Organisational theories developed by academics are often regarded as complex and confusing by students and not very useful by managers. One solution to address these concerns expressed by the different audiences is to revisit earlier proposals which were rejected at the time, such as the theses proposed by Radcliffe-Brown during the 1930s for a single branch of science for the study of human society. Radcliffe-Brown’s single branch of science for human societies incorporates abstract, natural, and applied sciences, and the arts. His comprehensive proposal was intended to cover all audiences, but Radcliffe-Brown asserted that natural science, in the form of the study of the physiology of societies, was not yet available. This thesis explores the practicalities of studying the physiology of organisations and proposes a project to test Radcliffe-Brown’s theory. Various factors such as the concept of a natural science, interrelationships among functions and the consideration of scale and scope are considered and evaluated in order to find a practical approach to study the physiology of organisations and organised societies. A prototype framework for the study of human physiology, based on the laws of living persistent entities, is developed and evaluated for applicability in organisations. A meta-analysis of change projects published in academic journals formed the research approach to ensure generalisability of the analysed results, and the findings were analysed within three functional categories of internal, operations and executive functions to test the feasibility of an analogous framework for organisations. The thesis concludes that, with exceptions and areas for further research, it is possible to study the physiology of organisations and this could provide a bridge between academic theories and practical applied sciences by providing an integrated perspective on functions and their interrelationships in organisations.

In its search for the sources of “ethics from within”, this thesis concurs with many researchers who believe that religions, or any belief systems, are the main sources of ethics, which found their way into the work place, and are still greatly affecting the cultures and economies of today’s world. The research aimed at discussing how religious principles, values and traditions have had, and will always have, a great impact on the ethics of the work place, provided that a certain level of adherence is observed. Culture, religion and economy are tied up in an inseparable matrix that has always been called upon whenever an answer to a problem is sought. The unique impact and influence that the belief of a Divine Omni-power exerts upon cultures and economies are unlike any other forces of change, leadership or otherwise. The research argues that its uniqueness lies in the fact that religious conviction is a power that stems from within people, and would need occasional stimulation rather than external supervision to produce a “self-monitoring” employee. The research is structured to zoom in from general idea towards a deeper analysis of a chosen case study. Chapter One discussed how culture and religion are interwoven notions that cannot be separated in any discussion of social characteristics, group behaviour, and national identity. Chapter Two investigated potential, relationships between economy and religion within the understanding that the sciences of economy and management cannot alone explain every aspect of human behaviour. Chapter Three attempted to answer whether ethics and morality rest on religion or not, and if so, how much influence do religions cast on the evolution of ethics and codes of proper conduct. Chapter Four took a closer look at professionalism - as a source of today’s ethics and work values - and its effect on the moral life of societies, aiming at exploring the role of ethical norms in the institutional life, and the way the structure and norms affect individuals and entire nations. Chapter Five shed more light on the necessity and importance of concepts like “Unsupervised Honesty”, “Quality from Within”, “Self- Discipline”, “Man as God’s Vicegerent”, and “Self-Appraisal” as driving forces behind “good” performance and as powerful regulators of human behaviour. Chapter Six discusses the methodology used in this study to attain quality data to support the research. Chapter Seven presents the results of the analysis of the quantitative and quantitative data gathered in the city of Jeddah, the international business centre of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where major businesses established their headquarters, where the desired sample types existed, and where international HRM practices are observed. Chapter Eight presents the qualitative data selected from interviews with professional from the educational and business sectors. It also contains the opinions of specialised HR specialists. The aim of this chapter is to gather some point of views regarding the concept of Unsupervised Honesty, direct and indirect supervision, and religion as a regulator for human behaviour. The thesis concluded that Western HRM practices should be modified and adapted to the national context in which it operates, and that time-old religious tradition must be promoted and admitted to the work place in congruence with the newly adopted Western HRM practices. The concept of Unsupervised Honesty represents a general agreement among professionals. Most respondents confirmed that religion is a major source of ethics, while others supported the Unsupervised Honesty concept, but did not necessarily attribute it fully to religion, rather to morality and professional ethics. All managerial levels agreed that the self-monitoring employee is the ultimately sought personnel, regardless of their source of ethics and moral values.

