This research attempts to establish a robust foundation and associated assumptions for performance measurement and management (PM&M). The purpose is to allow engineers to build richer and more reliable theories and approaches, facilitating a step forward in the effective management of performance. The greater availability of data, as well as significantly improved processing capability, presents engineers with the opportunity to better manage the performance of their organisations and projects. Further, a drive within the construction and engineering industry for continuous improvement and the growing importance of PM&M throughout almost every facet of life has converted this opportunity to a mandate. Although the field of PM&M is both broad and extremely diverse, many of its authors decry the lack of investigation into its philosophical assumptions; describing the research field as immature and unprofessional. In an attempt to address this challenge, the thesis presents a definition of effective PM&M for the construction and engineering industry and investigates the location within a defined problem space, of the predominant foundations and associated assumptions underlying the field of PM&M. Axes defining this problem space are developed from a literature investigation of the nature of PM&M, as well as an exploration of philosophical positions implied by the typical approaches in the field. An analysis of 140 papers from within the general and construction and engineering specific fields of PM&M is completed. This analysis strongly indicates that the predominant position underlying the literature is positivist. It is then argued that the assumptions embodied by this location are inadequate, most especially offering an impoverished view on human behaviour and social considerations, for example, intentionality, motivation and interaction. So as to provide a more adequate foundation, an alternative based on critical realism is offered, which embodies the strengths of the existing assumptions, while recognising the importance of social interaction and human behaviour. The greater adequacy of the alternative is tested in a highways engineering organisation. To complete this test, a new method of investigation is evolved from Grounded Theory. The method incorporates the assumptions inherent in a critical realist position providing a formula for the generation of theories (Context + Mechanism = Outcome). The method is employed to generate theories about the attitudes and actions towards the organisation's systems of PM&M. The increased richness of these theories and their implications for the organisation and field in general, reinforces the argument that Critical Realism provides a more robust foundation and associated assumptions for the field of PM&M than the currently predominant position of Positivism. Beyond the original contributions described above, the thesis also marks a rare foray of an engineer into the social science domain. Through the description of philosophical positions, the evolution of qualitative investigation methods and the investigation of the interaction between social and technological systems, the author has provided a number of sign posts to guide future forays into the social science domain by engineering researchers.

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Many companies have had difficulties in achieving success with software process improvement initiatives or have had adverse experiences in implementing quality systems. With a plethora of standards available and the numerous frameworks to apply best practice, none appears to act as a panacea to guarantee fulfilment or realise a true Return-on-Investment. This thesis proposes a holistic approach to software process improvement, describing a range of supporting tools and methods highlighting a true understanding of the customer base and associated cultures. The research aim was to develop and evaluate a demonstrably effective and efficient software quality management methodology suitable for a technical company such as AWE plc. To be effective the methodology must deliver an improved conformance to the quality standards and deliver real process improvement. To be efficient the methodology must deliver a real Return-on-Investment. Case studies on the implementation of the quality system were carried out at AWE plc. Each case study provided a further opportunity to measure and analyse the success or otherwise of that method or tool for further refinement. Audits, self-assessment, training, system design, marketing, and the people skills associated with a consultation process are all examined in detail. The research methodology has demonstrated its success as case studies show that steady improvement in implementing the software quality system has occurred year on year. This success has been validated by third party ISO 9001 assessments and has led to an enhancement in AWE plc reputation as a centre of software excellence. The approach has overcome cultural resistance and changed working practices. With a philosophy of customer care, consultation, and active engagement, practitioners now adopt best-practice quality management principles. The cost effectiveness of this methodology means its adoption could be considered by any organisation whether large or small.

Globally, public management underwent substantial reforms over the past three decades. Known as new public management (NPM), reforms have sought to redefine the role of politicians and public managers, redesign public organisations for enhanced autonomy and effectiveness, and restructure service delivery by integrating private organisations to ensure competition believed as necessary for efficiency. Premised on tensional forces of public choice' and `managerialism' the NPM model potentially creates conflicts between managers and professionals. Developed in OECD countries, and applied to less developed countries (LCDs) with generally ineffective public sectors; and admittedly an engrained corruption culture, NPM reforms are typified by increased bureaucratic centralisation, which restricts professionals' discretion. Using semi-structured interviews and a range of qualitative analytic devices, this thesis examines the challenges professional managers encounter under senior managers, when some support functions were privately outsourced, in line with NPM, in two corporatised hospitals in Ghana. Findings suggest professionals feel by-passed, their discretion restricted, and their expertise ignored by senior managers, generating clashes over mediating the conflicting dualities of cost/quality, results/procedures, and output/outcome. Conceptualised as resistance strategies, professionals' response(s) to the encountered issues portrayed appreciable unconventionality and non-deviance, coming close to individualised version of work to rule, and professionalised version of weapons of the weak. Such professionals' resistance strategies elucidate the complexities of Ghana's embedded political, economic and socio-cultural context. The findings suggest the true outcomes of NPM reforms within this and similar contexts are masked, distorted by the refracting effects of corruption, producing a type of bureaucracy that encourages reduced devolution, tending to inhibit rather than aid effective delivery of public services.

