping with additive noise. We also explore a technique for determining the most likely time of tipping using optimal paths for escape. Research has mainly focussed on testing the early-warning indicators for examples of known tipping events in the past. The ultimate aim of early-warning indicators would be to have the ability to predict future tipping events. Using the early-warning indicators in isolation is susceptible to incurring false alarms and missed alarms. We present a method for approximating the probability of experiencing rate-induced tipping with noise for slow to moderate drift speeds.

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There is a lack of theoretically based, and empirically proven, team training methods for optimising and maintaining effective team performance. The aims of the thesis were to: (i) develop a method to carry out team training needs analyses, and use this to identify theoretically valid intervention techniques; (ii) develop and test a particular type of team training designed to improve team performance in high-reliability industries; and (iii) develop and utilise team training evaluation techniques. A team training needs analysis was carried out to identify the team training requirements of nuclear power plant operations personnel. This resulted in the design of a nuclear team skills taxonomy, in which the specific team competencies required by the team members were identified. Using this taxonomy it was possible to identify four training and three organisational interventions to improve the performance of the teams. The remainder of the thesis concentrated on the application of the most widely applied team training technique, Crew Resource Management (CRM) training. CRM has been used in the aviation industry for over 20 years, and is beginning to be applied in other high-reliability industries. However, a survey of UK aviation operators (n=l13) showed that the majority do not utilise formal evaluation techniques to assess the effects of their CRM training. The main reasons for this are a shortage of resources and a lack of guidance on suitable techniques for evaluating training. Several CRM evaluation techniques were developed and tested. A questionnaire was designed to assess the effects of CRM training on the attitudes of nuclear operations personnel. It was found there was generally an initial increase in the positivity of attitudes immediately after training, and then a decay in attitudes when they were measured again after a delay of six months. A prototype CRM training course was designed, and delivered to 77 offshore oild and gas production personnel Their reactions to the training were generally favourable and, as measured using a questionnaire, a significant increase in positivity of attitudes was found for decision making and personnel limitations, but not situation awareness or iii communications. The ability of the course participants to identify the causes of accidents in written scenarios was also not found to improve as a result of the CRM training. Finally, a European behavioural marker system designed to allow an assessment to be made of the non-technical (CRM) skills of flight deck crews (called NOTECHS) was tested. Data were provided from an experiment involving 105 training captains from 14 European airlines. Following an analysis of the validity and reliability, it was concluded that the NOTECHS system appears to be a satisfactory system for carrying out an evaluation of pilots' CRM behaviours in the aviation industry. The main findings of the thesis were: (i) A multi-faceted methodology was found to be useful in carrying out a training needs analysis, and to identify intervention techniques to improve team performance. However, these interventions must be applied and evaluated to assess their effectiveness. (ii) Researchers must take care when using a team training method, such as CRM, which has been successful utilised in one particular organisation, and applying the same model in another without first testing it in the new domain. (iii) There is a need to develop more reliable questionnaire items to assess attitudes to CRM skills such as decision making and situation awareness, and techniques to assess the CRM-related knowledge of participants. It is argued that properly designed and tested behavioural marker systems provide a method for evaluating the CRM skills of operations personnel, as long as the system is valid and reliable, and raters have received training to use it accurately. As industry becomes increasingly complex, there is a continuous challenge to design, deliver, and evaluate team training. Overall, this thesis has added to the research to address these challenges and indicated the areas in which further psychological research is required. It is only through this type of analysis that team training theory can develop and practitioners can be provided with the tools necessary to design effective team training.

Safety training and safety climate are widely researched topics in the area of safety management. Safety training, as one of the safety interventions, is believed to be an antecedent of safety climate improvement within organisations. The rapid advancement in the safety management field has also raised many questions, mainly regarding the roles of safety training and safety climate within organisations. Recent literature has viewed safety climate as a mediating variable between organisational policies and practices (such as safety training) and safety outcomes. Nevertheless, to date far too few attempts have been made to empirically study the impacts and influence of safety training on safety climate change and to subsequently improve safety outcomes over a period of time, especially in developing countries like Malaysia. To facilitate the expansion of current theoretical perspectives, the research attempts to improve our understanding of safety training's impact on achieving a positive safety culture (via safety climate changes), particularly with regard to improved safety outcomes over a period of time. A quantitative approach, using a longitudinal panel design, was employed for the purpose of data collection. The results were based on two data collections carried out in a Malaysian manufacturing plant in 2008 and 2009. The response rate was 83 percent (N=330) in Time 1, 2008 and 98 percent (N=402) in Time 2, 2009. The findings of this study revealed that there was a significant improvement in all safety training impact subscales indicating that employees' perceived their level of safety knowledge and skill transfer, safe work practices, and their understanding of safety and risk to all be higher in Time 2. The findings of this study also revealed significant improvements in the safety climate dimensions related to Management Attitude and Management Action, indicating that the management role has been viewed as crucial in improving and supporting employees' and organisations' safety. Over a period of time the positive correlation between safety training and safety climate became stronger with a significance difference of .005, where in Time 1, r=.740 and in Time 2, r=.745. This finding adds to the theoretical proposition that safety training is an antecedent to improving safety climate. Similarly, safety outcomes have significantly improved over a period of time and have a negative correlation with safety training and safety climate. Overall, the current study has gone some way towards enhancing our understanding of safety training impacts and its influence on safety climate, particularly with regard to the improvement of safety outcomes. However, this study has thrown up a number of questions that are in need of further investigation. The need for further research to investigate the effectiveness of specific safety training intervention with the addition of motivational factors, and its relation to safety climate over a period of time in various industries, remain crucial.

