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In todays so-called knowledge economy, skills policies in the UK and the 'new' career discourse assume opportunities in the labour market to be virtually limitless and emphasise the role of self-directedness for enhancing and maintaining employability, securing employment and developing careers. Increasing, and to some extent persistent, accounts of graduate underemployment contradict these assumptions. This study aims to contribute to our understanding of contemporary graduate careers by examining (i) the factors associated with enhancing graduate employability and the extent to which this reflects a self-directed process; and (ii) the occupational boundaries within which graduate careers develop and the extent to which this reflects limitlessness of opportunities for graduates' career development; and (iii) by exploring career mobility and outcomes for graduates, starting with entry into and movement out of early underemployment and extending up to ten years, to determine the role of employability on early graduate underemployment, its pervasiveness and temporality and the emerging career patterns in the graduate labour market. The study uses a mixed methods approach consisting of primary and secondary survey data analyses to study graduate employability and the structure of opportunities; and career history analyses from 37 in-depth interviews with graduates mostly from arts, social sciences and humanities, and business-related courses to explore graduate career mobility. The findings suggest that contemporary graduate careers are increasingly bounded by the opportunities in the graduate labour market and that graduate adaptability is the key to developing employability perceptions, successful job transitions and, career satisfaction and well-being. These results point to segmentation within the graduate labour market which comprises 'lousy', intermediate and 'lovely' jobs, and a struggle on the graduates' side in forming employability for 'graduate' level employment. From a theoretical perspective, this study provides a bridge from the 'new' career discourse to the structure of opportunities by examining career development and outcomes for highly skilled workers who are taken for granted to be the pillars of 'boundarylessness'. From a policy perspective, it highlights a need for intervention on the demand side in achieving the 'high skills, high wages' vision.

The current wave of Central and Eastern European (CEE) migrants to the United Kingdom, or New Labour Migration (NLM), has been described as: 'one of the most important social and economic phenomena shaping the UK today. This movement of people has dramatically changed the scale, composition and characteristics of immigration to the UK' (Pollard et al. 2008: 7). CEE nationals play an important role in the British economy as they have filled many low to semi-skilled occupations, which the British population were unwilling to do. Moreover, new migrant workers undertake 'dirty, hard work' (de Lima and Wright, 2009: 395) and are valued by employers for their general attitude, work ethic and positive orientations to work (Dench et al, 2006; LSC, 2007; Mathews and Ruhs, 2007). It is against this backdrop that the thesis examines the employment relationship of NLM. The first section begins by explaining the rationale for the focus on the employment relationship of NLM. The research objectives, which shall guide the thesis, are then examined. Following this, the next section discusses the general methodological approach that shall be utilised in order to meet these objectives. The final section provides an outline of the structure of the thesis.

This thesis provides an explanatory account of HRM and performance in growth-oriented SMEs. HRM researchers hold a relatively emaciated understanding of the generative mechanisms and processes at work between HRM and performance in SMEs. A rationalisation of the employment relationship allied with the predominance of a scientific approach has led to a focus on what at the expense of understanding how and why HRM influences small firm performance. It is argued within this thesis that a metatheoretical reorientation is required to address the weaknesses of existing HR1v1 and performance research. This study adopts a realist and pragmatic approach to social research inquiry. A new conceptual framework is designed that builds on prior contextual studies (e.g. Edwards et aI., 2006, Hamey and Dundon, 2006, Gilman and Edwards, 2008) to include the dynamics of growth in SMEs. This allows for the exploration of how internal and external dynamics interact with performance and labour management practices in SMEs. The analysis begins by exploring the patterns of HRM practices across SMEs through the lens of High Performance Work Systems (HPWS), findings that inform a contextual analysis of five growing SMEs. This thesis draws some interesting conclusions. First, SMEs do not score highly on measures of HPWS take-up, particularly when one inquiries into actual practice as opposed to initial survey reports. No evidence' is found of Sills taking a high performance approach to performance. Second, one cannot conclude that SMEs are deficient or that one should condemn them as failing in some way. Traditional HRM metrics cannot be easily applied to small firms; they are simply not scaled down versions of larger firms. Third, therefore, we find that aspects of HRM are addressed in ways relevant to the small firm context. Fourth, the I : notion that the application of HPWS results in increased levels of performance is too simplistic; researchers must consider their relationship as mutually reinforcing. The case studies demonstrate the relevant processes, notably the effects of shocks in relation to business performance that led to responses which in turn implied changes to HR practices. An HPWS model would have meant little to these firms. Though the second point is correct, it does not follow that all is well at all times. The case studies demonstrate differing degrees of effectiveness in dealing with external shocks, and point to the importance of leadership. Ensuring the long term growth and sustainability of firms relies on more than entrepreneurial flair alone; it requires leaders to become effective champions of change