Employee engagement is a topic that is currently widely discussed. Organizations want their employees to contribute to their sustained success by putting energy and effort into their daily work. The challenge is the wide variety of engagement definitions in academia and practice that are rooted in either well-being or performance logics. The consequence is that researchers and practitioners often talk at cross purposes following different goals and addressing different engagement aspects. The purpose of this study was therefore to identify what engagement means. It also looks at leader behaviours as antecedents to understand what behaviours are effective for creating and maintaining high engagement. In the research a mixed methods design was applied. Drawing from the analysis of a Multinational's survey of 77,723 employees, the validity of the way the company communicates and measures engagement was evaluated. A series of 32 focused interviews with senior and middle managers and some of their followers served a better understanding of the employees' engagement construct. The different engagement constructs were compared to each other and to Schaufeli et al.'s engagement construct. The results show that the Multinational rather measured organizational commitment than employee engagement. Based on the interviews and extant literature a new framework for engagement was developed that resolves the two engagement views, bringing performance and well-being logics together, resulting in a model of sustainable engagement. In a second step it was primarily the 32 interviews that were used to identify 18 leader behaviours that employees perceived to be highly engaging, led by communication, support and mentoring/coaching. Researchers and practitioners can profit from the findings as they provide a model of sustainable engagement that can be tested in different contexts. It can be applied by organizations to assess current engagement approaches and to conduct focused interventions.

This study responds to an identified gap in the Outdoor Development Activities (ODA) literature. It applies a neo-positivist approach to the evaluation of ODA enabling a greater understanding of the outcomes and processes at work during ODA courses. Evaluation studies on this form of personal development are not new. Here the argument is taken further through a more holistic analysis of the contributions made by both course and participant. The thesis identifies the key characteristics of ODA and evaluates the role of learning theory in underpinning the provision of ODA. A summary of previous evaluation research findings is provided and the influence of research methodology explored. It is argued that weaknesses in the extant research literature stem from inherent difficulties associated with the subject matter and the unbalanced view gained by pursuing exclusively either a quantitative or qualitative approach. The research methodology adopted in this thesis addresses both of these limitations. The two case studies investigated in the studies, adopted quantitative and qualitative techniques to produce a complex and rich picture of the processes at work during ODA. The study's key contribution to the OMD literature is its examination of how task, review and the individual participant shape all learning outcomes. A modified version of the Lewin/Kolb model of experiential learning is advanced that explains the controversy surrounding OMD as a form of management learning and the variable outcomes associated with it.

In Singapore, the government has recognized the importance of lifelong learning at the workplace. It is the new educational reality as knowledge is highly marketable in the knowledge society and organizations will benefit and prosper so long as they continue to capitalize upon their intellectual resources. All companies operating in Singapore will need to assume responsibility in establishing an organization learning curriculum, both formal and informal but as Singapore is a multicultural environment with companies from different parts of the world, it can be hypothesized that they will react differently to this need. The main purpose of this study is to seek a better understanding of the impact of Eastern and Western cultural differences on the development of lifelong learning at their workplace in a learning organization in Singapore. The instruments used in this study include questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with employees from an Eastern-Singapore and a Western-German culture case-study organizations. The questionnaires comprised four main measures concerning: (1) The development of subject matter expertise; (2) Problem-solving techniques; (3) The development of reflective skills and (4) The climate of personal and social relationships in the organizations studied. Both quantitative and qualitative data show that the Eastern-Singaporean and Western-German culture case-study companies have positive patterns of development towards establishing some form of corporate curriculum. There is no significant difference in the way they drive for lifelong learning at workplace. On the other hand there are some differences such as the intensity and scope of training which can be explained by reference to theories of cultural difference. On the other hand, there is no evidence to show that the case-study companies provided skills training in areas outside the employees' current domains. This somewhat negative conclusion has implications that it is not just culture that explains the restricted training programmes of these companies. Perhaps, the local economic situation of Singapore, under pressure for business effectiveness, is a much more decisive factor encouraging managers to interpret their needs for training in some restricted way. Based on the research, it is concluded that in Singapore where globalization activities are very intense, the impact of business survival is closing the gap between the Eastern and Western culture organizations in the field of Gaining development. It is also concluded that lifelong learning at the workplace of both the Eastern-Singaporean and Western-German culture organizations is very much limited to the current domains that the employees are assigned to.