The research addresses the problem of technological investment decision making (TIDM) in UK Banks. It focuses on Internet banking technologies and uses interviews with bank executives and industry practitioners to form a coherent understanding of how technological decisions are practically made and what, in that process, is the role of evaluation techniques. Aims are (1) to identify and explain the discord between formal and practical evaluations of technologies, (2) to review the role of expert professional groups in defining the norms of evaluation, and (3) to develop a model to reflect the reality of TIDM in UK banking. The ultimate aim is to contribute to reducing the ambiguity that notoriously characterises the evaluation of new technology. According to the theoretical framework the TIDM problem is socially constructed by expert groups (actors) who either participate in decision-making or assume roles in developing methodologies for facilitating it. Its ultimate shape is the outcome of negotiations between these viewpoints, in light of expert power positions and political advocacy. Three classes of such “actors” are identified: (1) Practitioners, namely experts in Financial Institutions, (2) Observers, academic researchers, consultants and government bodies, and (3) the Community of Received Wisdom, comprising the commonly understood views on what TIDM is and how it should be made. A novel methodological approach, Informed Grounded Theory (IGT), proposes that viewpoints are by default informed by individuals’ academic and professional training; thus, past theory should not be considered as a contaminating factor for the data and their interpretation, but as integral part of it. Key findings concern (1) the unconventional usage of financial and other formal methodologies in TIDM practice, (2) the highly political role of dominant expert groups and the resulting dynamics of their development, (3) the influence of the wider economic cycles on how technological value is perceived and (4) the changing role of the Finance function in technological investment justification. The core conclusion is that TIDM in UK banks is an act of justification and advocacy, far more than it is an assessment process; valuation techniques play an ancillary role in ascertaining views often founded on purely strategic or political grounds.

In recent years, it has often been suggested that Operational Research should concern itself more with helping decision-makers to solve strategic level problems, rather than the tactical ones it has mainly applied itself to in the past. This being so, in order to gain an understanding of what these problems involve, it seems necessary to gain some .knowledge of the strategic decisionmaking process itself. Th~ aim of this thesis is therefore to further this knowledge, and in particular, to try to understand why decision-makers often fail to make the best decisions available to them. This thesis takes two parts. In the first, a list of possible theories about reasons for decision-making failures is built up and, following Stinchcombe's methodology for scientific research, these are tested using a number of historical case studies of decisionmaking in complex situations. From this part of the study, it is concluded that limitations in the world view of decision-makers appear to be some of the major causes of failure. In part two of the thesis, these conclusions are extended by the study of a current world problem, the shipping crisis. A description and some analysis of the problem is built up using a relatively new technique for dealing with complex problems, Hypergames. At the same time, some insight into possible reasons and underlying causes of the limitations in world view is gained. This is combined with views expounded in the literature on the subject, to form some general conclusions. In particular, it is suggested that limitations in world view can occur on a number of levels ranging from only one individual to infection of whole organisations. Finally, some conclusions about the role of Operational Researchers in strategic management are given, based on the results of these investigations.

The Pressure Vessel Industry is quite unique in having a number of rigid Codes introduced and accepted in order to safeguard the integrity of the product rather than the efficient use of the fabrication facilities. Such Codes facilitate the task of designers and thus result in an economy of time and effort during the design stage. On the other hand their intrinsic lack of flexibility demands, for example, expensive inspection procedures which, sometimes, can not be substantiated by sound scientific reasoning. Also peculiar to this situation is the existence of licencing or insuring authorities, making radical departures from the Codes virtually impossible in many cases and unjustified by the possible saving in materials in most. This being so, it follows that any cost reduction must be made within the framework of the Design Codes. This thesis summarises an investigation whose purpose was to evaluate the time and cost involved in design, fabrication and inspection depending on the codes. It is concluded that the only significant savings can be achieved through careful planning of production and that the only advantage that a design code can offer is a reduction of weight by allowing a higher design stress.