Since the 1980s Public Sector Organisations (PSOs) have been subject to a series of New Public Management (NPM) reforms to increase efficiency, effectiveness and accountability for their performance. Against this backdrop PSOs have been adopting and using multiple Performance Improvement Techniques (PITs), which have been shown in recent studies to involve potential contradictions. This study has sought to investigate adoption levels of multiple PITs, how multiple PITs are used, PSOs' experiences of using multiple PITs, the potential for contradiction between PITs, and how any contradictions are managed. To that end, this study employed a mixed methods research process to respond to these objectives. Drawing on ambidexterity theory, the research process was divided into a stage one survey to gain a broad understanding of the pattern of adoption and use of multiple PITs across the Northern Ireland and Scotland public sectors and stage two case studies to enable more indepth insights into the adoption and use of multiple PITs. The empirical findings demonstrated that adoption of multiple PITs is widespread and set to grow. In addition, multiple PITs are mostly used in combination, and in a somewhat cyclical fashion. In general, organisations reported a positive experience when adopting and using multiple PITs, although employee resistance and lack of leadership did present some challenges. The adoption and use of multiple PITs was found to involve certain contradictions in terms of the respective 'orientations towards improvement' and 'objects of improvement' of different goals, structures and processes. In response, organisations were found to employ a multi-faceted approach to managing any contradiction. The study makes a number of contributions, which develop ambidexterity theory and its application to the use of multiple PITs in combination and the challenges that must be faced. Specifically, the study offers some suggestions for managing the adoption and use of multiple PITs and any contradictions between PITs. Furthermore, the study offers a useful framework for identifying potential areas of contradictions between PITs, which is important in focussing management effort. Finally, the multi-faceted ambidextrous approaches used by the case study organisations suggest that categories of ambidextrous approach are not necessarily holistically applied or mutually exclusive. Therefore, ambidexterity theory may require some slight revision in light of these empirical findings.

In an evolving professional services market, the structure of career is changing; this research asks older professional practitioners in business consulting about their occupational histories and career aspirations for the period leading towards their occupational disengagement. In their ‘third-age’ of employment – the life transition between career maturity and withdrawal (ages 50 to 65) – professional workers often consider their employment options as they move toward occupational withdrawal. With demographics showing an ageing population, employers can expect to find that ‘third-age’ workers represent a greater proportion of their workforce. As they reflect on their circumstances, these older professional workers often decide to adjust working practice to complement their lifestyle choices, taking account of family responsibilities, financial obligations, occupational values and possibly personal health. Through the lens of narrative inquiry, I reflexively review my occupational experiences and those of 12 research collaborators over a working trajectory of up to 45 years, as each person progresses through the concluding episode/s of their occupational transition. This auto/biographic bricolage represents occupational lives spent working within financial, legal and management consulting roles in professional firms within the United Kingdom. By embracing their occupational histories, this research investigates whether older professional practitioners can better determine their occupational futurity and benefit from the opportunity to accommodate other considerations – career preferences, life obligations, family relationships – as they conclude their occupational trajectory. In ‘Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career’, Herminia Ibarra (2004) presents a model for career change and argues that people determine their occupational directions by experimenting with different possibilities rather than deciding on a clearly defined career identity. This research investigation extends the inquiry into a later stage of the life course, the ‘third-age’, and helps older professional workers develop a coherent understanding of their occupational history as they approach workplace departure, contemporarily known as ‘retirement’.

There is a strong and growing world-wide interest in performance management and pay for performance. This work draws together and evaluates previous research concerning performance management. It also builds and expands on existing work by establishing linkages between organisational culture and issues of motivation, pay and performance. The research looks at the little investigated area of how organisational culture acts as a mediating influence between performance management systems and organisational effectiveness. This work discusses the extent to which congruence between performance management systems and organisational culture influences organisational effectiveness. There has been little research in the area of performance management in the aerospace sector. The area of linkage to organisational culture has seldom received attention, although aerospace has its own distinctive culture. This work examines and evaluates performance management strategy and practice at two aerospace organisations based in the North-West of England. This takes place within the context of recent growth of commercial and business cultures within an industry deeply grounded in a unique and pervasive tradition of creativity, innovation and technological expertise paradoxically combined with a conservative and pluralistic value system. The aerospace sector is at the forefront of technology transfer and change. It represents a rich vein of material to be mined concerning trends in performance management. This research contributes to furthering knowledge and enables predictions concerning other sectors. The methodology employs a mixture of quantitative and qualitative approaches. These include ethnographic surveys, postal questionnaires, unstructured informal interviews and statistical comparisons between the host organisations. Findings indicate strong cultural beliefs in equity, quality, empowerment and technical excellence often at odds with management cultures valuing control and profit. Tensions between strategic planning and managerialistic attitudes towards performance-related pay and appraisal are revealed. There is no universal panacea but whether performance-related pay can be applied and how it is applied are both contingent on the culture of the organisation. Conclusions indicate that as organisations shift from hierarchical structures to more complex and democratic systems the appropriateness of traditional systems of appraisal and managing performance are increasingly questionable.