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the nature of applied creativity in the culinary industry and the role of training through formative education. By investigating the 4Ps creativity model (Rhodes, 1961), this study seeks to understand the role of creativity from the perspectives of industry and academic chefs on Chinese culture in Taiwan in order to plan for future culinary education development. The relevant literature has not yet sought to examine training for culinary creativity from an educational perspective. Although research has focused increasingly on the hospitality sector, there is little empirical research that has used the culinary industry as a research base. From a position of philosophical pragmatism, this research applies a three-phase sequential exploratory mixed methods to achieve its research aims and to address its research questions. By applying a qualitative inductive approach, Phase One seeks to explore the nature of culinary creativity with in-depth an d semi-structured interviews. Findings from Phase One are used to develop an AHP questionnaire survey for Phase Two, to evaluate and prioritize participants' thoughts on culinary creativity. Finally, in Phase Three, a modified Delphi technique was employed to provide a better understanding of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and of the interview findings from a group of experts. The purpose of applying mixed methods is to funnel down and ascertain participants' opinions and thoughts on culinary creativity development. The overall findings indicate applied creativity in the culinary industry has played a key role in the culinary revolution, which may be considered a major trend in gradually changing people's taste and dining experience. The role of creativity in the culinary industry has its own distinct characteristics, such as time limitations and market acceptance, which are acquired through building the blocks of professional skills and experience. These distinct characteristics comprise the basic principle of creativity development in the culinary industry. To summarize, the participants' perspectives on culinary creativity, this is seen to be based on a foundation of traditional cuisine by adding various other elements, in order to escape the limitations of culinary traditions and deliver customer satisfaction. The study contributes to understand the role of applied creativity in the culinary industry from the perspective of academic and industry chefs in Chinese culture, specifically in Taiwan. The modified 5Ps model explains the elements of culinary creativity development, and it used to enhance the value of such creativity in culinary educational settings. This thesis provides evidence that show how training as a mediator in the culinary creativity process plays a significant role in culinary creativity development. This thesis concludes that culinary creativity can be enhanced and developed through culinary education and in industry.

Although women have increased in management positions in recent years, they are still under-represented proportionally compared to men. The paucity of women in management holding significant roles in organisations initiated research on gender similarities and differences in leadership roles and interest in the relationship between gender and transformational leadership. Male and female managers are found by many to employ different leadership styles, while more recent studies suggest there is little or no difference in the result men and women achieve as leaders. Evidence of research in this area is not conclusive as the findings are based on a limited number of studies, usually conducted in small samples or specific case studies, therefore this study is conducted in response to the need for further research and for more recent evidence. Transformational leadership has drawn attention from management researchers in the context of hospitality management. This concept includes certain behaviours of leaders who are considered to be role models for their followers, which brings trust and makes them achieve high goals. These leaders motivate with communicating an inspiring vision, often with the use of symbols and emotional appeals. This leadership style has been identified as appropriate and effective in hospitality management. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the nature of the transformational leadership concept and investigate gender differences among female and male managers in their use of transformational leadership in the context of the Greek hospitality industry. The research took place in Greece focusing on the hotel industry. The research encompasses both quantitative and qualitative approaches considering the views of male and female managers, their peers, subordinates and superiors. The quantitative research used the Multifactor Leadership Questionnnaire (MLQ), which was distributed to the managers' subordinates, peers and superiors, to 621 participants, to investigate their evaluations on the managers' most exhibited leadership styles. At the same time, the MLQ was given to 30 managers in the study to self-evaluate their leadership style. Additionally, these 30 hotel managers, both male and female, were interviewed to explore their own perceptions of their leadership style, and their considerations on effective and poor leadership, in an effort to identify relations to the results of the MLQ. This thesis proposes that transformational leadership style is the most effective leadership style in hospitality management in Greece. This style is found to be statistically significantly effective and to be exhibited similarly by both male and female managers in the study. The findings suggest that male and female managers did not ascribe to their traditional gender roles, as they exhibited both masculine and feminine characteristics whenever appropriate, given the circumstances. Therefore, both are found to be effective as long a s they exhibit tranformational leadership and contingent reward leadership behaviours. No significant differences were shown between male and female leaders in their overall transformational leadership behaviours. Male leaders are found to imitate feminine behaviours in order to be effective and efficient. There were however, significant differences between leaders self-ratings and staff evaluations on different transformational leadership dimensions. Moreover, the model of transformational leadership is found to be applicable to the Greek hospitality management and culture. The findings also suggest that the glass-ceiling phenomenon is evident in the Greek hospitality industry, nevertheless female managers have found ways to overcome the barriers that prevented them from progressing, and the future for them in management seems to be improving as they have started acquiring high managerial positions.