This research explores the nature and extent of training and development (TD) provision, as well as top managers' and TD personnel's attitudes towards the TD function within the medium and large-size private manufacturing organisations of Saudi Arabia. Extensive details of the TD situation are provided and assessed for their adequacy, covering among other elements a descriptive analysis of the main characteristics of the organisations concerned, an evaluation of their TD plans and policies, and a review of their budget allocation and funding. The research then proceeds to describe and discuss the extent to which such organisations are applying a systems approach to TD, both in terms of its design and implementation. Thereafter, the main factors impeding the effectiveness of TD programmes are examined, followed by a consideration of the future challenges that are likely to increase the importance of TD for the organisations in question. The research has adopted a mainly descriptive approach and uses both quantitative and qualitative analytical methods. The required data were gathered through a combination of semi-structural interviews with a number of top managers, and survey questionnaires addressed to the persons responsible for TD within the targeted organisations. The sampling strategy was disproportional stratified random sampling. In total 16 senior executives, 132 medium-size organisations and 94 large-size organisations took part in the study. The findings reveal that although attitudes towards the value of TD are generally favourable, in practice in the majority of cases TD is under-resourced, unplanned and patchy, hardly the ideal features of a systematic model of TD that will enable private manufacturing business to successfully meet the challenges of the future ahead. The research ends with a number of specific and practical recommendations intended to improve the effectiveness of TD in the private manufacturing sector of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as a number of suggestions for further research.

This thesis discusses how the restructuring of the UK television industry in the 1980s and 1990s has affected learning and skills development in the sector. It is based on 71 semi-structured interviews with television freelancers and key informants in the industry, and a case study of a small regional independent company developed through semi-structured interviews and three months of participant observation. To investigate the current learning and skills development mechanisms, this thesis engages with community-based learning theories. These are discussed in relation to industry characteristics such as commissioning and independent production and labour market realities related to freelance work and educational provision. The findings reveal that the traditional on the job learning mechanisms within communities of practice are challenged under the new structural context characterised by unrestricted entry and progression and short-term projects within an uncertain employment context. Commercial pressures affect both the access to learning opportunities and the learning experience, mainly because of the lack of legitimate and gradual experiential learning possibilities, short-term involvement in the industry under pressures to perform. The thesis also discusses the realities of the work in a small regional independent production company as well as its benefits and limitations as a venue for community-based learning. This thesis concludes with several policy recommendations which address some of the main challenges to the sustainable skills development in UK television. These recommendations subscribe to the need for introducing legitimate traineeships, entry rules and detaching learning from the commercial pressures in the sector.

The objectives of this thesis are: (1) to investigate the antecedents and consequences of fairness of performance evaluation processes (procedural fairness) in the context of performance measurement, evaluation, and reward systems; and (2) to investigate the behavioural effects of reliance on multiple performance measures (RMPM) in evaluating subordinates' performance. In relation to the first objective, it examines whether managers' perceptions of procedural fairness are influenced by the form (financial or nonfinancial) of performance measures used to evaluate performance, and by goal-related variables such as participation in setting performance targets, the goal-attainment-reward link, and the specificity of goals to be achieved by managers. With regard to the consequences of procedural fairness, it examines the effects of procedural fairness on job satisfaction, performance, organisational commitment, and goal commitment, and also examines whether any such associations are direct or indirect. In relation to the second objective, it examines whether RMPM affects managerial performance or whether the effect is contingent on goal difficulty and goal specificity. To address these objectives, this thesis draws on organisational justice theory and goal theory and employs both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative data are collected using a questionnaire survey sent to managers in four organisations and qualitative data are gathered by means of interviews and focus group discussions within the organisations. The results indicate that procedural fairness is affected by participation in setting performance targets, the goal-attainment-reward link, and the specificity of goals to be achieved by managers, but not by the type of performance measure used to evaluate performance. With regard to the consequences of procedural fairness, the results indicate that: (1) the effects of procedural fairness on job satisfaction and performance are indirect and fully mediated by distributive fairness, trust, and organisational commitment; (2) the effect of procedural fairness on organisational commitment is partially mediated by distributive fairness and trust; and (3) the effect of procedural fairness on goal commitment is partially mediated by trust. Finally, the results indicate that the effect of RMPM on performance is contingent on goal specificity, but not on goal difficulty.

The intense competition arising from globalisation requires MNCs to manage their HRs globally and strategically to become a source of competitive advantage. Hence, SIHRM acknowledges the need to balance global integration and local responsiveness, together with emphasising the importance of seeking strategic fit between HR policies and business strategy, which in turn leads to superior firm performance. Furthermore, this development also increased awareness and recognition of the role of senior managers and cultural traditions. Therefore, the primary purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between SIHRM effectiveness and firm performance as perceived by senior management coupled with the influence from MNCs' headquarters and Chinese cultural values. Consequently, the researcher selected a case study approach with a triangulation data collection method through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews undertaken in four selected subsidiaries of MNCs. The research findings strengthened the theoretical foundations of several HRM models, together with supporting Analoui's eight-parameter approach (1999) as a functional, coherent and interlinked framework regarding the effectiveness of senior managers. In particular, this research found that quality enhancement of products and service was the preferred and adopted key business strategy amongst the studied MNCs. Whilst they are also seeking to balance globalisation and localisation through reconciling control and adaptation rather than satisfying one at the expense of the other, such that the trend is for Western HR policies to be gradually accepted and internalised by the younger generation of the Chinese managers. Finally, this research made several recommendations to foreign MNCs operating in China.