The work presented in this thesis is motivated by the 'hard' nature of the job shop scheduling task due to the 'intrinsic' and 'extrinsic' complexity of realistic problems. A scheduling framework, combining Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research techniques and implemented in a Distributed Problem Solver environment suitable for parallel implementation, is described. The adopted approach views the system as an <i>Organisation</i>. Agents are assigned different roles and functions depending on their position within the structure of the <i>Organisation</i>. In this Organisation, agents of the same level state their interests independently of each other and therefore <i>Conflict</i> is likely to occur. A major thesis of the research reported here is that not only is it important to deal with <i>conflict</i> but also that <i>conflict</i> as a consequence of the scheduling process should be exploited as a way of integrating different scheduling perspectives, as a way of allowing agents to express their own interests independently of each other and, thus, guaranteeing <i>pluralism. Pluralism</i> is also ensured by providing agents with both empirical knowledge (heuristics, dispatch rules) and theoretical knowledge (optimal algorithms) and by explicitly allowing the coexistence of a <i>job based perspective</i>, a <i>resource based perspective</i> and an <i>operation based perspective</i> enabling so called <i>opportunistic</i> and <i>micro-opportunistic</i> scheduling. In order to achieve <i>Global Coherence</i> in this conflicting distributed environment, agents are provided with mechanisms to make them aware of the structural and intrinsic features of the (sub)problems that they have to solve and the interaction of their (sub)problems, without relying on communication with each other, and with tools to analyse, evaluate and solve the <i>conflicts. Structural Awareness</i> is a major concept introduced and developed in the research reported in this thesis.

This thesis considers the emergence and diffusion of British Petroleum's (BP) Refinery Information Systems (RIS). Insights from the associology of translation are coupled with the Foucauldian concepts of discourse and power/knowledge in order to analyse accounts of the system provided by organisational participants. The analysis suggests that a new form of managerialism, or 'new commercial agenda' is being selectively deployed both witin BP and within the wider commercial world. This transformed managerialism seeks to maintain control and heighten commercialism through a re-working of hierarchical relations within the organisation. Artefacts and practices of organisational life are revealed as prime vehicles for instantiating this new agenda and BP's Refinery Information Systems are thus seen to be both a condition and a consequence of the changes underway.

This thesis reports on an action research study within a global manufacturing organisation based in the UK and USA, henceforth referred to as XYZ Limited. The study explores how this organisation undertook an improvement programme based on the practice of knowledge management and technology. Following the views of (Walsham 1995) and (Wood-Harper 1985), the research adopts an interpretive stance towards the role of information technology within knowledge management. Through two cycles of action research the study develops a model to facilitate a technology driven knowledge management approach as part of an organisational improvement programme. In doing so the researcher follows Checkland's principle of "Purposeful Human Activity" (Checkland 1981), that suggests that an organisational system is not for example just the nuts-and-bolts (or bits-and-bytes) that fall off the end of a manufacturing production line, but that the production line, and all the people that work at the company are a system themselves. This study focuses on XYZ Ltd's desire to improve its practice through the application of principles from knowledge management whilst trying to accommodate industry's desire for a technology solution. The issues of collaboration and sharing of knowledge and wisdom are of concern to the organisation. The industry preferential and expectation was of a technical solution, however the research explored both the social and technical aspects before delivering a solution. Within the overall framework it is proposed to view the perspectives through differing 'lenses' of business, academia and the embedded researcher. The research has been undertaken using a qualitative, interpretive approach with supporting case study data as the chosen research methodology. Thus, the contexts of action and the experiences of individuals in a single, real-life setting was considered, providing a complementary perspective to the existing studies. The approach highlights some methodological implications, which contribute to the development of methods and practice in this field. The research findings suggest that whilst the use of technology has become more widespread there is no common framework for evaluating their success. The resultant framework is useful for practitioners and researchers and provides guidelines for future implementation in knowledge management environments. This thesis offer two contributions to the fields of knowledge management and action research:- Contribution to Knowledge Management The development of an approach to introduce knowledge management into an organisation by using technology solution to drive an organisation towards a social change. Contribution to Action Research The development of a new action research technique utilising the embedded action researcher, through the development of an embedded action research framework which offers a merging of the practitioner and academic roles.