The thesis explores the issue of development and marketing tourism in a difficult destination. Although the notion of a difficult destination has no formal definition, it does imply a situation where for a combination of reasons both internal and external to a country, it is difficult to market it to potential tourists. Countries as diverse as Northern Ireland, Cuba, Lebanon, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe are past and present examples. In this study the country used as the case study is the Islamic Republic of Iran. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1978, the country has experienced often turbulent political and economic change including volatile international relations with other countries, all factors which tend to jeopardise the development of international tourism. From a trawl of the relevant literature and also derived from the extensive work experience of the author in the Iranian tourism sector and also in marketing it abroad, three research questions were identified. First, to wh at extent do the internal barriers to tourism in Iran including culture in its many forms; religious issues; national policies relating to tourism; political issues; business issues; infrastructure; and human resources, make Iran a difficult destination to develop and market? Second, to what extent do external barriers including the present image of Iran in the main tourist-generating markets; travel restrictions to and within the country; the media and its role in shaping and reshaping destination image, make Iran a difficult destination to develop? Third, what strategies can be developed to lessen these barriers on the one hand, and promote tourism development on the other? Due to the paucity of available and reliable tourism data and the absence of previous studies, it was considered necessary to facilitate the research on a qualitative approach. Using the case study method and based on 25 interviews with key figures in four areas: government (8); tourism associations (5); academics (4); and tour operators (8), interviews were arranged using a semi-structured questionnaire. Interviews were conducted in Persian and translated back to English. Data was analysed using a thematic approach using the ten categories identified above. The case study approached produced a very rich source of information related to the research questions. The major findings centred on the suggestion that government did not practically appreciate or value the tourism sector. It was argued that government intervention since the Islamic Revolution was at best spasmodic, lacked coordination, and displayed no consistent approach to supporting the sector. The absence of any formal communication channel between government and the private sector to share and discuss issues of concern was evidence of this. Many of the interviewees believed that this situation was a consequence of senior clerics being concerned that foreign tourists would disregard and disrespect the culture and behavioural nor ms of the Islamic Republic. Interviewees strongly rejected this view as a misperception and stated that Iran's culture and traditions were the main reasons for tourists to come to the country, and that there was no evidence of tourists' misbehaving or lacking respect for social and religious norms. Of more concern as potential barriers to tourism development was the poor infrastructure, deficiencies in human resource training and planning, difficulties in accessing the country due to visa regulations and related facilitation issues such as failure to approve the use of credit cards. It was recognised that in recent years Iran had not received favourable international media attention. However, it was suggested that any misconceptions and errors of fact could be overcome through a media strategy devised jointly be government and the private sector and implemented on a consistent basis. Recommendations of the study include that government should prioritize tourism as an diversification of the country's oil-based economy; develop a formal communication channel with the private sector and some privatisation of current government services should be introduced on a staged basis; create a better image of Iran as a tourist destination; an approach be made to better inform and educate senior authorities about the potential of tourism as part of the country's development strategy; that tourism policies and plans be reviewed, changed as appropriate and necessary, and implementation strategies be agreed; and generally, that tourism initiatives are better coordinated.

