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No description available.

The literature on the Learning Organisation (LO) falls into two broad categories. First, that which treats the LO as a variable and something that can be designed into an organisation and which has significant influence on other organisational outcomes (eg. Watkins and Marsick, 1993; Cullen, 1999). Second, that which treats the LO as a metaphor to describe an organisation (eg. Garvin, 1993; \Vest, 1994). It basically views the organisation as a cultural phenomenon and sees the LO as a particular variant of culture. This research focuses on the first category and attempts to find out whether moving towards being a LO leads to enhanced organisational performance. The ideas that surfaced represent a shift to organisational development and growth by using the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award strategic determinants as a proxy to move towards being a LO, namely (i) leadership, (ii) strategic planning, (iii) customer and market focus, (iv) measurement, analysis, and knowledge management' (v) workforce focus; (vi) process management, an~ (vii) business results. The case study company in this research is NIUe LeamingHub Pte Ltd (LHub), a newly incorporated small and medium size entity which decided to embark on ISO 9000 and other Singapore Quality Award (Singapore's equivalent of Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award) related initiatives. It is an account ofproblem situations and events that took place in the organisation over a period of one year from July 2005 to July 2006. Questionnaire survey and evidentiary documents were used as primary and secondary sources of data collection to gather detailed information about the entity over a period ofone year, with a view to obtaining in-depth knowledge. From the findings on whether LHub has moved towards being a LO by adopting the Singapore Quality Award (SQA) business excellence approach, there is a seemingly positive show of results in the 6 strategic determinants of (i) Leadership, (ii) Planning, (iii) Information, (iv) People, (v) Processes and (vi) Customers in LHub from year 2005 to 2006 although dissatisfaction index has mcreased slightly. It appears that although LHub could not claim to 'be' a La, it might have moved towards becoming one in some respects. On whether there is an improvement in LHub's business results, the findings only partially support the hypothesis that there is an improvement in the areas of (i) sales revenue and profitability, (ii) customers' satisfaction, and (iii) employees' satisfaction after adopting the SQA business excellence approach. This is because only (i) and (iii) show signs of improvement and (ii) has a dropped in desired outcome. Moreover, for (i), the improvement is not statistically significant. Finally, the reader may wish to note that while the Malcolm Baldrige approach is being used as a proxy to move towards being a La, this research does not devise rules for managers to transform their companies into Las. There are no neat models or rules for implementation which can be applied easily in a wide range of contexts and settings. However, it is hoped that this research will strike a chord with practising managers as well as with acaqemics - purely because it conforms more closely with their own tacit understanding oforganisational realities.

This thesis presents research that extends current knowledge in the area of business process re-design, with a specific focus on the 'Make Product' process within manufacturing organisations. Current business process re-design approaches offer only limited guidance on the specific changes that can be made to a process when re-designing it to achieve the desired performance improvements and often overlook any strategically derived performance requirements when re-designing the process. Case experience suggests that practitioners do not consider the performance requirements of their business processes when re-designing them and that the actions they take to achieve performance improvements are not selected with regard to any strategically derived performance requirements. This exploratory research investigates whether relationships can be established between the changes that can be made to a process when re-designing it and the performance improvements gained by implementing those changes. It then questions whether those relationships can be used to help companies to select the appropriate process changes to implement in order to meet their specific performance requirements. Performance Requirements and process changes (Process Improvement Actions) were derived from the relevant literature and included in a* questionnaire designed to ascertain the strength of relationships between them. The questionnaire was subject to preliminary and pilot testing to improve validation and reliability prior to being administered to international business process re-design 'experts. Statistical analysis of the questionnaire data resulted in a ranked list of Process improvement Actions for each of the Performance Requirements. These were presented in a format for inclusion in a process-based change handbook and enable the practitioner to set the agenda for the intervention and select the Process Improvement Actions on the basis of the Performance Requirements. The Performance Requirements should be derived from the strategy of the company or change programme so a strategic focus is maintained throughout re-design. It was also found that of the thirteen Process Improvement Actions included in the questionnaire just five are needed to achieve improvements in a majority (80%) of the performance requirements. This research showed that it is possible to establish links between Performance Requirements and Process Improvement Actions and according to successful validation by practitioners, against an accepted model, that these can be used for business process re-design, laying foundations for future research in the area.

This thesis sought to explore total quality management (TQM) implementation and barriers that need to be overcome due to differences between societal cultures, which have become a subject of intense discussion in the wake of the globalisation of the world economy. Inter-societal cultural barriers to TQM implementation were contrasted against the accepted organisational cultural barriers, which are well documented in established literature on this topic. A case study for the analysis was taken from the Libyan construction sector, where TQM is increasingly being reported as being adopted by companies keen to solve quality problems in their industry. This research explored the barriers that exist and that have acted to hinder the adoption of TQM practices using an in-depth survey of two Libyan construction companies (A&B). The findings of this research are presented as a conceptual framework upon which proactive measure may be planned to improve TQM adoption and which may also act as a guide for further research. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to obtain primary and secondary data for the research and the TQM model framework was successfully used in a self assessment case study of companies (A&B) in Libya. The survey was able to identify critical barriers that were assessed in relation to other published data on inter-societal and intra-organisational barriers so as to identity a number of barriers unique to the Libyan case study. The overall results indicated that the case study companies were in the early stages of TQM initiatives and that there were large areas for improvement to overcome the barriers.