This thesis seeks to examine the linkage between national culture value orientations, Human Resource Management (HRM) preferences and commitment in Taiwan. Specifically, the purposes of this study are fourfold: • To identify variations in value orientations in individual employees. • To explore the relationship between value orientations and HRM preferences at both individual and organisational levels. • To evaluate the consequences of value orientation on levels of commitment and satisfaction. • To make a theoretical and practical contribution to the field of HRM, especially its relevance to value orientations. The analysis is based on a dual research methodology combining quantitative and qualitative approaches. Two questionnaires and one in-depth interview schedule are used. The first instrument measures cultural values using the cultural perspective questionnaire (CPQ4) based upon the conceptualisation of value orientations by Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck. The second instrument measures: HRM preferences which were designed by the researcher based on Schuler and Jackson's typology; satisfaction and work values using Warr, Cook and Wall's scale; and commitment using Cook and Wall's measure. The interview schedule was developed by the researcher in an attempt to postulate the HRM preferences and actual policies and practices at the organisational level. In all, two sets of questionnaires were administered to a sample of 700 employees from shop floor to senior managers in seven Taiwanese organisations. 452 usable questionnaires were returned, representing a response rate of 64.6%. Additionally, at least four in-depth interviews were conducted in each company with HR managers and line managers.

Recent research in organisational psychology has identified two models of person-environment fit that can be used in the study of satisfaction and performance. These models are the complementary fit and the supplementary fit model. The essential difference between the two models is that the work environment in the supplementary fit model is described according to the people who inhabit it, whereas in the complementary model, it is described according to some aspect of the job environment itself other than its inhabitants. Most prevlOUS studies of the complementary fit have failed to use objective measures of the work environment that are independent of the person examined. The present field study investigated the moderating role of group size, an objective independent measure of the work environment, on the relationship between intelligence and satisfaction, personality and satisfaction, and personality and performance. The intelligence variables in this model were two general measures ("g" and "reasoning") and one specific measure ("speed of closure" defined as the specific ability with which individuals can apprehend the structural implications of a confused or incomplete visual configuration). Personality was operationalised in terms of a selection of Cattell et ai's (1992) primary and secondary factors. On the basis of data from 257 shopfloor workers in a light manufacturing plant, results generally indicated that group size moderated the relationships between all three measures of intelligence and satisfaction with pay as well as with the job overall. Results also indicated that group size moderated the relationships between the personality factors of apprehension, sensitivity, social boldness and dominance, and various facets of satisfaction. The relationships between these personality variables and satisfaction were negative in large groups and positive in small groups (except for apprehension, the slope of which was virtually flat for small groups). Most previous studies have used statistical tests of hierarchical multiple regression (HMR) to analyse the significance of the moderators. The present study used hierarchical logistic regression (HLR) in addition to HMR. HLR successfully detected group size as a moderator in 20 out of 33 instances whereas HMR detected only 13. Also, unlike HMR, HLR does not have any distributional assumptions. In sum, HLR appears to offer a viable alternative to the previously popular HMR. Multiple instruments of satisfaction were administered simultaneously to respondents in this study. Results of this research corroborated the meta-analytic findings of Tranberg et al (1993), in that one-item measures of satisfaction generally yielded higher satisfaction congruence relations compared with the more sophisticated standardised measures that have adequately reported reliability. [In the present research the Job Descriptive Index (Smith et aI, 1969) was regarded as the sophisticated, standardised measure].

The subject of this thesis is the performance management system of the theory of constraints (TOe). Its objectives are to examine to what extent the strength of the relationship between the operational measure X (Ox) and the global measure Y (Gy) may be affected by: 1) changing one or both parts of the relationship and 2) changes in the operational environment (OE), then to utilize the knowledge gained in analyzing and planning the overall performance of industrial firms working under a Toe environment, as well as supporting strategic decision-making regarding the choice of the most suitable strategy to improve the overall performance of such a firm. The first dimension of the research objectives was tested under four different OEs and the second dimension was examined under the nine possible combinations of the operational and global measures. Two aspects of the operational environment were chosen, one to represent the external environment at the strategic level, which is the financial openness (or closeness) of the system, and the second to represent the internal environment at the operational level, which is the inventory replenishment policy. Each of the two factors are of two levels; in the case of the first factor the levels are 'open system' against 'closed system' ('open system' means the unit sells some of its products on credit, and obtains some of its supplies on debit; 'closed system' means that all these transactions take place on a ready-cash basis). For the second factor, the two levels are 'lot for lot' against 'reorder-point' polices of inventory replenishment. The combination of these four levels creates four different operational environments under each of which the relationships were measured and compared. The following statement represents the two research hypotheses: 1- The strength of the relationship between the different pairs of measures within the same operational environment differs from one pair to another; and 2- The strength of the relationship between the same pair of measures di ffers from one operational environment to another. A simulation model was built to provide the data required to measure the relationships and then to test the research hypotheses. The strength of the relationships was measured in tenns of regression coefficient. The total effect of each of the operational measures on each of the global measures of the system was measured using the causal model of the relationships which was developed on the basis of TOe and Throughput accounting principles and definitions. The research hypotheses were then tested using MANOVA doubly repeated measures with a fully factorial design. The statistical analysis supports the two hypotheses. Based on the research results, a simple model was developed which may be used as a decision support system to help management in choosing the most efficient and effective combination of the operational environment and strategy to achieve the stated goal. Towards the end of the thesis, a number of further research opportunities are identified, including further validation and verification of the proposed model.