Various trends can be seen to characterise the 'new' economy, including globalisation, networking, competition, ICTs and transformations in forms of work organisation. Notably, it is claimed that these trends may encourage self-management, peer pressure, the expansion of workloads and greater expenditure of work effort, with implications for experiences of work intensity (Bittman et al, 2009; O'Riain, 2006; Green, 2006, 2004, 2001; Thompson and McHugh, 2002; Findlay et al, 2000; Springer, 1999; Tomaney, 1990). This thesis aims to explore whether software professionals are necessarily immune from experiences of work intensity, due to their positioning as archetypal knowledge workers (Baldry et al, 2007, 2005; Newell et al, 2002; Alvesson, 1995; Kunda, 1992) and their role in creating a technology which has applicability to virtually all work, business and social situations (Scotland IS: Innovation and Skills in Scotland, 2008; Freeman and Perez, 1998; Quintas, 1994). This thesis has utilised a contextually-based, qualitative, in-depth comparative case study approach, in order to identify and explain the linkages, mechanisms and relationships which influence and shape software professionals' experiences of work intensity. This thesis makes an original contribution through identifying that professional software workers are subject to work intensity from diverse sources. Notably, advances in ICTs, globalisation, flexibility and developments in the software industry have had implications for software professionals' experiences of work intensity. Contextual elements, such as market dynamics, firm characteristics and internal organisational factors influence experiences of work intensity. In addition, aspects of the software labour process, including deadlines, project team structures, specialist knowledge, interruptions, normative control, breaks and worker agency, have implications for software professionals' experiences of work intensity. Finally, the development of a taxonomy of professional software job roles and the utilisation of the work diary study within this PhD have provided comprehensive insight into the tasks and activities performed by individuals.

European Works Councils (EWCs) have received a mixed response amongst policymakers and research critics since their establishment in the mid-1990s. Whilst there are those who are optimistic about their achievements (Coms, 204; Lecher et al, 2001; Lecher and Rub, 1999), there are those who give a more measured response (Hall and Marginson, 2005); Waddington, 2005; Gilman and Marginson, 2002; Carley and Marginson, 2000; Wills, 2000; 1999; Royle, 1999) and those who believe EWCs have failed to offer workers an appropriate mechanism for strengthening the employee voice for workers of multinationals in Europe (Keller, 2002; Ramsay, 1997; Streeck, 1997). In 2004, EU enlargement prompted further European social integration and along with countries from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Hungary became an accession state. This meant that, for the first time, Hungarian workers of multinational enterprises became participants of new and established EWCs (Voss, 2006). In light of these politic al and socio-economic developments, this qualitative study, involving three UK-owned case study organisations from the printing, chemical and food industries, assesses whether EWCs are effective in delivering an employee voice for Hungarian workers. Moreover, the study considers how the multinational environment; local voice structures; and the internal dynamics and function of the EWC all shaped Hungarian employee voice. This analysis of EWCs and employee voice is embedded within a Marxist view of the employment relationship, in which power inequalities; management control; and a conflict of interests are believed to lie at the heart (Ackers, 2012; Budd, 2004; Ramsay et al, 2000; Kelly, 1998; Kochan, 1998; Hyman, 1997). The study argues that trade union-led mechanisma remain the more robust and effective channel for counterbalancing the inequalities and providing employee voice (Hyman, 1997; Kelly, 1996; Kirkbride, 1992; Freeman and Medoff, 1984) and the findings show that, in comparison to employee voice, is weak both at a local and European level. Whilst EWCs offer some opportunity for harnessing a voice, this has not been realised through effective pan-European coordination of trade union networks. In conclusion, the study recommends that local trade unions work towards cultivating closer links and strategies with EWCs to create stronger voices and solidarity links for Hungarian workers.