For about two decades academics and practitioners have been dealing with the emerging organisational paradigm of Virtual Organisations. From a inter-organisational perspective virtual organisations are temporary configurations of independent and dispersed companies facilitated by modern information and communication technologies. One particular form of these inter-organisational virtual organisations is the virtual web organisation. The organisational concept of virtual web organisations' encompasses three interrelated organisational elements, namely the virtual web platform, virtual web management and virtual corporations. The virtual web platform is a stable company network of pre-qualified independent partner firms that have generally agreed to co-operate in virtual corporations. The virtual web platform establishes a cooperative environment and prepares the conditions for the formation and operation of dynamic virtual corporations. The management of virtual web organisations facilitates the co-operative management of the virtual web platfom and facilitates the formation and operation of virtual corporations. Based on a literature review of virtual web organisations the researcher identified a need for a better understanding of how virtual web organisations are managed. Thus, this research work aims to investigate virtual web management organisations in order to reach a better understanding that contributes to academic knowledge in the field of inter-organisational virtual organisations as well as to assist practitioners with the management of virtual web organisations. From an interpretative philosophical standpoint the researcher developed a research design that addresses the need for more knowledge about virtual web management organisations. In order to view virtual web management organisations from the inside the researcher made use of resource-based theory and developed a resource-based analytical framework. A qualitative approach was adopted and five interview-based case studies were conducted as well as one participant observation case study. Based on individual within-case analysis the researcher conducted a number of cross-case analyses. Then, the research findings were compared with and discussed in the light of existing literature and knowledge in order to improve the validity of research findings of this research work. The research findings are summarised and presented in form of a resource-based framework of virtual web management organisations. The final resource-based framework of virtual web management organisations presents all sub-competencies commonly employed by virtual web management organisations in order to perform the task of initiating and maintaining virtual web platforms, and the formation of dynamic virtual corporations. Moreover, the resource-based framework of virtual web management organisations describes the content of each sub-competence; it explains the reason and purpose of the identified common sub-competencies; it describes the temporary employment and the interrelation between them; and it provides an overview of resources and capabilities underpinning each sub-competence separately.

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Different production and business procurement systems in the precast flooring industry have traditionally been designed to offer products/services with high quality, within shorter delivery times, and with the lowest cost and expense possible. However, these systems do not account for the different environmental impacts arising from its operations. This thesis explores the environmental performance of precast concrete production systems and evaluates how precast organisations can maintain their business cases within a healthy and sustainable approved practice. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study was carried out for five Hollowcore and pre-stressed beams manufacturers (members of the Precast Flooring Federation-PFF) to identify the main environmental impacts arising from the production of precast flooring. It was found that mineral extraction, carbon dioxide emissions, waste disposal, and transportation are the main sources of environmental impact in the sector.

Many articles have been written on the design and implementation of performance measurement systems. In this regard literature also indicates the high failure rate associated with implementation. When the various issues assigned to failure are analysed, a number of these issues can be categorised as systemic issues. This research defines these systemic issues as contextual issues – those issues outside of a performance measurement system, yet having an impact on its functioning and performance as a system. This research explains how systems theory was used to construct a model that defines twelve contextual entities, seen as key entities influencing the functioning of a performance measurement system. These twelve entities are organisational culture, management commitment and support, information architecture, performance measurement process owner, overall status of IT/IS, organisational structure, evaluation process and information flow, performance management system, strategic planning process, policies and procedures, “other” measurement processes, and resources. The model also defines the relationship between each of these entities and a performance measurement system. When the model is applied in practice it determines the strength of the relationship between each entity and a performance measurement system. Based on the strength of each relationship, an organisational learning experience is created that provides a perspective on the performance measurement readiness of an organisation. This study focuses on strengthening the relevancy and applicability of the model by applying the model at two public universities in South Africa. The specific research focus was to generate an understanding of whether different contexts prompted any changes to the model. The research concludes by indicating that context changed the model in minor ways and also that the universities perceived the model to be relevant. Based on these findings stronger claims can thus be made in terms of the model’s relevancy and applicability.

In this thesis we propose that, in order to understand better the way in which work is done in teams, we need to understand how some particular view of some particular situation comes to be regarded as a "problem" for a team we argue that this process of "problem-construction" is at least as significant as the process of "problem-solving". We review literature in the several fields that are related to this topic. The evolution of the research project is described; that description, together with a description of the context in which the main study took place, fora antecedents for the development of the methodology. Data are presented from a study of the Health Care Planning Teams in Bath Health District during the planning cycle 1976/1977. The data are drawn both from accounts given by team members of their own, and others', actions and intentions, and also from our observations of meetings of the teams. Categories are developed from our analysis of the data, "grounded" in the expressed beliefs, and usually in the words, of team members, about problem-construction in these teams. Some analysis is also given of the rules that seem to govern problem-construction in the teams and the sanctions used to enforce those rules. The categories and other analytic statements are drawn together as a connected commentary on the processes of problem-construction in the teams. The research was conducted on holistic principles, but it is argued that the conceptual development and the emerging categories provide an incipient framework for understanding problem-construction in other teams. Directions for further development of the research are proposed.